Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treating through the House

You still have time to enter the Christmas apron give-a-way...it will close on Nov. 1st. Click here to enter.

This is a fun activity for your toddlers and pre-schoolers who may or may not entirely understand the concept of "Trick-or-Treating". (I have to give my friend Teresa credit for this idea- she introduced it to me about 3 years ago....and we are still doing it every year.☻)

We wanted to invite y'all, but we had to limit the number of people...since our house only holds so many.

Invite a few friends over- I invited mostly friends my children knew- and have the moms come and bring some treats (candy in these here parts.) Have the moms stand inside of the rooms of the house, with the door closed- one mom in the bedroom, one in the laundry room, one in the bathroom...etc. The children- who are wearing their costumes and carrying their trick-or-treat bags- knock on each door and say "Trick-or-Treat" and you give them a treat just like  the real thing- except its all inside your house with people you know.  Repeat the process as many times as you wish. Not only is this fun for the little ones, it helps them understand how Trick-or -Treating works.

This was our fun, short, and sweet Halloween party this year. We still have a church party and Halloween night.... hope we all survive. ☻

Happy Trick-or- Treating where ever you are!

Sensory Baby Tag Blanket {Tutorial}

This is a project that just happened. It was not planned at all. Do you ever have that ? ☻It happens when I go through my stash of supplies that I really want to use up to make something useful.  I loved the end result, so I had to share a tutorial. First I made the above -imperfect-because-I-am-in-a-hurry- small baby blankie for my son to play with. (I'm sure you have seen these tag blankets before.) I noticed  he loves pulling on little things, and so I thought he would like this.  He loved it!

I so did not tell him to pose and hold this blankie thing- he just knows what I need him to do for a photo...hee....hee. His little smile just gets me. ☻Moving on...here is the improved upon Sensory Baby Tag Blankie thing:

YOU NEED:

Fabric of various textures- soft fabrics for baby

9 squares, plus a backing piece about 15 1/2 inches square or so

My squares were about 5 1/2 inches square.

I also added a piece of Warm and Natural Batting to mine (optional)

thread

ribbons, tags, of various colors, textures, and lengths

small piece (2-3 inches) of sew-on Velcro

Cut out squares, arrange them how you like and sew them together. TIP: to get your seams to match, sew one row at a time. Then iron your seams so they go the same direction. Do the same thing with the next row, but iron the seams so they are going the opposite direction. When you sew the two rows together, the seams should now match up evenly. You can find more information HERE if I just confused you. ☻

If you want to add an extra layer of softness, pin this to some warm and natural. Stitch on top of your squares(the side that will show when you are done)  right along where your squares are sewn together.

 Sew on your ribbons and tags so they are facing into the blanket squares. When you turn the blanket, they will face out off the edge. Remember to leave a spot with no tags so you can put your velcro in and turn it  right side out.

NEXT pin your backing to this side so that right sides are together. Sew all the way around the square at 1/4 inch. Double check to make sure you caught all the tags and ribbons inside the seams. Trim your seams, turn it right side out through the opening you left unsewn.

Where the opening is, fold the seams into the inside, and sew on  your piece of velcro. This way, you can open the blanket and insert a plastic grocery bag, empty baby wipes bag (like from Costco's wipes), something noisy,that you normally would not give an infant to play with. (DON'T put small things inside like beans, or something...because it could get out if the velcro was opened.)  The opening/velcro closure provides a way to wash it, and make it a quiet toy too- or noisy-depending on if you put something inside or not. You can just sew it closed too and not do this part at all.

AND he really does love it.  He loves to pull and feel the tags and ribbons, hear a crunchy noise when something is inside, and feel the soft fabrics. He loves to look at different prints too. So you see- it uses many of the baby's senses!

He is even holding it up for you to see! ha ha

Let me know if you have any questions....Hope this was helpful and clear. I am loving these things, and it just may be the new gift I bring for baby showers. :)

Recycled Lids Game

There are many uses for little lids from bottles and jars. We wash and save the lids from Powerade and Gatorade, and keep them with the kid craft stuff. Since these were mostly orange and black, these were perfect for a little Halloween game. We just put a Halloween sticker (2 of each) and it became a matching game. You could also put one specific sticker on one, and play "find the spider" or whatever the sticker happened to be, and instead of matching, make the object to find that specific one. Of course when Halloween is over, this will go in the Halloween bin with all the other stuff, and it will be like a new game next year when we pull it out. ☻

Candy Corn Trick or Treat Bag

New trick-or-treat bags got made this year at our house. I had this idea to do candy corns... how can you not love candy corns?  I think it is the color combination I love.

