First St. Paddy's Day Craft

Looking for an easy and inexpensive kid's St. Patrick's Day craft? I found this at Hobby Lobby and thought it would be perfect with our simple centerpiece this year.

We didn't glitter-it-up because I want to pull it out every year. I let her do her thing and she really enjoyed this independent craft.

She just used markers and sparkly shamrock foam stickers.

I can't wait to pull this out years to come and see where she was creatively at 2! (Don't forget to date it!!)

Salt Dough Shamrock Necklaces: Part 1

This is one of those crafts you can start without the kiddoes. Mine is night-night right now so I got started so she can finish it tomorrow!

First, you'll need to make salt dough and preheat your oven to 250 degrees...

You'll need 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of flour, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of warm tap water.

Mix the salt and flour together, then gradually add the water until dough becomes elastic. Use more flour if the dough is too sticky, and more water if too crumbly. Knead the dough to make sure ingredients are mixed well. You could mix your food coloring in at this point, but Monkey will be painting these once cooked.

On floured wax paper, roll the dough as you would sugar cookie dough and cut desired shapes. My little sister's birthday party is coming up, so we'll also be making a heart. Place shaped dough on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

I used a straw to poke holes where the string (or ribbon) will be looped through to make a necklace.

Bake an hour on each side, flip, and continue cooking another hour.

Once cooled, the kiddoes are free to paint! I will post Part 2 tomorrow!

How to Catch a Leprechaun...

1. Buy cheap rocks at T. J. Maxx (or if you happen to have enough in your yard...)

2. Spray paint 'em gold

3. Buy even cheaper pots at a thrift store

4. Spray paint those babies black

5. Do something creative with it all..

6. I'll get back to you on that when I figure out exactly what that should be.

Make your own crayons!

This is an old post, but I'm reposting because I'll be making these for the kids' Valentine treat bags this year.

This is super easy and gives new life to crayon bits! Just take all your crayon bits, remove the paper, and arrange in your tins. You could get really creative with your color mixtures, but I made it pretty simple considering it was the first try.

Pop in the oven at about 200 degrees.. just keep an eye on them! Once melted, set out until dried and molded. Mine popped out easily once cooled, so you shouldn't have any problems.

These are perfect for little one's hands. I sprang for the Tadoodles a while back and trust me, they were not worth the money!

I've made these a few times, and I really recommend not using "cheap-o" crayons. They bubble and don't really color once molded.

I found the heart muffin tins at the dollar store, but your possibilities endless!

Bear Hugs for Pop-Pop

This is what we did for Pop-Pop for Valentine's Day.

Fill a jar or cute container with Teddy Grahams.

Then, simply add a pretty sticker, ribbon, and note card. You could get really creative with this, but I wanted to keep it simple so that he could reuse the jar.

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

Hope everyone had a blessed Mother's Day!

A touch of femininity...

I recently scored a huge bag of lace, both new and vintage, at Goodwill and have had a blast using it. This week I lined the shelf in my hutch with lace using double-sided tape...

I also found this idea in a magazine. Using thumbtacks and lace, I made an "organizer" for all the small things in my bathroom drawer...

Not only does it keep it all from moving around and getting lost amongst other things, it brings a smile to my face each time I open the drawer.
Ahh, I love being a girl. :)