Shauna: Birthday Card Folders

Birthday Card Folders

 
I've decided to start working on my New Years Resolutions (better late than never!).  One of those resolutions as it is and ever will be is  keeping in touch with loved ones.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm the worst phone caller, e-mailer, letter writer and getting back to you there ever was, and every year I have a goal to break the habit.  There are still a few months left in 2012 and I decided I'm going to try and make them count (we'll see how far I get on my weight lose/learning French goals...).

Recently my mother came for a visit and we had a blast.  One day we ended up in the Dollar Tree getting some balloons for Wesley's birthday and I found myself in the card section.  I love cards, and I think I got this love from Allison actually because she always has a plethora of cards for all occations, and is the best card giver! I realized that the Dollar Tree has some awesome cards from Elmo to My Little Pony, and Eric Carle to Tonka Trucks, and most of them are 2 for $1! So I decided right then and there to start a birthday card folder. 

Materials: 

                      Birthday cards (Dollar Tree)

                      Folder with at least 12 sections (Target)

                      Stickers (Dollar Tree)

                      Stamps

                      Addresses

                      Birth dates  

 

I bought over 30 birthday cards (all for nieces and nephew- their adult cards I think I'll buy somewhere else, DT doesn't have the best selection) and I realized that DT has some great sticker packets that come in 3 sheets for a dollar, so I thought it would be fun to add those to the cards too.  As I looked for a box to hold all the birthday cards I wasn't sure what to look for.  We live in an apartment and I'm always looking for new ways to save space, so I didn't want anything bulky.  Then I found a misplaced accordion file folder in Target and realized it was perfect, just the right size.  So I labeled the files with the months of the year, separated the cards, and it was done! Now I have all the cards organized and ready to be sent, and a front file for special occasion cards too. 

Sara Jane: Eating from the Garden

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a fabulous week so far.  

While I was out weeding my herb/salad garden this week, I noticed I had some beets that  needed to be picked.  They were huge.  Probably the biggest beets I have ever seen.  Down the row, I also saw some beautiful lemon cucumbers that were ready.  Two of my favorite garden foods.  What to make???

My SIL introduced me to this little piece of heaven a few years ago and now we have it all the time.  During the summer, you will ALWAYS find a few logs of goat cheese in my refrigerator JUST for this salad.  It is delicious!

Ingredients:

*2 large (or three medium) beets, peeled, cubed, cooked and cooled (I cut mine into 1-inch cubes, boiled for about 15 minutes or until I could stick a fork in it easily and then cooled in an ice bath.)

*1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

*2 regular cucumbers (or 5 lemon cucumbers), peeled and cubed

*Goat Cheese (since we like Goat Cheese a lot, I would use 3 ounces per salad.  Use as much or as little as YOU like)

* 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss together the cucumbers, beets and red onion.  Splash the vinegar on top (again...if you want more, use more; if you want less, use less).  Break your goat cheese into small pieces and distribute throughout the salad. Finish with salt and pepper.

After making this yummy salad, I decided to make a sandwich to go with it to.  In my refrigerator, I had a huge bag of basil from our local CSA.  Pesto!  I have never made pesto before but I know I love it.  One of our local bakeries makes a delicious walnut pesto so that is what I tried to make.  I looked through a bunch of recipies on line but nothing caught my eye so I decided just to go for it and experiment.  Here is what I did.

Pesto

Ingredients:

*1 1/2 to 2 cups basil leaves

*2 T minced garlic

*1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (Not a traditional item but it was the only cheese I had :)

*1/2 cup walnuts

*1/2 t salt

*1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

I crammed as much basil into my little Cuisinart Food Processor as possible, dumped in the garlic, shoved in the cheese and walnuts and somehow managed to get the top on.  Once I turned on the food processor, I drizzled the olive oil through the top opening.  It seems like you are using a lot of oil but it doesn't actually come out to that much.  Keep adding oil until it is to a consistency that you like.  I like my pesto with a little crunch so I don't do it as fine as others.  

If you have made too much pesto and need to do something with it, try freezing it.  Instructions here.

Okay, so my pesto is done.  The rest is simple.  

My favorite sandwich at one of our local grocery stores, Harvest Fresh, is a turkey sandwich with pesto and sprouts.  I didn't have any sprouts on hand but I did have some left over cucumber that I thought would give the sandwich the perfect crunch.  Here is how I assembled my favorite sandwich.

