It's Father's Day Frames Time!




We've done these for 4 years in a row! You can see the other years AND the How To here and here.

I really, really recommend this craft. It doesn't take all that much time, or effort, or money. It's super personal and my kids love making them every year.

I think they mostly love it because I leave all the major decision making up to them.

I drag a bunch of photos from the current year into a folder (about 15-20 per kid). Then I let them each choose 10. Not all pictures will work because of the placement of people in the picture and the shapes of the letters, so 10 seems to give us enough good options. BOTH kids wanted to keep all their leftover pictures. I'm telling you, they love this stuff!

This time, Ella decided that she didn't want any black lines of the letters showing. When we cut the letters without the black lines, we had a little bit of extra space inside the letters. So she decided to pack two pictures into each of the D's. I love it! They look really cute! She also decided to back each letter with colored paper, just like she did last year.

Check out the bottom of the second D - Happy F-Day. "It stands for Father's Day!" she told me. Obviously.

Although... when I see Happy F-Day, it's possible I think something else. AM I THE ONLY ONE?



Peyton wanted the black lines of the letters showing, but he liked Ella's two-photo idea, too, so he did some of that. He did not want colored paper on the back, just like last year, so I backed the letters with some light cardboard to give them more stability. It's funny, I didn't even show them last year's frames, but they both still picked the same backing as they did last year. I wonder if they remember, or if it's just their personal aesthetics coming through? It's adorable either way.

Check out the Y - To: James. You know he did that just because this is really important to him and he wanted to be very serious and proper. So sweet. Oh, and the third D. He wrote Peyton J W Jr. He's not a junior, obviously, his dad's name is James. I guess because he is his father's son? I didn't want to call him on it because he was just so proud.


I just LOVE these! Simple traditions are the best!

It's new craft kit time! Happy red, white, and blue! It's a Patriotic Stars Banner Craft Kit!

Perfect for 4th of July decorating, parties, family reunions... go ahead... have everyone in your family make a star... you happy little American family, you!



Here's what you get!

12 large stars - 6 red and 6 blue. You and your kid will cut them out - don't worry! They're preprinted. And it's great scissor practice!


Red, white, and blue!... and burlap! (I love the burlap!).... solid and patterned!... medium and small paper stars. So you can layer colors and patterns to your heart's content. Oh, you'll be cutting those stars out, too. Hey! Don't be whiny. A little star cutting never hurt anyone. Except me. It would probably hurt me if I had to cut out all the stars from the millions of Star Banner Kits I'm planning on selling. I have big dreams. BIG DREAMS!




Love it!

You knew that I used to be an elementary school teacher, right? I taught 3rd and 5th grades for a few years. Then I had Kid One, and then Kid Two, and then I was outta there. I did love teaching, I did! But you never ever feel like you're doing enough and... Anyway, a story for another day.

Teaching taught me a zillion bazillion things, one of which is that kids love clipboards. It's a fact. We didn't use them every day, but man oh man, when we did - happy students! And we're not even talking about fancy clipboards. Nope. Just plain, old, boring, cut-off-your-finger if you clip it by accident, survival of the fittest kind.

Like this:



So I decided to make some clipboards for the kids in our family for Easter. The kind that are a little less dangerous are also much more expensive, soooo.... It's back to the survival of the fittest kind. Because I'm cheap. So let's hope our kids are of the fittest group.

Anyway - super easy! I painted just the outside edge of each clipboard, front and back, in each child's favorite color. I didn't want much of the standard clipboard color to show and the clipboards are a little bit taller than the 12 x 12 inch paper I had picked out.


Then I Mod Podged on the scrapbook papers that I had cut to size. Peyton and Ella wanted to decorate theirs with marker first, so you might see some extra fancy artwork on a couple of the clipboards in the next few pictures. Peyton decorated the back of his with all of our names written in his version of cursive. Adorable. Ella decorated the front of hers with our names and then wrote I LOVE PENNY all over it.


