Mini Doughnut Maker

The Mini- Doughnut Maker.

A gadget for making a great treat for the kids. 

I took one package of muffin mix and got 26 little doughnuts.

You could dip these in all kinds of coatings and give the kids sprinkles to decorate them before the eat them.

I know gadgets fill up space, and that usually they end up all dusty.. but in my house, as long as there are kids and adults that are kids, we are always looking for a fun way to stuff.

I would actually advise you to look at your local Goodwill, Salvation Army.. Usually gadgets like these get given away cause they do collect dust..lol..But I am sure you will get a good use out of them

Santa Popsicle Stick Magnet

Santa Popsicle Stick Magnet

I was going through some old boxes of crafts that my bunch used to make years ago and I came across a few cute ones.


What you need:

5 Popsicle sticks (paint them white and let dry)

White Paint

2 small leaf shape cut from white paper (this is Santa's mustache)

2 google eyes

Red triangle for the hat

small puff for the tassel on the hat

small piece of paper (mine is pink so you could see it ) (use it for the base to glue your sticks on)

black marker

piece of magnet (I always save all the old ones from pizza places and such)

What to do:

A) Glue the sticks onto the background piece



B)glue all in a row and let dry



C) glue on hat (red triangle)

D) glue on tassel

E) glue on googly eyes, the two sides to the mustache and then draw a small mouth.
F) When completely dry flip over and glue on magnet, dry and then hang up.

Now if you are doing this with your kids, be sure to write their names in a smartie marker (permanent) and the date.
Memories can last forever. Be sure to put in a baggie and put up with your Christmas stuff, even if you don't hang every year it is really a cool thing to get out and talk about making it together.

Get out there and make some memories...

                            

Christmas Hanging Bell

Christmas Hanging Bell

What you will need:

18"x12" paper (what ever color you like)
48" of string
4 medium jingle bells (only medium or large - small is too hard to do)
scissors
glue
markers, crayons, *
* glitter, paint, stickers




What to do:



A) fold paper



B) folded in half (makes two bells when you cut them out)




C) Trace a bell on paper



D) Cut the bell out

                          



At this point you can give the bell to the kids to decorate the way they like. For the smaller kids I recommend crayons, markers if you are brave, and paint if you are braver.

E)

Take the string and fold equally in half and lay on the bell with the top of the string (that makes the loop) sticking out about an inch or so. Then lay string down on the inside of bell (spread apart so that they don’t cross and have plenty of room to hang and jingle).

F) Put glue all over inside and put the top piece on. Let dry.

After it dries, we are going to string on the jingle bells. I used only 4 but you could add more.



G)

Now we need to thread the bells on. In this picture I show a great way to make the thread go through the hole on the bell. Take tape and fold over end then cut into a point.



H)

Thread the bells on. The first one put on and pull up to an inch below the bell and then tie on. The last bell put on the end. Secure it.

The finished project. (In my instructions, I left mine undecorated so you could see what I was doing.)







All that is left to do, is hang in an area where it can catch the wind to make it jingle, or put in a window. You could make them smaller and make them christmas ornaments.



Santa Handprint Paint Magnet

I think I am kinda stuck on the hand print gifts. Naw... They do make very good ways to share your growing children with the ones you love.

This one is very easy, but kinda messy. Also when I start a craft with everyone, you have to remember that you are only one person, and if you have multiples making this you need to keep the ones who are next in line for personal assistance, entertained. I usually lay news paper all over table and then start the crafts, as we complete them, I hand out extra paper to do a little imagination art work. I always keep finger paint on hand. A piece of paper a few squirts of paint and off they go.

This gives me time to cut out the finished product and put a magnet and names on it.

For this you need red and white paint. A black smartie marker.

Paint the fingers white, the thumb white , the top of your hand red and leave the middle of your hand clean.
For example:

Next take a piece of any color paper you like, we used a red here for the example, my son is my  model. Press the hand down onto the paper.

Pull up hand and let dry. (take paper away so kids won't continue to art work on it)

Take a Smartie marker and trace around hat, and make a face.

I cut mine around it to make it small enough to put on refrigerator. I glued magnet on and let dry.

This was a really cute craft and makes a great memory thing to put up for years to come.

Here's a picture of what was going on, while the hands were drying...

Hand Print Wreath

 The first of our Christmas Crafts.

I fold a long piece of green paper in half and then half again. With a small child you should be able to trace three hands on the top. I then cut them all out in the same time, which gives me 1 hands. For this to be interactive with your child. Trace their hand with them on a separate small green sheet and let them have some scissors and go at it.

Cut another round circle, which you will glue the hands around on it, forming a wreath. I then drew a bow on red paper and small circles for the berries.

When finished it should look like above. You can make as many hands as you like.

I also save old magnets (the flat ones, from heat companies, or restaurants) I then cut them in long strips and glue on the back of the wreath, which makes it possible to hang on the refrigerator.

This is a great craft for the holidays, make a great memory gift for grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and special friends.

Let me know if you try it.. feel free to leave a comment..

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The Egg Sandwich Problem

I guess over the years I have watched quite a few kids and I have perfected the act of feeding them. Less mess, less cleanup and more time for playing. Just the way I like it.

I wanted to share you, probably a useless tip, but one that I acutally kept me from wasting alot of egg sandwiches.

I know a simple egg sandwich plus one small child. Simple right. Slap it together, toast, a fried egg and a piece of cheese. Then the little angel sits and eats the sandwich, that may I make note is cut into 4 squares and looks really neat and appetizing, he just sits in one place and no mess, no fuss......
Stop, whos world is this, I m usually saying, "Stay in your chair, don't walk around with it, then as a final....ooops, well now it is dirty..."This is where the sandwich falls apart and you now have to find another breakfast.

My tried and true tip is to scramble one egg and pour into a pam sprayed pan, lay a piece of bread on top. Spray a little pam on top of the bread, cause when you flip it, you can toast it without sticking. When the egg is almost done, flip and add cheese then another top. Brown both sides.
The perfect egg sandwich, that doesn't fall apart.
The egg hooks to one bread and the cheese keeps it all glued together..

So now that I got that off my chest, I may be able to continue my day. Just kidding. I am off to find more useless tips. Well I think that they are helpful. Hope you all have a great day.