DIY Canvas Art

 

I have seen some really cool canvas art in stores and thought I could do something similar myself. I have also seen some cool ones on Pinterest and posted them on my Pinterest boards and some of my favorites are found here. I went out to hunt some local thrift stores to find some canvas (because buying a canvas at a craft store is SO EXPENSIVE!) and this is what I found:

Cute, but not what I am going for.



I painted over the picture with a blue/green paint.



I then added a word and some branches and a little birdie! Cute!

St. Patty's Day Leprachaun Treasure Hunt

This was a great little activity for a little leprechaun fun. I put paper out of the shredder into a plastic shoe box. Then I dumped in some "treasures" that the leprechauns had left behind. I got a little bag of foam St. Patty's Day cutouts from the $1 bin at Target that I threw in there and I had some gold beads and some little plastic letter beads (always try to throw in some "learning" in the fun). The kids then "hunted" for the stuff the leprechauns left. I gave them clothes pins to use to pick the stuff up.

Summer Alphabet Hunt

This summer, we set out to try and find the entire alphabet in nature! We had the funnest time doing it and we came up with some "creative" letters!!! I printed these pictures off and put them in a plastic photo book so each child had their own alphabet book! It was a great memento to remember our summer adventures!

Check out our letter finds!

DIY - Mr & Mrs Pillows

I love the Mr & Mrs pillows I have been seeing in catalogs and at the stores, but they are pretty expensive. So, I took three neutral colored pillows and stenciled a set for myself! Love them!

Here are two of the pillows before I stenciled them.

I took the pillow out of the case and laid it flat on a surface for me to work on it.

I used my Cricut to make stencils and then centered them on the pillow and traced them out with a pencil. I then went in with watered down black fabric paint and a paint brush and filled in the letters.

This is the finished pillows drying.

 Love the final result!!!!!!!

Scrabble Coasters - Great Gifts for Any Occassion

I have seen the Scrabble coasters on Pinterest and I thought it would be a great gift for someone for a wedding. I found that I liked the size better of a 5x5 tile coaster. I had just seen them with 4 letter words. So, I came up with some "wedding" words and made a set of six for a friend of mine who is getting married. I had my husband cut small squares out of thin board to glue the tiles on. I painted the backs of them black.

The words I used for the wedding tiles were:

• their names, first, last, their kids' names
• date and year of the wedding, bride, groom, loved
• share, kiss, talk, relax, often
• boy, meets, girl, the, end
• happy, cozy, ours, heart, home
• toast, laugh, dance, smile, dream

(for the words that weren't five letters, I just used a blank one or turned a letter tile over).

I loved the way these turned out that I made a set for my sister because they just moved into their new house.

The words I used for the new house were:

•  party, times, games, food, drink
• paint, blood, sweat, tears, house (they built a lot of their house themselves so that is where these words came from)
• plant, grow, weeds, trees, path
• home, cozy, quiet, place, woods
• relax, enjoy, toast, dream, laugh
• I then used their last name, zip code, town they live in and state

I will be making these again. I think they are a great handmade gift that can be personalized for any occasion! Happy Tiling!

Easy Easter Busy Book for Toddlers/Preschoolers

Work on colors: Cut out squares from cardstock. Have colored egg shapes cut out for child.

Have child glue an egg to each square piece of cardstock.

Finished egg pages.

Work on numbers: Have child put Easter stickers on square sheets of cardstock and write the number on bottom of page.

I put all pages together and put a hole punch in the top left corner. I then put a key ring through it all which makes it easy for the kids to flip the pages, but it also leaves the option to add too the booklet depending on what the child is working on (letters, animals, simple math, etc.) I thought these booklets would be perfect to take to church on Easter to help keep the kids calm and occupied. Happy Easter! 

