Clay Mold. I did this several months ago with Little h and then again for my class' mother's day gifts. They turned out very nicely and it was pretty easy and cheap! Original post here.
Dyed rice. Little h is LOVING her little make-shift sensory table and I've got a long list of things I want to put in it for her. Yesterday, we tried dyed rice- original post here. I used only 2 tablespoons of vinegar per ziplock of rice... I thought 3 was too much. And about 5 drops of color. I also laid out the dampened rice on paper plates to dry overnight and that seemed to work well. No wet patches this morning. And, as you can see, Little h had a total blast playing with the rice in her table!
Mini Notebook. Original post here. I loved the look of these tiny gifts! I made my first (no photo) for a friend as a thank you gift and decided to make two more as part of my mother's day gifts. These second ones turned out better- I used light card stock for the inside pages rather than cheap printer paper and I made them a little bit larger. The small size is cute, but impractical.
Supplies:
1 12 x 12 sheet of pretty paper (inside cover and binding)
1 12 x 12 sheet of solid color card stock (cover)
5 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of off-white card stock (pages)
A few feet of thread (binding)
Scissors
Glue
Ruler
Optional: paper cutter
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| Mini Books! |
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| The Supplies |
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| Cut 1 inch off the long side of all 5 sheets of card stock for pages |
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| Cut all 5 sheets in half to measure 5 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches |
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| Cut 1 inch off of the sheet of pretty paper. Then, turn it and cut 3 1/2 inches off of the other side. Then cut the two sheets in half to make 2 sheet of 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 pretty paper. Reserve scraps for binding (2 strips: 3 inches by 5 1/2 inches each) |
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| Cut cover card stock into 2 sheets of 8 inches by 6 inches. |
Homemade Green Cleaning Spray. Original post here. I searched through the recipes and combined a few to make my own. I also bought some essential oils from Whole Foods to make my cleaner smell really good. The oils were pricey... But they are not necessary. Without them, this whole process is actually very inexpensive and I feel good about using the cleaner because it's not going to harm anyone in my family. And... It works! It cleaned cat puke out of H's carpet like a champ AND left it smelling all nice and lavender/patchouli-y.
I used:
2 C water
1 C vinegar
4 Tbs baking soda
4 Tbs hydrogen peroxide
4 Tbs lemon juice
A few drops of essential oils for scent
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| And it's in a GREEN bottle- get it? |
The Oatmeal Toddler Toy. The original post can be found here. I used pipe cleaners instead of straws for two reasons: 1) I didn't want h to be trying to drink out of them and 2) I do not have a single hole puncher to make larger holes. I used a pen to push through the plastic top and a pair of scissors to cut through the paper once it was glued in place. I cut some of the pipe cleaners in half so she could push them all the way in and tied a knot in the bottom of some long ones so they wouldn't come all the way out.
I cut out shapes and h glued them onto the paper before I wrapped the oatmeal container in it. We had fun counting them and naming the colors and shapes. H also had fun getting glue everywhere.
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| The Supplies |
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| Our end result! |
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| The pipe cleaners make a very satisfying whoosh-y sound when you push them in and out quickly! |
