Crapty DIY potato chip bag pinata

So remember that surprise we were talking about?

Surprise!  Today our Toddler Time group is holding a Christmas party.  We're going to eat, drink, and hopefully meet Santa Claus.  Cross your fingers.

Everyone is bringing something to the party.  Baby Chuck and I are bringing a pinata.  What?  Why am I making yet another pinata?  Well, some of the moms are from Mexico and apparently it's a Mexican tradition for children to hit a pinata at Christmas.  (Side note:  I really love that there are so many different cultures represented in our toddler group.  It's neat learning about other cultures.  Added bonus-I get a chance to practice my Spanish.  Que bueno!)   

Now, a traditional pinata looks like a sphere with seven cones sticking out of it.  Here's the one I made:

Erm... I know what you're thinking.  Leslie, yours looks nothing like that.  True true, but it looks kinda like a star and there are tassels.  Does that count?  Let's just say that mine was inspired by the traditional one.  The coolest thing about this pinata is that it's a true blue CRAPT!

Materials:
- several cereal boxes <-- crap!
- LOTS of potato chip bags* <-- crap!
- tape
- glue (I used Aileen's tacky glue)
- scissors
- pens
- ribbon
- aluminum foil

(*I'm slightly embarrassed by the amount of chips we eat in two weeks.)

Directions:

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Make ribbon tassels

So Baby Chuck and I are working on a secret project for this Friday. What is it? Well, I couldn't tell you or then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?

 Let's just say this secret involves
- a bunch of toddlers
- a big stick
- many bags of chips

 There. I've said enough. As part of the secret project, I made a couple of shiny tassels out of curling ribbon.

There are tons of tutorials out there for making tassels, but I ended up following this one at Go make me's blog.

To make ribbon tassels of your own, you'll need:
- curling ribbon
- scissors
- masking tape (optional, but I found it helpful)
- cardboard

Directions:

 1.  Cut a piece of cardboard that's the same length as the tassel that you want to create.  Cut a piece of ribbon and tape it to the top of your cardboard. (This ribbon will allow you to tie the tassel to something.)  Then, wind ribbon around your piece of cardboard as many times as you like.  (I stopped at 20 times.)

2.  Tie a loose knot with your top ribbon to keep the other strands together.  Then, snip the ribbon off your cardboard with your scissors.

3.  Tighten your knot on top.  Double knot if necessary.

4.  To keep the ribbons in a secure bunch, wrap another strand of ribbon around your strands.  Double knot and and trim the ribbons.   

Enjoy and feel festive.  

A boy and his ball

PC138573.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Graham Cracker Houses

Hubby and I have been still thinking about Sandy Hook.  This past weekend, we struggled with whether we should still hold our gingerbread house making party.  At first it felt kind of wrong.  Hold a party to make small houses out of crackers and candy?  Were we being too frivolous?  Was it ok to have fun while others grieved?

In the end, we still held the party.  And you know what?  I'm really glad we did.

Two gal pals came over and we spent the night eating, talking, and building.  We shared what was happening in our lives.  We listened a lot and laughed even more.

*Sigh* What happened in Connecticut was really really horrible.  But maybe this was our small way of battling the darkness.  Where one candle glows, darkness cannot win.  That night, I imagined our small apartment glowing with good friendship and love.

And doesn't the world need a little more of that right now?

How can we support one another?

Maybe you're like me and you want to do something to help the victims of the shootings, but you don't really know how....

Well, I'm thankful that Amy Sullivan put together a list of ways that we could show the community that we care.

Here are two items from her list that we're going to try to do:

(1)  Send an Evergram.

Evergram is a website that allows users to send text, audio, or video messages to others.  They're currently compiling a bunch of messages in their Our Broken Hearts campaign to send to the Sandy Hook families on December 31st.  (Hubby and I really didn't know what to say.... but we just sent something anyway to let them know that they're not alone and that we're praying for them.)

