Friday Favorites and Freebies

Hope find something that fits your fancy on this fantastic Friday!

Bring on the pumpkin pie-scicles-frozen is always fun!

Here is a fun site that has a lot of resources for Little Projects with your kids-Have fun!

Looking for some fun sewing projects to do? These have free patterns so you can get a start on holiday gift-giving :)

Make some fun alphabet cards from leaves with these directions.

If you've ever wondered how to do things on you blog like slash through text, try these tips.

Grab a"featured" button from the left sidebar if you made the list today! Happy Friday!

Button Button, my button is missing!

The company I had my blog designed by has had issues and changed to a new server. This means that if you had my old button, it no longer works :( Please scroll down the left side bar and pick up the new code for the This Little Project button.

Sorry for the big pain. At least I'm not to blame, right?

Piano Pumpkins

(This photo used to go the other direction...who knows why it's on it's head now! Sorry!)

I think it's fabulous that a piano is so naturally dressed up for Halloween: black and white. Just add a little orange with these mini pumpkins, tie a ribbon around the top and secure one around the middle (with a flat tack or tape) to dress it up a little more.

Now the piano is really dressed up. But of course, you could put them anywhere :)

I love easy Little Projects!

Halloween Treats-YUM!

Tis the season for fun treats! Here are some ideas we've tried so far...

Chocolate foil-covered "eye balls" add a fun element to decorating cupcakes. We used the foil "hearts" bent flat at the bottom to turn them into "pumpkins." Candy corn noses and sixlets topped them off.

I can't turn this picture, but candy corn rice krispie treats are a fun mix on the traditional. Just add red and yellow food coloring after you've combined the marshmallows, butter, and rice cereal together. The combination comes out with some white marshmallow, with orange and yellow rice cereal. "YUMilicious!" as Jay says!

These Ghost peeps are an easy addition to any cake or cupcake. They are going to be devoured by my piano students tonight :)
Happy treat-making Projects!

Halloween Sensory Activity

I know that some of you may have made these before, but it is a new Little Project for us :)

Today we made a Rice Sensory box. It's fun to hide things in the rice and then search for them and the kids LOVE using the scoops to put the rice into containers and plastic pumpkins that they got this weekend. It's kind of like a sandbox for the cold months. We made some other colors too so we can switch it for the season-easy and FUN!

To make yours you need: zipper lock plastic bags, food coloring, rice, aluminum foil, (oven optional)

Just put in some food coloring and shake the rice around to color it. {Little Project Tip:} The zipper lock CAN come undone, so if you have helpers beware :)

It took more food coloring than I thought, but we finally got a nice autumn color mix.

Then you can either wait for it to dry for a day. Or you can put it in the oven at 200 degrees for at least 15 minutes to help it dry. Check it to see if it is done by touching it. If the food coloring comes off, it's not dry :)

Then put it in a bin and play!

We added black beans for some extra color :)
Note: if the color isn't holding, add a teaspoon or 2 of rubbing alcohol to the mixture
Thanks to all the other moms who have blogged about and recommended this great activity. It's a fun Little Project!

Friday Favorites and Freebies-Halloween Edition

There are so many great ideas to celebrate right now. I'm not big into Halloween but I love the leaves, the colors, and the treats that come along with this time of year. Have a Fantastic Friday!

These "Monster Gift" Treats are so cute-a great neighbor gift!

A great recycling craft for the season to do with the kids that looks GREAT!

So many great Halloween ideas to be found from this great set of sisters. Go check them out-decor, eats, games, crafts for the kids, etc.

Lots of great fun with faces for little ones who might not be ready for a pumpkin carving knife here!

So many yummy treats to make and share-I can't decide which to first-This one or That one? Both would be better!

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Leaf People for Little People

We spent the day yesterday and today raking leaves...we have a ton more to go still! Can you find Jay in this photo? All these leaves led to a little leaf activity fun!

First we collected and then sorted the leaves by size.

The kids chose one bigger leaf and 4 smaller leaves. These make the head, hands, and feet.

We also picked up small sticks from branches on the ground to use for the body and limbs.

Some glue and paper turned these into leaf people! Here is Jay:

And here is Kay:
It's funny how much personality came out in the leaves and sticks they chose. Kay dances everywhere and she HAD to have a pink leaf for her "head."

I think we may finish up with a family portrait of leave people for fun :) Enjoy This Little Leaf People Project!

Birthday Girl's Dress-Up

I'm so lucky to have my sister in town right now! Mine and my husband's family lives about 2 day's drive away so it is such a treat to have family around. I don't write much for you though....for instance, Kay's party happened back at least a week ago and I have yet to tell you about all the fun we had! You may remember that she is in LOVE with PIGS right now....

So for starters, since I'm off in a minute to go hang out and eat ice cream with my sister, here is a some fun I had with her little birthday outfit. The really fun part for me is that the skirt is made entirely out of my old clothes!! My "new" favorite trick is to use "old" to make "new!" I love the challenge that it brings as well as the benefit! Here is the BEFORE photo

Those are the polka dot capris I had in high school...can you believe I wore those!? Let me tell you-they were AWESOME to go disco skating in the black light with! My sister had the same ones, only with blue dots-we looked great (back then). But they have been sitting in my dresser for years and when I went through my closet because I was too pregnant to wear any of my old stuff I decided that I couldn't think of a reason to keep them :( I also pulled out a ton of old T-shirts and was about to put them in a sack to take to the thrift store when I realized that THEY WERE ALL PINK!!! and WHO LOVES PINK? My little KAY!

