4 Crazy Kings

Grown In My Heart: Panda Party Favor

Come on over and visit me at Grown In My Heart. Today I show you how to make the cutest party favors. I give you the basic technique and then you can tweak it to extend your theme.

Scroll down to see the Panda Party Favor and a variation I made for Emme's birthday.

Don't forget to leave me some comment love over at Grown In My Heart! Thanks :-)

Using the same technique I made these Elmo party favors for Em's birthday. I used little boxes of goldfish since Elmo has a pet goldfish, Dorothy.

Finished Treasure Box

We finally finished our treasure box. It instantly got turned into a My Pretty Pony carrying case and stage. According to Lu the ponies love to perform -- so there you go.

I glue gunned a ribbon onto the flap as the closure. I had some magnetic backing from a cheap refrigerator frame that the plastic ripped. I glued a strip of it onto the ribbon and then a strip onto the top of the box. A simple magnetic closure. Easy for a toddler to open and close. I left about a half an inch of ribbon over hang to make it easier for little hands to grab

hold of the ribbon. See picture.

To see the original post click here.

It is hard to believe this box started out looking like this.

Clover Collage

Here is a fun summer activity for all ages! It comes from a post I saw over at Valerie's blog The Frugal Family Fun Blog. Which is always full of great activities!

FFFB used a very ingenious lint roller for collecting the clovers. We did not have one on hand. Instead I affixed a piece of clear contact paper to two large Popsicle sticks. Let the girls collect their clovers and then covered with another piece of contact paper. Even Lu & Em's 9 year old cousin had fun making her one.

Valerie also suggested making a placemat or even a bracelet with your clover collage!

Thanks Valerie for another great idea!

Picnic Talk: Your Child's Imagination

Love this weeks Picnic Talk topic over at ABC & 123.

Picnic Talk: Your Child's Imagination

Ingredients for great imaginative play:

A boat full of open ended toys & props (see following list)
Lots of silliness
A pinch of modeling & suggesting (to get things started! Some kids will need a jumping off point.)
Mix in a child's natural creativity & imagination

Some of our favorite toys & props:
Dress Up Clothes
Card Board Boxes
Large Card Board Blocks
Wooden Blocks
Household Props (Sheets for making a fort, chairs, tables, pillows, plastic bowls...you name it!)
Dolls, Stuffed Animals,Ponies, Critters & Fairies
Kitchen set
Doctors kit
Tiny toy cars

Paper Plate Dinosaurs

I saw this cute Brontosaurus on Kids Craft Weekly.

We used a couple of small paper plates and instead of brushes I had Lu use a piece of an old sponge to sponge on the paint. She used a plastic fork to add some texture by scratching into the wet paint. Plus lots of glitter and sequins to dress them up! Lu thought the Brontosaurus was lonely so we made a friendly T-Rex for her to play with.

You can sign up at Kids Craft Weekly to receive a weekly email with several toddler friendly crafts or just visit the site.

The Summer Slide

Finally feels like summer here and we have been taking full advantage of it! As a result my crafts post have suffered. I am sorry and promise some great crafts in the upcoming days. Hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Spirit Jump

A while ago I posted about becoming a Spirit Jumper. Since then we have participated in 3 Spirit Jumps. A Spirit Jump can be as simple as send a card or sending along a little gift to a person battling cancer, to lift their spirits. This time Lulu picked out the gift (a sticker book) and wrote a card to a 4 year old girl named Grace. "Grace was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in June 2008, two days after her 3rd birthday. Although Grace is in remission, she still has to take chemo at home everyday and goes to a clinic every two weeks for blood work." I thought it would be more meaningful if Grace received a card from someone her own age.

Spirit Jump is a wonderful organization started by two cancer survivors. See the original post here. There is no long term commitment. If you sign up to be a Spirit Jumper you will receive occasional emails describing the people who need a lift. You decide if you want to send a card or gift to them or not. We try to do one once a month. Especially if there is a child in need of a lift. So if you would like to brighten someones day -- think about becoming a Spirit Jumper!

Freezer Paper T-Shirt Stencils

Hello! My post is up for real this time! Today I am one of the Craft Contributers at Grown In My Heart. Come on by and visit me there! I give you step by step instructions on how to make a cute Birthplace or Home State Freezer Paper Stencil T-Shirt. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! I loved all of your comments last week! Thanks! Below is a sneak peak!

The shirt I made for Emme, a silhouette of South Korea. The Red sequin shows where Emme was born.

Freezer Paper Stencils are great for any design. I also made this Tinkerbell for Lulu. Using an old party decoration.

Great Game: Picture Scavenger Hunt

Saturday we had a lovely picnic lunch at the aforementioned Arboretum with some good friends. Our friends were running late and our girls were restless and hungry. So I sent them and their Daddy on a digital picture scavenger hunt. We visit the gardens frequently throughout the year so I knew where to send them. I gave them an item to photograph and then they ran back begging for another item. This helped pass the time and I could set up our picnic in relative peace. Above are two examples of items they had to photograph. Lulu is our budding photographer and love being able to take the pictures.

Fairy Houses

We went fairy house hunting at our local Arboretum. The girls had a blast! Hidden along one of the walking paths families had built fairy houses out of mostly natural materials. We just found out about the program and will definitely sign up next year! Meanwhile we will build our own fairy house in our yard.