Busy Bag Swap Ideas

In the past 6-7 months we've participated in two busy bag swaps. If you don't know what busy bags are, they're basically just small learning activities that help kids engage in fine motor skills. The nice thing is they fit into a small bag so they are great for in the car or at a restaurant. 

With the swaps, each mom made multiples of the same bag, then when we met we each took one from each mom and ended up with lots of different bags. We have 25 total now and Mason plays with them all the time. 

Here's what we ended up with after our second swap. 

The next day I went and picked up some pencil pouches at the Dollar Tree to put them in because Mason was tearing the bags. Each pouch has two compartments so there's two activities per pouch. So nice to just grab one as we're walking out the door. 

I'll be back with some more posts later this month looking closer at what each bag is in case you're interested in making some of your own. 

Mason's big boy room

We moved into our house in May of this year, and I don't feel like any room is really complete. Until now. Mason's room is about the only room that has the right furniture and decorations.

He is no longer in his crib and we got him this awesome firetruck bed.  I also picked up some car border on clearance at Menards and a few car canvas prints also on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

He does need new carpet like all the other bedrooms, but for now his room is complete. 

He does great in his bed and doesn't get out at night time or when he naps. He waits for us to come get him out, which is awesome.  

Next room to finish is Marley's and I have huge plans for her closet / soon to be art space. Can't wait to get started. 

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments

The other day I came across this salt dough ornament on Pinterest. I decided to do it with the kids this past weekend. All you need is 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and water.

Mix the flour and salt and then slowly pour in water until it forms a dough.  Flatten it out on a cookie sheet so it's large enough for your child's hand to fit. Press their hand into the dough and slowly lift it out.

I used a straw to make a hole at the top so we can hang it. After you do that, bake it at 150 degrees for 1 hour (my oven only goes down to 170 degrees so I used that).

Remove from oven and let cool completely. You can then leave it how it is and hang it from the tree with a pretty ribbon, or you can paint it. I painted them so the handprints would show a little better.  On the back I also painted 2014 so we'll always remember when we made then. These are something you could do every year or you could even do footprints.  I'm sure grandparents would love them too.

This post also appeared here as a guest blogger post

Craft Space Organization

We've lived in our house for 7 months already and I haven't gotten around to organizing my craft space.  Our living room is long so I have one side for my computer and craft stuff. It was definitely an eye sore. 

The first thing I did was go though my file cabinet and cleared out two drawers for my fabric. I just hung the fabric by color/design over the file folders. I was way too excited about this, and even said "ohh, ahh" when showing it to Mike. 

A few days later this awesome craft table arrived. Merry Christmas to me! I got right to work putting it together and loading it full of my stuff.  

I love that everything is concealed inside and I am totally in love with the drop side table part to increase my work space. 

Now, the question is, what do I sew first?!