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Mini-Masterpiece Magnets Made by Kids – Gift Ideas from Kids

February 12, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

magnets kids can make

If you need gifts from your little kids, that they made, for loved ones, these Mini-Masterpiece Magnets are perfect!
It’s basically finger-painting fun, made into little framed pieces of colorful art, to use on refrigerators. Your recipients will love them, and your kids will be so proud they made them, themselves!
We’re teaching you how to make them!

First, just let your kids finger-paint with vibrant colors, on large quality, acid-free art paper.

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We call them “Mini-Masterpiece Magnets.”

It was abstract fine art, done our way!  And each one SIGNED by for the artists, no less!!
They all had a hand, in making each one. 😉

These are a fantastic gift idea from kids, that they can make themselves with love, for Christmas gifts and other occasions, for family and loved ones!
They are so fun for the kids to make themselves, and they will make them proud to have their masterpieces on display on anyone’s refrigerator!

Here’s how we made them:

We took those full sheet finger paintings, mounted them on magnetic material, cut them into 3″ x 3″ squares, and then ‘framed’ them with some black vinyl.
It’s that simple!

Then we made up sets of three, put them in those nifty clear bags I love, with a ribbon and a tag that said ‘Mini-Masterpiece Magnet Set’.  : )

We thought they were so colorful and fun, and honestly, it was my favorite hand-made craft gift we made to give as Christmas gifts.  We can only hope others could appreciate all of the colors and happy-emotion of these paintings, to adorn their refrigerators, perhaps to hold up a masterpiece of their own child’s, or a shopping list!

We made A LOT of them, and really…….they were truly hand picked into sets, for each recipient.  They may look all the same to some, but it was a painstaking task for us silly ones, choosing which ones we wanted to give to who, and which we just had to keep!

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Here’s a closer look at a few of these priceless paintings:

magnets kids can make

Big Mess.  Crazy Colors. Loud Laughs. Huge Fun. = ART MADE WITH LOVE

magnets kids can make

Save this idea for a rainy day craft, or as a Christmas gift idea from your own little Picasso-People.
Our kids had a blast making them, and as an update (2016), they have been loved and enjoyed for many years by all who received this gift from the kids. They’ve been on our own refrigerator for all these years, holding up other pieces of their art, and bringing us smiles from the memories we made, making them.

Thanks for coming by for some more inspiration and ideas!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas, Kids Arts and Crafts, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: art-magnets, Christmas-gift-ideas-from-kids, finger-painting-art, finger-painting-ideas, gifts-kids-can-make, handmade-homemade-gift-ideas-from-kids, kid-craft-gifts, kids crafts, kids-arts-and-crafts, magnets, magnets-kids-can-make

Handprint and Footprint Aprons – Homemade Gifts from Kids

February 5, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

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One of the gifts the kids did for their paternal grandparents for Christmas, was this apron set.   We found the denim aprons right at our favorite place….Michael’s Arts & Crafts.   Then, we just picked up acrylic paints in the colors we wanted.  Their grandparents are both FANTASTIC cooks (they even make their own pastas), and take turns in the kitchen cooking, or cook together.  So we thought this idea of an apron set, with the kids hands and feet prints, would be cute for them. I only took photos the night we did feet, which was first.  The kids had a good time, and never stopped smiling and giggling.

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First, we coated the bottom of a foot really well with paint.  You need to work quickly though, because it starts drying pretty fast.

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They stepped on the apron with their painted foot, putting their weight on it. Then they lifted their foot off the apron, going straight up!

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Then they went hopping off to the tub, to wash their foot.

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Our kids are color coded (from the triplets birth), so their grandparents would know anyway, whose prints were whose.

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They all giggled from the tickles,  while their feet were having paint put on – you might notice the firm grip on this ankle, because for some…

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…it was practically torture!!!

But didn’t they come out so cute??

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I wanted to keep them for myself. lol

But, I knew the kids would be HAPPY to do it again sometime.

Now, on to a related topic:   I’m not sure if anyone happened to notice the yellow on our boy’s cheek in this photo we showed above? :

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That’s from a couple of days before.  I was out on a job, and when I came home and walked in, they all came running in to meet me with excitement.  That’s not unusual. But they wanted to show me what their big sister spent quite awhile doing for them….

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She did face painting for them. I was impressed with her work!!   {S and O} got something on each side of their face.  {S}, above, got that puppy on one side….

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…and a bumble bee on the other.

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{O} chose a unicorn, and…..

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…a flower.

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{J} just wanted a dolphin.

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And then {A} did her own arm!

She always has such creative ideas to spend time with them, and they LOVE it!

