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Santa Yarn Wreath

santayarnwreath

 

Santa Yarn Wreath 

If you have visited my website previously, you know I’m crazy about loop yarn wreaths for winter.  This Santa Yarn Wreath is just so simple and sweet, I could not pass it up.  This is the perfect whimsical addition to your front door.

 

Supplies

 

  • White Loop Yarn-1 skein
  • Foam wreath form 12 inch
  • Santa Hat
  • Hot glue and glue gun
  • Ribbon (8 inches)-optional

 

 

Directions

 

  • Hot glue one end of loop yarn to the wreath form
  • Wrap yarn around entire wreath form
  • Glue tail end of yarn to form
  • Add Santa hat and glue to wreath form
  • Add ribbon and tie to make a hanger for the wreath (optional)

 

If you like this wreath, please check out my snowman yarn wreath here.

 

This post contains affiliate links.  Purchasing from this link provides me with a small commission at no additional

 

Life Skills Your Kids Should Know

Life skills your kids should know

 

Today’s world is driven by technology and innovation.  While that is certainly important, so are clean sheets!

Kids spend so much time at school, doing homework, playing sports, socializing, and the list goes on.  However, do we really take the time daily, weekly, monthly, to share with them the practical things that life entails?  Eventually, they will enter the world and will need to know how to wash their sheets among other things!  

This is a list I made for our family to ensure my kids have some basics down before they leave the nest.  This is a great start to help our kids to become competent and independent adults.  Many of these skills they can begin learning in small ways as young children.    

 

Money

 

  • Balancing a checking account
  • Maintaining a savings account
  • Creating and abiding by a monthly budget
  • Paying Bills (as teenagers, a credit card or checking account may be useful in money management)

Kitchen

 

  • How to wash, dry and put away dishes by hand
  • Load and unload a dishwasher
  • Open cans with a manual can opener
  • Creating a menu and grocery list (Please see my post on Grocery Budgeting Strategies)
  • Cut up vegetables, fruits and meats
  • Follow a recipe that they have never made
  • How to cook staple meals and family favorites
  • Understanding measurements for cooking and baking

Laundry

 

    • Sorting clothes by color and laundering requirements  (I like this sorter with 4 sections)

  • Treating stains
  • Folding and putting away laundry
  • Iron clothes properly

 

General Household

 

  • Hanging a picture frame
  • Install a curtain rod and shower curtain
  • Change a light bulb 
  • Reading a measuring tape
  • Using basic tools (screwdriver, drill, hammer and level)

Automotive

 

  • Change a tire and check tire pressure
  • Check fluids
  • Clean carpets, dash, clutter and windows as needed
  • Maintenance log for vehicle should be kept for your reference
  • Registration, insurance information and emergency information can be kept in glove compartment
  • Keep an emergency kit in the car (jumper cables, water, blankets, emergency cones or signs, etc.).  This is a good one you can purchase for $35.95 on Amazon.  It includes major necessities.

Outdoor

  • Mow the lawn
  • Trim the yard and flower beds
  • Clean outdoor tools and store properly
  • Sweep porch or patio areas
  • Plant flowers or other plants

Cleaning

 

          Kitchen

    • Counters and stovetop should be wiped off daily
    • Sink-daily
    • Floor-weekly mop at least, daily sweep
    • Refrigerator-clean out expired food weekly and clean the shelves monthly or as needed

          Living room/Family room

    • Vacuum-weekly or more often if pet hair or other allergens pose a problem
    • Pick up blankets, toys, etc. daily
    • Dust furniture weekly or more often if needed
    • Dry/dust mop hardwood floors weekly or more often if needed
    • Wet mop hardwood floors with oil soap monthly

          Bathroom

    • Counters weekly or more often as needed
    • Mirror-weekly
    • Toilet-weekly or more often as needed
    • Shower/Tub-weekly or more often if the need arises

          Closets

    • Seasonally clean to donate or discard clothing that is worn out or no longer fits.  Seasonal clothing can be stored to be used the following season if there is not enough room in the closet for it to remain.
    • Yearly overhaul of closets are recommended.  Things tend to linger that we do not have a use for or are not attached to in some way.

          Laundry room

    • Wipe down washer and dryer-monthly or more often if needed
    • Vacuum or dust floors-weekly
    • Remove clutter if anything tends to pile up in this room

*This post contains affiliate links.  Purchasing from these links provides me with a small commission at no additional cost to you.*

Kid Created Wind Chimes-Recycle!

Reuse Bottle Caps as Wind Chimes

 

In our house, we recycle as much as possible, especially when it comes to making crafts.  Craft supplies are expensive.  While I do purchase quite a number of craft supplies, when I can use something we have on hand, my wallet thanks me.  As moms, we look at Pinterest or craft books and try to create little masterpieces with our kiddos.  Truth be told, the little ones see the end product much differently than we saw it on Pinterest or in that book.  It has been my experience that the memory of doing the craft is what the kids cherish, not the craft itself.  So, don’t hang on to unrealistic goals of perfection.

This project took 15 minutes which is about the extent of my 4 year old’s attention span.  We explored the yard for a stick and shortened it.  We gathered milk jug lids that we have been collecting for quite some time.  However, we thought about using shells or rocks for this project and may do it again with those.  This was a quick fun project for those days when the kids are climbing the walls and need to do something but you cannot go outside.