Two slices of your favorite bread (mind is a honey wheat bread).  Pesto on one slice of the bread, mayonnaise on the other slice.  I grabbed some butter crunch lettuce from the garden, added a few turkey slices, then added my cucumber, a few slices of red onion (from my previous salad), slap it all together and you get this...

I have to say, this sandwich was so fresh and tasty.  Even my husband, who is not a huge turkey fan, really enjoyed it.

Finally, I couldn't leave this post without telling everyone how excited I am for Allison and her sweet little Norah.  Whenever anyone I love has just had a baby, I am slightly jealous of them only because I know how wonderful those first few days can be with a sweet little newborn (I do, however, know, first hand, how hard they can be so I am not too jealous :).  Beatrix was by far my snuggliest baby (and she still is) and I LOVED every minute of it so I hope you (Allison) are getting some restful snuggle time in with your sweet new one.

I thought I would share with all of you how to make my favorite little girl head bands.  With Penelope, I didn't really use a lot of stuff in her hair.  I'm not really sure why but it just wasn't my style then.  With Beatrix, however, I went all out.  I had a hard time finding headbands for her little head though so I decided to try and make them.

I had some wonderful pictures to show you all, step by step, how to do this but I have misplaced my card reader (in the last 10 minutes) and cannot figure out where it is.  If I ever find it, I will post the pictures.

All you need to do to make the greatest headbands ever is first to find a cute elastic (I found some at Joann's).  After you have your elastic, measure the babies head and subtract about 1/2 to 1 inch from that total (depending on how tight you want it to be....don't make it too tight, please....I hate seeing lines on babies heads from where their headbands were too tight).  Cut your elastic to the number you have figured out.  Using a hot glue gun, glue the ends of the elastic together.  It is seriously as simple as that.  I have received so many compliments on my girl's head bands.  They are also perfect because you can clip flowers or bows directly on the headband instead of the hair (just in case your cutie pie baby doesn't have hair).  My older daughter uses Bea's headbands still when she has her hair up in a pony.

I have another headband trick I wanted to show you but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I find that stinkin' card reader.  (It is just one that I can't really explain without pictures).  Oh, I thought you might also like to know that Beatrix has misplaced my keys as well.  As soon as I get off this computer, we are going to have a search party for the keys.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Sara Jane

Lisa (on behalf of Allison): The Most Amazing Post Yet!

Lisa here!  As you might have guessed, our dear sister, Allison, has had her beautiful little girl, Norah!

 

Welcome little one!!  What a sweet little thing this new baby is!  Both mother and baby are doing well and are busy resting.

Allison and little Norah!!  I believe with this little one, Allison has won the craftiest sister of the week, month and year awards!!

 

What a wonderful little family!

 

Well, Allison.  We all hope your recovery is swift and easy!  Send lots of pictures of your new one and her older sister!!  We love you all so much, Allie!!

 

Lisa   

Lisa: Favorites on Pinterest

Hello, again!  I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  We did here with the start up of soccer season for my kiddos and an extended family party for my husband's side of the family!  Very fun weekend but now, back to work!!  We are packing like mad at my house and nearly have the basement done.  On to the main floor tomorrow!  Whew!  Who knew I was such a pack rat!  My husband consoles me by saying that I would definitely not make it onto the Hoarders show!  Well, at least there's that!

For this week's post, I am taking the lazy way out!!  I want to show you some of my favorite pins from Pinterest this week.  I am addicted.  I have considered getting another account just so those that are currently following me don't think that I do nothing but pin.  I just have a lot of free time, like, at stop lights and waiting in the line at the grocery store.  Just kidding!  I have never done those two things (I think!) but I do love Pinterest so here goes!  (Some of the following do not have links but I have provided the ones I do have!)


Bring on fall!! This Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup sounds like a great fall dinner!




Raise your hand if you know where this is!



(It's Haystack Rock, FYI!)

The hours spent watching these movies and reading the books!!  Time well used!




This is awesome!




I have had this Raspberry Jello Salad and it is delicious!!





There's not much privacy here but what an amazing view!




A Bored Jar .  When the kids say they're bored, they have to pull out a slip and do what it says.  It may be to clean their room or do something fun.  Hmm.... the possiblities!


