No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas; DIY Bubble Gum Machine Pumpkin

 Do your kids have pumpkin decorating contests at their school? Ours do in a few grades. My daughter made a minion a couple years ago. And this year my first grader brought home a pumpkin from her field trip to the pumpkin patch and got to decorate it (without any carving). She had all kinds of ideas and even drew them all out, but this is the one she chose. 

I love that it was easy enough that she could do almost all of it herself!
She was so proud and LOVES it!

Here's how we made it. We actually already had everything we needed at home to make it too! Super simple!

Childrens Books and Crafts Round Up; Goodnight Moon and DIY Children's Moon Nightlight

I'm excited to share today's post with you today. I love reading and want to instill that in my kids, so today I am sharing a favorite Children's book of ours for our littles and a craft to go along with it.  AND my little post is just part of 50+!!! posts on the same thing. Lots of lots of great books and crafts are being shared this week. I gotta say, I'm so happy that I was invited and signed up to be part of this big round up months ago, With everything being "out of whack" in my life recently, this has been great to still do with my kids. Read It, Make it Book + Craft over at Emma Owls here. 

AND it's perfect timing, with the summer months coming up! These will be great little afternoon time  filling helpers!

I honestly had a hard time choosing what book to do a craft on, so we've actually done a few lately. I posted one we have done in the past here with the book: There's a Monster at the end of this Book. It's still a favorite book of my kids and one I remember as a kid too!

But today, I chose a "classic" Goodnight Moon. It's one of those books that you read to your kids when they are really young, but that my 16 year old can still remember the words to! I love that! I love this book! It's so simple and yet the kids just love it!

And for the craft, I thought, what better than to make a fun little moon themed night light that the kids can take to bed after reading the book before bed?! 

Valentine Gifts Galore; Day 5: Hot Air Balloon Valentine

Well, today is our last day of a week filled with DIY Valentine ideas. Which one has been your favorite so far? 

I've saved the best for last, because today's is just as easy and soooooo cute and fun and sure to catch some eyes. I love this one for teachers, kids, or your loved one. It's so fun and so easy! 

It's my favorite one this week!

It's a hot air balloon valentine that is so easy to make! 

  

All you need is:

A Wall of Christmas {Decor}

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for the end of this week. If you have kiddos in school, you know how crazy these last two weeks have been...especially this one! I've been up since 5:30 this am working on last minute Christmas gifts my kids told me about last night! UGH! (My son told me last night he had a white elephant gift exchange in one class today and can he also take gifts to his teachers?) I think I have made about 20 teacher gifts now this week. Ha! Plus little gifts for my kids' friends and for classmates, and a teacher's bday, and and and...then you get all the class parties and more! I'm exhausted and so ready to sleep in! haha

One thing I did finish recently though was my "Wall of Christmas"! It's so fun with fun Christmas quotes. I love how it turned out and wanted to share.

It really was pretty easy and I love how it transforms our living room even more into the spirit of Christmas! I pretty much took boards and frames I already had and just gave them all an update! I also took a bunch of my fav pics of my kids in the snow and put them all in a frame. So fun!

Glue Dots Designer

Have you checked out Glue Dots blog yet? I am excited to be one of their designers this year and have been having fun with some of my projects for them. In fact, two of them are up right now! The Winter Wonderland card and Christmas in a Can. Remember my little Hogs and Kisses can I made here? 

It's been one of my most pinned posts and was so fun and easy to make. If you like that, you need to check out my Christmas in a Can post on the Glue Dots site too! So fun and you could make from things you already have around your house!

Glue Dots is always posting all kinds of tips and tricks and fun little projects to do on their blog and on their Glue Dots Fan Facebook page as well. So go check them out and let me know what you think of my projects for them!

DIY Mini Pumpkin Sweet Treats {with Orange Tulle}

#pumpkin #pumpkinlove #fallfun #falltreats #pumpkinsweets 

#diy #tutorial #pumpkintreats #candypumpkins

I said it before, and I'll say it again...I love anything pumpkin! haha Maybe it's the bright pretty colors? Who knows, but I have a fun little DIY pumpkin treat to share with you today!

But first, I wanted to tell you how excited I am to be the newest Glue Dots Design team member. My first project for them is up on their blog today here. So head over there and check out the super easy and fun craft tutorial I have there to make a DIY Autumn Leaf Canvas. It's gorgeous and full of those warm, call colors that you will love!

Okay, back to these oober cute and easy little Orange tulle pumpkins. They are adorable and great to make for a few friends, teachers, co-workers, or even a whole classroom!

Here's what you'll need to get started:

DIY Easy 10 Minute Pumpkin Decorating {with Thumb Tacks and Push Pins}

Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!I love pumpkins! 

I love all of the recipes that use pumpkin this time of year. I love taking pictures in pumpkin patches. I love the happy color of pumpkins. I love it all!

So this past week, I decided to decorate a few of the pumpkins out on my front porch a little differently and I had so much fun! I love the way they came out and add a bit more charm to it all! And it only took me 10 minutes or less! So so easy that any of you can do it!

Materials:

All you'll need is some pumpkins, thumb tacks, string and some paint pens or vinyl for a bit more decoration if you want.

U is for Ukulele and V is for Vinyl!

#Silhouetterocks #SilhouetteAmerica #vinyl #ukulele 

I'm so excited to share with you a little bit of fun I had with a friend. Her oldest had a birthday recently and wanted a ukulele. BUT...with the fun personality he (AND his mother) has, she wanted to add something more to it for him. She asked me about putting vinyl on it, and I was like "Sure!" Let's go for it! (Hadn't tried it before, but was pretty sure it would adhere just fine. And why not try?! haha)

He had mentioned flames at one point, but is not really a rocker kind of kid...but is a great Boy Scout who likes camping, so we came up with the idea of putting a campfire on the front of it.

