Another SUMMER FUN LIST

I guess I am working on a theme again this week. I saw this at Tater Tots & Jello and thought it was another fun way to assemble a list of things for the family to do this summer. If you didn't have a cool lunch box like this one, I think this would be very cute in a simple beach bucket/sand pail. This post comes with the free printable's to make your own, check it out here.

I think I am almost ready with my families summer list of fun, now I just need to think of a way to make sure chores and other responsible things still happen over the lazy, dangerously unstructured days ahead. Any ideas?

FIELD DAY T-SHIRTS

My daughter wanted to have her friends over and decorate Field Day shirts for their Field Day at school. They actually call their day "Play Day". I offered to help them applique fabric onto them and use my Silhouette to give them a polished look. They decided to use the first letter of each of their names and spell "ARMS", they called themselves, "the TWISTERS" so wanted a "twister" logo. They picked out their fabric colors and fonts, and settled on a design. The fabric for the first letter of their name for their t-shirt was different from the others, and the font on their name was in bold.

I used my Silhouette SD to cut the fabric letters, which I had a hard time with. I think in the end I just did them by hand because I couldn't get the fabric to feed properly. Looking back, I think I was cutting too small of pieces of fabric and it wasn't laying on the rollers correctly.

To applique them by hand, I just printed the letters like I wanted them onto card stock paper. Cut the letters out using a craft knife, and used those letters as a template. I traced the letters onto fabric with fusible webbing ironed on to it. Cut out the letters, ironed them onto the shirt, and sewed around the edges. I made the little "twister" with the same method, though on that I layered several little pieces of fabric onto it and sewed it all together so that is was one big applique before sewing it onto the shirt.

I did use my Silhouette for the iron-on lettering, which really did look cool, and once I figured out how to use it, it was easy. I had been cutting down the heat transfer material to page-sized pieces, but later learned that it is better if you just feed your entire piece into the machine and cut off the bit you need after it is done cutting. I used black heat transfer material for the PLAY DAY part ant their names, and I used silver metallic heat transfer for the 2011. It is hard to see in the photos but the silver looked very cool.

The girls had fun decorating the backs of their shirts with puffy paint.

Anyway, the shirts were a big hit on field day and are still being worn, yay!

Giveaway at TATERTOTS & JELLO

I LOVE today's giveaway at Tatertots and Jello! I have really gotten bored of the material that I can find in my local craft stores. TT & J is giving away $60 worth of Poppy Seed Fabrics, and they look great!!

Go see for yourself here.

High Chair Drop Cloth DIY

I saw this today over at JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE and had to share it here even though I think I am finally beyond this stage. Isn't it frustrating when you find the absolute perfect solution to a problem about 3 months too late? A few months ago when my youngest was making huge food messes under her chair I couldn't find a floor cover that I liked that wasn't way over-priced. This is great because, since it is a DIY you can personalize the colors to match your style and living space. Perfect!

The drop cloth is made using a simple vinyl tablecloth. You can find these table cloths all over the place this time of year so I thought I would post it just in case someone else can make use of it. Find the tutorial here.

Good luck!

SUMMER ACTIVITIES IDEAS

Craft Camp DAY 1

I know many of us are desperately trying to make some lists of things to keep our kids happy and busy this summer. See this previous post for a tutorial on how to make a cute Summer TO-DO list to display and check off as you go.
Today I noticed a great post over at Skip To My Lou for 3o days of craft ideas. I will definitely be adding some of these to our Summer To-Do List. I like that they are all listed out so that we can collect all the necessary supplies and be ready to roll when summer malaise sets in.
Check them out here!

SEQUENCING

THIS WEEK:
Make a "sequencing" busy bag for your child. There are many resources on the internet with stories, or events laid out in cards for your child to put into the correct order. Depending on the age of your child, you may want to put several different "stories" in one bag. My favorites are those that are based on my childrens favorite books. I include the book in the bag as well. Or, if your child is age 2 or less, you may want to teach this concept by "big, bigger, biggest" with putting objects or pictures in order by size. You may want to use a picture of their favorite story book character, animal, etc. and just use your computer to copy the image in different sizes to be put in order from smallest to biggest. Once you have your cards, place them in a bag and you have a grab and go learning activity to keep your child busy. One of my favorite resources for sequencing stories is from http://www.archjrc.com/childsplace/mittensequence.htmll

SUMMER ACTIVITIES LIST ??

Are you ready for summer?? I am so not ready. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I blame the Kindergartener. The Kindergarten class has fun activities all year that keeps us parents very busy and the school year flies.

I know one thing, I DON'T want this summer turning into a couch full of slugs playing video games and watching videos. Summer swim team keeps us pretty busy at the beginning of the summer, but if I'm not careful late July and August gets way too lazy. I need to have some ideas ready to keep us going.

I have started a list of about 25 things I want to try and do this summer. I think we will have a family night and brainstorm for at least 25 more ideas as a family. Then, I think I will put it all up on the wall as a giant checklist. I like this one (shown above) that eighteen25 did. Check out their tutorial here. The tutorial includes the free printables! You simply use a frame, and use permanent marker on the glass (it comes off later with Windex). I love it, though I think mine will be a little more plain, or it won't get finished, ahh, time, my biggest enemy.

I also want to come up with an inexpensive, easy snack bin. Here are two sample ideas from Real Simple. I'll have to tweak it a bit for my kids but I like this idea a lot.


Once I get it all done I will post it here. Good luck getting your list together. What other things do you do to prepare for summer?