Cowboy Gun and Holster: made from stuff around the house!

My Son gets to dress up like a Cowboy tomorrow for school! He LOVES to dress up and won't miss the chance but he is more of a spy kind of kid, not so much Cowboy! Hence, He had nothing Cowboy and I didn't want to spend money. So I figured we could just whip something up out of the recycling trash! I drew a simple gun on some cardboard and cut it out with and Exacto knife. I actually made four guns, two for each kid!

Then I found two thiner paper boxes and used this to make my holsters! The other side of the box was all white inside.

You basically trace around the shape of your gun on the box and then cut out TWO shapes.... one of just the white shape and one with the brown part on top....This will be how you connect it to your belt!

I put duct tape over the part that was going to be attached to the belt for extra support. Then I held the belt up to it and cut two slits with an Exacto knife, about an inch apart, to weave the belt through.

The next step can be done many ways..... I chose to sew mine with a needle and thread(because I liked the look of it) but you can just hot glue the pieces together to form a pocket. Your cardboard guns will slide right in! 

To add to his costume I picked up a plastic Cowboy hat at US Toy for $1.60! Here is my boy ALL in black with his Guns and Holsters! =) YEEHAW!

"I see you're not from around these parts!"

FUN Writing/Counting Practice Game!

 If your child is not yet in Elementary, let me fill you in on a little secret.... It is A LOT of work!!!!! From the moment they step into Kindergarten, they are expected to learn a lot and quickly! I don't know where my sons school standards line with yours but by the end of the year he is expected to write the alphabet, upper and lower case, his numbers to 100, and know the beginning foundations of reading. This is a lot if you haven't really practiced much.... so my point is, start as early as possible but try to make it FUN!

My six year old son fights every minute of "BORING SCHOOL WORK". Like his mommy, he is a visual learner which can be tough when you get to school. Every child has to learn how to sit, be quiet, and write BUT they also have to know that learning can be fun as well. We want to start as early as possible making connections in the brain with learning and fun!!

 My son's teacher had a great idea to get him a small chalk or dry erase board. I went with the dry erase, 4 bucks at Target! I also bought a pack of fun small markers. Color is alway better! =) Here is my son being silly and showing off his new board! =) The board REALLY helps to make writing fun and new... not just on a regular piece of paper. Remember, don't let them have this all the time. Let it be only for special occasions when you play writing games! 

My son sparked the idea in my head of this fun writing game we now play. He just had his birthday this past week and he got himself a pack of Squinkies. If you aren't into the world of Squinkies yet, I will tell you what they are. They are just cute mini squishy, rubbery, figures. Of course they have them in your child's FAVORITE characters Princess, Cars, Toy Story, Superheros....etc. 

 My son randomly told me,"Mom, I have 36 Squinkies!" the SAME DAY his teacher gave me the idea of the dry erase board so I put the two ideas together! We put all of his Squinkies into a basket and randomly pull out a handful. Have your child simply count them and write the number down! After this step it is up to you to make it up as it goes. You could have them add more to their pile and then see how many are there, or subtract some from the pile and then count. The important thing is EVERY TIME you say a number, they write it down for practice. You can do this with all sorts of small items other than Squinkies...for example, legos, marbles, or even food (pretzels, goldfish, and cereal). With the food items, when you subtract from a pile, let the child eat them! =)

 At one point I pulled out 10 Squinkies from the basket...then I asked him, "What if we doubled this number or added 10 squinkies to the pile?" "What about 10 more...." He quickly got the pattern I was going for! You can use fraction words like half of and quarter. The more they hear these words, they will start understanding them!

 Here is an awesome hand out Brenden's teacher gave me for using the sides of a small dry erase or chalk board to write out 1 - 9. This is a great resource for younger children! My 3 year old daughter successfully wrote out every number by herself, with me talking her through it! The earlier the better! You see in the illustration that the square the number is in, is the edge of the board! It's hard to make a mistake because you cant draw out of the box! =)

I hope this helps inspire you to think of fun games for your child to play at whatever stage they are at! 

Baby Book Review!

