Marker Monday - Crazy Hair Hats for 100 day

I had the best time substitute teaching last week in a preschool class. What fun it was! Everything was new and exciting to these little ones. I was lucky enough to be there when they celebrated their 100th day of school. 

All the students from the PreK to the 5th grade lined up holding a number from 1 to 100. Imagine my surprise when one of the teachers told us this was the first time in a LONG time there were enough students to count to 100! Yep, we are a small school. 

The kids got to make a 100 Day Crazy Hair Hat. I didn't get any good pics of them but basically they had a piece of cardstock that went around their heads and they glued 100 strips of paper to it; ten colors in groups of ten. Twenty preschoolers all counting and gluing, oh my. The hats were wild! 

I thought we could do a smaller version at home with Yahoo. She loved it, especially when she shook her head. Ha! 

Yap decided to make one too. 

It was a nice quick little after school art project. You could crayon drawings, stickers, all kinds stuff! 

Marker Monday - Toilet Paper Tube Jewelry

This winter I've found it hard to keep Yahoo occupied during the day. I like art projects but it's hard to find ones that are suitable for an almost 2 year old. But I was looking through some of my old art teaching stash the other day and found these ideas.

Toilet Paper Tube Bracelets

 Cut tube in strips

Paint the outside with glue. Okay, I helped a little with this.

Cover with glitter, paint, fabric, paper, etc and let dry.

I normally hate glitter but I'm glad we got it out because Yahoo loved it and kept asking for more.

If your little ones hands are too big for these bracelets cut one side and wrap around his/her wrist. Yahoo likes to put these on her ankles too.

Toilet Paper Tube Barrettes



Take the cut strips and cut one side to create a flat strip. Cut the strip into thirds (1 1/2" each) and use a hole punch to add two holes for the hair sticks. I used bamboo skewers I cut into 3" sections and sharpened with a pencil sharpener. You can always change the sizes depending on how much hair your girls have. Yahoo's hair is fairly fine so we kept them small.

For these we kept it simple - painted then added some stickers. I've always loved these kind of hair holders. And with a bit of imagination, and not a toddler who will destroy them, you could create something pretty fancy!

How have your kids stayed busy inside this winter?

Turkey Day Decorations

Do you need some last minute Turkey Day decorations? Here's a few you can whip up from stuff you probably have laying around the house!


No long tedious instructions, these pictures tell their own story. Grab your glue gun and craft stash and put your kids to work. You know, kids, those little monkeys who have the day off from school. Keep em' busy until the feast is served!

Construction paper, scissors, glue

A lone knit glove, fabric, glue gun and plastic lid.

Pinecone, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, fabric, puffball and hot glue gun.

Thanksgiving Batik Table Runner without Wax!

I have been busy decorating for Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday! Yes, I can honestly say I enjoy Thanksgiving more than Christmas. No presents, no trying to get all the gifts in the car, no trying to hit all the relatives in a few short days.

Thanksgiving for me growing up was a huge dinner organized and overseen by my grandmother and her five sisters. Every Thanksgiving was spent with tons of family (I'm talking 50 or more people) and lots and lots and lots of food.

With this being our first Thanksgiving in Kansas without being surrounded by family, I decided to spruce up our new dining table to keep things warm and cozy.

I had an old, heavy, canvas seed corn sack in my fabric stash. I cut the apart the back and the front and sewed them together at the bottom to make a long runner.

I just love the stripes on the bag. To create my design I found some leaf patterns online that I used for stencils. I traced each stencil with glue and then added glue leaf veins. I let the glue dry for about 24 hours.

Using watered down ACRYLIC paint I then painted in the leaves and let it dry overnight. It's important to use acrylic because it's latex based and won't wash out if you need to throw the runner in the washing machine.

The next day I used watered down blue and green for the background and allow to dry overnight. I added a few glue accents in the background for more visual interest. Be careful how watery your blue/green paint is because it will bleed under the glue into the leaves if you aren't careful. I had a lot of bleeding but I actually enjoyed the way it looked in the end.

After the runner is dry, soak the whole thing in warm water for 20-30 minutes. This will loosen up the glue to be removed. I found a butter knife scraped under (not across) the glue worked well at removing the glue. You could also try wiping it off with a damp rag.

Once the glue is wiped off (you aren't going to get every bit off), allow runner to dry and iron it flat. Enjoy a beautiful piece of artwork on Turkey Day!

Marker Monday - School Clothes Organizers

Since the boys have been in school I have found that I have to find ways to keep Yahoo entertained. She's 18 months old and never been more than a couple hours away from her brothers. Oh, she doesn't necessarily miss them while they are at school but we've learned Yahoo doesn't have anything to do when she's by herself! Her form of playing is following Yip and Yap around or wrestling with them or letting them chase her around the house. (Yep, she enjoys being chased by boys....should I start worrying about that??)


Like I said....we need to find things to do. I came across the idea of a week's worth of school clothes organizing here and thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I'd get the boys organized for school in the mornings and give Yahoo a craft project to do one day. DR thinks I'm OCD for making these but he doesn't realize we NEED something to do. Hey, we can eat only so many bon-bons honey!

I started by cutting a piece of felt into two tags like this. The hole should be big enough for your clothes hanger's hook to fit through.

Then with a bottle of glue and a pile of felt scraps Yahoo went to town. I spread on the glue and she smeared glue everywhere placed the felt pieces neatly on the tags. We had to reglue quite a bit but Yahoo had fun and that's what counts.

Now Yip and Yap can pick out their clothes for the whole week, begin a good habit that will carry over into college and positively influence thier entire fraternity and be neatly organized for the rest of their lives!!

Okay, get up off the floor....it's not that funny. Hey, if they use these tags for a couple weeks I'll be happy.

At least I've tried!!