Tissue Paper Dyed Easter Eggs

I saw this Easter egg craft on The Crafty Crow's blog...looks like fun!

Thrifty Thursday: Inexpensive and Easy Window Treatments

I saw this idea posted and wanted to scream with delight! I've been looking for an easy way to dress the girls' bedroom window. I think this will do nicely!

Feeling Fallishly Productive

Did you sign up for the free holiday countdown e-course? I'm thrilled to report that we have: 1) planned costumes (except for one hold out), 2) decorated the interior windows and some doorways with homemade garland (see picture), 3) calendared some exciting activities such as a trip to the Butterflyfest and a local "haunted" history tour (age appropriate, of course), and 4) bought treats to hand out at our church's Trunk or Treat. Whew...I'm feeling very productive, indeed! Amazing what a little e-course will do to get your fall holiday spirit going. :)

Freebie Friday - Nearly FREE Halloween Decorations

I LOVE this post about budget decorating for Halloween. Most of the ideas use things you already have around the house (such as milk jugs, egg cartons, and black markers) and are very easy to pull together. Long live the frugal decorator!

WFMW: What To Do With ALL THOSE Coloring Pages!

My kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to color. I didn't like throwing their creations in the trash, so I started saving their works of art in a binder. When it's time for thank you cards (such as following birthdays or play dates), I pull out a generic piece (i.e, one without "I Love You, Mom! or something similar) and allow them to choose which work of art to pass along to the thank you card recipient. All we have to do is have them sign their names and add a sentiment such as "Thank you for the birthday gift!"

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I had the privilege of preparing the cupcakes for a friend's baby shower recently. The thought of working with fondant again made my stomach turn, so of course I Googled "baby shower cupcakes" and came across the idea for these cuties! So much easier and fun to make. I added bonnets at the last minute by cutting the edges off of paper cupcake liners and pressing them into the top of the cupcake. You can see my inspiration here. (There was one other site, but of course I can't seem to locate it now!)

Thrifty Thursday - Hot Dog Booklet

Finally! Another use for all of the unnecessary paper that comes into the house. I love this hot dog book because you can use a piece of paper with writing on one side already. My kids shudder when I make them use both sides of a piece of paper before getting a new one, but I think they will love this project! Thanks to The Crafty Crow whose blog took me to the World Preschool Mom whose blog took me to the hot dog book at Making Books With Children. Whew. Lucky find!

Baby Shower Cake

As I mentioned a few days ago, a friend of mine is having a baby, so of course a small group of us couldn't wait to throw a shower. I have a thing for making cakes. It's not that I'm all that good at it...I just enjoy doing it! So, my sister and I set out to make what seemed to me an impossibly difficult cake. I mean, it looked easy, but I knew working with a new medium like fondant icing wouldn't be all that easy. Especially when I went to buy some at the cake store near my house and they were out of pink. And yellow. And white. Um, excuse me, but is this really a cake decorating supply store?! The gentleman was kind enough to provide me with a suggestion for a fondant icing recipe; he said it tasted much better than what he sold anyway. I guess I'm glad he was out of the prefab stuff.

I must say I never thought the icing would ever come together. It was the stickiest goo I've ever touched and I still don't know how it turned out as well as it did. I got quite an upper body workout from the kneading and sis did a great job of encouraging me through it. "This will never work!" I lamented. "Just keep kneading, kneading, kneading....just keep kneading..." she would chant. In my mind in sounded like a sing-songy rendition of the Marlin and Dori exchanges in Finding Nemo. "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..."

Anyway, behold the fruits of our labors {get it?.....get it?}! We used two small Pyrex dishes for the, um, chest, and a larger round dish for the belly. A small round ball of fondant can serve as the belly button. We placed these atop a 9X13 cake. You can read all about the general steps we followed, which are listed here.

So, the next time you are in the mood for cake and want to burn the calories before you eat it, skip the gym and make a cake with fondant icing!

Flannel Board DIY

A couple of years ago I got my hands on a copy of The Flannel Board Storytelling Book. I instantly fell in love. I decided I would have to make the perfect flannel board. Two years passed. I hadn't found the perfect materials in the right combination (compared to the perfect image in my mind). So, like most of my visionary crafts, I forgot about it. If I didn't do it perfectly, I couldn't do it! (Obviously I have an obsession with making things just right--must be why I don't get a lot of crafty things done). Then, I saw Scribbit's post about her family's flannel board. I was inspired again! And then did nothing.

The other day I was reading Dora books to my 4 yr old (seen peeking over the top of the board--nice view up the nose, right?) and just couldn't take another Dora story. I just couldn't! I decided to distract her by making a flannel board. I pulled out some flannel I bought about a hundred years ago, cut one of my oldest daughter's old science boards in thirds, and then stapled away! What you see before you is my humble little flannel board. It is not the "right" color, it's sort of small, and it doesn't fold up the way I envisioned, but at least we're adding variety to our afternoon play and I don't have this project looming over me anymore! Now to add to our flannel board figure collection (which I started from a set of cookie cutters and a scrap piece of yellow felt)...I'm getting tired of Five Little Ducks. It's always something, isn't it?

Thanks, Scribbit!

Edited on May 30, 2008: Oops! That's actually some felt I had on hand. It works great in place of flannel!

Gifting for Father's Day

As I am driving this evening on an errand, I am listening to the Clark Howard show. I don't listen all that often since I avoid being behind the wheel as much as possible. (Shuttling four kids around will do it to you!) Anyway, Clark happens to be talking about how everyone is tired of hearing and reading about gas prices, ways to save money on gas, etc. Of course, I immediately think of Thursday's post...I'M RUINED...RUINED I TELL YOU! And I'm still in my blog infancy!

So, I've decided to tell you about what we're considering for a Father's Day gift this year. That's a timely and welcome topic, right?! Thank goodness he doesn't read my blog. Or anyone else's for that matter. We are hoping to make Dad a special plate he can eat on each night he has dinner with us. Since he has so few opportunities to do so now that his schedule has changed, this will be a VERY special plate indeed. I'm considering a field trip to our local pottery studio, but I've also found a few online ideas here and here. Then there's the Amazon option. Our city also has an art center open to the public that provides "studio time" for the children and sometimes even a class for free.

What gift is Dad receiving from you or the kids this year?

Hunt for Bees this Summer

Have you heard of The Great Sunflower Project? It may not BEE too late to get on board with a fun summer activity! The project consists of four easy steps that even a pathetic gardener novice like myself should BEE able to follow:

1. Sign up and plant your sunflower
2. Describe your garden
3. Time how long it takes 5 bees to visit your sunflower plant
4. Enter your data online or send us your form.

We received our seed packet in the mail this week, so we are planning a little sunflower garden kick off this weekend. Hope you can BEE a part of this interesting project!