Cheap and Fun Mother's Day Craft

This is actually our craft from last year, seeing as I didn't want to spoil the surprise for the grandmas, and if I waited until after the kids had given them away, the post would be too late. So, for this year, here's what we made...if my kids look a little young, it's because they are. :)

Supplies Needed:
Paint (we used finger paint, but anything would work...just depends on how disposable your kids' clothes are!)
Frame
Matte board for frame
Camera
Fine tipped felt pen

First up, we used the finger paint and let the kids make thumb prints on the matte board. 

This was their favorite part, and though I helped, I was not too worried about 

the shape or size being uniform. 

We kept some scrap paper handy for those first, messy prints after each dip into the paint. 

We used red for one and yellow for the other (you'll see why soon!). 

Then it was time for the photo shoot...

It went about as well as you might imagine...

Luckily, outtakes are fun too!

Finally, we got something we could use! 

By the time the photo is taken, your thumbprints should be dry...now to turn them into something! 

Using a fine tipped felt pen, I added dots and antennae to the red thumb prints to make ladybugs... 

And stripes and antennae to the yellow dots to make bumblebees! 

We printed the photo off at a local one hour center, and voila! 

A perfect, springy frame filled with some of the grandmas' favorite kiddos for Mother's Day! 

Enjoy! 

   

{Bird Feeding...or Squirrel Feeding...}

Squirrel and I made a "bird feeder" a few days ago. I put it in quotation marks because the Mister would have it so. He often finds my attempts to live in the country somewhat laughable, because even though I loved my outdoor play as a kid and my time spent enjoying sunsets on the roof of my home, I don't have all that much experience outside of the city...and even less experience outside of the barren desert.

Anyway, here's what we did:

We took some Cheerios...

...and strung them on some twine:

{We were, of course, dressed as fairies...or at least one of us was...}

Then covered the Cheerios in peanut butter and nuts and seeds...

And then we hung it up for the birds to eat....

And this is where the Mister laughed at me--he says that bird feeders need to be hung in trees. Silly woman, you can't just put food for birds anywhere...

I figured that since birds can FLY, they could just as well FLY over to the stairs by our window so we could watch them eat the food we had so KINDLY offered them. 

Turns out, that instead, the squirrels come and eat peanut butter and seed covered Cheerios off the stairs. Just as well...next time I guess we'll hang it in a tree...