I had the chance to see one of these little beauties up close. Tiffany packages her jewelry nicely, and the necklace was beyond spectacular. The cookie had some weight to it but it wasn’t heavy, and the words on the fortune were perfectly stamped and read “love will find you.” The fortune is positioned right next to the spring clasp, so you can fix the location of the fortune as close to the cookie as you want. The bronze shines brightly and looks fabulous against the shining sterling silver; I thought the two different metals together would be sort of odd looking but it looks GREAT. It makes the cookie a lot more unique and natural looking than silver. Perfection!

Tiffany is offering 20% off of anything in her shop until September 30, and she is giving away a pair of her Great Balls of Fire earrings! For a chance to win, check out the rules below.

::.HOW TO ENTER.:: – SEPARATE POSTS FOR EACH ONE, PLEASE

1. Visit Tiffany Coley and let us know what you like the best, with the link, or what you think your ideal fortune should say. THIS IS MANDATORY.

2. “Like” Tiffany Coley Jewelry on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/tpcoleyjewelry)

::.BONUS ENTRIES.:: – IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE THESE, LEAVE A POST STATING THAT YOU’VE ALREADY DONE SO

1. Subscribe to our email RSS Feed with the same email as you use in your comment.

2. Subscribe to our @pjmommy Twitter account.

3. Tweet saying: I’ve entered the Tiffany Coley Giveaway over @pjmommy

4. “Like” or join our Facebook fan page.

CONTEST ENDS: OCTOBER 5 @ MIDNIGHT EST

I had to see these goodies in person to see if they were as cool in person as they looked on her Etsy page, so Melanie made it happen. I received a cabbage bowl and a cantaloupe bowl to review. To my surprise, they look EXACTLY as great in the photos! The cantaloupe bowl has the outside texture of an actual cantaloupe, and the exact appearance. The inside of the bowl is orange and glossy, a beautiful contrast from the outside. The cabbage bowl has the appearance and texture of a head of cabbage, and the leaves are accurately crafted as well. I’m stunned by how perfect each bowl is, yet how unique each one is from each other or from any one that I have ever seen! Whether you want to eat from these bowls, have them as a reminder to eat right, or just have them as decoration in your home, they’re an astonishing addition to any household. I would suggest getting one in each fruit and veggie available!

I had the chance to review a beautiful heart Kimberly created for me. I fell in love with it and refused to take it off! This particular heart was made with gray polymer clay and had a pink heart with an EKG line going across it, along with clay “bandages” and stitches. There is also a gear on the backside of the heart, and this beauty is complete with an aorta, a superior vena cava, and other heart parts! Kimberly takes a lot of time and care into creating her pieces, and because they’re so intricate and time consuming, she now offers the option of having one of her 112 current designs of hearts for $55, which I believe it totally worth it, and a couple of her original designs available each month.

Along with the amazing hearts, Kimberly also makes other lovelies from clay such as a German black forest cake ring, tentacle magnets, and a mechanical octopus that can be a figurine or a necklace pendant. There’s so much Kimberly can do with clay; it’s frickin awesome. She’s SO talented, and there’s a bunch in her shop that you would just love. Check it out!

The best online yarn shop that I have found for big name brands so far is EatSleepKnit.com .  To start with, they have a wonderful, well stocked selection of yarn; Malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpaca, Dream in Color, and Squoosh Fiberarts to name a few. They also have a great rewards program for frequent shoppers which I strongly suggest registering for called the Yarnathon. You get rewards when you hit mile markers based on the amount of yards you buy. The 1 mile marker gets you a welcome packet that includes two sample cards detailing all the yarns they carry and a small sample for reference. Their shipping has always been prompt and delivery is within a few days. I’ve ordered yarn on a Saturday night and received my order on Tuesday. They also send you these wonderful little yarn lotto cards with every order. Scratch off the six available spaces and if you match three you get whatever the prize is.  For me it’s knocked out the shipping a couple of times. For further information on frequent buyer rewards visit their website. They also have the wishlist option. You can create a wishlist and then friends or family can see what it is you are looking to get. I use it to keep track of what I am interested in buying and there is a wonderfull option where if something is out of stock they will send you an email when it comes in.

Sample Cards

                      I strongly suggest creating your own sample card for all yarn buying. Take the info tag off of the yarn , the little one that says the name, lot number, and brand. Then staple a piece of the yarn to it. That way you always have a reference and it’s even easy to bring with you if go to a physical yarn shop. I keep all my tags in a ziplock bag in my notions snapbox.  The one from EatSleepKnit is simple genius, a piece of card stock paper with holes punched in it and yarn tied through the holes. It makes yarn buying so much easier, especially online.  This picture is a perfect example of a sample card.  Remember to keep record on it not only of the company and color, but also the dye lot number and yarn type.  I also keep the yarns I don’t like in a seperate bag with a nasty red mark across the front of the tag to remind myself.

Rockin' Rabbit Handspun - By Dyeing for Ewe

Etsy is a fantastic resource for buying yarn from independent spinners and dyers. Search under supplies and if you’re feeling adventerous, you can find some really one of a kind and amazing yarns.  I would suggest clicking on relevancy instead of on price ranges in the search options. Otherwise you’re going to see alot of spinning supplies (i.e. wheels, spindles, carders…etc).  Independent yarn is generally a little bit more expensive than what’s produced by a larger company, but every lot is unique and there are very talented people out there.  Also when looking at the price be sure to compare it to the amount of yardage you are getting. Sometimes what you think is very expensive can actually be a large amount of yarn that you are receiving per skein. Keep in mind when buying handspun yarn that you are also paying for the time and attention that someone spent in front of a spinning wheel making it.  Most folks that are making their own yarn are dyeing it as well so often you can request a custom color blend under the request alchemy feature.  What I have seen and used has been absolutely top quality and I am very particular. Some shops have a great selection of fiber materials that they work with as well as creating their own blends.  If you’re not sure about buying from a shop do what I do, check the feedback results. They’re an  honest and easy way to see what actual buyers think of the seller’s product. I’ve provided links for you to two Etsy shops that I think are fantastic, please go check them out.

Another good online shop is Ravelry.com.  You have to be a registered member with an account to use Ravelry, I still strongly suggest using them as a resource. Ravelry has a mixture of information available at your fingertips from yarn resources, to patterns (both free and for sale), and to blog access from pattern designers as well as other people who stitch. It seems like you can buy yarn through Ravelry but I personally haven’t done so. I prefer to buy from an actual shop (either Etsy or other online) rather than buying someone’s remnants or something they decided that they didn’t like.  Also, with buying from a shop you know that no-one was smoking around the yarn ( so it doesn’t have the cigarette smell) and that there were no furry little pets getting their hair on the skein.

And that’s all I have for you. Happy shopping!

Superfine Merino Top Roving - Spinning or Felting Fiber - By Wool Gatherings

Etsy Shops linked to in this article are :

Wool Gatherings

Dyeing for Ewe

As part of Crayola’s ever-evolving green initiative, this upcoming back-to-school season special boxes of Crayola crayons, markers and colored pencils will feature icons calling out the ways each product is lessening its impact on the environment. Solar panels are starting to provide power to make more than 1 billion Crayola crayons annually and recycled bottle caps are being used to make 500 million Crayola markers, keeping hundreds of tons of plastic out of landfills. Additionally, since 1987, Crayola has made its colored pencils from reforested wood: for every tree that is used, a new one of the same species is planted.  Crayola’s new greener school supplies will be available for this back-to-school season.

As the countdown begins to August 5 when we’ll celebrate plugging our new 15-acre solar farm into the sun, we are launching a search for the inaugural members of the “Crayola Green Team,” a group of 10 children with colorful ideas for protecting the planet.