They are blessed to have her as their big sister.

Well, that’s it for this edition!  Dang….that took me a long time to get together!  lol.  We sure hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps it sparked some inspiration for you, or an idea of your own!

See you soon!!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas, Kids Arts and Crafts, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: denim-apron-crafts, gifts-for-grandma-grandpa, handmade-gifts-from-kids, handprint-footprint-ideas, homemade-Christmas-gift-ideas, homemade-gifts-from-kids, kids-decorating-aprons

Groundhog Day; Shadow Games in the Street, and a Treat! – Homeschooling

February 2, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas
Happy Groundhog Day!

First of all, we have been meaning to express our appreciation for the commenting that’s been happening here at our blog, FINALLY!!  Who knew a little whining could go such a long way??  I mean, it doesn’t work for our kids, so we’ve been a little surprised. lol.  All we know is that we are having a lot more fun, sharing bits and pieces of our crazy fun life on our blog here, and getting to chat a little bit with all of you who come to ‘visit’ us.  You all have had so much to share with us, with your own  creative ideas, witty humor and kind, encouraging words.  We love it!! So a heartfelt thanks to you all!

Today we thought we would actually share our day, on the same day it all happened. That usually doesn’t happen, because I have too many photos to go through and edit, which takes time, and just blogging it takes another chunk of time.   But it’s nothing a little work-hooky can’t fix. lol.  I was at my computer by late afternoon, as I needed to be. But just not doing what I was supposed to be doing.  But it’s been a fun day we were looking forward to blogging about.

The kids got all of their ‘book and written’ school work done lickity-split today, knowing we had Groundhog Fun on the agenda!  First, we got to searching on the computer,  if Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania there, saw his shadow or not.  As you all know by now, NATURALLY he DID. It’s hard to remember a year when he didn’t, but it seems it has happened twice in the lifetime of our oldest child’s life, in 1999, and 2007. (Does anyone remember if we actually DID get an early spring??)   But it’s been a great winter, so Phil’s shadow wasn’t going to ruin OUR day!  Besides, we have our wood stove!  lol. So we then read a little of the history of Groundhog Day, which like every holiday, has much more to it than people in general realize (or care to know, in some cases, I suppose. lol)  But we can tell you that the groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day, and the days of early Christians in Europe.   For centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people. Even then, it marked a milestone in the winter and the weather that day was important.

As the old English song goes:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

Today, February 2nd, also marks the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord.

Next the kids colored Groundhog coloring pages, while we got some groundhog puppets started to use outdoors.

 

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And then we got outdoors.  It was SUCH a beautifully warm and sunny day for our antics in the street, that it was easy to accept the whole ‘6 more weeks of winter’ thing.

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We know how easily we can fool you….So we will fess up;  Those aren’t real groundhog quadruplets. lol

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Then the kids (and Kid-Daddy)  paired up, and made shadow poses in the street.  One created a shadow pose on the street,  and their partner had to copy it as exactly as they could.

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

Then they chased each other’s shadows, and tried to step on someone else’s….

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…and would you believe, NO ONE wiped out on the sand?

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Our Little Shadow Fools, and their groundhog shadow puppets.

We soon came in, made and ate lunch, and read this poem.

And THEN made and ate…..

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….Groundhog Pie!!!

(Made with chocolate pudding in a graham cracker crust shell, pushed up to a little mound, with crumbled Chips Ahoy on top for ‘dirt’, surrounded by some Reddi Whip for snow (melting near our wood stove…lol) and of course…..the Groundhog himself, drawn and colored by Daddy, and taped to a popsicle stick!)

Groundhog Day homeschooling ideas

We hope you had some time to act like fools yourselves today!!  It’s such a silly day, we might as well!

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Holidays, Homeschooling, Kids Arts and Crafts, The Big Picture Tagged With: fun-ideas-for-Groundhog-Day, Groundhog Day, Groundhog-Day-activities, homeschooling, homeschooling-Groundhog-Day, kids-activities-for-Groundhog-Day, shadow games, snack-recipe-for-Groundhog-day

A Day Worth Celebrating!! – Our Triplets Turn 6!

September 3, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

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This past Sunday was a very special day in our family; it was half of our family’s birthday!! Our triplets ‘babies’ turned 6!

