DEC
13
2011

No Sew Fleece Tie Blanket Tutorial

By | Art, Mom Stuff

31 Comments

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  I don’t know what it is about the holidays, but they make me feel all “crafty”. I break out my knitting needles (more on that to come), I start making Christmas decorations, cookies, and this year I made these super soft no sew fleece blankets! You really can’t beat these in the cold snowy winter months! I’ve made them before and the kids absolutely love them. Since ours are well worn, I decided to replace a few of them with new ones. The good news about these is that they’re so easy and quick! Minus your trip to the store for fleece, you can literally have one of these blankets done within about 2 hours…give or take. Since this is the 12 Days of Christmas and all, I really wanted to make a more festive red and white blanket, but the crew out voted me and we went for the bright pink.   Supplies: 1 .  You will need 2 pieces of fleece Fabric at least 40 inches or wider (most are 54 inches) Toddler/Crib Size: 1 1/2 yards of each piece … [Read more...]

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DEC
12
2011

Mini-Van Express Tickets

By | Mom Stuff, Printables

66 Comments

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Toot toot, All Aboard The Minivan Express! Click here to download your golden tickets! Don’t drive a mini-van? Don’t worry, page 2 has “Christmas Express” tickets, so you can make it work for your family no matter what you’re driving, it could even be a sleigh! ;o) wink…wink… So what are these golden tickets for? Ready to start a Christmas tradition that the whole family will enjoy? I know you’ve all seen The Polar Express, well, this is our own version of that fun adventure! Each year we hide the “Golden Tickets” in our kids’ beds. My husband starts the bedtime routine as usual, while I prepare little bags of popcorn and hot chocolate drinks and place them in the car, oh and don’t forget to have Christmas music playing in the car too! When the kids go to climb into bed, they will find the ticket hidden under their covers, get ready for lots of giggles and screams as they all find their tickets! The kids are then instructed to grab their slippers and … [Read more...]

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DEC
08
2011

Reese’s Fudge Recipe

By | Recipes

5 Comments

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  I found a yummy recipe for Reese’s Fudge, and seriously, what could be better than a combination of Reese’s and Fudge? The original is here at Spell Out Loud, and thanks so much to Maureen’s sweet daughter for sharing this yummy goodness with us!   Ingredients: 1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk 1 bag of Reese peanut butter chips 1 bag of Nestle chocolate chips Vanilla Extract 8 inch pan 1 small microwave safe bowl Wax paper Instructions: 1. Line 8” pan with wax paper and set aside. 2. In a small bowl, mix peanut butter chips, 2/3 cup of condensed milk and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 min. Stir mixture until smooth and spread evenly over wax paper in pan. Put in refrigerator to set.   3. While peanut butter layer is setting, pour 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into bowl. Mix in 1/2 t vanilla and remaining sweetened condensed milk. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir … [Read more...]

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DEC
07
2011

Monogram Ornaments

By | Art, Mom Stuff

6 Comments

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  One year for Christmas I made monogram Christmas ornaments for everyone in our family. I tied them to the outside of their presents as the name tag. They were so adorable! Since I wanted to keep them safe before wrapping presents I had put them all on the tree, and it was so cool to see everyone in our family and some who were no longer with us all on the Christmas tree. Now I regret giving them all away! Supplies: Wooden letter (You can find these at Michael’s, JoAnn’s and Walmart, they’re fairly inexpensive) Patterned Paper (Also found at Michael’s & JoAnn’s ) Adhesive (I used a Xyron 900 9-Inch Creative Station ) Pencil for tracing Hole punch Foam nail file to sand edges Alphabet EZ Rub-On Transfers or stickers for names. Embellishments: patterned paper scraps and ribbon, whatever you like! Instructions: Turn wooden letter upside down onto back side of pattern paper and trace around edges with a pencil. Cut out the … [Read more...]

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DEC
06
2011

Peppermint Bark Recipe

By | Recipes

20 Comments

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    Did I mention that I am NOT a baker? Every year I try though, and this year shall be no different! My husband always makes fun of me because I come up with grand plans, and think they are going to be WAY more fun than they actually turn out to be. Today, “Christmas Baking Day”, was one of those days… (Wish I could take credit for this lovely photo, but it’s from Cathie Filian!)   We’ll start off with a great recipe for Peppermint Bark and end in a seriously messy kitchen. Read on if you dare…it’s not for the faint of heart, nor those on weight watchers…uhem, like myself. Ingredients: (Looks harmless enough right?) 24 ounces white chocolate chips 24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon peppermint extract 1 package Bob’s Candy Canes Cookie Sheet lined with foil Cooking Spray Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with Pam. 2. Pour the semisweet chocolate chips … [Read more...]

