Puffy Paint Hand Print Turkey

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***


Seriously, who needs to shell out the dough for holiday decorations when you have a child? Art projects keep them entertained (and out of trouble) and then you can turn around and display it, passing it off as home decor. Of course, with the little ones, if you want it to resemble specific holiday items, you're going to need to "finish" the projects sometimes. Yesterday, this was our activity...

The hand print turkey: a Thanksgiving staple.

We've all made the typical hand print turkeys where you paint your palm brown and your fingers different colors and it looks like a turkey with feathers. They're adorable and all, but I wanted to do something a little different with my little girl for two reasons.
1) She never (ever) keeps her hand still enough for me to even think I could get away with painting her fingers different colors and then having the luxury of enough time to press her hand on a paper to make anything that resembles a hand print.
2) I needed something a bit bigger to replace the Halloween decorations we made last month.

Instead, I decided to let her paint with "puffy paint" and then I planned to trace her hand and cut it out in different colors to make larger "feathers".

How do you make puffy paint? Simple. Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue.

It will look very fluffy. Then add a small amount of paint (too much paint makes it too heavy and you won't get the puffy look when it dries).

Then mix it together and start painting. When it dries, it is puffy on the paper. (It works best if you just leave it white, so be very stingy when adding paint.)

I let Cady paint the whole paper, knowing that I would cut it to resemble a turkey body when it dried.

This is what it looked like dried. I probably should've used less paint because it didn't turn out as puffy as it normally does, but the textured effect is still there.

Then I cut it out to resemble the turkey's body (which more or less resembles a Mr. Potato Head).

Meanwhile, I was able to wrangle Cady long enough to let me trace one really sloppy hand print. I cut it out (much nicer than it originally looked), then used that hand print to trace more hands in different colors. I made some of them longer so that the "feathers" would be staggered behind the turkey.

I taped the "feathers" behind the turkey body and used one of the red hands to resemble the gobbler. Then I used my scraps to cut out a beak and eyes.

I think it turned out to be super adorable and it's currently displayed (proudly) over the fireplace mantel...replacing last month's painted ghost art.

DIY Growth Chart for Kid's Bedroom

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***

I saw this cute Cherry Blossom Art made from the bottom of a soda bottle. My first thought was, "I could easily do this and it would look really nice as a growth chart in Cadybug's room." (Her room is ladybugs and flowers.)

My second thought was "Well now I need to go buy a bottle of some kind of pop." We don't drink much pop around here, and if we do have any around, it's because I got a great deal on it around some sort of barbecuing holiday (i.e. Memorial Day or 4th of July). And it's always cans. They're easier to store and we can turn around and smash and recycle the cans for money.

So I went store hopping to get a bottle of pop (grocery store), then paint (Hobby Lobby), and then a pre-painted white shelf (Menards).

First, I drew the branch and painted it dark brown.

Then I dipped the (cleaned) bottom of the pop bottle in pink paint and strategically pressed it onto the shelf to look like flowers.

After it dried, we drilled it into her bedroom wall. Then I used a black permanent marker and a ruler to make hash marks at every inch on the side of the shelf. I wrote each foot on the side for easy measurement reading. It's much easier to make the measurements after hanging it up on the wall.

I marked the height she was at when she was born, and then we measured her on her 1st birthday, and plan to measure her on every birthday.

I loved it in my daughter's room so much, that when we found out our friends were going to have a monkey-themed nursery for their baby boy, my husband helped me draw a monkey to make a growth chart for them.

The adorable possibilities are endless.

Thanksgiving Noodle Necklace + Noodle Activities

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***

I don't know about you, but when I think about celebrating Thanksgiving as a kid, two things come to mind: pumpkin pie and colored noodle necklaces. The only pumpkin pie I make is the kind I can defrost, but noodle necklaces? I can do that.

I loved making a noodle necklace in preschool, but it never occurred to me how the noodles became so colorful. Turns out it's really easy to dye noodles and use them for numerous crafts. I used to mix paint with the noodles, wait all day for them to dry, and still have them be goopy and stuck to each other. This time I used liquid food coloring and it dried much quicker and covered them just as well!

Here are the plain mostaccioli noodles I used.

Then I added a few drops of food coloring and used a spoon to mix them.

Make whatever colors you like, but I chose red, yellow, green, and blue to make them look like Thanksgiving colors.

Then cut a piece of yarn for the necklace, and make sure it will be big enough for your child to pull over their head.
Start stringing the noodles onto your necklace. I had help. (If your child is old enough, this is a great hand-eye coordination activity!)

Tie it in a double knot and watch how excited your child is to wear a noodle necklace. They really cherish the strangest things...

Now, what to do with those leftover colored noodles? This is what we are doing...

Dump and fill activity with a tupperware container (meaning: she dumps them out and then puts them in my hand or back in the container, then repeat, and repeat, and repeat)

Sorting by colors

Counting the noodles

Shaking the container of noodles as an instrument while listening to music

Halloween Witch Sign for the Door

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***

This is the first Halloween that my little girl will be able to walk up to people's doors. I still get to eat most of her candy, but she will be more excited about Trick-or-Treating than she was last year.

