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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Hiking/Adventure Packs




A while back I found this tutorial for an easy cinch bag , from Make it and Love it. It was perfect for the boys to take on nature hikes. Light enough that they can carry them without complaint and big enough to fit a few things in them. 

I asked David to make them for the boys...well I kinda told him he should make them for the boys and than we bought the stuff to do it.

I went out and found a few kid friendly nature things to put in the backpacks. Binoculars, head lamps, flashlights, compasses, bug tents and magnifiers. It ended up being a perfect Easter gift.

The boys couldn't wait to use them, so the next nice weekend we had we went on nature hike. 

  
The older boys never once complained about their bags bothering them, even though we hiked for 2 hrs. Corbin lasted about 30 min before I took his for him.


They didn't hinder their ability to hike and climb at all. Half the time I don't even think they noticed they still had them. 

They fit a lot of stuff too. They had all the stuff that was in the above picture, a small bottle of water and their cameras, with room to spare!


If you are looking for a bag for your little ones and you have the ability to sew, make one of these! You won't regret it!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Painting words on wood, the easy way.

I can't even tell you how much I love our Easter baskets. I bought them at Michaels a few years back. I was tired of buying an replacing the cheap kids baskets every year and this was an easy way to not have to do that ever again...hopefully.

 The only problem was that they were plain. The kids never knew who's basket was who's. They needed a name plate. 

 I went to Michaels, my not so guilty addiction, and found some adorable wooden plaques. 


 I painted them a basic white. Exciting, right? And yes, I painted them on my children's lap trays. Back off. I use what's available to me.


 I personally have horrible, horrible handwriting. I don't even like writing grocery lists because my handwriting is so...embarrassing. I will attempt to show you what method I used to make the names look more presentable. 

I'm missing some pictures, but if you can follow written instructions you'll be ok. Trust me.

On my computer (I used photoshop) I found a font that I liked and that was thick enough for me to outline and paint. I typed up the boys names into the size I wanted and printed them out.

I laid the name, yup right side up, on top of the plaque.


 This is where I missed a picture step, but it's hard to take a picture when you have one hand holding the paper down and one hand tracing the letters. Forgive me.

With a firm hand, trace over the letters, making sure to press into the wood really well. I had to go over mine a few times in a couple places where the wood was harder and the imprint didn't show up.

When you're done you should be able to see the name imprinted into the wood. I tried to get a good picture of one done, but it didn't work out so well. If you look reaaaaalllly close you might be able to see the "n" and the "o". 

From there all I had to do was fill in the imprints. Easy Peasy. I used paint, but I'm sure it would work out just fine with a variety of other things (marker, puffy paint, glitter glue, etc).

 Honestly it was so easy that even the artistically challenged could do it and get compliments. So go...try it. Paint all the things!!!

Monday, April 16, 2012

It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post. It's not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just that we've had some changes in our life and we've all had some adjusting to do and blogging wasn't my first priority.

We've been extremely lucky in the past for years. David has had the pleasure (and I'm sure the occasional stress) of staying home with all of us while he finishes school. Most families can't afford to have both parents home to watch their kids grow. Between David's disability pay (he's a disabled veteran) and the little bit of money we get while he went to school, neither of us had to work. 

But David graduated last December and was able to find a job. It's been a huge adjustment for us...for all of us. I no longer have the constant help of David or an adult to converse with whenever I need a break from kid talk. The boys no longer have Daddy here all day to play with them, talk to them and teach them about "boy" things. For most of you this is normal, for us, it isn't. With anything out of the norm it takes time to get used to it, so cut me some slack.

But I'm ready to get back on track. See, I already made a post. Take that. Alright, I'm off to prepare some not so boring posts. Take care!