Archive for ‘How To:’

Summer Fun with Kids

By Em, 2 May, 2011, No Comment

As summer approaches get those kids outside and have some fun! Plus, You can’t beat the extra family time.

Here are some ideas for the summer that are sure to have your kids begging to play outside.

1. Have a picnic: You can have one in your own backyard, at a local park or for a big time go to the local zoo. Grab a big bag, a vinyl tablecloth and lots of paper goods. Pack a sandwich or make your own lunchables also, you may want to grab some sand toys for the kids. Your kids are sure to love getting out for a relaxed family meal.

2. Play FAMILY sports: (Yes parents this means you play too!) Grab a soccer ball, baseball and glove or football. One of my husband’s fondness memories of his Grandmother is when she would play football with all the kids at family gatherings. Be “that” kind of parent or grandparent.

3. Bubbles, Bubbles and more Bubbles: Every kid loves bubbles. If you don’t want to go buy bubbles or if you would like to make a bubble project you can have your kids make their own bubbles using dish soap,water, a paper plate and coat hangers. You can shape the coat hangers into many different shapes making a range of bubbles.

4. Games: Play a good ol’ game of Freeze Tag, Freeze Dance or I Spy. You can also paint a big Twister Board on your yard if you a brave enough. How many of you spent hours playing these games when you were a child? With I Spy you may want to put together a scavenger hunt type of list and have your child spy and collect things from around your yard.

5. Ride Bikes: Our daughter now loves to ride her bike. We go on a family rides around the block. She loves it and asks for it often. If you think bike safety is important then please have your kids wear an appropriate helmet and guards. What happened to the 80′s when we never wore helmets and we all had awesome gravel scars?

6. Go for a walk: I love going on family walks. We like to walk up to the 7-11 that’s about a half mile away to get slushes. It is a good reward and is cool on a hot day. We also have some land behind our house which will be fun for exploring this summer. Graysen loves collecting rocks.

7. Paint rocks (Outside): Most parents hate letting their kids paint because it’s messy so why not strip them down to their skivvies and let them paint rocks in the backyard. Afterwards you can hose down your painted up kiddo and the work area too.

8. Sidewalk Chalk: Whoever invented this stuff is brilliant! Park your cards at the end of the drive to block it off for a sidewalk art event. Invite the neighbor kids to come help make a masterpiece in your driveway. Good news it washes off! Your kids will have a blast.

9. Get to know your neighbors: Have a cookout on your front porch and invite your neighbors over. Your kids will meet new friends and so will you. It is a great thing to have great neighbors. (Sometimes kids like to play with other kids, go figure!)

10. Let your kids get dirty: Kids love to be creative and play mostly in stuff that they are not supposed to. Why not allow them to play in the mud? Have a special set of toys and clothes just for messy play. Do you remember making mud pies? It’s time to teach your child to make them too. I would advice you to tell your child not to eat the Mud Pies as mine got a nice mouth full of dirt. Guess she will know better next time.

I hope you have a wonderful summer full of fun activities.

Making Paper Dolls for Toddlers!

By Em, 1 May, 2011, No Comment

So how do you make a set of paper dolls for a toddler? I came across this problem when I wanted to make a set of Princess Kate paper dolls that Disney offered on their website. You can find them again here.

Most all paper dolls are made for older kids. They have weird little tabs that connect over the doll to fit. Half the time these don’t work and you end up with a very flustered kid.

I came up with the idea to use candy sticks to make paper dolls work for toddlers. It works great. After we cut out the paper dolls and cut off all the tabs Graysen and I taped candy sticks to the back of the Princess Kate doll and all of her lovely dresses.

Graysen loved the result and has been playing with them non-stop since we put them together. I can’t wait to make some other sets for her to play with.

A Trick for Easter Tots!

By Em, 22 April, 2011, No Comment

If you long to have beautifully dyed Easter eggs by your 2 and 3 year olds this trick will help you have those eggs you have been eyeing.

As Easter is fast approaching and everyone is getting ready to make the perfect Easter egg grab that Easter egg kit, set up the counter and let the dyeing commence.

Use a wire cooking whisk and insert your eggs for easy egg dyeing for tots. This will let you keep that mess to a minimum and let your tot have tons of fun! I prefer the whisk myself when I dye eggs. I thought this method is actually ten times easier than using a spoon or the weird utensil that comes in the Easter egg kits. (What are those things? They are useless!)

We first tried this trick last Easter and our eggs turned out great! We plan on dyeing eggs this way again over the weekend. Happy egg dyeing!

How to make an Easter Shirt!

By Em, 20 April, 2011, 1 Comment

Last night I got creative and made this shirt for Graysen for Easter. I thought I would share how I made it.

First thing I did was type in Bunny Silhouette into Google Image Search to find a bunny shape to make. When you find a shape save it to your desktop and then print it onto freezer paper. See image below:

I printed my image as a 5 by 7. I then cut out the inside of my image making a stencil. I then fixed the freezer paper to some light green printed fabric using my iron. I used white fabric paint to put a light coat of paint on the fabric.

After the paint was dry I cut out my painted bunny and fused it to Heat and Bond no sew fabric iron on fusion stuff. See below:

Once fused I attached the bunny to more fabric this time the pretty printed kind. Then added more no sew iron on fusion to the back and attached it to my shirt. Once in place I sewed around the whole bunny with pink thread and added a bow to make it girlie. I loved the result! Enjoy. Happy Easter Early!

