Homemade Moon Sand

Oh man, was this a hit. You've seen Moon Sand, right? That wonderful, colorful, messiful (yes) kids' sand that clumps together for easy molding, but is soft and fun to squeeze?

Well, I made some at home, y'all. Much to the delight of my kiddos.

And it took all of 5 minutes.

The recipe is 8:1 flour to vegetable oil (or canola, or even baby oil). I used two cups of flour to 1/4 cup (and some change -- I wanted it a little clumpier) oil. Literally all you do is dump the oil on the flour and mix with a whisk. Period. Done. Game over.

The results?

Hit.

OK, so she wasn't sure of it at first.

SUPER HERO!

Make it happen, Flash.

Don't worry about her. She totally got into it.

Give it a try! I just used a milk carton and a water jug, cut in half, but I'm storing it in tupperware. Great, easy project!

Easy Sand Dough Ornaments

I think we've found our new Christmas tradition!

Best shot I have -- the kiddos haven't painted theirs yet!

Sand dough ornaments!

A friend of mine gave me the recipe, and honestly? This was one of the easiest and most well-received crafts I've done with the kiddos. They think they're cookies, but the dough comes together MUCH quicker than any cookie recipe I've ever used. Plus, it was really two crafts in one -- first, making, cutting the dough, then painting/coloring after they've dried.

Ready for the step-by-step? You got it.

1. Mix together 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup warm water until the dough looks like a pie crust.
2. Place the dough on a well-floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick. If you do it too thin, it may break easier once dry and will also NOT hold up to a handprint.
3. Cut out whatever shapes you have on hand with cookie cutters and place the shapes on a Pammed (I verbed Pam) cookie sheet.
4. Use a straw to poke a hole through each ornament and remove the center. This is where the ribbon will go after you paint to hang on the tree.
5. Bake for 6 hours at 200 degrees. Let cool overnight, then paint, marker, color away!

If you want these to last years, clear coat them with polyurethane.

Fun! 

Santa! I know him!

The kids got their wish today -- we visited Santa in the mall.

They've been talking for weeks about what they were going to ask him for Christmas. A morphin, a doll crib, a light up light saber, a doll chair.

Fancy stuff.

When the moment came, and Santa asked them to tell him ONE thing they wanted, the pressure was on.

My boy asked for a teddy bear. My girl? A ball.

It's like the 1930s  up here.

Merry Christmas!

A Preschooler's Homemade Volcano

The kids and I experimented with science this weekend by making homemade volcanoes!

Here's what you'll need if you decide to fill your room with the delicious aroma of Play-Doh and vinegar. Mmm.

First, we made wells out of the Play-Doh.

Am I doing this right?

Take as may breaks as you need to watch your cat chase birds in the yard.

Get 'em, Jack.

Once your well is formed (and make it taller than wide, please! Don't be me ...), add baking soda and a drop or two of food coloring so the lava looks realistic.

I wish I'd measured how much I used of each, but I didn't. Use more than I did, though. The bubbles didn't poof as much as I wanted them to.

Ask your kids to stop running out of the room because of the vinegar smell when you open the bottle. Bribe them with candy, if necessary.

Pour the vinegar (again, I'm not sure how much I used ... maybe a tablespoon?) into each well and watch it ERUPT!*

The kids had a blast! More science experiments are definitely in our future. Especially since my daughter thinks vampires roar like lions and crawl on the ground. While not TECHNICALLY science, I think it's an important lesson she'll have to learn.

*slightly bubble

Fridge Magnet Teaser ...

This is what the kiddos and I have been up to this weekend.

Just a cellphone shot. More to come!

Goodbye, Summer

I'm craving fall, however I appreciate summer, if only because it makes my favorite season that.much.sweeter.

I want to take a minute, however, to say goodbye, summer. I've enjoyed our time together. I'm sure I'll miss you in December.

But until then, I bid you adieu.

At Least We're Safe ...

We had superheroes visit our house ...