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DEC
05
2011

Edible Christmas Trees

By | Art, Homeschool, Mom Stuff, Recipes

11 Comments

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  Looking for an easy and yummy Christmas craft you can do with your kids this season? I guarantee they’ll love these edible Christmas trees!   Ingredients: Sugar cones Green frosting (Or white frosting with green food coloring added in) Various sprinkles for decorating such as: Red Hots, mini-m&ms;, sprinkles, edible glitter etc. Butter knife to spread frosting Plastic tray or cookie sheet to work on. (I love these trays from Lakeshorewe use them for everything including beads, moon-sand, play-doh, glitter projects, anything that can be potentially disastrous to my kitchen.) Instructions: Spread green frosting all over cone. Roll in sprinkles, glitter etc Push on red-hots or mini m&m; for ornaments Eat!     Decorate as desired: Then enjoy! It’s as simple as that, and these are so yummy and fun your kids will be asking to do them again!   … [Read more...]

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DEC
01
2011

Handmade Handprint Ornaments

By | Art, Homeschool

35 Comments

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Looking for a fun personalized Christmas activity you can do with your kids this season? You’re going to love these cute handmade handprint ornaments so much you won’t want to part with them! (Though they do make wonderful gifts!) Supplies: Plain bulb ornaments (I used clear ones from Michael’s, but metallic red would be just as cute!) White acrylic paint paint brush Little hands Something fun to fill your ornament with, I used sparkly tinsel Permanent markers to draw on embellishments Instructions: 1. Carefully paint your kids’ hands (Be prepared for lots of squeals) 2. Have them carefully ‘grab’ the bulb, being careful not to move their fingers. I helped to press their fingers onto the bulb. 3. Use markers or acrylic paint to draw on embellishments: Scarf, hat, eyes, buttons, nose, arms 4. Write their name and year onto the palm of each ornament and hang on tree, or give as gifts! Warning: These may turn out so cute you … [Read more...]

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NOV
30
2011

School Days Memory Keeping

By | Mom Stuff

67 Comments

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Ever wonder how you’re going to manage all the precious school papers your kids bring home, or in our case all the stuff they create in your home? I get a lot of questions on how we store all of our homeschool papers and records. I even wrote a post on Storage and Record Keeping. But what about the special things you want to keep permanently? And how about those pictures that you take each year to show how your kids have grown? Enter the "My School Memories" kit!     Awhile back, like before I had 4 kids and started homeschooling,  I had intentions of scrapbooking a page or more for each of my children to help show their progress from one year to the next. Sadly I’ve been so busy preparing lesson plans and taking care of our house that I haven’t exactly had time to follow through on my plans. So in response to that, I created some super easy and cute school memory pages to help make it easier for me to remember these years! AND… in the spirit of … [Read more...]

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NOV
29
2011

Christmas Preschool Printables

By | Homeschool, Printables

24 Comments

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    Looking for some fun Preschool Christmas Activities? I shared these fun Christmas printables last year, but thought I’d bring them back out for all of my new readers!   Click here to download the entire Christmas Preschool Activity Pack   What’s Included in the Download? Large Floor Numbers Coloring Pages Lacing Card Do-A-Dot Marker Pages Pre-Writing Activities Pattern Activity Roll-A-Tree Game Color Matching Puzzles Candy Cane Counting Size Sorting Christmas Puzzle Scavenger Hunt Letter C Magnet Page Star Counting and More!   And I’m sure you’ve all seen my Jesus Printables, they are great Christmas time activities too!   I hope you enjoy these fun Preschool Christmas Activities! Click here for directions on how to use all these fun games! … [Read more...]

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NOV
28
2011

Homemade Advent Candles

By | Homeschool

8 Comments

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Hi everyone! I absolutely LOVE Christmas time and I thought it would be fun to do a “12 Days of Christmas” blog series! So over the next 12 days I’ll be sharing some of our favorite Christmas traditions, crafts, printables and more! I hope you enjoy the season!   Christmas Traditions: I’m always so excited to create wonderful traditions for our children. These are the types of things they will remember when they’re older, and even pass down to their own families. Since Christmas is my favorite holiday, each year we do something fun for the Advent season. This year I ordered some Make your own Advent Candles and Bartholomew’s Passage for our Advent reading.   The candle kit comes with  5 Purple sheets, 2 Pink, 2 Ivory, and the wicks. They have updated the kit since I ordered, so now they come with instructions, but if you get your sheets from somewhere else I’ll show you how we did it. Supplies: Blow dryer beeswax honeycomb … [Read more...]

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