Aren’t these beautiful!?  These Valentine Crayon Hearts are from the super talented Heather from Whipper Berry.  I have to say she has a pretty cool name too….you know Heather….and my name happens to be Heather too.  Ha!

Heather guides you through on how to make these adorable glitter heart crayons over on her blog.  Click on the link above. 

And you have to check out her beautiful photo’s that are included in her DIY.

And if you are looking for other ideas on making heart crayons, last year I made similar crayon hearts for the girls friends as school

Along with the crayon I included a color page

If you want to print out a free page to hand out to your kids friends at school head over to my post last year for Kid’s Valentine Coloring Card

I thought I would feature a few posts I’ve done in the past and a few I’ve found out in internet world of holiday craft and projects you can do with the kids.  Some these projects your kids can do on their own while you finish those last minute holiday chores.  A big plus in my book as I try to finish up my own last minute Christmas chores.  Too much to do and too little time!

Now let the fun begin!

Holiday Kid Craft Ideas

Christmas Puppets

Gingerbread Houses

Winter Wonderland Snowglobe Ornament

Candy Cane Reindeers

Waterless Snowglobes – Tidy Mom

Have fun and Happy Holidays!!

 The girls and I have been busy making these super fun reindeer candy canes for their friends at school.  They are really easy to make and a whole lot of fun for the little ones to help…and even more fun for them to hand out to their friends. 

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Candy Canes

Brown yarn (try to pick a thicker yarn)

Wiggle Eyes

Small Pom Pom’s – red or black

Ribbon or Twine

Fabric Glue

 Here is how you make these little guys:

Step 1: Take two candy canes and place them so the arc of the candy cane looks like the reindeer antlers.  Tape the candy canes together so they stay in place.

Step 2: Take the yarn and start wrapping it around the candy canes.  In order to make them look more like a reindeer face, wrap the center of the candy cane with more yarn to make it thicker.  See pictures.  Once the candy cane is all wrapped up, place a drop of glue on the back side to stick the end piece of the yarn.

Step 3: Next glue the wiggle eyes onto the top part of the yarn to make the reindeer eyes.

Step 4: Place a red of black pom pom onto the face of the reindeer to make his (or her) nose. 

Step 5: Take the ribbon or twine of choice wrap around the “neck” of the reindeer and tie into a bow.  You could also tie a bell onto the front but I couldn’t find them anywhere at my craft store.

And there you have it, I fun little gift to hand out to your child’s friends at school. Or to use on a dessert table for Christmas.  Have fun!

It was a Monkey of a good time this weekend as we celebrated the girls 4th birthday party at our local play gym.  Barrel of Monkey’s is the gym so it was only appropriate to have a monkey birthday party filled with all things monkey!  The gym was filled with little people (and big people) and we all had fun celebrating the big day!

The kids got to run around the gym swing on monkey bars (only appropriate since it was a monkey party), flying through the air, jumping for bubbles, climbing a mini rock wall, and even stopping to have fun doing a monkey craft. 

After all the play time there was a quick stop for lunch.  The kids had their own table and the adults had their own table.  The kids lunch table was made up of fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cups of pirate booty of Annie’s Cheddar Rabbits, cheese, and chicken nuggets.  For the adults the table was filled with two varieties of chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, and mini cupcakes.

After lunch some more playing and running around the monkey gym only enough playing to work up their appetite for dessert….cupcakes.  Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Banana and Cream Cheese, and Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercream topped with monkey and flower fondant toppers.  Also on the table were monkey sugar cookies that went into the kids favor bags at the end of the party so they could take home to enjoy later.

Other items stuck inside the favor bags were: monkey bracelets, coloring book, crayons, play-do, organic lollipops, monkey erasers, bouncy ball, and the adorable monkey cookies.

We all had a good time….especially the birthday girls….

And even the resident monkey at the Barrel of Monkey’s had a monkey of a good time….

Vendors:

Gym – Barrel of Monkey’s

Tissue Pom Poms – I made using Martha’s Tissue Poms pack

Happy 4th Birthday Monkey Signs – I made

Monkey and Flower Fondant Toppers – Clementines Cupcakes

Monkey Sugar Cookies – Delicious Dozen

Monkey Centerpieces (only monkey on stick) – Sweet Heart Party Shop

Napkins, Cups, and Stripe Straws – Sweet Lulu

Plates – Target

Food Sticks – I made

Favor Tags – I designed

Need something to do with the kids on the days leading up to Thanksgiving?  Here is a fun craft that will keep them busy.  Turkey Pine Cones!  Helps clear some of those pine cones in the yard too.  Here in South Florida pine cones are rare to find, but on a wild hunt we were able to find some out and about.  These turkey’s are fun holiday craft for kids and adults and they can not only be used for decorations, but also as place holders, or even favors for guest to take home with them.  Have fun!

Here is what you’ll need:

Materials:

- Pine Cones

- Felt – Orange

- Wiggle Eyes

- Pipe Cleaners in fall colors (brown, tan, yellow, orange, red, etc.)

- Brown Pom Poms

Instructions:

1.) For each turkey, cut out a yellow beak. Then glue the beak and a pair of googly eyes onto a pom-pom to create the turkey’s head.

2.) Glue the pom-pom head to the tip of a pinecone. Allow the glue to dry.

3.) Wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle of the turkey’s cone body, starting from the top and twisting it together a few times on the underside. Separate the ends of the pipe cleaner (below the twists) and bend each tip into a 3-toed foot.