Ok, I can't tell you how many women I know who are pregnant RIGHT NOW!!!! So much fun to see couples become parents for the first time and second, and third! =) Since 2005, when I first became pregnant, I was on a mission to find the BEST baby book out there! And I am convinced I did!!! If you are going to have a baby or know someone who is going to have a baby, tell them about this AWESOME baby book/journal! It goes all the way up to the first THREE years!

Click on the book to be taken to the amazon link!

This book has EVERYTHING!!!

In the beginning it has a section about father and mother where you can write a little something about yourself and what you were like when you were a child. It also has a section for a Family Tree! I love this because EVERY child has to do a Family Tree project sometime in school so all you have to do is pull out the baby book! (Side note: I wrote in my books to great-great grandparents....just add your own lines)

They have the normal sections for feet but they also have a hand section. I got the most PERFECT hand prints of my son in the first baby book we did but when doing my daughters hands, she wouldn't hold still! I was SO UPSET at how the hand page turned out and now when I look at it, I think its the sweetest thing ever! I remember how hard we worked to get her prints at 3 weeks old and look at this and laugh! =) This is an example of how you don't have to be PERFECT!!!

 My FAVORITE part of this book is they have a section of the first year where you write their weight and height every month and there is a page next to it for pictures. I drew lines to break up the page and put a picture of them in on EVERY month birthday! You don't have to be as anal as I was but it is so much fun to see how fast they grow month to month! I covered the stats but here are a page from my books of both of my kids first 6 months!

 When you have more than one kid, it is fun to get out the book and look to see what the siblings looked like when they were "the baby's age"! I had so much fun with this section that I added two more pages right after this and went all the way up to age three. Every month I would take at least one picture and print it wallet size and add it to the book. Sometimes I would be printing three months at a time to add to the book.... as long as you take the pictures, they are there to be printed whenever you get around to it! To remember to take a picture, I wrote it on my calendar!

 Here is a few more examples...so fun to look back on! When you can, try to write their weight/height for that month!

They grow SO fast!

I got smart the second time around and added a little more about the "before you were born" stage. I added a page about my cravings and my growing tummy....this is just regular white printing paper that I taped pictures on. 

 So if you are looking for the perfect baby book/journal to keep track of the first three years, I would totally recommend this book!!! There is so much more to the book but you will have to get it to see everything it covers! Another beautiful thing about this book is the quotes throughout.... I will leave you with one from the last pages: "Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs...since the payment is pure love." Mildred B. Vermont
ONE LAST COMMENT: after reading the reviews on Amazon I realized that some people were upset that there were some bible verses as quotes throughout the baby book! They aren't very big to really notice but I thought you should know that before you purchase just so you are informed. =) 

The EASY way to Substitute Scrapbooking!

It's been a while since I last posted! I have been VERY busy! I've decided for the next few posts I will let you know some of my ways of making life easier! New Years come with changes to make life go smoother! Since the New Year I have tried to write down Resolutions and one of them is to keep up on the documentation of my family. This is normally a stressful subject for Moms! There's already SO MUCH to do to take care of your little ones, how can you keep up with pictures and even more stressful SCRAPBOOKS!!! I know there are people out there who LOVE to scrapbook but even those people have many books unfinished in their home....to constantly have that in the back of your mind can be stressful! Some women are reading this saying, "I have NO creative bone in my body so there is NO WAY I can Scrapbook!" I have the answer for ALL of you Moms and Grandmas who want to document but don't really have the time and energy (and/or creativity)! 

Even if you have never Scrapbooked in your life, everyone has a photo album that just sits around getting dusty and cost a mint to print ALL the pictures in it! This is my alternative to both! Make it one of your resolutions to try this!

Go online or to a bookstore and buy a simple lined 8X6 journal. One that you LOVE the cover! This is  small enough to keep by your favorite spot at home, where you sit everyday to have a cup of coffee or tea. Also small enough to carry with you on trips or to the coffee shop! Pictured here is my current Journal, which I have had since October 2009 and I still have A LOT of space left!

I know some of you are thinking, you are just journaling.... I really don't find myself going back and just reading things I've written over the years. I am a visual person and who doesn't love picture along with a story? Especially when its about the kids in your life! 

