arts and crafts keep you sane

MLK day...a day off school for Daughter, no therapy for AJ, but Hubs works. What to do? What to do?

I'm trying hard to be a better mom; a mom who says "yes!" A more fun mom. You know.

So we got it together and headed out to Dunkin' Donuts first...but I forgot my camera at home. Bummer, because I wanted to capture it. The kids were so psyched! "We're actually going to EAT THERE?" 

They shared a bagel, then a donut ("healthy" food first, of course), and I had a humongous hot tea because my throat has been sore for a week. AJ liked it there so much he took his boots off. Mmmm, just what every mother wants...her child walking around DD in stocking feet. Blech!

Then we went to Michael's because I had an idea for a craft that both a 6 year-old and a 3 year-old could execute. We bought a big bag of stuff, mostly on clearance! How can you pass up craft supplies for 9 cents? You cannot.

I also got myself this little notepad for my purse. Couldn't resist it. It was only a buck:

We got two ready-to-finish wooden letters. I wanted the cardboard-like block letters, but Michael's apparently doesn't carry them? We ended up with these flatter letters. Which were $3.33 but whatever, we were there and this was my plan for the day. 

I let the kids pick out whatever colors of the on-sale acrylic paint they wanted (they were 3/$1). We ended up with 6. 

AJ chose blue and yellow. We used the cheap 1" sponge brushes they had on sale 14/$1. I know you can find them 20/$1 sometimes too. This way I could just use little bathroom dixie cups for the paint and toss everything when we finished.

Daughter chose purple and turquoise...not a big surprise though I would have expected pink. This cheap acrylic paint did the job, and for a kid craft I would buy it again for sure, but the coverage was kind of lousy. I went over Daughter's again to cover the streaks but it still looks uneven. It's ok, because I knew we'd be covering a lot of the paint.

We purchased some embellishments - they had a LOT of clearance. Many items were 5 cents or 9 cents. I think the most we paid was 29 cents, and for that price I even got a HUGE bag of painted wooden hearts. I'm planning a Valentine craft idea for those.

And a lot of what we used we already had on hand. Sometimes when I have an extra coupon for one of the craft stores I'll just pick up a bag of sequins or foam shapes or something. Then we can have spontaneous crafts. 

I loved this craft, and the kids had a blast with it! I did the glue gun because, obviously, it's dangerously hot. But I wanted everything to stick really well so these can be put on their bedroom doors and not fall apart. 

It's so awesome that they are both at an age where we can do fun things together. Not that there weren't temper tantrums today...we couldn't get out the door without at least one each morning. But this really kept both kids engaged for a long time and they were happy. So I was happy!

Unfortunately I did not make a letter for myself. :(

I have been up to my eyeballs in soaker orders. I feel so blessed, but it is keeping my fingers flying, so while the kids painted, I was knitting.

I think I have done 6 since Christmas...? Something like that. But I am thankful, not only for the little bit of extra money, but because I know there are little babies all over the country wearing something I've made. That's kind of neat.