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A Gift From Emma: Trick Or Treat Tootsie Rolls For Our Emma ~ Printable

October 30, 2019 By Tiffany Leave a Comment By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

As you might know our daughter Emma’s favorite candy was Tootsie Rolls. This Halloween many friends have let us know that they are going to hand out Tootsie Rolls in honor of Emma. We are so honored that they would do this. We are handing them out as well.

Emma’s site will be up next week. I can’t tell you all the awesomeness, but I can tell you it is a place where you can be uplifted and encouraged by doing good for other people. This is something Emma was a natural at. Most of the time she didn’t even know that she was doing it. We need a lot more good, kindness and awesomeness in this world.

Although Emma’s site is not quite done, it will be in just a few more days in time for Halloween, we had Caitlin make some cards to hand out with the Tootsie Rolls. Caitlin is a good friend who designed Emma’s funeral program which reminds me I need to share that with you, so look for that post next week. Check out Caitlins work at Creative Market, she is really talented.

If you would like to hand out Tootsie Rolls and a card as well, you can print your own sheet HERE.

Thank you so much for all your kindness and awesomeness! You can read more about Emma HERE.

DIY Crafts: How To Make A Harry Potter Wand

October 25, 2019 By Tiffany Leave a Comment By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

My kids were on a BIG Harry Potter kick, a couple years ago, about 5 years behind the times, but loving it none the less. We watched most of the movies in the car on the way to and from California and all over Arizona and Texas this year. They turn everything from straws. to sticks to granola bars into magic wands.

I love listening to them and watching the big kids get completely involved and play along. In fact, we have made up a list of our own “Ivanovsky Spells.”

My Favorite? In place of one of the more popular Harry Potter spells “expelliarmus” the Ivanovsky version is “smelly lamas.” I am sure you can see how the rest of them go!

My oldest has a “real” Harry Potter wand he got one year from Santa, it was the pricy kind at $40 that is motion activated. The little kids drug it out and have been ~~fighting~~ I mean sharing it nicely all week. They had a lemonade stand earning $42 and decided to pool the money to buy another wand. Like that is going to go well…

My crafty then 8 year old got online and found many different sets of instructions on how to make a wand. The other kids shook their heads and said “no!” She begged me to help her make one. Since I had just about everything I said sure, and we got started.

You will need:

Glue Gun / Glue Sticks (about 3 large ones for each wand)
Craft Paint (we liked metallic and glitter)
Construction paper
Chop Sticks or wooden dowels
Elmers Glue
Marble or something to put at the handle end. We found a bag of wedding gems at Walmart for $3.50 that worked perfectly.

Place glue on one side of any color of construction paper.

Take your chop stick and roll from the corner tightly.

When I got to the end, I taped the corner down and we left them to dry.

Now, when they are all dry, you will need to cut off the ends so they are flat.

Working with one end, I filled the end with hot glue and stuck the end of the gem in. I turned it upside down and held it until the glue had set.

The bigger kids started to take notice and thought we might be onto something cool, so they started making their own construction paper tubes!

Once the top was set, I took more hot glue and make rings around the gem and tube reinforcing it even more. I needed them to be sturdy!

This is where your glue gun skills come in handy! If you lived though the craft phase of the 90’s you know what I mean! 🙂

Start from the below your gem/marble and start building up a few layers of glue. I tried to spread it down, and as it would drip I would roll it around, making some kinda funky patterns.

The thickest layers need to be at the top and get thinner as you go towards the bottom. Just keep in mind what a wand might look like with a handle.

Once you have the first 1/2 of the wand done and before the glue cools, use the tip and make designs in the glue. This will give your wand cool dimensions and areas to paint when you are finishing it.

Once the glue has cooled, you will paint a coat of solid black over the wand as a primer.

The black really pulls out all the 3D of the glue. They start looking really cool at this point.

By then, I had all 7 kids making a wand 🙂

Once the black has dried, you can start painting your wand. My kids liked the glitter and metallic paint for theirs. We used gold a lot for the accents.

They took a few coats because of a few mind changes. Plus a few hours of drying time. But once they were done I thought they looked REALLY cool!

The kids were really proud of themselves as well. The big kids were so impressed they wanted to have friends over to make some with them!