So they stayed home afterall and look at them now! The ruffle is from a pink T-shirt and those capris made a cute little 2 and skirt :)

Since we already had the shirt, her new birthday outfit cost absolutely ZILCH! Happy Birthday to the Budget :)

Oh, and these are the little Piggies I made to go in her Piggy Tail hair...
I made one to go on her shirt too-but with velcro so I can take it off to wash it. (She takes if off too to give it hugs!) I'll put a few in the store for you ;)
And I had a great time making everything...it doesn't hurt that I get to relive memories when she wears her outfit either :) There is just something so fun about getting to dress up your little girl, don't ya think!

Friday Favorites and Freebies

Happy Friday! I hope you find something to fit your fancy on this fine Friday!

We finally tried out Jitterbug this week. It's a kid-friendly web site with great music options (minus the occasion ads on the videos). The kids loved the videos and I loved that I got some sewing done while they watched since the computer happens to be next to the sewing machine!

Want an easy way to monogram or a unique way to put your child's name up on the wall? Check this out-so easy to personalize it!

Thecolor.com lets kids color online. It's always a fun variation for preschoolers who think they are big enough to have some computer time :)

Are you looking for a free way to budget better? Check out mint.com. It has been highly recommended and is easy to use.

And these Halloween spinners look so fun for a party!

Grab an "I've been featured" button from the left side-bar if you made the list today!

New Halloween Collection

I've been working out the details for the all the little darlings in our Halloween Collection over at Crown Your Princess. Take a look-you'll want to find an excuse to dress up a little princess! If you have questions on ordering, send a note to crownyourprincess@gmail.com

Friday Favorites and Freebies

Sorry for the delay on today's Favorites. I hope you find something to fit your fancy! Happy Friday!

Have you ever seen a lawn mower fly? This video of a flying lawn mower had us giggling!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there is a beautiful giveaway to check out here.

Decorate a cookie without cooking one...how? Check this out-my kids love this!

Make a sweet gift bag in 5 minutes!

I'm so looking forward to making these amazing beads from paper!

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New Growing Walls

With Kay's birthday just around the corner I am finishing up a few {Little Projects}.  As a kid we had a "Growing Wall" where we would mark everyone's heights. It was fun to see what height each child was at each age-we lived there for 20 years and loved to compare them! But we moved and "The Wall" is gone...painted right over! Tragic! It would have been so fun to be able to compare my heights as a kid to my kids' as they grew...

I'm determined not to loose our "Growing Wall" so I have been working on creating one for Jay and Kay. But I decided it would be even more fun to SEE what they looked like at that height too. So our new birthday tradition will be to mark the growing wall and put a birthday photo in-I made places for up to 18 years old. We can take our "Growing Wall" with us when we move in a couple of months.

Below are some photos of Kay's Growing Wall. Jay's is the same, only blue wood. I'm considering doing baby #3's right now while I'm at it...I don't think I've mentioned that...but baby #3 will be here in March. And I may as well get 3 Growing Walls done now!

Here are some tips if you would like to create a Growing Wall too:
I picked up a board from the hardware store that is about 5.5" across and 5' tall. It's pretty thin...maybe half inch? We will hold it up 2 feet from the floor when measuring. It's painted with acrylic paint.

I used "Kwikits" to hold the pictures-just glued to the board. Kwikits are kind of like the photo holders you get in your wallet to hold photos. I picked these up at the scrapbook store and then cut them apart and glued them where I wanted them.

The frames are "Inpirables" glued on as well. I picked these and the mini clip board holders up at a scrapbooking outlet in Utah a year ago. By the way, Utah is the scrapbooking capital of the world. So if you get to visit take advantage!

I used a silver sharpie marker to do the height lines (I penciled them first).

Inside each of the Kwikits is a piece of card stock with a sticker and number representing each age. We will just add a photo to make our Growing Wall into a photo album too!

Enjoy making a fun place to celebrate your little one and a fun yearly tradition with your growing wall {Little Project}!

Friday Favorites and Freebies-Autumn Edition

Happy Friday to you!  I hope you find something to fit your fancy!

Check out this link for pumpkin patches in your area.

Here are some free printable paper dolls with several sets of clothes-including costumes for the season-I love the expressions on their faces!

These paper pumpkins are darling and great for centerpieces.

Choose from a variety of FREE e-books on various crafting projects like sewing, knitting, etc.  You could make some great autumn decor with a new skill!

Carve a pumpkin without any mess (my kids love this!)

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Tricky Toast

Happy 1st Day of October! Here is an idea for some tricky toast. Jay has been so hungry lately (I think he's going through a growth spurt) that we've been adding extra to his breakfast and he really liked this. Sorry for the bad photos lately, my camera is having issues... It's a nice orange looking meal.

Use a festive cookie cutter on your bread.

Lightly butter both sides of your bread and crack an egg into the center of a pan (use a little cooking spray beneath where the egg will land so you can flip it easier.)  Cook one side then flip and cook the other side.  This will be a sunny-side up egg.

Serve with some cantaloupe for a nice orange October breakfast :)
Enjoy a yummy {Little Project}