It's All in Your Perspective

I work with some amazing people. I really do. So it should come as no surprise that they have some amazing kids. One of these amazing kids is little M. She's in kindergarten this year.

After doing her homework, her mom told her to put it on the table and she would check it. Well imagine her mother's surprise when she found this:

Of course everyone had a good laugh over it. "But Moooooom, my teacher KNOWS pigs poop!" But it got me thinking. Here this little 5 year old was asked to draw a picture to show how she arrived at her answer. And she drew exactly what she visualized - a pen with 4 pigs in it is obviously going to contain some poop! And once she had her picture drawn, she was able to go look at the illustration and find the answer, which she got correct. But all the adults could focus on was the fact that she added pig poop to make her drawing more realistic.

How many times do we do that in every day life? We have a tendency to focus on what is wrong with the picture and not what is right. We want to completely change the picture, to make it more acceptable or correct. But what if in order to answer the question we need all the details, even the more unpleasant ones?

Sometimes you just have to look past the poop to solve the problem.

Photo Cube Block Puzzles

I really used to have free time once in a great while before Pinterest. Now I either pin stuff I want to do or do things I pinned.

Anyway, I saw these cute photo cube block puzzles and knew I'd have to make myself a set or 2 (or 3). I think I will take these to work and let the students play with them when they are chilling in my office.

You will need six 2" wooden cubes and six 4"x6" photos. You will also need Mod Podge, an applicator, a small sharp blade, and either a fan, hair dryer, or a LOT of spare time.

First, you are going to arrange your cubes into a 2x3 pattern. Then coat the tops with Mod Podge.

Put your picture on top of all 6 cubes and press firmly to get out any air bubbles. Then coat the top of your photo with a thin but even layer of Mod Podge.

Speed up the drying process with a fan or hair dryer. Or wait for a good long while for it to dry between steps.

Ignore all that gunk on my hairdryer. It's probably toothpaste. My kids can get toothpaste on ANYTHING.

 Now cut the blocks apart using your blade. Try to get it as exact as possible or they won't fit together as well in the end!

Flip the cubes to an uncovered face and repeat the steps until all 6 faces are covered. Then go back and recoat all the photos with Mod Podge because you may find they like to stick together if they aren't completely dry in between steps

Assemble your puzzle and enjoy! When you get bored with it, flip the pictures and you have something new to look at. Wouldn't these make fantastic gifts? And super cheap too - less than $1 to get the photos printed and maybe $5 for the blocks!

Yay! Now I can see 18 of my favorite pictures of them whenever I want!

*Stuff I didn't tell you:

1) I really hate Mod Podge. It gets EVERYWHERE! How do people use it and not have it stuck all over their hands? Maybe I just have no patience...

2) These things really do need a lot of drying time between steps. If you rush it, they are not going to turn out nearly as pretty as you want them to be.

3) I used real photos printed on real photo paper by a real photo counter (ok, the drugstore, but it wasn't home printed!) If you used regular paper on these you really want to make sure every thing is super dry before the next step. While I think you probably could make these with a thin paper, I also think they would tear super easy and you'd just be left with a gloppy mess.

4) My photography skills suck. I have discovered that this is what sets you apart on Pinterest - if you have an expensive camera and can take really good pictures, people will think you are an amazing crafter. I think everyone's projects really DO look just like yours does, they are just better at taking pictures to make it look perfect!

Spook Towne, USA

(Yes, it's December and I'm posting about Halloween. I just went back into drafts and found this)

We had a Spooktacular Halloween this year, even though my little goblins were bummed because I told them they are now too old to go Trick or Treating. But it's ok, Pinterest and Nana to the rescue! 

Mummies in a blanket, witch hat pizzas, Jack-o-Lantern fruit cups

Bubbling cauldrons and Witches' Brew. Who knew they sold dry ice at the grocery store?!

Dracula made a guest appearance.

We even played Halloween bingo

and Stick the Spider in the Web!

If you want to see the recipes we used, they are all in my Halloween board on Pinterest.

One Horse Sleigh

You know how it is. You need that perfect gift for your coworkers, your kids' teachers, the neighbors, etc. But you don't want to break the bank to make everyone feel special. I spent years trying to come up with clever gifts.

And then the internet invented Pinterest.

So when I found these on there, well you know I had to pin and make them! Here's my source pin.

You are going to need candy canes, a wide, flat, rectangular candy bar (KitKat works great - Hershey bars might work too), and some candies for packages. I used the Hershey Miniatures like my inspiration blogger did, but as I was making them I stated thinking you could probably use the Nuggets or maybe even some other mixed assorted candies. 

You also will need some ribbon or wide string and a bow or something to go on top. And an adhesive. I used hot glue. Some people have had success using glue dots (like for scrapbooking). I am cheap. I had hot glue on hand already and I was shelling out a lot of money for candy!

To do the sleighs the way I made them, you will need for each sleigh 2 candy canes, 1 KitKat bar, 10 Minis, 18" of ribbon, and a Hershey's kiss (to go on top).

First, glue the candy canes to the bottom of the KitKat. Leave the curves part out or your presents won't have room.

Now start layering your candies. I went with 4, 3, 2, 1. You could do 3, 2, 1 and it would still look pretty good and be a little cheaper in the long run.