 

These boots would be so perfect for the sloshy, muddy mess we get around these parts with any moisture!

 

Well, there are a few of the ones I liked.  Funny, but I noticed a trend towards fall and home.  I think I'm ready for cooler weather and no moving!!  See you next week!

 

 

Lisa

Shauna: Needles and Hooks Organizer

For today's post I decided to get organized.  Last week my mom bought me a bag full of knitting needles from a thrift store for a whopping $6!  I was of course thrilled and went to look up several more knitting projects Ravelry.com (if you haven't checked the site out, do it!) to feed my  new obsession.  But now I had a big mess of needles, and some extremely curious boys, so I decided I needed a place to put them.  I have always wanted to make a needle holder, but wasn't sure I wanted to take most of the afternoon to make one.  Then I realized if I used a fabric that was already hemmed and ready to go it wouldn't take long at all.  I decided to use a flour sack towel (only about $4 for 4 at Target), fold it in half twice and measure the needles accordingly then I would have an awesome holder.  And that is just what I did.

 

Now I am the kind of girl who prefers to do a lot of guess work when I sewing because I am anything but a perfectionist and I'm lazy, but for this case, you don't have to be too percise and it still turns out great.   I loved using this towel because it is a sturdy fabric that will hold together well even with pointy needles.

 I pinned while my needles and hooks were in the clothe so I could see how big I should make each opening and it worked out very well.

This is the finished product.  If you notice below I used the bottom fold for my crochet hooks and my circular needles.  I loved how it turned out, and there is still lots of room for more needles and hooks!

And this is how it looks all rolled up.  

Allison: Crafty Friends and Family

Hello again!  I opened up a new page to write my blog post hours ago.  Then, I put my daughter down for a nap and took one myself.  Needless to say, it's now almost 5 pm, and I'm trying to write a post on crafting, when the last thing I feel like doing is craft.  I know.  I shouldn't admit that.   But I'm almost 39 weeks pregnant and I reserve the right to do nothing but sit around and watch my daughter play in our air conditioned house.

That being said, I thought that today would be a great day to brag about my amazingly crafty friends.  I have noticed a new trend at parties, but more specifically at baby showers: homemade gifts.  I went to a good friend's baby shower a few months ago, and it seemed that half the gifts she received were homemade (including mine, of course).  I thought it was so cool to see what others could create!  So today, I wanted to show off some of the cute things that I've received for my little one on her way.

The blanket on the left was made by Norah's Grandma Lacey.  She's so good about making quilts for all of her new grandchildren, and we love this blanket!  It's so soft and comfy!  I can't wait to see Norah cuddled up in it.

The crocheted blanket on the right with the adorable strawberry was made by my good friend, Jen.  She has some mad skills when it comes to crocheting, and I want to be like her when I grow up.  :)  I LOVE this blanket, and I know Norah will too.

The blanket on the left you might recognize from Lisa's post yesterday.  I LOVE IT!  I am so impressed with how good she's become at crocheting!  I need a lesson.  The yarn is so soft and I can imagine cuddling my baby while wrapped in this blanket from her Aunt Lisa.

The blanket on the right was made by Norah's mom.  Yes... I had to show off my own quilt.  I really enjoyed making this quilt for my baby girl, and really pushed myself, creatively, to try free-motion quilting around the edge.  I hope Norah feels all the love that I put into this blanket.

Can you tell how loved this little girl already is?  Of course I'm grateful for store-bought gifts too.  I can't sew clothing yet, so we appreciate all we received.  I also was given many other heart-felt gifts, which I appreciate more than I can express.  Hopefully this little one is here by this time next week (I'll be induced next Tuesday), and we can't wait to cuddle her and meet our little Norah.  If you don't hear from me next week, I think I have a pretty good excuse.  I'll be doing the ultimate "craft".  :)  Have a great week, and keep the crafting going while I'm gone!

Allison

Lisa: Baby Blankets and Carmel French Toast

Wow, that weekend just flies by, doesn't it?  I never get everything done that I want to in a weekend and now we've got our children's sports events, school and all its activities and a move thrown on top!  Yes, we are moving but just to temporary housing until our new house can be built.  We were going to wait to move until our new house was built before we even put our current house up for sale but some very nice people came up and asked if they could buy it.  Well, long story short, we agreed and have to be out in a week and a half!  I'm trying not to stress out and instead look at this as a blessing!  In the meantime, we are a little busy here!  But really, a full, busy life is better than an empty, boring one, right?!!

