Hair Yo-Yos "How-To"

I saw these on a friend's website recently and I saw them again attached to a pin for the 4th of July. I started thinking about how fun it would be to have them as hair accessories.

Maddyn and Abby are always up for fun experiemental crafts, so we decided to try them last night when Abby was over....

Step One:
Find any scraps of fabric you have lying around....Cut a circle out of fun fabric. I used the top of a plastic cup for the size yo-yo I wanted.

Step Two:

Tie a knot in your thread. Stitch a running stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge and all the way around.

Step Three:

Pull the thread and gather into a yo-yo. For a typical yo-yo, you would want the inside of your circle to be neater than this, but for this it is ok. Tie a knot to keep the shape.

Step Four:

Embellish your yo-yo. I stitched a button in the center.

Step Five:

Stitch a pin to the back.Step Six:

Attach to headband -OR- glue to a bobby pin for a fun hair accessory!

Aren't they fun? The girls want to make more....another day for sure!

father's day cards

For father's day this year, I made little word clouds...they are really fun to make and you can personalize them using colors, fonts, shapes,etc. I asked the kids for characteristics of their father...

I came across www.wordle.net ....what a neat project. it's might be fun for a "back to school get to know me"..hmmm..

check out my wordle here...have fun!

End of the year teacher gifts

"End of the year gifts" for our teachers were really hard for me to think of this year....we've had 3 amazing women who have worked non-stop for the past 9 months and deserve a little something that will promote some R&R....So, I decided, for summer what's more R&R than a beach towel, a magazine, and some diet coke:-). I also decided to put in a little extra something expressing how much we have appreciated them this year....

I found this idea here...and modified it with a little more cuteness than just a jar using apothecary jars found at Walmart for $2 a piece! Score!...I like the way they turned out...bright, fun colors for summer! I hope they like them!

Camp Birthday Party

Lorien's obsession with the Jonas Brothers and the color purple had to be a part of her birthday party this year....so, we decided that we'd do a "campout"-themed party with some bits and elements from the Disney movie "Camp Rock" that featured the Jonas Brothers....thank goodness Target happened to have Camp Rock items in their dollar bins!

The invitations were done with pink, purple, and brown...Joe Jonas greeted the girls as they arrived to camp (good thing we haven't painted Lorien's room yet, so we could use this!)....The girls checked in with the camp directors (Maddyn and Abby) and received a glow bracelet and a licorice treat...(the boys were wondering why the poppers had to be saved until the end of camp)...We divided them into groups and they visited the Camp Store (what was better than a camp store to get all the supplies you need)....Camp food was always served on trays in the cafeteria.....
Camp crafts was always a must...they made picture frames and friendship bracelets (thanks to the help of another camp director, Maddie Atkinson)....And the best part of camp....s'mores! I think these girls devoured at least 3 a piece! With double marshmallows!The night ended with poppers (because you have so have some sort of firecracker thing at camp).... I think the girls had a lot of fun at camp tonight!