4.) For the turkey’s tail, individually wrap 3 or 4 pipe cleaners around the back of the pinecone, starting from the underside and twisting them together a few times on the top of the pinecone to secure them. Then loop both ends of each pipe cleaner to shape tail feathers.

You can see a video on Disney’s Family Fun that shows you how to make this fun little turkey too.

This turkey can not only be a fun decoration for Turkey Day, but it can also be a place card holder for your Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy crafting!  And most of all Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What a fabulous kids Thanksgiving table by The Savvy Moms Guide.  They outdid themselves with their play date to give thanks. With Thanksgiving right around the corner I had to share this adorable party with you. I’m hoping to use a couple of their great ideas for Thanksgiving with my little ones.

Like these super cute pinecone owls! 

They created the owls made from pine cones that also served as décor for the table. Their idea came to life with the help of a tutorial from Bristol Moms.  They added their our own Savvy touches to the owls too.

For the food, they selected a full meal for the kids to enjoy. First, an adorable turkey made from fruit, cheese and vegetables. And second “Cheese Pies” made from biscuits and cheese baked on a stick.

Visit The Savvy Moms Guide to get more details on this super “Whoot of Thanks” party!

In my house lately it’s been all about this one question, “Mommy, what starts with A…or B…or C”…and the list goes on.  I have two busy preschoolers that are learning their alphabet at school and every week they learn a new letter.  Another thing that is on the top of their list is coloring.  I came across these fabulous coloring animal alphabet pages from education.com and had to share.  If you are looking to help your little ones learn their alphabet (and animals that start with that letter) these are for you.  These would be fun to frame after the little ones are done and place on their walls.  That way you could practice every day and have a little artwork from your little ones on the walls.

Hop over and see the complete letter animal alphabet and print your own set for free.  Have fun and happy coloring! 

Halloween is almost here and I don’t know about your house but I have 2 little girls who are very excited about Halloween this year.  We’ve already been doing several Halloween crafts and decorating the house.  They can’t get enough of Halloween this year!  You can see the Indoor Halloween Wreath I made for their door on the mom side of the blog.  I have been on the hunt for other Halloween crafts to do with the little ones and thought I would share some of my finds.  I can wait to do some of these Halloween crafts with my munchkins.

Pictured Above: Bat-O-Lanterns, Hanging Bats, Frankenstein, and Spider Pumpkins

Pictured Above: Playful Bats, Candy Corn Garland, Play Dough Monsters, and Spooky Shadow Makers

Have fun and happy Halloween crafting!

Halloween is a little over a month away.  I don’t know about your house but it’s a conversation that is brought up often.  Of course each time they change their minds of what they want to be, but we are all excited. 

While on Pinterest today I found Laurie’s Tutu Boutique and I fell in love with the adorable scarecrow costumepictured above.  Laurie’s etsy shop has some other really adorable costumes that could be perfect for your little one.  Like this little butterfly…

And this costume would be a winner in my house, Rapunzel.  It is one of our favorite movies these days and we’ve watched it several times.  What a beautiful costume!

Be sure to head over to Laurie’s Etsy shop to see more amazing costume’s and tutu’s for this coming Halloween.

Around my house play dough is my go-to activity on a rainy day.  The girls can play with this stuff for hours.  Most of the time they end up pretending to make me a “salad” and my husband “pizza”.  Or in some cases they will decide ice cream is there choice.  The play dough we have is now a dry mess and yes I know you can add water and it comes back to life but I thought it would be fun for us to get in the kitchen on another rainy afternoon over the past weekend and make play dough.  I actually asked the girls if this is something they would want to do, they were so excited!  Actually so excited that as soon as they woke up from their nap they were pulling their chairs up to the island of the kitchen so we can start making playdough.  I decided I would do a gluten-free play dough.  If you follow my food page, then you know gluten-free is a choice in my house as of late.  However, if you aren’t a gluten-free house you can easily use regular all-purpose flour in place of the rice flour.  I’m sure if will work just the same.  The play dough is quick and easy to make and with little helpers it makes making this stuff a whole lot of fun!

Homemade Gluten-Free Play Dough

1 cup rice flour (I used brown rice because that’s what I had)

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup salt

2 cups water (warm)

2 teaspoons oil

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in saucepan, cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 5 minutes or until it forms a ball.  Don’t be worried if it is really watery, just keep stirring until it starts to form a “dough ball”

Color Options:

Food Coloring

Food Gel (such as Wilton’s)

Suger-Free Kool Aid (this adds a nice smell to the dough too)

When the dough has cooled off slightly divide into small balls and work in the coloring of choice with hands.  I used a combo of Kool Aid and Food Gel.  You can find food gel at your local craft store in the cake aisle.  I had a lot and the girls wanted pink so the gels worked better.  If you are using the gel, it doesn’t take much to achieve the color.  If using Kool Aid the colors will be subtle, but your play dough will smell yummy!

If you opt for food coloring or the gel and still want your dough to smell nice you can use scented oils, like lavendar or other calming type oils.  That way the kids stay super relaxed when playing with their play dough, wink. 

Once you have made your play dough colors, wrap them up in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container.  I happen to find these little containers around the house.  They used to hold paint, which had actually dried out so it was great to re-use for the play dough.

Have fun!!  And I hope your little ones enjoy making (and playing) with their own play dough as much as mine did.