paper crafts

I ran across these creative and super cute hand-drawn bookmarks on We Wilsons, home of fabulously crafty folks who make wonderful stuffed animals. Love the stuffies, LOVE the bookmarks also! Click here to go to the post where you can download the templates yourself! Wouldn’t this be great for your kids, given that they’re back in school and probably have a ton of books to read? Get off the boob tube, guys! Wow, I wonder if your kids know what a boob tube is. I feel old.

Nate’s first day of Pre-K was just wonderful, and he is no doubt enjoying the second day as we speak. I only teared up for about 5 seconds before we told him goodbye…I was talking so much that I didn’t have time to cry! We love his teacher Mrs. Brown, and we can’t wait to see what the year has in store for him. Here’s his picture from yesterday morning, all ready to go:

My sugar pie, all grown up.

And of course, I had a ball making his lunch….I’ll post it all on Monday for my Bento Monday series! He actually ate the majority of it, which was very surprising. I wasn’t sure he’d have enough time to eat/talk. He is my child, you know…we can talk all day long! But Ms. Ashley, the student intern from UALR who will be in his class this year, told me that he was asking for lunch at 10:00 yesterday, so he must have been hungry!

Last Friday I showed you guys the Zuckertute I made for his first day of school and gave you easy steps on how to make one. We let him open the Wednesday night, and let’s just say he loved it!

Happy, happy, happy!

When as old you are, look at cool you will not.

All the captain's spoils

Zuckertute head!

It was such fun! Keep a Zuckertute in mind for your child’s first day of school, or for any other very special occasion.

Now your marching orders for the weekend….something new to eat, and a craft for you and the kids.

Mmmmm...breakfast!

From one of my fave food blogs, Framed, here’s something new to add to your weekend breakfast repertoire….Bacon and Egg Muffins! Delish! Click on the photo for the yummy instructions.

Wearable artsy goodness

And from another fav, Filth Wizardry, here’s an artsy craft for the painter child in the family. She made this skirt from 2 flour sack dishtowels from the Dollar Tree, using Sharpie markers and watered down acrylic paint. For those of you who don’t have an immediate need for a skirt, sew 3 sides of the towels together, stuff and handstich the top closed to make a pillow! Click on the photo for the tutorial.

That’s it guys! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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 admire Alisa Burke for many reasons, and when I need some inspiration on creating artful items from everyday stuff I’ll crash her blog. Here, she’s taken my favorite item, TP rolls, and turned them into napkin rings, jazzed up with some paint and fabric flowers. Check out her tutorial for the how-to.

Photo from Mary Janes and Galoshes

Taylor from Mary Janes and Galoshes has an easy tutorial for some cute photo covered pencils…make a set for your child’s Easter Basket!

Photo from Kaboose.com

Sunday is Valentine’s Day, but it is also the beginning of the Chinese New Year. So if you are ready to move on from the pink and red invasion that is Valentine’s, celebrate the year of the Tiger with these simple and fun crafts from Kaboose. My favorites are the paper lanterns and the red firecrackers (TP rolls!) 

Before getting started, you can go here to read how the Chinese celebrate the New Year, why they use the lunar calendar, and other facts and information. Talk about the culture and traditions with your kids as you create your New Year’s crafts.

If you feel really festive, you could plan a typical Chinese New Year meal. If not the whole meal, maybe serve some dumplings (they look like golden nuggets,) oranges (perfectly round, symbolizing completeness and wholeness,) or long noodles (served to symbolize long life) at some point this weekend.

Photo from Simple Sage Designs

What a wonderful way to decorate your door for Valentine’s Day? An easy, CHEAP and fast project you can have done in mere minutes. Check out the photo tutorial at Simple Sage Designs.  Also loving the birthday skirt…alas, no little girls around here for that.

Photo from WhiMSYlove.com

How cute are these? Via Dollar Store Crafts, here’s an idea from fellow bento-maker WhiMSylove…salt shaker photo holders! Check out her tutorial here for the easy and cheap details.

This could be a cute and simple Valentine’s Day idea, either for photos or for little valentines for friends. Maybe fill the shakers with candy hearts or red hots? Oh, I feel some inspiration coming on….

Well, my heart was in the right place when I wrote my post last week about MLK Day, but my planning skills…another story.

I had intended to volunteer at the Arkansas Foodbank Network for a few hours this afternoon to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I had also spoken to my son’s teacher about a little service project the kids could do at school for MLK Day.

Well, it goes to show that when you have more than one adult helping to plan, things usually will work out.

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