Reindeer Feet {Guest Post: Amanda}

Hi! I'm happy to introduce you to a bloggy friend of mine, Amanda! You may remember her from her Searching for Super-Mom interview that I posted a while back. Amanda blogs at Natural Living Mama. Give her a visit and say hello! You can also keep up with Amanda via Twitter, Facebook, and Pintrest.
Take it away, Amanda!

Times are tough for a lot of us. Money is tight and life is stressful. I have also noticed a nasty trend of the “gimmies” during holidays that are supposed to be spent giving thanks, with an emphasis on the word GIVING. Because of this we have decided to have a handmade Christmas this year focusing on gifts custom made for the people we love.
Kids are young for such a short time so these homemade reindeer feet are the perfect keep sake for years to come. We made ornaments out of some, and made copies of others for our e-mail Christmas card and yearly letter. 

This is so much fun and so easy to do! Both my two year old daughter and my 8 month old son were pros, which I am sure had a lot to do with the help of their very patient and artsy grandmother.
Supplies:

• Heavy stock paper. We used both 150lb water color paper and card stock. We tried construction paper but it was too flimsy and not as pretty looking.
• Bronze acrylic paint
• Sponge brush
• Red ½ inch pompoms
• Googly eyes proportionate to the size of your child’s feet
• Glue
• Sharpie or black marker
• Scissors (optional)

Directions:

• Paint the bottom of the child’s foot with the paint and make an imprint on the paper.  We did that by having the kids sit in Moms lap or in the high chair and pressed the paper up against their foot. You can also paint their feet and let them run across a bunch of paper. My floors decided that we would do the less messy option.
• Press the paper against the feet and hope the child does not squirm while doing it. You can fit about 4 feet on one sheet of paper.
• Draw antlers between where the toes and foot meet on both sides.
• Cut out the reindeer.
• Glue nose and eyes on. We placed the glue dots where the eyes and nose went and she placed them. There were a few reindeer with mis-matching eyeballs but she was so proud of her self we just left them.
• Punch a hole in the top of the head and add a string if you are giving them as ornaments or glue them to your Christmas cards for a special holiday greeting!

Are you looking for some other handmade gift ideas?
Cinnamon ornaments- This super easy project is a fun one to do with kids. It has two ingredients and is loads of fun!
Homemade Vanilla Extract – This requires two ingredients and some patience and will make any food lover happy.
Herbal Bath Salts – These salts are great for both men and woman. They encourage relaxation and healing in stressful times and are really easy to make.
Lotion Bars – Three basic ingredients is all you need to make these moisturizing lotion bars.
Coffee Honey Sugar Scrub – This decadent sugar scrub is simple made with ingredients you have in your kitchen, smells amazing, exfoliating, moisturizing and reduces cellulite. What is not to love?

What are you making for the holidays this year?

Hand Print Holly

So, yesterday I showed you how to make a fun Hand Print Christmas Tree, and you had 2 hand prints left over. As promised, here is the cute craft that you can make out of those-
Hand Print Holly!

 They are super easy to make!

Hand Print Christmas Tree

I want to share with you a fun craft that we make nearly every year- a Hand Print Christmas Tree.
It's a lot of fun, and with just a little guidance from you, your kids will be giggling and decorating their tree in no time... well, mine were, anyway!
Seriously, how cute are these, that my 3 youngest made?

Here's how easy they are to make:

How to Make a Pumpkin Pinata

***This is an old post moved here from my old blog.*** 

    We have always incorporated a bit of Halloween in our October birthdays. This year, our youngest turned 1. I thought a pumpkin pinata would be perfect! It would be a great activity/decoration for a Halloween party, as well. OK, technically, it is a Jack-O-Lantern, but I like the ring of Pumpkin Pinata. Say it a few times... sounds better, hu? Well, whatever you decide to call it, it's a fun and easy project. It takes a while to make, but it is well worth the time.

    A lot of people use a flour/water mixture for the paper mache paste, and some even use starch. I decided to use a mixture of white glue and water because I wanted the pinata to be non-perishable. Here's how we made ours:

Pumpkin Pinata

What you need:
old newspaper (recycle bin)
white printer paper (optional- I used this for the final layer so that we could use less paint)
glue (I bought white Elmer's School Glue when it was on sale for back to school- 40cents each at Walmart)
water
paint and brushes (I got cheap poster paint at the dollar store)
balloons (I bought a pack of 2 punching balloons from the dollar store)
colored tissue paper or streamers (dollar store)
disposable bowls or pan (dollar store)
paper towel tube
a pencil
small wrapped candy and/or little toys

Instructions:

1. Spread a few sheets of newspaper over your work surface.
2. Tear some of your remaining newspaper into strips about 1-2" wide by 3-4" long. Have a good supply ready for you.
3. In your disposable bowl or pan, mix equal amounts of glue and water. (Make sure you have some glue left over for applying the tissue or streamer later).
4. Blow up your balloon and tie it off tightly.
5. Dip newspaper strips into the glue mixture and lay over the entire surface of the balloon except the very top of the balloon. Leave a hole about the size of the paper towel tube uncovered on the top.
6. Repeat step 5 until you have 3 or 4 layers of newspaper.
7. Now do one more layer using the plain white paper.