So the hubby and I both want to take her Trick-or-Treating.

But who will guard the door and hand out candy?

The witch.

Yes, I know we will likely have some hooligans come and take all of the candy and/or homemade Halloween-colored playdough that I leave out in a shallow bowl. (What's that? I already scarfed down 1/2 of the bag of Snickers?)

I'm excited to be able to walk my little chocolate chip cookie door to door to get her (me) some candy...so hopefully the witch can handle any shenanigans at home.

Halloween Cutting/Gluing Craft with Paint Chips

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***

My house is severely lacking this year when it comes to Halloween decorations. I blame it on the craft fair that I signed up for at the last minute (with 2 weeks to get all of the supplies and make enough stuff to have a legitimate booth), but really, it's because we have limited decorations (until they're on clearance November 1st - so look out next year).

However, I saw some ideas floating around the internet on how to use paint chips for art projects. I stopped in the paint section of our local Home Depot (while the hubby was ogling power tools and such), and picked out some Halloween-ish colors. As I was making them, I thought that this would be a fun project for preschool or elementary school students to work on their cutting and gluing. Just pre-draw the outlines for the kids to cut out.

I made Frankensteins, ghosts, and candy corn. These can be used as Halloween cards, decorations, or just a fun craft project. Here's how you can do it, too.

1. Pick out the paint chip colors you like. I went with shades of green for my monsters, gray for the ghosts, and orange/yellow for the candy corn.

2. Pencil in the outline of your designs. I cut the monsters into rectangles, the ghosts into, well, ghosts, and the candy corn into triangles with rounded edges. Then cut out your shapes.

3. Cut small triangles off of the tops of the Frankenstein monsters. When glued onto black paper, it will look like they have black hair.

4. Cut out backgrounds for the characters. I used card stock because it is sturdier. Use black for the monsters (because it will double as their "hair").

5. Cut out circles for eyes (I used the scraps from the paint chips for the colored parts). Cut out mouth shapes. Get creative. I'm not a great drawer, so I went very simple.

6. Glue the cut out characters onto the backgrounds. (I used a glue stick.) Then glue on the eyes and mouths and decorate with finishing touches.

Avocado Mac and Cheese

**UPDATE**
 I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***

Are you looking for a way to sneak healthy food in with the foods your kid already loves? Well, this probably isn't it because the avocado turns the macaroni green. And I mean green. However, if you're looking for a tasty way to mix up your typical mac and cheese, keep reading...

I went through a long phase of being obsessed with avocado. If I saw an avocado recipe on Pinterest, I pinned it. I loved it mixed in foods, cooked in foods, and in plain slices. And best of all, baby Cady loves avocado, too. It's so much easier to prepare meals for a kid when they like what you like.

One day, I found this recipe for Stovetop Avocado Mac and Cheese that made my taste buds heave with desire.

So, I gave it a try...twice. Here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:
* 10 oz elbow macaroni (almost a whole box)
* 3 avocados, cut into chunks and divided
* 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice (to keep avocados from browning)
* garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 cup milk
* 2 cups shredded cheese (I liked Mexican Blend, or a 4 cheese blend)

1. Cook the macaroni al dente. Then drain.

2. Meanwhile, put 2 avocados, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cilantro, and lemon/lime juice in a blender and blend until it is smooth and creamy.

3. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Then whisk in the flour and milk. Stir it with a wooden spoon until the sauce begins to thicken. Then stir in the cheese until it melts.

4. Combine cooked macaroni, avocado sauce, and cheese sauce in a large bowl.

5. Garnish with the remaining avocado chunks and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6 people (or Cady and I for dinner and lunch the next day)

It's thick and creamy...and very filling. If you like avocado and cilantro, this is a good recipe to try.
A word of caution: The sauce hardens quickly so don't leave your dishes sitting out for very long. Lesson learned the hard way...twice.

Here is what it's supposed to look like.

Here's what mine looked like (when I first made it with different noodles).

Oh well. At least it tasted heavenly.

Purse Organization on a Budget

**UPDATE**
I've moved to ladybugsandlattes.com
You can find this post and more here
***
I don't know about you, but my purses were toppling off of the top shelf of my bedroom closet. There was no rhyme or reason to their positioning, and for the most part, they were just thrown in there as I quickly changed purses out.

I didn't even know what my collection looked like anymore.

Then I cleaned out my closet and donated a few old purses (and kept a few others for when Cady wants to do "pretend play" - can I get a holla for cheap toys, people?!).

I tried to reorganize the remaining purses, but it looked exactly the same as the mess I started with.

Solution: Hang them in the coat closet.

Inexpensive Solution: Hang them in the coat closet with shower curtain rings. You don't need to pay for fancy, expensive organizational tools...just be creative (or copy other creative people). I found this package of brand new shower curtain rings at the Goodwill store.

After 10% off and adding tax, my simple purse organization system only cost me $.96! Less than a dollar...and now I can find every single one of my purses.

If only I found money in each of those purses.