Easter Story Eggs

I have seen several different versions of these Easter Story Eggs in stores and on blogs and websites over the past couple of years and have wanted to make my own set for our family for a long time now. I bought all of the stuff to make them last year...then, all that stuff sat tied up in a "Family Dollar" plastic bag at the bottom of my my craft projects "to do" box until last week when I dug them out, dusted them off, and decided to finally put them together. The eggs are very easy and inexpensive to put together, and I was able to find most of the items I needed just around my house and yard. Here is what you will need to make your own set...

*14 plastic Easter Eggs.

*14 strips of paper with scriptures written on them (I used scriptures and ideas from here and here, as well as some of my own favorites that I added in).

*Black Sharpie or vinyl/sticker numbers 1-14.

*small items listed below to put inside of each egg.

*basket, grass, and any other egg embellishments you may want to use (I used small chipboard flowers that I hot glued to the outside of each egg).

How To...

1. Label each egg with #'s 1-14 and add any embellishments you are using.

2. Write each scripture reference on your paper strips.

3. Fill each egg with its matching scripture paper and small item.

4. Place eggs into decorative basket or container and you are ready to go. I had originally thought of just opening all of the eggs on Easter Sunday after dinner or something. My friend also had this countdown to Easter idea linked to her blog that I really liked as well. You use the eggs to count down to Easter by opening one a day during the 2 weeks before Easter arrives.

Scripture and Items List...

1. Matthew 26:26-28...chex or crouton and a sacrament cup or small cup

2. Matthew 26:36 & 39...miniature cup (I found one in a porcelain tea set that I bought at the dollar store).

3. Matthew 26:14-15...3 dimes

4. Matthew 27:1-2...a small piece of rope (I used some twine we had around the house)

5. Matthew 27: 24-26...a small piece of soap

6. Matthew 27:29...a thorn (I cut a small piece from our rose bush outside)

7. John19:17-18...a cross (I made one with 2 toothpick pieces and some hot glue)

8. Matthew 27:35...2 nails (thank you junk drawer)

9. Matthew 27:50-51 & 54...a small handful of little rocks

10. Matthew 27:57-60...small piece of white cloth

11. Matthew 27:60 & 65-66...a round stone

12. Mark 16:1...6 to 8 whole cloves

13. Luke 24:2-6...Leave this egg empty

14. John 15:13-14...a small heart. Why did Jesus do all of these difficult and painful things? Because he loves each of us very much and wants us to be able to return to Him.

Happy Easter!

The fun of a cardboard box...

It is windy and chilly here today, and Gracie Poo (and Mommy too) are ready for some Summer outside time. Guess we'll have to wait a few more days...in the meantime we are trying to come up with creative solutions to keep us entertained in the house. That's where our friend, the cardboard box comes into the picture...

We just added some paper, tape, and markers and TaDa! You have a sweet set of wheels...

OK, so it's not the prettiest car you've ever seen, and the steering wheel looks like a big peace sign (I'm not known for my drawing abilities), but my kids have loved it and it has already gotten lots of use today.

Who needs the park when you've got a cardboard box and a little imagination?

Alphabet Book: Letter "C"

We made it to letter "C". We decided to do "corn on a C" and glued un-popped popcorn kernels onto our "C". You could also do "cats on a C" (put cat stickers on the "c") or "candy on a "c" (glue small candies like Smarties or Nerds onto the "c"). After we were done with our gluing, we read the book "Caps For Sale", by: Esphyr Slobodkina. It is a cute little book with lots of models of the "c" sound in it.

Alphabet Book: "A" and "B"

Me and my Grace have been working on an alphabet book during some of my days off when little brother is napping. It has been a lot of fun so I thought I would share our first two official pages with you. Some of the preschool teachers I work with make 'tactile letters' with the kids in our preschool classes. Basically, you have a chunky outline of the letter you are talking about, you talk with your child about the letter (what it's called, what sound it makes, some other words that start with that sound) and then you let the child glue or decorate the letter with items that start with that particular letter's sound. The preschool kids love it and Grace has been pretty excited about it too. We started out by taking an old 3 ring binder I had around the house to use as our "book" . We decorated a cover for it and have been putting each letter page in as we go.

