holidays

As you can tell, I like to celebrate the big, and small, things in life. My son’s last day at his daycare, his beloved home away from home is today. We made cupcakes together Thursday night for his going away party, and he painted pictures for his teacher and I helped him write his friend’s names on cards to go along with their presents: books about starting a new school.

My sister in-law, Franziska, a German gal, has introduced me to another way to celebrate that transition to “big kid” school: the Schultute, or Zuckertute as she grew up calling them. Translated, it means “sugar bag”; a bag full of goodies given to children on their first day of  entering school, generally in the first grade.

It’s not all about the treat bag, it’s a whole day full of family and neighbor celebrations and fun. The older kids at school put on a play, the family goes to school together for the day. But the Zuckertute is the most fun part of the day for most kids! You can read some articles here and here about Zuckertuten, but I thought I’d show you a couple of them.

Mein Noah!

Here is my wonderful nephew Noah, in front of his new school, showing off the sweet Zuckertute that Giga (Franziska’snick name) put together for him from a kit she got in Germany. It’s huge and so fun…and since I don’t have a handy-dandy kit from Germany, I set out to make my own for Nate’s first day of Pre-K!

The blank canvas

I started out with a black piece of posterboard, and the biggest stamps I ha: the pirates! Argh!

Jolly Roger

Using a foam brush and some craft paint, I painted the stamps and proceeded to stamp the posterboard with all three stamps, different colors for each.

Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate zuckertute for me!

Gold paint for the treasure chest, matey.

Rolled up like a deuce, captain

After letting it dry overnight, I rolled the posterboard into a cone shape and secured the edges with lots and lots of glue dots.

Argh, a black hole!

Then I taped the inside with packing tape, along the seams, for extra security.

Preparing for surgery

I laid the cone on the bed, seam side up, and squished it a bit, and started cutting off the top, to make it even.

Oops

My first cut was a bit slanted….

Round one

…but after a few trims…

Round two

…and more eyeballing…

Yes!

We achieved an even, perfect (almost) top.

Tissue topper

I took three pieces of coordinating tissue paper and taped them together just at the bottom.

Stuffed

I stuffed the taped bottom parts of the tissue paper into the top of the cone and secured the paper to the cone with packing tape. I also stuffed a piece of red tissue paper into the bottom since the bottom of the cone was a bit larger than intended.

All secure

Me pirate booty

Here’s the hodge podge of goodies for the zuckertute: a sweet Yoda shirt, bath color tablets, Hot Wheels….like he needs more…tic tacs, Super Why stickers, and a R2D2 and C3PO pencil case with pencils and a sharpener.

Stuffed

Yoda on top to surprise my pirate!

Finishing touches

I grabbed five coordinating ribbons to use to tie off the Zuckertute.

All ready for me matey!

We will have to wait a week before giving this to Nate, and I just might find more goodies to stuff inside or decorations to further adorn the Zuckertute, but I just LOVE how it turned out! I’ll be sure to let you all know what he thinks when he sees it.

Here’s the players:

Yay for ribbon and butterflies!

Mini paper bags
stapler with colored staples (available at craft stores)
scissors
an assortment of ribbon, cut in 8” strips
craft butterflies; mine came from the Dollar Tree but they are also at any craft store
not shown are the Glue Dots that come into play later

So happy to have some pink in this project

Pair up the ribbons into coordinating twosomes.

Is that a hand model?

Place one end of the paired ribbons in the middle on the top of the bag.

Look at how she holds that stapler...

Put the bottom of the staple inside the opening of the bag, under the ribbon and staple.

Let the sunshine in!

I like to use several staples to attach the ribbon to the bag cause it looks cuter and makes the handle more stable.

The rule of 3, people!

Flip the bag over and secure the other ends of the ribbon to the other side of the bag. I like to keep the ribbon ends uneven…I like things to look haphazard and stuff.

There's that beautiful hand again!

Here’s one of the little butterflies. There was a piece of wire embedded in its belly, so I pulled it out so it could be glue-dotted to the bag.

I *heart* some glue dots

Voila! A slightly tilted little butterfly finishes off the bag.

