Pop Bottle Rockets

We were in need of a low mess activity tonight. My work week was crazy busy and our house needed some major cleaning. So tonight while I cleaned up the kids were entertained by shaking these paint filled pop bottles. Both had fun and even better there was not much of a mess once we were done!

Materials

Pop Bottle (we used a 2 liter bottle)

Acrylic Paint

Construction Paper

Scissors

Tape

Marker

Instructions

1. Pour some paint inside the bottle and screw the bottle lid back on tightly.



2. Shake, shake, shake! Add a little more paint in another color and shake some more!

3. Using the construction paper create a cone over the top of the bottle. Secure with tape.

4. Lay the cone shape flat and cut off the excess paper. Then secure onto the bottle using more tape.

5. Decorate your bottle with markers. A simple "USA" worked for us!

 I hope that you enjoyed my week of 4th of July themed crafts. Check out other ideas here and here. Also, be on the lookout for my guest blog on www.momaha.com this Saturday morning for Pipe Cleaner Fireworks!

Have a great weekend everyone....we are off to the pool!

4th of July Lantern

In our house a nightlight is very important. Both of my kids cannot go to sleep without one and I cannot maneuver a room in the dark without breaking something (toy or toe). So we decided to redo this project from a couple of years ago only with a Patriotic twist.

 

 

Supplies

 

Plastic Jar

Painters Tape

Marker

Paint

Scissors

Foam Paint Brush

Battery Operated Tea Light

 

 

Directions

 

1. Using a marker draw stars directly onto your painters tape roll.

 

2. Cut out the stars and place onto the plastic jar. We used a recycled peanut butter jar which we seem to have plenty of (mayo jars are usually plastic too)!

 

3. Using your foam brush paint the entire jar. Make sure the stickers are completely covered.

 

4. Once the paint has dried carefully peel back the stars.

 

5. Place a battery operated tea light into the jar and turn out the lights!

 

 

I am happy to report both kids went straight to bed when I told them we could use their new night light! Liv only asked for drink of water maybe once (okay twice)! ;)



 



Handprint Flag

We are in a patriotic mood this week. The kids are very excited for next weeks festivities and I thought it would be fun to do a couple of crafts celebrating such a great day in our history. Both kids love having their hands painted so of course they loved this craft.

What You Need

Paint (Red, White, & Blue)

Paint Brush

Construction Paper

What To Do

1. Paint your child's hand as pictured.

2. Stamp onto paper before the paint dries.

3. Use your fingertips to paint on the stars.

Come back Wednesday for another fun 4th of July themed craft!

Vegtable Pizza

If you have not tried Veggie Pizza you are missing out. My Grandma made this for me years ago when I was in college. Of course being the nice girl that I am I shared with friends and now it seems our get togethers are not complete without veggie pizza to snack on.

Ingredients

2 Crescent Roll Tubes

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

Ranch Seasoning Package

Veggies (I use brocolli, carrots, and cauliflower)

Instructions.

1. Roll crescents flat onto baking sheet (similar to pizza crust). Bake according to package directions or until crust is golden.

2. While crescent roll crust is baking mix cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch together until smooth (may want to soften cream cheese in microwave first).

3. Wash and chop up your veggies.

4. Once the crescent roll crust is done baking spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on top. Top with veggies.

5. Refridgerate to cool. 

6. Once cooled cut and store in a plastic container using plastic wrap between layers.

Trust me this pizza never lasts long and I will admit I sometimes make this and eat it all by myself!

Sand Art

You will want to have a broom or even a vacuum cleaner handy if you attempt this project. Alivia had been given a sand art set for her birthday but you can purchase a similar set here.

Although this project can be messy it definitely kept her busy (and gave me the opportunity to make a few phone calls).

(Would anyone like to take a guess as to what her favorite color is?)

Paper Plate Fish

We finally had some warm weather here in the midwest and just in time because all of last week the kids had swimming lessons.

Both kids learned a lot and had so much fun. Liv is still working on putting her head 100% into the water but I think she will get there by the end of the summer. Bennett I have to watch out for...he is fearless and has no trouble dunking his entire head into the water to grab a toy.

Regardless of head dunking abilities by the end of the week I had started calling them my little fish. So in honor of my "little fish" we made these cute paper plate fish.

What You Need

Paper Plate

Paint

Paintbrush

Googly Eyes

Aluminum Foil

Glue

What To Do

1. Paint the entire paper plate any color you would like.

2. Once the paint has dried cut out a triangle for the fish mouth.

3. Glue on a googly eye.

4. Cut out two triangular pieces from a piece of aluminum foil and glue to the paper plate (or use the scraps from the triangle that you cut out for the mouth as one of your fins).

