Ribbon Wreath

How to make a ribbon wreath. 

For a while I have been wanting to try my hand at making a ribbon wreath. I saw so many cute ones on Pinterest.  I could not find a tutorial on how to make one, but eventually figured it out. This is the one I made to hang on the outside of my daughter's bedroom door. This wreath was my very first try and I am thrilled with how it turned out. Ribbon wreaths are a piece of cake to make.


How to Make A Ribbon Wreath
 To make a ribbon wreath you will need a wire wreath and some ribbon. Cut your ribbon into 6 in pieces. Take the pieces and tie them all around the wire. You can see from the second photo that you have to tie a lot of ribbon on it to make it look full. If you don't want to use that much ribbon, you could use some fabric. Just cut the fabric into 1in/6in pieces and tie sporadically around the wire wreath to help fill in space.

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The Easter Story Craft

The Easter Story craft is designed to help explain the Easter story to kids, especially toddlers.  You will need 12 eggs filled with the following:

1 - cracker
2 - dime
3 - rope
4 - purple cloth
5 - thorn
6 - cross
7 - nail
8 - sponge
9 - toothpick
10 - guaze
11 - rock
12 - leave empty

Be sure to number each egg.  I like to hide them around the house and let the kids hunt for them.  Then they can line them up in order.  This is a great way to work on numbers for smaller kids.



The Easter Story

1 - cracker     The Last Supper at the Passover was a time Jesus had a special meal together with His 12 disciples. They had the meal in an upstairs room of a house. Jesus took a cup of grape juice and a flat loaf of bread, and prayed a thank-you prayer. He told His disciples, "Whenever you drink this, remember Me." After dinner, Jesus and His disciples went to a garden to pray. After they were done praying, one of Jesus' followers named Judas came up to Jesus.

2 - dime     Judas had soldiers with him. Then he did a strange thing. He kissed Jesus on the check. The soldiers had paid Judas silver money to tell them which one was Jesus. Then the soldiers arrested Jesus. Next, they were very mean to Jesus.

3 - rope     They took rope to bind His hand so He couldn't move them.

4 - purple cloth     They put a purple robe on Him and made fun of Him because He told them He was the King of the Jews.

5 - thorn     They made a crown of thorns that they put on His head. They beat Him with a whip.

6 - cross     Then they wanted to put Him to death. He was going to go through all of this so we could be forgiven for our sins.

7 - nail     They took nails and hammered Him up on the cross and put the cross up.

8 - sponge     He was hungry and thirsty. To be mean, they put a sponge with something sour (like vinegar) up to His mouth. It tasted awful to Him - He spit it out! He hung there for 6 hours, the He died.

9 - toothpick     After they saw He was dead, the soldier took a spear and put it into His side.

10 - guaze     His friends took His body down and wrapped it in gauze getting Him ready to be buried.

11 - rock     They put His body in the grave and placed a big huge stone in front of it so no one could steal His body. Then soldiers were put on guard to watch.

The Good News is Jesus didn't stay dead! Early Sunday morning some women came to visit the place where Jesus was buried.

12 - leave empty     They found an angel and the angel said, "He is not here! He is Risen! He is Alive! Go tel your friends!

Making your own Pumpkin Puree

I have been getting the Organic food boxes from OfftheVine.org now for a few weeks. I am splitting them with my neighbor. Here is how much half is.

In one of the boxes was a pumpkin and I wasn't sure what to do with it at first but here is what I figured out. First I scooped out the pumpkin seeds with an ice cream scooper. Then I washed the off in a colander. Once they were cleaned off I spread them out on a baking stone and sprinkled them with salt. I baked them at 325 for about twenty minutes. My kids enjoyed their roasted pumpkin seeds snack.Next I wash off the outside of the pumpkin and placed it in a baking dish with quite a bit of water. I put the lid on (even though it didn't actually sit right until half way through cooking it) and microwaved it for twenty minutes. Once it was soft I basically squished it out of the shell and into a mixing bowl were I then mixed it for about five minutes with a mixer. With the puree we then made bread maker Pumpkin bread.

Bread Maker Pumpkin Bread
1/3 cup Vegetable oil, 3 large eggs, 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, 1 cup sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger, 3 cups flour, 1/2 cup nuts if you like.
Spray bread maker pan with PAM.
In a bowl, mix the 1st 4 ingredients together until well blended; stir in the baking powder, soda, salt, spices and flour until mixed. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and use the quick bread cycle. Add nuts at the beep. Carefully loosen the loaf and put on rack to cool.

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No Sew TuTu

I decided I wanted to get my daughter a tutu and I knew I was going to pay around $35 for it. I wondered if I could make one cheaper or even make one at all. I looked around the Internet and figured out how to make one with out sewing, because I don't know how to sew. Well, I am so proud to report that I was able to do it and I think it looks pretty good!

1st - get your materials: Elastic, scissors, stapler, toil ( you can also put ribbon on, but the kind of ribbon I bought didn't work well because it was not flexible)

2nd - I measured around my daughters waist with the elastic and cut it to fit and then I stapled the ends together.

3rd - I cut up the tulle. I got a quite a bit of tulle because I just wasn't sure how much to get. I got a 1 3/4 yard of one color and 2 yards of a second color. (Next time I will get 2 yards of both, I am making this for a 6 year old.) I folded it in half, then rolled it up as evenly as possible. I felt the ends for where it thickened up and would be even and cut there. I then continued to cute it in 3 inch strips. I then took the 3in strips that were very long and cut them in half.

4th - I hung the elastic around a pillow to make it easier to work with. Then I took the strip and using a square knot tied them all around. As I went I would squish them together that way it would look full once she has it on.

And that's it. That is all I did. To bad she refuses to wear it!

Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I will elaborate. Please leave a comment with a link to your blog if you also have a post about how to do this better!

Tin Can Lantern

Tin Can Lanterns (Photo credit: Elin B)

Instead of going out to buy decorations for your patio table let your kids make them!

Tin Can Lantern

Materials
Tin cans (soup cans or other) Universal oil-based primer Oil-based enamel paint Pin hammer Nail Galvanized wire (4-6 in.) Pliers Candle

Instructions:
Clean can by soaking in hot, soapy water. Making sure to remove all of the label and glue.

(optional painting)
Apply a coat of primer and let it dry. Apply a coat of paint and let it dry.

Fill the can with water and place in a freezer until solid.(this will ensure you don't dent the tin.)

Use a hammer and nail to punch out holes, creating a freehand design around the can. For a handle, punch out two holes on either side of can. Using a pair of pliers, bend wire through holes and secure. Place a candle in side and hang in a safe place.

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