Here are the details:

* Crayola is looking for a group of 10 children who have a

colorful vision for making their schools, homes or communities greener.

* Children can participate in the “How I Dream in Green” contest for the chance to win one of 10 spots on the Crayola Green Team. Crayola will bring the team to Easton, Pa., to do the honors of ceremonially plugging our new 15-acre solar farm into the sun on August 5.

Some questions the kids can ask themselves are:

How would you make the world a greener place? Ask yourself, “What If… ?”
- What if I could make my school more green?
- What if there was a green superhero? What would he do?
- What if there was a green robot that could plant trees and gardens?
- What if there were no more water bottles?
- What if I could get the world to recycle?
- What if I could create a new source of renewable energy?

*Artwork for the “How I Dream in Green” contest can only be submitted through June 28, so the sooner you you submit your artwork as soon as possible!

* Parents or teachers can submit artwork through June 28 that illustrates the colorful ways children want to protect the planet either on Crayola’s Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/crayola) or at Crayola.com.

* Submissions will be displayed in an online gallery on Facebook open for public voting from July 6-21.  Crayola will then select the 10 most creative and original ideas from the artwork that receives the most votes.

* The winning kids will be honored for the ways they want to do good for the environment during the opening of our solar farm and will have the rare chance to take a VIP tour of Crayola’s manufacturing facility  where they can help us package our new solar power crayons and receive a custom 64 box filled with  pine green, jungle green, electRic lime and the other 15 shades of crayola green crayons personalized with their individual names.

If you would like to enter your child’s artwork, or someone you know,  it can be submitted either at the Crayola Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/Crayola?ref=ts

fan page or at Crayola.comhttp://www.crayola.com/.

That is why I love the Kneedle Pet.  Not only is the design fun, but it is highly functional.  When I decide to set aside a knitting or crocheting project, I can just push my needles and hooks into my adorable little green Kneedle Pet and not worry about it again until the next time I pick up.

Kneedle Pet’s are made up of light, durable foam and created to hold knitting needles and crochet hooks .  Kneedle Pet’s can hold straight, double-pointed and circular knitting needles.  Once you insert your needle or hook, you can re-insert them into the same place or create a new spot.  My son has taken the time to line all of my needles and hooks up to look like a giant blow fish.

In lieu of graduation season, I thought some of our parents might be interested in Photo Card Creations for their child’s graduation cards/invitations.  Having physically held and study several examples from the Photo Card Creations website, I can tell you first hand how incredible their products are.  Quality printing, sturdy paper and amazing designs are what you’ll find at their website.  So not only are you getting quality cards, but you’re getting one heck of a bargain as well!

Photo Card Creations is a leading online retailer of premium custom photo cards, announcements & invitations. We specialize in wedding, baby & holiday cards. We love paper & we love photos…..and we love creating cards with photos of your special memories! We are passionate about providing exceptional quality products & customer service. Our cards are designed using current trends by talented graphic artists who will work with you to customize your cards to reflect your own personal style. We have hundreds of Card Designs & a variety of Paper Types for you to choose from, many of which will be hard to find elsewhere. Our cards are printed on the highest quality paper using leading edge printing technologies. Our new & improved website makes it easy for you to search for your favorite card & our user friendly Ordering System & Fast Turnaround make ordering your cards quick & easy! From Invitations & Announcements to Thank You Cards (and everything in between) let us help make your special occasion even more special!

Photo Card Creations is offering Pj Mommy Community visitors a chance to win 25 Free Custom Photo Cards! You’ll need to purchase 50 or more cards & cannot combine this offer with any other promotions but with a retail value of $50-$100 this is a great deal for one lucky winner! Since they’ve recently launched their new & improved website with hundreds of new card designs, they’d LOVE your feedback! Just leave a comment below telling us which card style is your favorite & why you’d like to win this Giveaway. Winner will be randomly picked on May 1st @ Midnight EST!

This project can be completed in under an hour. What a fun and tasty way to spend time with the kids doing a wonderful project!!

Made from bright and juicy Driscoll’s strawberries that are bursting with flavor, the tree-shaped centerpiece is guaranteed to add a personal touch and a bit of health to holiday celebrations.

Driscoll¹s Very Berry Holiday Tree

Makes one table centerpiece

Special equipment:

1 green styrofoam cone (measuring 4-5 inches in diameter at the base and 12

inches high)

1 box of toothpicks

Supplies:

4 one pound containers of fresh Driscoll strawberries

1 bunch fresh mint

1 slice from a carambola fruit (also known as star fruit)*

*Note: If you can’t find a carambola, you can use a 1-inch star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a star shape from a mango slice instead.

Directions:

1. Wash the strawberries and blot them dry with paper towels. Pull off the green stem from each strawberry. Reserve a perfect strawberry for the top of the tree.

2. Push a toothpick halfway into the side of the cone, about 1/2 inch from the bottom edge. Secure a strawberry to the toothpick, piercing it through the stem end. Secure another strawberry right next to the first one. Continue securing strawberries to the cone in circular rows up to its top, covering the cone completely. Secure the reserved strawberry to the top of the tree.

3. Remove some mint leaves from the bunch of mint and tuck them between the berries, placing them at about 3-inch intervals.

4. Secure the star-shaped carambola or mango slice to the top of the cone using a toothpick.

A few highlights about the Martha-inspired stamp kit:

• The unique stamp set features important symbols signifying the message of hope, strength and unity in the commitment to the fight against breast cancer.
• The stamps can be used for hand-made wrapping paper, gift tags, holiday ornaments, and more this holiday season, all while giving back to the cause!

As a 15-year partner with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Ford creates limited edition apparel and accessories that are hip, contemporary and a great way to give back.  All items (including the stamp set) are available online at FordCares.com and 100 percent of all net proceeds directly benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure all year long. The Ford Warriors in Pink want to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a set The Warriors in Pink Stamp Set by Martha Stewart for their very own! Just follow the rules below and GOOD LUCK!!!

Rules
1. Contest is open to U.S. residents only.

2. You must leave a comment.

Additional Entries:

1. You may join our RSS feed preferably through the email subscription having the same email address on the comment that you have in the RSS feed.

2. You may write about our contest on your blog!

3. Tweet about this contest and comment here to tell us!

CONTEST ENDS: November 21, 2009 @ MIDNIGHT EST.

There is significant public concern over the ingredients used in children’s products. Clementine Art removes the mystery and worry by creating art products that have simple, natural ingredients. Clementine’s pure and natural products allow children to express themselves with materials that are safe for them and the earth.

Healthier Products, Healthier Children
Clementine Art produces professional quality and earth friendly art supplies with pure, simple ingredients. Clementine’s products are colored with plant and mineral pigments instead of artificial dyes, providing an innovative solution to chemical laden, artificially colored art supplies. For Clementine, “natural” doesn’t mean a sacrifice in quality. Clementine offers creamy, washable tempera paints that don’t flake or crack; crumble-free, long lasting modeling dough; soft, vibrant crayons, and rock crayons designed to help children develop their dexterity through creative play; and a clear, strong, washable glue for paper, fabric, and wood.

Clementine’s ingredients appeal to parents who are concerned about the products that their young children interact with every day. Clementine offers ingredients that are both earth and child friendly. Clementine is dedicated to the health of the child and the health of the planet. Its product ingredients, packaging, and business practices reflect a commitment to sustainability and the environment. Clementine Art’s products do not contain any synthetic preservatives, animal byproducts, or petroleum bases, and Clementine is the first art product company to list all ingredients on its packages. Clementine Art uses renewable resources; all packaging is made from 80 percent post consumer recycled materials and is printed with soy based inks in a wind powered facility. Clementine is gentle to kids and to the earth.

