This has nothing to do with crafts, but I just had to share before heading off to bed…

We had a great weekend, one for the record books. My son has been asking to “go to the lake” for a few weeks now, so we went to Greer’s Ferry yesterday morning for a dip. Yes, it was cold…if you got out of the water. We were joined by some great friends and their son, and the boys had a BALL in the water. The husband said the look of joy on the kiddo’s face while they were floating and splashing was so wonderful. We had a picnic lunch, then headed home for the day.

This morning we joined another couple and their girls for a ride on the River Trail on the NLR side. We pull the kiddo in a bike trailer and he points out all of the trees and animals he sees along the way. He loves his trailer and is always telling Daddy to “GO FASTER!”  Usually Sunday is our family ride day, so it was nice to have friends join us. We had another picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground while the adults commiserated.

But the best part didn’t even involve me. This afternoon I went to the grocery store, leaving my husband and the kiddo to play in the blow-up pool. After much sliding, the kiddo climbed up on Daddy, grabbed his cheeks between his little hands and said, “Dad, you are the best helper ever.” Husband called me at the store to tell me this, and I could tell he was just busting with pride.

It got me thinking.

Our kids lack control over 85% of their lives. This weekend, we tried to let go of the errands and the projects and just asked him “what do you want to do?” He is getting to the age where he remembers places and moments, and I will guarantee you he will remember this weekend for a while…where we helped him to do what makes him happy.

Moody Mom asked me for some advice the other day on ideas for kids Halloween parties, and since it really is just right around the corner and today felt so fall-ish…I spent a little time digging around on the net for some ideas.

I’ve visited kaboose.com several times over the past year for ideas on everything from coloring pages to holiday crafts and they have a wonderful litany of ideas for Halloween parties. There’s advice on who to invite, where to have it, what to do…I love the ghost invitations and the list of party game and activities. Oh, and the Black Magic Dragon is adorable. There is a ton of information here!

Another great resource for Halloween party ideas is kaboose’s sister site, amazingmoms.com. The mummy wrap relay and the pumpkin pass along are great party game ideas. Be sure to check out their cute favor bags!

My cousin and I hosted a Halloween-themed baby shower last year for her sister that was SO MUCH fun and was completely inspired by the recipes we found in a Pillsbury Halloween circular last year. Here are two of our creations-

Wizard Hats

Wizard Hats…so easy! Get a box of refrigerated pie crusts, and while they are still cold lay them out on a cutting board. Sprinkle a little water on them, then follow with a sprinkle of a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cut into 16 wedges per crust, and starting at the larger end roll it up once or twice to make the bottom of the hat. Place on cookie sheets sprayed with a non-stick spray and bake for about 6-8 minutes, or until the edges are brown, at whatever temperature the box indicates. Let them cool before serving.

Halloweenies

The real reason we bought the recipe book was for the Halloweenies. I mean, how cute are they! Little cocktail wieners wrapped in croissant roll dough with mustard dots for eyes! I found the recipe here (these folks actually made the Creepy Crow Claws too, and have a picture of the Pillsbury circular we bought) so I won’t bother you with the details. I can tell you…they are impossible to stop eating.

I will have TONS of Halloween and fall ideas in the near future. I am a big seasonal kids crafter. Til then, have a great rest of your weekend!

Leigh

P.S. Happy Birthday to me!

I stumbled across this one on the Craft Gossip blog, a WONDERFUL resource for crafty ideas of all genres. My fellow Ya-Yas (a wonderful group of supremely gifted ladies with which I am lucky enough to be acquainted) Anne and Denise are editors, so you know you will walk away inspired.

Photo by ArtMind

ArtMind has tons of tutorials, and her step-by-step for scratch-off tickets got my mind a workin’…so in honor of the new state lottery to go into effect in September I thought of a few ways you could use them-
birthday invitations
greeting cards
party favors
kid’s coupons (free popsicle for being good, don’t make the bed day, etc…)
fortunes minus the cookie
inspirational sayings for your kid’s lunchbox

What else can you think of? LOVE IT!!

And now, as promised, more toilet paper roll goodness:

The supplies

Windsock it to me Locate your hole punch, some yarn, lots of ribbon in all different colors, and paint, markers, crayons, whatever!
Get your kiddo to cover the roll with their artsy goodness and let it dry completely. Punch two holes in the top of the roll, straight across from each other. Use a ruler as a guide if you need to. Cut an 8” piece of yarn and tie each end to each hole in the top.
Punch six to eight holes evenly spaced around the bottom, depending on the width of the roll. Cut one to two strips of ribbon per hole, between 10” and 12” each. Thread the ribbon through the bottom holes, centering the hole on the middle of the ribbon, and tie in a double knot.
For fun, you could tie lightweight baubles to a few of the ribbons: small buttons, paper clips, charms from broken bracelets (another collection of mine), and smallish beads.

Catchin' a breeze

Hang outside protected from rain, or inside your child’s room. This one turned out rather fun; thanks to my own kiddo for painting the toilet roll!

So here’s my plan tonight: kiddo in bed at 8:30 pm, husband out at Vino’s to hang out with some friends, and me, feverishly sewing new crayon rolls to share with you guys. We’ll see how it goes! Til then friends-

Leigh

Oh, I’m so excited! I got a chance to do a little shopping at yesterday and picked up some super cute fabric for my next projects…crayon rolls and those reusable sandwich bags!