So, last week I told you about some projects I completed.  I had to wait until I had mailed them but I can now show the baby blankets I made for the new babies coming to our family!

Katrina and Allison's baby blankets made with a granny ripple stitch!

These were super easy to do with the tutorial found here.  I'm not an amazing crocheter but I found these instructions easy to use and (with lots of photos) they were very easy to follow along with.

All my kids have now asked for a blanket with this stitch for Christmas!  I think I know what I am doing with my weekends from now till then!

Now on to my real post: Caramel Sour Dough French Toast (the longer the name, the better the recipe is what I've heard:)!!

For birthdays around my house, we do requests.  Usually those end up being crepes, chocolate gravy and biscuits or a favorite pancake recipe (and bacon, of course)!  Well, this year there was a request for sour dough french toast which I don't have a recipe for so I thought I'd wing it.  I think in the future, I'll bake these but I'll give you the recipe as I made it.  Warning: These are very sweet and rich!!  Most of my kids only had one piece but they loved them! 

Caramel Sour Dough French Toast

1 loaf good sour dough bread, sliced into 1" thick slices

8 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, finely chopped

Combine eggs and milk.  Add vanilla.  Place bread cut side down in a large baking dish and pour egg mixture over the top.  Let sit for a few minutes.  Turn them over and let sit for a few minutes again.  All the egg mixture should absorb into the bread.

While the bread is sitting, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.  (If baking the french toast, just sprinkle over the top.)  Next, just dredged the bread into the brown sugar mixture.  You might have to press it into the bread to get it to stick!  I then heated my flat top to 250-300 degrees.    On the flat top, the brown sugar mixture made a nice caramel coating to the french toast.  I still flipped the french toast when slightly browned, like you would with normal french toast.  If baking, heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 35 minutes or until light brown.  We topped with whipped cream because no birthday can pass without it!  Delicious!

Have great week!

Lisa

Shauna: The Cowl

 

So I know it's preemptive but I'm aching for fall.  I love fall.  I love the trees, the excitement of the start of the holidays, the yummy pumpkin bread, and of course the clothes.  This year my big fall obsession is the cowl scarf.  What an ingenious idea, it's a hood, it's a cowl, it's a shawl.  IT is wonderful,  I got on last year and wore it everyday.  I decided this year everyone in my family needs one.  This week I've been working on my knitting skills, and I've started work on a mini cowl for the boys (pictures to come).  But meanwhile here are some ideas, if you too are looking to get some fall prep on.  I know some people think cowls for men are weird, but I love them.  What are your thoughts?

Sara Jane: Summer Quesadillas

It has become a tradition, on both my side of the family and my husband's side of the family, to have our annual family reunions during the summer on the Oregon Coast.  This past week, we went to the coast for my in-law's family reunion.  It was the perfect vacation.  We built sand castles, played in the freezing ocean water, went to the touching ponds, watched a meteor shower and ate delicious food.

Penelope touching a giant sea cucumber (slug) and star fish at the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Uncle Doug helping Ash in the touching pond.

 While on the family reunion, we each take an evening to make dinner.  For my dinner, I made hominy curry (since we have several vegetarians in the family). It was fantastic!  I'm not sharing that recipe yet but I will.  Instead I am sharing my SIL, Olivia's recipe.  She made the most delicious quesadillas with sweet potatoes, goat cheese and chard (I know at least one sister is gagging at this point).  I don't usually like sweet potatoes and never like chart but LOVED this meal.  In fact, I made it again last night only I used kale instead of chard because that's what came in our CSA.

Here we go...

SUMMER QUESADILLAS

Ingredients:

2 purple onions, thinly sliced
2 sweet potatoes
1 T garlic
4 ounces soft goat cheese, at room temperature
1 package tortillas (I used the ready-to-cook kind you can buy at Walmart), cooked
1 bunch of kale, chopped (any green will work)

Directions:

Slice your sweet potatoes into 1-inch thick medallions.  Place on a baking sheet and bake at 300* for 30 - 45 minutes, until soft enough to smash.  They should look something like this when they're done...

Cook your sliced onions in a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent (about 10 to 15 minutes).