As I probably mentioned in our oldest daughter’s birthday post a couple of months ago, birthdays are celebrated in a big but different way, in our family. Basically, no one works or has school, and we spend the day together, discussing and celebrating our loved one’s life in the ways that feel right to us. Every family is different, as we all well know.  For us, annual parties with piles of presents never sat well with us.  It just wasn’t what we wanted to do every year, as much as we LOVE to plan celebrations.  It just seemed to us that the presents become the focus of the gathering — especially for children, who are still learning/being taught what matters most in life. I think that perspective became all the more important to us to really try to implement in our children, when we arrived at a child’s birthday party some years ago.  When we got there, and came walking up the driveway, the birthday child started to coming to meet us, and I personally was initially very impressed with such manners, to greet their guests like that.  But then the first words the child said to us were, “Where’s my present?“.  We had one of course, but that kind of stuck with us, and gave us a new determination with how we wanted to try things differently, and try to redirect to the most meaningful parts of the day.  Granted, teaching such values is a constant work in progress, but the kids seem to be pretty focused most time on the true meaning and purpose of Christmas, birthdays, and the like.  We do give and accept gifts, as you’ll see in this post, too.  But as a family, we really do focus most on our traditions and time together, thankfully, than the gifts.  Although those are always pretty exciting too, huh?  They are more like bonuses.

With that being said, I know some of you have been chomping-at-the bit (for different reasons I imagine), and checking many times a day (we’re flattered!) for this birthday report, with all of the sorted details and photos……so here it is:

J, O and S’s birthday was really beautiful.  Really. I’m still flying with glee from it, to tell you the truth. Just an emotional, exciting and FUN day, that created such memories!   Weather-wise, it was beautiful, but the whole day was as wonderful as we had hoped and planned it would be. It started on our bed.  They always ask to hear the stories of when we were expecting, and all of the crazy things that happened while they were all crowded in there together.  But as we tell stories, they are always watching the clock, waiting for those official minutes of the morning when they were actually born.  We purposely skip the whole labor part, as that is a horrifying and terrifying story, that even I prefer to forget (but can’t seem to).  So we skip right to the moments of joy!

Next the little bedheads, still in their boxers and t-shirts, which we call pajamas, headed to the table to wait for their (our family’s) traditional birthday breakfast.

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We have pancakes often enough, but they are just extra special on birthdays.

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They usually prefer strawberry yogurt with their pancakes, instead of syrup.  But this day they chose syrup, so that gave me reason enough to let them have their first surprise of the day;

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Electric (well battery powered) toothbrushes. I could tell by their expressions that they weren’t sure how excited they should be about this first surprise.  Then I heard one of them suggest that they go try them out right away………..

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It might have been the longest they have ever brushed!!  They came out with great BIG smiles, and I swear their teeth were whiter! We’ve heard lots of extra and longer buzzing in the bathroom in the past 2 days.  Let’s hope the thrill of it sticks around. : )

Then the phone rang, and it was their Papa (my father)….who sang Happy Birthday to them over the speaker phone.  (He could have/should have been a country star, just so you know.  He has a great voice, loves to sing, and self taught himself guitar and harmonica….which he can really jam on and often entertains us. The kids LOVE it.)

Once we were all ready, we headed to Mass.  It happened to be Sunday, and {A} was THRILLED that she was scheduled to serve on yet another special occasion to her. But what a beautiful way, anyway, to start this special day. The trio’s Daddy and I loved going to Mass on their birthday, and having such an opportunity in that way, to give thanks to our Heavenly Father, for the gift of these children He has given us.  They could very easily have been ‘taken back’ to Heaven, on more occasions than we care to remember, while in utero or the NICU.  I personally begged and pleaded while on bedrest, and admittedly ‘made a deal’ with God, to keep these babies in an earthly way.  He granted my (our) constant prayers I presented with him throughout our expecting these babies, both through my 6 months on bedrest as well as when they were in the NICU initially. I am keeping my promise to Him, in return, and will until the end of time.  My gratitude is present in my heart every day I live, with every breathe I breathe.  So at mass, as I gave thanks once again, the emotions just kept on coming.  How many ways can you be thankful for such beautiful and healthy children, who didn’t have great odds in having such a life??

After Mass and some brief ‘hang-out- time with our friend Fr. Bob, who presided at this mass (see?  perfect!), we headed home to change and grab lunch.  Because…..we needed to head out to the big surprise of the day!!

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Color Me Mine,….an AWESOME and FUN pottery painting place.  The kids just could not figure out what they wanted to do all together for their birthday this year, so their Daddy and I came up with something we were  SURE they would love doing.  They walked into this place with wide eyes, and ‘wonder’ written all over their faces.  Once we explained to them what we were doing, the 4 kids all chose a plate to paint (well, except {J}, who initially really wanted to paint a piggy bank,,,,but being the Mama, knew he would be sad later when everyone was eating off of the special plate they made…so I talked him into what I knew he would ultimately be happy with.).

