Paint Your Own Corn On The Cob

Make your own Thanksgiving Harvest at home with your child!

This was so much fun and super easy!!

And look at the cute result!

So I adapted this project from a bubble wrap corn cob that I saw on another blog. I was so excited to get started that I ran down in the basement to get the bubble wrap that I had stashed away only to find out that someone *not my husband* had thrown it away! UGHHH! Determined to do our project I found a length of plastic canvas and thought, I can do this!

So in order to do our version, you will need:

toilet paper tubes

green construction paper or card stock

glue (i used hot glue ~ who wants to wait for it to dry?!?!)

and some paint ( i used yellow and orange)

Cover your surface and your child!

We did our project over a brown paper bag which we later used as a gift bag for Grandma and Grandpa's 40th wedding gift bag! No waste:) I love it!!

Lay your canvas or bubble wrap down and pour some paint on it.

Next, let your little one roll the tp tube over the canvas.  

This really worked well because the paint actually looked like little kernels or corn!

We let them dry.... okay, we blow dried them! What?! I don't like waiting and neither does my 3 year old:)

 Then we cut our our long leaves for the corn husks and glued them on the sides overlapping in the back yet open in the front. And voila!

I had one happy toddler:)

Happy crafting!

Give Thanks Tree

We've really been working on explaining to our little one's about being thankful and what that means. So this weekend we celebrated our girls night in (Dad works Friday nights) with some thankful crafts. The girls had so much fun decorating their leaves and putting them on the tree that we made 100% out of paper bags.

To make your own you will need:

3 large paper bags

Tape

Paper Leaves (Dollar store)

First we started by cutting the bottom of the paper bags off and opening them up so that the lay flat in long sheets. Then I cut one of the bags into the trunk shape and taped it to the wall. For the branches, we split the flat bags down the middle to create two long strips. WE just simply twisted them until we got a nice somewhat tight looking branch. I taped these to the wall above the trunk. Then we stared to place our leaves on the tree. I found some paper leaves that the dollar store that had floral wire stems. Bonus!! So I wrapped them around the branches but you could cut out your own. The girls and I wrote down things that we love and are thankful for and then placed them on the tree. All together the tree cost us $3!

If you can't find paper leaves, you could cut out your own by using this template over at Enchanted Learning.

It was really touching to see what the girls thought about being thankful. Chances are you'll be one of the first things your child mentions, which is always nice to hear;)

Happy Crafting!

Mini Apple Muffins for a Healthy Preschool Snack

I am snack mom again.  It seems like it was just a week ago, probably because it was.  None the less, I came up with this great little recipe for mini apple muffins.  I "frosted" the minis with whipped cream cheese that I sweetened with a small touch of honey.  Mostly, I figured that "frosting" might get the picky eaters to try these little muffins. 

These muffins are low fat, lower in sugar and high fiber. 

Here is my recipe:

Preheat your oven to 375. 

Mix 1 egg, 2 tbs butter, 1/4 low fat sour cream, 1/2 brown sugar, and 1 tbsp milk.

Mix dry ingredients: 1 cup wheat or white flour, 1/2 cup flax seed meal, 1/2 wheat germ, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder

Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients. 

Mix in 2 medium apples diced

Bake about 8-10 minutes in the greased mini muffin tin.


"Frosting" - 1 package low fat cream cheese & 2 tbsp honey - whip with mixer for 5 minutes until it is really fluffy.  Then, pipe it on with a small star tip.  Keep these in the fridge. 

We used fresh apples picked from our local apple orchard, Spicer's on our Friday preschool field trip. 

Inspired by an Autumn Day

'Autumn Warmth' by c1h8r9is

Celebrate the warm colors of fall.

GATHER TOGETHER Aut... bekahjennings $28.00	Boutique Pumpkin Pa... LullabyLamb $28.50	Harvest Gold Leaves... sunflowerexpre... $25.50	Fall Time Charm Bra... juicejuice $30.00
Fall leaves hair bo... BeesBowtique $6.50	Fall Orange and Yel... ArtfullySew $8.00	Fall Chocolate Mix ... happydessertti... $6.00	woodland harvest co... cardinalhouse $29.00
Ginger Orange Gift ... SatinandBirch $10.00	September Special -... Raceytay $35.00	Autumn is magic - P... movezerb $8.90	24 Fall Sugar Leave... sweetpetalbake... $28.80
Pick 3 - Crochet Co... Sweetbriers $10.50	Colorblocked in Cha... CamilleStar $59.00	Fall Harvest Dress ... sarahandjane $50.00	Autumn Celebration ... PhoenixFinery $15.00

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Turn on the oven and bake a batch of these awesome fall cookies. They also give directions for these adorable felted pumpkins.

Check out the free tutorial for fall leaf cookies on Country Living.

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That's it! I'm getting these kids bundled up and going out for a fall leaf hunt as soon as I'm done here!!!!

This free tutorial for how to make roses from maple leaves is amazing and totally free! Life doesn't get much richer than this!

Thanks haha.nu!

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Here's a really easy and fun fall pumpkin free tutorial from Make and Takes.

This is a great site full of tons of useful ideas! Head on over and check it out!!

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Here's another way to honor the beautiful colors of fall.

Head on over to Build/Make/Craft/Bake to get this free tutorial on how to make leaf prints.

How fun!

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Check out this fall paper bag scrapbook album.

What a fun way to house all of those new/old memories of autumn!

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Happy Crafting!!