These are our finished Harry Potter wands. They are very sturdy and really neat looking! When you feel them it is hard to imagine that they are made of chop sticks, construction paper and hot glue!

I added a few more lines of hot glue at the end on the wands where I painted the gold you can see to give them more of a 3D look then they already had.

For the other end, the kids went out and grabbed a few little rocks and we glued them in. One of the kids use a small gem for theirs, and one of the kids didn’t want anything and I filled the end with hot glue. These really feel like they were made out of wood.

They spent all day playing with them.

One final step that I have not done yet but will when I can get them back is to take a few small drops of black paint and mix it in a lot of water to create a wash. I want to “antique” them some and so I will brush the paint water on and then wipe it off so it creates an antiquing effect.
You may also enjoy:

Hot Glue Gun 30W High Temp Heavy Duty

Rapid Heating
Includes 50pcs environmental-friendly glue sticks(4.73″/120mm x 0.27″/7mm )
Works on wood, plastic, glass, metal, stone, ceramic, brick, paper, wicker, lace, foam, cotton, fabric and so on
Safety And Easy To Us

Metallic Craft Paint Set

Non toxic and water based
Durable finish
Use on virtually any craft surface
Bright colors
Excellent coverage

Pacon Tru-Ray Assorted Colors Smart Stack Construction Paper, 12 by 18 Inches, Pack of 120

12″ x 18″ Sulphite Construction Paper
120 sheets per package
11 Color Assortment
Acid free for less fade

Elmer’s Washable No-Run School Glue, 4 oz, 3 Pack

Pack of 3
School glue
Safe and non-toxic
Washable

36PCS Acrylic Crafting Jewels

Package of multicolored 25 carat acrylic diamonds.36 pieces in total.
Measures approx. 32mm X 24mm.
Perfect decorations for table scatter,vase filer,fish tank filler,favor maker,centerpieces,wedding or other events.
Acrylic diamonds do not float,but refract light in all directions.

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Tootsie Rolls for Emma!

October 21, 2019 By Tiffany Leave a Comment By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

If you would like to hand out Tootsie Rolls and a card as well, you can print your own sheet HERE.

Thank you so much for all your kindness and awesomeness! You can read more about Emma HERE.

How To Make Halloween Rice Krispie Treats On A Stick

October 11, 2019 By Tiffany Leave a Comment By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

If you’re looking for some last minute Halloween Party treats then check out. Paul and the kids have made so many adorable crafts and snacks over the years and this is one of our favorites. You can make Halloween Rice Krispie Treats with items you can find from your local Walmart store.

You can find most of these items in your local baking section in the craft department and then the rest will be found in the grocery section at Walmart.

We also picked up this Halloween Baking Pan

They made two batches of Rice Krispie treats. If you have not made these before they are really easy. You can see how easy these are to make even with the kids. It took two batches to make what you see in the picture.

When the rice krispies were hot, I pressed them into the pan.

The kids helped by putting the sucker sticks into the treats. I suggested dipping the sticks into the melted chocolate first then sticking them into the treats. We let them harden for a little while.

This kid is a pro. He ate about as many as he helped fix.

While they were hardening a little more he chopped the almond bark and melted it on the stove. You can use the microwave but I told him I was set in my ways and so we do it this way 🙂 Just heat it slowly or you will burn it.

Then get the kids and start dipping them. You can do whatever colors you like, dip them a little or all the way. We did both. The kids had an easier time just dipping the tops and adding sprinkles.

My kids do this stuff all the time with their Mom and so they were helping me!

We started getting fancy and adding the pre-made figures you can buy at the store.

The kids creativity turned these treats into Frankenstein. I thought it was Elvis, so it is a good thing I didn’t say anything and let her talk!

We bagged them in the treat bags and tied with twist ties. I am sure you can add ribbon but I am just able to tie my shoes, ribbons are too much trouble 🙂

The more you make, the cheaper each indivual treat, of course!

Happy Halloween!

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How to Make a Candy Card! – Great Treat for Teachers or Father’s Day!

May 21, 2019 By Tiffany 7 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

We did this for a teacher gift – but a Candy Card for Father’s Day would be a great gift if dad has a sweet tooth!

