Flower Me with LOVE

Flower Me With Love

Every month I come up with craft ideas for my Daisy Girl Scout troop. There are 22 girls in our troop. I choose projects that take less than 15 minutes to complete, and are very inexpensive to make. This month, for Valentines day, we are making flowers. 

Here is what you will need.

1. Cup cake wrappers

2. Pipe cleaners

3. Pencil

4. Decorative heart

Steps

1. Take the pipe cleaner and stick it through the cup cake wrappers.

2. Next, put the decorative heart on the pipe cleaner. (I stuck the pipe cleaner through the heart.)

3. Then scrunch up the cup cake wrappers to your liking.  

4. Wrap pipe cleaner around the pencil

The kids LOVED making the flowers!

Angel's Tears

My sister and I made these LOVELY ornaments last summer on a rainy day while camping. We had a lot of fun and it's so easy! When the sun was shining we collected pretty rocks, driftwood, and pieces of twisted tree roots which we found along the shoreline. I chose white rocks but any color variation, shape or size (as long as it's not too big) would look nice. My craft kit contained old beaded necklaces, earrings, trinkets, wire, and twine so we began our creations from things I had on hand.


 This is what we did:

1. We wrapped the first rock with wire and randomly inserted beads and twisted wire curls which we made by wrapping the wire around a pencil.

 2. We attached this first rock to the tree root with pieces from a beaded necklace by simply wiring them together.

3. We then added the second embellished wire wrapped rock to the one above as in step two. We continued this process until we had five dangling rocks. I finished the last one with a metal star. You may add as many rocks as you like but we chose an odd number, a design rule I learned a long time ago.

4. Tie twine, wire, or whatever you want to the tree root to hang.

My sister hung her "one of a kind" ornament in a corner of her screened summer porch. I hung mine in my breezeway window but I also think it would look nice hanging from a tree branch in my garden. Enjoy!

Love Monster Valentine Boxes

We had an early Valentine's Day party today!  It was so much fun.  We read the story, "I Loathe You" written and illustrated by David Slonim.  You can buy the book on Amazon: here Then we made LOVE Monster Valentine boxes.  The project turned out really cute.  The boys and I LOVED having 14 friends over to our house for the project!

This what we did:

Our inspiration came from:  here and here

1. I collected cardboard boxes (crackers, noodles, cereal, whatever).
2. I primed the front of the boxes with white spray primer.  I bought the kind that dries in 10 minutes.
3. I spray painted the fronts of the boxes in whatever color matched the box best.  I bought red, blue, and green spray paint.  (I expected 18 kids so I didn't take the time to spray paint the entire box, only the fronts.  The kids didn't seem to mind!)
4. If the box didn't have a hole in it, an adult cut one for them.
5. The kids started decorating.  They added googly eyes, sequins, hand cut-outs, lots of heart stickers etc...

It took the kids about 20 minutes to do this project (longer if they added more detail. )  

Heart Lanterns

The boys and I made heart lanterns on a whim today.  I think they turned out really cute especially because we didn't have a plan in place!  My Little Guy LOVES his lantern.  He was carrying it around the house this morning.

This is what we did:

 

1. We used small Kerr jars.
2. I bought FLORAL wire at the Dollar Store.  (Floral Wire is key - it is super easy to manipulate.  My Little Guy could do this by himself!)
3. Twist the floral wire around the lip of the jar.
4. Add pony beads.
5. Form into the shape of a heart.
6. Add heart stickers (if you want).  We bought a big box at Target for $5.00 in the Valentine's Day aisle.
7. Add Epsom salt to the bottom of the jar.
8. Add an LED candle - these are available at the Dollar Store too!
9. Put the lid back on the jar.
10. Voila! Heart Lanterns

 

 This project did not take very long!  Maybe...15 minutes!  This project could very easily be adapted for any holiday.  The floral wire twists/bends very easily.  I think you could also color the epsom salt - add a little food coloring.  I'm not sure what we are going to do with the lanterns.  We might take them apart and make something different for St. Patrick's Day??   It was a fun project and I LOVED that I had all the supplies in my craft cupboard.  I didn't spend anything on this project!

 

Serve Up Some Love!

There is no greater LOVE than to give your life for a friend!  (John 15:13) St. Valentine sacrificed his life so that others could experience great LOVE.  (For more on St. Valentine follow this link:  Here) For Valentine's Day express your gratitude for those who sacrificed greatly caring for all of God's children by sharing cookies with someone who may not have reason to celebrate LOVE.

