Are You Going to IMATS?

I know I still have some readers from when my make-up blogging was done here, plus some new readers who might love to hear this...
BFTECosmetics (one of my favorites, if you can't tell by my EOTDs!) is FINALLY going to IMATS!

So, if you're there {I, sadly, will not be =-( } swing by booth #805. If you're one of the first 500 customers you'll get a great special gift. And if you're not, you'll still leave HAPPY!


Quick disclosure...yes, she did ask for bloggers to post, with a chance of winning a GC- but if you look back you'll see I've posted pretty much all her sales and new for years, and would very likely post this as well! ;-) (Holy run-on sentence!)

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Cloud Dough

There's a new sensation in our house, and for the time being has replaced our much-loved homemade playdough. Cloud dough. It's mold-able, it's soft, it's interesting to feel, and it's easy to clean up! You've gotta love it when your manipulative toys are messy fun but don't linger.

We made what looks like is a "half-batch" judging by the posts on the internet- but it was just the right amount for one little four-year-old. It was crazy simple:
Mix in a large bowl or small tub-

• Four cups of flour
• and 1/2 cup of baby oil

We used (food grade) mineral oil because that's what we keep on hand, you need to be sure to only use baby oil or food grade mineral oil or your cloud dough will get rancid and stinky FAST. I have since bought a small bit of baby oil to make another heavenly-scented batch since EVERYONE in the house loves playing with it!

It may take a seemingly long time to work all the oil in, but you want all the flour thoroughly coated. A good 5-7 minutes of working the oil in with your hands should do the trick. We thought the finished dough felt like a fluffier "Moon Sand".

We keep ours in a lidded plastic"shoe box", and it's kept for several months. I'll be sure to smell before each playtime and toss if needed.

We also added some scent oil that smells vanilla-y, and The Princess loves to form little pies and cakes with it using my tiny tartlet molds.

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Let's ALL Try This!: Easiest Colored Rice

Colored rice is one of our favorite things around here for homeschool use. We play in it, we use it glued to paper like glitter, we shake it around, it's a great tool.

My long-time friend Shannon just started a blog (yay!) and she posted a great, EASY way to color rice...USING your little preschoolers! So smart! So, go check it out. =-)

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Fives, Counting To and Counting By

This week The Princess and I have been working on the number 5, as well as planting some basil for our kitchen window. We combined these two for a fun activity she loved. We're counting and learning about plants!

We went into the pantry, and grabbed some beans.

 

We used some pintos, chick peas, white beans, red beans, black beans and lentils. We also grabbed 3 paper towels and 6 snack-sized zip-lock bags.  We cut the paper towels in half and the width was perfect for the bags. Folded into fourths, we lightly wet them and tucked them into the bags.

We counted together 5 of each bean, and put each group in a bag. We counted as we took them out of the container, into the bag, and as we lined them up in the bag. That was a lot of counting to 5. 

Then, we hung them up and counted them in their bags- BY five. We talked about how each group of 5 added up to thirty, and how we saved time counting in fives. 

We're also counting as we check them for sprouts and discuss how they are growing and the parts of the plant. This activity will last us weeks!

Lentils

Red beans

White beans

Chick peas

Pintos

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Super Cute & Cheap Find

Today I was grabbing a few things at Dollar General, and decided to browse the Halloween section. They were still getting it up, but I saw these CUTE silicon, or maybe just silicon-ish, ice cube trays.

 

Jack-o-lanterns and skulls/crossbones....

And guess how much?

$1.00.

One stinking dollar each! I grabbed 2 of each (a splurge for me...LOL) If you live in my area, sorry that I grabbed both of the skull ones they had up. Ok, only slightly sorry, they're really adorable and will be restocked before you get there! =-D (They probably have tons "in the city" too! ;-])

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Homemade Fun: Finger Paint

Yellow looks orange in the jar- but it's not!

Perfectly thick and glossy finger paints are easier to make at home than you may think.

In a medium sauce pan, heat over medium heat-
2 cups of water
1/4 cup of cornstarch
Stir or whisk constantly.

Remove from the heat immediately, and let cool until just warmed. (The food coloring spreads and mixes easier if it is still a little warm, but you can totally let it cool all the way without worries...)

Pour into separate containers with lids. Stir in several drops of food coloring. I chose to just make the primary colors so we can work on mixing colors. Let cool completely before using.

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Homemade Fun: Bubbles

Into a 64oz container, (I used an empty dish-soap bottle), add:

• 1 cup dish-soap. (The handwashing kind, not the machine kind.)
• 2 tablespoons glycerine or corn syrup. (I used glycerine.)
• a couple drops of food coloring if your wish. Be careful if using indoors! (I added a couple to make my bubble not look like my dish-soap.)
• Then fill with water and gently swirl to mix.

It works better if you let it sit with the lid popped open for a few days.

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Homemade Fun: Play Dough

Summer! We all need activities to keep the kids busy when we're this far into summer vacation. Here is the first of a few homemade supplies/activities to keep us going.
This play dough recipe is the EASIEST. And to make things even easier, I used the steaming hot water I keep on hand for tea, so my oldest can make this for the littler ones!

You will need:

• 1 C flour
• 1/2 C salt
• 1 pack of flavored drink mix (the kind without sugar!)

Mix these thoroughly into a large bowl. Then add:

• 3 Tablespoons oil
• 1 C boiling water

Mix and mix until your dough forms a ball and begins to cool. When  cool enough to handle, knead until cool and cohesive. 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry makes the prettiest pink!

Keep in a zippered plastic bag or plastic container.

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Secondhand Shopping- The Next Genreation

Our little three year-old and I walked down to our town's local secondhand shop today, and I found out she is quite the little shopper! For 2 bucks she got some great things.
First, she found a cute little her-sized basket, then a sweet little dress. She loves butterflies. (THIS WEEK!) Then she found a cute little blue wicker-like purse that she says we have to share, and she loves it because it looks like a basket. I guess she loves baskets this week too! She also found a Share Bear Care Bear! A lovely day for her, quite a great haul!

Part of her booty

Her lovely purse

Mommy got the usual kids' clothing, a few bits of fabric for sewing projects, a supercute tray-basket thing, AND some lovely 70's stacking Corelle cups! (Old Town Blue!)

My fantastic cups on my supercute tray

I also found a Presto microwave popcorn popper for a quarter! =-)

I think it was a taxing trip though...even at 11 in the morning, someone (I won't say who!) couldn't make it home:

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Experiments Around The House

...kinda. Here's two things we have going on right now, can you guess what they are? (Just-for-funsies!)

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A Giveaway- From One Nutty Mama

Just wanted to let you all know that Kim from One Nutty Mama is having her first giveaway. You can win a cool Scentsy prize. Head on over for details: http://onenuttymama.com/2011/04/dont-miss-your-chance.html

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Little Diva Tutus Giveaway!

No, not mine (yet, I'd LOVE to give one of these gorgeous tutus away someday!)
Little Diva Tutus is running a giveaway on their Facebook page. Details can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=13818&post=62269&uid=113954616841#!/topic.php?uid=113954616841&topic=13818 

Be sure to let her know if I sent you there ;-) (Yes, an extra entry would be lovely!)

Even though I do get an entry, I am posting because it is a suuuuuper sweet giveaway, and suuuuuuper awesome tutus. #3 owns two actually, even  though one doesn't fit anymore...

And, even though she is this very moment insisting on running around the house in only a towel, I know that she would LOVE to have a new tutu every month- as would all of your little girls! So, go enter! 

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Review: Elmer's & X-acto Crafers (Via BzzAgent)

As I've said before, I am very fortunate to be part of BzzAgent.com and I occasionally receive awesome kits to use and review. The past few weeks I've been lucky enough to get to play with the BzzKit from Elmer's and Xacto.

I received the items pictured-
An Elmer's tape runner, glue spots, glue pen, and a glue stick. From X-acto I got two pairs of decorative scissors and a nifty corner-rounder.

The adhesive products are what you'd expect from Elmer's, great consistency & easy of use. The "tape" runner is pretty much a glue-tape hybrid of sorts, and so handy & fun to use. I also love the little tape dots- I've never used them before and I have big plans for some 3D-ish holiday cards now!