(2) Send a letter to the school.   

I don't know about you, but I always feel special when I receive a card or letter in the mail.  I think Baby Chuck and I will work on this one tomorrow.

image via Kindness girl

Look for the helpers

Hubby and I are just trying to process what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary.  We're in shock about how someone could murder so many people... but we're also touched by the staff's amazing bravery and sacrifice. 

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.'  To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers- so many caring people in this world."  ~ Mr. Rogers

Crapty origami boat ornaments and Christmas crackers

This weekend we're hosting a gingerbread house party.  To prepare, I purchased a whole bunch of candy, graham crackers, and icing.   I also crapted a couple of origami boat ornaments.  They were folded from magazine paper.  My little boats were inspired by this origami boat necklace that I won in a recent blog giveaway.  (First time I won one of these giveaways, hooray!)

I also made a bunch of psuedo Christmas crackers out of my ever growing pile of paper towel rolls.  Each guest is going to take one home as a gift.  Inside the cracker they'll find a balloon, a corny Christmas joke, a snowflake, cute band-aids  and a couple of candies.  I think traditional crackers are supposed to pop, but I couldn't find the cracker snaps, so mine will just look cute.  

Hope you have a great weekend.  See you on Monday!

So... what do you do all day?

As a stay-at-home mommy, I always seem to get asked this question:  "So... what do you do all day?"  I never really know what to say, eat bon-bons and shop online?  (Just kidding.  I wish.)  Usually I just mumble something about housework or going out.  

Yesterday, I set my mind to capture what I actually do every day.  After seeing the "Picture an hour" series on Bluebird Vintage, I thought I'd also try taking a photo every hour of my "work" day.   

So, for those of you who are curious about the exciting world of homemaking, here's what one stay-at-home mom does at work.

8:15- Hubby came home and then we put Baby Chuck down to sleep.

So there you have it- a typical day with Baby Chuck and me.  

Guest Post at About Proximity

Today I'm writing a guest post on my friend Lisa's blog, About Proximity.  Lisa and I met in Michigan and she's seriously one of the warmest and kindest people I've ever met.  Because of her openness to share about her faith and life, I felt that her blog was the perfect place to share about my decision to quit my PhD program.

Click here to read my guest post.

Bottled smiles and laughter

If I could, I would bottle up all of Baby Chuck's smiles and laughter and keep them in my pocket.  Then, whenever I met someone who was sad or going through tough times, I'd hand them the bottle and have them take the goodness in.  

Hand and feet salt dough ornaments

(Warning:  If your name is Nana, Pops, Gong-gong, Puo-puo, or Tita Tina- STOP!  Please do not read this post.  Please do not look at the photos.  Baby Chuck wants you to be surprised by the gifts he made you.)

Are they gone?  Good.  Now, for the rest of you-

This Christmas season I find myself crafting, and crafting, and crafting some more.  It's like someone opened up my blocked crafty gates.  My mind keeps churning and my hands making.  Mind you, not everything turns out the way it's supposed to (like the time I boiled cashmere for hours to felt it... big mistake... we just ended up a horribly smelly sweater), but it's just fun to make stuff.

Since Christmas (or as I now dub it "Craft-mas" get it?  Tee hee...) is just a couple of weeks away, I'm crafting more holiday items.  First I made the fortune cookie advent calendar and the geometric straw ornaments.  This week we tried our hand at making salt dough ornaments.  Patty from Make it Cozee posted such clear directions and cute photos that it was easy to get super cute results.  (Thanks, Patty!)

We painted the hand prints gold and we had a whole bunch of dough left so we made some tinier ornaments too.

  

Hopefully we can make this a yearly tradition.  Then we can see Baby Chuck growing.. and growing.. and growing... (Hmm... does this mean we need plate sized ornaments?  Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we  get there.)

Landfill Orchestra

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I had to load this video up.  It's beautiful and hopeful and inspiring.

Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.

Crapty DIY geometric straw ornament

To my highschool geometry teacher:
You were right.
Triangles are really cool.
This crapt is for you.

I think geometric forms are beautiful.  Using the directions I found here and here, this week I tried to diy my own geometric ornament out of straws.

Materials:
- stirrers <-- crapt!
- scissors
- ruler
- string
- Elmer's glue

Directions:
(1) Cut your stirrers into 12 two-inch segments.
(2) Cut yourself a piece of string that's two arm lengths long.
(3) String four segments onto the string.
(4) Push the segments to the end of the string. Create a square with the straws and tie a double knot to hold the straws in place.  (Note:  Don't tie the straws too tightly together, otherwise your straws will split under the pressure. I saw this happen with my first attempt.)

(5) String two straws onto your string and then tie those straws down across from your previous knot.

(6)  String two more straws and then tie them across from your previous knot.   (At this point you should be tying a knot over the first knot you made in step 3.)

We're going to now tie more straws onto the figure, but this time we'll tie them in the middle of the figure, between each of the pairs of straws.  So, you'll have to cut your string.

I made a small loop to hang the ornament from at this point. But you could create the loop elsewhere too.

(7)  Tie a double knot in the between two straws in the middle of your figure.

(8) String a straw and then make a knot between another set of two straws.

(Note: The most difficult part about making this ornament was making sure I tied the knot in the right place.  I found it helped if I mostly tied the knot over a straw and then slid the knot into place between the straws.)

(9) Repeat step 8 with with three other straws.  Double knot at the end and cut string.  Add a drop of Elmer's glue if you're worried about the final knot coming undone.  If you don't like the colors of your stirrers, you can also spray paint the ornaments whatever color you want.

Voila!  Enjoy your ornament and make your math teachers proud.

The girl with the golden teeth

Last weekend I acquired two new trinkets to adorn our cabinets.

Yes, those are teeth.
Yes, they are painted gold.

Weirded out?  (Hubby totally was at first.)  Let me explain.

Last Saturday I visited the dentist two cavities filled.  These were my very first cavities ever, so I was nervous about what was going to happen.  Before starting, the dentist used a mold of my teeth to help  explain the procedure.  As I listened, I couldn't stop staring at my molds.  How could something look so creepy and interesting at the same time?  I don't know what came over me, but I asked him if I could take my molds home.  Surprisingly, he agreed to make another copy and give them to me.

So I brought them home and painted them gold.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
And when life gave me my first two cavities, I made myself some golden teeth.

Hello

Baby Chuck is currently taking a loooong nap.  He's had a rough couple of days.  He's still fighting  off a cold, yesterday he had a mild fever, and last night he had lots of problems sleeping (which meant that hubby and I also had lots of problems sleeping.  Eek... for all the parents who go to work even after long sleepless nights- I salute you!  You are troopers.  I don't think I could do it....)

While he rests, I'm taking a brief moment to write this post.

One of my best friends recently stayed with us for a couple of days.  It was wonderful seeing her again and catching up.  It was also extra-special wonderful to introduce her to the new guy in my life.

I think they hit it right off.

Hubby alters another dress

Last weekend hubby pulled out the trusty sewing machine to alter a thrifted dress.

It went from looking like a long hippy-ish nightgown 

to looking like short nightgown 

to looking like a dress that I could actually wear out

Three cheers for hubby's sewing skills!

Blue hands and feet

How was your weekend?

Good, I hope.

Hubby, Chuck, and I have been fighting a nasty bug.  I think Baby Chuck got it around Thanksgiving and then he passed it onto hubby.  My immune system fought a good fight, but I finally succumbed sometime last week.  

Blech. *Sniff sniff*

Baby Chuck and I stayed home for quite a bit, but we pushed ourselves to go to Toddler Time.  This Friday they did a hand and foot painting activity.  I think the children enjoyed being artists for a day.