Busy Bag - Memory / Matching Cards

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934716038/

One of the moms in my playgroup came up with the idea of doing a busy bag swap. If you're a parent on pinterest you've seen a few hundred different ideas for busy bags, or small activities to entertain your toddlers. The challenge is, who has the time to make them all, let alone the money to buy all of the different types of supplies etc...? So her idea was to get a group of twelve moms together who would each pick a busy bag and make 12 of the same project to swap right before spring break. We all make a project for our kid (plus 11 copies of that project) and walk away with 11 new ideas for entertaining and educational activities to keep them entertained in the car, on a plane, or even at home on a rainy day!

I picked the Memory/Matching Cards. My reasons we two fold 1. It looked easy and like something I could complete quickly, and 2. Andrew has some small books with pictures on the front and he was playing a seek and find type of game with his wonderful nanny where he looked for the one with the duck on the cover, then the one with the ball etc... I figured these cards would be a hit. Instead of using the images on the cards in the pin I decided to create my own. I used some images that Andrew loves and knows the words for (duck, ta-reee, cat, dog, ball...) so that he would catch on to the game quickly and be enthusiastic about playing. I also tried to mix up the colors so that later I can ask him to find the green things (the tree and the turtle etc...). I put these images together in a publisher file and then created a back with question marks for each card. I printed these up, on a single sheet of paper for each set of cards and laminated each sheet then cut the cards. (Ok, to be honest, I had a few issues with the laminating along the way... I don't even want to go into it here because the mistakes I made are too absurd to admit publicly, and my attempted solutions to the perceived problems are even more ridiculous! I'll just give you one small tip that should not have taken me more than 24 hours to figure out... be sure that your laminator is on the highest appropriate heat setting for the thickness of lamination sheet you are using, and maybe run it through twice to be sure it's all good.) So like I was saying, just ran them through the machine and trimmed them up, easy peasy. After trimming them into squares I found the corners to be a little too sharp, so I rounded all of the edges. I highly recommend this, I tried to tough it out but kept getting poked and the rounded edges really are so much nicer feeling and looking. Oh, and I recommend using higher quality paper (maybe even card stock) and springing for the higher weight laminating sheets. Makes for much stronger cards in the end.

Andrew and I have had a lot of fun playing different games with these and I feel like they have a lot of room to grow into more games. Right now I place them all out on the table face down and he flips them over and tells me what they are. Sometimes we match them (working on that) and other times we play a version of 52 card pick up he's invented that he calls "24 card toss on the floor and go find the duck"... his favorite of all of the cards :) I also have a solid sheet that I laminated but never cut that I lay out like a placemat and we match the cards to the "board." I think we're working our way toward the traditional memory game and as I mentioned before we can identify colors etc... as we get further down the road. I put the cards in little drawstring gift bags that I had leftover from my wedding favors (who's a hoarder??) and they are a great size to toss in my purse to take to a restaurant while waiting for our food or for him to play with in the car. I'm really happy with how this project has turned out and may be making more as we master the items in this set. I'm not sure how to make the images I used downloadable on this blog, but if you want me to e-mail you the file just shoot me a message and I'm glad to share.

Toddler Distractor for Diaper Time

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934852037/

Technically this was called a Treasure Bottle by the initial pinner, but who am I kidding, the pom poms, glitter sequins and paperclips that I put in the bottle aren't exactly treasure. But the gold I'm looking for in this project is something to keep my toddler still and entertained for the minute I imagine it would take me to change his diaper if he would just hold still! He loves to play, jump around and generally be active... (I know so unlike most toddlers ;) I love this about him 99% of the time, but the giggling while he rolls over and tries to get up when I'm dealing with a dirty diaper is not so funny... fingers crossed that this works. I'll do an update tomorrow when I see how he reacts. (Side note, I'm using super glue to put the lid on instead of hot glue... gel super glue so holds super strong and fills all crevices... I'll update on those results as well).

