Easter Baking and Creating

There is something about Easter that inspires great baking and craft creations. I have been doing some mad pinning over the last few weeks, gathering ideas for things I could do to make the Easter season special. I though I would share with you some of my favourite finds. To see my full page, click on this link.

Firstly, food….

I love any recipe that is easy to incorporate little people help. Pizzazzarie

I love how cute these rainbow cakes look. A lovely pastel one would be perfect for Easter. The Gunny Sack

I don’t know that I would have the patience to create these gorgeous biscuits from Somewhat Simple, but I can dream.

The one thing that is always a hit when it is made, is a cheeseball. I might shape my favourite cheeseball recipe into a carrot like Jo and Sue.

And for creating……

Easter garden from The Frugal Homemaker. We have already started on our own Easter garden. We have used wheatgrass instead of moss and have been watching it grow.

If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times – I LOVE bunting! Living Well, Spending Less

We are certainly going to have a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt. Lil Luna

Creating one of these at the base of my parent’s massive tree has been a goal of just about every adult of the family at one time or another. It must be done! David Lowe Design

I cannot tell you how much these little chicks are loved by my two boys. They will enjoy making this little project to hang in their rooms. Annaboo’s House

I will pop back soon and show you what we have created and baked. Have a great day!

 

Easter Themed Kids’ Activity Bags

Now that I have been on a bit of a roll creating the Activity Bags for the kids, I had to make some Easter themed ones. You can see some of my other activity Bag posts here and here.

There is an abundance of Easter themed crafting items about at the moment so it was really easy to create these activities. Take a look….

Easter Egg Word Creation. A 3 letter word and picture clue.

Easter Egg Colour Match. Match the top and bottom part of the egg to the picture.

Easter Egg Number Match. Place the correct number and colour of  pom poms into the numbered egg.

Easter Egg Colour Match. Place the correct coloured egg yolk into the egg.

Easter Symbol Sequencing. Match the sequence on the cards using the correct symbols.

These fun activities live in an Easter gift bag by the garage so we can grab it when we are heading out.

With Easter holidays starting at the end of this week, I can see these will get a good workout before Easter arrives.

Have a great day.

More Kids’ Activity Packs

Yesterday I showed you some of the activity packs I created for my two boys (see here). Today, I promised to reveal some of the other ones….

Colour Spelling. Match the paddle pop colour word to the correct coloured sleeve.

Threading. Using large coloured buttons, pipe cleaners and thread. A great activity to get the little fingers working and to practice colour recognition.

And my boys’ favourite – Fly Swat. I teamed a frog-shaped fly swat with collections of fly covered sight words, numbers and animal pictures. We have come up with lots of ways to play this game. My youngest has used the animal cards and as I called out the animal sounds, he hit the corresponding animal picture.  Last night, my eldest had me call out a number and he tried to hit it as fast as he could. So there are 6 activity pack ideas for you.  Believe it or not, I have created more Easter themed ones which I will blog about soon. Can you believe it is that time of year again!?

Have a great day.

Kids’ Activity Packs

Previously I have shared some of the activity packs I have made for my littlies (see here and here). They have been a Godsend as not only are they educational, they keep my monkeys entertained at times when I need it the most.

Last week I was out with a friend who showed me some ideas for some new activity bags. They got me so excited that I went out the next day to buy some supplies.  Once I started to rat around my local variety store, I was amazed at the inspiration I found sitting on the shelves. I went a little crazy – so unlike me. Ha!

Here are a few of the packs I have made up so far…..

Pattern matching – something Master O is doing a bit of now that he is in Prep. I raided the craft and sewing box to create this one. It is just some coloured wooden stars and velcro. I created some patterns in a Word document for boys to copy and laminated them to make them hardier.

Matchstick Colour Match. A great fine motor and colour match activity for my 2-year-old, made with coloured toothpick containers and craft matchsticks.

But this was the one the boys got most excited over, a set of coloured keys turned into a fishing game. With the addition of numbers on one side and words on the other, I have made 4 skill games in one set – motor skill, coloured recognition, numeral recognition and sight word recall. After fashioning two magnetic fishing rods, both my boys can play the game that suits their ability level.

Last night the boys didn’t even touch a toy or ask to watch their favourite afternoon show, all they wanted to do is give these a test drive.  Well worth the effort putting them together!

I have a few more packs on the go at the moment. I will share another 3 easy to create activity packs with you tomorrow.

Simple St Patrick’s Day Artwork

Last week I showed you a picture of the canvas print I picked up in the clearance section of a local discount store.The plan was to transform it into a simple St Patrick’s Day artwork with the kiddies.

After surfing the internet for a bit of inspiration, we came up with this….

The kids got right into the task with Master O helping to paint the letters and trace the shamrock.

Initially, the plan was to just paint the shamrock, but on drying we found that the paint was cracking. Not wanting to persist painting to have the same problem happen again, we chose to cover the shamrock in buttons. Master C loved picking out the green buttons from my button collection – I couldn’t have dreamt up a better fine motor skills activity!So this piece is now out on show and we are planning on some St Patrick’s Day treats for tomorrow.  We have made some hideous green cupcakes for morning tea and have planned a leprechaun treasure hunt with a horde of gold covered chocolate coins. It should be a bit of fun.

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

 

Organising Children’s Art Supplies With Tupperware

A while back I gave my pantry a makeover.  With the addition of the Thermomix in the kitchen, my pantry underwent a change.  There were a lot less cans and processed foods and a whole lot more basic ingredients. I desperately needed more storage containers and I was just not prepared to drop a grand on Tupperware to house it. As I hate to miss-match, the Tupperware I did own, came out of the pantry and went into storage.

