It doesn’t seem like Christmas would be complete here without at least one no-sew fleect blanket!  My brother is a Pittsburg Steeler’s fan and has been since he was a child.  I found some great Pittsburg Steeler fleece at the fabric store and I couldn’t pass it up.  It was no soft and cuddly and I knew that it would make a great blanket that not only he would use but I had a feeling my nieces would be using it too!

There are a couple of techniques for putting these blankets together and Pinterest has a lot of tutorial pins for completing the blankets.  One technique is to do a form of crochet to link the fringe together or you can knot the fringe.  I like to use the fringe.

I posted a tutorial here awhile ago on how I make a no-sew fleece blanket.  They are super simple to complete.  My only suggestion is to try to make the blanket when you have a couple of hours of time to devote to it and have a place where you can spread it out where it will not be disturbed.  Once I get my fleece blanket front and back properly measured out and even I like to leave it like that and not put it away until I am finished.  Otherwise, it feels like you have to start over each time with laying out the pieces and making sure they are even with each other.  If you think that you may have to put the project away part way through it then I would suggest that you only cut out a fringe and knot it one side at a time.  That way if you have to put the project away part way through it then the knots will hold everthing in place and you will not have as hard of a time lining everything back up again.

Happy Crafting!!

When we go anywhere it seems like the boys like to collect all kinds of rocks.  I have rocks in bags, in the garage and even in my car.  When we were up at the Lake this past weekend we went to Meadowbrook Marsh where the boys collected even more rocks.

Last summer we decided that we would paint some of our rocks.  I bought the paint but we never got around to painting them.  This year, since we had so many rocks, we decided to finally pull out the paint and decorate our rocks.

I had purchased this outdoor paint from Wal-Mart for about $1.00 a bottle.  It’s just an outdoor paint that can be used on things like stone and concrete.  I just checked the labels to see what the different paints would adhere to and this one seemed the best.

It was a bit breezy the day we painted the rocks so we sat out in the grass in case any of the paint spilled.  I figured that it would be best not to paint on my parent’s white picnic table!  We ended up painting our rocks on paper plates since the grass was sticking to the paint.  I put some paint on each of our paper plates so that it was easier to share the 3 bottles of paint that we had.  We also used a separate paper plate to let them dry.  The paint is supposed to be water resistant on the rocks after it cures for 48 hours.  Since it is a water based paint it did wash easily off of our skin.  However, the old clothes that the boys were wearing to paint are now their new painting clothes as the paint did not wash off of the clothes.

By the time we were done painting with our red, white and blue paints, we had one puddle of purple paints left!  The boys decided that mixing the paint colors together was just as much fun as painting the rocks.  Plus now we had an additional color!

This was a nice and simple project to do on a sunny afternoon.  The boys loved how their rocks turned out and even mom made a few too.

Happy Crafting!!

I’ve been seeing these little bracelets all over lately and I think that they are a great idea.  It is simply a little beaded bracelet for a child but some of the beads are number beads that make up your telephone number.  If your child becomes lost and does not yet know his/her telephone number they can just show somebody their bracelet so they can call you.  I made up a bracelet for each of  my boys but instead of using our home telephone number I used my cell phone number.  Since I almost always have my cell phone with me it would be the best, and fastest, way for somebody to reach me.

I used craft elastic that I found on the children’s craft aisle at a local craft store.  I also found some numbered plastic beads.  I used colored beads for spacers and to fill in the ends of the bracelet.

I started out by setting aside the numbers that I needed for the bracelets and I used spacer beads inbetween the area code and first three numbers and then again in the middle of the telephone number.

Once I had my beads set aside I strung them all onto the elastic.  I then put a few more colored beads onto the bracelet and knotted the elastic a few times. 

 I was planning on measuring the bracelets on the boys prior to knotting them but I ended up not having enough time to make the bracelets before they went to bed.  The bracelets are so simple to make up that you can make them in just a few minutes.

I hope that we will never need to actually use these bracelets but it will be nice to have them on just in case.

