Summer Bucket List

Wow it has been awhile! Whoops! My new shop is keeping me pretty busy.

I just created a Summer Bucket List for my family. It will mostly be me and my little bug, but we'll involve Daddy when we can. 

This is our first year making an actual list. It should be fun and keep us even busier! We'll just cross things off as we do them. 

Mother's Day Coloring Sheet!

I love giving my Mother's a homemade card for their special day aka Mother's Day! Now that my little bug is older he is able to make it for them. Here is a coloring sheet so your little one can color their own. Click here.

~CJ

Sesame Street Party: Games

This is post 3 on the Sesame Street Birthday Party I threw for my 2 year old. You can see the invites and food on past posts. This will be the games that we played.

At first I was considering canceling the games I had planned because the kids were having so much fun playing on the little playground we have in our backyard. So I asked a few of the kids of they wanted to play some games and they enthusiastically said yes! Here are the games I had panned. Some we played, some we didn't. I had way too much planned. Parties go by so fast!

Zoe Necklaces- 

As guests arrived I gave each child a bowl that had stuff to make a snack necklace. We used fruit loops, pretzels, peach rings, and cheerios. To make the necklace I used embroidery floss and ties one end to a pretzel. The threading end I taped so it would be a more stable and act as the "Needle". Some kids made them so just ate them and other took it home with them to do later.

Big Bird Treasure Hunt- What you will need is Bird seed, prizes, blindfold and safety pins (Optional). Get a bowl or container (I used a plastic shoe box) and put the bird seed in it. Then either put the prizes into the bird seed or safety pins. I did safety pins because I didn't want the toys to get dusty with bird seed crumbs. Then each had a turn to see how many clothes pins they could find. Kids 5 and older were blindfolded. Then they got to pick out a prize. I had slinkys and spinning tops. The Slinkys were a huge hit!

Cookie Walk- This game was inspired by Cookie Monster. Growing up at the school carnival they would always have a cake walk. It was so exciting to win this huge cake to bring home. Then in high school years at Church Halloween Parties they would do the same thing, but make it personal and do a cupcake walk. I loved that idea. I wanted to incorporate it somehow into the party and so I did a cookie walk! If you don't know how to do a cake/ cupcake/ cookie walk here is the jist of it. Each player stands on a paper with a number on it. They walk around in a circle to music and when the music stops so do they. Then a number is drawn and whoever is standing on that number gets to pick put a prize. To make the game go faster I did colored paper so each time 2-4 kids would win. We played until everyone had a chance to win. We had several cookies for them to choose from.

Keep Super Grover in the Air- We didn't play this one, but I think the kids would have enjoyed it. I had a blue balloon blown up and drew a Grover face on it. Then we would have just tried to keep it in the air as long as possible.

Oscar Trash Toss-  This one is all over the internet. Basically throw crumpled paper into a trash can.

Elmo Says-  Simon Says, but Elmo style. You know since he talks in 3rd person all the time anyways.

Duck, Duck, Goose- In honor of Ernie's love for his Rubber Ducky we were going to play duck, duck, goose. Not enough time though.

I didn't want the grown ups to be left out of the fun. So I came up with some games for them to play.
Bert's Paper Clip Collection- 

My bug's favorite muppet is Bert so I wanted a game to honor the boring pigeon lover. Did you know Bert collects Bottle Caps and Paper Clips? He does! So I thought the perfect game would be to have people guess how many paper clips he has in his collection. What did the winner get? Their very own bottle cap collection... a box of Bottlecap candy. Love this? I have a printable for you...


I also, came up with a word scramble game. This is really hard if you aren't watching Sesame Street these days. There are a few new characters. Here is the printable, there is 2 on a page so cut it in half. And to make it easier on you an answer key:)


This was so much fun! Sesame Street is a great theme to have for a party. Really the sky is the limit! Hope you like my ideas. Next monday will be my final post and I'll share the party favor I did! Everyone loved it!

