Mini Masterpieces Photo Book

This art book has been on my to-do list for quite some time and I am just tickled pink that it is finally completed!!  

Liz Tamanaha from Paislee Press teamed up with Shutterfly to offer this awesome mini masterpiece book.

I save most all of Anna's artwork in some form.  If the piece is no larger than 12x12, I either keep it in her art box or use it in our Project Life album.  Some of the larger pieces, three-dimensional pieces or just random pieces I photograph and keep an electronic copy.

All of the "masterpieces" I included in this book were photographed and then uploaded to Shutterfly just like any other picture.  I tried to scan a few art pieces in, but I found that the quality of the photographed art was better than the scanned art.

I also used some random pictures of her creating her "masterpieces".  

These are pictures from "My First Book" that Anna made last year.

All in all, I am over the moon with this super adorable album!  I love how all her artwork from age 2 is kept nice and neat in this simple album.  I can't wait to make another one for age 3 and then for my little guy once I get a good pile from him!!

If you have tons of artwork floating around your house I highly recommend photographing it and making your own mini masterpiece album!!  So fun!!

On Motherhood...

Finger Painting on a Canvas

Finger painting on a canvas turned out to way more fun than I had expected!!

We are still down to just a few fun art and craft supplies in our house since most everything is packed.  I just kinda threw this together to give Anna something to do for the afternoon.

All you need is:

finger paint

canvas (You can get these on sale at the craft store all the time.  I got four for $10).

I set out several colors of finger paint and one of the noodle pieces from our "fun with a pool noodle" activity.  

She's not a big fan of getting her hands all messy so she used the pool noodle to paint (or smear) all over the canvas.

Then she just had fun doodling, drawing, writing....

(her self portrait!)

And we made hearts together...

And she practiced writing her name!

The best thing about finger paints and a canvas???  The paints wash right off the canvas.  I usually just spray mine down with our garden hose, let it dry overnight and then it's ready to go again.  Or you could always keep the fabulous artwork and hang it up somewhere if you'd like!!

Happy painting!

Wrapping Paper Play Mat

You guys know I love simple and easy, right??

Well, this little activity is just that!  I guarantee you have everything you need in your closet!

All you need is some wrapping paper, crayons and an imagination.

I usually only purchase white wrapping paper since it's so versatile and easy to personalize, so I had a roll on hand to tape down for our play mat.

But remember.....the "b-side" of most wrapping paper is white, so just turn your paper over and you'll be ready to go.

I use blue painters tape to tape down my edges...I find it comes up the easiest and doesn't leave any sticky residue behind.

Then we get creative with our markers and crayons....

Here is our construction zone.

And since we are all about the Olympics, we grabbed our Olympians and made our own Olympic park.

I typically let my two kids decide what they want on the play mat and then try to draw it for them.  They like to color in the houses, buildings, etc....  And lately, Anna has enjoyed drawing her own little additions (sun, lake, pool, tree...).

As you can tell, I'm definitely no artist.....but my two kids don't really care!  They just love drawing and coloring!

So go grab your wrapping paper and get creating!  We usually leave our play mat up for a few days and add more and more!  

Enjoy!

Fun with a Pool Noodle

Packing with two kids around has been just plain crazy.  And once all our "fun" stuff was packed I was left standing in my kitchen wondering how I was going to entertain my two for the rest of the week.  

So I went through our "goodwill" pile and found some things that worked out just fine!!

A pool noodle, spoons and paint!  Who would have thought a pool noodle could have provided a few hours of entertainment.

I took out a knife and cut the pool noodle into small pieces.  Then I handed them over to my son.  He enjoyed stacking them, knocking them over and then eventually throwing them....such a boy!

Once he seemed a little bored, I took out some spoons and showed him how to stick the ends of the spoons in the holes of the noodle.

He loved this and spent quite a while putting them through each hole.

For my daughter, Anna, I took out our paints and some bowls and let her do "noodle prints". 

They both enjoyed these little activities and we managed to get one more day of packing under our belts!!

And we're off...

It's official! 

We are in the process of moving allll of our stuff from Maryland to North Carolina.  I'm looking forward to getting home and spending lots and lots and lots of time with my wonderful family.  And not just vacation time.  

I have some blog posts ready to go while we are out and about, but for the most part I'll take a little blog hiatus! 

Hope you all enjoy the end of the summer.  Preschool starts soon for as, as well as a fun new weekday schedule.  I'll be sharing much much more soon!!

xoxo

It's the simple things....

I love to find my kids sitting and reading all by themselves.  Anna has always loved reading and looking through books, but Mr. Man is usually hard to keep still enough to finish a few pages.

Recently he has really found a love of books and stories.  Hoping to keep this up forever and ever.

Click here for more ideas about setting up your own reading nook and how to encourage reading in children!