Notebooks

Last week, while I was on my notebook kick, I made these...
For Jackson's teacher's:
I like to give them a little something for every holiday to show our appreciation. We were late on our Easter gifts so Jackson gave them their notebooks today and they LOVED them.




For myself:
You can never have enough notebooks :)


Like every other parent I try to write down all the hilarious/clever things my son says. I'm going to transfer everything into here because I think it happens to be pretty darn cute. (Oh and yes I admit it, I got the "journal of unforgettable quotes" quote from Paper Source's My Quotable Kid notebook.)


For a friend:


I got a little addicted to these little notebooks...can you tell?

I Need to Catch Up

I have project A.D.D. and I can't keep up! Too much to do...so little time! I have some finished projects that I have to take pictures of and post. I also have a few unfinished projects to finish. I'm also working on birthday crafts for the little man. So needless to say, lots of posts coming in the next few days. If I get around to it :)

Flower Pillow

I made a totally adorable pillow today...



However, my crappy camera can't seem to take decent pictures these days and my house has terrible lighting so this is all I have for now.
As you can see it has a white front and teal back. There are six mustard colored flowers with teal beads in the center.
I am going to make a matching pillow and use them on my bed with the ruffle pillows I made.
I'll try again with the pictures tomorrow. Maybe I can get some better ones outside in the sun. Wish me luck.

Magnets

I seem to never have enough magnets. Not sure why that is...but I changed my dire magnet situation yesterday. :)
So if you are craving a magnet surplus here is the how to info...
(I must add this is not my original idea, I have seen this done somewhere but I can't remember where)
You will need:
-flat glass marbles
-magnets
-paper
-pencil/pen
-scissors
-glue that dries clear (I used Tacky Glue)
I took pictures with my phone but once I got them on the computer most of them didn't turn out well. But you really shouldn't need pictures...it's pretty self explanatory,
Step 1- Lay out the marbles where you want them on the paper.
Step 2- Trace around the marble. Remember to not mix them up since all the marbles are different shapes. I did this to make it easier...

Step 3- Cut out the circles
Step 4- Glue the paper to the marble. Press hard to spread the glue evenly.
Step 5- Glue the magnet to the back of the marble.
Now your done. Can't get easier then that right?

Jammies

So, Jackson's grown out of most of his winter pajamas so instead of spending the money on new ones I decided to make him a few pairs of pants and just buy him a pack of white tees. I bought the fabric a week or two ago on sale at Joanns for $2/yd (It might have been $2.50 I don't remember exactly). I only needed 1 yard for each of the pants so around $6 is not too shabby. I let him pick 3 prints...he settled on fire trucks, dinosaurs, and Buzz Lightyear...

Giving his big boy jammies a thumbs up...

(please ignore those threads on the hem that I forgot to trim)

I Spy

Like any other parent I spend most of my days thinking up things to keep my son entertained. He loves I Spy and Where's Waldo books. I have passed those I Spy games at Target and have been tempted to buy them more then once. I remembered seeing this I Spy type game in a bottle done in various parenting magazines and websites so I thought I would give it a try today...
This DIY game was an A+ for me because he was also able to help me every step of the way which he's really into at this age.
We used rice (approx 4 cups)and divided it into baggies. Then I let him choose 4 colors of food coloring and we dyed the rice. We let it set for about 30 minutes and then put it on plates to make sure it was dry....

I put all the rice in a large bowl and let him mix...


We searched the house for small items to put inside the bottle...

We put all of our items in the bottle and then used a funnel to fill the bottle up with our rice and here is our finished product...

So far it has been a hit!

In an Attempt to Avoid Cleaning

Jackson loves notebooks. He prefers to draw in a notebook vs. just a normal piece of paper. I think he gets that from me...I'm totally that person that has like 20 notebooks stashed around the house filled with various lists and other ramblings.
Anyways, in an attempt to avoid cleaning I just made him this...



I've always wanted to try and make my own notebook but I thought it would be too complicated. I found instructions here
It was really simple and did not take much time at all. And of course I love that you can just use things you already have around the house. I used normal printer paper folded in half and two pieces of cardstock glued together for the cover.
I think it turned out adorable! I like how versatile this can be and would make a great homemade gift!