He's super fast.

IRON GIRL.

The fan helps him fly.

Ruffle Tank Top!

I made a quick little ruffle tank top for my little girl tonight. Took about a half an hour -- but if you're more experienced, it would probably take a LOT less.

Have you been to WalMart lately? They have super cheap tanks -- $2.50. Earlier this summer, I MAY have bought one ... of each color.

I've done a few things to several of them, but I still have a few left that are plain. With summer coming to a close soon (soon, right? Yes? Please?), I wanted to doll up the rest since they won't fit my little weed next year.

I started with this:

Just a plain tank with a piece of scrap fabric (7" long x 5" tall) and cut in in half longways. Then I used my sewing machine to sew a strip down the center of each piece like this:

Then, I gently pulled the bottom string to ruffle the material. Make sure you don't pull the thread all the way out from the other side or you'll have to redo this step. One, two or three frustrating times.

Sew each side down after ruffled to keep it in the shape you want:

Then I sewed each ruffled strip to the sleeves along the center ruffle strip and across the bottom hem.

And I finished with buttons! I've loved these buttons and am sad to see them go. I think the bag was $4.99 at HobLob, but I got them 50% off. So in total, the shirt cost about $5 if you had to buy all the items. But you could easily use any scrap material on had and any shirt. If you didn't want to use them across the sleeves of a tank, you could decorate the bottom of the shirt with longer strips or across the front of the shirt.

I think she'll like it! Quick and easy -- love those types of projects!

Ready for School

My kiddo is starting school this year. I am beyond excited for him.

In what can only be described as THE BEST CITY PLANNING POSSIBLE, we had a new outlet mall open last weekend, which coincided with school starting this week AND tax-free weekend. It was awesome.

At least, I'm sure it would have been, but I wasn't there.

We were here:

Hello. I miss you.

I don't do road trips. This one was only 4 hours away, but even that's a little far for my taste. However, the trip was fantastic. We all had a great time. I'm glad I took today off work to recuperate, since half my family is now sick.

Plus, I had shopping to do.

Not a bad job for $40. I am officially in love with the outlet mall. The only downside is that this lovely gem has come into my life when my husband is going back to school full time and our budget is so strict that Dave Ramsay is jealous he didn't come up with it.

Still, it was a great weekend, a great trip to the mall and a great haul away. And in three days, my little man will be rocking his new clothes as the hippest Pre-Ker at HP!

To My Son

Five years ago today, I was at work and standing up at my desk, with papers in my hand. I twisted around to hand them to the girl who sat next to me, when all of the sudden, I felt the MOST BIZARRE feeling in my stomach. Like someone tickling me on the inside. Or butterflies' wings fluttering in my stomach. It was so different and so unexpected that I sat down, dropped the papers and said, "WHOA." I sat there for about a minute, just reeling from this fluttering. And then I knew. It was you.

You were the most amazing thing I'd ever felt.

Five years later — today — was your last day of daycare before you start big-kid school. It's crazy how quickly it's gone by. You still amaze me. I love you so much and am so excited for you to take this next step. I'm not even sad that you're growing up — not today, anyway.

But in a week, love, I won't be surprised if I feel a few more butterflies as I watch you walk into school for the first time. I hope it's the most amazing thing you've ever done.

I hope everything you do is.

I love you,
Love, me

The Dress That Almost Beat Me

I started this dress in 2009 after my little girl turned 1.

Remember -- I've only recently dedicated myself to conquering the sewing machine. So I intended to do this by hand.

But it proved to be more than I could chew -- er, sew.

In the last few days, I've had sewing machine success. I am by no means good, but I am passable. PASSABLE! (Side note: Anyone else watching this season of Project Runway? That girl learned to sew FOUR MONTHS AGO -- as in, when she decided to try out for the show. Crazy.)

So I brought the dress back out and decided that today was the day.

But can we just think about this for a second? I started this for my daughter when she turned 1. She'll be 3 next month. Measurements ... not quite the same. And I'd already cut the fabric.