When your onions are ready, add another tablespoon (or 2) of oil and add in your kale.  If it looks like a lot, don't worry.  It will cook down.  Add a few tablespoons of water and cover with a tight fitting lid.  Occasionally stir.  Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes.  It should look something like this when its done...

Take the potatoes out of the oven, peel off the skins and smash, like you would regular mashed potatoes.

Cook your tortillas.

When tortillas are finished, spread goat cheese over one side of two tortillas.  Next, on one tortilla, spread a thin layer of sweet potatoes over your goat cheese.  Then add a generous helping of the kale/onion mix on top of the sweet potatoes.  Finally, add the second tortilla, goat cheese side down, on to the top.

Slice with a pizza slicer and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Allison: Pizza Balls

Hello, again!  Yep... still pregnant, if anyone was wondering.  Hopefully next week I'll be MIA, but probably not.  :)

My crafting desire lately has been as slow as my waddle.  So, this week I'm turning to my best friend lately: food.  Last night I tried a dinner idea that I found on (surprise surprise) Pinterest.  I had canned jumbo biscuits in the fridge, along with marinara sauce and string cheese, so I thought I'd try these pizza balls.  My husband came home when I was starting to prepare the balls, and convinced me to wait while he ran out to get pepperoni.   I didn't follow a specific recipe, opting instead to play it by ear.  Here's what I did:

Step #1- rolled out biscuits to about twice their size

Step #2- placed 3 pepperoni pieces, 2-3 small cubes of cut string cheese, and a spoonful of sauce in
              center of biscuit dough

Step #3- pulled and pinched edges together, placed edges down in lightly sprayed muffin tin

Step #4- lightly brushed tops with butter, and sprinkled garlic salt on top

Step #5- baked at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tops were golden

Done!  They turned out pretty great.  I kind of felt like it was too much bread compared to filling, but I couldn't get much more inside without the sauce squeezing out.  I used the jumbo flaky biscuits (which tasted great), but next time I might try the smaller biscuits, to see how they compare.  At this point, I'm just proud of myself for even making dinner.  My husband also seemed to enjoy these.  They would make a great football party snack/treat.

Hope you all have a great week, and that you don't hear from me next week.  :)


Allison

Lisa: Bruschetta

Welcome to another week at Five Crafty Sisters!  I am very happy because I finished two projects this past weekend!  This is big for me because usually I get 3/4 of the way into a project and get distracted or bored and don't finish.  Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but not too much!  I will show you the finished project maybe on Friday but for sure by Monday.  I first have to mail them to their prospective recipients.

For today's post, I thought I'd show you a terrific use for all those summer tomatoes that are in abundance this time of year: Bruschetta.  Now, this is a dish that I think everyone has a recipe for but this is so fantastic that I thought I'd share it with you anyway!!  Most recipes I've seen don't have garlic in the tomato mixture so if you don't like raw garlic feel free to leave it out!

Bruschetta
5 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
5 large leaves basil, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 French baguette, sliced to 1/4"-1/2" slices
1/4-1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Place sliced bread onto a cookie sheet cut side up.  Place under broiler until bread is lightly toasted.  Take out of oven and turn bread slices over.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and put back under broiler until bread is lightly toasted.  Set aside.
Combine chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, diced onion and basil in a bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir to combine.  Serve tomato mixture over your bruschetta for a delicious and light summer treat! 

Hope you have a fantastic week!

Lisa

Friday Favorites: Projects and Ideas

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Friday Favorites.  This week we're going to do another post of "Favorite Projects/Pins and Ideas".  There are so many ideas that we all pin on Pinterest, but how many of them are as good as they say they are?  How many would we like to try, but just haven't yet?

This week, I thought I'd share a dish I actually attempted to make, and give my review of the recipe.  I'm also going to share a project that I've been dying to try, but realistically, probably won't get to for awhile.

