Fun with Egg Cartons

I have been asking people to collect egg cartons and other various household items for me (bottle caps is another we are trying to get a ton of) and some family members donated some empty cartons to us at Christmas time so we have spend the morning working on some egg carton creations. I got most of the ideas from http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ (my new favorite blog!) It was Liams first time painting! Up until now I had been worried about him eating the brush or something. He did really well! He was a little more interested in painting the table after about 2 minutes on the project but all in all, not bad for a 14 month old. :-)


A few recommendations for you:: For the caterpillars (affectionately named Charlie and Kaity after one of our favorite books "Charlie the Caterpillar") I would leave the carton together while painting for the ease of the little ones and cut it afterwards. I would make sure you have nice sharp scissors. Also, I wished I would have cut the holes for the ant legs before painting. My cartons seemed a little soggy and I wished they'd have been firmer for easier cutting. I want to still get some string or something to hang the birds. I have also seen the bird eyes used on an old oatmeal carton to make monster looking faces and may do that when we finish off our oatmeal.

Too much work

We decided to make a handprint wreath this week. Yikes! That was a lot of cutting for Mommy! While its cute, I don't think I'd make it again. Sophia got bored after I traced her hands even though she was helping glue on the paper plate. With all the crafts we do, some are bound to fail! I much preferred the tearing paper wreath we made a few weeks ago!

TP Octupus'

This was a quick and easy craft we saw on the notimeforflashcards.com site. We cut a tp tube in half. Covered it in construction paper and cut the legs. Then we added googly eyes and a smile. Sophia did the gluing and the cutting (great fine motor!) We talked about tentacles and where octupus' live.

Bear

I have always been one who thinks some dogs are cute, but not really wanting one in my home. I am very picky about what I think is cute. Kevin and I have pretty different taste in dogs as well.

I knew Kev and the kids both were really wanting a dog. Then I got my hairs cut on Friday from a friend. I knew she had bought a dog this summer and asked how it was going. Not so well, she said. The dog is 6 months old and she lives in a little apartment. She also works long hours and was feeling bad that she wasn't home often enough for him. She asked if we knew anyone interested in finding Bear a good home. He is a Pomeranian and chihuahua mix. Kevin LOVES Pomeranian. So I called him. Sunday we went to meet Bear and ended up driving home with him.

He is a great fit for our family. Almost NEVER barks (I've heard him bark 2 times in the few days he has been here) He is playful and crazy and snuggly and sweet all at once. He sleeps well in his own bed in his own room without crying (he had been crying for her lots, so he ended up sleeping with her) He is getting better about pottying outside.

He is kind to the kids and they really like him!

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Random crafts

We recently made an Advent chain::countdown to Jesus' birthday after seeing our great friends Amanda and Addie over at @walkbyfaith post their pictures. Thanks for the idea, friends!

Also made some fun and easy stick people that we love (we will add more, but our printer ran out of ink)

You can see a reindeer near our stick people. We used Sophias hands to make antlers and glued it onto a brown felt triangle and then added googly eyes and a red nose. Fun, easy and quick!

One project we tried was a flop! Well, mostly. I let S paint snow. I heard it was fun and cool to watch it melt into colorful puddles (on a pizza/cookie pan) Mostly it was tricky, cold and then Liam got into it when I forgot to put it away and after S alerting me I found green speckles EVERYWHERE in the kids room. Yikes. Luckily most of them came out. I should have taken a picture. But I was frantic when I saw it so I didn't stop. :-)

Bachmanns Idea house

I went to Bachmanns Idea house with some of the ladies in my family this past weekend. The junk Moms have helped them out so everything is re purposed antique/ vintage/ thrift. I LOVED it! Got lots of good ideas.

A few things I loved::








I think I actually will attempt the calendar made with scrap booking paper and plexiglass and the bent spoon/fork/knife apron holders.

I highly recommend you take a walk through their idea house, its $5 and a lot of fun!