Day 68/69: Failure to success

I didn't blog yesterday because we were out of town, celebrating Coraline's first birthday!  I knew I was going to have to do a craft with the kids while we were with my family, so as we were out shopping yesterday, I found Mickey/Minnie perler beads.  It has been YEARS since I've made anything with Perler beads, but I remember having a blast with them as a kid.  The girls were both SO excited to make Mickey/Minnie crafts since they absolutely love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
We got to my dad's, and as dinner was cooking, Mike and I sat down with the girls and opened up the perler beads and tried to get the girls to make the Mickey/Minnie patterns.  I was disappointed to see how that they weren't quite as kid friendly as I was expecting.  #1, they were square peg boards when I thought they would be shaped like a Mickey or Minnie head to just put beads on top of... and then, the "pattern" got set under the peg board and you had to match the colored perler bead to colored pattern.  It was hard to figure out what color was under the peg board, especially when it was between peach and white.
Penny proceeded to spill her bead bag all over my dad's kitchen floor and sent us running to pick them up before C could get a chance to eat them.  Penny didn't find a bit of it interesting, I spent most of my time grabbing beads as they were falling off the table, and Iris put about 4 beads onto her peg board before telling us "I'm done.  I don't like this."  To say the very least, i was bummed.  On the plus side, Mike managed to make a Mickey head!
That brings us to today, as we are sitting at my aunt's house with my cousin and waiting for Coraline to wake up to open gifts and have cake and ice cream.  My cousin, Natalie, caught sight of the perler bead kit and got SO excited over it, that the kids decided they wanted to make them again.  So we, Natalie, Aunt Kim, Iris, Penny, and I run into the kitchen, open the package and start.  I couldn't believe it, they loved it!  Iris actually did REALLY well with her Mickey Mouse head and tried HARD to match the bead colors with pattern.  When Dustin showed up, he helped Iris finish, she ended up with a Mickey Mouse with chicken pox.
Penny ended up making a "Mickey" as well... I was impressed that she actually sat long enough to put all the beads on the pegboard though.  I was really happy with her patience.
I will get the pictures from Natalie tomorrow (or try) and will add them to tomorrows blog.  But, I was happy overall.  Total failure to success!

Day 67: Clear Solo Cup

I saw this craft on Pinterest a few days ago... it uses a clear Solo cup.  And all I can think about as we did this was "Red Solo Cup" by Toby Keith. 

You know what, we did a craft today... I have pictures on my phone, and I honestly cannot think of a thing to say about it.  So I think i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Supplies:

CLEAR Solo cups

SHARPIE markers

Oven @ 325-350*

PATIENCE

Color Solo Cups with Markers... put in oven and WAIT... and WAIT... and WAIT... the person on Pinterest that said it would take a "few minutes" at 300 LIED.  it took 20 @ 300, they didn't melt... another 5 @ 325... and another 5 @ 350 before they all FINALLY melted.  Oh, and Penny is now permanently multi colored... 

Day 66: Telephone

So, it is past bedtime, this is going to have to be quick.   Remember those old tin can telephones?  Well, we tried to make those today.  I decided to let the girls decorate paper that we would wrap around aluminum cans.  That was fun, though penny ATE a marker, and colored her hands.  I bet the bathwater turned colors tonight!  Then we pasted them to the cans.

When Mike got home, he drilled a small hole in the bottom of each can, and tied a very long craft cord to them.  We tested them out, and they work, to an extent.  But the girls are just too young to really get it.  They stand next to each other and say "hi hi hi hi hi hi" at the same time lol.  Oh well, best laid plans.

4 minute blog.  It is a record.  Now, bedtime!

Day 65: Tulip Bouquet

Well, not to rub it in the faces of my friends from the southern part of Ohio, but we had a BEAUTIFUL day here today.  It was 43 and SUNNY.  Now, of course, Iris was home sick from school :(  And Penny wasn't feeling 100%, but we still managed to make the best out of craft today.  We made tulips.

I came up with this idea awhile back while thinking "What can I do with this egg carton?" before throwing it into the recycle bin.. ok, under the sink to take to my uncle's co-worker who has chickens.  Anyway, I thought "Ohhh, i could cut the cups apart and make Tulips!"

So, today, I cut the carton apart, poked a hole in the bottom of each cup, and gave each girl a handful, and let them choose some paint and we went to work. I realized quickly that they were REALLY slow.  That isn't a problem, we had all the time in the world, but I knew that they would tire of painting them before too long, so I helped paint some until they both gave up.

Once they were dry, Iris helped me feed a pipe cleaner into each tulip and then put a bead on the top.  I folded the pipe cleaner around the bead and we stuck them in a "vase" we now have a bouquet of tulips in our kitchen.  So pretty :)  What a way to celebrate one of the nicest days we've had all year! (With NO new snow on the ground!)

Day 64: Snowman Milk (AJ)

I saw these Snowman Milk crafts a few months ago, before Christmas.  I really wanted to do them with the girls, but hadn't really put much thought into them, or had really had the urge to buy the Star Bucks Frapacino drinks :-p  That being said, we spent the weekend working on the house, and I though that we may need some caffeine so, I picked up a 4 pack.