~CJ

Sesame Street Party

I just threw a Sesame Street Birthday Party for my 2 year old! He's getting so big. He had the time of his life. Unfortunately I didn't get the best pictures as usual. Here is the problem with planning parties I'm finding. Only I know what is going on so I have to do everything and I don't think about things like pictures when I'm doing a billion other things. No matter what, I never have enough done before hand.

So here are some pictures from the party. Hopefully I can explain enough without the pictures. This is the overview. I'll do a couple of more specific posts.

***Update- You can see games here.

Painting with Cars

(This weekend was my little bug's Birthday / Party so I'm pretty wiped out. Luckily I've had this in my drafts so you still get a post today. Check back next week for the party details)

I know this idea has been around forever, I'm not inventing the wheel here. I just want to share how easy it is and well worth it! A few weeks ago I was watching my Nephew. It was the first time it was just him. I've usually had his older sister too. So I wanted to do something fun and BOY! He really enjoyed it and so did my little bug! We painted with cars!

Supplies

Paint (I just did acrylic)

Cars (I didn't want to use our nice cars, so I bought a pack at DollarTree just for painting with [3 for $1])

Paper (just used plain copy paper)

We had aprons on just in case

Also we had a clear cloth down to protect the table. That was back when I wanted to keep the table clean. Now I realize it's his art table let him have fun with it. It is now colored in crayon.

Just let the kids dip and drive on their paper. It looks pretty cool and the kids loved it!

 What is your favorite thing to let kids paint with?

Want another idea, see the post of painting with lettuce.

~CJ

MLK Day

It's Monday already?!?! I can't believe it. Since the Hubs works for the school district which means he had a day off from work and school today! So we enjoyed a nice (long) bike ride! We biked to a park that is a little over 6 miles from our house, ate a picnic lunch, tried feeding the ducks but they wouldn't come close enough. Ryder got to play with his cousin on the playground and then we biked the 6+ miles home. It was tough and I am pooped! Luckily my little bug is taking a nice nap so I can relax. Hence the not so exciting blog post.

January 21st is always a fun day. It kicks of the Birthday's. My brother is turning 30! We'll be going out tonight to celebrate. As if that weren't exciting enough, my grandparents are celebrating their 68th Wedding Anniversary! I love that! We had a party for them Saturday, it's always fun to get families together to celebrate!

My little bug is turning 2 in less than 2 weeks! He is getting so big and is so smart. I can't believe how much he knows. He impresses me everyday. So in a few weeks I'll post party stuff:) It's Sesame Street! It's going to be so much fun!

Advent Calendar Update- Tucson Zoo

For Dec 8th advent activity we went to the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson AZ. It is a tradition we started our First Anniversary to go there every winter with our family. This was year number 3.

Why we like the Tucson zoo:

It is a smaller zoo. It takes us about 2 hours to do the entire thing.

It is a people friendly zoo, meaning the animals don't have much room to hide.

It's less crowded

Cheaper (although we have a membership this year so it doesn't matter)

It use to have a Polar Bear, but I guess it died so they didn't this year.

The main attraction: you can feed the Giraffes!

I thought Ryder was going to be scared or want to eat the carrot himself, but he knew what to do and loved it! It cost $2 per person for 2 carrot sticks. We think it is well worth it!

Part of our Tradition is going to A&W rootbeer restaurant  However we can terminating that part of the tradition and vowing never to go to A&W unless it is a stand alone building and not in a gas station. That was the most expensive crappy sandwich I've ever had! SO in the future we'll be packing a lunch and having a picnic. So much more fun!

What is your favorite Tradition?

~CJ

You can see the whole list of activities for our Advent here.

Advent Calendar

Is it just me or is the last week of November going by real slow? One day it's Halloween and then the next it is Thanksgiving and then a month later it is December 1st. Anyone else feel that way? I think a lot of it had to do with Thanksgiving being early this year. I'm just so excited for Christmas season! I've tried putting off most Holiday things until December. Don't get me wrong our lights and decorations are already up, but waiting to get truly into the spirit. One more day!

