Fakin' It

I'm Nuts About You!

You never know the impact you are going to leave on people. What will they walk away with after knowing you?

 I know a young girl and her grandpa and they call each other  "Nut" and "Squirrel". I'm not sure why but I think it's absolutely adorable. Before if I ever saw something with nuts and squirrels on it, it probably wouldn't have even registered in my conscience. But now, I always think of the sweet grandpa-granddaughter combo and smile. And who doesn't need extra smiles in their day.

 How could you not love these wood bookends from Graphic Spaces Wood? They are so adorable and would be the perfect way to feature a few of your favorite children's books. Not nuts about squirrels, check out some of her other darling woodland creatures!

 
If I were a squirrel on my deathbed, I think I would probably ask to go to Acorn Heaven. And that just happens to be the name of the shop that created this super sweet squirrel and nut heart necklace keepsake. Wouldn't this be the perfect gift for that grandpa to buy his granddaughter? Hint! Hint!

 Uh Oh! Curry the squirrel needs your help to put together his magnetic tree and then gather nuts for winter hibernation. Isn't this a great pre-school teaching tool? You can incorporate storytelling, counting and science with this organic tree puzzle from Wooden Moose Creations.

 Wouldn't this little felt snap pouch from Needlings make a great stocking stuffer? Perfect for small electronics or some cash and lip gloss. It's is definitely cute enough to be carried on its own. I love how the squirrel is on one side and the nut on the other.

I could totally see this squirrel and acorn ceramic tile in my own decor. L'esperance even makes it in 3 other beautiful color combinations. This one is definitely my fave!

Last but not least is this sterling silver acorn squirrel ring from Twinklebird. It scores some serious points on the cuteness scale, not to mention the lethal blow scale. Can you imagine getting punched in the face with this? Who knew self-defense could be so stylish?

Happy Shopping and Have a Great Weekend!

Simple Clothespin Magnet Photo Clip

So, C, my third grader has to do a "How To" report for school. We had to come up with a project that he could not only give a written tutorial for but also a demonstration for the class. This meant the project had to be inexpensive and simple due to the 23 other students that would be making it with him.

We came up with Clothespin Magnet Refrigerator Photo Clips. So the title is not that simple but we wanted to be thorough in our description :)

Yes that's a picture of our Beloved Mary. I thought it was appropriate being that this project is for the Catholic School and May is Mary's month. 

The button clothespin is C's design. His little sister made one too and I helped J make the caterpillar.

Here's what you need:

 
One large wooded clothespin, about 5 medium glue dots and magnet tape are needed for both projects. For the first picture you will also need about 5 buttons, depending on the size. For the caterpillar, you also need about 5 mini pom poms, 1/2" of pipe cleaner bent in a V and 2 tiny googly eyes along with some craft glue. This craft is also good for counting, sorting and estimation. Have your child sort through the colors of pom poms or buttons. Have them estimate how many it will take to fill the length of the clothespin and then count out the same number of glue dots as decorative items.

 
Rip off a sheet of the glue dots and let your child stick down his/her buttons/pom poms. This is super simple and allows the child to work independently which my kids prefer. Once all 5 are stuck on, peel off the glue dots and place in a row on the clothespin.

 
Somehow I missed photos of the final steps. Tear off about 1 inch of magnet tape and cut vertically in half. This should fit the back of each clothespin perfectly. The magnet tape comes already sticky so just stick it on. For the caterpillar, place three drops of craft glue on his head. One at top for the antennae and two on front for the eyes.

All done! Super simple for all ages and even groups.

This post is linked with : 
Someday Crafts (Button in Sidebar)

Sugar Bee Crafts

Sumos Sweet Stuff

Creative Jewish Mom

Lamb Around

Our House of Joyful Noise

Fireflies and Jellybeans (button in sidebar)

Tip Junky

Bouncing Bunnies Muffin Tin Lunch

Happy Muffin Tin Monday!

My crocus are starting to pop through the soil and that can mean only one thing. SPRING! And with spring comes cute little bouncing bunnies.

To celebrate our furry little friends we had a bunny muffin tin lunch.

 
Here's what was on the menu:

1. Bunny Juice: Yogurt smoothie wrapped in spring scrapbook paper with a bunny sticker
2. Bunny's guarding their Easter eggs: Bunny marshmallows from Walmart and grapes
3. Crunchy Bunny: Rice Crispy treat rolled flat and then cut our with a cookie cutter. Detail added with edible food markers
4. Garden Bunny Pizza: Feta and Spinach pizza on whole wheat crust cut out w/another bunny cookie cutter
5. Rabbit food: carrots and cucumber
6. Annie's organic graham bunnies

A few close-ups please

 
L ate everything except one carrot and the cucumber.

 
 

Oops! I forgot that cute purple bunny ears were a fashion requirement for this meal.

After lunch we read two sweet books that we had checked out earlier from the local library. The first was One Brown Bunny by Marion Dane Bauer and the other was Good Job Oliver by Laurel Molk.

 
One Brown Bunny is a cute story about a bunny hopping through the forest in search of a friend to play with. The illustrations are darling and it is also a counting book which is something we always need extra practice with.  Good Job Oliver is about a little bunny competing with bigger bunnies in a strawberry growing contest. This was what I like to call a discussion book because after I read each page L then needed to discuss either something in the art work or in the storyline. It really promotes thoughtfulness which I like.

Thanks for stopping by Fakin It and for more fun Muffin Tin Meal ideas be sure to check out Muffin Tin Mom

Capture the Leprechaun

I'm a hoarder. I admit it. If I think I can use something for a craft, I keep it, forever. Strangely I have no problem throwing it away once done, once it has lived out its usefulness. When I went downstairs to my craft area today, I had no idea what I was going to make. I decided I needed to use at least one of the many empty jars that I have collected over time. Here is what I found:

My middle child was at Cub-scouts, so I had to make this something for both my nine year old and my four year old. My middle child had actually colored the rice with food coloring and alcohol for an earlier school project and these bags were what was left. The colored pasta I purchased years ago. I also found a stray popsicle stick and a lonely wooden heart. And then there are the wiggly eyeballs. I have wiggly eye balls up to my eye balls, all colors and sizes. These are green. There is some orange glitter, craft glue, and scrap card stock in black and green.

C, my nine year old, was in charge of the leprechaun. He glued the eyes onto the heart and used glue and orange glitter for the beard. He made a freehand hat with the black and green paper and also used the green paper to make accordian arms and rectangular body. He then glued everything to the popsicle stick.

My little L got the job of sorting the colored pasta into the rice bags. We counted how many pieces of each color and predicted whether the next color would have more or less than the last.

 
She preferred to sort them on the plate first before placing the pastas in the bag.

 
It got a little messy when L poured in her rainbow but hey its just not fun without a little mess.

Once all the layers had been poured and the leprechaun was dry, he was stuck down into the pasta rice mixture.

 
 
And now a closer look at our captured leprechaun.