Kids Work Spaces

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Jennifer

I’ve been looking at tons of desks for kids on pinterest and have found some beautiful work spaces.

My helpful crafting hint for the day is that you simply do a google search for “pinterest + kids desks” and you will find tons of examples. Or type in, “pinterest + printables,” and you will get loads of boards with printables.

Here are several kid desks that caught my eye.

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How fun would that wallpaper/doodle art be in a room?

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Ummm…YES PLEASE! Love the bright colors!

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Love the art wall and the organized art desk

The wall reminds me of the art wall in our house

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The empty frames here just invite creativity but I would have to move this wallpaper to an area where the kids wouldn’t have to climb on the desk to use it.

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This desk is brilliant for a small space – it folds up!

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Nice use of an odd space

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IKEA to the rescue again!

Looking at these inspiring work spaces makes me think I might be painting some walls white in the boys room.

Shhhh!

Don’t tell my husband because he would freak out if he knew.

Felt Garland

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Jennifer

For my sister’s baby shower I created 2 felt garlands to help spread the colors around the room. It was my first time to create these but it certainly won’t be my last.

Since turquoise and hot pink were the colors of the shower I used those but also added a bit of yellow and white to make it more interesting. All of the felt (except for the turquoise) was the hard felt that is not floppy.

I grabbed 3 spice jars from the pantry and traced their tops in order to create circles. I used 3 different size circles for this garland.

I then cut out my circles and sewed them together with my machine. Sewing them together was by far the easiest part of this project.

Here’s one of the garlands at the shower (my sister is preparing for major renovations so hence the paint samples everywhere).

I really loved these and think they would be so fun across a nursery, a play room, or even a classroom. I’ll definitely be making a few more for different occasions.

For the shower’s food flags, go here.

For additional photos of the shower, go here.

Food Flags

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Jennifer

For my sister’s baby shower we decided on the colors of hot pink and turquoise. Our theme of the event was “What will the baby be?” or “?” since Amanda is choosing to wait to find out if she’s having a boy or a girl.

One of the items I made for the shower were food flags.

I didn’t actually get any pictures of them at the shower but I dressed up our breakfast to show you what they looked like.

I started with a piece of card stock which I printed various lines onto it.

Click here in order to download this form.

Next I cut the paper into strips of the same size.

I then took a paper strip and a tooth pick and glued them together by placing some hot glue onto the paper and folding the strip together.

Finally. I used my scissors to cut the strip into a triangular shape.

And voila – stripped food flags!

In addition to the striped flags, I also made solid colored flags using some of the material I used in other baby shower projects.

I’ve never used food flags before but definitely will in the future since I think they added just an extra detail to the food table.

(For my 1st post about this baby shower click here.)

I’m Back

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Jennifer

I’ve been missing from here for the last several days since I was furiously preparing for my sister Amanda’s baby shower.

I was in charge of decorations so I’ll be sure to share that with you soon.

I left on Thursday night and flew back on the 7:20 am flight on Sunday. Early flights always seem like a good idea until the night before.

So I’m tired and plan on settling into bed early but I wanted to leave you with a few shots from the weekend.

and what did my baby prediction test say the little one will be?

though most people still believe it’s a little boy 🙂

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday 🙂

A Fart Cake

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Jennifer

Two years ago my son had a bowling party so naturally I thought I would make a bowling cake.

Instead, I made a fart cake.

When asked what kind of cake he wanted me to make in true little boy humor he declared, “I want a fart cake.”

So I pondered. And pondered. And pondered.

And finally we came up with this… A Bowling Fart Cake…

Where’s the fart part you ask?

Take a close look at Alex’s rear end…

The green fart smell than inundates poor Andrew who is sitting at the back of the lane.

Earlier in the day we took pictures of the boys, shrunk them, and used them on the cake.

Add in a bowling bowl and chair made out of fondant, two signs printed out, and your fart cake is all done.