What you need: 

  • Stick of desired length
  • Twine
  • Milk jug lids or other similar object
  • Drill or something to make a hole in the cap
  • Glue gun (optional)
I made holes in each of the caps.  These are soft plastic, so I was able to just poke through them.  Then, we fed the twine through the holes.  Since this is jute twine, it grabbed the rough edges of the holes and the lids stayed put where they were placed.  However, if you use a drill or the twine is a bit more slick, you may need a dab of hot glue to hold the pieces in place.

 

pink caps with twine

blue cap with twine

After stringing each cap into place, we tied three strips of caps onto the stick we collected.  We put them about two finger widths apart from each other on the stick to ensure they were close enough to clang together in the wind.  Then, we attached a piece of twine in a loop to hang them with on our front porch.

The end result is so cute!

red blue and silver milk cap wind chimes pink milk cap wind chimes

Organize Kids’ Art and School Work

Organizing Kids’ Art and School work

 

I love looking back at art my kids created when they were really little.  Their little painted hand prints and colored pictures are so adorable.  But, where do you keep everything so that you can look at them anytime, but still keep them organized?   I bought a file box and legal-sized file folders and labeled them by year until they started school.  Then, I labeled them by school year.  It has been an excellent way to keep everything together so that I can look at their sweet pictures anytime.

 

During the school year, I keep all of their art and school work in a tote in a closet for the whole year in case a grade is not marked or they need to go back and study something from earlier in the year.  At the end of the school year, I go through each paper and decide what to keep and what to recycle.  The items kept are placed in labeled file folders and placed in a file box.  Prior to my son starting school, I kept all of his little art or letter/number pages from preschool that are special.  My daughter has not started school, so I basically keep everything at this point that she makes at home with me.  We have so much fun creating.

 

kids art and homework bin

 

Supplies Needed:

  • File Box
  • File Folders (I chose one color for each child)
  • Tabs for folders (if not included with file folder box)

 

When you have your folders and box, you just need to go through and condense your pages for each child to what you want to keep and label it according to the year it was created.  I keep my boxes in a closet so that I have easy access to it whenever I want to remember how little their hands were or how sweet they wrote their name when they were in preschool.  Life passes us by quickly, it’s wonderful to sit down and go through something year by year to remember.  The great thing about this box is that it is so easy to stay organized once it’s complete.  I only go through the papers once a year and put them in the file box.  It usually takes me about an hour.  Love that I do not have to keep up with this constantly.


 

Click here for how to create a binder of important information to keep in a binder for your kids.

This post contains affiliate links.  Purchasing through this link provides me with a small commission at no cost to you.  

Easy DIY Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Easy DIY Father’s Day Gift Ideas

 

Father’s Day is tough y’all.  We have lots of wants, but few true needs.  Praise God!  Hubby’s “wants” are yacht-priced wants on a kayak budget.  So, what do you get those guys?  A heartfelt gift made by their little ones or grandkids are the best!   Here are a few easy DIY gifts for Dad that the kids will love to create.

 

 

Valet with deer head design

 

Father’s Day Valet

 

Our kitchen has a little spot where the contents of my husband’s pockets get emptied each day.  Because clutter makes me cringe and sometimes obsess a bit, I was looking for a way to wrangle this stuff and keep it where it looks a little better in the kitchen.  I decided to make him a rustic-looking valet tray where he could leave everything and it would be somewhat contained.

I had an old, well-loved wooden paper tray that was crying out to be used.  To make it a little more appealing and definitely my husband’s, I took a piece of craft paper, cut it to the size of the tray interior and used Mod-Podge to adhere it to the tray.  Because he will be throwing a variety of things in this tray, I also sealed it with a layer of Mod-Podge.  This was a quick, easy project that is a win-win for wife and hubby.

What you need

  • Paper tray
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Mod-Podge

Papa photo frame

Fishing Picture Frame

 

This project is perfect for little hands to make.  I found this adorable frame at Walmart.  But, I saw the ones below on Amazon and thought they would be perfect.  Then, I attached fishing stickers (see below).  I will include a picture of my hubby and kids fishing together for Father’s Day.  If your kids and their father hunt, play a sport or just watch movies together, there are stickers for everything.   I added some hot glue to the stickers to ensure that they stayed put.  This is optional.  The letters are also optional, but make the frame even more cute.

What you need:

  • Picture frame in desired size
  • Stickers
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • Photo for the frame

papas apron

 

Apron for Grilling 

Grilling out is my hubby’s task.  He is a genius behind the grill.  Everything he makes is delicious!!   Fabric markers and an apron make for the perfect gift for my grilling man.  Our kids had so much fun creating this special gift.  I put a line down the center of the apron so that they each had a designated space to decorate.   Papa’s going to cherish it!

What you need:

  • Fabric markers
  • Apron

 

 

papas stash

Dad’s Favorite Treats

 

In our house, my husband and I go by Mama and Papa.  He is from Germany and we chose to keep that tradition.  Papa has a major sweet tooth.  Chocolate, especially good German chocolates, are his favorite.  So, we chose to include those as well as Dove chocolates in his jar.

What you need

  • Glass jar with a secure lid
  • Chocolates or other treats Dad loves
  • Tag for jar-(printed from computer or can be hand printed)-or you can purchase one with a chalkboard piece and write your message or label

 

This post contains affiliate links.  Purchases made from these links provide me with a small commission at no cost to you. 

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