8. Let it dry completely. (overnight)

Once the paper mache is dry, you can pop the balloon and remove it. Then continue on to the next phase:

1. Paint the paper mache pumpkin orange, and paint a Jack-O-Lantern face on it. 
2. Cut the paper towel tube to use as a stem and paint it green. Let it dry.
3. Use a hole punch or a nail, or something sharp (I used a small screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit) to punch 2 holes near the top of the pumpkin. You can attach string here to hang it up.
4. Cut 1 inch square pieces of tissue paper or streamers. Put the eraser end of the pencil in the center of the square. Twist the paper around the pencil and either dip the paper into the glue, or spread some glue onto the pumpkin and apply it. Do this for the entire pumpkin. We used orange streamers for the pumpkin and black for around the eyes, nose, & mouth. Then, we used yellow tissue paper for the insides of the eyes, nose, & mouth. ***





5. Attach the paper towel tube stem to the top of the pumpkin, leaving the top open so that you can fill it later. Cut some green tissue paper into squares and cut a fringe on one side. Glue these to the paper towel tube and around the area where you attached it.***

6. Fill the pinata with the filling of your choice.
7. Squish the top of the stem together and glue it closed. Let it dry. Your pumpkin pinata is now finished!

Our Pumpkin Pinata wearing my 1 year old's Birthday Tiara

*** You can cover the entire pinata with the "fringe" style tissue paper if you don't want to use the "pencil" method. I have to be honest, while I think that the "pencil" method looks better, it takes a LONG time to do. The "fringe" method is much quicker and it still looks good, so if time is an issue for you, this would be the better option.

Wonder Box: Review, Discount Code, & Giveaway!

Have you ever visited Education.com?
I have.
A LOT!
It's been one of my favorite go-to educational sites since I first discovered it a few years ago. I love everything from the printable worksheets to the fun kids' activities!
You can imagine how excited I was when I got an email asking if I would like to try out and review one of their new products, the Wonder Box.  In fact, I may or may not have (mostly may) used the word "giddy" in my email response. Education.com's representative, Kat, is super cool and she sent me one right away!
Pretty Awesome, right?

It gets better!
Kat is offering all of my readers a $10 discount on any Wonder Box purchase! Just use the code: CAPE10 at checkout for the discount! (Code expires 10/01/12)
She is also providing a FREE Wonder Box to one lucky winner! Make sure you enter my Rafflecopter Giveaway for your chance to win!
Before we go any further, I want to disclose to you now, that I can sit here and tell you good things about education.com all day long. It is a wonderful resource for parents and homeschoolers, so make sure you bookmark it.
I'll wait....
I want to assure you that I will not let my love for my opinion of the site affect my honest review of the Wonder Box.

Wonder Box. 
The name says it all! From the moment we got it, my youngest kids were curious to see what was in it. As I opened it, we first noticed the cute packaging and the fun, and (I am assuming) friendly little Otter. As we explored further, we uncovered an array of neat little packages with tags and instructions. I have to admit, I was just as excited to see what all was in there as the kids were! After further investigation, I learned that we got the Once Upon a Time box!
The Once Upon a Time Wonder Box included 4 fun activities: a Story Cape, Build Your Own Puppet, Story Cards, and a Stone Soup book!

We decided to start with the Story Cards.
As I laid them out on the table, the kids were already getting ideas for their story. Once we began, they took turns choosing a card and making up their story. There was a nice variety of cards with many possibilities of how they can relate together for story, after story, after story! My kids have been playing with them every day since we got them. They use them on their own as well as using them to tell stories to each other. The more practice they have with the cards, the more elaborate and creative their stories are. I am impressed!

 

Next up was the Story Cape.
I spread the cape out onto the craft table and asked my girls for design ideas. They decided that it should be a Shape Cape, and they would decorate it with colorful shapes. They also wanted to write Up, up, and away! on it. My 5 and 7 year olds worked on it, and my toddler was able to get her hand in there to add her artistic touches to it as well. When they were finished, I ironed on the design to set it, then they took turns trying it on and "flying" across the room! It seems like someone is always wearing that cape! My 5 year old even tried to wear it to bed.
My girls wanted to make the Puppet next.
They sorted the shapes and colors on the craft table, then worked together to decide how to make their puppet. Okay, it wasn't that easy. They both started with different ideas. I used that opportunity to reinforce the concept of cooperation and to work on their negotiation skills. It ended up going smoothly and they soon had the puppet the way they wanted it. The only problem was that they were too impatient to let the glue dry completely and some of the shapes ended up falling off. I solved that issue with my glue gun. A few minutes later, they were playing with their puppet, now known as Mr. Funny- the Joke Telling Dragon.
We saved the book, Stone Soup, for last.
We read it and had a nice little discussion afterward. We talked about making our own stone soup and the kids shared which foods they would donate to the pot. They even decided that Mr. Funny would bring the beef, salt, and pepper! After that, they got to color the pages of the book!
We really enjoyed all of the activities. We had fun creating the cape and Mr. Funny. We explored many skills, including storytelling, imagination, shapes and colors. The kids had a blast with everything in the Wonder Box. Aside from the obvious educational benefits the Wonder Box offers for kids, it is a great value to parents. This isn't one of those things that the kids do, then it gets put aside. After initially spending a few hours working on the projects, my kids have been playing with everything since!

