Ridiculously easy Halloween Garland for kids

This little Halloween garland is so ridiculously easy. I just gave my 4 year old all the supplies and let him have at it. Here is what you need for this simple decoration:

- Construction paper *we went with orange, black and green*
- Markers or crayon
- Scissors
- Glue or tape
- String

So first let you kiddos cut out some pumpkin shapes. 

Then draw some pumpkin faces on them. This was the only part I really helped with. 

Hey look, a Miley pumpkin! (hehe)

Then have the kiddos use the green paper to cut out some stems for the pumpkins. Have them glue on each side of the top of the pumpkin so there is an opening left on the stem to fish the string through. 

And voila. That's it. Just fish the string through the stems and hang it where you please. Easy peasy! 

Happy Haunting! ~ Miranda

Easy DIY Lava Lamp

Ah, Lava Lamps. I remember when I was about 12 years old I had a few friends who had these and begged for one of my own. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be!
Until now!

Special thanks to this site for the idea, check it out for other great experiments to do with your kids!

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/easylavalamp.html

This was so easy to make... here is how you and your kids can make one of your own...

You'll need:

*Clear plastic bottle

*Water

*Vegetable oil

*Food coloring

*Alka-seltzer tablet

Start by filling up your water bottle about a quarter full of water, then the rest with vegetable oil. After a minute drop in your food coloring. 

Then break up your tablet of alka-seltzer and drop in a piece. Watch your kids faces light up as they see this start to happen... 

Check it out in action!

Have fun!~ Miranda

Paper towel water transfer science experiment for kids

We have been having so much science fun lately in our house. From balloon powered rockets to experimenting with food coloring, my little guy is having a blast learning!

I got this idea off Pinterest from:
http://wemadethat.blogspot.com/2013/03/water-transfer-experiment.html
Special thanks to this site for helping me explain this water transfer experiement to my son: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/escapingwater.html

First, I started out with only 4 glasses and added another after the process began (I found some green food coloring that had fallen out of the box!).

So set up your station with atleast 2 or more glasses. Your middle glasses should be empty... like this:

Drop some food coloring into the water, you could skip this step... but I like how the color helps you to see the process better!

Then take some paper towels and drape them from glass to glass. It should look like this:

Then you wait.

And wait... until-

YAY!

Enjoy!~ Miranda

Door step Bunny drop, last minute Easter fun!

"Some Bunny" loves you! Who doesn't like to feel the love every now and then from friends? What what better way than with a door step bunny drop? I found these cute little felt bunny baskets for $1.00 at Target today. Aren't they cute? I also picked up 2 small containers of Hello Kitty bubbles for $1.00 total. Threw in some Easter basket grass, along with plastic eggs filled with goodies like candy and peeps. Then put a note inside saying "Some Bunny Loves You" and dropped it at some neighbor's door steps. 

What a cute, easy quick way to let someone know you are thinking about them this Easter, and really fun for the kids too!

~ Miranda

DIY Valentine Heart Craft for kids! So simple!

I got the inspiration for this versatile Valentine craft from Pinterest, in particular this post. 

http://amazingmae.blogspot.com/2012/02/salt-dough-necklaces.html

What I loved about this idea is that it's easy for kids to do, and add their own style to each little heart. The end result can be a necklace, magnet, paper weight... whatever!

Here is what you'll need:

Start out by making a batch of craft dough, you can use our recipe found here- http://2momsandablog.blogspot.com/2012/06/craft-dough.html

Cookie cutters

A toothpick or skewer

Kid safe paint

After making the dough let the kids help roll it out very thin then use cookie cutters to cut out your hearts. If you want to make necklaces or something you can hang with ribbon make sure to poke a hole in the top of the heart. I used a wooden skewer. 

This part is fun for the kids!

Line your baking sheet with some parchment paper and bake at 300 degrees for about 40 minutes. You'll know they are ready when they are hard and beginning to brown a tiny bit on the top. 

Pull out of the oven and let cool. Then let your kids paint them however they want. 

One batch makes a lot of hearts, so this would be great for something your kids could hand out to their friends or family. 

Enjoy, Happy Valentine's Day!

DIY Valentine! Heart Robot

This cute little Pinterest inspiration came just in time for Valentine's Day! My son loves robots and when we started to make small variations of these he thought they were super cool. He tried to play with the robots but the paper I had used in the beginning was too flimsy and the tape I used just pulled pieces apart. So I had to improvise making a new one with heavy card stock and brad pins. 

Here is how I made this Valentine Heart Robot

***Now depending on how you will use this, or if you are going to let little ones try their hand at making this you may want to skip out on the brad pins and just use tape or glue. Brad pins are tiny so keep out of small hands!***

Pick out some coordinating colors of heavy card stock. For this particular robot I went with pink and green. Fold a paper in half and cut trace out half a heart like so...

and then cut it out.

Then I cut out 4 smaller hearts for the hands and feet, the 2 more small hearts for the top of the antennas. 

Next you want to trace and cut out 4 strips on another piece of card stock for the arms and legs of the robot. Then two more smaller ones for the robots antennas. 

