Fourth of July 2012

This is four blog posts in one!!!

I love red, white, and blue and just being able to spend time with family and friends. The Fourth of July is not just about celebrating the freedom we have but showing our support to our own countries patriotism. Now we may not have the same spirit as those who live in Bristol, Rhode Island, but uh I hope to enjoy my time just the same. With that I love searching for things to do for parties. Pinterest is great for finding ideas. I can always find unique things on how to celebrate or make cool crafty things for kids. I have a big family so we have lots of kids running around and I try to make the children happy and have lots for them to do. Most know if the kids are not having fun or enjoying themselves the parents are not happy and then it ends up being a very short lived party.

One of the projects that I found on Pinterest were confetti poppers that looked like firecrackers from a blog called alphamom I thought that was easy enough how about making them into individual pinatas. Well the project was interesting and am so glad I had a helpful friend who likes to get down and dirty when it comes to crafting! I hung them off of an eye sore in my back yard and was pleasantly surprised. We have half of an old laundry hanger it does absolutely nothing except it held these very nicely

 I also made a bubble juice station that was a big hit. This was super easy and lots of fun to watch the children play with at there own disposal. You definitely will not run out of bubbles. I used some material and twine to decorate the top so it had a nice fourth of July look to it. The kids did not care it was fun for them to use. I also posted some tips for for those you want to try it out.  I tried using a different recipe for bubble next time I will just use dawn soap  or I also heard using a bubble bath soap would work too. I did not want to use the recipe with Karo syrup found on la la daycare, because here in Florida just a little amount of stickiness will bring on the ants, so no sugar based play items for me.

1.  Make sure the kids have a bucket to rinse their hands and wands in as they play- I inadvertently had one going on and did not realize til after the party, so it worked out.
2. I wanted the bubble juice to be colored so added a little food coloring, not a big deal but next no food coloring.
3. I made the cornstarch recipe bubbles and you let it dissolve - all it did was eventually settle at the bottom of the container next time a basic recipe will be fine.
4. You can never have too many bubble utensils, silly straws worked great as bubble blowers.

Now this was an after thought. We always are picking up pallets for our burn pile. I personally love to decorate with them! David not so much, but I was thinking that I still did not have enough for the kids to play with except a back yard and some bubbles. So I whipped this little project up myself no I did not see this one on pinterest, but maybe now it will be! It was a super simple idea. I took a piece of plywood aka my hubby and he cut it  so it was a 2ft x 2ft square, then he filled in any little nooks and gave it a gentle sanding.  Then paint a primer on the wood so that you use save some of your chalkboard paint. I had a can of Chalkboard Spray Paint gave a quick coat. I checked it 15 minutes later and gave another coat and seriously  it was done and put together in an hour. After the chalkboard was dry you can just screw the corners in to the pallet. Done!!! You can dress this idea up by painting the pallet or just adding chalk board paint to the top slat. Maybe use magnetic paint instead of the chalkboard and what a cute way to display those wedding seating cards. That is all up to you. For the chalk, I just used a plant hanger and a bucket to hold the chalk in. You could add a little piece of wood at the bottom to hold the chalk if you want but since we just leaned this against a tree, not really a big deal. We just put it away after the party and pull it out when needed. It is a great score keeper when playing lawn games.



Speaking of lawn games, I also had this idea for a bean bag toss aka cornhole games. I make these cute chickens and thought that they would make the game more fun or child friendly. Plus I love chickens and I was able to find some cute material too. David made the two tossin in things the actual game parts, and I sewed the chickens. This game was for the kids and the adults.

This post was a long time coming and hope this makes up for the lack of posts in July. :)

Hurricane Season

Are you ready for hurricane season?

So in Florida just as snow birds would get ready for a blizzard, we are preparing for hurricanes. Any coastal resident should be aware of hurricanes. I always enjoy the prep of hurricanes. I know it sounds crazy! I am not by any means enjoying in the destruction that can come with a hurricane,tropical storm or a NO name storm. I just like getting ready... you know the prep making: I have my extra water, gas cans, supply of food, important documents, flashlights, emergency contacts, plywood and the list can go on. You can never be too prepared.  I see this as a time to organize, clean, see what is important and what is not. Everyday we should be prepared in spiritual way for a hurricane. This is always something I think about (around this season more than others) and some days I am prepared and others not so much. Hurricanes are for the most part something that can be tracked and you can get ready for. Spiritual hurricanes can strike anytime, anywhere and anyone. Whether you are ready or not. We need to be ready for good old fashion hurricanes and the unforeseen ones too.

Anniversary

So the big 6 year anniversary is rolling around in a few days. I say big because I feel in our society every year is big! I can only imagine how 25 year anniversary and 50 year anniversary's feel. I also know that without our Godly foundation it would not be possible or as easy. I am blessed to have a hubby who is not scared away by my, porcupine-eness. That is his term for me; of course it is in love! I love that we can be open and honest and understand each other. I also decided to post what I made him this year. Yes made him! (I am a pinterest addict) We are pretty simple, we enjoy just being together and living life. This was so much fun to make and came out better than I expected! My husband is a Scrabble lover. I am not in love with the game, and rarely ever win against him. I say once but I may have cheated to win. yes, I do not like losing so many times in row. When it comes to card games, I rock! David knows, but word games I just do not care for. Anyway, I saw a scrabble board that was magnetic on pinterest and thought that would be cool to make. Not as simple as it looked and I gave my board a more artsy feel. Enjoy!