They could paint it and design it anyway they chose.  I have to tell you…2 of them were insisting they needed to use a butterfly ‘for Meme’.  That is my mother, who passed away. (As if the day wasn’t emotional enough.) They see butterflies as her spirit visiting them, and reminding them that she loves them and is still here, as many people see butterflies representing their own loved and lost ones, I guess.

Figuring out what they wanted to do, and getting set up was the hardest part.  But once they got going, they felt really settled and were as happy as clams to get to work!

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The photos in this post are just a handful of the ton of photos I took on this day.  Truth be told, I always have a hard time choosing which photos to post in the blog.  Any photos of our kids are my favorites, and any from THIS particular day was especially special.  But I did my best to narrow them down.  Who minds?

{A} decided on a couple of ‘add-ons’ to adhere to the sides of her very personality-evident plate:

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{O} really wanted a job at this place.  Once she was done working on her plate, she was washing everyone in the place’s brushes and sponges. lol

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Their father and I were very busy the whole time, helping them get more paint or showing them how to do whatever, and I was taking all the photos I could as well.  But there was one thing I wanted to do before they closed shop………a family hand-print plate.  We managed to get it done, and my husband hand-lettered our names under all the prints, all the way around. THAT will be a treasure of mine for a long time to come.  Well…forever!!

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Of course, all of the pieces you have seen are very ‘undone’.  We are very excited to pick them up in about a week! Once they have been glazed and kilned, the color will all be ‘popped’ and they are going to be just beautiful!! It’s just another somethin’ to look forward to! (For you too…since I’ll take photos and put them on the blog, I am sure.)

After we scrubbed up and left Color Me Mine, still kind of covered in paint, and with smiles seemingly painted on too, we left STARVING!!  It was time to go out to dinner, and 2 of the kids wanted to go to the 99. 2 others wanted to go to a seafood place. {S} wanted baked scrod, and {O} wanted fried shrimp.   We figured out that we could probably get both of those things at the 99 anyway…so that’s where we went.  What a LOVELY and enjoyable dinner together.  We just laughed (hysterically at times) and chatted over a nice meal.  {S} did indeed order baked scrod, with broccoli (yay!) and apple sauce.  {O} could have ordered fried shrimp, but changed her mind to chicken tenders. The other 2 ordered burgers.  Anyhoo…..here was a nice birthday celebration bonus.  Our (excellent) waitress came to out table, and let us know that 2 of the kids meals were free (for the purchase of each adult meal), because the Red Sox won the night before!!  SERIOUSLY??!!  (Not that the Red Sox won….lol, but about the free meals because they did.)   Well……. OK!!!  I guess that’s the deal they offer.  We love that.  : )

On the way home, balloons were on the urgent agenda. The birthday trio REALLY wanted them.  So we stopped on the way home to get them, and somehow that experience was pretty fun too!! They were allowed to choose their ribbon color too, so they were thrilled. Then the cashier, who was one of those people who had never seen/known triplets before, was an especially (puzzling) hoot.  We were cracking up on the way out.

Once we got home, we still had a few things to do.  A couple more surprises, and the ‘coffee cake’ they specifically requested (for months) for their birthday cake. There was also sweet message on the machine for them; a quite amusing ‘Happy Birthday’ duet and message from their grandparents.  We listened to that a few times. : )

Their big sister, {A}, is just the sweetest big sister when it comes to their birthday.  She starts planning weeks in advance.  Once her birthday is over, anyway.  She really works at figuring out just what she wants to get them, and insist on using her own money. she makes pretty good money for a kid, as she enjoys being our business assistants here and there, and we like to compensate her when she does. She saves most of it, and spends a little.  So as their birthday approaches, she asks us to drive her to the places she needs to go, and we do.  So she was pretty excited, as she always is, to give them their gifts.  She always knows just what they’ll flip over:

{J} loves penguins, and puppets……..

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Not too long ago, the kids Papa came down for their pre-birthday visit, and gave the kids a gift.  He gave {O} a purse, which I thought was perfect.  She’s so into girls things.  In accepting the gift, {O} amusingly said in her sweet and grateful little tone “Well thank you, Papa!  I don’t know what I have to put it in it, but it’s nice!  Thank you.’   {A} remembered that, and got her plenty of purse things to put in it……

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Last year, {A} bought {S} a blue hummer toy.  He LOVED it…had it every moment of the day.  Until one day it rolled off the table and broke.  (A few times, actually….and we fixed it over and over).  Eventually it was just done, from playing with it, and it dropping so many times. So he really wanted another one, and said so a LOT! Do YOU think he looks happy?…….