Trust me when I say this cake was a huge hit with eight year olds.

Oh, and the cake tasted great, I decided not to take the theme too far 🙂

I love you because…

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Jennifer

One of my Januaray goals was to hang the “I love you because” signs which I bought from Kiki Creates when she was having an “oops sale.”

The defect in the prints turned out to be the white rim around them. Eventually I will add a little black border to cover that up, but hey, they went up in January and it’s still not done so don’t hold your breath.

I bought cheap IKEA frames to display them on the wall (I think the frames were $3 for a pair).

the view coming down our stairs – everyone sits on the stairs to put their shoes on so I thought this would be the perfect spot.

Current and previous entries…

“you love to dress up”

“you love to have stories read to you”

“you love your brothers”

“your laugh is contagious”

“you have a passion for animals”

“you have found a love of reading”

“Your smile makes me smile”

“You love to listen to NPR with me”

“You are a wonderful big brother”

The kids immediately notice when a new reason has been posted so it’s fun to listen and watch them discuss it. Which reminds me, I need to go write something new right now.

*Here’s Kiki’s original post which inspired me to put these prints up in our house*

Star Wars Art: The Final Chapter

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Jennifer

So I have shared most of the room my boys shared but I left out one key ingredient – the large wall art.

The boys found images of their favorite Star Wars vehicles in a book and I copied them onto paper. I then used the tracer to trace the image onto the painted canvas. I then took navy blue paint and painted inside the image. Relatively easy – good thing since they wanted me to make eight of them.

Here’s my favorite – an AT-AT – that’s All Terrain Armored Transport for you Star Wars novices.

The other side of the room…

To visit previous Star Wars Bedroom posts…

Go here for the Jedi Name Art

Go here for our Minifigure Storage

Go here for our Red Frame Chicken Wire Display Boards

So that’s it.

The Star Was Bedroom for two little Star Wars fans.

Let’s hope this little obsession last for several more years.

Mary Poppins Party Activities

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Jennifer

In order to celebrate my daughter’s 3rd birthday – Mary Poppins style – we came up with a few related activities that 3 year olds would enjoy.

First up, drawing on cardboard with chalk (relates to Bert and him drawing chalk pictures in the movie).

Next up, a Mary Poppins bean bag toss. We have used these boards for many many parties. We just take off the old pictures or glue right over them with the new themed pictures.

Third, racing around with stick horses (relates to the carousel horses and when they race in the movie).

These were a huge hit. I’m putting together a tutorial on how I made these.

Next, pin the bow tie on the penguin (come on, do I really need to tell you what part of the story this is from?)

Lastly and the biggest hit of the party, chimney play! (these are supposed to be the chimneys that the chimney sweeps pop in and out of when they sing “Chim Chimney Cha-roo.”)

We bought five large cardboard boxes and two small boxes for about $6.00. My husband then connected them all and cut holes on the top in order to give the small boxes a place to sit. In order to make the entire thing stable, he screwed 3 pieces of wood together in the shape of a “C,” and then put it at the beginning of the box and then another one at the end. The 3 pieces of wood touched three sides of the structure – the bottom space where the kids crawled through didn’t have a piece of wood.

Traffic jam

Even the big kids got in on the action.

Caroline had a good time popping through the top of the structure yelling, “Cha-roo!”

So those were our Mary Poppins party activities – I also bought sugar cubes in hopes of doing a relay race with a “spoonful of sugar,” but decided against it at the last moment. Another activity we didn’t use a bunch of musical instruments I had gathered. I thought the kids could play in a band like the one that plays while Mary Poppins receives her prize for winning the horse race.

Altogether I spent about $60 on the entire party. I would have spent about $40 had I planned ahead and used coupons to purchase many of the items. Oh well, I like to think I do my best work at the last moment.

Soon I’ll share her cake and the decorations.

For Mary Poppins hat instruction go here.