As I'm getting closer and closer to my due date (3 weeks from today!), I've realized that I should probably stock my fridge and freezer, so I don't have to feel guilty as my husband fends for himself at dinner time.  I had already made up a lasagna to place in the freezer, but thought I could use one more large casserole-type dish.  Enchiladas!  So I headed to my Pinterest "Favorite Recipes" board (which can be found here), and searched for an enchilada recipe.  Of course the pin claimed to be "the best white chicken enchilada recipe ever".  It linked to this blog, and gave a pretty straightforward recipe.  I was able to assemble the tortillas, chicken and cheese while the sauce simmered (which I liked).    Here's my official review:

I thought the recipe was overall VERY GOOD.  It was easy to follow, and quick to assemble.  Most enchilada recipes that I've followed have called for the sauce to be mixed with the chicken.  This one did not.  The center of the tortilla only contained the chicken and cheese.  Pouring the sauce over the top of the wrapped tortillas did make it a lot less messy to assemble (one of the reasons I'm not a fan of making chicken enchiladas).  I think, in theory, pouring the sauce over the top should allow for the sauce to get into the tortilla from the sides.  In reality, not much was able to "soak in", but there was plenty of sauce on top to simply mix into the chicken, once on the plate.

My husband has also given his approval (which is important).  He liked the taste of the sauce, but said he would have preferred it a little spicier.  For me, the green chilies were enough.  :)

So there you go!  The Lacey family has given the stamp of approval to this recipe.  I've actually already used it a second time, which is definitely a good sign.

Now that all your stomachs are growling, let's move to the project I can't wait to finish, but realistically may not get to for at least a year.  Growing up, we had this big, huge denim quilt.  I remember it following us to outdoor adventures and keeping us warm in the basement.  As I've begun sewing, I've wanted to make my own jean quilt.  I have looked through many many denim quilts, trying to find a pattern that caught my eye.  I wanted one that was similar to my parents', but with a little more organization, for the quilter in me.  Then, I found this quilt on this blog:

I love the simplicity of the strips.  They're organized, but still resemble the staggered brick-layered pattern.  I think I'll omit the initial, and probably add a more neutral flannel to the back, but plan to use the pattern that she has given on her blog.  She also gives a detailed tutorial, which I appreciate.  I've been collecting old jeans for awhile now, and have already ripped them into strips.  Someday, I'll put them together, and probably just do straight lines instead of a stippled stitch with my machine.  Someday...

What projects are you dying to finish?  I'm sure your list is as long as mine.  Alright... who's next?  :)

Allison
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Allison, we must be sisters because I have been planning my own denim quilt!!  I've been saving jeans and pinning ideas!  How crazy!  Well, we can do them together and you can give me tips since you are the seamstress!

Soda Pop Ice Cream

For this week's Friday Favorites, I thought I'd share a soda pop ice cream pin I tried.  The soda pop ice cream only has two ingredients: 1 2liter any flavor pop you'd like (we used orange) and a 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk.  It was easy to prepare but it wasn't all that good.  It was fine but a month later, it is still in my freezer even though I told my children they could have it.  If the kids don't like it, I think we won't make it again!





Another pin I tried and loved was The Crochet School.  I have crocheted for years (very badly!) but when I saw this pin I thought that it wouldn't hurt to learn some new stitches.  It is awesome!  I have trouble reading patterns and this helped a lot.  It also has variations on stitches and a lot of new stitches so a big plus! And it is all free!!  Yes!  I highly recommend it!






Well, that is two down of all the pins I've pinned.  Now I only have about three thousand more to try!!  Baby steps!

Lisa
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Painting with Sponge Curlers

So lately I've been trying to go through my junk and get rid of the excess. Whenever I decide to get rid of stuff I also realize I'm kind of a pack rat in the sence that I have a had time throwing things away because I think of the difference ways I could reuse items (needless to say pinterest has added to the issue). I have a laundry basket of my old clothes I plan on turning into clothes for my boys that I'll get around to someday.  But as I was trying to throw things away I found some sponge curlers I bought from the dollar tree that turned out to not work so well so I never used them again.  While trying to justiful keeping them my boys ran up, pulled out the sponge and started playing with them, which gave me the idea of using them for a painting art project.  We tried painting last week with paint brushes and it was a little difficult for them so using the sponge was perfect. I can't tell you how much fun they had. 

 Painting with Sponge Curlers!

 

At first they loved making dots on their picture, and then they enjoyed using it as a brush and getting pretty messy.  I've decided my favorite paint for the kids to use is the Crayola Washable Tempera Paint, I picked up some at target and love how easy it is to clean off of everything after a messy project.  I think this project would work so well for older kids to make wheels on a car or flowers with a perfect circle.