Tiny Prints: Holiday Cards!

Tiny Prints is an awesome company that offers customized cards and other gifts for all occasions.  They also have amazing sales and promotions constantly showing their customers that they do appreciate us!

I absolutely adore this Tiny Prints, Vintage Christmas Card.

What do you think about the above card?  What would you choose?  I would love for you to share the upcoming joyous season by looking to see what customized card you might choose!

Happy Holiday's!  (Sang in my best singing voice.. lol)

Candice S

Gobble Gobble

Happy, Early Thanksgiving!!  I am thankful for my beautiful kids and loving husband.  For our health, happiness, and the roof over our head.  I am thankful for so many things this year!

.. I wanted to share some of the fun that we've been crafting around in our house lately.  We've made hair bows, decorations, and have gone on nature walks to collect pine cones and rocks.

Simple Turkey Hair bow:  Ribbon, cheap $1.00 clips, hot glue gun, and some sequins.  :)  I've since made more to wear to Thanksgiving and NOT to the school playground ...

Fun Fall Wreath:  Harmony did this in school, but it's fun none-the-less!  Simple supplies are leaves, real or fake, ribbon, and a paper plate.

 This little festive guy is adorable!  Definitely one of my favorite crafts by far! 

 Hand Turkey's!  All you need is paper, crayons, and your little one's hand! 

This is a picture of our family.  :o)

 We made this cornucopia craft last year out of torn up construction paper.  Harmony really enjoyed tearing it and pasting it together.

 This turkey is our newest addition and was made with dollar store clothespins, paint, crayons, glitter, googly eyes, and lots of scrapbook paper.  Harmony is on a mission to find the perfect "girly" accessory to clip on her. 



I am looking forward to attempting more Thanksgiving themed activities over the weekend that I can't wait to share with you! 

Candice S

Linking to...

Fall Garland

I don't have a lot of space for Fall/Autumn inspired decorations so I have been very selective with what we have been creating and hanging around our home's living area.  I am so often inspired by awesome garlands of all shapes, themes, and sizes, and decided that it was time to grab my little Harmony helper and get to work!

We made Ghosts, Spiders, Pumpkins, Leaves, and used a shaving cream painting technique for our Fall Leaves.  I did most of the cutting.  Harmony is still learning to plunge into what she calls, "Snipping".. Everything turned out so unique and with an elegant appearance. 

Look at how we did...  My other helper was my glue gun and hole punch.  I used scrapbook paper for each fall creature and then hung each on up on fishing line.  Our spider was made out of a bottle cap, felt fitted and then glued on top.

 

Shaving Cream Painting:  Combine paint and shaving cream and then swirl with a toothpick.  Dip cardstock into paint (and you can remove shaving cream if there's excess..)  Wawwwllaaaaa.. Beautiful, Fall Leaves!

What Fall activities have you enjoyed doing?

Happy Fall!

Candice S

Autumn Apple Wreath

Did I mention, that I am utterly in love and completely addicted to Pinterest?  Well, I cannot help but find an amazing array of inspiration everywhere I click...Starting with this awesome Autumn Apple Wreath pictured below from The Crafty Crow.

Source: thecraftycrow.net via Candice on Pinterest

 I saw it and couldn't help but think that it was completely age appropriate for my 18 month old and my five year old to do together!  .. Let me tell you, it was a huge hit in our house this morning! 

Here's what you need:

Two Cereal Boxes

Red Paint for Apple Stamp

Green Paint for Thumb Prints

(I'm glad that I decided to go with our homemade finger paint recipe because Baby Brother enjoyed taking in between work breaks to munch on his apple)

Scissors to cutout the apple's after they dry.  I did Mark Jr.'s and Harmony dd her own.

Hot Glue Gun for Parent (Tacky glue did not hold)

Plate

Have fun making your Autumn Apple Wreath!

During the "drying process" we decided to have some story time.  The following is our Fall theme books that we selected from the library and we've enjoyed every one of them!

Enjoy!

Candice S

Fall Apple Tree Sewing Activity (18 months-Grade K)

I adapted my own version of this sewing activity from the apple thematic unit that I found on Pinterest.

Source: thecraftycrow.net via Candice on Pinterest

 

Apple Tree's for Sewing:

*  Drew the tree top and then the stump on two different types of scrapbook paper.  You can use construction paper or even newspaper!

*  I then sliced up a cereal box to provide more support for the tree (you can use a cardboard box.. a cereal box is thinner so it's easier to cut)

*  Modpodge your tree and stump onto the cardboard and wait for it to dry.

*  Cutout after they have dried.

*  Glue tree onto stump.  (this is entirely optional, but much easier if you are making these for sewing)

*  Grab your hole punch and start punching!  :)

*  Measure your yarn (I found that threading the tree's was the easiest way to go about this so you could figure out just how much yarn you're going to need)

*  I cutout felt apples for Harmony's complicated sewing apple tree.  For the smaller tree I cutout circles and then stems.  I glued them onto baby food jars that I've had saved up for art projects so Mark Jr. (18 month old) can handle the smaller pieces more easily AND so he doesn't eat them.  He loves doing that.  :)

It was super easy!  My hand is killing me, however, from having to punch all of those holes for Harmony's tree.  I kept Mark Jr.'s (on the left) simple so he could get accustomed to stringing it through without becoming frustrated.  I can't wait to see what they think tomorrow!

What other types of fun sewing activities do your little one's enjoy doing?

Candice S

Shapes Worksheet

Shapes Prek-K

This is a shapes worksheet that I whipped up tonight.  Harmony needed to practice her shapes, which included the trapezoid and the hexagon.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find many worksheets offering this so I decided to get creative!  :)  You can have your child trace the shape and then draw it by free hand.  I also had Harmony practice writing the shapes name underneath when she was completed with the each set.

Enjoy!

Candice S

Tot Spot: Montessori Sensory Basket

I read How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way at the beginning of the year and fell in love with quite a bit of Dr. Montessori's methods for teaching small children and the emphasis of importance she placed on supporting the learning environment from birth and beyond.  Simple techniques are discussed, as well as ideas's for extremely simple sensory play examples using items from the home.

  Creating a nature basket is an idea that is recommended for babies.  I have found that most of our learning toys, textures, and objects laying around the house have become favorites for our basket.  About once a month I change out the books, toys, and textures so we can explore something new.

Sensory Basket

Straws with a small, medium, and large cup used for nesting.  My 18 month old loves nesting cups and placing objects (straws) inside of them so this idea was super simple and he LOVES it! 

Pom Pom Game.  A recycled tub of butter becomes a game by stuffing pom pom's inside the hole, which promotes coordination.  Mark's attention span is astonishing while playing this game.

Texture Swatch/Sample.  A sewing swatch with a picture on it for Mark Jr. to feel, see, and explore.  The picture is of Mommy and Ni Ni (Sister)

Nesting Caps.  Various bottle cap sizes to use as a nesting toy.  **Beware of smaller bottle caps as babies enjoy placing these in their mouths.

V Tech Record and Learn Photo Album is definitely one of our favorite items.  You can record a personalized story and change out the photo's as often as you'd like.  This product also plays music and explores sights and sounds... 

I included some our Sock Puppet's for role play.. and to use while reading the following stories!  Mark loves using these and growling..  "Rooooaaarrr"





What are some of your favorite activities to do with your toddlers?

Candice S