Think Outside the Box, Color Outside the Lines
Clementine Art was founded in 2008 by Diana Mercer, a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in the field of education, arts education, and child development. Diana created Clementine Art to encourage open?ended art explorations for children. The process of creating art is a powerful developmental tool for children, and Clementine Art products encourage children to dream, imagine, experiment, create, problem solve, and above all, express themselves. Explains Diana: “Real art is about creating. Early childhood educators know that the process of creating art is just as important to a child’s development as the outcome. I wanted to create products that not only engaged children in an open ended creative process, but that could also become an everyday part of a healthy and creative lifestyle.”

A Bold and Bright Future
Clementine’s Management Team is comprised of natural products industry leaders. CEO John Maggio co-founded Boulder Potato Company [Boulder Chips] in 1994 and has since brought more than 100 retail products to market. Gordon Cooper, VP of Sales and Marketing, joined Clementine Art from Larabar, where he served as Vice President of Sales until it was acquired by General Mills in 2008. Katherine Gregory, VP of Operations, joined Clementine Art from Williams Sonoma, where she held management roles in both operations and marketing. Founder and Board Chair Todd Woloson, is a managing partner at Greenmont Capital Partners in Boulder and a co-founder of IZZE beverage company.

For more information on Clementine Art’s natural art products: visit www.clementineart.com or www.twitter.com/clementineart.

“We have lots of listings of coupons and sales for retailers that sell costumes, like BuyCostumes.com and Costume SuperCenter,” says Boone, “but we also have really great coupons for stores that do digital photo processing, like Snapfish.com, KodakGallery.com and YorkPhoto.com. So whenever you take pictures of your kids in their Halloween costumes, you can find a coupon to process those digital photos at a great price.”

“DealHunting.com is a daily shopping list,” Boone explains. “You can go there on a daily basis and find a listing of all the different good sales we found on the internet for that day. These are the newest, latest, greatest sales, and if there are some really deeply discounted items for those stores, we’ll have them listed.”

Sister site Currentcodes.com is a database of coupons for more than 1,300 online stores ranging from Amazon.com to Zales and everything in between, including CompUSA, Disney, Esprit, The Gap, JCPenney, L.L. Bean, Old Navy, Orbitz, Overstock.com, Staples and more. Each has a place within its shopping cart for a “coupon code” that gives a percent or dollar amount off of a purchase.

“If you don’t know the code, you can’t take advantage of the discount,” says Boone. “You can find these secret discount codes and coupon codes listed on many sites across the internet, but the problem with these sites is that they’re usually personal homepages, and don’t maintain their lists.”

DealHunting.com and Currentcodes.com have a full-time trained staff whose only job is to find new sales, coupon and discount codes and verify the accuracy of the existing database. “We don’t flood you with ads or popups, and we don’t require any personal information from our visitors.” Boone says.

What sets DealHunting.com and Currentcodes.com apart from their competitors, Boone feels, is that “we are by far two of the most thorough sites as far as the breadth of companies we cover.”

In the months ahead, Boone and his team will launch additional features for searching products more efficiently.

Dreaming up my own school/classroom never proved to be of use as I was growing up, but for many other children, it is the opposite. RoseArt is calling upon young designers and creators to design and create their ideal, imaginary classroom. Just my dream, I am sure that several others have dreams of what they would like their classroom to be.

Does your little one dream of going to school by riding a rocket ship rather than a school bus? Is there teacher a Knight in Shining Armour, who fights off dragons while reading them stories? If so, than let the arts and crafts begin! For your chance to win loads of RoseArt school supplies, simply visit the RoseArt website and submit the creation your little one made to showcase his dream classroom. Good luck readers!

One of my favorite websites for personalized cards (Christmas, birth announcements, etc) is BabyMomento. Every e-card creation you could have imagined is available with just the click of a mouse. You can find anything from simple designs to elegant designs at a very affordable price. What also makes the BabyMomento e-cards stand out from the rest is how eco friendly and efficient they are. But who can forget the animation included in each card- giving you the option to send more than one picture with each card. And what parent, grandparent or relative doesn’t like receiving pictures?

Creating these e-cards is easy. Visit the BabyMomento website to choose your design and order. Next you will email your photo(s) to BabyMomento. BabyMomento will then send you a copy of your e-card to proof and once accepted and payment is received, your e-card will be ready to go! BabyMomento does not currently offer printing services. You can, however, print the e-card from your home computer or have it printed at your nearest printing location. Please visit BabyMomento for more details!

A Creepy Hand Invitation

1. Take clear rubber gloves and fill each fingertip with a gum drop.
2. Fill the rest of the glove with popcorn. (The popcorn makes the hand look like it has knuckles.)
3. Using black and orange card stock, create an invitation card with the party details written inside.
4. Hole punch the card and thread orange and/or black ribbon through and attach to the glove by tying the glove off with the invitation card and its ribbon.
5. Hand deliver these invitations to the guests.

Spooky Decor Ideas:
Construction Paper: Use construction paper to create ghosts, pumpkins, bats, spiders, and other spooky creatures. Make half ghosts that peek out around corners as an example. For the pumpkins, orange paper would make the body, brown for the stem, green for the leaves, and black for the cutouts to make the face.

If you are using black construction paper for the bats and black cats use chalk rather than gel pens. If you want to make the bats and ghosts fly, punch a small hole at the top of the creations, and thread a fishing line through the hole and hang over vents or near a door that is opening and closing frequently so that they “fly.”

Ghost Balloons: Blow up orange and black balloons, place material, such as a small white sheet over the balloon, tie the neck with a string, and use a black marker for a ghostly face. Suspend the ghosts using fishing line attached to the ghosts’ necks.

Old Clothes: Take an old pair of jeans, plaid shirt, work gloves, shoes, and hat and a brown paper bag to create the victim of a terrible Halloween accident.

Stuff the victim with autumn leaves. The face can be the brown paper bag stuffed with the leaves and the hat pulled down over the bag to hide that there isn’t a face. Place fake blood (white Karo Syrup with red food coloring.) all over the victim’s wounds as well.

Either place the victim in a chair on the front porch or sitting under a tree in the front yard.

Cardboard Boxes: Make a graveyard in your front yard by using old cardboard appliance boxes. Cut them down to tombstone size, spray paint them black, and then use white paint to outline the headstone. Using a small paint brush, paint different, spooky, funny, and anything goes epithets on the tombs. Place them in the front yard, weighing them down with a brick.

Spider Web: A spider web goes a long way in decorating any corner area of your home and/or front porch. They often come with some plastic spiders for further decorations.

Candles: Orange and black candles illuminating your home would also be an additional decoration. The small votive candles can often be purchased in bulk as well.
Place orange and black candles on a reflecting mirror to add a spooky, Gothic touch.

Bales of hay add a festive autumnal touch to your yard.

Mini-pumpkins, gourds, and corn husks always look festive this time of year. Have the kids decorate the pumpkins or stuff a mini scarecrow to add to the seasonal feel.

Purchase a black plastic cauldron and add dry ice and a submersible light to make a spooky Witch’s Cauldron.

Using different sizes of jars, fill them with water and place “body parts” such as hands, eyeballs, hair, fingers, etc. into the different jars. They will look creepy!

Have a large punch bowl in the center with a brain ice mold floating in green slime punch. Ghoulish!

Fill a pumpkin bowl with lots of bright candies and goodies.

Play little games at the table for the kids to reach in and have a candy prize. Or, after dinner, the kids can dip their hands in for dessert. You can also use this bowl to hand out candy to your trick or treaters as well!!