This is what we will do:

1. Make heart shape cut-out sugar cookies.
2. Make frosting.
3. Make sprinkles.
4. Package and deliver our cookies to our unsuspecting love victim :)

Cookie Recipe: 
These cookies are fantastic!  Seriously, they are the best sugar cookie I've tasted!
*  1 cup butter (softened)
*  1.5 cups powdered sugar
*  1 egg
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 2.5 cups flour
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 heaping tsp. cream of tartar.
Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

I just threw all of this stuff in the mixer.  It didn't mix super well, so I formed a ball with my hands.  Then I put it in the refrigerator for awhile.  I'm not sure if that step is necessary.  When I took it out of the fridge I formed a smaller ball with my hands (the dough needed to be softened a bit).  I rolled it out on the cutting board with a little flour and cut out heart shapes!  Easy Peasy!  It makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Frosting Recipe:
*  1 cup shortening (I didn't have any so I used a cup of softened butter)
*  1.5 tsps Vanilla
*  1/2 tsp. lemon extract
* 4.5 cups sifted powdered sugar (I don't sift)
*  3-4 Tbsp. milk

I threw all of this stuff into the mixer.  The milk made it creamy.  I separated it into 3 containers and added food coloring to get the different colors.  I made blue, pink, and yellow!

Sprinkle Recipe:
*  1/4 cup sugar
*  Food Coloring
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

I filled a muffin tin with 1/4 c. sugar and added food coloring.  Then I stirred each one and set it in the oven.  After 10 mins the sugar hardens and I scooped it into little bowls.  I had to smash the sugar with a spoon to get rid of the clumps.  Its super fun to have the variety of vibrant colors without the expense of purchasing the different bottles of sprinkles!

Face Painting Fun!

The boys and I LOVE to spend the afternoon at the Children's Museum of MN.  When I say "afternoon" I really mean the afternoon.  Mornings at the CM are absolute chaos!  School groups invade the place!  After lunch, however, it is one of the best places for kids in the middle of a MN winter.   We have been the only people in the room!  One of our favorite activites is to face paint.  We discovered that we love to face paint at home too!  

This is what we did:

1.   I stocked up on face paint from Target and Walmart right after Halloween.
2. I picked up a couple of mirrors (that stand on their own) at a garage sale.  ( I just saw them at the Dollar Store too)
3. I get a few paper towels damp and put them in the little bowls you can buy at Ikea.
4. I let the kids create!

I usually try to save this activity for when friends come to play at our house.  It makes it more special for my boys and their friends usually don't have this opportunity at home.  I did learn my lesson though.  This is an activity that should be supervised.  I let my Big Guy and his friend paint at the kitchen counter while I went outside to water my plants.  During that time, they painted their entire hands, feet, legs, and arms with black paint and walked through the kitchen!  Thank goodness I have wood floors and was able to wipe up the prints.  It would've been a HUGE mess had they walked on the carpet!

This activity usually keeps the kids busy for about 20 minutes.  My Little Guy loves this activity too.  Pampers wet wipes easily clean faces!  Don't you LOVE how scary he is??

Honoring Your Child's Art

An organizational rule that I like to follow is:  Only Touch a Paper Once!  My kids LOVE to do projects - at school, at home, at friends' houses, EVERYWHERE!   The papers can be overwhelming. So, I try to only touch them once (OK, maybe twice) I took an idea from pinterest to help me organize.  Here is the link: Here             

This is what I did:

1. I bought matted frames and a cafe curtain rod at Walmart.  Walmart Homepage
2. I put my favorite kids' paintings in the frame (change 'em out periodically).
3. The kids put the rest of their work on the cafe rod (hung by shower curtain clips).
4. After their work has been displayed for awhile, I either throw it away, take a picture, or put it in the baby book.

I LOVE that I am able to honor their efforts by having a place to display their work.  My boys love to flip through their art and put different projects in front.  It also provides a conversation peice when friends and relatives visit the house.  I also LOVE how brave I was to hang the cafe rod.  My husband doesn't really like to have holes in the wall.  I had never used a drill before!  While he was at work, I just did it!  Unfortunately, he is going to have to re-do it at some point because I didn't actually hang it the correct way...something about anchors?  :)