Cardboard Creation- Pet Carrier

Since we seem to be in a cardboard craze in the crafting world these days I wanted to share with you a creation I recently crafted.
For Emma's 5th birthday a few weeks ago we gave her this very sweet handmade kitten from Magic Cabin. Well, she just has fallen in love with her kitty, Susie and with all that love comes many requests.

The list of needs for Susie the cat:

• water bowl
• food bowl
• pretend felt cat food
• blanket
• bed
• pet carrier 
• winter jacket
• feather stick cat toy

I have not fulfilled the entire list at the moment. Who new this gift would give me such a long list of creative chores to fill? But, I did make the pet carrier. I used an empty box of Huggies. I spotted the handles on the box sitting by recycling and new it would be perfect. So, along with a some pretty duct tape and an Xacto knife our pet carrier was made and it is getting much use. Susie is a busy gal after all. 

Mud Pie Kitchen

 This is the mud pie kitchen I put together this summer for my children. It has been an absolute treasure. Join me over at Family Sponge today to see how it all came together and how it works for us.

Celebrate National S'mores Day

 August 10, 2012 is National S'mores Day! What a wonderful day to celebrate. I just love silly holidays. It creates memories, traditions and brings families together.
As much as I love the idea of eating s'mores all day.....that's just not going to happen. So, to start our celebration off right and with a little less sugar I made a pretend s'mores kit for the kids.

 Here's how I did it:

1. Build a pretend campfire with rocks, paper rolls, sticks, tissue paper and battery tea lights, if you have them.
2. Cut sheets of brown and tan felt into rectangles for the chocolate bars and graham crackers.
3. Give the kids cotton balls and sticks for the roasting.

They are now ready to get to some serious s'mores making and this was so easy to set up with things that most of us have already. This is a great opportunity for some fun pretend play. I bet a really darling s'mores felt set can be made with some extra time, but this was kind of a last minute thing. Next year I WILL prepare!

Now, I am not that evil of a hippie mother to force my sugar hungry children to only make fake s'mores all day and dream of the sugar they might be having at the neighbors house on National S'mores Day! So, I will leave you with 10 crazy s'mores recipes from Bon Appetit. Enjoy!!

Olympics Fun- The Balance Beam

 With the Olympics in full swing we have been setting up many obstacle courses in our home. The kids love this sort of indoor play and they are so fascinated by the Olympics so they are very eager to swing and move just like they see the athletes do.

 About a month or so ago I built a balance beam for some extra gross motor fun in our playroom. I wish I could give you more specific instructions for this, but honestly my handy man at Lowe's was a huge help in this since I am not the most handy when it comes to building these sorts of things. But, basically I used one 8' piece of wood and had two 9"pieces and one 6" inch piece cut out of it at Lowe's.  I connected the two 9" to the ends and the 6" in the center for stability. I used those bracket things (sorry I did say not handy) to connect it all.

 I think I may have the kids paint it one day, but for now it has been a wonderful addition to our obstacle courses just as it is!

Glow in the Dark Moon and Stars Painting

The kids made some fun glow in the dark paintings for their rooms last weekend. They enjoyed making them, but enjoyed turning out the lights over and over again once the painting was dry much more. 

Materials

glow in the dark paint
masking tape
black canvas
q-tips

 Using the masking tape make the shape of the moon on the canvas. The kids can dot the paint all over the canvas with the q-tips making stars and filling in the moon. I think a sponge would make some neat moon craters as well. Once dry, remove the tape and turn out the lights!

Cork Stamp Set, Homemade Birthday Gift

Homemade gifts are so special, unique and important in teaching children that we don't need to run out to the big box to buy everything. Making things ourselves with lots of love is a very special way to say Happy Birthday to friends and family.

Join me over at Family Sponge today as I show you these adorable stamps that are perfect for summer party gifts. 

Summer Sand Playdough

Today we made sand dough and I couldn't stop thinking of how, oh how can possibly make huge batches of this to send to each child I know. Yes, it was that great. This is basically mold-able sand and my kids had such fun with it! I gave them rocks and bugs to use with the dough, but they eventually started to add in their own nature findings. 

Best Playdough Ever Recipe!
4 cups of play sand
4 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup oil

Mix all ingredients and knead to soften up. Done. Go play!