turn those scrubby sponge snowflakes into ornaments

The plan for the scrubby sponge snowflakes really wasn't to make ornaments or anything specific but more of a printing project to keep little hands busy. Once I cut them out I thought they would make nifty ornaments and then I thought what if I wrapped yarn around them so they would look kinda like the apples in one of my most favorite fabric prints and so I went for it. What makes this even more nifty is that my small batch o' ornaments became the art for he december bed. I see many more of these ornaments in my future.  So here is how you do it.

Create your scrubby sponge snowflakes and cut about five notches into the edges all the way around. These notches will help anchor the yarn in place and allow you to hang your ornaments without using any tape or staples! 

 Cut a length of yarn at least 18" long and pop one end into a notch and begin wrapping using the other motches to hold the yarn in place. Ask your kiddos if they think they can create a star as they wrap. 

To create ornaments for your tree, loop off the final end piece and hang or give the yarn a knot that can be pushed onto an ornament hook. Easy peasy! 

 To create this wall hanging, tie five or so ornaments to a wooden spoon or nifty stick using various lengths of yarn. Use another length of yarn or fishing line tied to both ends as the hanger. If using a stick, make sure it is free of debris, visible fungus and/or critters. I banged my stick around in hopes of evacuating any wee beasties and then submerged it in water and set it outside to dry. As it turns out, there may or may not be a wee wood beetle in residence. The mister swears he can hear it, I choose to pretend he did not say that. 

Enjoy! 

Egg Memory Game

If you celebrate Easter, you most probably have oodles of those plastic egg bits floating about your home. Most of your eggs are probably a mish-mash of mixed up pieces which is perfect for this memory game. All you need is an even number of egg halves and pairs of matching items to hide under the halves.We used jelly-beans (FYI, Gimbal's jelly beans are peanut free, gluten-free, dairy-free & gelatin free!) and twelve eggs. It makes for twenty-four game pieces. The eggs we had were originally hinged but we snapped them apart but shhh, don't tell anyone!

scrumdilly-do it!

Set up your game on a clean kitchen table or on the floor on a clean solid colored mat or cloth. You can of course use a print but it makes it harder to see the jelly beans. Make sure your wee one's aren't peeking as you order out those pairs in a grid format.If your wee ones are quite young, match up each pair with a like-colored egg half. For instance, the red beans will have pink halves over them, the yellow will have yellow halves and so on. for your older tots, go a little mix crazy. Some will catch on right quick but it still makes for a fun game!Once the game is set up, let your kidlets go for it! The pieces you use can be eaten up by your tots which of course will call for a brand-new batch when they're ready for another round. You can also use buttons, stickers, beads, colored pasta, shaped pasta, etc. If you don;t have plastic eggs, whip out some tiny paper cups, cupcake liners or nut cups. Either way, make sure it's fun! Happy almost Easter!

Recycled: cardboard tubes

As in paper towel and toilet paper...don't toss them in the trash, turn them into nifty bracelets and wrist cuffs!

What you need:

*cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls, t.p. and/or gift wrap

*paint (acrylic or tempera)

*paint brushes

*scissors

*glue

*clothespins

*glitter

*ribbon

*scrap paper or magazine pages

*buttons, beads, fabric scraps, etc.

*mess friendly work area

scrumdilly-do it!

Set out your supplies and cut your tubes into wrist friendly sizes. If your kidlest are scissor happy, you may let them cut their own width but it can be a little frustrating. You want to cut up from the bottom of the tube 1-3 inches and then cut along the cylinder part of the tube so that you end up with a "C" shape piece.

Have your kidlets paint their pieces. You will need more than one coat for vibrant colors but your kidlets may decide to collage their pieces with fabric scraps and paper instead. If painting, use a clothespin to hold the two ends together to retain the curl of the tube. If not, the paint will make your piece go flat and you won't have a bracelet anymore.

Once the pieces are dry, your kidlets can go to town decorating them. They can glue ribbon, trim or lace around their bracelet or they can add ooddles of glue and glitter. There are no limits!

Once they are done, set aside to dry and then have cuff happy fashion show. Show us your bling!