As for the tools, they were a dream as well, sharp and comfortable on my hands. I do have to admit though...that corner-rounder...way addictive. I have rounded the corners on almost EVERY notepad in the house. (It can do 3-5 pages at a time easy.) It's amazing how much just a simple little shape change can make anything look a million times nicer. Really, I have the coolest shopping lists ever now. I'm thinking some spiffed up notepads would make a nice addition to gifts.

Cons with these products-
The glue stick is a little smellier than other sticks. Not so much that it's bothersome though. The corner-rounder-puncher is tough- but I kinda wish it would punch through ribbon. That'd be awesome. Also I want need the rounds-cutter. A compass & cutter in one? I'd have every paper in the house in circles.

Just a reminder- I received these products from BzzAgent, but I am NOT told what to say, required to only say good/nice things, or nor do I even HAVE to say anything on my blog at all. I HAVE left a product off my blog I DIDN'T like.  =-)

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We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

Even if we have tiny little toddler hands! =-)

This year we have a Peewee footballer. Which means all sorts of family cheering! Being so far away from major stores though, sometimes things are harder to find- one of them being poms in all sorts of colors. We came up with an idea to make poms out of those cheap $1 tablecloths you can get from the dollar stores. (We got ours from Dollar General.) You can usually find these in almost every color, & they are very thin & easy to cut... & now I have an itch to find other uses for these, because everyone knows they are worthless as tablecloths. We made these small for a little one to hold, but the idea can be manipulated for all sizes.

*Note- There was NO way to get pictures of a this process full-sized, so I made it tiny so I can photograph. So, ignore the rough-cut edges, and the not-to-scale-ness. To-scale would involve math. No thank you!

Begin by cutting your tablecloth in half width-wise.

We used 1/2 of a tablecloth for 1 pompom. Take your first half & cut width-wise into 4 strips.

Now, take one of your strips & fold up length-wise into something easier to cut- then cut into 1/2 inch strips.

Repeat with the 3 other pieces. You'll have a pile of little scraggly strips.

Unroll them, & layer them nicely-ish across a good-sized piece of string.

Gather the string around the stack, & tie tightly. arrange the strips into desired shape as you tighten. (This one's skimpy because I gave up on unrolling all my tiny little strips-lazy...)

We made a good-for-her sized handle by folding over the string & wrapping it in duct tape, then in electrical tape. I'm sure there are lots of other ways to make handles to-size. =-)

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Journaling As a Family

This summer, since I have two prolific writers, and one who thinks she is- we are initiating journal writing time after our evening quiet reading time. Not only will it keep the writing skills going during school break, give them something to look back on, create a system for setting and accounting for goals, etc... but it gives Mommy 15-30 mins more quiet! ;-)

We began with just cheapy black & white memo/journal notebooks & the kids put a collage of magazine cut-outs & stickers on the covers. It will be nice for them to look back and see what they were interested in.

Everyone, even mom, did a journal entry tonight- the first Sunday of the first week out of school- to kick things off.

Working hard on her journal:

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BzzAgent.com & Scrubbing Bubbles

So, as some of my pals may know I am a member of a really cool site called BzzAgent.com which helps spread word of mouth advertising and opinions on brands of products. As moms, we know that peers are really who we listen to when we're deciding what to buy, so I really think this site is a great idea. Number two reason why- in my mind... the "BzzCampaigns"! They let members try out, and report on new or newly improved products. Anything from beauty to cleaning, to food.
I was super stoked to get the chance to review the new Scrubbing Bubbles Automated Shower Cleaner. I am about a week in, but already I know it has greatly improved. Word of mouth & seeing a peer's is why I didn't get one when they first came out a few years ago, but I am (for now) liking this new one. The old ones were cheap feeling, sprayed badly or not at all, and the cleaning solution- let's be frank- sucked. Hard. Let's see how the rest of the month goes! =-)

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Easy Snowday Snow Cones

Snowcones, Sno-Cones, Snow Cones, however you say or spell them, they're yummy.

What a better time to make them then when your snow is pre-made and sitting right outside your door in abundance?

If you don't have any syrup left from summer, you can easily make your own with this recipe:

Snow Cone Syrup-

2 C white sugar
3/4 C water
1 package unsweetened drink mix, such as Kool Aid or Flavor Aide

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, remove from heat.
Add your flavoring (the drink mix), and let cool.
Pour liberally over fresh, clean snow or shaved ice.

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