Adventure in Pre-school at home

My little Tater Tot has a huge thirst for knowledge. He already knows his ABC's, can count to 15 and knows a variety of shapes including semi circle, octagon as well as the basics and he knows several colors. To me that is an impressive list considering he is 2 years old. I want to continue to foster his love of learning and help him anyway I can.

During June and July I came up with themes and corresponding activities to inspire learning in our home. The themes we did were: Bugs, Monsters, Dinosaurs and Pirates. I took a lot of pictures and will eventually get around to doing a post about each of them. Each theme lasted a couple of weeks. We would spend about an hour or less a couple days a week doing our theme activities.  I started out by doing a movement exercise or song. It was a lot of fun to turn on music and watch him dance around like different bugs and dinosaurs. Next we would do the craft project or learning activity and finish of our learning time by playing outside. And somewhere throughout the day we would read some of our library books.

The month of August was crazy and for what ever reason we really didn't do any structured learning with themes. We continued our Library time and movement activities though. I really wanted to send Tater Tot to preschool this fall. But even part time 2 days a week was more than we can afford. After several hours looking on Pinterest, I felt confident that I could do preschool at home with him. You can find all of the ideas I've pinned here.

Here is the chart I made to write up our weekly lesson plans. After the 1st week I'm sure there will be changes that I will have to make but I felt like it was a good starting point. I will let Tater Tot lead the way and our "School Time" will last as long as he is interested. I'm really excited to start this adventure and I can't wait to share our journey with all of you.

For the first 2 weeks in September will be doing an apple theme, with focus on the letter A, number 1 and circles. Be sure to check back and see what we have been up to :)

Cut It Up: What's Bugging You? Challenge #25

Happy Friday Friends! Very excited to play along with this weeks challenge over at Cut It Up.This week's challenge is to make a creation using a bug. Being a mom of a little boy I have lots of bug choices in my cricut cartridges. My favorite 2 to use are "Create a Critter" 1 and 2.

This is another side step style card. Yes I might be addicted to making these now! I used light blue card stock for the base of the card and it is A2 size (4.25 x 5.5 inches). Next I added a 2 pieces of green patterned paper for the grass. I fringe cut the back piece to make the grass more realistic. Next I added my cut outs, they all are from the "Create a Critter" and "Create a Critter 2" cartridges. For finishing touches I used liquid pearls to make the clouds, heart on the hive and the stems of the flowers. The sentiment on the inside of the card says, " Happy BEE-day!".

Thanks for taking a look at my latest creation. Have a great weekend!

Celebrate Summer- Cut It Up challenge

I love summer! The sunshine, warmth, fresh veggies from the garden and the list just goes on. This summer has been a busy one for us. Between potty training Tiny Human and home repair projects and just day to day life there just hasn't been a lot of free time for crafting. Not to mention an old TV and original Nintendo have found there way into my crafting space (my sweetie says there is enough room to use the Cricut so its not a big deal). Today I managed to sneak in making a card for Cut It Up's "Celebrate Summer" Challenge. I'm really excited that I actually get to play along with the challenge. It seems I usually look at the challenge the day after it is do.

This is my first "side step" style card. All of the elements were cut on the Cricut using the Create a Critter cartridge.I used the swiss dots folder to add texture to the sand. The cloud I cut free hand to have something to mount the sentiment on. All of the papers I used were scraps from my stash. 

Hope you all are having a delightful summer and enjoying the season to it's fullest!

DIY Play Kitchen

Tiny Human loves to "help" in the kitchen. Most of the time I think its great but there are moments when I wished he had a kitchen of his own to play with. I searched the local stores and the internet and had trouble finding a small size kitchen set that would fit in our little house. Finally I gave up and decided to make my own. The best part was I finally got to use several cuts from the Savory cartridge for the Cricut.

Here is a list of the materials I used:
Vinyl
Transfer paper
Scissors
Small rubbermade tote
Savory cartridge

When doing any vinyl project I highly recommend using The Cricut Craft Room or similar program. It not only allows you to plan out the exact size of your cuts but it saves you from wasting vinyl. When I started this I just planned on making a couple burners, knobs and the oven door. But soon the project took on a life of it's own and 8hrs later I had a project I couldn't wait to share.

The burners, knobs and oven front I made using the basic shapes. It is modeled after the actual stove in our kitchen. The burners I layered 3 circles together. Then center circle I made red to make them look more realistic. Tiny Human is constantly reminding me that they are hot and to be careful.

The backside of the "stove" is the "fridge/pantry". I tried to use foods Tiny Human would recognize and a variety of colors. He likes to pretend to scoop up the food and add it to his pot. We have a bunch of lids from milk jugs, pop and juice bottles which lucky enough match the food images so that's what he uses as his food.