Here is a simple tutorial if you would like to make one.

CANDY CORN TRICK-or-TREAT BAG:

You need:

paper for pattern (I used Freezer Paper)

fabric scraps in white, yellow, and orange (I used cotton and felt)

thread

a scrap of fabric  or ribbon for a handle

First draw a big triangle-a little bigger than the size you want your bag to be-  with rounded corners.  I like freezer paper because you can iron it right on to the fabric you are using, it peels off, and you can use it again. You can use regular paper or tracing paper if you don't have freezer paper. You just need a big triangle. Mine was quite larger than a 8 by 11 sheet of paper, but it can be any size you want.  Next, cut the triangle into three sections for each color of the candy corn.  Cut out your fabric using this as a pattern.

Sew the three pieces together at 1/4 inch seam allowance. The edges will not match up exactly, so just trim it off. Do this for the front and back (do it twice) and then you will pin the sections-right sides together-and to sew the sides.  Leave the straight edge of the yellow open. If you use felt, you can just use pinking shears to finish the top edge.

Now all you have to do is sew on the handle. I just sewed a strip of fabric in half, turned it right side out, and then sewed it to the inside of the bag next to the seams.

I ran out of felt, so I made another with some dotted scraps. I added lining to the dotted one, but not to  the felt one.

Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment and I'll respond with a comment.

Sorry this tutorial isn't too detailed....baby is screaming in the other room...for some reason he thinks he can't sleep without his mommy!  silly baby...

Have fun gathering your TREATS :)

Kid-Crafted Halloween Garland/Banner

Here is what we did with our craft foam and pipe cleaner Halloween crafts. We hung them on a strip of ripped fabric- with a stapler. These are the times when I wish I had a banister or a mantel in my house. But alas, I am not so lucky. So we hang this type a thing up along a window....with some nice blinds always in the background. ☻ Anyhoo...I think we'll save this for next Halloween, and improve upon it some. ☻ (Please note: the mom in this house made most of these kid-crafts...with the help and supervision of her children.)

Storytime: Skeletons and Bones

What is Halloween without some skeletons? ☻

Using about 4 pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and a little piece of craft foam, you can make a little skeleton. (these go with along with our other kid crafts from pipe cleaners -seen below)

Here are our favorite skeleton stories that are perfect for young children:

Shake dem Halloween Bones by W. Nikola-Lisa

super cute book with a catchy little rhyme-easy read

Dem Bones by Bob Barner

Based on the folk song Dem Bones this book teaches the bones by using the song-great learning book!

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler

Margery Cuyler is one of my favorite authors for kids. This book is really short, easy to read, and has darling illustrations! Love it!

What  skeleton stories are you reading?

100 Followers Give-a-way ;)

I always told myself if this blog ever reached 100 followers, I would do a give-a-way.... And it somehow-reached that today... So if you want to enter..Let's make the prize a Christmas Apron :) I'll make it to fit the winner... hee hee....and you'll have to patient with me...I'll get it to you by December 1st. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment :) Follower or not you can enter (but followers get an extra entry-just mention you are one-I personally use Google Reader-so whatever your method is thanks for following...just mention it if you want an extra entry:))....thanks for all your support in my crazy-crafty-fun-endeavors !
Happy Holidays!

Craft Foam Footprint Ghosts

Every holiday.... I like to make stuff with the kids handprints and footprints. ☻ Like this and this and this for example. And sure you have seen footprint ghosts before, but we made them out of craft foam. Love the craft foam stuff! (you can get some anywhere- got some at the Dollar Store...☻) This took all of 2 minutes. I made something else with them I'll show you later, and it will be fun to see this next year, and see how much the little ones have grown!

The Halloween Candy House

Have you made a Halloween House this year? (a.k.a. sugar mess...☻) IKEA had these cute little gingerbread houses for 4.50 and I thought great- we'll get one for Christmas and one for Halloween.

So after picking up some Dollar Store candy and a few things from the grocery store, we created our Halloween House.

To go along with this activity, there is a cute little book called The Halloween House by Erica Silverman.

It is a great little book and if you can get the tape or CD- it has the whole book arranged in a cute and catchy little song....in fact it is still stuck in my head from last year...maybe you don't want to hear it. No you do, it is really cute- the kids will love it! I think we'll make Halloween Houses every year and read and listen to the story too. Happy Halloween!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

So I thought I was being all original when I came up with the idea to make cupcakes that look like candy corns. So I made up these cup cakes, and then I googled, and found another version here.