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Then we had one more surprise for them, before cake.

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They have been using an educationally based computer program called Jump Start.  They’ve been using the 1st grade one for over a year, and seemed like they needed something more challenging, so we got them the next level up.  Mind you, this isn’t a school thing we give them. It’s something they like to do in their spare time, outside of our formal school time, for FUN.  It’s all parts of writing, reading, math, science, social studies, thinking skills, music and art.  So….”sure kids!  You can play with that for awhile!” They are getting a refurbished laptop of their own that is fast enough, because {A} needs hers for science and history/geography. (Here is {O} below using the program the next day.

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The next day we realized there was some mail and books that came for them that we forgot to give them the (late) night before. Not to mention the pile of thoughtful cards they got more in the mail that day.  They were all very sweet/funny, and they even got some handmade cards that were very appreciated by them. They also appreciate the phone calls they received with birthday wishes over a few days time.

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So that was our wonderful day, in a nutshell, believe it or not. : )  Although I am (very) excited to share our always exciting first day of (home) school with you, (oh my goodness…the abundance of photos I took),  I wanted to share this day first.  I will be blogging about our unexpected first day of school soon, somewhere in between the work I have, school and everything else important. I need to go through and process the photos before then too.

Thanks for reading all about this big day in our family!  We appreciate the visitors, as we share, and record our daily family life we are so blessed with.

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, Faith, Kids Arts and Crafts, Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: 6-year-triplets-birthday, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, color-me-mine-ceramics, triplets

Kids FUN Plant Makeover, with Buttons! – Kids Craft

May 15, 2008 By Laura 2 Comments

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Be fore-warned.  There are LOTS of photos in this post.  And the reason is simple:  Me and my camera were having way-too-much-fun, taking photos of the kids doing this fun plant makeover, with buttons!

This is the other craft I bought supplies for weeks ago. I saw this neat idea in Family Fun Magazine called Bloomin’ Buttons, and if you happened to read this post, then you know how I feel about buttons.  So….one way or another I was doing this.  It’s not not only a fun project for the kids, but it’s really great for their fine motor skill development.

I just happened to have this lovely Cyclamen plant (see photo below) that my father and brother brought me for Christmas. (Wasn’t that sweet?) Yes, it’s still alive. A little research described this plant as ‘a flowering house plant that requires very little care’, so I’m not too proud of myself.  Mine flowers white and scarlet flowers. I just love it.  It lives on the ledge between our kitchen and school room, where it gets just the right amount of light, and maximum enjoyment.

But…the basket was looking a little….Christmasy. Especially now that it’s spring.  So I had planned on spraying the basket a solid color anyway.  But now I had this whole new make-over idea that I was way too excited about, for my age.

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So yesterday, while Michael and {A} were out on a job, I asked my little helpers {J}, {O} and {S} (5 year old triplets) if they wanted to help me with a craft. (And then covered my ears to protect them from the inevitable piercing cheers).  Of COURSE they did!  So I sprayed the basket outside, and left it out there to dry.  Then we got out all we needed ( just buttons, wire and wire cutters), plopped down on the floor, and got to work.

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First we sorted through the buttons to find the colors we wanted (mainly primary) and the sizes we needed, to work together.

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Then we got to threading them with 26 gauge green florist’s wire. It had to go up through and back down through, making a few good twists right below the buttons.

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The kids loved making differing color combinations, and doing something different each time.  We must have sat in a circle, just chatting, giggling and working (perhaps like quilters! lol) for over an hour. About the time it was time to put our little button bouquets into the plant soil, their show was on.  That worked out good, because it wasn’t easy putting them in even for me.  What a mess I made. But look how CUTE it came out!! …….

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Now that I had sprayed the basket all white, I decided it needed a little something at the bottom.  So I added some tiny colored cord, because it was all I had.  But I may pick up some colorful thin ribbon that might look better. Still….I love it as it is.  It is so…..qUiRky, and FuN!  Like me!  (Well….some do think so.)

So I know you really get the idea by now, but just because I didn’t want the fun to end, I kept taking photos. I love detail shots.  Indulge me………..

It’s like a Button Garden!….

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With unique little button buds……

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9_button-plant-kids-craft

Now I’ve seen those ‘room make-over’ shows, so I know a nice way to end these things is to show a split screen of before and after.
So here it is……..What do you think??

12_button-plant-kids-craft

Now I think it’s time for ME to have a makeover.

The next couple of days are on the busy side for us, so not sure we’ll have much time to blog.  But you never know!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Kids Arts and Crafts, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: button-garden, button-projects, kids crafts, motor-skills-activity, plant-makeover

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