the Thankful Tree

Brayden and I have been working on the letter L this week. I saw something similar to this on pintrest and loved it. (This was also on my fall bucket list, yahoo for checking it off)!

While we were in Marshall shopping I picked up this cute vase at Walmart for $5.00.

I also borrowed the cute scallop punches then Brayden and I went out and collected a bunch of sticks in a grove behind our house. We got home and Brayden helped me punch holes in the "leafs" and arrange the sticks in the vase.

The Thankful Tree

Sticks, vase, scrapbooking paper, twine (we ended up not using it but it was to tie the leafs' on the tree) scallop punch, scissors and hole punch

 

 I explained to him what this tree meant and what it was for. We each wrote 3 things we were thankful for on the leaf. Then he hung the leafs' on the tree.

What are you thankful for?

Hanging up the leaf on the tree

 

When Ashtyn got home he couldn't wait to tell her about it. He calls it the "Thank You Tree" she thought this was pretty awesome too! She wrote a few of her own down on the leafs' and hung them on the tree then went out to play. Not long later a few of the neighbor friends came in with her. Went straight to the counter that the tree was on and they were writing things they were thankful for and hanging them on the tree. My heart was filled with so much joy. What an awesome ministry this has become. Ashtyn was sharing Jesus with them and they were so excited about it!

We have had this tree for a few weeks now and it has been so fun to watch the kids write on the leafs'. The first few days I would ask them during dinner what they were thankful for and then it became a habit. We will be playing or crafting and they will say, Oh I have something to write on a leaf! It's amazing. God is so good and it is so wonderful to see that joy in their hearts too.

This has been the most rewarding project we have done together.

 

Fall Bucket List

 Is it really fall already! Where has the time gone?!

We did a summer bucket list- inspired by a friend and our entire family LOVED it! One night during dinner we all talked about things that we would love to do this summer. It was fun checking the things off the list and making memories while we were at it!

So of course...we had to do one for the fall! Here is ours, keep checking back to see the posts of the things we did...aka 'erupting pumkins'! It will be fun!

Feel free to download this or hopefully it will inspire you and your family for fun ideas this fall!

 

Click here to download

Resurrection Eggs- The Real Story of Easter!

We LOVE to celebrate Easter! But with all the culture celebrations, eggs, the bunny and candy it becomes confusing to children. I wanted to teach my children the REAL meaning of Easter and when they were asking to do an Easter Egg hunt this seemed like the best way possible.

WHAT YOU NEED:

*Egg Carton

*Plastic Eggs

*Items listed in eggs:

  -Palm Brach or blade of grass

  -Cotton ball with perfume on it

  -Cracker

  - Three Dimes

  - Thorny branch (crown of thorns)

  -Toothpick (cut and glue into the cross)

  -Nail or push pin

  -Dice

  -A q-tip

  -Few whole cloves

  -Small Rock

 *Scissors

*Hot Glue Gun

ASSEMBLE

Egg #1 -Palm Brach (or blade of grass, leaf)
Msg: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people that loved Jesus waved palm branches
Passage: Matthew 21: 1-11

 

Egg #2 Cotton ball with perfume on it
Msg:  Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet
Passage: John 12:2-8

Egg #3 Cracker- a small cracker to represent the pass over bread
Msg: Jesus ate the Last supper with his friends His Disciples
Passage: Matthew 26: 17-19

Egg #4 Three Dimes
Msg: Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
Passage:  Matthew 26: 14-15

Egg #5 Crown of thorns. A small thorny branch or a single large thorn
Msg: Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head.
Passage: John 19:2

Egg #6 Cross made from a toothpick
Msg: Jesus carried his cross that he died on
Passage: John 19:17

Egg # 7 Nail or Push Pin
Msg: Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced in His Side.
Passage: John 19: 18, 34

Egg #8 Dice
Msg: Soldiers parted Jesus' garments and cast lots for His coat.
Passage: John 19:24

Egg #9 A q-tip
Msg: They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall on a sponge to drink
 Passage: John 19:29-30

Egg #10 A few whole cloves
Msg: Spices to prepare Jesus for burial.
Passage:  John 19:40

Egg #11 A small rock
Msg: The stone covering Jesus' tomb was rolled away
Passage: John 20:1

Egg #12 NOTHING.
Msg: The tomb is empty . He has risen!
Passage: Luke 24: 6-7

We first read the Easter story before looking at the eggs. Our children are young (6, 3 and 16 months). It really helps if they have the story fresh in their minds! Then we hid the eggs, the kids found them and put them in order 1-12.

They opened the eggs and remembered the parts of the story!! They were SO excited that they could relate to the Easter Story with the items in their eggs.

It just filled my heart with joy watching them and seeing how they remember what we read and even the last egg.. that was empty (I wasn't sure how they would react.. but they were SOOOO EXCITED and they figured it out right away that it was empty because Jesus rose from the dead and went into Heaven for us!!!)

Also you can print bible verses and place them inside each egg, our daughter who is 6 was able to understand but the younger 2 aren't quite there yet so they enjoyed looking inside the eggs and listening to the story! :)

We have hid the eggs and told the story so many times this week in preparation for Easter and it is so awesome to watch the kids be able to tell each other the real meaning of Easter!

I also found a few other neat ideas on Finding Easter in Bunnies and Eggs here!

We hope you enjoy this as much as our family has! :)

Personalized Guess Who Game

 A family favorite of ours is to play games, we recently bought the kids this Guess Who Game and wanted to be able to play with both Ashtyn (5) and Brayden (3). It was harder for Brayden to play since he didn't know the names of anyone on the cards. We made our own personalized game and it has been his FAVORITE game to play ever since then! It was really easy to make, a little time consuming but definitely worth it for all the hours that we have now spent playing it! :)
Hope you all have a super fun time playing this!

Materials Needed:
Pictures (I cropped each picture 1'' by 2'' --> then printed them)
Mod Podge
Paint Brush


What To Do:
After printing the pictures and cutting them out --> You will need 3 copies of the pictures (2 for each board and then 1 set to draw from)
Just use a layer of Mod Podge on the original card then put your picture onto card if you would like you can put an additional layer of Mod Podge over the top! :)

Brayden playing our new personalized Guess Who :)

Sorting the cards and getting ready to apply Mod Podge

Setting the cards up

It's still very easy to play the game you just need to come up with a few more creative questions! Such as;

• Is it a boy?
• Are they older than 10 years old?
• Do they have glasses on?
• Do they have a flower in their hair?
• Is a grandma?
• Is it my uncle?
• Do they have a white shirt on?
• Do they have a tanktop on?

Crayon Letter Wall Hanging

This year for Christmas Ashtyn really wanted to make her own gift for her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. We saw this idea and she LOVED it! So we decided to give it a try! Here's what we did.

Material Needed:
Frame (without the glass)
Spray Paint (if wanted- we spray painted the frame and the matting to match)
Crayons
Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

What To Do:
1. Spray paint your frame
2. Align the crayons the way you would like them (it helps to lay them out first to make sure you have enough room)
3. Use your hot glue gun to glue each crayon individually (you don't need a lot of glue but make sure to glue each crayon)

And wallah! You're done, so incredibly easy and I had everything on had to make it :)
Enjoy!

The finished Project! A "J" for Ashtyn's teacher :)

52 Reason Why I Love You

My hubby's birthday was coming up and I always like to make something for him just to let him know how much he means to me and the kids. This year was a hard year for us with a lot of unexpected events happening. We spent a LOT of time in the hosptial (Avera McKennan, in Sioux Falls, SD and Children's Hospital, in St. Paul, MN) due to pre-term labor then a premature baby! 

We spent a lot of our hospital time together playing cards so 

I thought this gift would be perfect gift for him!

The longest part was to come up with 52 reasons! hehe.

Materials Needed:

Deck of Cards

Mod Podge

Paint Brush

Newspaper (to advoid spilling all over table)!

Scissors

Craft Paper or Scrapbooking Paper

Hole Punch

2'' Ring

• 1st- I typed up my "52 reasons" then printed and cut them out
• 2nd- I cut out craft paper .5'' bigger than the "reasons"
• 3rd- I painted Mod Podge on the Card, then attached the craft paper, put another layer or Mod Podge on the Craft Paper, Placed the "reaons" on there and finally did a FINAL COAT of mod podge on the entire card
• 4th- Place the cards on newspaper and let them dry (allow up to 30 min to competely dry)
• 5th- Punch hole's in the top left hand corner
• 6th- Attach all cards together with a ring

My Wish List for Santa

The kids have been talking all year about what they would just LOVE to get for Christmas! We usually write down the list of things they'll talk about for the year and save them for Christmas but I saw this a few months ago and thought what an awesome idea! I can save these each each and when they are older they can look back for years and see what they had "wished" for!
It was so easy to make and the kids had a lot of fun helping make them!


MATERIALS NEEDED:
Wooden Spools (I bought a pack of 8 from JoAnn Fabrics, you can also find them at Hobby Lobby)
Spray Paint
Paper
Permanent Marker
Glue
Ribbon
Scissors


WHAT TO DO:
1. Spray paint the Wooden Spools to the color you would like
2. Cut out the paper to fit the length of the spool
3. Write the "wish list" onto the paper
4. Glue the top of the paper onto the spool and then wrap it around
    *I also put a little dab of glue onto to spool after I wrapped the paper around 1 full time
5. Cut ribbon and tie at the top
6. Label with a piece of paper the name of the child and the year


SO Easy, YOU'LL LOVE THEM! :)

Decorative Tiles

The kids and I really enjoy making these decorative tiles, they can be used for coasters

or you can hang them on the wall or use a clothes pin and some wood glue and they can be set up anywhere!

They are so cute, easy and very affordable to make!

Ashtyn and I made a few sets for gifts this year, here's what we did!

Supplies:

Tiles (We got ours from Menard's, you can buy them from any hardware/home store)

Scrapbook Paper

Paper Cutter (Rotary Cutter, scissors)

Ruler

Mod Podge

Paint Brush

*Gems/Ribbon, ect. Ashtyn likes to decorate hers a little more than just the paper :)

WHAT TO DO:

1. Cut out your scrapbook paper to fit the tiles

2. Put a THIN layer of Mod Podge on the tile

(note-- make sure to not use to much or your paper will bubble)

3. Place the scrapbook paper onto the tile rub it until smooth

4. Place a layer of Mod Podge over the entire title.

5. Let dry (if wanted you can decorate with gems/ribbons/ect.

6. Repeat with another layer of Mod Podge

7. Let dry for 30 min.

A few of Ashtyn's finished tiles

Titles that we bought from Menard's

I have found using a roatary cutter and large ruler is the quickest and easist way to do this!

Paint on the mod podge then add your paper, then paint another layer of mod podge!

Press down the paper, get out all those bubbles!

Woala! Finished products! GREAT GIFTS :)

Chicken Wire Frames

I was inspired by my friend who made one of these so we made a few of them! They are so fun to have to hang cards on or little love notes, ect.

Materials Needed:
Frame (remove glass and matting)
Chicken Wire
Wire Cutter
Staple Gun
Hot Glue Gun
Mini Clothes Pins
Buttons (you can use embellishments or spray paint on the clothes pins) -optional
Gems (optional)

What To Do:
*Spray Paint Frame -optional-
*Measure and cut the chicken wire (or wire mesh) to fit the back of the frame
*Staple to frame

*Using the hot glue gun glue the gems to the buttons, then glue the buttons to the end of the clothes pins.

Finished Product :) Could use spray paint on the frame if you would want to!