a month too late...again!

At least for Arizona that is. I'm hoping it will cool off next week, but I have a feeling the dog days of summer are here! As for the rest of you, I hope this isn't too late. If nothing else, make it for next spring. A few girls in my neighborhood crafted last week. I brought it home and showed my husband. He said, "cute, but a month too late." He's right! Go to houseof3.com to printable projects. Buy the spring banner kit and print off at home or send it Costco(that's what I did), but another friend printed it off on matte paper at home...hers looked great. From there, cut out letters, paste on chipboard, embellish(my favorite part), punch holes in each side of the letters, and thread together with whatever you'd like, tie ribbons to your liking.

Pom-Pom Garland

I recently made this garland to decorate for my sons baptism luncheon. I literally threw it together on our way out the door. Quick, easy and cute.

The secret ingredient to make the garland is coffee filters. One bag of coffee filters and some yarn and you have a garland for under $2.

I used 6-8 filters for each pom-pom, thread the yarn through the center and then fluffed.

Scrunch them and separate them to make them fluffier. You can even dye the filters if you want a different color.

Vintage Postcard Plaques

(Front)(Back)
(Side)

This was a super easy project that I just did for my little boy's nursery. I got a package of vintage Hummel cards as a gift when I was child that were just too cute to send off so they have been tucked away in a box so I decided I wanted to display some of them around the house!! I got a piece of wood and cut the card to fit on the top. I stapled two ribbon strips to the back of the wood then I wrapped the wood back with a piece of scrapbook paper (threading the ribbon through a little slit I made in the paper) I attached the scrapbook paper with Modge Podge. I then adhered the image on the front, sanded and inked all the edges to give it a antique look. I finished by tying a bow with the two ribbon strips.

Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day bring the outdoors in and the indoors out!


Pot small house plants and place them on display around your home, for a little color an orchid is a great option. Try a small fern under a cloche.......



Create an outdoor "living" space by setting up chairs and a table with a potted plant to encourage "dining out" and some back porch conversation to the chirping of crickets!!!

Children's Luau - toddler/child

For our neighborhood playgroup this week I hosted a Little One's Luau!! Now of course it did not go as planned-- the group was 22-26 months old, but this would work really great for 3-4 year olds!

A very simple Snack Menu perfect for toddlers:

• rainbow goldfish
• pineapple chunks
• fresh fruit slices
• cheese cubes
• If you were really ambition serve virgin pina-colada's with umbrellas!

Activities:

• Hot Coconut (just like hot potato but played with a coconut
• Limbo (toddlers can work on their motor skills by crawling, ducking, ect)
• Go Fish- use paper fish cut-outs and attach a paperclip to each fish, create a fishing pole using a magnet, string, and small pole. Have children try to "hook" a fish.
• Create a custom postcard- dress guests up in Hawaiian clothes, hats, sunglasses, and flip flops and leis grass skirts- then take a picture so each child has a memento for the day!
• Hula Hoop contests
• Bubbles
• Make Grass skirts- (paper or plastic? PAPER please!- use brown paper bags to make cheap grass skirts- cut the bottom floor off the bag of and then cut slits one inch apart )

Decoration ideas:

• display your kids beach toys & sand buckets
• put shells and sand in apothecary jars
• lei's and silk flowers

I did not take picture of our Luau attempt because I barely got things ready before the guests arrived but I found these great pictures on http://www.partiesforkidsmagazine.com/ check out their site for more great ideas & games!

houseof3

So I heard about a great new website(I actually think it started at the beginning of 09') and it is FAB-U-LESS! Check it out. There is a great new Spring Banner that I must make. Have fun at houseof3.com. Let me know what you think!

S'meeps

I have never been a fan of peeps... But I think I may have stumbled on a good use for them, other than that bloated look they get when you microwave them.

Awesome.