UPDATE: The Toddler Distractor seems to be working! Andrew was very intrigued by it and content to sit still long enough to get on a clean pair of shorts! I think I put in a bit too much glitter because you can't really see anything else when it's all shaken up, but the glitter is very eye catching so I do recommend it. I also recommend something that will make a noise as it clinks back and forth in the bottle. The paper clips did that in my bottle and Andrew loved it! Negatives so far... because it's a water bottle he keeps trying to drink out of it... the lid is on very securely so I'm not too concerned. He also seems to enjoy chewing on the bottom of the bottle a bit. Worst case scenario he makes a small hole and we get a little glitter water on the floor... cheap fix, new bottle :)

UPDATE #2: Less than a week later Andrew is officially over the "Distractor" and has found the best way to communicate that is to immediately throw it on the floor... moved my toes just in time. Oh well, good idea in theory... I'm thinking my next attempt may be something made of cotton or feathers so there's less chance of injury when the newness wears off.

Minnie Mouse Hairclips

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934676380/

My friend's little girl is OBSESSED with Mickey and Minnie, and obsessed is putting it mildly. So, when I saw this post for Minnie hair clips I immediately thought of her. I was at the fabric store getting supplies for another project (see here next week) and picked up some black burlap that was great for both projects. These were so easy to put together. I recommend following the post to the video about how to make the "flowers" that are glued together to make Minnie. I hadn't made them before and was thrilled to find out how easy it was. I used a thicker piece of fabric for the head and thinner fabric for the ears. Hot glued them all together and made a bow with extra fabric from my Valentine's Day Garland project to make a bow. Picked up the right type of clips at Sally beauty supply and they were done. I can't wait to give it to her and see how she reacts!

Off to a great start....

So yeah, it's the last week in January and I'm already behind. In my defense Andrew and I have both been sick this week and my week started with a urgent nanny search because my nanny quit with only one week's notice and I had to go into massive nanny network/interview/trial mode for the first half of the week. On the upside we found a great nanny who Andrew loves and who I think is going to be a great fit for our family. The downside... I'm WAY behind on Pinterest projects!!! So, this week I plan to do two projects to make up for last week, and right now I'll share a couple of other ideas I found on Pinterest that were implemented last year.

Daddy Backrub Roadmap Shirt

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934463772/

I found this idea before Christmas and knew it was a must make! My husband is always begging for backrubs and my son is into cars... seems simple enough. I got some fabric markers, a t-shirt and got to work. It was super easy and a fun gift to see opened on Christmas morning. Andrew had fun driving the cars around on daddy's back and daddy got a mini back massage.








Paint Tape Finger Painting

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934383590/

I stumbled upon this pin and got inspired to pull out the finger paints that Andrew got for his birthday. We had a painting playdate and used the painters tape to hold down the paper and then got creative. We taped the kids' initials and let them go to town with the paint. The initials turned out really well so next we taped out some Christmas trees and used the green and red paint to cover the page. They turned out really well... I'm thinking this idea works for pretty much any occasion. Tape a heart for Valentines Day etc.... A few tips. Let the paint dry completely before pulling the tape off and use paper meant for finger painting. Regular paper gets soggy and tears when the tape comes off. Enjoy!

Medicine Bottle Check List

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934608111/

Talk about the stars aligning! I came home from the doctor with a sick baby and his first ever prescription medication... logged onto pinterest and saw this idea. So easy and so smart. Use a sharpie to make a chart on the bottle and check off when he gets medication. No forgetting a dose, no double dosing. Simple, smart, done.

Awesome Kid Bookshelves!

http://pinterest.com/pin/148478118934359239/

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THESE BOOKSHELVES!!! I've never been so excited about a project and so thrilled with the result! If you have kids, you must make these!!!

I found this great idea for easy kid bookshelves about 6 months ago and loved it so much that I instantly pinned it... then I looked around pinterest and found about 15 different versions of the same idea. I pinned some of those, then looked at them and marveled at how simple and awesome they were. I kept pinning, and looking, and pinning... I know, I'm so productive! When I decided on my New Year's resolution I knew that I wanted this to be one of the first ideas I did. Then when Andrew got a couple dozen more books for Christmas I knew I had no choice.