Priceless Birthday Gift That Keeps on Giving

I started a tradition each year on Landen and Gabrielle's birthdays. I sit down and write a letter to each child. I write things that happened that year, things they are doing at that age (crawling, playing soccer, first sleep over, etc.), friends they play with, favorite toys, funny things they say, etc. Anything that would tell them a little bit about what they were like at that age. I started this because when I would ask my mom questions about what I was like (especially after I had my own kids) or what I did at a certain age, she would have a hard time remembering (who wouldn't after all these years). So, I thought this was a great solution and thank goodness because my kids are already asking me things like: When I was a baby, did I cry a lot? What did I play with when I was two? Who were my friends? How big was I?
These letters are an extra special gift (that costs nothing, but is worth so much) that I think they will cherish when they get older and especially when they start having their own kids.

Teaching Your Child Colors, Shapes, Letters and Numbers

How Do I Teach My Child Colors/Shapes/Letters/Numbers?


At the age of two, I started teaching my kids these things. I started off just introducing them to these things, but before I knew it, they were picking up on it and telling me their colors and letters on their own! As I have said many times before, I am a huge believer in consistency and doing things over and over with your child until it is clear to them. I am also an advocate for trying out new things and making learning fun for kids. Mix things up! Get creative! Get them involved in a game and/or a project where these things are being used. This creates a situation where your child is learning and having fun at the same time !

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Go outside! What colors and shapes can you find in nature? Collect sticks and put them together to form letters, numbers and shapes.



• Field Trip! In the grocery store, how many different apple colors are there? What different shapes are in the aisles?



• Flowers! Try and find all the colors of the rainbow in the flowers?



• Reading a book to your child: What colors are on the pages? What shapes are in the pictures?



• Getting your child dressed in the morning: Talk about what colors he/she has on.



• In the car: Look at the passing vehicles - what color are they? What shapes are on the buildings? Can you find an "A"?



• Cooking: Talk about the color in the foods you are preparing. Cut the vegetables into shapes. Making pancakes? Make them into shapes and letters. Add food coloring to batters to come up with new colors.

Projects and crafts are another great way to get your kids having fun while learning!

Here are some ideas:

• Have your kids paint different letters, numbers, shapes - let them experiment and get messy!


• Have them cut out different shapes (great for scissor skills too) and put them together to make a picture.


• Have your kids mix paints together to see what colors they can make.


• Use letter, number and shape cookie cutters as stencils.


• Stickers are a lot of fun for kids. Make a sticker album out of a notebook and the kids can put the letters on the corresponding page.


• Use alphabet cereal to make words. Spell their name.

The project possibilities are endless! You just need to find out what your child enjoys doing and run with it!!



In every thing you do, try and attach a color/shape/letter/number to it. That way, you are making it fun and interesting and not such a bore to learn. As with anything, don't do it so much that your kids' ears start ringing when they hear you mention a "circle" or the color "blue". At first, it will seem like your child is not even paying attention and that he/she is not retaining anything you are going over, but then one day you will be somewhere and your child will say, "Look mom, that truck is green!" Sweet success!




















One thing about teaching a child something new, repetition and making it fun are two main components to them catching on. Repeating colors and talking about colors over and over is the perfect way for your child to understand and get the colors down. Making it fun The main thing is do it over and over and over again. You can teach colors wherever you are: grocery store, looking at flowers, reading books, flashcards, in the car, outside, etc. You just have to go over it all the time and soon, your child will be in the car someday and say that is a green truck! AAHHH - satisfaction.

Halloween Word Find

My son is in first grade and he has been bringing home word finds that he has done and he also has spelling tests every week. When I was asked to come up with some games for his classroom Halloween party, one of them that I thought would be fun, and appropriate, was a "Halloween Word Find". I used my Cricut to cut out the letters to "Happy Halloween". I glued them onto square sheets of paper. I laminated them as well so they would hold up and could be used over and over. When I got to the classroom, I hid these square, letter cards all around the room. The kids had to find all the letters and work together to put the "saying" together. Out of all the games we played, this was the most popular. Kids love to find things and then it was even fun to work as a team to get the words together. They were all sounding out the letters and working together to get the task done. They asked if we could do it again after they finished it. This game could be adapted to any party, any theme, any holiday! Have fun!