I just put a little dab of hot glue on the bottom of each candy. I don't think they melted any. No one mentioned it if they did. If you got one of these from me and it was melted or ooky, leave a comment so we'll know!

I did put ribbon around these and glue a Hershey Kiss on the very top, but I forgot to take a picture. They turned out super cute though and I really liked them!

Easy Lined Zipper Pouch Tutorial

So I'm a little bit thrifty. Note to all you rich people out there: that means I'm poor but I refuse to be labeled as such! And I have about 8 million family members on my shopping list. But just because you are not loaded doesn't mean you can't give nice gifts! Enter the Easy Lined Zipper Pouch!

You love my spiffy bath towel backdrop, right? Yeah that was the first thing I grabbed from the linen closet.

Now some of you might be intimidated by this project. Let me assure you, if you own a machine, can thread it, and make it stitch, you can make these. Even the zippered part. I promise, they aren't hard in the least!

Here's what you're gonna need materials wise:

I'M FAMOUS!

Ok, not really. But I noticed that my web traffic was picking up and it was coming from...

DUN DUN DUN.....

PINTEREST!!!!!

WOOOOO I have made the big time now! Somebody pinned me on Pinterest!

Then I noticed I haven't actually added any new content since October. Oops.

BUT I have about a zillion pictures on my phone I need to upload and blog about so maybe I'll get those going. And I've got 5 or 6 drafts I could edit and publish. So for my new stalkers, WELCOME! (And yes, I am totally crazy)

Why Furby is Evil

And no, it's not because it costs $60 (?!?!).

Thomas has to leave the room every time the Furby commercial comes on. And it's not even because I'm trying to convince him that there is no way that thing can possibly be worth that much of my hard earned money. (Although seriously? There is no way I would pay that much for that thing. If you are planning to, I'm not judging you, I'm just saying that's too much for something they are gonna play with for 30 hours and then be over it)

No, if it's one of my boys and a phobia, you know there has to be some hilarious back story to it. Because, let's face it, I am pretty darn good at creating ridiculous phobias in my children!

So what happened was, when Thomas and Steven were toddlers (probably around 3 and 4), we drug down all my old stuffed animals from the attic. And in the bin was my old Furby. Steven of course fell in love with it because it was a stuffed animal. Yes, he has very high standards for judging stuffed animals to love and never part with. Something along of the lines of a) is it somewhat soft and b) do I already own the exact same thing (note - variations of even the slightest degree from an already owned and loved stuffed animal qualify it as "different" and therefore eligible for being adopted into the stuffed animal herd).

Anyway, we tried to make Furby work again. Cleaned the contacts, new batteries, I think my Dad might have even gotten into its "guts" and worked on the circuit board in an effort to make Furby work. But Furby just wasn't having it after a decade of living in a Rubbermaid bin in the attic. So we resigned ourselves to the fact that Furby just wasn't going to do cool stuff and went on about life.

But Furby had other plans.

At some point we noticed that Thomas was avoiding the room that Furby (Now renamed "Kirby", sorry to my dear cousin Kirby who is not, in any way evil) now lived in. And that, in fact, he would walk around the dresser and distance himself as far as possible from Kirby at all times. Kirby was living in my kids' playroom over at Nona and PawPaw's house. We call it "The Land of Yes" for a reason, so there were any number of things on that dresser that could have been the source of the phobia. But it was pretty much confirmed that Kirby was the root of the problem when Steven got it down to play with and Thomas came running out of the room like a cat on a 3am crack high.

Well if you know Steven, you know what happened next.

Did my darling sweet child throw Kirby in the garbage? Stuff him in a pillowcase? Vow to rid the world of Kirby and his evilness?

Nope.

He proceeded to goad Thomas with Kirby every chance he got. Hide behind the door and stick Kirby out as Thomas walked in? Check! Put Kirby in Thomas' bag of toys? Check! Walk up behind Thomas and put Kirby on Thomas' shoulder? Check!

Now of course, wonderful parent that I am, I think that the whole "Thomas is afraid of a dead Furby" phobia is hilarious. And while I certainly didn't encourage Steven's mission to scar his brother for life, I probably could have done a little more to DIScourage it (translation: if I hadn't been laughing so dang hard, Steven probably would have stopped after a couple days of scares).

Now you are probably wondering why Thomas was freaking out over a dead Furby. I mean yeah, it has those freaky eyes and such, but dead Furbys from the 90's have closed eyes. I just chalked it up to it being one of Thomas' "things" and left it at that.

Then we discovered the REAL problem.

One day my mom was sitting in her living room and heard singing coming from the playroom. The kids were not there, and hadn't been there for a day or two. She went in to investigate. There was Kirby, rocking back and forth, humming a little tune to himself, all WITHOUT having been activated. Kirby was working again all right, but only when KIRBY wanted to work. You couldn't turn him on, and you couldn't turn him off. He would just spontaneously do his Kirby thing.

Imagine you are about 4 years old. You are spending the night with your grandparents. And in the middle of the night, this freaking thing on a dresser high above your little head starts singing, swaying back and forth, and talking in some unknown language. Well no wonder the kid was terrified of it!

He was probably at least 7 before he could even look at that thing without freaking out.

At least that's ONE item he WON'T be begging for at Christmas! Though I wouldn't put it past Steven to ask for one just to torture him with it....