I love how they show the covers of the books so that a kid who's not reading yet can still easily find their favorites, and be intrigued by the cover of a new book. I also think they look good and will help add a lot of color to his walls as we transition from super calm sleepy baby room to toddler room where he can be active and spend time playing with toys, reading etc.

I went to Home Depot and decided to spend a little more to get the primed wood, especially since I knew I was painting the shelves white I figured it would be a good time saver and probably only cost a dollar or two more. I had the guy there cut all of the pieces to the exact length for me. Then I came home and used wood glue to put them all together. We had a carpenter at our house at the time working on our fireplace remodel (pics to come as soon as it's completed as Pinterest was my main sourse of inspiration!) and he had a nail gun. I kept thinking I should ask him if I could borrow his gun, and considered using it after he was gone etc... but I felt wrong just using it and he seemed so busy during the day that I hated to bug him... so I went to option #2 and bought my own nail gun!!! Technically I've had a nail gun for a couple of years, but no air compressor to use it with, so it was new in the box... went and bought a compressor and ka-blam! My shelves were solid as a rock in a matter of 10 glorious minutes! If you have never used a nail gun I highly recommend it. AWESOME!!! I'm looking around our house for anything that seems a little loose or that could use some trim... ka-blam! Problem solved. Naturally while using the nail gun I wore safetly goggles and my pink hard hat - mostly because they are awesome.

I had family over and wanted their thoughts on how high to hang the shelves etc.. and was holding them up on the wall when Andrew came over un-prompted and started trying to put his books on the shelves!!! SHUT UP! They aren't even up yet and he already likes them!?! Not sure which is more awesome, the kid or the shelves!

But I digress... once the shelves were constructed I spent about an hour doing some very light sanding along the cut edges, wood filling over the nail gun holes and painting the shelves. This was the longest part of the job, and could be done much faster if you spray painted the shelves. But I wanted to match the trim paint in our house and had that in a can, so I went with that. I also used a brush because I had one handy, but a small foam roller would have been a lot faster... the one I had was full of dried paint from my last project (oops)and it was too late to go to the store that night to get another. Not a major time suck, but if you're going to go get the boards anyway, get a foam roller and be done faster :)

I left the shelves to dry for a few days in the garage (then realized that I hadn't painted the edges enough so touched them up and left them for 24 more hours... you can skip this step by being a little more careful when you paint, or as mentioned before, using spray paint, a roller etc...). Anywho... just trying to be helpful and learn the lessons for you :)

Once the shelves were dry it was time to hang them. Because I wanted to hang so many in a fairly small space I felt that making sure I had the spacing right was important. I was probably a lot more detailed than necessary, but they went up quickly and I AM SO HAPPY WITH HOW THEY TURNED OUT, so maybe it was worth the extra steps. I took a sewing tape measure and taped it to the wall... then I used painters tape to mark where I wanted the shelves on both walls... I played with the spacing a bit and was able to move the tape around to figure it out etc... see pictures below to understand what I am talking about. Once I was happy with the placement of the shelves I kept the tape measure on the wall and used it as my vertical guide the whole time. Next I found the stud and ran a piece of painters tape along the stud so we wouldn't have to keep finding it over and over again as we hung shelves on top of each other. With a shelf and a level in my hands and the power drill and a screw in my hubby's hands we had all 9 shelves up in about 30 minutes. I didn't bother painting over the screws because the books cover them so eh.... if it bugs me I can always fix it later.





While Chris gave little man a bath I took the 8 bazillion books we have all over the house and started arranging them. THEY LOOK AWESOME!!! And, most importantly they were a big hit with the little man! After his bath I asked if he wanted to read a book and then showed him the shelves. He said "wow!" and then we spent about 20 minutes reading new books. He kept jumping off of my lap to check out a new one and would bring it over to me, then see another he was excited about and would take the books and put them back on the shelves (SERIOUSLY!) and bring me another one! It was a great moment :) I put the paper books up higher so he can't reach them yet, and all board books on the bottom shelves so he can explore those on his own as well. Such a great project, so easy and so rewarding! HOORAY FOR PINTEREST!!!! (and shout out to the Just A Girl blog where this awesome idea came from!)