"Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks: Valentine's Day Favorites

1. For kids from kids

Heart shaped crayons made from chopped up crayons then baked in the oven for 15 minutes, brilliant! Not only is this easy, affordable, and super cute but these little crayon hearts definitely beat the store bought cards hands down. We are making these for the kiddos at church and know they will all love and enjoy them.



My Tip: Once you have the crayons all chopped up let your kids put them in the heart shaped baking dish. It gives them independence to help create this fun idea for their friends.





























2. Mails here

When I saw this idea, by the home teacher, I knew I would be making these little mail boxes, no doubt. What a fun way to leave little notes for the ones you love. A fun and personal idea for Valentine's Day at home.



My Tip: Use these even after Valentine's Day is over. Leave daily notes for the ones you love, especially the kiddos. Each morning they will love looking in their mail box to see what awaits for them.











3. Fortune Cookie Love


This idea is a little sentimental for me because my husband and I actually met opening a new Asian restaurant concept and we always opened fortune cookies together. He even sent me a HUGE chocolate covered cookie to Florida when I was still living there. I'm actually making these for him, putting them in a jar and am really excited to see how much he loves the thought behind them. Easy to make and the idea behind it goes back to when we first met. You can find the "how - to" steps at Wonder Forest.

My Tip: Whether you are making them for him or her make it a venture and tell them to only open one a day for the rest of the month. It will be the perfect beginning or ending to their day this coming month.

"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"

The Simple Beautiful Life

I'm going to do things a little differently this Saturday morning. Instead of the usual "Definitely Don't" list I was thinking something with a little more substance to start my weekend. While looking through all the photos on our computer yesterday I was especially loving the ones of the kids from the past year. With the first month of the new year coming to an end soon I'd like to share some of my favorite photos of the kids from 2011. 

For the Birds

Today is so beautiful outside with just a bit of chill to it. It's the perfect day to be outside with the kids. While we were in the backyard playing we noticed our birdies were looking for food and that their feeders were empty so I decided to turn feeding our friends into a mom and toddler bonding/craft time.

We gathered our left over bread that was going to be thrown away today, some peanut butter, our bird seed, forks (for spreading), and plates to make our masterpieces. I rolled out our picnic blanket on the deck, gave the kiddos each their own little work area with cups of bird seed and let them make a snack for our wildlife friends.  

When they were finished we took their peanut butter seed sandwiches down to the bird feeders and placed them on a rock. Our kitchen window looks down onto the feeders and I'm excited to see if they enjoy our snack. 

This was the perfect idea for a perfect afternoon outside. A "Definitely Do" for the little bird lovers in your life.

My Tip: You can also use an empty paper towel holder, toilet paper roll, or pine cones to create a bird seed snack (all items you can find in, around, and outside your home).

" Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"

Dance and Movement Activity Sheet

www.jitterbugzdance.com

I recently started a mommy group with my dance company and at our first meeting I handed out a 5 week curriculum for some dance and movement activities to do with your toddler or preschooler. If you saw the activity I posted a few days ago using the shapes and colors, that activity is part of the curriculum I'm going to share with you today.

When your home with the kids on a rainy day or sometimes just a lazy day where you don't really want to get out of your pj's, I know I've found myself wandering around trying to figure out what to do with the kids. That is where I came up with this 5 week activity. I've posted the activity sheet and rewards board for you to print out and enjoy.  This activity is a "Definitely Do" for every mama out there. You and the kids will enjoy these activities and they are all ones you can continue to practice every day.

Once you have both sheets printed out you'll see there is a lesson, activity, and goals for each week. Once you completed each lesson sit down with your child and on the rewards board write down three things that you have learned and reward them with a sticker on their board. The activities are not limited to movement and dance but also create time for you and your kiddo to have arts and crafts time by putting together these activities.

My Tip: Another idea is to do the activity on a Monday and then for the rewards board if you see your child doing something throughout the week that pertains to the activity such as team work from week 1 give them a sticker to put on their board. At the end of the week they get to see how many stickers they earned for that week!