Serve a Creepy Menu:

01. Baked Skeleton Bones (Pretzel Sticks)
02. Bat Brains (Popcorn)
03. Bloated Ants (Raisins) – see picture.
04. Boiled Lady Bugs (Red Jelly Beans)
05. Braised Beetles (Milk Duds)
06. Candied Spider Eggs (Gum Drops)
07. Cheesy Owl Eyes (Puffed Cheese Balls)
08. Chocolate-Dipped Houseflies (Chocolate-Covered Raisins)
09. Compressed Cobwebs (Chex Brand or Similar Cereal)
10. Crumbled Bat Wings (Blue Corn Chips)
11. Deep Fried Fingernails (Bugles Brand Snacks)
12. Dehydrated Dragon’s Wings (Doritos)
13. Dirty Shoelaces (Black Shoestring Licorice)
14. Dried Seaweed (Chow Mein Noodles)
15. Earthworm Knots (Miniature Pretzel Twists)
16. Flattened Slugs (Corn Chips)
17. Freeze Dried Drops of Blood (Red Hot Candies)
18. Ghost Guts (Mini Marshmallow)
19. Goblin’s Belly Button Lint Balls (M & Ms, Any Style))
20. Plops of Pigeon Poop (Yogurt Covered Raisins)
21. Rat Claws (Shelled Sunflower Seeds)
22. Roasted Snack Eyes (Peanuts)
23. Shredded Lizard Gizzards (Coconut)
24. Splintered Turkey Bones (Shoestrings Potato Chips)
25. Toasted Cat’s Eyes (Blanched Almonds)
26. Vulture Toenails (Candy Corn)
27. Witches’ Warts (Chocolate Chips)

• Bat Wings, using one dozen chicken wings, create a marinade using 1 c. soy sauce, 1/3 c. honey, and 1 tsp. ginger. Marinate overnight and grill or BBQ.
• Chocolate Spiders, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave. Add dry chow mein noodles to the melted chocolate and mix together. Spoon onto grease-proof paper as little blobs and add two mini M&Ms for eyes. Place in the fridge to cool.
• Dip pretzel rods into chocolate and rolled in orange and black sprinkles for a special Halloween Wand.
• Rice Krispie Pumpkins: Add orange food coloring to the Rice Krispies and make a batch. When cool, roll into balls and decorate faces on them. Use shoelace licorice for a mouth, green gumdrop for the stem, mini M&Ms for the eyes, and a “red hot” for the nose!
• Edible Swamp. Make a bowl of Jell-O and before it sets, add in gummy worms, bugs, and fish for a swampy treat.
• Jack-O-Lanterns. Toast English Muffins, add orange food coloring to cream cheese to make a pumpkin spread. Spread the cream cheese on the English Muffin and have the kids take raisins and make pumpkin faces on them.
• Jell-O Jigglers Make a batch of Jell-O Jigglers using orange and lime flavors. Use pumpkin, witch, and bat cookie cutters for a quick festive treat.
• Scary Sugar Cookies Use these same cookie cutters to make a batch of sugar cookies. A party activity can include having the kids decorate these Halloween characters.
• Spooky Sandwiches. Halloween cookie cutters can also be used to cut out spooky sandwiches. Fill them with blackberry jam and cream cheese. Add chocolate chips for eyes!
• Serve all sorts of gummy candies, i.e. worms, spiders, etc. You can throw these into a mix of popcorn and chocolate chips for Bugs in a Bowl.

Ghouls, Ghosts, and Vampires Unite and Delight in this Freaky Fun
Create a Haunted House for All Ages to Enjoy!

1. Decide upon the space you want to use. This could be your yard, your home or just one area of your house, i.e. the basement.
2. Plan your entrance and exit and think through what types of spooks and scares you want to include in your plan.
3. Get help to not only transform the Haunted House, but also to participate in spooking it as well.
4. Don’t forget to add eerie lighting, scary sounds, and darkness. Throw dark sheets or black garbage bags over the windows so that no light will be able to show through.
5. Replace your outside bulbs with orange bulbs. Also, have a black light bulb for your porch light if you have some glow-in-the-dark decorations hung close-by.
6. If you have some leftover Tiki torches from your summer parties, use those to light the path to the front door of your haunted house.
7. Hang spider web netting throughout that your guests will get entangled in!
8. Hang a “dead guy” in the front entrance, i.e. stuff a pair of jeans, shirt with newspaper, and use an old bleach container cut out into a face. Top with an old hat.
9. Decorate your doors to look like coffins.
10. Using large appliance boxes, you can make coffins, fake walls, crypt chambers, etc.
11. Set up a spooky dinner table, have a silver tray with a Jell-O brain mold atop or a severed hand or head. Set a Monster dummy or a real person at the table about to eat the feast. Creepy!
12. Hang wet yarn from the ceiling for your guests to walk through.
13. Have bloody hands lying around, fill surgical gloves with sand and tie it off with a rubber band. Add the effect of blood with red paint on the fingers. Creepy!
14. Spritz cold water on the guests as they enter the Haunted House.
15. Use dry ice to make a boiling cauldron or for a foggy effect, but be very careful to not have the dry ice touch anyone!! A better option would be a fog machine…it is a bit pricey, but you may be able to rent it out to others throughout the year!
16. Dress up your participants in scary costumes!

• Play Pass the Pumpkin, have kids sit in a circle and pass small pumpkins and gourds to music. When the music stops, whoever isn’t holding a pumpkin is out!
• Mummy Fun: Break up the kids into two teams, provide several rolls of toilet paper to both teams, choose one person to mummify. The team to wrap the mummy in toilet paper the fastest wins!
• Build a Scarecrow: divide the kids into two teams and provide old clothes, pillowcases, newspapers, and markers. Give them 20 minutes to build their scarecrow.
• If older kids are attending, and you have a video camera on hand, give the kids the chance to make their own “Blair Witch” Halloween film. Give them 5 minutes to shoot the film on a Halloween topic.
• Have a Halloween Candy Hunt.
• Sit in a circle in the dark with only flashlights and/or glow-sticks. Begin the tale of a scary story and go around the circle with each kid adding the next portion of the story until the end of the circle has been reached.

Play Hanging Tree

1. Supplies – 13 Apples (12 red and one green) you will need extras, string, blindfold, and a tree branch.
2. Tie each of the apples to a tree so they can swing freely. To keep observant kids from memorizing where the green apple is just loosely tie the strings together.
3. Take a child and tell them to close their eyes and make a wish. As they do you blindfold them. Once blindfolded, spin him around and say this rhyme with them.

13 Apples hanging from a tree,
12 dark red and one bright green
Blindfolded, spun around, and then set free
Is that green one meant for me?

4. You then release the apples and point the child in the right direction. They then will stumble about and pick an apple. If they get the green one their wish will come true! Before the next child goes, replace the apple and move the green one. If you want you can place a tag with a number on each apple, then each number will correspond to small gift or prize.

• Play Pin the Wart on the Witch
• String donuts on a clothes line, blindfold the kids and/or tie their hand behind their backs and enjoy eating the donuts off the line.
• Carve pumpkins. Older kids will love to actually carve the pumpkins, and smaller kids can either use markers to draw their faces on to small pumpkins or use various candies and frosting as glue to decorate your pumpkins.
• Candy Corn Guessing Game, fill a large jar and have everyone take a guess at how many there are inside.
• Make a green Jell-O, and place slimy plastic spiders, etc. inside. Have the kids reach in to find their prize!
• Hold a Costume Parade.
• Play Candy Corn Catch
• Divide guests into groups of 3 teams, 4-5 per team. Tie a plastic pumpkin around one team member’s waist (use a man/boy). Give the remaining team members a basket of candy corns. Play music. When the music begins, Yell, G0! Each team tries to toss the most candy corns into their pumpkin from a certain distance. Stop and start the music to give team members a chance to change turns. When the song is over, count the candy corns and the team with the most wins!
• Make little ghosts using Tootsie Roll Pops, small little squares of old white sheets, some colorful string, and a black marker for the eyes. Easy and festive.
• Make Slime.
• Make Spiders, using Styrofoam balls, black spray paint, and black pipe cleaners. Have the kids assemble the legs and attach a smaller ball as the head.

