Christmas Mini Paper Bag Album Tutorial

Now that Christmas is over with, it is time to start organizing all of those Christmas photos.  I thought that I would share one of these adorable little mini paper bag albums Lisa and I made up.  We used black bags - $2.99 at Michael's over buy the wrapping paper.  You fold 2 or 3 bags in 1/2 and then stitch down the middle with your sewing machine.  You can also punch holes and hand stitch it together or tie it together with ribbons. 

 We decorated each page with a little photo mat cut from card stock. 

 Then we clipped in various little embellishments.  I really like variety so there are stickers, titles, and die cuts in this mini album.

 For the pull out pocket pages, we stapled a die cut onto a square of card stock.  It makes the book look bigger and fuller. 

 For a final touch, I wanted a more vintage feel than ribbon.  I got 3 different colors of raffia and tied that around the spine instead of ribbon.  These make really nice stocking stuffers or little thank you gifts for after Christmas.

Crowns for Kids Round Up

I got to thinking today about how much kids love to accessorize as I watched my two year old put her sun glasses on her face with a very pleased look. She always needs a bag, or a back pack or a purse. Always wants a pretty dress or a sparkly pair of shoes. She's not into princesses per say but she loves hats and crowns. So here it is... a roundup of easy crowns and a felt hat that you can make with or for your own special little people!

Maureen and Shanti over at Twig and Toadstool show you how to make this awesome fall crown out of nothing but leaves! So get outside, go for a walk, and collect some beautiful fall leaves!

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Homemade by Jill shows you how to whip up this super cute birthday crown.

She even gives you a free template for the design!

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One Hour Craft has a great tutorial to show you how to make this beautiful flower crown.

With a change of flower color this could go for any special occasion holiday!

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Crochet?

Check out this tutorial for an absolutely adorable crocheted crown from Oh So Happy Together!

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4 Crazy Kings tells us how to make this great green craft. Recycle your paper coffee sleeves into fabulous paper crowns with a little help from some sequins and tissue paper!

What fun and easy way to use what you have on hand.  

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Bitter Betty has really out done herself with this awesome gold crown!

I love this one! Looks so professional! What a great addition to any Halloween or dress up outfit!

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Nikki over at WhiMSy love has a very clear and fun tutorial on how to make these adorable newspaper crowns with your kiddos!

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Just my Rambling has a very easy an innovative way for your little one to make a princess crown.

A paper plate, some crayons, and some foam stickers; that's all you'll need!

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Katydid and Kid has a wonderful fall crown tutorial made from felt.

Aren't the colors so soothing and warm?!

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One more felt crown! How sweet!! Little Lizzie gives a tutorial on how to make this sweet crown!

Look at all of that embroidery work!

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I just plain ol' love this one!! It make me want to fall in love allover again!

No Knows Weddings shows us how to make this most beautiful crown

for the little girl in all of us!

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Happy Crafting!!



Pumpkin Patch Popcorn Recipe

This is a little recipe I started making a few years ago for my niece's preschool.  All of the preschools are peanut free now so it's sort of hard to find things to make.

The recipe is

1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
8 cups of popped popcorn (2 microwave bags or air popped popcorn)
assorted candy

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Put popcorn in a greased 13"x9" pan and put it in the oven. 

In a heavy bottom sauce pan mix butter, sugar, salt, and corn syup. 

Over medium heat, bring to a boil.  Boil at a rolling boil for 5 minutes. 

 Boil for 5 minutes.  If you have a light pan, you are really going to need to stir so that it will not burn.  In a heavy pan, you can stir occassionally.  Turn off the heat and add the baking soda.  It foams up (photo on right).

Take your popcorn out of the over.  Pour your caramel onto the popcorn.  Stir until the popcorn is totally coated.  Keep it in the oven for 1 hour stirring even 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and add your sprinkles, candy corn, mini marshmallows, m&ms, etc. 

Kamille likes helping - she was counting the candy.  Big surprise!

Happy Crafting!

Easy and Fun Girl Scout Craft ~ Learning the Law

As co-leader of my second grader's Brownie Girl Scout troop, I am always trying to find cheap, easy and fun ideas for crafts and activities to do with our troop. Our girls are just entering their first year as Brownies! My co-leader and I are also just now becoming more familiar with the concept of Tri-Its. For those of you who are not in scouts, Tri-its are badges that Brownie Scouts can earn by doing a minimum of four activities that have a particular theme and follow the girl scout law. 

The first Tri-It that we will participate in is "Girl Scout Ways". We thought this would be a great one to do to reinforce what we have learned about scouts over the past two years as well as serve as a good introduction to our two new scouts!

So, to focus on the Girl Scout Law we made these story telling bracelets:

And boy were they easy!

First, we needed the supplies. So with my two year old and a Michael's Coupon, I headed to the store.  This is what I ened up with:

A pair of scissors

stretchy cord

and a bunch of pony beads in 10 different colors. I bought a big bulk tub of beads to save the troop money and yes, I separated all of the colors out myself. Looking back, I could have had my 7 year old sort and count them for a fun little math project but I did it while catching up on the Top Chef Finale:) 

So why 10 different colors? Well the girl scout law is comprised of ten different promises that have been paired with a color code.

Like this: 

So I made up kits for each girl in a snack sized Ziploc bag that contained 2 of each of the 10 colored beads, 10 white beads, and one extra long strand of stretchy cord. At the meeting I gave the girls their bags and explained to them what we would be doing with all of these beads. This allowed us to go over the Girl Scout Law together taking time to review/introduce all of the concept s associated with the colors. I told the girls there are two of each color bead for a reason. One is so that they always have a reminder of the law for themselves and can think about if the actions they take are following the  Girl Scout Law and the other bead is to lend to a friend who my be having a hard time making the right decision. 

All in all the we had a blast doing this activity together! I allowed about 15 minutes to accomplish the bracelet and review the law.

First, help the girls tie a double knot at the end the strand of stretchy cord so that the beads don't fall off when the are stringing them.

 

Next, Place the beads on in order of the colors of the law and talk about each part of the law as they go. Use the white beads as separator beads.

This is where the girls had some trouble (but not too much). Make sure that you have given them lots of extra cord so that tieing the knot is a cinch. Even though they will ask you for help with this knot, encourage them to seek each other's help. I found that as soon as one girl got it the others either went to her for help or watched and did it for themselves. Which is what we are trying to accomplish in scouts!

Simply cut the cord after a tight double knot has been tied and put on your new accessory! This is a great craft for any girl scout age level. You could use the beads that have letters on them and spell out your troop number, the names of your girls, etc. This would also make a fun swap to use at camp or thinking day.

The girls were showing these beauties off to everyone at school. This project cost our troop less than $6 for 12 bracelets!! Tri-It today!

Happy Crafting Everyone!!