And She's Off Prize

I received my Sew Mama Sew Prize from Becky at La Manita Design! It came beautifully packaged. Isn't Becky's logo cool? Inside was a beautiful hand made toddlers hat that fit my Em perfectly!

She's saying, "I love my hat!"

Well Becky wasn't finished. She tucked in a little brown bag with a little something extra for both the girls.

Clippies!! Beautiful! I love the words she chose!

Go and check out Becky's blog and her Etsy store. She has some great items in her store!

www.andshesoff.typepad.com

www.lamanita.etsy.com

Lu chose the Sister clip as her favorite. Put a smile on my face!

Water Color Resist (Part Two): Silhouette for Dad

This is definitely a fun step up from a traditional silhouette! What a cool gift your kids can proudly give their Dads. I love how colorful and graphic they came out!

Take a picture of your child's profile. (Remember your picture will come out facing the opposite direction.) Preferably use a white background. (I saved over the original photo but this is an out take to give you an idea.)

This next step is not a necessary but can be helpful. Pump up the contrast in Photoshop or something similar. Print to the size you want for your silhouette. Tape to a window.

Tape a piece of contact paper (edit: Use Removable Contact Paper) on top. Paper side facing out.

Trace with a sharpie or similar. Cut out with exacto knife. Now you have a positive and a negative. Peal off backing and place on center of heavy paper. Make sure edges are smoothed down.

Paint with water color.


Let dry. Carefully peal off contact paper. We had some issues with the paper pealing off with the contact paper. I am going to try different paper next time and not rubbing the center. I also have some cheaper contact paper that may not be as sticky. This looks great matted and in a frame. Let me know if you try this and how they come out! (edit: Use Removable Contact Paper! You wont have any sticking problems. Thanks for the tip Painted Maypole.)

This did not work out as well. A lot of the paper pealed off making it look messy.

Water Color Resist (Using Contact Paper)

Saw this great project on Plum Pudding and just had to share. Plum Pudding used the child's initial to make beautiful watercolor pictures. She saw the project originally on Blissful Kids. I immediately thought of the contact paper butterflies I had been saving from my Mod Podge Butterfly project. Instead of a letter (which we are still going to try) we used cut out shapes from contact paper. I let Lu stick down the contact paper shapes. I did not rub the edges down well enough so we had a lot of bleeding. Edit: Sorry not clear. Trace shape onto the paper side of contact paper. Cut out. Peal off backing and stick on paper. Rub edges down. Paint with water color. When dry - peel off contact paper to reveal white paper.

Lu also made an underwater one for her teacher because she once told her she loved sea shells.

She really liked sprinkling the coarse salt on and checking to see what it would do.

I think these really came out interesting and so vibrant (we used tube watercolors not the cake ones.) This one we will definitely be trying again.

ABC Picnic Talk

This is a different type of ABC's. This is an ABC's of Values and Character. I have always known that in our day to day life these are the lessons I am trying to teach my girls. Although I never thought to write them down until now. (Thank you ABC & 123!) Placing them in this format will be helpful. I plan to hang a copy on the refrigerator where I can see it daily. If you have some values or character suggestions I missed please comment so I can consider adding them to my list.

Altruistic, Active
Beautiful inside as well as out
Compassionate, Caring, Curious, Considerate, Committed, Creative
Daring
Educated
Friendly, Forward thinking, Faith in God
Good-hearted, Goofy, Gentle, Genuine
Humorous, Hopeful, Healthy, Hard-working, Honest
Ingenious, Insightful, full of Integrity, Innovative
Joyous, Jovial, Just
Kind
Loving, Life long learner, Leader
Moral
Never give up
Optimistic
Peaceful, Philanthropic
Questioning
Respectful, Responsible, Role model
Studious
Trustworthy, Thoughtful
Understanding
Vivacious
Wonderment, Wanderlust, Wise
eXtraordinary
Young-at-heart
Zeal

Organizing-Life

Edit: The post is up over at Organizing-Life. Check it out!

I am a featured blog over at Organizing-Life today. (Which is kind of funny because I am organizationally challenged!) I do earnestly strive to be as organized as Abbie over at Organizing-Life. She has great tips and ideas for those of us that might need a little help in this department. I give some tips on organizing the gazillion puzzle and game pieces that come with having children.

Greetings from Asbury Park

Let me start off by saying: New Jersey has a bad rap. It has been called the armpit of America, one big toxic waste dump, the home of the Sopranos and now it has to suffer more humiliation with the House Wives of New Jersey! Please believe me when I say not all New Jersians are like that and the the Garden State is quite lovely. I have lived in New Jersey for 5 years and I am still discovering all the amazing history, culture, restaurants, natural beauty and activities it has to offer. (Six years ago I would have laughed if you told me I would be writing a I love NJ post!) Case in point: I can hardly believe I had never been to the famous Asbury Park made famous by Bruce Springsteen. I had heard it was run down and seedy. Well talk about a revival! Asbury Park is amazing!

The entrance to Asbury Park from Ocean Grove. The old casino is the building in the background.