You will need to find a way to keep the clip open while the Mod Podge dries. I cut in half and twisted up some chenille stems that I had lying around. They worked perfectly. (I took all of these pictures when the Mod Podge was still drying, so if the paper looks a little weird toward the top, that's why.)


Ella and Peyton chose their own letter stickers...


But I got to be the boss of the others.

And we have one little cousin who isn't in school yet. Since she has yet to learn how to NOT cut off her fingers by using a clipboard, I layered 5 or 6 pieces of pink adhesive-backed felt on hers to protect her sweet little fingers. Just in case.


You know what else would have been nice? Spraying each one with a clear glossy finish to protect it. You know what didn't get done because I ran out of time? Spraying each one with a clear glossy finish to protect it.

But! I did clip some Easter mazes and word searches and little pencil pouches stuffed with Easter pencils and cute erasers and little toys and candy.



Success! My kids use them in their room, on the table, on the floor, in the car and as a MAJOR BONUS, they still have all their fingers intact and it's already been two days!

1. New Blog Header

Did you notice? Did ya? Did ya? I did it all by myself!!! I used this awesome tutorial (just liked I used to make this header) and it was really easy! I find myself checking my blog just to look at its beauty and happy colorfulness.


2. Rainbow Cake

Do you remember when I first made a Rainbow Cake and it totally rocked it out?

The holiday season is crazy for everyone, of course, but it's a little extra crazy for us because Peyton's birthday is December 17th (he turned 8) and Ella's birthday is January 9th (she turned 6). Oh, and our wedding anniversary is December 15th (we made it 10 years!), but that's beside the point.

The point being: Rainbow Cakes are awesome!

Usually we do cupcakes for our birthday parties because they're so easy, but ever since The Rainbow Cake came into our lives, things have changed for the better. Peyton wanted a rainbow cake for his party, Ella wanted a rainbow cake for her party, and we were Rainbow Caking it up all over the place this winter!

The best part ever is when you cut into the otherwise-normal-looking-cake and suddenly everyone realizes that there's something special going on in there. Oh man! Kids are amazed, parents are amazed, it's all kinds of awesome. And I loved watching my kids bask in the glory when their friends saw the uniqueness of the cakes. Peyton and Ella LIT UP when they got to tell everyone how they picked their own colors. I loved that!

But really, what I wanted to do here was to peer pressure you into making a Rainbow Cake of your own. And this is why: No matter how imperfect your Rainbow Cake is, people will still think you are a Rainbow Caking Rockstar.

Example 1 - My first Rainbow Cake - Didn't even have enough frosting to cover all the sides. See all that side-cake sticking out? Didn't matter - Rockstar! (When I said side-cake did you think of side-boob? Admit it - you totally did!)


Example 2 - Peyton's Rainbow Cake:

Rockstar!


You'll notice these pictures are a little messier than my First Rainbow Cake. It's one thing to carefully slice a cake when you're at home. You can make your family wait on the sidelines for five minutes while you get a good photo. It's a completely different situation when bunches of loud and crazy party kids are sitting around a table at a bowling alley or Chuck E. Cheese's waiting impatiently for their fair share of sugar intake.

Example 3 - Ella's Rainbow Cake


Rockstar!

What I'm saying is this: I'm not a baker, I've made lots and lots of Rainbow Cake mistakes, but it doesn't matter!

So, go! Go forth and make a Rainbow Cake! If I can do it - ANYONE CAN DO IT!


3. Family Portrait
Yesterday, I gave Ella a canvas, some paint, and paintbrushes. She grabbed some paper craft hearts that I was working on and some glue. Then she disappeared for a while to create her masterpiece.


She's obviously very talented - I mean, C'MON with the mixed media fantasticalness! - but just in case you have a hard time recognizing us, from left to right we have: Peyton, Ella, Mommy, and Daddy.



Seriously, I love it so much!!! Drawing with actual paintbrushes rather than markers or crayons is difficult - I think it's pretty impressive for a just-turned-6-year-old!

I framed it and put it on our Valentine's Day mantel and I'm going to keep it forever and ever.