Party part IV. Invitation.

I scanned these pictures from a 1942 nursery rhyme book that my mother-in-law had. How cool is that. The one picture is Little Miss Muffet-we erased the spider in Photo Shop.



We did the whole invitation using Photo Shop and uploaded them to Costco's website. They have super cheap deals that include the envelopes for a bunch of them.


I have a bunch of retro books from Heidi and I think it would be fun to scan the pictures and use them to make cards.

Party. Card.



I had so much fun planning and preparing for Annie's party and found a lot of good ideas and wanted to pass them on. These ideas can be used in any party or gathering if you just change them up a bit.


Annie's card came in a pack for cheap at Target. It's glossy on the outside, making it easier for the stamp to stick. I think I found the stamp in the dollar bin at Michaels. Just stamp, sprinkle embossing powder, and "melt" the powder on with a heat gun (I hear a blow drier works just as well).





For the presents, I used "Brother Sister design studio" wrapping. I like that they a grid on the back of the paper so you can cut it out straight. The pink ribbon came from Michaels. I put a pink table cloth on the table with the presents on to start off the gift table.

No Mess Playgroup.

Apollo has been making bracelets for people. I always see my neighbor wear hers-so cute. He feels so proud and happy when he does. I brought out the colorful beads during his playgroup. Usually Apollo strings a string but as I grabbed the beads I saw the pipe cleaners and thought they might work. They could string them more easily without a mess and it can fit any size wrist. The kids had a lot of fun.


I love these "paints" (probably more like markers). The kids had fun and there was no mess to clean up. I put their name on their art so they had a pretty pic and a bracelet for mom when they picked them up.



For their last playgroups at the other kids' houses, they've been playing trains, celebrating a birthday, using glue and glitter, and this week they're making cookies for Valentines. Apollo has a good time and I look forward to it too:)

Printable Valentine's Cards. Season of Love.

Here are some free printable cards. Enjoy. Go here for the first 5 vintage valentines.











Wood you go here for another?





And here for more.


Here are some I posted last year (it's the Feb. 7th post). We'll be printing off more this year for Apollo to distribute to his pals.

Family Memory Cards.

I gave this as a gift to my niece, Maddy, and to Apollo for Christmas. It's great because the kids get to play the memory game with cute pictures of their family members. So fun to make and to give as a gift! Here's how to make it yourself:

Materials Needed
-2 pictures of everyone you want or you can use any pictures (like presidents, leaders, the alphabet, etc.)
-Playing cards. I got mine 2/dollar at Dollar Tree.
-Tape

Directions
1. Pick out the pictures of the family members you want to use. I had my sister send some she liked as well.

2. I ordered wallet sized prints at costco.com. They were the perfect size for the playing cards.

3. Cut out the pictures (there were 4 per page) and tape them on to the playing cards.



4. Laminate them. My friend told me about a middle school where I could get them laminated (it was 65 cents for tons of pictures!!). You could do it yourself with contact paper or even packing tape.


6. Cut the pictures. I wrapped the pictures/game in ribbon. For my niece, Maddy, I made a place mat purse and put it inside (I'll post how to make the purses later).



Why I like this game-
1. It's small. Easily toted anywhere.
2. You can play with as many "people" (or matches) as you want depending on the child's skill level. 3. Kids can know the names of all their relatives even if they live far away.
4. It keeps kids quiet (like in places like church) just looking through the fun pictures. I have a pic of great grandma in a tiara, great grandpa on his motorcycle, and my brother wake surfing.

Christmas Gift Tags.

You can download these free gift tags here from Martha Stewart.




I used these last year for my gifts. I stamped the name of the person I was giving the present to on the tag (they had alphabet letters for a dollar a pack at Michaels!!).



I coordinated the ribbon (in the dollar bin at Michaels) and the stamp ink color to the gift tag. I didn't print them out on adhesive paper like the site suggested, I copied them to a Microsoft document to make each of them bigger (they are really small if you just print them off) and printed them out on white card stock. I made a hole punch in the tag for the ribbon and just used white for my wrapping.

Christmas. Tree Place Card.





I made these place cards for Christmas morning breakfast at my in-laws. I'll post later about the delish dish I made for breakfast.




Just download these here from Martha Stewart. All you have to do is fold and cut-THAT'S IT! I wrote everyone's name on them.

Our Latest Project.


We downloaded these from the Fisher Price online toddler games. Click here and go to Alphabet Coloring Pages. Apollo and I had fun coloring them together. Now we can look at them and I'll ask them about the pics on his wall. A fun way to learn the alphabet.





I had an aha moment the other day when I babysat for one of my friends. She lives in a two bedroom apartment where her three little kids sleep in one room. Her husband is a teacher and she is a stay at home mom. Instead of expensive decorations, she has a map and the alphabet above the kitchen table. There were little pieces of paper taped labeling everything in their house and had it in Spanish as well. The kids were so nice to each other-even nice to the baby when he was crawling around and getting into their space. They were all into reading the books I brought over. Very smart and very well behaved kids. She inspired me to put the alphabet up on Apollo's wall. I love to decorate-but what could be better to put up? She showed that you don't need a lot of money to raise an incredible family. She is very thoughtful about her parenting and her efforts show.

Place mats.

I made these place mats for Apollo last Christmas. I taped the pictures onto large card stock had them laminated (some thick stuff).

I cut these pics out of one of my old anatomy books from college.




I found these in a thin booklet of maps.




This was done with alphabet stamps. I cut pictures out. Apollo can point to the pics now and eventually he can point to the pics and know what letter they start with and eventually how to spell them.



While making these, I put Apollo in his high chair and let him make a mess. Anything to keep him busy while I could work on Christmas gifts.

Kiddo Crafts at Cabin.


Paper Plate Faces.
My friend, Eve, told me about familyfun.com. I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine. Here's how we made them:

1. We "shopped" for our materials in nature. We took the kids around the cabin to gather rocks, leaves, flowers, etc.


2. The artists went to work.
3. Then hot glued all of them on. Any glue would work but that's all we had.




Leaf Impressions.

Cameo had the idea to use the leaves we had picked to make these:




Edible Necklaces.

I got this idea from Babycenter.com. I brought some the cheaper version of Fruit Loops with licorice for the kids to string and eat.





Hair clips.

Kimberly brought these and made them for Annie and the other cousins. She took all of the plastic stem and other parts out of the flower and stuck some cute clear jewel looking things in the middle. She glued them all onto a clip. I clipped it onto one of Annie's headbands.





Table Settings.

We all took a night for dinner. I had my niece, Avery, decorate the table so with my sister-in-law Sloane, they picked flowers and put in the middle. We cut limes and put on the plates for the carne asada burritos.

Kids' table.




Activity Page.

My niece, Megan, likes to babysit so I told her about the activity I made for my babysitting kit when I was younger. Different games and activities are under pieces of paper. The kids flip the papers over and that's the activity that will be played. She did a good job. I'll have to make one for my kids.