I"m really excited this year because I made an Advent Calendar. It starts on the first, but we put it up today.

 To make this I just cut a 4x4 square out of Christmas Paper that came in a holiday pack that I will never use, I really like it for this though. Then I Printed off the numbers from studio diy. I cut those out and attached to the front with homemade glue dots.

Then I made up a little calendar and starting filling in which activities would be good for what days. I tried to keep the weekdays easy and do the more time consuming ones on weekends. After everything looked good I handwrote the activities onto the paper. I also added the date we should be on incase we get behind.

This will be tomorrows card...

I just hung them up with clothespins (I wish I would have painted or covered with paper). I hung them up with 1 in the middle and switching off. This way when we get to only a few days left all the numbers aren't to one side, they will be in the middle.

Here is our list of things to do. We'll see how much we stick to it. I'm planning on doing some posts on the activities.

24- Play with Nativity Blocks
23- Christmas Devotional on BYU tv
22- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
21-  Play with Magnet Nativity
20- Make a homeless bag and give it to someone before Christmas
19- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
18- Watch Muppets Christmas Carol
17- Go to Tucson Zoo
16- Go see Temple Lights
15- Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol
14- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
13- Make and Decorate Sugar Cookies
12- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it.
11- Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
10- Watch Home Alone
9- Watch Mr. Krugers Christmas
8- Drive around and look at Christmas Lights
7- Visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop
6- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
5- Watch Home Alone 2
4- Open Christmas Jammies and watch Polar Express
3- Go on Polar Express
2- Watch Elf
1- Play with Magnet Activity
0- CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope this gave you some ideas! I know this time of year is hectic with all that is going on. But make sure you take the time to enjoy it! Happy Holidays!

~CJ

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

I just bought a zoo membership and I am feeling like the coolest mom in the world! I'm more excited than my little bug. Mainly because he has no clue what is in store. In celebration of my membership I'm planning a zoo day with some of my family members (4 of them have memberships too). So between the memberships and me getting a free culture pass at the mesa library everyone is getting in for free.

To give the kids an added bonus I made a scavenger hunt for them to work on while we are admiring all of the not so wild life. I just created a table in a word program and added pictures from the Phoenix zoo website. I found one online here, but our zoo doesn't have a hippo so I had to make my own. Hopefully you can use it too. If you want me to make a change for you let me know craftsbycjg@gmail.com

Here is the link to print your own scavenger hunt! When they mark off 8 spaces they get a treat. When they mark off all 15 they get another one. I have these zoo fruit snacks purchased from Sams Club.

We tested this out earlier today. As you can see it was well used. The kids enjoyed it, especially my Nephew Wyatt who is about 3 1/2. Planning on making a different 2 based on the sides of the park. We only did half today so we didn't see all that was on our list. We still got our treat though!

Do you do anything to make the zoo more fun?

Happy Monday!

~CJ

Candy Bar Boquet

***OLD POST

Are you still needing a gift for your sweetheart for tomorrow? It's not too late, this project only took about 15 minutes once I had all the stuff gathered.

When Valentine's Day first started appearing at the store I noticed this candy bar bouquet. It looked like a fun gift for a guy. Immediately I thought I could so make that! So I took another challenge, could I make one cheaper than what they sell them for??? I decided to make one for the hubs!

 This one was at Fry's. It came with a vase, Dove chocolates, 3 Hershey candy bars and one of those $1 box of chocolates that aren't really any good. (personal opinion). Then of course the cellophane and ribbons... This particular one was selling for $16.99.

So I set out to make mine... I gathered all of my supplies. Most of it I already had on hand I just needed the candy and the foam to stick it into.

 You will need:

Vase

Skewers

tissue paper or cellophane (I only had tissue paper on hand)

tape

foam (I bought it from DollarTree)

Your filler I used the Crunch heart shaped chocolates.