To complete this little kitchen I added a towel to one side. It was extremely humid in my house that night and my vinyl got really full of bubbles. Don't judge to harsly ;) On the other side I added a cup,plate and silverware. I tried to keep the colors gender neutral so my future childern can enjoy this toy too.

As you can see this tote not only is a toy but stores all of the kitchen toys inside.

I may end up redoing this side just because I'm a perfectionist.

I hope my adventure inspires you to make your very own play kitchen. Thanks for checking out my blog. If you would like to see more projects for little ones please become a follower of my blog. Have a great day!

A lot of catching up to do

Wow it's been almost a month since my last post. I've been busy crafting and scrapping but keep forgetting to share my projects with all of you. I'm going to blame it on the sunshine and Tiny Human's love of the outdoors. We have been busy playing soccer and taking walks. I have to admit I have also been enjoying all of the vitamin D we have been getting. My creative time has been limited to those few short hours everyday that my sweet little boy naps, or lays in his crib playing with toys while he is supposed to be napping.
This layout I made in March and just got around to blogging about it. The sketch I used was of course from Let's Scrap, it is sketch 1-23-13. The papers are from a stack from Colorblok. These page capture the fun evening we had on New Year's Eve.

Full View

 

 

 The title I cut out using my Cricut. I used brown ink to distress the Fluer strip.

On the second page I cut out the Fluers and strips from the paper and inked around all the edges. I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it and had to find away to use it multiple times on this layout. The pictures are a bit blurry due to Tiny Human putting his finger on the lens of my camera. I was happy that I actually got some good shots of all of us.

Earth Day 2013

My sweet little Tiny Human is getting so big and inquisitive of the big world around him. And although he is to small to understand the concept of Earth Day I still wanted to introduce him to the holiday. I hope this project continues to be a learning experience for the rest of the summer. In the spirit of Earth Day we planted carrot seeds in a self watering planter made from a repurposed 2 liter pop bottle.

To make the planter is really simple. First thoroughly was the 2 liter bottle with soap and warm water. Next using a blade or scissors cut the bottle in half. I'm sure you could use a smaller bottle if you don't have a 2 liter on hand.

In a larger container mix potting soil and water. After your potting soil is moist it is ready to be put in the planter. I recommend leaving the cap on the top half of the bottle when you fill it with soil. Be prepared for the mess that accompanies this step. Let's just say a bath was needed when we were  done.

The next step is to poke holes in the soil to the depth specified by the packet of seeds you plan on using. I choose to do carrots because we will be able to see the roots aka the carrot and the greens on top grow. I let Tiny Human put the seeds in the holes I made. He put the seeds in the holes then tried to dig in the soil. So hopefully a couple of them remained at the required depth to grow.

After you have your seeds planted loosely cover the top of your plantar with a plastic grocery bag or a piece of plastic wrap. The point is to make a warm green house environment for optimal seed growth. A week or so after planting your seed should start to sprout and the enjoyment will continue to grow as your plants do. I hope that you and your little one enjoy this project and celebrate taking care of our Earth.

National Scrapbooking Day 2013

 

Our admins and DT members at Let's Scrap have been working feverishly to prepare an epic list of activities for this year's National Scrapbooking Day, or in this case month. May 1st kicks off the festivities with a challenge by yours truly. Every day there will be a different sketche,challenge or tutorials for our members to play along with. We will also be doing our weekly sketches during this event. I encourage you to get comfy in your scrapbooking space and join us for NSD 2013.

Let's Scrap 4-24-13

I'm a little behind on my blogging these days. And a couple of days late on sharing this week's reveal at Let's Scrap. We have a super talented group of DT members this term and I love seeing everyone's different take on the sketches. This week's sketch is for a card. Most of our DT made cards but there were a few layouts made from this sketch. Here is this week's sketch:

Using this sketch I made my first pop up step card. I really wanted to start making cards that are easy to display and be enjoyed by their recipient. This particular card was made to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of my Sweetie's aunt and uncle.

All of the papers used on this card were scraps from my stash. The base is black card stock, I followed the instructions here to create it. The pieces of the sunflower print paper are inked with a red ink to add depth. I didn't have any corrugated cardboard so I used a cuttlebug folder to emboss the green piece of paper. I used the 2 hearts to replicate the round shapes on the sketch.

This card was a lot of fun to make and I can't wait to make another. Come play along at Let's Scrap for your chance to win a prize sponsored by Graphic 45.