These were just about the EASIEST craft we have done so far.

Supplies:
glass bottle
VERY large Marshmallow/powdered white doughnut hole
3 small buttons
a 1ish inch strip of fabric
black icing
straw

Looking back, I would have totally used a doughnut hole instead of marshmallows.... trying to stick a straw through a large marshmallow was a pain in the you-know-what!  Then, we put "coal" faces on the marshmallows.  I had the girls pick a fabric, I cut it into a 1 inch strip and tied it around the neck of the bottle like a scarf.  The very last thing we did was glue buttons on the bottle.

I tired to tell Iris that it isn't a good idea to eat yellow snow, but apparently, she didn't believe me and still insisted on apple juice.

Penny would not touch the glue this time, she kept insisting that it was too hot, even though it was Elmer's.  I guess that you CAN teach a Penny new tricks.  It just takes a big blister on her finger tip from touching hot glue!  Guess I won't try too hard to teach her any more new tricks.

Day 63: Birthday Cake

Today was Coraline's first birthday.  I can't believe that my baby girl is 1!  She is such a little peanut, I am not used to having such a tiny 1 year old :-p  She isn't even 20# yet, she's had tubes put in her ears, and has been to more specialists than more people have ever been to in their lives, but she is the happy little girl I have ever met.

Well, I digressed once again.  Today, was a very disjointed day.  My mother-in-law took the girls to Target this morning, then when they got home it was lunch time and nap time.  After naptime, it was already 5, and mike was on his way home.  I didn't have icing to ice the brownies i made earlier, so I had Mike pick up a preiced cake from Giant Eagle on his way home.

I set all the cake decorating stuff on the table so the girls and Mike could decorate it while I made dinner.  Here is the final product.  Best first birthday cake ever ;-)

BUT, C REALLY enjoyed it!

Days 60, 61, and 62

So, this is how I know that my life has been completely taken over by craft.  Friday (Day 60) we left the house at 7:45 for school, Iris had school from 8:30 until 12 and we left directly from school to go to Austintown (Youngstown area) to meet my dad to drop the girls off.  So, I started thinking about the fact that I just would NOT be able to get a craft done with the girls.  AND to top it off, it was still Penguin Week!  I knew I had to do a craft, so as I was packing the van to send the kids to my aunt's house, I packed scissors haha.

Well, as I drove to school, I started thinking.  I knew that there was peel and stick foam, and I HOPED that there was such a thing as peel and stick googly eyes.  I was in luck, googly eyes come in peel and stick form, not only that, but they come in different sizes, and you can even get them in PINK! haha.  Well, I grabbed a sheet of black foam, a sheet of peel and stick white, a sheet of peel and stick yellow, and a package of peel and stick googly eyes.  I got to Iris' school to pick her up and sat in the parking lot cutting out penguin shapes for the girls.  I first cut out a sort of oblong shape for the body, then a smaller oblong shape for the belly, and a triangle for the beak.  I gave each girl a set of body parts and a set of eyes and told them to have at it.  Unfortunately, the I do not have pictures... at least yet.. I'll get there, but we have been crazy busy this weekend.

Saturday was day 61 and the girls were at my aunts house.  This is what I got via text from my cousin last night:

I died, they are so stinking cute.  I am really impressed with whomever found this idea, because I have not seen anything like it on any website.  And I found a whole website on penguin crafts!  It appears to be a water bottle filled with cotton balls and a strip of construction paper/foam around the top for the head, and foam wings and feet. I loved the feather on the top of Iris' penguin.  I knew that it was Iris' before Nat even told me because the eyes were so big!  I love that Penny chose pink eyes.  They are absolutely adorable :)  Good going Aunt Kim and Natalie, props to you two!

Sunday, Day 62:
I got a call from my aunt this morning telling me that Penny was coming home with a goose egg on her head from a mysterious fall last night and a burn on her finger from craft this morning.  Now, I don't know about other mom's out there, I am sure that there are some that would be quite concerned/worried that their kid gets a knot on their head and a burn on their finger while away from home... but this is Penny we are talking about.  I am sort of surprised it wasn't more!
But, craft today were the most adorable bunny hair clips I have ever seen.  I don't know where my aunt found the makings for these, but they were just very basic hair clips that they glued a strip of felt to and then glued a bunny face to them.  After that, each girl got to peel and stick the pinks of the bunnies ears and a flower onto the bunny.  They were wearing them when they got home today and I think they were the cutest :)  Of course, Penny glued her finger to the barrette while making them, but hey, that is Penny!  Now maybe she will learn what it means when we tell her "don't touch, it is hot"... yeah right, kid takes after me, she will make the same mistake 500 times and then do the same thing again the next time!  Found a picture on my aunt's facebook page.  YAY Pictures!!! :)  (Also, do you notice the PENGUIN PJs?  We are seriously a bunch of penguin lovers in this house!)

The little break was nice.  Two nights of no blog was nice, but I will admit that I have missed craft time with the girls.  I will be glad to get back to a normal schedule tomorrow.