5. Using markers color the aluminum foil any color you would like.

6. Admire your colorful fish!

Balloon Surprise Gift

My husband and I have several nieces and nephews. It feels like for every occasion we either give them cash or buy them a gift card to their favorite store. There is nothing wrong with this. However, I always feel like it is such a dull gift to give someone.

 I came across this idea on Pinterest a long time ago and filed it away in my brain until the perfect moment arrived. My cousin graduated high school this past spring and his dad (my uncle) is the king of creative cash gifting. For my college graduation he gave me a clear plastic piggy bank stuffed full of $1 bills. For my sisters graduation he gave her a treasure chest of gold dollar coins. So I knew if anyone would appreciate this gift it would be my cousin.

Now I would suggest to plan ahead and find a huge box. I had to make due with what I had so there were not nearly as many balloons as I would have liked. In my mind I had pictured 20 to 30 balloons but quickly realized my box would only hold about 10. The gift still did its job though.

 Inserting the money into the balloon is simple. Simply roll the money up tightly and slide in prior to blowing up the balloon as pictured. We also added some confetti to each balloon for extra "popping fun". :)

I was nice and taped a needle inside the card attached to the gift.  The look on my cousins face was priceless as he tried to figure out why his card contained a needle. I couldn't help but laugh when he openned his gift to find out why.

Tell me who would not want to open up a box full of balloons! And in my cousins case a box full of balloons stuffed with money!

Do you have any creative gift ideas you would like to share? I am always on the hunt for something!

Cotton Ball Clouds

When we sat down to do a craft this past weekend it had been raining nonstop the entire day. Both kids were restless and I was at my wits end. Luckily we were able to make this raincloud and save some of our sanity. As we created we sang "Rain, Rain Go Away" and other made up rain songs. The singing was entertaining and the raincloud turned out pretty cute.

What You Need

White Cardstock 

10-12  Cotton Balls

Yarn (5 pieces about 1 foot in length)

Construction Paper (for rain drops)

Glue

Scissors

Marker





What To Do

1. Using the marker draw a cloud onto the piece of white cardstock and cut it out.

2. Glue the pieces of yarn onto the cloud as pictured below.

3. Gently pull apart the cottonballs so that they are no longer round and glue onto your cloud.

4. Cut out tiny raindrops from the construction paper and glue onto the yarn as pictured.

5. Attach a magnet to the back or simply used a few pieces of double sided tape to hang.

Here is hoping that this is our last "rainy" day project. I am ready for some fun outdoors!

Kiwi Crate - May Crate

If you have not tried Kiwi Crate you are missing out! We signed up in April and have now had 2 crates shipped to our door. What is Kiwi Crate you ask? Kiwi Crate is a box filled with all you need to  create two or three crafts and the best part is that it is shipped straight to your front door each month. Liv already recognizes the green box and gets so excited to do the crafts. And when I say excited I mean I have never seen her rush that fast to pick up all of her toys!

Each month has a theme and this past month dealt with birds. Inside this months box was everything we needed (including spoons, paint, cups, bowls, glue, paint brushes, crayons, feathers, masks, eggs, yarn, elastic, Velcro, glue dots, and the list goes on) to make a birds nest and bird costume. Plus there was an activity book filled with fun facts and drawings so the fun didn't stop once the crafts were done.

There is even the option of adding extra supplies for a sibling which I love. They state that the crate is best for ages 3 to 7 but Bennett is just shy of two and I  honestly think he enjoys the crafts just as much as his sister.

(Our finished bird nests)

(Proud of her creation)

The second craft was making this super cool bird costume. Again all of the supplies were in the box (I still can't get over how much they can stuff into each box) and there were step by step instructions making this so easy to make.

Liv could not wait to try on her costume and had fun flying around our front yard once we were finished.

(For more infor click on the link below!)

House Progress: Part 3

Well it has been a while since my last house update. Mostly because it will not stop raining here in the Midwest! I am still amazed with how fast the house is going up. Just a couple of weeks ago the basement walkout was framed and the floor trusses were installed.

This was followed by laying the actual floor.

And once the floor was done walls started going up.

The photos that follow are from today. The trouble with building in your own backyard is that everyday we make a trip up the hill to see the progress (when it is not raining anyways). I have a feeling the final months are going to be long ones since we will be so excited for our move!

(Garage ready for the roof trusses.)

(This pic was to cute not too post.)

We are definitely getting there!

Chalk People

Sidewalk chalk helps pass a lot of time at our house. Usually the kids request for me to draw things I am not capable of drawing (mermaid, horse, frog, etc.). I usually make a sad attempt and end up somewhat pleasing the kids. But I think our favorite thing to do with sidewalk chalk now is make people. It is easy and the kids get so excited when I trace them while they lie on the ground. Once they have been traced we fill in the body and add accessories (rocks from the driveway often become beautiful necklaces). The drawings will definitely not win any prizes but they usually don't turn out half bad! 

(I think Bennett had more fun coloring his pants!)