American Flag Suncatcher

When I saw this craft at Kaboose, I knew this is my kind of craft.

 I love the monotony of it, the repeatedness of it.

That it takes some time and that you have to follow a pattern.

I'm weird, I know. 

Unfortunately, the exact reasons I loved it, are the reasons my two year old left the table and went on to destroy the house while #1 and I were finishing up.

This is definitely a craft for a little bit older child. 

Here is what you need:

Straw (if you have a Diet Coke habit like I do, this is a great excuse to hit up McDonald's for a large Diet Coke for $1.00 and ask for extra straws!)
Red, White or Clear, and Blue Beads
Rexlace (cord for stringing)
Glue Gun
scissors
pattern (available at Kaboose)

Start with these:

Well, actually, we started here:

And #2 and I separated out all the red, clear and blues.  This was by far her favorite part of the craft.  She loved it.  And I can sleep better at night know that she really does know all her colors! :)

Next, cut out your individual pieces of cord.  You will need 12 pieces.  Kaboose says to cut them 10 inches long, but I cut mine 12, and I still had a bit of a hard time getting a knot in it.  So I would highly recommend going 12 inches.  Take your first piece of cord and fold it over top of the straw, so that it is looped over; the front half in front, the bottom half behind.

Start stringing your beads now.  You want to string the beads over BOTH pieces of cord.  The pattern for the first 6 rows is 6 blue followed by red, white, red, white, red, white, red.  Tie a knot at the end of the last bead.  I looped back through the bottom bead and then tied a knot.  When you are all finished, we will hot glue the knot to make sure it is secure.

Continue on with this pattern.  Once you reach this point below, take a snack break!

Now it is time for just the red white strands.  Once you complete 6 red white strands, get out the hot glue gun and dab just a little on each knot.  Allow to dry.  Trim excess cord off.  Then trim the straw and string a piece of the cord through the straw and tie the two ends together.  You can use a suction cup if you have one to stick it to the window or just hang it like we did.

#1 loved this craft.  She apparently enjoys monotony too!

Hallie

Celebration Cake

Seriously, if these cakes didn't make you smile, I am not sure what will!

This isn't so much a recipe as it is just an idea to decorate a cake for a festive look.  I have seend it on Pinterest, but it seems the original idea came from the Betty Crocker website.

I made mini bundts because I got a great clearance deal on this pan and haven't gotten to use it yet.

Isn't this just a fun pan?  It has been screaming to be used!!

You can use whatever type of pan you got a deal on though.  You could even make one big cake.

But mini cakes are just so much more fun!

The only musts here are that you MUST use white cake mix.  Don't use yellow, it screws up the food coloring and you won't like the result.  After that, just have fun with it.

Or let the kids have fun with it ... mine sure did!

Mix your cake mix according the directions and then split into three bowls.  Color one bowl red, one blue and leave the other white.  I split the batter with one cup for red, one cup for blue, the remaining for white.

Next, and I highly recommend this step.  Put your batter into these little candy coating bottles.  It is so much easier to get the batter into the pan using these.  Much less mess. 

Don't have one of these fancy bottles (They are like $2 for 2 at Michael's), use the zip lock bag method.

Just cut the tip off one of the corners to pour into the pan.   First the red layer.

Next the white layer.

Finally, the blue.

Bake them for as long as the box tells you to - remember if you are using some sort of mini pan like this that they bake up quick!

Immediately remove from pan to cool completely.

Aren't they cute?  Next, have fun with icing.  I used canned iced, but you can make your own if you like.  Just microwave it to get it thin.  About 20 seconds is all you need. 

I did the white icing first.

Then the blue ...

Then the red.  Festive, right?

Here's the inside ... cute and yummy!  You culd make these for about any holiday.  Very easy and child friendly. 

These didn't last long at my house!

Happy 4th of July!

Hallie

4th of July Sparkler Fruit Wands

I thought I was soooo smart. I wanted to make a fruit wand for 4th of July because they remind me of sparklers. I had first decided to use marshmallows, blueberries, and strawberries. However the strawberries looked kinda sad so I bought a watermelon for the red instead. I had started scooping out little melon balls and then remembered I had a star cookie cutter which would be super cute. And really creative. But not so much, because I have since seen several posts for something very similar if not exactly the same. I really don't remember seeing them before, but then again, I don't remember what I wore yesterday...

Sparkler Wands

Blueberries
Large marshmallows
Watermelon

Slice watermelon and then cut out star shapes from slices.
Thread ingredients onto skewer and enjoy.

Easy peasy and apparently copy catty.

Bryn

4th of July Cupcake Liner Wreath

This craft can almost be completed 100% by a 4 year old. This a good thing because it allowed The Princess to have control and she really did feel like she had created something beautiful.

The bad thing?

A 4 year old had complete control.

What started as a plan for a red, white, and blue 4th of July wreath turned into a wreath for her bedroom painted in her favorite colors. It is of course pink, purple, and blue. I have no idea why I even have other paint colors in my house. Unless of course I use them to make pink, purple, and blue in the event that we run out. So, use your imagination and try to picture the wreath in traditional 4th of July colors. Or let your children make it in their favorite colors and call it a firework wreath. Whatever works.

I saw this wreath last year in a parent ing magazine as a spring wreath and knew The Princess would love it. I have no idea what the original directions were so I made them up as we went and tried to create something similar.

You will need:
Cupcake liners
Mini cupcake liners
Paint
Glue
Paper plate

Paint cupcake holders desired color. The end result is better if you don't flatten then completely while painting. Allow to dry.

Cut center out of paper plate, leaving you with a ring (this is the only step I helped with because she couldn't cut the center out without going through the sides). Glue larger cupcake liners around rim of plate. 

Next, glue mini liners inside large.

Voila!
Bryn