One morning when there was no school the boys were a bit antsy so I pulled out my binder of craft projects from Disney’s Family Fun magazine. We decided to make the yarn bowl.

Given the amount of time I spend knitting I definately have a lot of yarn, and since the boys love to glue and to cut up my scrap yarn, this was the perfect project for us. All we needed was two bowls, a large ball, safey scissors, yarn and glue.

We started out by setting the ball onto one of the bowls to keep the ball from rolling around. We then poured glue into another bowl and cut up the yarn in various lengths. We placed each strand of yarn, one at a time, in the bowl of glue, wiped off the excess glue with our fingers and then placed the yarn on the ball.

We did this until the bottom of the bowl was covered in yarn. When we were done we set the ball in the dining room where no one would bother it or knock it over so that it could dry overnight. In the morning we slowly peeled the yarn from the ball. It was a bit wet yet in a couple of spots so we let it dry a bit longer and then removed the bowl from the ball at the end of the day.

Once we removed it I can see where we should have added more yarn to it but, all in all, it turned out cute.

Last week I posted about our trip to Lake Farmpark for their Discovery Days. While we were there one of the activities that we participated in was making playdough. The boys really enjoyed this activity and it was simple for them to do with a little bit of help from mom.

Here is the playdough recipe that we were given:

1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of salt
1/3 cup of water (with a little food coloring added to it)
2 tsp cooking oil

The other day we decided to make some of this playdough at home. While the boys were playing I set up the table with a bowl for each of them along with the ingredients measured out. In the picture below the shot glasses contain the cooking oil that they needed for the playdough. The glasses were just the right size to hold the two teaspoons.

When I told them that we were going to make playdough they were very excited and were happy that they each were able to make their own bowl of playdough.

We poured all of the ingredients into the bowl and began mixing them with a large spoon. It was much less messy since I had pre-measured the ingredients. After a little mixing you need to use your hands. You basically end up kneading the playdough the same way you would knead bread.

Once the playdough is all mixed it should be pretty smooth. Sometimes you may need to add a drop or two of water to it if it is a little bit too dry. It’s important though that you just add a few drops of water at a time because a little bit of water goes a long way in this recipe.

When the boys were done making and playing with the playdough I just stored the two balls of playdough in a plastic ziploc bag. Sometimes I also store them inside a plastic container also. As long as the playdough is kept sealed up in a plastic ziploc bag or a plastic container it will last a pretty long time.

I like this project because it is something quick to make up and the boys enjoy helping to make it and it provides them with a lot of playtime.

What a wonderful day we had today! The boys and I went to Discovery Days at Lake Farmpark. They have it once in January and once in February. They have crafts for the kids to do and there are all kinds of sheep and baby lambs for the kids to see and pet.

We started out with ice-cream making. There was a large hand-cranked ice-cream bucket that each of the kids were allowed to turn 5 times. When the ice-cream was thick enough the kids each received a sample sized cup of ice-cream to test it out. This activity is one that the boys really enjoy.

Then we were off to milk a cow. The boys like to watch the cow get milked and then watch as the milk goes through the pipes to get bottled for processing. Today they were doing milking by hand instead and the kids were allowed to try to milk the cow. Matthew went and tried it but I was not able to get a good picture. He tried real hard but it was hard for him to reach up to where they had the cow, but he tried.

Then we hopped on the tractor pulled wagon and went over to the greenhouse building to make candles. The boys played there with some of the exhibits and then they hand-dipped candles. They were given a long wick that was attached to a craft stick by a knot. They dipped it one time in the wax, one time in the ice cold water and then they slid their finger and thumb down the length of it to straighten it out. They had three stations set up with a vounteer at each station to help the kids. The kids went around all three stations in a circle until their candles were done. The boys were very excited about it. Once they were done one of the volunteers cut off the end of the candle so that it had a flat bottom and then cut the candle off of the craft stick. This was one of the boys’ favorite projects.

Waiting for the candle craft to begin

Sampling apple butter before the candle craft began

Hand dipping the candles

When we were done with that we hopped back on the wagon and went over to the arena to make play dough. The boys mixed up one batch of play dough, split it between themselves and then were able to play with it at the play table.