Once you've cut the strips for the arms and legs, you want to start folding them back and forth to make an accordion like effect. (I didn't do this with the antennas, but feel free to change it up!)

Now comes a time to choose if you are going to want to use tape, glue or brad pins. The reason I used brad pins to secure the arms and legs to the robot is to make them moveable. However if you have really small children who will be handling the robot, or are if-y about using small pins stick to tape or glue!

Here is what brad pins look like. 

By the way... have I mentioned brad pins enough in this post yet? 

Brad pins. Brad pins. Brad pins. :)

I poked a hole in the robot in 4 spots where I will attach the arms and legs. Then I cut the arm and leg strips to make a spot for the pins to go through. Next I attached everything. 

I put a piece of tape over the back of the pin, just to ensure it was secure and to make sure my little guy wouldn't poke his finger. 

Front

 Back

I used more brad pins to attach the hands and feet. The antennas and hearts on top were attached with glue and tape. 

Now you should have something that looks like this. 

Here is when you can get creative. You can let your kiddos draw on the face. I cut out eyes and a mouth from paper as my son was too busy snacking on pretzels and didn't feel like drawing at the moment. 

And voila! A cute Valentine Heart Robot!

My little guy played with this for about 30 minutes until he decided he wanted it on the front door. 

This is such a cute little project to do with the kids. They can make miniature ones to give out as Valentines or keep for themselves. 

Enjoy! ~ Miranda

Thanksgiving craft for little hands

This was such a fun little craft for my little guy. We just put some different paint colors on a paper plate, he swirled them and then dipped his whole hand in, then put his handprint on paper. I had some googly eyes laying around (as every Mom should!) and added the legs. His print came out perfect and is proudly displayed in our kitchen for everyone to see!

Do you follow our boards on Pinterest? If not, be sure to go do that now! We will be pinning lots of Thanksgiving inspiration for you, and as always will try to keep it simple and frugal!

Upcycle: Coffee can into cute storage canister!

My son has crayons stashed in every corner of our home. Some are in bags, some are in pages of coloring books and there are even some stuffed in my couch.

I am in the process of attempting to get his closet as organized as possible, to make a little corner for doing artwork. This will be a big challenge, storage in our home is non existent so I am starting small. Storage for the little things, like crayons.

So I took a coffee can (we have many, I knew I hung onto them for a reason!) and got a little crafty.
Here is what you will need to turn your coffee can into a cute little storage canister:

- Coffee can
- Thick paper (I used scrapbook paper)
- Hot glue gun

Step 1: Lay out your coffee can on the paper. Use a pen or pencil to mark on the paper where you will make the cuts. As you can see by the arrows on the picture below, I cut only to cover the colored area of the coffee can, leaving the silver rings at the top and bottom.

Step 2: Make your cuts on the paper. 

Step 3: Put the glue on your paper and quickly wrap it around the can before it dries.

And viola! 

This will be filed away in my, *super frugal* file. I didn't have to purchase anything for this because I had everything I needed on hand! Easy, cheap and a great way to store little items!

~ Miranda

Birthday Wreath Tutorial!

My Little Man is turning the big 3 tomorrow (please excuse me while I wipe away tears) so I wanted to make something special for him we could pull out every year so he would know his special day is coming!

Of course I got on Pinterest and searched frantically. His birthday snuck up on my BIG TIME this year. I came across the Birthday wreath. Some people make it with balloons and bows, some with only bows, some with streamers etc. You get the picture. I decided to go with a classic balloon theme.

Here is what you will need:

A wreath (foam or straw, I used straw- remember to keep the plastic on it!)
Floral pins (get a pack of at least 200 at your local Walmart or craft store)
Balloons (You will need at least 200 balloons to make a small wreath)
Optional: pipe cleaner, bows etc.
A LOT OF PATIENCE

I know that this sounds like a lot of balloons. But fear not. You can find packs with a ton in them for super cheap at Walmart.

First, if you purchased different sized balloons you will want to pin the larger balloons on first. Just pin them randomly on the wreath. To pin them pull the balloon in between the floral pin with the neck of the balloon sticking out one side and the head of the balloon sticking out the other.

Next, if you are going to use any pipe cleaners you may want to go ahead and pin some of those on too. I just twirled some around my finger to get that "boing" look, as my son likes to call it, then pinned them randomly around the wreath.

Finally, you will want to go ahead and pin in your smaller sized balloons. Please note, don't try to pin a bunch at once with the same floral pin. You will not get a good effect and the balloons will lay limp. Just pin down one balloon at a time. Be sure to pin them all close together.

Now if you have any bows or ribbon you should go ahead and pin them in.

The last thing to do is to place the wreath upright wherever you will be hanging it. You will want to check for any open spaces and make sure you got the sides covered good. You don't want to see any of the straw on the wreath. You can fill in any spaces with more balloons or pipe cleaners.

I hung the wreath with a pipe cleaner because I don't have a wreath hanger.

And there you go. Simple. Fun. You can use it every year. And it didn't break the bank to make it!

Enjoy! ~ Miranda