Let's Scrap DT Challenge 160

I have the pleasure of hosting challenge 160 at Let's Scrap. This challenge combines an interesting mix of required elements; buttons, flowers, a mixture of black and white, sepia and colored photos and hand written journaling. If you haven't played along I encourage you to do so, the challenge is open until 11:59pm central time on May 2nd.

This layout is the 2nd page in my nature and old buildings album. The focus of the page is a beautiful old barn that was on my mom and step dad's farm. I took the photos the summer of 2009 while I was there visiting the weekend of my Great Grand Mother's funeral. The flower's were in their yard.

The background is a craft paper colored card stock. The floral and polk-a-dot papers are from my stash. Wish I could remember what brand they are. The flower photos are matted on a light lilac card stock and the barn on a dark blue.
The bunting across the top I made by first creating a pattern paper by stamping purple flowers on pink card stock. I then cut out triangles and inked around the edges. Since my challenge required buttons I thought it would be cute to put them there.

I used left over triangles to make the flower on the bottom of the page. I rolled the base of the triangles then alternated them pattern up and pattern down. I finished the flower off with a large white button. The journaling seemed to fit best next to this flower.

 The other flowers on the page were also handmade. They were simple to make. I might need to do a tutorial on them in the future. The flowers and colors seemed whimsical so last minute I added the stamped sentiment to the top corner of the page.

And of course the inspiration for this layout was a Let's Scrap sketch. I've been wanting to use it for quiet awhile and these photos were perfect. It is sketch 4-30-11. Thanks for stopping by, please come and play along with my challenge.

Let's Scrap DT Challenge #159

This challenge was a really fun one. Eniko challenged us to identify the style of scrapbooker we are and then create a layout using a different style. You can find the challenge here. I would say that my style is mostly classic and cutesy. My layouts usually don't have a whole lot of extras on them and tend to have clean lines. For this challenge I scrapped a photo of an old weathered barn. I just love old buildings and nature. I am starting an album dedicated to the subject. This is my first page. I used Let's Scrap sketch 3-6-13.

For my layout I used the right side of the sketch. I'm not sure what style this layout falls into I would say it's a mix of grungy,ephemera and girly chic. I used lots of browns and pinks with the papers and embellishments. Here it is.

The background paper with the distressed edges I my creation. I used a stamp from Fiskars and pink ink on a light brown piece of card stock. Then I ripped around each side and inked them with brown. The photo is cut into 4 pieces and each piece is matted on a dark red card stock. The same red the large flower is made from. The butterflies were embossed images from a cuttle bug folder that I fussy cut around and inked with pink.

The flowers are just a basic fan fold. I found the tutorial from Scrapin Expect the Unexpected. I used a metal feather and square piece that I had left over from a jewelry project to decorate the center of 2 of the flowers. The piece of paper under the flowers I embossed using a Cuttlebug folder then inked with black ink.

 

I really wish I would have pinned the site that I found the flower patten tags. I searched Pinterest for free Ephemera prints and it was one of the ones that popped up. I cut out the tag and matted them on a gold card stock and tied them with twine.

 This layout turned out way better than I had imagined and I look forward to trying this style again in the future. I hope it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try a new scrapbooking style too. Thanks for taking a look!

Let's Scrap 4/10/13

It's the final reveal for my DT term at Let's Scrap.It has been a great term and I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing and talented women. I'm sad to see the term come to end. This layout is one of the more simple layouts I have done. I chose to use soft earth tone colors on this page.

Here is the sketch. Debby did a fabulous job and I'm sure I will be using it again.

This time of year the weather is very finicky. Literally snows one day and is warm and sunshine the next. The pictures were taken last week while Tiny Human and I were enjoying one of the first sunny days of spring. It was still a bit chilly do to the wind so we still had to wear our knit hats. For my layout I used the left side of the sketch.

 

I started with a piece of pale yellow card stock then using the negative of a leaf boarder cut out chalked the leaves on to the page. Next I embossed a sheet of white card stock with the floral pattern using the cuttle bug. I cut the sheet into 1 inch pieces and chalked various shades of orange. The pictures are mounted on a soft green colored card stock. I added a few green and brown gemstones around the largest photo for a bit of shine. I wanted this layout to capture a few moments of everyday life. Thanks for taking a look have a wonderful week.

Baby Card Cuteness

Seems like everyone is preggo these days. Not going to lie makes me want a baby like crazy!! I turned my fever into creative genius and made some adorable cards shaped like baby onesies. I welded 2 of the onesie shapes together near the shoulders using the circut craft room. I then cut out a slightly smaller onesie to layer on top. So cute and very easy to customize. I tried to make 1 gender neutral, 1 boy and 1 girl.