Love it! What a cute set!

Here’s the sweet trio of butterfly bags, filled with tissue just waiting to be filled with treats and goodies for friends and loved ones. I just LOVE these, so easy and just so pretty.

I am really digging wreaths at the moment, and I always dig anything that Alisa Burke comes up with. She posted a tutorial for this leafy wreath that you could hang on your door any season, but you could make it specifically for spring with pastel colored leaves or fall with oranges, reds and browns.

She used a product called sticky back canvas from the Claudine Hellmuth Studio line available at Michaels to create the leaves for the wreath. I’ve never used it before and it sounds awesome, but you could do the same with a heavier cotton fabric and craft paints.

If you like the leaf stamps Alisa used here, you can also purchase them from her Etsy store, very reasonably priced I might add!

Click on the photos for some last minute, fun and easy ways to celebrate the 4th of July:

For the past two years, we’ve participated in the Midland Heights 4th of July Parade with our good friends who live in the area. I’ll share some photos tomorrow from last year’s parade, but for ideas on how you can create your own parade go to How Does She? to see Shelley’s kid’s parade.

Jordan of Oh Happy Day!, guest contributor at Alphamom, shares how to create the perfect gift for the super-hero in your life for Father’s Day…a snack box from the “Super Hero Supply Company”! The best part is you really only need to make a trip to the grocery store for the goodies! Click on the photo for the tutorial and free downloads of the hero labels.

UPDATE:
My friend Angie and her son loved the idea of a super hero snack gift, so they decided to make dad some munchies  for Father’s Day. They used scrapbook paper and supplies, and her son’s artistic talent and sense of humor, to make labels for some of her husband’s favorite foods.  I just cracked up when she sent me the picture….it was PERFECT! Thanks for sharing, Angie!

Father’s Day is coming up in a few short weeks, so you’ve got plenty of time to help your child whip up a hand-made gift! Don’t wait until the last minute….like I usually do! Family Fun, as usual, has a ton of fun gift and food ideas to celebrate Dad’s special day. I personally love this BBQ apron, strengthening the bond between man and his fire.

Ever celebrated May Day? Nope? Me either! But I love a good holiday, and seeing as it is tomorrow, why not start now?

I talked to my SIL Franziska, a German gal, earlier this week about how the Germans celebrate the holiday. She told me different regions have various traditions, but generally Walpurgis Nacht is celebrated on April 30 with bonfires to chase away evil and dark spirits (and the youngins go out partying,) then the next morning May Day is celebrated with lots of outdoor activities, maypoles and parades. She said that every year, her parents will go hiking on May Day to celebrate. How wonderful…a holiday that encourages you to go out of doors! Something we could all do more, no?

In America, people decorate baskets of flowers and treats and leave them on their neighbor’s porches. That is reason enough to celebrate May Day in my book. Check out my good ol’ standby family craft blog Skip to my Lou for some easy ideas on how to make flower baskets to help you celebrate this holiday. Happy May Day! Now get outside…if it’s not pouring down rain.

Looking for a sweet handmade gift for Mother’s Day from your little ones? Little Birdie Secrets has a easy corsage that the kiddos can get their hands involved. Click on the photo for a tutorial.

I just think it is so nifty that my anniversary falls around Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22nd. I don’t think we knew about the holiday twelve years ago when we got married, but we were young and there was A LOT we didn’t know.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve embraced the life changes that are the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. I love to second hand shop and use laundry bags to hold my produce at the grocery store. I had a wonderful veggie garden last year, and tried my hand at composting…rather unsuccessfully, but I’m not giving up! 

There are several activities you can do with your kids to celebrate Earth Day, from planting some veggies of your own, donating your unneeded household items to a local resale shop or starting to recycle. Here’s some links to ideas for crafts and outings you and your family can do together to celebrate Earth Day.

Arkansas Earth Day Celebration, North Little Rock April 24th

Laundry Bottle Pet Food Scoops

Tin Can Herb Pots

Coffee Filter Earth

Print some Earth Day Worksheets to color

And here is a link to Earth Day celebrations around the state