Didn't it turn out so fun?!

For the Love of Acorns [Collection}

I don't know what it is about acorns...but I love them! I always have! When I was little, I don't ever remember seeing them where I grew up. I always thought they were as big as a fist. haha Then in High School. my family moved and I remember walking home from school one day and seeing some on the ground under a tree next to the road. I was astonished that they were so small! haha BUT there's just something about them...love them!

Apparently. I am not the only one either, because I have found a whole slew of ways to DIY acorns into fun crafts, jewelry and more! So, this weekend, I wanted to share a few of the ones that I found that caught my attention!

Summer Fun with Cousin Swaps! {DIY Water Bottles}

We've been having fun with ALL girls in our house the last couple weeks. We have cousins visiting and our boys are gone visiting other cousins elsewhere. We've had craft days and outtings, and swimming, and lots and lots of karoke, and basically lots of girl fun.Such a different dynamic in our house and my poor hubby has been so outnumbered. Ha!

But, I wanted to share with you one little thing we did as a DIY craft one afternoon. We picked up some water bottles and decided to personalize them so that they could each have a little something to remember this summer together. PLUS, they have worked great here at home and on outtings to help keep everyone hydrated in the summer heat! (And it has eliminated the number of cups used in our house too! WIN! haha)

We decided to just put Cousin Swap on the bottles, and the year mainly, but had to add some names and a fun sun for the summer fun we are having. We kept the design simple, and love the way it came out! They each helped to apply the vinyl to the bottles too. 

DIY Car or Home Air Freshener

Hellllloooo Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! They always go by too fast, don't they?

Well today, I'm excited to share with you one of the simplest DIY projects that I love! It's my own DIY Car freshener or home air freshener.

It's really simple, so I'm going to get right to the specifics for you!

I start with a little chipboard. Any shape will work. I just picked this little flower that I had one hand to show you today. It's about 3 inches in diameter.

Summer Fun with Fireflies Bookmark {Kids Craft}

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend and got to relax a little with family and friends and enjoy celebrating living in a free country!

We had tons of fun and spent a lot of time outside. One of my kids' favorite things to do in the summer is to watch and to try and catch fireflies (or lightning bugs...whichever you call them at your house). So...with that in our minds and all of the summer reading we are doing at our house, we decided to make some Summer Fun Firefly Bookmarks!

There are so fun and easy to do too! I loved them as much as my kids. AND it's a great craft for kids of ANY age! Keep reading to see how we made them!

Red, White, and Blue DIY Festive Chunky Bead Necklaces

Are you ready to celebrate the Fourth of July?! We are! It's one of our most favorite holidays at our house and we love dressing up for it too! Last year we made these fun little DIY Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Apron Skirts here. And we still love them! I especially love the one that I made from a neckerchief. In fact, I've been working on a tablecloth/picnic spread blanket out of checkered patriotic neckerchiefs lately as well.

BUT...today I wanted to share these fun red, white, and blue festive bead necklaces we made for the big day! They were so easy and fun to make too!

I love how they are all different and unique to each girl. 

Washi tape and Duct Tape Covered Notebooks {DIY Summer Craft}

I don't know how your summer days are going, but ours have been great! My girls have been enjoying doing some crafts with me lately and I wanted to share these fun little easy notebooks we made this week. They're perfect for a summer afternoon inside, out of the heat! 

AND they're perfect for ANYONE, ANY AGE. AND...a great kids craft OR even for you and some friends! Inexpensive and little time required too! All you need is a bit of tape and a notebook. 

3D Wire Star Craft Tutorial

I don't know about you, but I have been BUSY BUSY this week and I still have so many more things to do still before the week is over! I did have a little fun with a small craft that I can add to my Fourth of July decorations though. AND I can even use it at Christmas time as well! (I love using the same decorations for more than one holiday when I can! Less to store!) 

Well, if you follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook you may have seen a sneak peak of today's post already. It's a great one for From this to That Friday. From a spool of wire, to a hanging star! It's a really fun, fast and simple tutorial on how to make wire stars. 

They're so simple and still 3D and pretty. You can leave them as the plain silver wire stars like I did, OR you can spray paint them and make them red, white, and blue or whatever color you want!

So today I am sharing a little tutorial on how to make these little gems.

End of Year Teacher Gifts and Summer DIY Tshirts!

My kids were excited to be sporting these fun DIY Summer tshirts today (that we made last year for our summer vacation). SO SO excited for the last day of school today!

DIY Mother's Day Gift: Keepsake Handprint Towel

I've got a quick little DIY Mother's Day Gift idea for you if you're still looking for some last minute ideas. And this one is super easy and quick, but a fun one to make and keep!

All you need for this one is a towel and some colored sharpies!

One of my favorite gifts I get from my kids are the ones that last forever, and that I can keep or even better, use all year, every year. Well this is one of those kind of gifts! A Keepsake Handprint towel.

Keepsake Handwriting Rolling Pin {DIY Mothers Day Gift)

This shop is not compensated in any way for this post. All opinions are mine.

#mothersday #diy #gift #handwriting #keepsake #mothersdaygiftideas #mothersday2015

If you're anything like me, as a mom, I love to keep little treasures of how my kids' handwriting looks. I love the little handprint things they make me many years for Mother's Day too. But I thought it would be fun to do something different this year. So I gave myself a Mother's Day gift when I had the kids help me make today's project! ;)

I picked up this wooden rolling pin at the store...and decided I wanted each of my kids to write their names on it, in their own handwriting. So, here's what I did: