Fun Friday with Over the Rainbow

I LOVE COLOR!!! And I love combining colors...so today's Fun Friday activities are all based from the beautiful and wonderful natural rainbow! Enjoy...

Bead Craft Rainbow from mpm School Supplies





Rainbow Pour Painting from Tip Junkie Kids

Raised Salt Painting from One Perfect Day

Caterpillar Cup Painting from I can TEACH my child

Make your own iron on t-shirt images with sandpaper from alphamom

Hope you all have a colorful and FUN weekend!!!

Fun Friday with Handmade Summer Toys

School is just around the corner! Have fun this weekend with your kids and make some cute and simple handmade toys!

LOVE these fish clothes pins from tipjunkie.com





AND these dragonfly clothes pins from Parents.com

These woven paper balls could be fun from How About Orange!

LOVE THIS!!! 'nuff said...from Read Between the Limes

Rock Bugs!!! from Family Fun

So simple...so cute...so ingenious! Rock dominoes from Growing a Green Family

Fun Friday with BUBBLES for Bane

My toddler son loves bubbles...so much that when it is time to put them away a tantrum occurs! So today's Fun Friday is dedicated to my son and features fun ways to play and create BUBBLES!!!

Bouncing Bubbles that don't pop!!! from Play At Home Mom LLC

Water Bottle Bubble Fun from projectsforpreschoolers.com

Make your own bubble wands from pipe cleaners and cookie cutters from babyparenting.com

Tape straws together...so simple yet so genious!!! from familyfun.go.com



Bubble refill station from La-La's Home Daycare

Really large giant bubbles from tater tots & jello

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Fun Friday for Father

Fun Friday is for the dads!!! Happy Father's Day!!!

I think this gift is just too cute from Red Ted Art's Blog!!!



Adorable and simple...shoe foot prints!!!



Another cute one involving your kids feet and paint!!!



"Dad Rocks" from preschool-daze



Some printable coupons from Tip Junkie...SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many cute craft ideas on this site...please head on over and check it out!



And last but not least...this FABULOUS and COOL Father's Day t-shirt from Creating Really Awesome Free Things



Have a great weekend!!!

Fun Friday In The Garden

Let's get outside in the garden this weekend...we all know how fast our kids GROW, so why not make some more memories in the garden.

Mark Your Territory by painting rocks to indicate what is growing from Parentmap.com



Make your own stepping stones with a cake pan from Intimate Weddings...great step by step instructions and pictures!



Melted mini bead sun catchers to add some fun whimsical color to your garden from craftster.org



Add a fun game of outdoor tic tac toe to your garden!



Make a butterfly feeder and food from "rotten" fruit from ehow.com...great butterfly food recipes on this site!



Pretty up your garden with these plastic bottle flowers...just cut the bottom from water bottles and string together!



Now get out there and GROW! Have a great weekend

Fun Friday with Easter Part II

Last week was about Easter crafts...this week's Fun Friday is all about egg dying and the hunt!

MAGIC JELLY BEAN EASTER TRADITION by See Jane Blog (We are doing this...I am so excited!!! I bought lollipops, the small helium balloons with the plastic stick, Pez dispenser and other small toys that I will be taping to some of my left over stuffing sticks to sprout from the Easter Bunny's magic jelly beans:)

KOOL EGGS by Hey! Jen Renee

GLOWING EASTER EGG HUNT by Raising Little Disciples

EASTER EGG LUNCH by Gluesticks

Enjoy the weekend!!!

Fun Friday with Easter Part I

My step daughter will be with us all next week for her spring break...and we will be creating some of these cute Easter craft ideas!

CARDBOARD TUBE EASTER BUNNIES from easter.tipjunkie.com

CRAZY YARN BASKETS from AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com plus the site has 18 other fantastic Easter craft ideas!

ONE STUFFED BUNNY from ParentMap

EASTER BONNETS from Red Ted Art's Blog

PEEK A BOO CHICK from All Kids Network plus many other Easter craft ideas on their site!

EGG CARTON BUNNY & CHICK from rebeccacooper.blogspot.com

Enjoy your weekend with these cute Easter crafts!

Mommy Monday with Uses for Fruit Rinds

At our house...my kids eat a lot of fruit, I mean A LOT! Fruit for every meal plus for snack time. We fortunately live out in the country with birds and squirrels so I usually throw the cut up rinds out to them to enjoy for a snack. It got me thinking...what other uses are there for fruit rinds? So I did some lookin' and this is what I found...some of these ideas are very interesting and I will be trying them! Happy Monday ya'll :)

USES FOR WATERMELON RINDS

Here are a few uses for the rind instead of just tossing it out in the trash.

- using the rind for Thai Gaeng Leang Soup, the rind is one of the main ingredients, recipe here
- candying the rind to make a sweet treat with granulated sugar, recipe here from watermelonrind.com
- pickling the rind...such as you would pickle cucumbers, recipe here
- mmmmmmmmmm...watermelon rind preserves from Amazon
- cut up the rind and toss it in a salad

DIY PUMPKIN AND LEMON CANDLES from momtastic

CITRUS VOTIVE CANDLES from Divine Party Concepts

MAKE A CLEMENTINE CANDLE from Apartment Therapy

I would love to hear any of your ideas for uses of left over rinds...I didn't even get to uses for apple and pear rinds or banana peels...another post for me in the future!

Fun Friday with Harvesting Rain Water

I have only lived in Middle Tennessee for a year now...I am from out west where it is dry and barren and you are lucky if you see rain. So these crazy and beautiful rain filled thunderstorms here are amazing! And you do not have to have a sprinkler system to water your lawn...that is amazing to me. All this rain has got me thinking(uh oh)...I am curious about harvesting rain water. So todays Fun Friday activity will be links and articles of ways to save, store and reuse all of this rain water. What a great teaching opportunity for your kids too! The value of using our resources.

How to build a rain barrel from The Family Handyman...great tutorial! It offers great pictures and step by step instructions...and the greatest thing is you can build your own for under $100!

Harvesting Rainwater offers a great variety of books filled with information!

And they have a wonderful blog...Drops in a Bucketwhich offers abundant information on rain harvesting too from historical harvesting techniques to modern day systems like this awesome salmon one.

So lets get out there and teach our children the importance of using our resources...especially if you live in such a rain filled climate!

Mommy Monday with Easy Tips Around the Home

Today's Mommy Monday will be a handful of ideas for some easy tips around the home to take care of some everyday household problems or chores.

I love this weekly calendar idea from Next to Heavan with a $10 frame from Walmart. It could also be a great decoration for the different holidays and seasons by changing out the paper. Here is a link to the frame.

This next idea I love! Add a few drops of scented oil to the cardboard roll of a new roll of toilet paper. Now with every use and spin from toddlers or cats will release the fragrance...from ekwetzel.com(which is great site with many green ideas for your home.)

Now my trash can is not hidden under a cupboard or in a pantry in my kitchen. It just hangs out stark white naked...and I will be doing this makeover(when I get a minute to breathe)...I love it! A garbage can makeover from kimboscrafts/girl and a glue gun. Oh the endless possibilities!

Let's face it...every one's refridgerator's get dirty! This is such an ingenious idea...so clever from The Virtious Wife. Simply line your shelves with saran wrap or Press'n Seal, and when a spill occurs simply peel it up! So simple and easy...and again if you felt festive enough, you could change it to match the current holiday or season.

So there are a few helpful tips for your home this week...and they could even be fun too! Especially that garbage can makeover!