Mine is a bit healthier and kid-friendly, and actually these are really yummy for all! You have to try it to believe it! Seriously-yummy. Here is our version:

Candy Corn Cupcakes:

1st layer: Make a yellow cake mix according to package directions, but instead of the water add about 1 cup pumpkin puree.

2nd layer:

Make another yellow cake mix, according to package directions, but instead of water add 1-1 1/2 cups (2-3 bananas) mashed bananas.

Your batter will be thicker than regular cake batter. Spray your muffin tins, or use muffin tin liners. Fill the bottom 1/3 with pumpkin batter. Fill the next third with the banana batter.

Bake according to package directions.

When cool, top with your favorite cream cheese or vanilla frosting and candy corns. And there you have a yummy-semi-healthy-candy corn cupcake! You can hardly taste the banana in there...and for some reason we thought the flavored blended nicely, and my kids have been eating them non-stop. This recipe makes about 24-30 very nicely sized cupcakes.  Enjoy!

Make a Halloween T-shirt

Did you know you can get a t-shirt for one dollar at the Dollar Tree? Seriously, I was going to spend $3 at Wal-mart, but then I found them there! Love the dollar store. (Always spend way more than a dollar there though...)  So here is a Dollar Store Craft your kiddos can wear.

If you haven't used Freezer Paper yet, you have got try it. It is so easy to use and so much fun. Of course, if you are one of the lucky people who owns a Cricut machine that cuts everything, well, you can use that instead. But Freezer Paper is great for quilting and painting/stenciling- it has so many uses which makes  it is very handy to have on hand.

Here is what you need to make your own Halloween Message t-shirt.

*T-shirt

*FREEZER PAPER (I found some at Super Wal-mart)

*Sharpie and a pencil

*Scissors

*Fabric Scraps

*Heat-n-Bond or Wonder Under (that bonds two fabrics together)

*Iron

On your printer, print out the letters/message you would like to put on your t-shirt.

 I traced this onto the freezer paper with a sharpie. I like using the sharpie because it gives the letter a little extra thickness when it is cut out. When working with Wonder Under or interfacing, I always like my fabric to be slightly bigger than what is underneath so that it is easier to place on the fabric and iron.

Next cut a scrap of fabric and iron the freezer paper right to the scrap of fabric. I just turned up my iron and ironed it on. I had the iron pretty hot, but it probably doesn't matter.

Cut out your letter when it is attached to the freezer paper. I cut right around the edge of the sharpie line.

Next trace your letter under the Wonder Under on the tissue part.  . I just used the font print out from the computer, then traced it with a pencil. This way the line is slightly thinner than the fabric part, which makes it easier to line up together. Peel the letters off of the papers. Line them up so the Wonder Under is under the fabric letter and not showing. Iron it on where you want it. I always use a rag to put between the fabric and the iron just in case-- but that is just me and how I do it. ☻

When all your letters are on, you are done. You can sew over to make sure they won't come off, but I have washed things without sewing and it stays in place, so I don't sew it. (so in the picture, I tried to make a piece of candy out of the fabric under the words-but I am not loving it. But hey- my four year old loves his Halloween shirt so much he wore it all day and wanted to wear it to bed too! I told him it was too dirty and he tried to tell me he is not a messy eater-☻)

Happy Halloween!

Empty Worries

Today I took the boys to the zoo. It was baby "D"'s first trip to the zoo. He seemed to enjoy being outside, the crowds, the animals, and the sunshine.

It was a pleasant few hours; free of worry and stress; no one was hungry; no one was making a mess; no one was crying; and for a moment, no one was sick. Everyone was happy. 

And what a sweet moment that was.

Upon arriving home, we received a phone call.

The doctor.

Reporting on the test baby D had this week.

Not the best news.

And the worrying starts again.

But he is still at home with us.

He isn't back in the hospital yet.

And we will pray he stays home with us for a long long time -free of hospital trips and doctor visits.

But I worry.

I worry for him- for his health, his well-being, for my other children, for my husband who works in a dangerous job to provide for us.

And I worry for others.

I worry about my sister's children who have the swine flu.

I worry about family members-their health, safety, and happiness and futures.

I worry that I haven't been the kind of friend to others that I would like to be.

 I worry that I am not being the best mother I can be-that sometimes my kids watch too much T.V.

I worry that I am going to be "f-a-t" forever even though I work at it trying to lose the baby weight.

I worry that I am not reaching my full-potential spiritually.