We planned on taking the girls to Ocean Grove, an incredibly picturesque and quaint town immediately next to Asbury Park. We love the old Victorians, the boardwalk, ocean and great town. On a whim I suggested we pop over to Asbury Park. My hubby remembered it to be pretty run down from his teens but was game. Well we walked through a shell of an old casino to get Asbury Park from Ocean Grove. I didn't know what to expect. When we walked through to other side I could not believe my eyes. The entire boardwalk had been redone. There were new shops, cafes, a play ground, mini golf, a new water play are soon to be open! It looked like a high end beach in California. It was incredible. We are definitely going back this summer!

It still has the old landmarks and charm from its hay day. Recognize this photo?

The famous Madame Marie immortalized by Bruce Springsteen.

Lu is our new photographer! Not bad for a 3.5 year old!

The water play area soon to be opened.

The play ground

Mini golf

Some cafes & shops lining the board walk. I am talking nice. Not cheesy Jersey Shore souvenir shops!

The boardwalk was impeccably clean and nice and wide.

Of course the beach wasn't too bad either!

End of School Party Favor

It all started innocently enough. I saw a tube of 10 glow stick bracelets in the $1 zone at Target. It turned into this. I wasn't planning on doing something so involved but I needed a package that was stiff enough to hold the glow stick (they activate if bent.) Needless to say I wanted to kick myself after I started cutting and scoring them. Once I got the hang of it, the assembly went pretty quickly.

The other side says: hope your summer is glowing, love Lulu

I designed these quickly in Illustrator. You could decorate the outside of the packets more. A glittery star cut out or foil sticker...

Each packet contains:
$2 for 20 glow sticks
$2 for 16 erasers
$3 for 20 glow in the dark stars
$1 for 15 mini pack of twizzlers
Total $8 for the whole project! Not bad.

I used this glue pen to assemble the packets. I like that it is not messy, dries quickly and is a permanent bond.

Coffee Sleeve Collage

I have posted once before about my love for coffee-to-go and how I used to find coffee sleeves in my car, stroller, bag... Click here for a post on reusing a coffee sleeve to make a cute crown. I have been trying to cut our latte factor (save money) lately. I recently treated myself the other day. I decided to reuse the coffee sleeve in some lame attempt to stop from feeling guilty for purchasing it. The sleeve was corrugated on one side. Lu cut it into pieces with help from Mama. I asked her what she wanted to make and she said a house and sun. I put the glue down in the shape of a house. Obviously older kids can do this step themselves or you can let younger kiddos make an abstract collage. Lu glued down the pieces. I trimmed a couple of her squares into triangles for the roof. I also cut out the sun shape. We let it dry. Originally I thought she would do a rubbing with her collage. Well the art director (Lu) had other plans. She just wanted to color directly on the cardboard. I think it came out lovely. It was a good idea in that it helped her color within boundaries. She could see and also feel the edges. Lu really enjoyed how bumpy it was to color on. It made for a fun tactile sensory experience. I think this might be useful for kids with vision or sensory integration challenges.

It Is Raining Prizes!

What a day it has been! I found out I won 3 separate contests today. I know crazy! I'll post when I receive the items but here is a summary.

ABC and 123's Frecklebox Giveaway. Which is so cool because I get a book that is customized with my daughter/s name in the text. If you haven't checked out ABC and 123's blog you should! Their Prize Picnic it is still going on.

Sew Mama Sew hosted a super-sized giveaway last week. I won an adorable handmade sun hat for Em from Becky's Blog And She's Off. I think it is always extra special receiving something hand made!

Crafty Crow (one of my favorite resources for kids crafts) has giveaways on Mondays. I won a Book of Days full of ideas and activities to do with children. You know you are going to see some craftiness come from that!

Plus I am soon to receive my mystery prize from Ashley at Domestic Divas Fancy!

I hope my luck doesn't run out any time soon! By the way, tomorrow is a craft. I know I have been heavy on the family photos lately. Tuesday and Wednesday are crafty! So be sure to come by. Mama King

It's Official!

Thank you for all your kind wishes! It was a wonderful day!

We arrived super early for our 8:30am court appearance. This is picture outside of the courtroom. We meant another wonderful family adopting a little boy the same age as Em.

Mommy & Em

Em & Lu

Emme walked around during the whole proceeding. Curious as usual! The Judge was so nice! He was quite taken with Em. Em on the other hand wasn't to sure about him!

In front of the Court House.

It is hard to believe we first contacted the adoption agency in October of 2006 to start up the adoption process. It has been an amazing journey and we feel so blessed to have Miss Emme in our lives. Being adopted myself, I know it is truly hard to know if your parents love you the "same" as if you were biologically theirs. I can say 110% YES! Emme was ours from the moment I held her in my arms.

I always find it funny when people say to me, "Oh I could never adopt...God Bless you for doing it! You never know what your going to get." First of all, that statement is wrong on so many levels. Do you ever know what your going to get? Ask any parent! Adopting a child doesn't make me a saint. I am not taking on a charity case or burden I am taking in a CHILD! A human! I get the privilege of raising another human being. Emme has brought so much joy into our lives! Finally and more importantly that statement implies -- I don't think I could love a child that wasn't biologically mine! That just blows my mind. The human heart is capable of so much love and does not have limits! Do not underestimate your capacity to love.

I know and understand adoption isn't for everyone. I apologize for standing on my soap box. But I feel it is important to say because someone might read this and consider adopting who never had before. Thank you for following us on our adoption journey! Mama King