Let that stop me? Nah.

Good idea? Nah.

But I did it. And I should have added a zipper. But I didn't have one. And I don't know how to put on on a dress. So I painted it on my daughter and then had to peel it off her.

But cute, no?

Oh, she's also 16. Did you know that?

I'm happy, too, love.

Wall art for my little lady

I've been hitting up HobLob's clearance aisles hardcore lately. They have TWO 90% off areas and while most of it is broken, some of it is awesome.

Like the 18" x 24" dark cherry wood frame I got -- WITH GLASS intact? Oh, did I mention -- it was $3? Yeah. That kind of awesome.

But I also got this:

But I don't have a baby whose name starts with a Z. I don't know anyone who has a baby who starts with a Z. So ... I decided to buy this thing because the frame was beautiful and the ribbon so sweet. BUT ALSO because it typically cost $12 and I got it for $1.20.

I mean, come on.

So, I took it home and did a little of this:

With the help of a small paring knife, I popped off two sides of the frame and the backing, took off the Z (but I kept it. I don't know why. It's just pretty and I'm a little bit of a craft hoarder.).

Then I used these:

To turn it into this:

Look at my sweet girl two years ago! Sniff ...

I used a hot glue gun to affix the scrapbook paper (50% off .44) to the back of the wood. In retrospect, I should have bought some spray adhesive, but the glue gun worked. I just did the outside to avoid seeing bumps.

Then I painted the wood circle (30% off .50 cents, ya'll!) a sweet cream color called Magnolia White ($1.19). Doesn't that sound lovely?

When the paint was dry, I used the hot glue again and put in the center of the wood. With the leftover scrapbook paper, I glued a circular piece to the top of the wood. I'm not sure I love this idea, but, it's OK.

I taped on the picture of my girl so I can switch it out whenever. I think she'll like it. She was asleep when I finished it, but was able to hang it and sneak a picture while the little lady slept.

Here it is on her wall:

I like it! The bow's off center, but heck, that's OK with me. If you guys can make it to HobLob, go! This whole thing cost me $3 and took maybe 20 minutes. You can't beat that.













Just added this to a linky party!

The Tale of the Sandbox

I got it in my head that my kids needed a sandbox. Being the type of crafter who never uses power tools, has never worked with wood or knew anything about building, I also thought I should be the one to make it. From scratch.

Armed with a rudimentary grasp on how to measure twice, cut once and a husband with access to a large shop, the sandbox went from idea to reality.

Hi Lowe's! Hi intimidating wood pile!

We bought four planks of 6" x 8' x 2" wood, two large sheets of plywood, screws and four planks of 4" x 8' x 1" wood and set to work. We didn't have a good saw to cut wood, but my husband, who builds custom chassis for fun, has lots of metal-working tools. So we used those on the wood. Which made the shop smell like burning wood, which, had it not been summer, might have been nice. 

I wanted the box to be large enough for our kids to grow into and also allow room for their friends to play with them. So, 6' x 8'. I also wanted to have an umbrella in the corner so they could have some shade and a small table for snacks, drinks, etc.

This is what came of that:

Not bad!

So big we had to use a forklift to put it on the car!

I took pictures of the sandbox after I painted it, but my phone deleted them. The blue is the color on my front door, and the green is a wonderful shade that reminds me of spring grass. Really, really bright spring grass.

It took us a while to get sand, but we just finished it all this week. The kids LOVE it.

Total project cost about $100 -- $80 for wood and supplies (we didn't end up needing the plywood. We used a $6 tarp on the bottom to hold the sand in so it didn't leak out and another tarp to cover the top so cats don't use it as a litter box) and $20 for the sand. We bought one ton of mason's sand at Dolese and it's been great. There are a few rocks, but it's mostly fine. My son thinks finding the rocks is treasure hunting, so win!

Umbrella: $7 at Big Lots. It's a shade-providing savior. Love!