Friday, January 27, 2012

heart mosaic


Have a toddler and looking to keep them busy for a bit? Then this is the perfect craft to make. 

I grabbed a piece of 12 x 12 pink scrapbooking paper and drew the outline of a heart using a pencil. Then I gave Claire some scraps of pink patterned paper. Claire cut random shapes out of the pink paper. Then I gave her the bottle of glue and asked that she glue the paper all within the heart shape. She kept going until the whole heart was full. The best part was that when she was done this heart, she asked to make another one!

What are you making for Valentine's Day?


Monday, January 23, 2012

footprint dump truck carrying love



Are you looking to send an extra special Valentine to someone this year? Maybe Grandma, Grandpa, or even a teacher? Then this is it! It's a footprint dump truck, carrying an extra special load of love.

This was a very easy craft to make. I painted the kids feet yellow (I mixed in a bit of orange so that the yellow would be easier to see) and stamped them on the paper. Then once the paint was dry, Claire and I set out to finish off our trucks. We drew on our windows and wheels on the truck. (Some of us have different visions of what windows look like.)

Then I cut a piece of brown paper (because that dump truck is working hard pulling that load of love up the hill) and glued it underneath the truck.We drew some grass on the hill, and then set out to fill up the dump truck. Claire can't (or won't) draw hearts yet, so we used an old heart punch that I have to cut hearts out of paper. She had a great time gluing them on the truck.

If you don't have a heart punch, or your child knows how to draw hearts (!) then the footprint dump truck looks just as adorable with the hearts drawn in.

 So, get out the paint and paper, and set to work to surprise someone with one of these special Valentines this year. And if you do make these, let me know. I'd love to see how yours turn out!
 
   
Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & The Grant Life & An Original Belle& Michelle Paige & Tip JunkieTatertots and Jello

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

bee mine Valentine

Looking for a quick and simple Valentine this year? How about these bumblebee, be (or bee!) mine Valentines. Want the how to? Keep on reading...
I used some tags that I had leftover from my thumbprint snowmen tags that I made for Christmas. I think these would look great on standard office supply tags too. I mixed some yellow paint, with just a touch of orange paint, just to make the yellow a bit darker. Claire went to town stamping her thumbprints on the tags. After Claire was in bed that night, I used a red pen to draw on the heart at the top of the tags. I also wrote be mine. Claire just started writing her letters so she probably would have taken up this whole tag to write those words!

When Claire woke up the next morning she was anxious to finish drawing the bumblebees. She drew on their strips and faces. Together, we drew on the wings. I attached some twine to the tags and we were done!

Pass out these sweet Valentines this year!

Monday, January 9, 2012

thumbprint Valentine Day bookmarks

 Valentine's Day is just around the corner. We're getting a head start on our projects this year, mostly because Claire loves working on new 'projects'. Switch it up this year and hand out little Valentine Day bookmarks. These were quite easy to make- and you probably have all of the supplies on hand right now. Paper, paint, markers and googly eyes (optional). Go ahead, go check for them. I'll wait right here. 

 Claire loved drawing all the faces and gluing the eyes on the animals. And the back of the bookmark is the perfect spot to write a little message to your special Valentine.

 I cut all of the paper before Claire and I sat down to start this craft. I used 12 x 12 paper. I cut it in half, and then cut two inch strips (so the bookmarks are 6 x2). I did use my corner punch to round the corners of the bookmarks, but obviously this is a very optional step. Using my hole puncher I punched the hole for the ribbon.
 Using brown paint Claire stamped her thumbprint. Once it was dry, we used a brown marker to draw the ears. I used my hole puncher to punch some holes from cream coloured paper for the nose of the bear. Claire glued on the eyes.
 The lion was the easiest of all of the bookmarks. I mixed a little bit (and I mean tiny bit) of orange paint with the yellow paint so that it would look more lion-y (I know that's not a word.) Draw on the mane, and mouth, and glue on the eyes.
 We used red paint for the bird, and then used an orange marker for the comb and legs. A black marker for the smile, and then we glued on googly eyes.
I mixed a bit of the purple paint with white paint so that we'd have a lighter shade of paint for the top wings. Once the paint was dry we used a grey marker to draw the body of the butterfly and the antennas. We added a smile with a red marker, and glued on googly eyes.
 After Claire stamped her thumbprint with the white paint, she dipped her pinky finger in the white paint to stamp the ears. Once it was dry, we used a pink marker to colour in the ears, and draw the nose. We used a black marker for the smile and whiskers. Googly eyes finished it off.
 Stamp the frog using green paint. Once it's dry use a green marker to draw the legs and the round balls behind the eyes. Use a black marker to draw the nose and smile. Glue the googly eyes on top of the frog.

Show me what you're making for Valentine's Day. Link it up in the comments. 























Sunday, January 8, 2012

Valentine Day crafts


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It's Valentine's Day crafting week here on sweet and lovely crafts!!! I'm kicking the week off with a look at some of the crafts that we made last year for Valentine's Day.


love Bug Valentines

toilet paper roll Valentines

gumdrop wreath

find love & hold tight printable

love sign

delicious chocolate cupcakes

Pop back early in the week to have a look at some of the new projects that we've been working on around here.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Maple Cinnamon Sugar Baked Donuts


So for Christmas this year my sister (the best one in the whole world!!) gave me a donut pan. I've only had it for one week now and I've already tried out three different recipes. I really liked these donuts, but I found the bottom outer layer a but chewy. Next time that I make them (and there will be a next time) I'm not going to spray my pan and see if that makes a difference.


Maple Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
From Handle the Heat via Cooking with my Kid (altered ever so slightly)
Yield: 6 donuts ( although, I didn't quite fill my pans, so I got 9 donuts)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 egg (lightly beaten)
  • 6 oz container of non fat organic vanilla bean yogurt (I couldn't find vanilla bean, so I just used organic vanilla)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons real maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter (melted)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cinnamon and sugar together in a shallow dish and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. In another bowl stir together oil, maple syrup, egg and yogurt.
2. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the hole. Gently fold everything together until combined. The batter will be thick.
3. Scoop batter into a piping bag or ziploc bag, snip a bottom corner with scissors, and squeeze out the batter evenly into a donut pan. (Trust me when I say this is so much easier than trying to spoon the batter into the donut pan!)
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack while still warm.
5. Use a pastry brush the melted butter over your donuts and then dip each donut in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Serve immediately after coating with cinnamon sugar mixture. 






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