Candy Bars I decided to use 6- Crunch, Kit Kat, Heath, Almond Joy, Hershey Almonds, and 100 Grand

Ribbon or tulle

First fill your vase with your filler. I didn't even use an entire bag.

 

Then tape your skewers to the candy bars. I was first rolling the tape and sticking it on with the stick in between, but later they would fall off so I would recommend just putting the tape on the normal way.

 Then get your form. I never realized how messy these were.... then stick your candy bars in. I laid it down because it wouldn't stand up straight.

 Wrap your form with tissue paper and stick into vase... Tie with ribbon or tulle.

Then add your own personal message

Now for the price match up. I think it might be close...

Frys to buy it was $16.99.

For me to make mine cost was...

candy bars- $3.75

filler candy- $3 have some left

foam form- $.50

Total= $7.25

However that was because I had a majority of the stuff, If I were to buy everything estimated cost would be...

Vase- $3 (cheap ones from Walmart)

Skewers- $1 for a pack of 100

Candy filler $3

Candy bars $3.75

Tape $1

Tissue Paper $1

Total= $12.75 

You would still spend less AND have stuff left over. Sounds like another win to me! I understand that when buying from stores you are also paying for the employee to assemble it together for you, but seriously this took very little time. 

So if you have a craft closet like mine you could make out with a nice gift for your valentine for under $8. Are it is more customized because you can choose his favorite candy! This would be perfect for any gift giving holiday or just because. Men love surprises too, almost as much as chocolate:) Or maybe I'm thinking of me...

I've also seen these with different snack items that would be fun also. Do you have any out of the ordinary bouquet ideas? One of these days I'm attempting a fruit bouquet.

~CJ

Post transfers

So as some of you may know I used to have a blog with my Sister-in-law Jen and friend Laryssa called ourdiydiaries. I decided I wanted to go my own direction with a blog and we went our separate ways. They are now blissful55. You may be wondering why I am going over all this... #1 They are awesome and have so much fun stuff on their blog. If you don't already, you should follow them. #2 They are reorganizing their blog and decided to let me move over my posts to my blog. What does that mean to you? Lots of posts coming your way!!! They may be duplicates if you already followed us so don't get annoyed,just put up with it for a little bit! I really appreciate it! I love all my followers and the chance that I have to share my love of crafting and teaching my son with you. Thanks for following! ~CJ

Pipe Cleaner Accessories

The other day the little bug and I played with pipe cleaners. He liked bending them and loved when I made them into accessories! Like these pipe cleaner glasses!

 It took 2 pipe cleaners, one for each "lense" and ear piece. We also made a bracelet. Those were his favorites!

Sometimes I find myself spending too much time doing stuff for me (sewing, crafting, pinterest etc), I leave my bug to entertain himself. I missing out on so much fun and making memories. I'm trying harder to focus on doing fun silly things with him each day!

~CJ

Ps this is my 50th post! Kind of exciting!!!

Color Sorting

HAPPY OCTOBER! (This means I can put up Halloween decorations now right?)

I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was fun. As usual my laid back Saturday turned out pretty busy.

My little bug is getting really good at matching things up. So I decided to make him a sorting tray. I picked up a serving tray last weekend from Goodwill for $.50 on half price day. I was going to paint each compartment, but using paper was much easier, faster, and this way I can switch them out for different colors.

 So far we have only sorted pop poms, but he loves it! He doesn't quite make it through all of the balls, but he gets enough to go through a few of each color! He loves Blue and that is the only color he says. Everything is BLUE!

I hope this gives you an idea to do with your little one. You don't even need a tray. just paper would work. I've done this with Egg cartons and plastic Easter eggs before too!

~CJ

Swap Week- File Folder Games

IT'S FINALLY HERE! 

I'm finally prepared enough to start swap week! Which just realized is crazy since I'm throwing my best friend's bridal shower this weekend!!! It's ok I'll manage. I don't want to put this off any longer.

The first swap I want to tell you about is a file folder game swap. 12 people participated and we each did 2 different games. We did this in 2 parts to make it a little easier. We each made 12 of 2 games and then swapped. It was a lot of work, but so worth it! The kids loved it! (***I did not make all of these, so I may not be able to add a link to all of these sources. I will do my best.)

To start off some things I learned about making file folders...
- Print out the pieces that do not attach to the folder on card stock. Yes it's laminated, but it still needs the extra thickness.
- If doing a swap and making a bunch, start with plenty of time. They do take time to make, very tedious!
- Cheapest place to laminate is Teaching Stuff. Ask to sign up for their membership program it's FREE and makes it cost way less! It was cheaper than using contact paper, someone in the group had their own lamination machine and this was still cheaper.

Plan of Salvation- This is a nice churchy one and good for FHE. Just matching up the pieces.

Let's go on a picnic- This is a little game. You each are an ant and are racing to see who can get to the picnic first. We haven't played this one yet. I'm trying to come up with something to use instead of dice.

 Chick Chick Boom Boom- LOVE this one. This was one of my favorite books growing up so I find it fun. Would be fun to use while reading the story too.

Counting Ladybugs- Counting the dots and matching the number, both spelled out and the number.

Race Car Counting- I did this one. Matching the number with the dots. What I like is the colors are different so really you could do numbers or color matching. I tried doing a magnet, but it wasn't strong enough. Any tips or something other than velcro it's so noisy.

Sequence Cupcakes- Arrange the cupcakes from smallest to largest

Dino Egg Match- Match the egg with the same color dino. This one is kind of tricky because some of them are really similar colors for a kid.

 Decorate an easter egg- (not sure if link is correct) This one is one of my favorites. She used some type of thick double sided tape so the pieces stick anywhere you want.

Down on the Farm- Fun for teaching animals. Match the head with the tail.

 Search for Shapes- Not sure where this one is from, I couldn't find it anywhere. It's fun though. Spin to see which shape to go to. First one to finish wins.

Achy Breaky Heart- Match the colors together

Heart Counting- Match the number with the same amount of dots.

 Heart Patterns- Not sure of the source. Match up the shapes that have different patterns on them.

Noah's Ark- Either fill up the ark with the animals or put opposite velcro on the same animals and pair the animals together. I think I might add a piece of velcro on the boat because not everyone fits in the windows.

 Don't Eat Pete & Tic Tac Toe- This is a twofer! On the left is a tic tac toe game. Since it's laminated you can just use a dry erase marker. The right is don't eat pete!

Shape Sorter- A bunch of different objects, match the shape with the object.

Match the Shapes- Yep just like it says, match the shapes.

 Snakes and Laddes- Based on the childrens game.

Family Garden- LOVE this one! There are slots for the carrots and beets to go into. So fun!

I hope this list gives you some ideas of some great file folder games. It is so much easier to mass produce. Gather up a few mamas and have them do this with you. I bought the file folders at Dollar Tree 10 for $1. Some people found them cheaper at Wal-Mart, but I think it varied by store. Cost for laminating was like $10-12 for all 24 games.

Have fun! Your kids will thank you:) Come back tomorrow for another swap idea.

~CJ

Swap Week Introduction

I know we have all heard of Shark Week, well next week on crafts by CJ it's Swap Week!

I have been participating in a lot of swaps lately. My husband thinks I'm nuts and has a hard time keeping track of what it what. This is my little introduction  to get you as excited as I am. If you don't already follow my blog you are going to want to, so many ideas are coming to you in one place!

Here is the line up...
File Folder Swap 
Recipe Swap
Freezer Meal Swap
Card Swap
Busy Bag Swap



See you next week:)
~CJ

Red, White & Blue Mantle

Our entertainment center is the perfect mantle height and size. I love it! I  can decorate like a mantle without having a fireplace.

I have some hurricane vases I made that have been empty. I decided I wanted to do a 4th of July themed mantle so I needed to come up with a filler. Trying to use what I already had on hand I came up with tissue paper and I kind of like it.

What do you think? 

So here is my mantle all put together