The other thing you will need is a camera.... which MOST people have and carry with them everywhere. Especially when you have a smartphone, a high quality camera is right in your pocket or purse! If your child says or is doing something really cute, simply take a picture. Later that day write about it in your journal or even more "busy mom" effective....write about it in the notes section of your phone (if you have a smartphone)!
I will tell you how I do it: I take the pictures, write the notes in my phone and sit down with my journal once a week or once every other week! SO SIMPLE!!!! There are options to print pictures in wallet size at most places now! This is what I do for MOST of the pictures in my scrapbook journal and then you can send the extra picture to grandma! Save large prints for extra special photos! Cut into your photos so more of them fit on one page! Alot of times I write in my journal and leave spaces for the pictures because I don't print that often!

Here is a sample page from my Scrapbook Journal. Yes, my writing is MESSY! You don't have time to write your best, as long as YOU can read it, that's all that really matters!

I save cute pictures my kids draw, which are small enough to fit in the journal!

 I also use my journal as a date book/planner when I go on trips! I draw out a calendar and tape it onto the book so it will fold out! I even write down flights just so I have everything in a different spot than my phone incase something happens to it! It helps keep me organized and it's fun to look back on, to see what we did on our trip!

 Lastly, I am going to share with you something really cute which I have waiting in my phone to be added to my scrapbook journal.

Here is the story I have written in my phone:

January 4th, 2012

Before school this morning Brenden says "I need to look fancy today!" I said "why?" He said "Because of Gwen!"(This is a girl in his class he has like for a while and his teacher moved their seats next to each other after the christmas break.) I said "What does FANCY mean to you? What will you wear?" He said "Like black sweats and a black wedding shirt!" 

so here he is looking "FANCY"!  =)

Such a sweet story which could be forgotten in a week by busy mom, but this is something I get to relive everytime I bring out my scrapbook journal! 

Here's to a great 2012 with MANY fun memories!!!!

Craft: Finger Painted Christmas Tree

This craft was SO simple and SO much fun! I can't believe this is my first craft on my Blog using a paper roll! I think this is a must for anyones home with children in it! Kids love to create on a large roll of paper! For this craft you will need:

• Large roll of white paper
• Green Acrylic paint
• Construction paper
• any kind of ribbon or string
• Stickers (optional)

First I rolled out the paper to the length I wanted my tree. You don't have to do it as large as I did but for this craft I say, the bigger the better! Then I drew a simple tree shape. You can draw it in pencil first then outline in marker so you can see your line after the kids paint it!

                          

Pour out some green paint on a paper plate and let the kids get their hands in it to paint the tree! This was so fun, I even got my hands in on this part! =)

Let the tree dry for a few hours! Then cut out your tree shape.

 Using different colored construction paper, cut out light bulb shapes and with black paper cut out little squares.

Then tape the black square to the bottom of you light bulb shape piece of paper and you will have a bunch of christmas tree lights! I took red curling ribbon and taped it to the back of the tree, stringing it across as the lights would be on the tree! Then tape or glue each light to your string. As I was assembling this part, I let the kids color the lights! This kept them entertained until I was done!

The next step you can get really creative with, making different ornaments out of paper or pipe cleaners....etc. What I have here on our finished product is free printable coloring pages that I found online of ornaments which we glued on and then we finished it off with christmas stickers! All kids LOVE stickers so this part was really fun! If you have a Michael's Craft store by you, they always have  sticker books with around 300 stickers for a dollar! Don't forget to cut out a star or angel for the top of your tree and a brown rectangle for you tree trunk! Lastly, I found a cute coloring page with elves carrying presents to add under the tree! =) HERE is the link to the elf picture if you want it!

String Snow Balls

To make String Snow Balls you will need:

• White craft glue
• balloons
• white cotton string
• glitter (optional)

First thing you need to do is mix craft glue with a little water.

Blow up a balloon to the size you want your Snow Ball.

Tie your white string to the top. Now here is where you decide how long you want your string. Get it pretty long. We found by doing a few of these that the longer the string, the better.