Looking at the Tupperware taking up space in my storage cupboard today, I decided I had to make use of it.  I went to my most hated storage solution, the kids’ craft tub and decided that Tupperware might just save the day.

The old craft tub was huge and filled with a million bits and pieces. The half empty packets and the buttons and  beads laying loose made finding what I needed a challenge.

After a good purge and some help from the littlies to sort, we filled most of my spare Tupperware containers.

If our little collection of craft supplies should exceed our Tupperware collection, I will just pick up the super cheap knock-off version you can get in Kmart.

I love that I regained some space and made good use of the once wasted Tupperware.  I think that craft time will be a lot less painful with this storage solution. 

DIY Christmas Pocket Book

In the hope of avoiding  the shopping centre crush at Christmas time, I have well and truly begun my Christmas shopping.

In years past, my present buying had been a bit haphazard. This year I was determined to be organised by writing a list of gift ideas and items purchased, as well as keeping my receipts in one place.

I decided I needed a pocket book in which to keep this information. Instead of going out to buy one, I made one using left over craft paper from last Christmas.

The whole thing was really simple and quick to make.

I didn’t have any double-sided paper left, so I stuck some coordinated prints together to make three,  30 x 30 cm double-sided pieces of paper. If you wanted to do this,  you could use paper or light card and alter the size and number of  sheets to suit the size pocket book you need.

I folded the base of each sheet to make a little pocket.

 

I held down and secured the sides of the pockets with a glue tape.

I folded each sheet of paper in half, using a ruler to get the folds crisp.

I stacked the pockets on top of each other and used the sewing machine to bind them together along the fold line.

This configuration of folded sheets gave me a good number of pockets to place receipts or vouchers and some blank pages on which to write my Christmas present ideas.

I have divided each spread up for the different individuals or groups/families I buy gifts for.

The front cover was screaming out for a little prettiness so my youngest helped me glue some buttons in a wreath shape on the front.

This little book now lives in my handbag. I am never without my ideas list at the shops and my receipts can be stowed safely inside straight away.

How do you keep your Christmas buying organised?

 

Kids Craft & Fun: Fishing Game

After a little holiday at the beach last week, where we caught a lot of fish, the boys were itching to go fishing again.

Stuck in the house, I had to resort to some crafty, fishing fun.

I had on hand some cardboard fish cutouts.  I let the boys go wild with these, some glue and a whole heap of paper confetti.

Once they were sufficiently decorated and dried we went about making our artwork into a fishing game.

I attached a large paper clip to the mouth of each of the fish.  I then fashioned a fishing line out of some string and a large magnetic clip.  I chose this magnetic clip over any other magnet because it was large and heavy, making it easier for the kids to wield and ‘fish’ with successfully.  This was also the safer option of all the magnets I had around the house – I didn’t want to use one that was small enough to be swallowed by the kids or our dog.

The kids love playing this game.  It kept them entertained for ages!

Father’s Day Present: DIY Personalised Plate and Mug

For whatever reason, in Australia we celebrate Father’s Day on the first Sunday in September.  So in the last few weeks, my  thoughts have turned to what the kids and I will give the fathers in our lives.  In addition to a gift, the kids usually create something for their father and grandfathers.  This year for my father, we decided on a personalised plate and mug for him to use in the office.

To create this project I picked up a plain white plate and mug from Target.  After giving it a good wash and dry, I used a Sharpie to label the plate and mug, ‘Grandy’s Biscuit Plate’ and ‘Grandy’s Coffee Mug’.

Initially the plan was to let the kids go crazy on the crockery with coloured Sharpies, but they wanted to use paint.

Using acrylic paint, the boys painted on some biscuits/cookies and finished them off with some choc chip dots.

They did a pretty good job of these, so I didn’t need to fix anything.  I did have some rubbing alcohol on hand, just in case I wanted to remove anything.

To fire the crockery and allow the print and painting to remain, I placed the crockery in my cold oven, turned the oven on to 350 degrees farenheit/180 degrees celsius and baked it for 30 minutes once it reached temperature.

And viola! Here is the finished product.

The plan is to bake a batch of his favourite biscuits, melting moments, and bundle these up inside the mug.

You could use this technique to create all sorts of fantastic pieces for yourself, or those you love. How about beautiful monogram plate to place on the mantel, or use a stencil to give your crockery some flair? The options are infinite. I am already itching to have a go at something else.

What would you do?

Birthday Idea: Photo Cufflinks

My husband is notoriously hard to buy for when it comes to birthdays and Christmas.  It doesn’t help when he says, “I don’t want anything.” And it is just plain frustrating when you push for ideas and the response is, “I really haven’t any suggestions.”

So it was just by chance that the boys and I stumbled upon this gift, standing in line at the photo centre, photo cufflinks. Sorry about the dodgy photos.  I took these last night in very low light.

It was decided then and there that it was the perfect gift for the boys to give hubby for his birthday.

For the last  couple of years, my husband has only worn French cuffs.  In the past I had nearly bought him these cufflinks, engraved with the boys’ names.

They are made by Koolaman Designs, the same company that made my engraved necklace, like the one below.

I love them. They are beautifully made, but are quite expensive at $200 a pair. Maybe one day he will own a set.  Without giving away the price of my photo cufflinks, they were much more economical.

It was so simple to complete.  I picked a photo of each of the boys, reduced their size and printed them on photo paper.  The cufflinks easily came apart and I used the example photo as a template to cut out my photos.  The whole thing popped back together and was ready for giving.

The boys gave Dad the cufflinks this morning and he proudly wore them to work.  He was very impressed, especially when he found out I  ‘made them’.

The boys also, with a little help from Mum, made the birthday cake, which we will cut tonight.  I am sure  he won’t mind (much) that his cake reminds him of his age and that it is displayed here for all to see.

Happy birthday John!