Just use the phrase below – and insert candy where the words are bold 🙂

We wanted to show our appreciation by giving you 100 Grand, but the money slipped through our Butterfingers. It was not Pay Day so we could not give you a shopping Spree in New York. We thought about an Orbit around the Milky Way but that would cost Extra. So just Take 5 and enjoy your card! We hope it doesn’t make you Rolo ver and get Chunky it it does. We promise not to Snicker!

From your Nerds…

Making a candy card is a really easy and fun way to say thank you! My girls made a few for teachers to go with a little gift they have for them today.

First, take a poster board ( I cut this one in half) and lay out your candy bars on the paper. With a pencil write out the wording you want to use. I just made up mine with the candy bars I could find.

Once you have penciled out your wording, take a marker or paint and do the final draft. Then mark along the side where you want to add your ribbon. I didn’t have a big round punch so I used a hole punch and made a few holes for the ribbon to go through.

Take a ribbon and measure it around the outside leaving extra room for the bow and some “poofs” along the way! Then weave the ribbon around.

Lastly I taped the candy bars on. I have hot glued them before, but it has melted the chocolate and makes it hard to take them off!

They don’t have to be perfect!! Just make it fun!

Fun things to do for New Years! Fun Free Ideas!

December 30, 2018 By Tiffany 1 Comment By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

Photo Credit

I LOVE New Years! We have so much fun with the kids, eating food and watching movies. The only sad part is at our old house we could do fireworks but we can’t in our new neighborhood. 🙁 The bright side is that I don’t have to worry about anyone getting burned or hurt!

Here are some ideas to make New Years fun and some cheap/freebies to do with the kids!

This is my favorite idea I have seen in a while, do a Family Interview! Each year have everyone answer questions and keep them all in one place to look over each year!

START A TRADITION

I am really excited to share with you all a tradition that we are doing as a family! Each New Years Eve we are sitting down together as a family and filling out a “Year in Review” sheet. You can DOWNLOAD YOUR OWN COPY HERE

This is what we are doing: Having some fun snacks and drinks, handing out a copy of the “Review” to each member of the family, then filling them out together and reading them out loud! I have all the little kids write their own if they can, I love to see their handwriting and how it changes over the years. As we do this EVERY New Years, the very same sheets it is fun to see the changes!

Make a FUN Photo booth!

Go HERE to see directions and find some FREE printables to make props for your photo booth. We have taken rolls of wrapping paper and made a backdrop, then had the kids in front of it doing funny stuff and took their pictures. THEY LOVED IT!!

OR if you want to buy some printables from a cute Etsy site you can do that HERE , most of them will email them to you!

Free Printable’s

I really love anything free I can print and use to make some cute and fun crafts for the kids. I am printing these hats and having the girls assemble them for New Years Eve! You can go HERE to get the hat printables.

If you are looking for entire sets of FREE printables there are quite a few out there. I looked on Etsy, Pinterest and just Googled “free printable New Years Collection” to find some really cute ones! Catch my Party has a BUNCH of cute printables HERE you can grab!

Drink Recipes!

Virgin Strawberry Daquri

Ingredients

1 (14.5-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice
1 (12-ounce) bag frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
2 medium limes, juiced
Fresh strawberries, optional, for garnish

Directions

In a blender, combine pineapple, frozen strawberries, sugar, and lime juice and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses, garnish with fresh strawberries, if desired, and serve immediately.

Go HERE to see more!

A Countdown Box!

Photo Credit

The Dating Diva’s has the CUTEST idea ever! It is called a Count Down Box. The idea behind this box is simple…each hour starting at 8 P.M. the kids get to open one bag! Inside each bag is something different to celebrate New Year’s Eve! Go HERE to see their post.

What do you do with the kids for New Years?!

How to make a Harry Potter Wand

September 16, 2018 By Tiffany 9 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

I love listening to them and watching the big kids get completely involved and play along. In fact, we have made up a list of our own “Ivanovsky Spells.”

My Favorite? In place of one of the more popular Harry Potter spells “expelliarmus” the Ivanovsky version is “smelly lamas.” I am sure you can see how the rest of them go!

You will need:

Glue Gun / Glue Sticks (about 3 large ones for each wand)
Craft Paint (we liked metallic and glitter)
Construction paper
Chop Sticks or wooden dowels
Elmers Glue
Marble or something to put at the handle end. We found a bag of wedding gems at Walmart for $3.50 that worked perfectly.