MamaManagement

The Button Lampshade So this craft project has been on my list FOR YEARS! I am not kidding. I saw the picture on Pinterest ages ago. I loved it. I thought, I can do that. I found a cute lamp with a basic white drum shade at Target: Perfect. Bought it. I found a website where you can order loads of buttons for not loads of money: Perfect. Ordered 'em. The lamp then sat on my daughter's dresser, lovely but plain. The box of buttons sat with my craft supplies, opened and oohed-and-ahhed at but unused. And "Start Button Lampshade" sat on my to-do list for years, sadly moving from page to page, month to month, year to year. Last year I even put it in a blog post of things I wanted to do that year, hoping it would inspire me to actually do it. Didn't. Do it. But then, for no apparent reason whatsoever, two weeks ago I got the bee in my bonnet to do it. I took the shade off the light. I got the buttons out of their box. I plugged in the glue gun and I got ...

Top Ten Tuesday again? So soon? Dang, those weeks go by fast. Crazy. So, I have an ulterior motive for this week's top ten post. I figure that if I actually put out there, on display, my top ten crafty Pinterest projects, maybe it will actually light a fire under my ample ass to ACTUALLY DO THEM! Imagine that. Actually doing some of the cool things we see on Pinterest! Well, the time has come. And what better time than amidst the rebirth of Spring to creatively blossom all over the dang place. You'll also notice that the title says "I Want To Do For Me." That wasn't by accident. I'm not talking about getting crafty for the kids. I'm not talking about new recipes for the family or a school function or a party. I'm not talking about gift ideas for others. I'm talking about gettin' my craft on Just. For. Me. These are projects that I want to do. These are projects for ME. (I know. Gasp.) So, here we go...it's about to get all Pinteresty ...

Construction paper shape art is so easy to pull together. You can plan ahead and cut the shapes out ahead of time, or, you can be like me most of the time and stand next to the kids cutting as you go. Either way, this is so easy and my kids absolutely love it. Here's the idea: Create pictures of whatever you want (We obviously did a lot of Christmas themed pictures last month!) using basic shapes: squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, etc. Depending on the ages of your kids you can either cut out the shapes for them and allow them to assemble things into a picture, or you can draw the shapes on the paper and let them cut them out themselves before creating their picture. Either way, this is all you'll need: - Construction paper in various colors - Scissors (safety scissors if the kids are doing the cutting) - Glue sticks - Crayons and markers for adding details and background drawings - Any other materials you'd like to add, like glitter, google eyes, et...

PUDDING REINDEER! Hello super adorable chocolate pudding reindeer! I mean seriously, these are too cute! I made them for my daughter's party at preschool and served them with powdered sugar donut hole "snowballs". So fun! They are really easy to make, though they do take a little time, but it's mindless enough work that it can be done while watching HGTV or Food Network…though I don't recommend wielding a hot glue gun with any shows you get too involved in--I don't want anyone getting hurt! Here's what you need to make your own Pudding Reindeer: - pudding cups - pipe cleaners - google eyes (peel and stick, if you have them) - something for red noses; I cut circles from red foam sheets, but you could use felt, constructions paper, fake berries, fuzzy balls, whatever. - scissors - hot glue gun Stick two google eyes to each pudding cup. Cut out your red noses from whatever material you're using. Hot glue noses to the cups with just a ...

What do you get when you combine trips to the dollar store and hobby lobby, a glue gun and a mom with daughter who's goin' girlie-girl? Fun DIY hair accessories, of course! These are SO easy! I randomly picked stuff up for them over the last few weeks, whenever I saw something I liked (or thought Portia would like), then fired up the glue gun the other day during nap/quiet time, and viola! I found the headbands in a three pack at the dollar store and the barrettes and hairbands were amongst things we already had on-hand. The accent pieces I collected from Hobby Lobby and JoAnns amongst the buttons and scrapbooking accessories. Most things were attached with the glue gun...for a few items, like the cupcake buttons, I used matching embroidery floss to tie them to the hair ties. So easy. So fun. Minimal time and money investment. And Portia loves them! Can't beat that with a stick! Alright now, go get your crafty on!

My most recent foray into the world of crafting for my kids was an incredibly simple project that went over surprisingly well with the kiddos...especially my 3 1/2 year old. Here's how it came about... A few weeks back I spent a little time working toward my long-standing goal of cleaning out and reorganizing our office/library. Every so often I get inspired and make a little headway...only to get distracted a short time later. Which is why this has been on my to-do list for somewhere around a year...or at least since January. Anyway, I was cleaning out some piles and drawers when I came across a pile of Christmas cards from last year. Obviously, during the annual January putting away of Christmas decorations I had simply piled up all the cards and stuck them in a corner...where they sat until July, when I randomly pulled them out. As usual, I had meddling kids at my feet while attempting this library clean-out, and they got interested when they saw this stack of cards.....

My family and I are blessed in many, many ways. We truly lead charmed lives and are incredibly grateful (though we may not always appear that way!) for all we have--health and happiness abound! Among the gifts we have been given is the gift of talented, creative grandmothers! Both Rolland and I have incredibly gifted, creative moms who love to bestow their talents on our children with amazing creations. I recently took it upon myself to photo-document the many beautiful gifts our moms have created for our kids so far (I fully expect more great stuff in the years to come!). And, as a way of pulling them all together in one location, I thought I'd share them here with you. So, here we go... My mother is an interior designer by trade, but I have always known her as a true creative person. When I was a kid, before she got into interior design, she had her own sewing and applique business with a friend. If it was today, they would have had their own etsy shop! They created all kinds...