Devo Olive Oil (Review)

By Em, 2 April, 2011, No Comment

On a recent trip to Branson, Mo I discovered a little boutique store called Devo Olive Oil. I loved it so much I begged them to let me do a review.

Not only does Devo Olive Oil have an amazing selection of flavored olive oil’s and balsamic oil’s but it is run by a young entrepreneur. I love it when young people start a business and I love to see that business do well. This is such a great store. I love to cook and love to try new recipes with special spices or oils.

Devo Olive Oil has many great recipes such as the one below on their blog each using the Devo specialty oils. I can not wait to try these potatoes.

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

6-8 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 tbsp. semolina flour

2 tbsp. fine cornmeal

¼ cup Devo Tuscan Herb EVOO

¼ cup Devo Garlic EVOO

Salt and white pepper

¼ cup Devo 18 yr Traditional Balsamic

Preheat oven to 450. Put potatoes in a large pot with salted water, bring to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes, drain. Place potatoes back in the pot, sprinkle with semolina and cornmeal, toss to coat. Combine Tuscan Herb and Garlic EVOO with salt and pepper. Brush bottom of heavy duty sheet pan generously with oil mixture. Spread potatoes evenly on sheet, and gently baste the potatoes with ½ of the remaining oil mixture with a gentle hand so as not to disturb the semolina and cornmeal crust (a silicone basting brush works best). Roast for 18 minutes, toss and baste with remaining oil. Return to oven and roast an additional 10-18 minutes, until golden brown. Drizzle potatoes with Devo 18 yr Traditional Balsamic and toss to coat. Enjoy!

I enjoyed the 18year Balsamic that Devo stocks. It is great with french bread and it is my husbands absolute favorite balsamic. My favorite oil is the Garlic Olive Oil. I used it to make a Garlic Cream Sauce for my pasta. I must say it turned out quite delicious. Below is my recipe for the Garlic Cream Sauce. ( Note: this is not healthy but it tastes incredible. )

Garlic Cream Sauce:

Ingredients:

1/4 chopped yellow sweet onion

2 table spoons roasted minced garlic

2 tablespoons Devo Garlic Olive Oil

1/4 cup real butter

Salt – to taste

Pepper- to taste

1 cup whipping cream or half and half

(Note: You may need more than one cup as you may have to adjust based on thickness. )

( Note: if you use half and half you may need to add a tiny bit of flour to thicken. )

Spice if you desire. Sometimes I leave it as is and sometimes I add Rosemary, Oregano or Parsley.

Directions:

Cook on medium heat.

Cook garlic and onion in Devo Olive Oil until onions are caramelized.

Add salt and pepper.

Add whipping cream and butter then simmer.

cook mixture until it thickens mildly then pour on pasta of your choice. I love Penne or Bowtie.

I have made this recipe several times but really enjoyed it with the Devo Oil Oil. The quality of the Oil is much better than store bought.

The best april fool’s prank I have ever pulled:

By Em, 1 April, 2011, 1 Comment

Last year I pulled the greatest prank of my life. My daughters birthday is in April and so I decided after seeing something similar on Prudent Baby that I would send IRS tax audit letters as my daughters birthday invitations.

My friends and family were livid to be exact. I definitely made some heads roll.

These are not just your typical letters oh no. I used the real logo and tax envelopes. They looked legit. The best person’s reaction had to be hearing my husband’s voice when he was opening the letter I sent to his business. It was priceless.

My boss actually helped me put them together and make them look as official as possible, he’s a lawyer.

My daughters birthday invitation was put on the last page but I think only 2 people saw it. Most people just started freaking out then when they got to the signature and saw my name they called me immediately. It was awesome! I can’t recall the number of times I heard ” I hate you!” but it was a lot! They also said they were going to kill me. Ha! I’m still alive!

Here is the letter, I don’t have my original but I found this one on Prudent Baby which is where I originally got the template before I tweaked it.

You can download your own copy to customize HERE.

I picked up some of these envelopes at Staples. You can get them at any office supply store.

I sent them out two days before April Fool’s and all of them arrived on April Fool’s day! It was a SUCCESS!

How To Fold a Fitted Sheet (Guest Post)

By Em, 29 March, 2011, 2 Comments

There are many mysteries in life, and folding a fitted sheet without it looking like a blob is one of them. One of my favorite tips from a book I blogged about in this post is how to accomplish this task that has baffled humanity for centuries!

1. Spread out your fitted sheet face down.

2. Fold it in half widthwise, and tuck the bottom two corners into the top two corners.

3. Next, fold the sheet across, tucking all four corners into each other.

4. Straighten the sheet, and then fold a side one-third into the center.

5. Fold the other third into the center.

6. Next, fold the bottom third up to the middle.

7. Finally, fold the top third over.

8. A fitted sheet, perfectly folded.

Just look at that masterpiece and how the fitted sheet matches up exactly with the top sheet! A good friend of mine recently changed my world by explaining how she folds towels – hot dog, hamburger, hamburger style. I tried it and now I get a little too excited when it’s time to fold laundry at our house. It’s the little things in life, am I right?

Monica from Staging by M is a stager, blogger, and loves finding simple solutions to life.