Just Say No to Crap Party Favors

First of all, if you are one of those that likes to throw a bunch of junk in a bag for my kid to take home from a party, don't be offended!  Keep in mind that I'm extremely anal organized about our game room.  It's hard for me to categorize 'tiny hand clapper'.  I mean, really, what container does that go in?  In order to make you feel even better about yourself because you don't have nearly the amount of crazy that I do, I'll list some of my container titles..."Star Wars Costumes", "Star Wars Toys" (just had a little argument with myself about that punctuation, and quite frankly, I'm beyond exhausted, so it's staying as is...plural possessive??), "Small Piece Puzzles", "Large Piece Puzzles"...and it goes on.  So, you can see my crazy dilemma.  So, what happens is I let little man play with all the crap toys for a week.  My level of discomfort is crazy high, by the way, during that whole week.  Then, I sneakily start removing them.  One by one.  Does he notice?  Usually.  There might be some white lies...I plead the 5th. 

Ok, I know...how the hell does this relate to Pinterest?  I'm getting there.  Don't worry. 

While on Pinterest I saw a canvas painted colorfully except for a name that was 'white'.  I pinned it away thinking I would use it at some point.  I went to the chic's blog, but couldn't find the exact post, but it's not rocket science.  Here's the picture I pinned.

Baby's first birthday was a few weeks ago and I was struggling with what I wanted to give/do since we'd have a wide age range of kiddos.  I was able to grab a 10 pack of canvases for $20 and bought a few tubes of paint along with some extra brushes.  When each kid arrived, I had the parent use painter's tape to mark off the kid's initial.  I taped down several plastic table cloths on my kitchen floor and let the kids have at it.  I only have pictures of the end product because I always forget to take pictures! 

Long story short - the kids had a great time painting and they took home something that could go in their room or could be reused (hello, repaint that canvas)!  Most importantly, no more of the 'goody bag' chaos! 

PS - used baby's footprints for his painting!

My Heart's a Crayon

My craftiness lately is beyond amazing!  There's been much Pinterest success and that makes for one happy mama!  Now, it's time to catch up on all the attempts so that you, too, can bask in the warm glow of Pinterest perfection!

I'm a little late on getting Valentine's Day cards together for the boys to take to school, but baby's first birthday was this weekend and that's what I had to focus on for the past month.  And, boy oh boy, I've got some gems from the party to blog about...

But, today I had to get the Valentine's crap cutesy cards ready.  When I first start pinning (how bout we just lay it out there and call it crack for crafters) I saw several versions of crayons melted into the shape of hearts.  Hello??  Perfect!  I don't know about you, but seriously, my older son goes psycho slightly bananas when all that candy is in the house.  So, a non-edible valentine?  Yes, please!  Hopefully, some of the other mamas will catch my wavelength! 

Now, before I get into the instructions, this is EASY.  The hardest part is peeling the paper off the crayon.  That's where you put those little monsters children to work!  Practice fine motor skills?  Check.  Unfortunately, baby has not yet mastered peeling.  He did a great job of eating the crayon though.

I was under the impression that I needed one of those silicone molds.  Nope.  I was shopping for the food for baby's party and walked past the Valentine's display.  Right in front of me was a heart shaped tin meant for baking donuts. 

I used all the no-name crayons we had in our stash.  Some were the larger versions and some were skinny.  Doesn't matter their thickness as long as you peel the paper. 

Spray your tin with cooking spray.  Break up all the crayons into pieces and let the kiddos toss them in.  Our first batch was just kind of a hodge podge.  But, then we started getting a little creative. 

I saw the printable on The Long Thread and she linked up to Make and Takes where I found specific directions.  Oven - 265.  Time - 7 minutes or until the crayons are all melted.  This is after the pieces were broken just before putting them into the oven.

In the oven - almost ready to take out.

I set mine on the counter for a few minutes until the wax starts to set up.  Then, pop them in the freezer until the edges start pulling away and they are solid.  I think it was maybe 10 or 15 minutes.  Flip the tin upside down and your hearts are ready!

Loved the gray/orange!  Now it's time to assemble the valentines.  I printed out the printable from The Long Thread, rounded the corners, and punched a hole to tie the heart to the valentine.

Annnnnnnnddddd, POW!  Watch out Martha! 



Salt and Paint Kids Craft

So Jack wanted to do a craft and I wanted something easy with minimal clean up. I just hate it when I spend more time setting up and cleaning up then Jack's actual interest in the craft. But the paint and salt activity is a real winner. Jack has already done it three times this week and still likes it!

So here is the link to the craft.http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-age/preschool-crafts/absorbing-artwork-940839/

I think it is definitely important to follow the instructions and use card stock paper. Jack likes dropping the water so much that by the end his paper is dripping wet and the card stock really holds up well.
So basically you grab a piece of card stock paper, make a random design with glue, then pour salt on the glue covering all the glue. It is important to shake off the excess salt... the first time I didn't do this and it didn't quite work right.

Here is what it looks like with the glue and salt.

The next step is color your water. I put one tablespoon of water in a bowl and added about 5 drops of food coloring. I gave Jack three colors to work with. Then with a dropper, Jack dropped the water onto the glue. If you do this slowly, you can see the colored water "travel" on the glue. That is really cool. I liked that part, unfortunately, just when I think jack should stop because his picture looks great, he starts really letting the colored water go... the entire tray is filled with water. This is also a time to point out that using a cookie sheet is key to keeping colored water from going all over the table and floor. Thanks Family Fun, for that suggestion.

Jack's colored water "traveling"

This is when I think Jack's picture looks awesome and he should stop, but he never does.

This is how Jack likes to leave his picture.

Overall, I would rate this as a great craft for kids!