Organize a Halloween Treasure Hunt:

Happy Halloween to You,
Get Your Glow-Sticks to Look for the Clues
Don’t Get Scared When the Ghosts Go Boo!!
Look Under ______ for Clue #2!!
Jump for Glee
When You Find Clue #3
Under the _____-
It Will Be!!
Are You Ready To Go,
Outside the Front Door,
Sitting On _____ is Clue #4
To The Back Yard We Go,
Under the ____,
Let’s All Look Alive
As We Find Clue #5
Clue #6 Is Under ______ In The Front Yard
Don’ t Worry About Finding It,
It Really Won’t Be Hard!
Are You Getting Tired Yet?
Clue #7 is Under _______
Be Careful When You Look,
So You Don’t Bonk Your Head!
Finally, you must find the treasure itself, but first you must pass through the witches and ghosts!

Potions to Serve Up

• Take a plastic goblet…either decorated or the kids can decorate by gluing on gems. Pour a colorful soda into the goblet, cherry or orange are great choices. Plop in a grape juice ice cube. Sprinkle in Pop Rocks (kids will love to hear the pop, fizzle, fizz!) and, finally, throw in a gummy snake or a marshmallow eyeball.
• Ghostly Slime Juice: Berry Blue Kool Aid Packet, 12 ounce can of OJ concentrate, and spring water. Mix together and watch it turn green!
• Serve chilled Apple Cider with cinnamon sticks.
• Enjoy Ghoul-Aid, Mix one packet of orange Kool-Aid with one packet of grape Kool-Aid, add the sugar and water. Right before serving, add one bottle of Sprite.
• How about serving a Warm Witch’s Blood? Bring to a boil in a saucepan: 4 c. Apple-Cranberry Juice, 2 c. OJ, 1 tsp. whole cloves, 1 Cinnamon Stick, 3-4 Allspice Berries, Sugar to taste. Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Make sure it is not too hot for the goblins. Add an orange slice for an additional decoration.

For a Halloween Favor: Send guests home with an over-sized ghoulish cookie placed into an orange cellophane bag and tie a black tag to the cookie bag using an orange and black ribbon with a donation tag stating that a “Donation has been made in your name to X Charity.” Festive and charitable all at once!

Top Tips on Throwing a Fabulous Halloween Party:
1. Check with friends before inviting: Halloween lands on one day each and every year, October 31st. It’s a short season, and many people will be planning All Hallows Eve bashes. Check with your friends and family BEFORE sending out party invitations to see if the date you choose runs into someone else’s party plan. If so, try and work out an arrangement so that both parties can still take place.
2. Leave Party End Open: When you are hosting a family Halloween party, in your invitation, leave the finish time open-ended to accommodate your guests. Keep in mind that people who are bringing their kids will want to know when the kids’ activities will take place so they will be there for this fun part and then they may need to leave for another party or because someone is tired. Other guests, especially those without children, may miss the kids’ party altogether, and enjoy arriving late and staying even later. Keep this in mind when you set the time frame for your party.
3. Get Help. At a family-style Halloween party, you will want to mix with the adults, stir potions with the kids, video the ghoulish mummy race, and take in the costume fanfare! With all of this and more, line up help. Do you have a babysitter or two available? They would be able to help you set-up, run the kids activities, and anything else as long as you have them on hand to help. Don’t assume that your guests will pitch in on this front!
4. Announce Kids’ Activities when they begin: Make sure when the activities for the kids begin, you let their parents and other adults at the party know that the ghoulish fun is under way. Everyone hates missing out on the fun, and some adults may even want to be included. Make sure you have some games and/or activities where the kids and adults interact together. For example, stuffing a scarecrow relay race, eating donuts off a clothes line, and/or decorating pumpkins.
5. Serve food that everyone will love. Adults will enjoy a more fanciful menu items, a delicious pumpkin soup or stew, an autumn pasta salad, corn muffins, apple and pumpkin tarts, etc. Make a few key items that your adults will rave about, but also keep in mind that the kids will be happy with a far simpler menu. Make up a batch of coffin sandwiches with popular fillings (simply use a cookie cutter), serve favorite snacks, but place name tags beside them with scary names, as an example Boiled Lady Bugs, (Red & Black Jelly Beans), and Blood & Guts simple pasta.
6. Be Prepared to Unmask: Given the season, you may request that guests don their costumes for your party. Be sure to remember that small children may be afraid of guests in their costumes. Be prepared to ask people to de-mask themselves quickly if this situation arises!
7. Supervise Pumpkin Carving or decorate the pumpkin instead of carving If you are planning on having adults carve pumpkins for a party activity, make sure to supervise carefully where the knives are placed. Little ones will be running around and can easily pick up something dangerous like a carving knife as the party excitement is underway. Supervise when the carving takes place carefully to make sure an unfortunate incident does not occur.

Lisa Kothari is the founder and president of Peppers and Pollywogs, a kids’ party planning company that provides parents with ideas, entertainers, and interesting web-based tools (customized rhymes and cards for your invitations!) to make kids’ party planning easy. She has recently written and published Dear Peppers and Pollywogs…What Parents Want To Know About Planning Their Kids’ Parties which is available at Amazon.com and Peppers and Pollywogs.

1. HowToMe presents How to make a Custom Birthday Cake, Post II (guest submission) posted at HowToMe.
2. tips and tricks presents tips and tricks 4 me: Kid Style Cold Compress posted at tips and tricks 4 me.
3. Melissa presents Southwestern Meatloaf posted at A Penny Closer.
4. Mrs. Micah presents Recipe: Tuna and Tortellini posted at Mrs Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life.
5. Karen Bastille presents Thursday Thirteen – 13 Creative and Inexpensive Easter Basket Ideas posted at Grandmother Wren.
   

   Also my Thursday Thirteen post for last week – I thought this would be a fun entry for Make It From Scratch! (I’ve missed you guys!)

6. Susie presents How to Make a FABULOUS Homeschool Planner posted at Hearth and Home.
   

   A planner for busy homeschooling moms.

7. Marsha presents Bread Pudding posted at Beetle Eyes.
8. Stephanie presents Pepperoni Rolls – An errand day lunch solution? posted at Stop the Ride!.
9. Erica Burgan presents Candy Wrapper Purses posted at The Sojourner.
   

   You can make these fantastic purses from all kinds of things, just like we used to make chains from gum wrappers!

10. Autumn Beck presents How To Make A Fitted Cloth Diaper posted at All About Cloth Diapers.
    

    If making your own cloth diapers is something you are interested in doing I have found a great instructional video. After watching it for a minute I was ready to get my sewing machine out and give it a try. Watch the video and let me know what you think…

11. Alison presents Vegetarian Challenge: Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? posted at Green Me.
    

    I am challenging my readers to eat vegetarian this week. Eating less meat is good for our health and the planet, and can be quite tasty!

12. Kate presents Spiced Pumpkin Cookies with Raisins posted at Our Red House.
13. Sheryl Westleigh presents Trilobite Video posted at Noadi’s Art Blog.
    

    Post with a video of some polymer clay jewelry I’ve made.

14. Brian Terry presents 10 Steps To Successful Affiliate Article Writing posted at Big Selling Affiliates Blog.
15. Stacie presents Molasses Cake with Homemade Whip Cream posted at Country Magpie.
16. Successful Footsteps presents Optimism and Pessimism posted at Become Successful.
17. Jimmie presents One Child Policy Homeschool – Cream of Mushroom Soup posted at One Child Policy Homeschool.
    

