How to Make Homemade Maracas

As usual, we look forward to an excuse to have a little fun around here. Being that today is Cinco de Mayo, we went for some homemade maracas (from plastic Easter eggs) and a skirt made from 2 place mats (from the dollar store) and quesdillas for lunch (of course).

To make some noise and celebrate, here are some easy directions for homemade maracas (being a music teacher, I'm excited to add these to our collection!)

You need: Plastic Easter eggs, beans, rice, flour, water, salt, crepe paper, modge podge or other sealer.

Put some rice and beans into your plastic egg and then close it. (of course, you may choose anything that is noisy. Beans and rice were handy and appropriate for the day.)

For the "glue" you need one part flour to two parts water. I added about 1.5 teaspoons of salt. The amount of mix will vary depending on how many you make.

Cut your crepe paper (I used the kind that you can make streamers with and comes on a roll) into pieces. Dip the pieces of crepe paper in the "flour sauce" and put them over your plastic egg. Cover it with a couple of layers and let it dry.

When it is dry put a layer or two of modge podge to seal it so it will last through lots of fun noise making.

Play, shake, and listen!
I put a few more flowers hair clips in the shop so you can crown your princess with flowers too :)

I've had this white trim for awhile and it seemed like the perfect thing to dress up a skirt I made from 2 dollar store place mats. Little Kay loves it!
Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Words

I just finished a really good read: These is My Words. I have to admit that there were times I couldn't put this book down! The book follows the life of a woman named Sarah in the late 1800's as she learns, loves and lives life. She wrestles with the same kinds of things women wrestle with now and deals with the struggles of settling the west. It is the kind of book that makes you realize how blessed you are and how alike life really is for all of us.

Sarah loves to learn and books are her treasure. She never had the chance to go to school. Don't let the title fool you, the book is well written. But she dreams of higher learning possibilities. She is constantly trying to fill her well of knowledge. Her husband was trained at West Point, but she actually doesn't learn this until after they are married. When she finds out she is worried that he sees her as ignorant. This is one of my favorite quotes from Captain Elliot, her husband, "Sarah, In the first place, you aren't ignorant...and in the second place, Education doesn't keep a person from being a fool, and the lack of it doesn't keep a person from being intelligent."

She is so thirsty to know things and later in the book she says, "Blue Horse said to me...'wisdom is not a path, it is a tree.' At the time I was too busy to give it much thought, so I nodded politely but didn't pay much attention. Now I see that he was surely right. I have been sad almost a whole year, thinking that taking that test was somehow the end of my learning and that not having that as a possibility in my future left a big empty spot in my life that the children and the ranch didn't fill. But my life is not like that, it is a tree, and I can stay in one place and spread out in all directions, and I can do more learning shading this brood of mine than if I was all alone. I declare, it is like some other part of me made up some rules about happiness and I just went along with them without thinking. My heart is lightened so much that I am amazed at how sad I felt for so long."
"I have donated a box of books to the library of the university, and paid for a tree to be planted near the fountain which will be built by the front steps..."

I think most Mothers have felt this way to some degree. Like there are so many things that they want to do and know. They want to be free to fly from tree to tree. But their children have ahold of them. And they are holding onto those children also. And really, that is the best thing there is. And there are other ways to fly. But if you grow as a tree then things do fly to you.

I have to say that I do love to read. It's one of my favorite Little Projects. I'm a big fan of words. They feed me somehow. And when I read them I feel like I do fly from one tree to the next. It's easiest when the children are napping...

new look Little BLOG Project

Sara at subjectivebeauty.com has been busy creating a new DESIGN look for This Little Project. I'm hoping you will like the new look. If you are looking for something and can't find it, please leave a comment. It should be up and running soon.

MORE Edible Finger Puppets

We made these edible finger puppets for Family Night and the kiddos thought it was really fun to try and make their finger puppet look like them.  They are easy to make and tasty to eat!

Here is what you need: peanut butter (or honey) to use as the "glue" to hold the eyes (mini chocolate chips), hair (colored with sprinkles), and mouth (different shaped sprinkles) on.  Then of course you need some bananas and pretzels too!

For smaller kids, it helps if you put the peanut butter on and they just "decorate" their yummy finger puppet.  Mine loved to choose the colors out especially.

To make your edible finger puppets:
I just used the top and bottom of the bananas for our finger puppets.

Spread the peanut butter like it is glue and then use your sprinkles and mini chocolate chips to bring your banana finger puppet to life!
I used the middles to stand up the ones that were done while we made a few more.  Just don't leave them sticking into the banana for too long because the pretzel gets mushy :)

If you missed our other edible finger puppets, go HERE

This Little Project was tasty! Can you see any family resemblance?

Make Some Flower Power

We made some of these Flower Power Rings and stems to send to my Grandma a few weeks ago when my Grandpa passed away. We wanted to send flowers that wouldn't die and this is what we came up with. They are also perfect for May day and Mother's Day too (and would be a fun sleepover or birthday craft too!)

You might remember that we made some of these little hand candies back in Februrary for Valentine's Day too.  If you want to see how to give them some bling, check out that post HERE.

Here are a couple of ideas for your flower designs.  You can make them whatever size works for your project-some are shown with the middle cut out-but DON'T DO THAT for making this project :)

To make the Flower Power Rings you will need: chenille stems, buttons, scissors, and felt (jewels and hot glue are optional-see Valentine's post above)

After you cut out your felt flowers you will use the scissors to cut small slits on the left and right side of each flower.  Then thread the chenille stem through the felt slit and the button like this:

After you are about half way through, put the stem through the other side of the button and then through the other slit in the felt flowers like this:

Here is what it looks like if you add a green leaf to the ring:

Now just wrap the remainder of the chenille stems around your finger (we did spirals) and there is your Flower Power ring-perfect for welcoming SPRING!

To make them into flowers instead, you only need to cut one slit in the middle of each felt flower.  Thread the chenille stem back down the same slit and wrap the end around the stem of the flower to hold it in place.  

{Little Project Tip:} You can kind of tell from this photo (I tried!) that I thread the green stem down through the felt leaves and then up through the lower one again and pull it tight to hold the leaves in place. Otherwise they slide around and can fall off.

To make a display of your beauties just put some pinto beans in a little pot and arrange your flower power stems.  They will brighten up any room (and can be made to match your color of decor if desired) and they won't die.

Grandma loved This Little Project, hope you do too :)

Making Button Bracelets

I had a blast making these with things I had on hand: buttons, stretchy string, and a few beads mixed in. I must say that I don't like wearing a watch (it stresses me out to see the seconds go by) but I think bracelets are fun to wear. 

Now that it's springtime and short sleeves allow you to actually see them, I thought up a couple of fun button bracelets...

 Kay is usually is wearing at least one of my ponytail elastics around her wrists.  These are much more fun.  I'll put a few in the store for those of you who don't want to spend the hour making them :) So Kay got a couple too, which she loves. Who knew that little girls just come that way?