Making playdough

By that point we were all getting hungry so we went over to the cafe and had some lunch. Of course that involved another wagon ride. Next to the candles the boys liked the wagon rides the best. After we ate it was back to the wagon for another ride to the stable behind the arena to help feed the horses. The boys were each given some hay and shown how to put it in the horse’s stalls.

Feeding the horses

When the boys were done feeding the horses in the stable we walked back through the hallway to the arena and saw that they had a demonstration on how to walk behind a draft horse as if he was plowing. They had you walk behind the draft horse and hold the reins while the trainer walked behind you and also held the reins and kept everything in control. I was shocked when Matthew said that he wanted to try it and then actually did it! Usually the boys will say they want to try something and then change their minds or take a while to actually try it but this time he had apparently made up his mind that he was going to do this. When it was his turn he just walked right on over to the trainer. When the demonstration was done we stayed to watch her take the harness and such off of the horse and she let the boys brush the horse. They really enjoyed that.

Matthew walking the horse

Brushing the horse (the trainer was right there too but I couldn't get her in the picture)

We caught the last wagon back to the Visitor’s Center, picked up a little snack at the gift shop and it was time to go since it was a little past closing time. We were the last car to leave the parking lot! Needless to say we all had a great time! The boys are already looking forward to the Discovery Days next month and the Maple Sugar Festival in March.

In Part I of my post about Our Memory Box I wrote that we were going to start this new tradition once I purchased index cards. I finally purchased some!

Last night I told the boys about writing on our index cards each night about our good and favorite memories from the day. They were very excited about it. They each sat on the edge of their beds and told me their favorite parts of the day and I wrote them down. The boys each wanted to write their names on the card so that they were able to write something too.

I was so glad that they were excited about this and how they immediately settled down. We have been having trouble sometimes at bedtime because the boys get so wound up and silly and then have trouble settling down for sleep. This worked out real well with writing our favorite memories on the index cards. The boys both settled down and were more than happy to talk about their favorite parts of the day.

Tonight at bedtime Gabriel reminded me right away to bring in the box of index cards so that we could write on them. I’m so glad that they are enjoying this. Next year when we start a new year it will be nice to be able to read what we wrote on each card from this year. It will also be nice to see the boys handwriting of their names from year to year on the cards.

It’s very nice to sit with the boys in the evening and talk about our day while everyone winds down and shares the day’s memories. It’s a nice peaceful ending to the day.

NOTE: Please do not allow children to do this alone as it requires use of the oven

We were having a pajama day the other day and the boys were getting a bit of cabin fever so I thought that we could try melting crayons. I saw the instructions in the Disney Family Fun magazine. I think that it may have been the February, 2010 issue.

We started with a bowl of broken crayons. We seem to have a lot of those.

We had to take the paper off of the crayons. That turned out to take a bit longer than I had expected. We had a mix of a few different brands of crayons and some of the paper was very difficult to remove. The boys were good helpers though.

Once we were finished we took the pieces and filled up 8 foil cupcake cups and placed them in a muffin tin. Once they were melted I saw that we should have filled them up with a bit more crayons as the finished crayons ended up being somewhat thin.

We baked them at 300 degrees for about 8 minutes, just until the crayons had melted. The instructions said not to let the crayons bubble. Once they had melted I took them out of the oven to cool for about 10 minutes.

Once they were cooled you could take them out and let them completely harden and cool overnight. Or, while they are still warm but not hot, you could use a small cookie cutter to cut out a shape. I only had a small circle cookie cutter that was small enough so the boys wanted to do that. We cut small cookie cutter circles out of our larger circle.

Once we were done we used a toothpick to poke a hole in the center of each crayon. We left the toothpick in the crayon overnight so that it dried with a hole in the center. The Family Fun Magazine suggested poking a hole in the crayon like that so that when the crayon was dried you could thread a piece of yarn or ribbon through it and wear it as a long necklace. Then you could take the necklace off whenever you needed a crayon. Ours turned out a little misshapen but the boys had fun with the project.