    Homemade cream of mushroom soup. So much better than canned!

18. Veteran Military Wife presents Nutella Out the Ying Yang posted at Life Lessons of a Military Wife.
19. vh presents Monday Frugal Household Hints: DIY Air Freshener posted at Funny about Money.
20. Karen Weideman presents Lion and the Lamb Craft posted at Little Fun; Little Learning.
    

    This is a cute, simple, and inexpensive craft to do with children.

21. Jennifer in OR presents He Makes Pancakes With Such Purpose posted at Diary of 1.
22. P presents You Might Just be from Montana posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn.
23. StarXLR8 presents Hoisin Pork with Pineapple Rice posted at midwest neurotica.
    

    This is a true 30 minute meal – a surefire, heathy recipe for weeknight chaos.

24. Jamie McIntosh presents March is National Craft Month posted at Suite101: Organic Gardens blog.
    

    Gardeners often look for activities to keep idle hands busy while they wait for the first spring thaw.

25. Julie Artz presents Make it from Scratch: Pizza Dough posted at ChezArtz.
26. Successful Footsteps presents Your Background and Success – Does Background Matter? posted at Become Successful.
27. Kris presents Potato Gnocchi: A Primer posted at Cheap Healthy Good.
28. Karen Weideman presents Stuffed Jalapeno Recipe posted at Thrifty Mommy.
    

    These yummy jalapenos are a great addition to any party and they make a nice snack too.

29. Shannon Cole presents Mile High Chai posted at The Cole Mine.
30. Laura Williams presents Super Savings Saturday: What will $4.23 get you? posted at Laura Williams’ Musings.

Whenever I get samples in the mail I always look over all the labels to see if they are “cheap”, home made, professional etc. I have to say some of the home made ones are coming out really good but I’m always wondering where do they get their supplies. So the great label hunt of ’08 began. Then I found it. The site is WorldLabel.com and their prices are ridiculously low! For 1,000 sheets of small labels (such as lipgloss tins) it would only cost $114.95 The labels I’m looking at in particular are their jar labels. I collect jars for the holiday time when I start cranking out all the home made beauty products to give away. Quite frankly I prefer home made to store bought since more time and effort is placed into them. However I’ve been having to just leave little notes in the gift basket I give away describing the item or..tape hand written post it notes to the jar. I’m sorry but I really hate looking ghetto.

Now whats even better about the site is they actually help you figure out which label is best for you! The page to look for is Label Applications and Uses the labels are made for inkjet and laser printers. Now I have to figure out if my printer is an inkjet or not. I’m not THAT savvy when it comes to things although I’m smarter than the average bear. I am more of a software nerd vs. hard ware.

Now if you’re extremely savvy or are looking to run a boutique like ME! They also offer bar code labels which I found to be exciting. I know I get excited over paper.. I need a life. But seriously they allow you to import your own bar code. So when I can afford to take my online boutique off line or If I start selling things to stores I may actually need this to start with. I have to say I am honestly so excited to have found this place I know I personally will be making purchases since I will need a lot of this with all my upcoming projects and I’m happy to have found it. Now I just have to figure out which one will be best to wrap my hand dyed yarn to sell online and I’ll be set!

Now you may be wondering why types of things can you label? I think if you can make it you can label it! Here are some things I plan on labeling!

• Home made beauty products soaps, scrubs etc.
• Hand Spun/Hand Dyed Yarn
• Candles
• CD-Roms
• Return Labels
• Mailing Labels
• Wine Labels – If you make your own wine this is an absolute great gift!
• Home made Jams and Spreads
• Gift Basket includes that may need labels
• Cooking Mixes such as cookies, cakes, brownies etc.
• Inventory Labels
• Holiday Organizer Labels
• Business Organization
• Supplies Cabinet Organization
• Beverage labels

and so much more. Honestly this is a really great start for anything home made or anything you’re trying to sell. You want to look professional but honestly Staples does not supply everything and their custom creations can get a little pricey and what if it doesn’t look like what you really want it to look like? That would annoy the heck out of me. I want design control, and the ability to customize the labels with sub-products. This site seriously is a god send for anyone who sells, makes, gives away etc! Or even if you need a little home organization!

COOKIE CUTTER HEART CARD

1. First, you need to get heart cookie cutters. You can usually get them from any craft store or grocery store. While you are at the craft store, you need to also get some card stock and ribbon. You will also need a hole punch, so make sure you have one at home before you leave the craft store. Let you child pick some of this stuff out. They love that kind of thing.

2. Use one of the hearts as an outline and cut hearts out of the card stock. Use the hole punch to punch a hole in the edge of the heart…but not too close to the edge. You need the hole to tie the hearts together later.

3. On one side of the heart card stock, write an easy recipe for sugar cookies, play dough, or something they can use the cookie cutter with. On the other side, write some Valentine note–”You are my valentine”, “You are mine”–something of that sort.

4. Now take some ribbon and tie the heart card stock to the heart cookie cutter. And WaLa…Cookie Cutter Heart Card.

Your kids will love it because they made them and the kids at school will love them because they are different and fantastic.

Do you have any Valentine’s Day card ideas? Share them in the comments. And remember to stop back and find more craft and card ideas next week.

Welcome back all you caffeinated mothers out there. I found a couple of awesome ways to use up all those used coffee grounds–Check It Out!

DINOSAUR DIGGING ROCKS

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup used and dried coffee grounds
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sand
• 3/4 cup water
• small plastic dinosaurs

Turn the oven on to 170 degrees. In a large bowl combine the flour, coffee grounds, salt, and sand. Now add the water until the mixture turns into dough. Roll a piece of dough into a ball big enough to fit a dinasour. Using your finger, poke a hole into the dough ball and push the dinasour into it. Close the hole up with more dough. Finish making dinasour balls with the rest of the dough. Put them on a cookie sheet and cook them for about 40 minutes. Let them cool completely before you let your kids break them open. My kids loved these. I thought they would dig them open….oh no! The smashed them as soon as they got them in their little hands. Kids…what do ya do?!

HOMEMADE SAND

• 4 cups used and dried coffee grounds
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt

Remember , the coffee grounds have to be completely dry. Get a large container and mix all of the ingrediants together. And you are done. Instant sand. I did this in my kitchen (not just on the floor silly…I had a large plastic container to put sand in) and gave my kids kitchen utinsils to play in the sand with. Messy…but lots of fun.

Do you have any other ideas for used coffee grounds. I know I drink enough coffee to supply about 10 sandboxes but you can never have enough ideas!

SOAP CRAYONS

• 1 cup soap flakes
• food coloring
• 1 Tbs. hot water
• 1 large bowl and several small bowls
• plastic ice cube tray or molds

Start with placing the soap flakes in a large bowl and dropping the hot water into the soap flakes, stirring constantly. The mixture should be extremely thick and hard to stir. Spoon some of the soap into each of the small bowls and color each bowl separately, adding the color a few drops at a time until the soap has the consistency of a very thick paste. Pack spoonfuls of the soap into the molds and set the crayons in a dry place to harden. They will take a few days to a week to dry. After they are dry, take them out of the molds and allow them to dry for a few more days before using them.

My kids just loved this craft. We made some of these crayons together. I did make a batch a few weeks ahead of time. So after our soapy creative fun, they could take baths and already have soap crayons to scribble all over the tub with.

HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH

• 3 cups flour
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups salt
• 3 tsp. cream of tartar
• 3 tsp. cooking oil
• food coloring
• ziploc storage bags

Mix all of the ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until a ball starts to form. Take the ball and knead it to make it smooth (WARNING…HOT BALL OF PLAYDOUGH). And that is it. Remember to store in ziploc bags so it doesn’t dry out.