I worry for the future.

And I wonder, what good does all this worrying do? I need to be strong and not let worries empty me of my strength.

My baby is still going to be sick and most likely will end up in the hospital again. I need to be strong for him.

I believe my husband is going to be protected, I pray for it everyday.

I can't stop the swine flu...but I can wash my hands like crazy and pray that the nieces and nephews who have it will get better. And they will.

I can try to be a better friend by serving others when I am able to and being appreciative of those who serve me.

I can let my children know I love them, by savoring the moments I have with them while they are little and still like me and like being home. I can turn off the t.v. and read to them more.

I can exercise, and eat better, and remember that this too shall pass, and someday I'll get my body back :)

I can pray. I can ponder. I can read the scriptures.

I can remember that "worrying doesn't empty today of its troubles, it empties tomorrow of its strength."

And most importantly, I can remember always that God is in charge. Trust in Him, and let your heart not be troubled. ☻.

Traffic Jam Baby Quilt

This is the car quilt I made for my 3rd son. All my boys have been obsessed with cars, so I think it is appropriate that they each have a CAR QUILT. ☻

I still consider myself a beginner quilter, someone who loves the art, but sometimes doesn't want to take time to do a really good job, someone who enjoys learning new things, but really just someone who loves cute colorful fabrics... especially when they have CARS of them...since I have 3 boys☻ So of course I couldn't help myself when I saw the Traffic Jam collection from Allison Jane Smith. AND of course I couldn't help but stay up late several nights to finish the above quilt just in time for Park City Girl's Blog Fall Quilt Festival. I know, a little crazy...but I love this little quilt and how baby looks on it...so it was worth finishing ☻ I have more fabric to make a few more different ones for my other boys. :)  Make sure to take a look at all the lovely quilts at the above link! You will be blown away by the amazing talent that is out there.

Favorite Halloween Treats {in the Archives}

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Pretzel Pumpkins

     Homemade Snickers Bars

Waffle Pumpkins

For a fun Halloween Family Breakfast, make some pumpkin waffles with jack-o-lantern faces. ☻ This was such a hit at our house. We just used our regular pancake mix, (I used Trader Joe's Whole Grain Waffle and Pancake Mix) and made it the way suggested on the box. Then we added about 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, and about 1/2 cup sugar (taste it to make sure you add the right amount.) We made our waffles and topped them with sliced bananas to form a jack-o-lantern face, and vanilla yogurt. A very healthy and tasty breakfast for all!  NOTE: I just discovered that Trader Joe's makes a waffle and pancake mix that has pumpkin in it already! I'll have to go pick some of that up! ☻

Crafting with Kids: Silly Little Bats

Here is a little bat craft you can make with your kids.

You need a small piece of tulle, 2 black pipecleaners, google eyes, craft foam, scissors, and adhesive. We used glue dots, but the 3-D type I used were not the best, so I am going to re-fasten everything with some hot glue.

Twist the pipe cleaners around the piece of tulle.

There is no science to this- just bend your pipe cleaners so they look like bat wings. ☻

FINAL STEP: cut a circle with little triangle ears from the craft foam and attach it to the center. Then attach the eyes.

We played with making teeth for the bat, but decided to leave the teeth off. ☻

We made a few little foam ghosts and hung them all up above the kitchen table with our little pumpkins we made.

Happy Halloween!

Crafting with Kids: Pipecleaner Pumpkins

While sitting in the hospital, the last 2 weeks, I came up this. This is a fun easy quick craft that kids can do, or you can do with your kids: Pipecleaner Pumpkins! We think these are pretty cute, and my four-year old really liked them. ☻ Here is a step-by-step in photos:

First you need pipecleaners- 5 orange, one green, and one brown. You also need some scissors.

Using one as your "main" pipecleaner, attach all the others to the middle by wrapping them around right in the middle.

Start like this:

OK so you just make an octopus looking thing- but we aren't done yet ☻

Now it is starting to look more like a carrot...☻

Just get the top ends all nice and even-folding them and wrapping them around each other.

Where the orange is on top is going to be our brown stem.

The green vine/leaf is wrapped just below.

At this point, it really does look like a carrot...until you spread all the sides out:

Cute! This is fun for older kids to do (meaning older than pre-school age), or younger kids (meaning pre-school age) can do this with a little supervision. Pipecleaners are made of wire, so the ends can be sharp, so watch those little fingers!

We made a little mobile out of these and hung it up. It would also make a cute little garland that could be hung in front of a window. Have fun crafting with your little pumpkins!