Here's what my kids have to say about it:
My 5 year old- "My favorite was making Mr. Funny"
My 7 year old-"I liked the Wonder Box so much that I just want to play with everything in it all day long! My favorite thing was making Mr. Funny!"
My 12 year old- "Okay, I admit it, I used the story cards too."
My almost 2 year old enjoys wearing the cape, looking at the story cards, and listening to the Stone Soup story.

Enter to win your own Wonder Box Below!

*For shipping purposes, the giveaway is open to residents of the contiguous US states only.*
Don't forget to use the code CAPE10 to receive $10 off of any Wonder Box Purchase!
(Code expires 10/01/12)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here to see which super parties I link up to!

Make Your Own Pom Poms

We were watching a kids' sing along video a couple weekends ago, when the song Take Me Out to the Ball Game came on. They showed kids playing baseball... and ....
CHEERLEADERS!!!
My five year old jumped up and started jumping around like the little cheerleaders she saw on tv. She loved it!
Every time my kids see something like that that they like, they immediately start planning their Halloween costume. I think they've each decided on at least 25 different costumes, so far!

Well, my five year old decided that a cheerleader would be a great thing to dress up as. She got all excited and told me that she can even make her own pom poms! I asked her how she would make them and she says, "Just get a paper towel tube and cut it and get some ribbons and cut them and put them in the paper towel tubes and you have pom poms!!!!" Yeah... she said it all in one breath, just like that. Impressive. I was even more impressed with her idea! We had to make it happen!

I'll show you how you can make your own.

As seen Online...

My kids love music!
They can turn just about anything into a musical instrument... a bucket, a couple of sticks, various bumpy objects that they can run something across to make sound... you get the idea.

When I saw a tutorial for a Drinking Straw Flute from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational (you should totally check her site out!), I knew my kids would love it!
We just had to make a few of our own!

I like the fact that this project incorporated measuring and size relations, as well as the musical aspect of it. Learning has never been so fun!

Thank you Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational! We had a lot of fun!

As Seen Online...

As soon as I saw the cute little recycled t-shirt Barefoot Sandals that Lauren from Tutus and Tea Parties made, I knew I wanted to make some for my 1 1/2 year old!

I didn't have a shirt in mind to use, but I was at the store and standing in front of the felt display. I was going to get pink and white, then find a shirt later... they were out of pink! So, I just got white. I figured I could always take a marker to it and color it the color I needed, if necessary.

It turned out that I did use a pink shirt... but I realized that the felt wouldn't really show anyway, so I just left it white.
My daughter loves her barefoot sandals!

They were very easy to make and didn't take much time at all. Lauren's tutorial was easy to follow and a lot of fun! 

Thank you Tutus and Tea Parties!!!

Quick Paper Hand Puppets

Psssst... I have a secret!

It's a way to keep the kids involved in a fun activity so that you can cook dinner, fold the laundry, or play on the computer for a little while.
It only takes about five minutes of your time, yet the kids will stay involved for a good hour, at least!

Wanna know what it is?

Handprint Flowers

A few days ago, I went over and visited a really cool "Pinteresting Party", hosted by Tutus & Tea Parties and Here's to Handy Andy (which are both really awesome blogs, and you should totally check them out).

While there, I saw a really super-cute craft by Two Sasters. They shared a Handprint Flower Bouquet.  I loved it so much, that I wanted to make it with my kids!

We altered ours a bit. We decided to make pictures. We used colored paper, crayons, curling ribbon, and butterflies cut out of some leftover streamers.
Check it out!

My 5 year old made this one.

I helped my 1 1/2 year old with this.

My 7 year old was feeling too sick to finish hers, so I saved her handprints. She will finish when she is feeling better. (The older kids were off playing video games. lol)

Making little crafts like these is a perfect opportunity for a "teaching moment".
Some things you can talk about:

• Flowers, and how they grow from seeds (or bulbs), and how bees pollinate them. 
• Butterflies and how they change from caterpillars to butterflies. 
• Size- the size of their hand compared to your hand or their sister's or brother's hand. Compare bigger and smaller.
• Measuring- measure the flower stems and the flowers, etc.
• Preschoolers can explore colors and you can reinforce the color names.

Really, anything you can think of at the time can be a learning experience or just a fun way to have conversation with your little ones.