I started by embossing the single onesie piece with the Cuttle Bug. Then I added the embellishments to the center. Using a marker I made stitches along the neck, arms and leg holes. The teddy bear is from a Colorblok set I had. The circles I cut out using the Cricut. I added brads to look like snaps. This is my gender neutral card.

 

For the girl card I embossed it using the flower folder that came with my Cuttle Bug. Then attached the ribbon along the middle and both sleeves. I used pink ink all over the card and ribbon. The middle section is decorated with baby themed stickers.

 





 

The last card is for a boy. Once again used the cream card stock and embossed with the Swiss dots folder from Cuttle Bug. Ribbon and faux stitching along the neck, arm and leg openings. The bird and heart embellishments are from K&Company. I just can't get over how cute the brads are as snaps.

 

 

Here is the inside view of all of the cards. Not sure what brand the stamp is, it was part of a bunch of goodies I bought from my local $ store. I can't wait to make more of these adorable cards. I have a lot of baby themed embellishments in my stash to use up.

 





Cardabilities #72

I'm so excited to share this card with you today. It was inspired by a card I saw on pintrest awhile back. The sketch is #72 from Cardabilities. I really liked how versatile the sketch was. And the DT   was inspiring with all of the spring colors they used.

 

Wedding season will soon be upon us so I decided to make a bridal shower card. If you are one of my friends getting married this summer, SPOILER ALERT. The papers are scraps from a previous layout, I believe they are both from Colorblock. The flowers are a find from K & Company. The heart I cut out using the Cricut and embossed with the Swiss Dot folder from Cuttle bug.

 

To make the dress is simple to create. Start with a basic heart cut out. Then starting near the middle of the heart layer flowers like a pyramid. 1 flower in the first row,2 in the second and so on until you have a nice dress shape. I added in a few tiny flower just to fill space and add more sparkle to the dress.

 

The inside of the card features the same papers as the front and is accented along the top and bottom with white ribbon.

I used the floral pattern paper to decorate the outside flap of the envelope. I also added a flower embellishment. I like the sweet touch it adds.

Here the two pieces are together. This card was super easy and quick to put together. Hope you give the idea a try.

 

 

Lets Scrap 3-27-13

I can't believe how quickly this DT term has gone. This is my last official layout of the term. Although we will be staying on the next couple of weeks until the new team is settled in.

 

This week's sketch is perfect for capturing holidays and events because of the amount of small photos. I used it for this years Valentines Day. I had a lot of fun making heart shaped food and goodies for my family.

 

I used black card stock for the main background for the layout. On top of that I layered white card stock that I stamped red hearts and pink lines. I used a left over toilet paper roll and Studio G ink to create the design. I thought the sheer burgundy ribbon framed the stamped card stock perfectly.

The monkey cut out and title were cut on the Cricut using the create a critter 2 cartridge. I used the monkey and gray paper to add a little masculinity to the layout. The woven squares I made using Eniko's tutorial #33 over at Let's Scrap.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see your layout this week in the Gallery.

Let's Scrap 3-13-13

It's Wednesday and time to reveal the latest sketch from Let's Scrap. This might be one of my favorite sketches from this DT term. It worked perfectly for the pictures from a recent trip to visit my mom and step dad. Tiny Human loved spending time with his Nana and Grandpa.Grandpa was a good sport and spent a lot of time coloring with him. Plus they have all kinds of fun toys to play with.

I flipped the 4X6 photo to be horizontal. All of the papers are Colorbok, that I picked up at Wal-mart. The red ribbon along the bottom strip is from my stash. The sunflower stickers and quotes were given to me from my mom, she had duplicates. I love that we share the love of scrapbooking, because it often means I get her left overs.

I wanted to keep the colors simple and neutral. I settled on using red,tan and brown. The title is from the Cricut Basic Font cartridge. The quote around the sunflower says, " Happiness is meant to be shared." The photo is matted with red and tan card stock.

For some reason my camera didn't get much love during the trip. I only had a few pictures to use. For the second page instead of several small photos I used 3 larger photos and strips of red card stock. The photos are matted on tan card stock.  The quote says, " A special heartfelt memory meant to last for ages, will always become new again when found within these pages."

Thanks for checking out this layout. Hope you come play along with us at Let's Scrap.

Caradabilities #70

Hello,

We recently had my son's 2nd Birthday party. And of course he is spoiled rotten :) and received lots of gifts. That means Mommy needs to get busy and make some "Thank You" cards. The card I want to share with you today was inspired by Caradablilities sketch#70.

All the paper I used were scraps from my stash. The stamped image is a stamp from Studio G. I used purple glitter glue to decorate the blue circle and the top of the banner.

 I used the same turquoise and the flower paper in the inside of the card.

Thanks for taking a look at my newest card. Have a great day!