My kids enjoyed adding the ingredients for me. I did all the cooking and kneading. My daughter did, of course, steal alittle bite. But with it being homemade, at least I knew what was in it. All that happened was a sour face on her part. Other than that, the playdough was a success.

These are 2 very simple crafts to do with your kids. Now go and make you own family fun times!

Hmmm… how to resolve? Simple, a homemade gift, for soaking out the stress after a long Holiday buying season that has had them running around just as crazy as you have been this past month.

Gifts in a jar are a great idea when you have run out of ideas. They are easy to make, don’t require a lot of money, and even your children can pitch in and help. From drink mixes, to cookies, soups, and even beauty products, these small tokens are sure to be a big hit.

One recipe that I have found to be a great gift, which I did give to colleagues this Holiday season, Bath Salts. OrganizedChirstmas.com has a wonderful Candy Cane Bath Salt that is sure to be a hit. It was a great smell throughout my home and the recipe yields enough gift jars to supply 12 people, plus a little for me too!

Supplies are simple – a few items are: Epsom salt, glycerin, and essential oil. Once combined, these bath salts will make a beautiful, aroma-filled, stress relieving gift anyone on your list would love to have.

Follow this link to the great recipe sure to be a great last minute gift addition!

You can always switch it up too. Candy Cane is a great recipe for the Winter Holidays, but there are a ton of other occasions where Candy Cane might not be the perfect aroma. Do you have a lavender fan expecting a baby soon? Maybe Teacher appreciation day is coming up and nothing is better than some Peaches N Cream in a hot, steamy bath. Use the same basic ingredients, just change out the oils!

An on-line store: Aromoatherapy Essential Oils

You can also find other home made recipes, for those special home made gifts or other online resources at Nature’s Bath and Beauty 

Now the good thing about this is I can set up things like my sewing machine etc if I want to. Or sneak it into the outer part of the basement until my stepfather kicks me out of his side :\ However I am always thinking about making more comfortable pillows or doing my own home line for myself. I never knew about pillows until recently, where you buy the form and stuff it to your liking. This will work out well since if I can find very good down filling I can finally make my dream pillow. They sell feather pillow forms, which I definitely like. Their prices aren’t bad since they have from $13-$150 depending on the size and style you need.

I think its good for the momprenuers or the crafty diva’s looking to find feather pillow inserts now you know where to get them! They reinforce their inserts for no poking if you cant afford the top of the line down feathers, or if you’re lucky and you can well it means less lost feathers!

So check it out if you’re looking to create your own pillows and want to get and insert pillow piloh is the place to go!

These Leaf Placemats are a great seasonal idea, but using these instructions, you can make placemats not just for the various holidays, but you can make them all year long and festive too!

Just by changing out the leaves, you can make your placemats completely you. Use pictures of tree ornaments for Christmas, Menorahs for Hanukkah, hearts for Valentine’s Day or some simple spring flowers for daily placemats. Endless possibilities!

Hey, neat idea! Pair this idea with the Cut-Out Coasters and you can celebrate everyday by looking at great decorations from your kiddos.

Materials:

• Construction paper or felt in assorted colors
• Fabric glue
• Clear Con-Tact paper (optional)

Instructions:

1. Trace or draw a leaf onto paper and cut out to use as a pattern.

2. Trace leaf shape onto colored felt or construction paper (you’ll need about 12 leaves).

3. Arrange into a rectangle so that the leaves overlap each other with open spaces between them.

4. Glue leaves together where they overlap. If using construction paper, protect with Con-Tact paper or laminate.

This project is brought to you by Woman’s Day Web site.

At Pajama Mommy, we strive to find fun and entertaining crafts that the whole family will love and have fun participating in. As a parent, please use your judgment to choose activities that you believe are safe for your child and family.

You can use it as a teaching tool, as suggested in the original post, or here are a few other ideas: Things I Like: have your kids cut out pictures of things they like or places they like to go too – family, the park, their bike, movies they like, books they enjoy, and so.

Friendship: have your kids place pictures of their friends on each page, listing when they met, one thing they really like about this person, and so on. This is something they can keep forever to remember their past friends.

School: you can make one for each school year when your kids are younger and it can be kept as a journal. Place their school picture on the cover on the front page, and each page can represent a favorite subject, what they liked, who their teacher was.

There are so many ideas; you don’t have to be restricted. Plus, these basic steps can be used for any type of material you would like to use as covers or inside pages. Let your imagination run wild!

Materials

• Construction Paper
• Hole Puncher
• String or Yarn
• Markers
• Crayons

Instructions

1. Punch holes along one edge of the pieces of construction paper. You’ll need a big Sprout to help.
2. Stack the paper together so that the holes line up.
3. Thread pieces of string or yarn through the holes and tie knots to create a book.
4. Write a title on the front of the book, like A-B-C or My Alphabet Book.
5. Write each letter of the alphabet on the pages of the book and draw pictures of things that begin with each letter.
6. Flip through your book and practice your ABC’s!

This project is brought to you by Sprout Online.

At Pajama Mommy, we strive to find fun and entertaining crafts that the whole family will love and have fun participating in. As a parent, please use your judgment to choose activities that you believe are safe for your child and family.

Not that I can’t give her the information, I was just surprised she asked on her own, without me giving suggestions. She was ready to know a bit about her family history 7-year-old style.

I wanted to make this a fun, educational experience and not overload her, so I went on-line in search of a fun printable that I could use to explain our family. I found a simple format at FamilyEducation.com that was colorful, easy to use, and kept her attention.

This project led me on a much larger path, using photographs to teach our family. A continuing project for us will be to take our printable and create a photograph family tree.

Using a large poster board or equivalent item, use family photographs (you don’t mind cutting) and cut out the face, and glue it on your poster board, placing their name directly underneath. Format your family tree however you want, going back as far as you think your youngster can handle, and then let them color their “tree” Use your imagination on this.

Now with your tree started, you can add to it yearly, new children born into the family, or add more history as your own children grow. My kiddos and I are still in the process of getting this one down. But, I thought it was a great idea to grow.

Information is brought to you from FamilyEducation.com.

Moon Sand is a form of sand that has been formulated to mold. Now kids can have hours of fun, just like I used to have. But Moon Sand has taken the “before” product and unlike that, Moon Sand will never dry out and unlike clay, Moon Sand is a lot safer for kids to play with; it’s non-toxic and gluten-free.

I looked through their site extensively and Moon Sand is incredibly inexpensive, and even have bulk amounts available for less than what the retailers sell for a drastically smaller portion.

Moon Sand is a great birthday or special occasion gift. It especially makes a fantastic stocking stuffer, as Christmas seems to be sneaking up on us at the speed of light. Best of all, it will never stain your carpet when the kids have it strewn throughout the house! Moon Sand is guaranteed to be a hit with your children and can be used again and again. This is an activity that your children can enjoy for quite some time.

Get your children in on the fun of decorating by making bright centerpieces for your family dinner table or to place strategically around your home to add some autumn color to the mix.

Offered by DLTK-Holidays.com, Autumn Tissue Flowers & Vase is an easy project that the whole family can participate in. What’s best about this project, by changing the color of the tissue paper used, you can make this for any event or holiday coming up.

Autumn Tissue Paper Flowers and Juice Jar Vase

Include directions for both flowers and vase. There are 4 different types of flowers you can make.

Materials for the Vase:

• Juice jar (750ml)
• Paper Mache paste (1 part flour to 5 parts water… boil about 3 minutes and let cool)
• Stripes of white paper
• Paint or markers to decorate (we used orange paint for ours)

Materials for one Flower:

• Tissue paper (orange, red, yellow, or brown – combination of fall colors; white, yellow for center)
• Drinking straw
• Cotton ball
• Scissors
• Scotch tape (or floral tape)

Directions for Vase:

• Paper Mache the jar (cover with 2 layers newspaper with one layer white paper over top of that) or just cover with 3 layers of white paper
• Let dry (takes about a day for the paper mache to dry)
• Decorate the jar with paint or markers. We painted ours orange.

