DC Inspiration

At the day care, I try to make an inspiration page or board at least once a month.  I fill it mainly with pictures of things we could do from the internet that I come across.  I try to make a new sheet either as we get them done or by the month or season.  It's nice to have a little go to of easy crafts we can do.  I happened on a web site yesterday that gave me lots of ideas.  I mainly like the DIY section of the site.  It is full of ideas and crafts to do with kids. 

HERE's the site.  You can also follow them on Pinterest which I am trying to get into once again.

Here's my sheet for this month.

I made it with my notes on it before I decided to share it.

I love having all these back ups ideas that I can glance at anytime.  We have actually made one of them already which I will share soon!

Gingerbread Houses - The Making

My Mother and Father have quite the construction business going on this time of year!  I decided this year to show a few "behind the scenes" pictures of my Mom putting the cut out gingerbread houses together.  For starters, at this point, my Father long ago cut out wooden circle disks for the houses to rest on and has traced and cut out all of the pieces of foam core board for the walls and roofs of the little houses.  Maybe next year I will catch him in the act for pictures of that process!

Mom decided to use foam core board because she is a genius.  We used to put together graham crackers with thick royal icing as glue which led to much messier houses than we have now.  But if that is all you've got to work with, by all means, get to it!

First Mom wraps each wooden platform with aluminum foil so we can safely use them again and again.  Then she uses a glue gun to put the houses together.  First the walls, then the roof and finally she glues each one down on the aluminum foil.  Her next step will be to cover up the glued edges with icing on each house!  Wow!  That Mother of mine!  This year she made sixteen houses for us!  It seems each year we have more family wanting to join in on the fun and that's A-OK with us!  Nice work Mom!  Love you!

 This is their pattern for two different size houses.  Top secret stuff!

 

 

The disks before foil.

 

Those hands have spanked my bottom and hugged my neck a bunch y'all!

Taped down for security purposes.

 

 

Each house has six pieces... obviously.

 

 

 

So now you see we ain't kiddin around when it comes to this particular tradition.  And my house plans for this year ain't kiddin around either.  Stay Tuned!

 

 

I'm It! PIN ME

Good grief!  I've done it... finally!  I am on Pinterest.  I have created my very first board.  I am no longer a Pinternerd!  Or maybe I still am that on some level because it took me so long.  I have just always resisted the fad since Pinterest began.  But, since I started my Inspration Journal and creating pages from pictures that I find, I also find that it is a lot like pinning things only I can hold my journal in my hands which I like very much.  But... there are pictures that I want to swipe for my journal and copy/print and this allows me to do it.  I am such a thief!  I am not, however, using them in any sort of way to promote or make money off someone else.  I just like their picture or idea so much I want to look at it forever.

So, naturally, my Pinterest name is peppysis.  You can friend me or follow me or whatever you like.  I would like to follow you too as I am sure I will need pointers from Pinterest grad students.

Here are some pics from my very first board.  It is about Agate.  That is pronounced 'A-Get.  I am a rock lover and natural stone addict as I collect such things and they are displayed throughout our home.  I recently came across agate countertops and WHOA love them!  If we ever built another house and won the lottery to decorate it, it would definately include one or more countertops or light up fireplaces in this style.

ISN'T IT JUSY DREAMY??                   

Click the pic to view the rest of my Pin Board.

XO Laurie

Planning a Garden with Kids

I consider myself lucky that I have two gardens to plan.  We have a rather large garden at home and a smaller one at the day care.  I have showed you plans for our garden at home, so here's what we are doing at the DC.

Several months ago, I purchased chalk board contact paper from Amazon.com.  For some reason I didn't think I would like it and didn't do anything with it right away.  I was lucky to have it when this project came to mind.  I found a spot of wall space in the kitchen, measured it and cut out the appropriate size of the contact paper.  I then stuck it right on the wall.  It is utterly fantastic!  It takes chalk writing really well and once more when I am finished I can peel it off and no harm done to my wall! 

So, after the back drop for our plans was in place, the kids and I got out the Burpee seed catalogue.  This is the one I get in the mail, mostly because it is where I have wound up ordering garlic seed for the last two years.  I have been asking the kids what they wanted to grow in our garden this year for weeks.  So it wasn't to tough to look through and find pictures to cut out.  We taped them on to the contact paper and I wrote what each of them were next to the picture. 

Next, all we have to do is the layout of our garden and then on to actual planting! 

 

 

 

 

Now this puts me in the market for kid sized tools for the garden!

Birdwatching at the DC

A month or so ago, when my mom gave me a shepperd's hook that mounts to deck, I hung a bird feeder right in front of the front window of the playroom at the day care.  It seemed like it took forever for the birds to find my offerings.  I almost got discouraged thinking the feeder was too close to the house.  But finally I spied a few House Finches had begun to frequent and then a few Juncos, a few Chickadees and today we had a Red Bellied Woodpecker.  I was so very excited.  I called the kids over to watch as he took seeds from the feeder and flew to the Dogwood tree in the front yard to crack them open.  His red head really caught their eye.

To my delight the kids have begun to take an interest in our feathered visitors.  I even caught one of the boys at the front window with the play binoculars and I asked "what are you looking at" and he replied "I'm looking at the birds."  It just tickled me.  I wanted to make some sort of a log of the birds we've seen. I pulled out a felt board (that won't lay flat since the day I made it) and printed pictures of each of the birds we have seen so far.  I glued them to more felt along with the name of their breed, not specifics, and cut them out to go on the felt board.  It hangs next to the window where we bird watch.  It will help them recognize birds that frequent by picture.  I will add more birds as they come along and plan to offer a different selection of food for them this winter. 

I can't wait until tomorrow when I bust out the homemade suet I made yesterday. Boy is that woodpecker going to be jolly!