Then an adult can wrap the string around the balloon until it ends and tie it to the top again. A child could get frustrated if you let them do the wrapping because it easily comes undone. When wrapping is done, have your child paint glue on the string. Don't miss a spot! After all the string has been glued you  can sprinkle glitter on it (remember this step is optional)!

We made like a cloths line and hung the balloons up over night before popping them.

When they are completely dry take something sharp and pop the balloon. I did this over the sink because of the glitter. It will look like the string is messed up but just get it all unstuck and the snow ball turns out nice! Pull the balloon out of the inside and cut it out!

Here is your snow ball! There are many things you can do with it! Incorporate it in your decorating around they house!

Put the on your christmas tree! 

And My kids favorite, let them play with their snow balls! They aren't gunna hurt anything.....after all it's just cotton string! =)

American Girl Doll Tutu!

This idea came to me one day when I was thinking about how expensive American Girl Doll clothing and accessories are. My Niece wants American Girl doll clothing for christmas and I am not a sewer so the only thing I could do is spend $30 for ONE outfit, RIGHT? Wrong! Anyone can make this simple tutu for a fraction of the cost. You can make one for your daughter AND one for her doll! This is what you will need:

• White elastic
• simple sewing needle and white thread
• tulle (whatever colors the child will like)
• Ribbon(Optional but always makes for a prettier tutu)

The first thing I do is cut my tulle and ribbon. For an american girl doll 5 1/2 inches length for a tutu is pretty good so you want to make strips of tool 11 inches long, they will be folded in half when making the tutu so you double the length. Tulle normally comes in rolls about 6 inches wide. If you are making a tutu for your daughter, leave it this wide but if you are making one for her doll I make my strips 3 inches wide (or half the width). So you cut an 11 inch strip and then cut it down the middle of the width to make two strips of tool 11 inches in length & 3 inches in width! Cut your ribbon the same length as your tulle!

The next step is to get your elastic ready! For an American Girl doll, the waist is about 11 1/2 inches. But for your elastic you always want it to be stretched a little when on the waist so it stays on! I cut my elastic at about 10 1/2 inches. This gives me 1/2 inch to overlap and do a few hand stitches to connect the elastic together and 1 1/2 inches to stretch so I know it will stay on the doll! If you are making one for your daughter just get her waist measurement and subtract 2 or 3 inches for stretching but don't forget to leave a 1/2 inch to sew the elastic together.  Seriously, if you have NEVER hand stitched before... it's not hard at all. Just take a needle with a few inches of white thread and go back and forth threw the overlapped area.... it doesn't have to be perfect...I mean look at mine! =) Just so it's secure!

 Next step is to find something your elastic will fit around preferably stretching the elastic a little! I used this puffs container. I ended up turning the container upside-down and pushing the elastic to the top so it stretched the elastic a little! It's best to use a paper towel roll when making a tutu for your daughter. If you have a half used roll that will work the best for making the dolls tutu.

Now all you are going to be doing is basically tying knots of tool around the elastic to make a BEAUTIFUL tutu! Here is the step by step:

Get a piece of tulle and fold it half with a little loop at the top.

Pull the tulle under the elastic with the loop side down!

Pull the loop up and put the other end of the tulle through the loop!

Then pull it tight and here is what your knot will look like!

Simple as that! You just keep going all the way around the elastic!

These are pretty spread apart, once you get the pattern going on the elastic, make sure you push the tulle together very close. This makes for a fuller tutu!

Here are two doll tutus that I made!

Here is what the skirt looks like on an American Girl doll! SO CUTE!!! I borrowed the doll so sorry if the whole outfit doesn't match! 

Here is my daughter with the 4th of July tutu I made for her this year! It seriously took me like an hour to make! The length of a little girls tutu is really up to you!

Lastly, say your child doesn't have an American Girl doll but they do have a favorite doll! Make one for their favorite doll! Obviously you will have to change some measurements but it's so easy and fun to do! The little girls in your life will LOVE it!!!! The model below is WELL loved! His name is Koala Jack, which my 3 year old daughter named after Jack Black(who she LOVES)!

Guys, Post me a comment to let me know if this is easy to understand!!!!!

It's such an easy project and I hope I'm explaining it well!