Directions for Flowers:

• Cut a square of tissue paper about 2” by 2”
• Put a small piece of cotton (about 1/4 of a cotton ball) in the center.
• Scrunch the cotton filled tissue paper around the end of the straw and wrap a piece of scotch tape around it
• Put 4 or 5 petals around the cotton filled tissue paper. Tape them on.
• Continue adding rows of petals until you have a nice full flower. You’ll need at least 4 rows of them.
• Fluff the petals out a bit to shape your flower.
• OPTIONAL: spritz a bit of perfume on your flower to scent it.

FYI: Flower petal templates are offered on the site this craft originated from, DLTK-Holidays.com.

This project is brought to you by DLTK-Holidays.com.

At Pajama Mommy, we strive to find fun and entertaining crafts that the whole family will love and have fun participating in. As a parent, please use your judgment to choose activities that you believe are safe for your child and family.

Now this craft is not creating the mat from scratch, but taking a plain mat you find at your local retailer and adorning it with your personality. I like this craft because it is easy enough that even I can do it!

Other ideas: You can use these mats for themes as well. Fall, Halloween, Winter, Spring – endless ideas. Another neat idea – birthday mats. You can decorate a mat based on the theme of the party or based on the personality of the birthday boy or girl. When guests arrive for a birthday party they will see a welcome mat dressed for the occasion.

Read on, Create on! Enjoy!

First Choose Your Mat

Each of these welcome mat ideas uses a different type of base material. Both are made of a thick durable fiber, perfect for personalization and cleaning off muddy shoes.

• Woven Sisal Doormat- Sisal is a woven fiber that comes from a cactus plant. This particular mat has a wide square weave, ideal for working in ribbon or attaching accents.
• Coir Doormat- Coir is a fiber found between the husks of a coconut and
  has a fuzzy yet very tough, durable surface that absorbs paint well.

Woven Sisal Welcome Mat

Supplies Needed:

• 1 woven sisal doormat
• 1 or 2 spools of 1” ribbon
• Hot glue and/or florist’s twine
• Accents that will lie mostly flat, such as artificial flowers, leaves or berries.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pick up an inexpensive but sturdy woven sisal mat at your local home and garden store. It will most likely be medium to dark brown in color.
2. Make sure the ribbon you choose is durable enough to withstand the elements but not so bulky it won’t fit through the holes. Start by weaving the ribbon in and out all the way around the outer edge of the mat. You can weave just once around or several times for a thicker border. Also try alternating colors for a vibrant pattern.
3. Use florist’s twine or hot glue to attach your accents securely to the mat. Make sure to leave space in the center for your family or visitors to wipe their messy feet.

By using ribbon and florist’s twine, you can change the color of the ribbon or the accents easily for different seasons, holidays, and special occasions.

Painted Coir Welcome Mat

These instructions provide you with the basics but feel free to try your own ideas as well. You can experiment with color or other decorative techniques, such as taping off a lattice pattern on the mat, creating two borders, or using picture stencils as accents.

Supplies Needed:

• 1 Coir doormat
• At least one 12 oz. can of enamel spray paint (be sure to choose a color that contrasts with the color of the mat)
• 2” masking tape
• 1” masking tape
• Scissors
• Card stock (for lettering)
• Ruler
• T-pins

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Lay the doormat on a flat surface outside. You can place a cardboard box under the mat to prevent overspray from getting on the surface.
2. Use 2” masking tape to tape off the edge of the mat (flush to the edge). Use 1” tape to tape off a border 1/2” from the 2” tape. You can tape further away for a thicker border.
3. Tape down paper in the center of the mat to prevent spray paint from getting into this section. Using a circular motion, spray in the border. Remove the paper from the center.
4. For a welcome message, house number or last name, create your own stencils by tracing or printing out characters on card stock or thick paper then cutting them out. If you need a little help with this, you can usually find letter and number stencils at the hardware store.
5. Using the T-pins and ruler, tack down the letters or numbers to the center of the mat.
6. Using a circular motion, spray the paint over the mat. Use multiple coats for added coverage.
7. Wait 1 hour for the paint to dry before removing tape and characters or stencils.

This project is brought to you by Home Made Simple.

At Pajama Mommy, we strive to find fun and entertaining crafts that the whole family will love and have fun participating in. As a parent, please use your judgment to choose activities that you believe are safe for your child and family.

OK, so I posted a craft for

And, if you are making them for your own home, then this is a great way to keep cozy late at night watching a movie. Even better, with winter around the corner these throws are great to have around to keep warm with.

Supplies Needed:

• A pair of good scissors (If your scissors are dull, it will take a lot longer to complete!) OR rotary cutter and mat
• Ruler or tape measure
• Two 3/4 yard pieces of coordinating fleece. This should be enough to make two pillows (you need a 25″ x 25″ square for a 14 inch pillow form.)
• 14″ pillow form
• Remember:
  • You need two separate pieces of fabric for the pillow; one will be the front, one will be the back. You can choose two coordinating fabrics or the same fabric. The choice is yours!
  • Fleece mini panels look very nice, but be sure there is enough material at the edge to cut the fringe without cutting into the pattern.
  • Watch for sales at your fabric store, as you can save a lot of money that way, often more than 50%. Also check the remnant bins. You may be able to find a large enough piece and it will often be discounted.

Directions:

1. Cut off rough selvage edges. (This is the side that is machine finished, not cut.) Trim only as much as necessary, usually not more than 2 inches on each side. At this point, make sure that your cut sides are relatively straight. (They don’t have to be perfect!) Do this on each piece of fabric.

2. Lay your fleece wrong sides together, with edges matching up. (Often times with fleece, it’s hard to tell which side is the wrong side and it often doesn’t matter which side you use as the front or back.) **Some people choose at this point to pin the layers together; this is a personal preference. I’ve found it quicker not to pin, and I’ve never had a problem with slippage or keeping the sides aligned.

3. Cut a 5×5″ square out of each corner (through both layers of fleece) and discard. 4. Cut 5″ into both layers of fleece at 3/4″ intervals around all four sides. Please note: This is 1/4″ smaller than what was done on the no sew blanket project. The smaller fringe is nice on a small pillow, but you can do a 1″ fringe if you desire. Tie overhand knot close to blanket edge by using one strip from the front and one strip from the back to create finished fringe edge. You will find that two sides stretch more than the other two. Tie both stretchy sides and one non-stretchy side.

5. Insert the pillow form in the pocket formed by the ties. Then tie the remaining side. It is very helpful to tie every other at this point and then go back and tie the pieces in-between.

Several notes here:

• To help make your strips approximately wide (again, it doesn’t have to be perfect), you can use a tape measure across the top of your five inch section so that you not only make your cuts about 1″ apart but also only five inches deep.
• To make the tying look more even, I tie every other one, all the way around the blanket, then flip the blanket over to the back and tie the rest. That way neither side is really the front or the back!
• Experiment with the way you tie the knots for different looks. You can make the knot show in either fabric as well as the fringe in either fabric.
• The nature of fleece makes two of the sides stretchy. Don’t fear! Just be gentle when tying those sides (the selvage sides) so that your fringe isn’t stretched out of shape! The knots do not have to be tight to remain tied and keep the blanket together.

See No Sew Pillows

This project is brought to you by Exploring Womanhood.

At Pajama Mommy, we strive to find fun and entertaining crafts that the whole family will love and have fun participating in. As a parent, please use your judgment to choose activities that you believe are safe for your child and family.