Hope you mamas out there find this fun and gives you inspiration.

"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"

"Definitely Do" Top Three DIY Picks: Mommy Must Have Printables

Before Pinterest I was never aware of all the awesome printables that are not only offered to us for FREE (because these bloggers are the coolest) but also ones that are so darn helpful for our every day lifestyle. I've picked my top three picks and hope you like them too.

1. Toy Bin Tags



Lily Jane has some of the cutest printables,  this being one of them. These toy bin tags are perfect for keeping up with organization and also helping your child recognize the tag by picture and word to help them know where the toys go after play time. Toys have a home too.


My Tip: I recommend laminating these so they don't get colored on or ruined easily. Little hands get curious!


2. Grocery and Dinner Planner

What mother and wife would turn this down? Exactly! Here is an awesome printable from $5 Dinners. Not only can you get your grocery list jotted down but you can keep track of your meal plan for the week along with estimated and actual spending.


My Tip: After each week hole punch your meal plan and keep them all in a folder. You can go back for ideas from past weeks and know the dinner do's and don'ts.









3. Mason Jar Labels


The Pretty Blog has some of the prettiest and classiest food jar labels that I have seen. Whether you are gifting them or using them at home they will not disappoint.


 My Tip: I love ribbons and bows so if you are gifting your jars I would add a decorative ribbon around the lip of the jar that matches your label.

I hope for you foodies, organizers, and printable feens this has caught your eye for the day and given you something awesome to print out and enjoy.

"Now get out there and make something beautiful and from the heart"




Do you have any fun printable favorites?

"Definitely Don't" Top Three Don't Even Think About Its

It has come to that time of the week again, the time where I can vent my Pinterest.com frustrations and you all get to view it. With no further ado, here we go.

1. Soft Balls or  Shoe Soles

I'm going to be honest when I say this... when I first saw this pin, I mean very first glance, I thought it was soles to a pair of shoes. Of course the picture was a smaller size than shown here, I was just really so confused.  Thank goodness for captions and zoom. Maybe it's because I was never a sports buff, yes I've seen a baseball before but never like this. I'm not really even sure what it's supposed to represent, maybe someone reading this does and can explain. But for now, it's a don't.

Shapes and Colors Game

 My kids love playing learning games that are interactive and get them up and moving. Outside of being a wife, mommy, and blogger I also own a mobile dance company where I teach little tots, just like my own babes, dance and movement. We do fun, interactive, and educational lessons with music, dance, and movement. I came up with this idea a few days ago and thought I would share the love.

I purchased everything for this project at the Dollar Tree, here is what you will need:

- 2 poster boards (2 for $1)

- construction paper book ($1)

- large note cards ($1)

- glue stick (I had one laying around but you can find one for around $.49)

- scissors

Here is the "how-to"

Your going to cut your poster boards into 4 equal squares so that when you are finished you have 8 squares total using both poster boards. Then take your construction paper and pick out 8 different colors. On each piece of paper draw a different shape (you'll want to draw one large and one small sketch of each shape). Cut out your shapes. Glue the large shape to the poster board and the small shape to the blank side of the note card. On the side of the note card where the lines are write different questions about each shape and color, make sure they are questions that your child will know the answers too.

Start Playing!

The idea of the game is to lay the large poster board shapes on the ground in different places in the room or even around the house in different rooms. When mom holds up a note card with a shape and color have the kids tell you the shape and color then have them find the matching one in the house or room. Once they find it ask them some of the questions from the back of the note card. When your done with that shape and it's color move onto the next card. When they are all finished reward them with a sticker or home made reward ribbon. This game is a "Definitely Do" and is fun for everyone in the family. It combines matching, colors, shapes and if you put the colors in different rooms in the house it even has a little hide-and-seek feel to it. The kids will love searching for the matching shapes.

My Tip: If you don't want to draw your own shapes the Dollar Tree also has pre-cut shapes and you can even practice the alphabet using this same technique. Make learning fun the inexpensive and creative way!

"Now get out there and make some beautiful and from the heart"