I made one crayon roll Friday night that turned out 85% perfect. I used the wonderfully easy tutorial on Skip to my Lou to make it, but I skipped on the interfacing not knowing how important it was (gives it more oomph and stability), and sewed the ribbon with the wrong sides facing out.

All rolled out, and cute as a button!

All rolled up!

I love all those pointy crayon tips.

So talented!

This is a really easy project to do, involving a small amount of fabric, that can be whipped out in about an hour or less. They would make great birthday and Christmas gifts. Set aside an afternoon or evening to make several of them to stockpile for gifts.

So this is why I laud the wonderful and humble toilet paper roll. When it comes to kiddo crafts, you can do almost ANYTHING with one. Over the next bit I will share my favorite ideas, but here are two for starters:

argh, mateys!

Eye spy-glass We did this one for the kiddo’s third birthday pirate party. Find some clear cellophane or a very thin and pliable plastic sheet, either from some packaging or gift wrap cellophane. It can be colorless or tinted, whatever you can find, and cut out one 4” by 4” piece. I took the toilet paper roll and spray painted it black, but you can have your kiddos color/paint/mark it up, or leave it plain. Cover one end with the cellophane and secure with your handy dandy rubber band or tape. Viola! A spyglass fit for any first mate on ye ol’ pirate vessel.

Getting ready to stamp!

I love how the colors are all mixed together....

Stampin up The cheapest and easiest way for kids to make circle shape. Squirt a couple of colors on a plastic plate and let them go to town! Also great stamping items: yogurt cups, pencil eraser tips, water or the open neck of a pop bottle (and bottoms), corks, those rectangle plastic baby food containers, the list really is endless!

photo by maya*made

This is the simplest little idea, but I think it is adorable. I’ve admired the maya*made for a while, and while perusing her fabulous kids crafts ideas I stumbled upon this fun and super easy tutorial for straw paint monsters.

Maya is a wonderful artsy, crafty, kids driven, lovin’-life-and-the-beauty-in-it blogger, and everytime I go there I get inspired to create. On my list, and hopefully with the results shown on here: pillowcase dresses, elf slippers, a weaving loom for little ones…who knows what else. She even has envelopes made of paper bags! To match my magazine page envelopes! Sigh…

Check out the make and eat menus on the right sidebar, and the shop to peruse her shop at etsy. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE etsy? if you have not been there, quit denying yourself the pleasure and GO THERE NOW. After you look at the straw paint monsters, of course.

We tried them tonight, and I must say it was fun to watch the kiddo blow spit out of the straw. It took a few tries to get it, and he did alright- 

We had a good beginning....

...but we ended up just fingerpainting.

I’m not complaining at all…because instead of watching TV for 30 minutes, I got him to be creative! I did add too much water to the paint, so be mindful. These will have to dry for a day before I can cut them out. I’ll be sure to post the spooky results.

i have this aversion to writing. like using my hands and a pen to create words on paper. i skip letters, it looks all sloppy and is very hard to read. or how my grandma describes it…interesting. my grocery lists are notorious for making no sense, and when my husband occasionally shops with me he is constantly cracking up as he reads it…”does this really say bread? cause it looks like bmmuf.”

however, when i try hard and concentrate, i have really cool handwriting. i like to create artsy swirls and loops, and when i give it some real effort i do admire my “handy” work.

so when i heard of fontifier, a website where they can create a font based on YOUR handwriting, i was pumped! finally, it will look like i put in the effort, but i didn’t have to actually WRITE! this would be great.

a very easy step-by-step can be found on their website, but here’s the basic jest:

materials needed:
computer and scanner
good felt tip pen…i don’t think this works as well with ball point pens, but that’s just my opinion. here’s some examples of how different pens look.
credit or debit card for the $9.00 fee, if you decide to upload your font to the computer for keeps.

print out a template page from their website, which has cells for every letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case, numbers and punctuation. you then should make several copies of this page before you start filling in the boxes, something i failed to do. it took several tries until i liked the looks of all my characters.

okay, painstakingly recreate your perfect handwriting on said template page, minding the little tick marks on the sides of the cells…this is the “bottom” of your handwriting line so your letter should rest along this imaginary border. here’s mine-

the little green blob is the kiddo under his sacred blanket

here's a closer look...see the tick marks on the side?

scan your template into your computer and save either as a GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF. JPEG is the normal photo file type, at least on my computer. here’s what mine looked like after i saved it-

my lovely script, on it's way to becoming infamous.

uploadyour image to fontifier, give it a name…“the best dang handwriting ever” or something to that effect, and tell them your name for copy writing  purposes. it will then be loaded up for a preview.

voila! perfection. well, if not get out one of those extra template copies and repeat all of the steps above until you have it right, man!

if you like it, buy it there on the spot and download it to your hard drive. they will need a debit or credit card, and i got a receipt in my email pretty much instantly after i purchased mine. no problems paying whatsoever.

to install it, they give you simple instructions on where to save it permanently, depending on your computer type, so your system will recognize it. there is always the help section should you get completely turned around.

in my opinion, nine bucks is a great price for a font that looks like your handwriting on your best day. you can use it for scrapbooking, emails (for that “i care” touch), or your kids can use it to write excuse notes for school. okay, well, just don’t tell them you did this. i’d love to hear your thoughts on how fontifier worked for you; send me your comments on how you could use your own personalized font! til, then friends…happy crafting!