I had fully intended on writing about our new memory box in one blog post but, life being what it is, I still have to find some index cards and do this with the boys. I did, however, find a great photo file box on clearance at the fabric store for $1.99. That’s about as far as I got.

In the February 2010 issue of the Disney Family Fun Magazine there was an article about a family that kept a memory box. The family had one index card for each date of the year and they used the same card for that same date each year. Every night at dinner they would talk about what their favorite part of the day was and then they would write the current year on one line of their card and then list their memories of the day below it.

I thought that was a great idea but not one I was ready to try yet since I had an almost three year old son and an eighteen month old at that time. So, I cut out the article and saved it in my craft binder.

The boys are now 3 years old and 4 1/2 years old and they enjoy talking about their day and the things that they did. Dinnertime is not a good time for my family though to do this project. The boys seem to get pretty wound up around dinner time and things are hectic. I decided that we should try doing the memory box in the evening at bedtime.

Now that the boys share a room together sometimes it is a bit difficult to help them wind down for bed because they think that as long as they are together that it’s playtime. Even a warm bath doesn’t wind them down much as they LOVE to play in the water. I found myself searching for a way to help them wind down in the evening, especially at bedtime, and then I came across the memory box article that I had saved in my craft binder.

I thought that this might be a good way to slow the boys down a bit in the evening. I figured that I could sit inbetween their toddler beds and we could talk about our day and what we would like to write on the file cards. All you need are 366 file cards (so you can include leap year too) and a file box to hold them.

The boys do very well when they are on a routine so I thought that this would be good since we could write on a card each night. Even if you were to go on vacation or someplace overnight, you could just take the cards for those days with you.

I wanted to try this out tonight with the boys but we ran into a couple of obstacles. First, I forgot to buy the file cards. Well, I didn’t completely forget. I wanted to ask my husband first if we had any file cards at home but then I forgot to ask him. Second, the boys and I were all very tired tonight and I don’t think that it would have been a good way to start what should be a happy tradition by being tired and cranky.

My goal for tomorrow is to look for some file cards, mention it a couple of times to the boys during the day so that they know what we will be doing and then to try it out at bedtime. I think that they will like to do this. I will post this weekend to let you know how they enjoyed beginning our family’s memory box.

Here is the $1.99 box that I purchased. I thought that the saying was appropriete…Live, Laugh, Love.

As I posted earlier, we brought home a small tree to decorate with food for the birds and squirrels. Let me just say that the tree was a huge success with the birds and the squirrels alike! After about a day or so they found the tree back there and we ended up having many visitors. In this picture you can see the little squirrel helping himself to some of the birdseed underneath the tree.

Within a couple of days all of the birdseed stars were eaten off of the tree. Some of them I had to throw away because when we made them we used regular glue on them. When our Firefighter saw that he suggested we use wood glue instead because the birdseed stars might fall apart if they get wet in the snow. I had never even thought of that. So, the birdseed stars that had regular glue on them fell apart while the birds and squirrels were eating them because it was raining and they were wet. The stars that we had made using the wood glue stayed together great. We had some extra stars made up from the last time we did this plus we were able to use the ones that had stayed together on the tree. Before we started on the new stars we had to clean up the old ones off of the ground.

The boys had a good time making up the new stars and they were very excited to hang them back up on the tree. For some reason though we seemed to make a much bigger mess making the birdseed stars than we did the last time. We ended up having to use the hose from the vacuum on the kitchen table and I don’t even know how long it took me to sweep up the floor.

A day or so later I took a closer look at the tree to see if much of the birseed had been eaten yet. Not only was it eaten, the stars were gone! I thought that they fell off of the tree but there were none on the ground. My Firefighter told me that the squirrels had been taking them off of the tree and out into the yard. We were going to go out and look in the yard to see if we could find some of them but then it got late and dark so we were going to go look for them the next day. It snowed! So now the stars are out in the yard somewhere under the snow. The snow is melting already but the grass is very wet and muddy so we will only be able to replace the stars that are still on the tree. I’m glad that the birds and squirrels are enjoying the tree so much but boy can they eat a lot of food!