For the letter "A" we did apples on an "A". I cut an apple in half and Grace dipped it into red poster paint I found at Walmart. Then she stamped apples all over her "A" page. After we were finished, we ate the other half of the apple for a snack.

Other ideas for "A": apple stickers, art (just let your child draw his or her own art picture on the "A"), ants (let your child make black fingerprint ants all over the "A").

For letter "B" we did buttons on a "B". I put some glue on the "B" and let Grace go crazy placing buttons all over the "B".

We also read some books with a lot of "B" words in them after we were done (Bear Snores On,by: Karma Wilson, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by: Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault).

Other ideas for "B": blue things on a "B" (let your child paint or color the "B" blue, or glue blue pieces of paper, stickers, etc on the "B"), put bear stickers on the "B", put bug stickers on the "B".

Formula Can Art Supply Organizers

My 2-year-old has taken a recent liking to doing art projects: watercolors, coloring, drawing, cutting, gluing, putting stickers on paper...she likes it all right now. And I like it too. I love watching her be creative and make her own little masterpieces. Al this art-making poses a bit of a storage dilemma, however. This is our old "art box". The "art box of craziness" I like to call it.

Everything was just thrown in there and it was hard to know which supplies were actually living in there. And, every time Little Peanut wanted to color, or draw with markers, etc, out came this whole big, honking art bin and then her two-year-old little brain would want to get out all of the art supplies, and things sometimes got a little bit out of control. That's where the formula canisters come in. I always have a hard time throwing these away because they just seem like they could be so useful for something. So, on one of my days off last week I dug the canisters out of the basement, got out some scrapbook paper, tape, markers, and scissors and went to work. I just measured the scrapbook paper and cut it to fit each canister. Then, I labeled each piece of paper with a marker, wrapped it around the canister and secured it with tape at the seam. Done!

I think they look kind of cute sitting up there on the shelf. And...it makes it MUCH easier when we do an art project. If we are working with markers, we just take the "marker" can to the kitchen table with us and the rest of the other art supplies aren't their distracting Little Peanut from what it was she wanted to do in the first place :)

Ribbon Clip Holders

Do you ever have an idea of something in your head, and then it turns out even better than how you had pictured when you actually make it? Yay! I love it when that happens! Anyway, this was one of those projects for me. I made these ribbon clip holders for all of my daughter's bows and flowers about a year ago. I know there are a lot of versions of these clip holders out there, but this is what I came up with...

I am pretty excited with how they turned out and they were pretty inexpensive and easy to make. Here's how if you want to give it a try:

What you will need:

plain wooden plaques (I got mine at 'Michael's' for $1.29 a piece)

ModPodge

decorative paper of your choice

foam brushes

plain wooden die-cut shapes ( .25 cents a piece at 'Michael's')

ribbon of your choice

glue gun or other heavy duty glue like 'E 6000'

acrylic paints (about a dollar a bottle at most craft stores)

1. Trace the outline of your wooden plaque onto the scrapbook paper and then trace a that outline again just about 1/4" inside your original line.

2. Cut out paper along the inner line and set aside.

3. Paint front and back of your wooden plaques with acrylic paints and let dry.

4. Paint your wooden cutouts with a contrasting color and set aside.

5. Once your plaques are dry, adhere your cut out piece of paper to the plaque using 'ModPodge'. (spread 'ModPodge' to the back of the paper using a foam brush, stick the paper in place on your plaque, smoothing out the bubbles, then cover the entire thing with 'ModPodge' using a foam brush).

6. Coat the entire top of the plaque and paper with 'ModPodge' a couple more times, letting it dry between each application.

7. Once 'ModPodge' is dry, glue your painted wood cutout to the center of your plaque using glue gun or other strong glue. Let dry.

8. Coat the entire plaque with a few more layers of 'ModPodge' and let dry.

9. Cut your ribbon to desired length and glue to the back of your plaque. (you may also need to attach a hook or loop of ribbon to the back so you can hang your plaque on the wall).

10. And voila! Now you are done. You can also make this project much easier and faster by just buying an already painted wood cutout (I know they have them at some craft stores) and just gluing your ribbon to the back of that.