Jelly Fish Craft

Hello! Hope you all had a happy 4th of July!

Lately we have been seeing a lot of great Jellyfish crafts out there in the blog world. Here is our version to add to the mix. We used a clear plastic Fruit Bowl as our top. We spread a layer of Mod Podge (my fave) on the inside of the cup. Sprinkled glitter then applied torn bits of tissue and then another layer of Mod Podge. As you can see from the pictures with the dark background my little assistant loves Mod Podge as much as her Mama and there is a lot of glue inside. I couldn't wait for it to dry to clear for the pictures (it did eventually!)

The stringy ends are made up of yarn and ribbon. I wish I had some Christmas tinsel to add in to the mix too. I tied the bundle together and then threaded a piece of the bundle through a hole on the top. I just used a craft knife to make the hole.

I was going to add googly eyes but my little assistant and little Marine Biologist declared in horror, "A jelly fish doesn't have eyes on top of its head!" So the eyes got nixed. You of course can and should add them because I think they would look cute!

For other great Jelly Fish projects visit:
http://kidsartandcraftlover.blogspot.com and
http://www.preschoolplaybook.com

The Supplies:

Easy Toilet Paper Tube Stamps

Pretty much self explanatory! So simple and yet extra fun when you bend and manipulate the tube into different shapes. Lulu's picture is on the right and Emme's is on the left.


You can also replace the paint with glue! Add sand and or glitter and you have a cool picture. Use a heavier paper if you are going to use glue.

Mama's A Mess Launches Mama's Empty Pockets Today!

Sharon from Mama's A Mess just launched a new blog with Stephanie at A Pocketful of Buttons. It is called Mama's Empty Pockets...get it! Go over and check out the fun & the Giveaways!! Both Sharon & Stephanie have great blogs and I know together the two of them will make blog magic! Tell them I sent you!

Thank You!

Thank you for showing your support yesterday and leaving me such great comments over at Grown In My Heart! Todays post was suppose to be the Grown In Your Heart post...but it got bumped up to yesterday. So no craft today...but it will give you an opportunity to try out one of my older craft posts! I leave you with two shots of my cutie Emme!

We are cat sitting for our friends who are moving to Hawaii. We will be sending Jack to Hawaii in a month or so. Lulu and Emme absolutely LOVE this cat. As you can see Jack tolerates the girls. Who wants to bet that there will be a whole lot of tears on the day we have to take Jack to the airport. And maybe a new cat in our future?

Have a great day! There is a new craft tomorrow!

4th of July Craft over at Grown In My Heart

Exciting News! I am a new Craft Contributer at Grown In My Heart, a new adoption website. Grown In My Heart is an incredible resource for adoptive parents and for perspective adoptive parents. The crafts I will be posting are great for all children not just for adopted children. I hope you will come over and visit me every other Wednesday! I will always link on my blog on the days I post so you know where to find me! Please leave me lots of comments over there so my new boss is impressed! :-) Just click here for directions to these great projects!

Patriotic Mobile using a cereal box.

























Star Hair Clip or Shirt Clip

Crepe Paper Flower Straws

Here's an easy (I swear!) craft for older children and adults. All you need is crepe paper streamers, straws (or bamboo skewers), glue and scissors. I made all the flowers below just by experimenting. Crepe paper is stretchy so therefor much more forgiving than tissue paper.

Basic Technique: Cut a section of crepe paper (approx. 4 inches long) Fold in half the long way. Snip along fold - making sure bot to cut all the way through. Making folded fringe. Glue and wrap around top of straw. Cut out petal shapes. Glue around - scrunching and overlapping petals as you go along. You can make ones that are all fringe or ones that are all petals. You can also use the straw as your flower center and snip fringe (see picture with green center.) I curled the straw back using my scissor edge - think curling ribbon.

Letter Exchange: Utah

As you can see from Lu's face she just loved this letter from Aubrey in Utah. The first thing she said when she opened it was, "Oh a butterfly!!" She went crazy for the painting and of course the stickers! She had me read the letter to her and looked very intently at the little girl who made such a beautiful butterfly painting. We added our star to the map! She wanted me to tell her her name and her state again. Then she pointed to Emily's star and said Emily. Then she had me tell her the little girls names from Texas.

I think this experiment may backfire and Lu will know all the girls names and not the states they come from! Thanks to Aubrey's Mom! Without all you Mama's out there none of this fun and excitement would be possible! Thanks for taking the time!

Please let me know if you do not want your children's names included in my post. I assume the mom's with blogs don't mind and I will use the name they are referred to on their own blogs.

An Experiment With Mod Podge

During my idea drain, many of you were kind enough to suggest some projects that you have enjoyed. One of them was from:

Little Nut Tree said...

Otherwise how about toilet paper roll flowers/stars? I got it from Her Cup Overfloweth - link on my blog.

I immediately went over and checked out her post. Miraculously my brain turned back on and I remembered this post from 5 Orange Potatoes. 5OP used glitter glue in her project. We didn't have any so we used my favorite Mod Podge.








I taped down a piece of contact paper shiny side up on a old board. Because this takes forever to dry you are going to need to move it somewhere out of reach of toddlers to dry. Mine ended up with a few curious fingers in it. I began with gluing down a piece of tissue to make the entire piece stronger and to hold the flower together. Next I glued down the flower (pieces of toilet paper tube.) Lu and I filled the openings of the flowers with Mod Podge. Then the fun part, Lu sprinkled in beads and sequins. This took three days to dry and as you can see from the picture was not fully dry by photo time. The glue turns from opaque to somewhat clear. When dry peel off plastic and trim tissue paper backing. I glue a ribbon to the top two petals to make a hanger.

Thanks to Amy at Keeping Up With the Schultz Family for this adorable Panda Super Comments award. I told her if any one deserves this award it is her! But I can't pass it on to her. I can pass it on to a few of my blog friends who always leave me comments and make me smile.

Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot and ABC and 123 Learning
Valerie from Frugal Family Fun Blog
Sharon from Mama's a Mess
Branflakes from Adventures of a Flake

Sunday Snapshot

The sun is finally shining! Here is Lulu's chalk drawing, Flowers for Daddy. I just love it. She thought of adding the flowers all by herself. I think she may be eclipsing me in the creative department!

Enjoy your day!