Fun on A Snow Day - Silly Camera Tricks

The kids have had 6 snow days so far. Most days we take them outside to play in the snow but when it's cold, we still have a lot of indoor hours to kill.

Goddess and I played with some silly camera tricks. She loved the results and still laughs when she sees these two weeks later.

Don't let go....

I got her!

Knocked her right off her ball. Believe me, she deserved it.

Fun with a wire cleaner

Alphabe-Thursday - R

Today at Alphabe-Thursday the letter is R. Let's see what we have in the Flickr Folder today.

R = Rolling. My kids have not owned a sled yet. They simply roll and slide down the hill on our property.





R = Running. The kids love playing in the snow. I understand and loved it too when was a kid. These days can't warm up and just want to go inside. Usually we stay out for an hour and a half. Thankfully Teach usually sends me inside after and hour and takes the last half. He takes them out almost every day. Thank God he does, I would simply send them to the deck if it were up to me.

You Capture - Cold

Oh my word...it has been coooollllddd this winter.

The view from the front of my house


Brrr...


Here is my deck, notice the kids playhouse, the snow is practically up to the roof!



The chairs are in the same position they have been in since Teach winterized our deck. I look forward to being able to use them again.


This is the image I see of my car most mornings this winter.


One day we will take those outdoor Christmas ornaments down. The reindeer need to be dug out and I know somewhere under there are some of those big, inflatable, Christmas decorations.

Ruby Tuesday - Valentine Craft Idea

After more than 5 snow days this year, the kids were home yet again due to the weather. While I love having them home, cabin fever was setting in for everyone and if I could keep them apart for a little while, there would be some peace and I could give my voice rest from having to repeat "leave him/her alone, stop fighting over it, take turns, stay away from each other, get out of his/her room, will you guys please knock it off!" I mean really, why do siblings fight so much? If they are not loving and hugging each other, they are complaining, or tattling, or upsetting one another.

Goddess loves crafts! Handsome likes crafts and since he was busy I didn't call him for the first round.

Supplies:

• Wax Paper
• Mod Podge  (everyone needs this in their house, you can use it in 1,000,000 ways).
• Left over Tissue Paper (we used some white and red from Christmas and I grabbed a pack of Valentine paper from CVS and I had some left over from last year).
• Glitter (optional)

Tear up the tissue paper.

Put down the wax paper (it was long enough the small end of my rectangle table)and lay a generous layer of Mod Podge over it. We did half of the paper at a time to figure in drying time.

Then just have the kids put down the tissue paper. The glue will soak into the paper. Just over lap paper to create a mosaic, filling in all the empty spot on the wax paper.

Then I sprinkled glitter over it and walked it to the deck to shake off the excess. There wasn't much excess, that Mod Podge is some amazing stuff. Love It!

Next let it thoroughly dry (the hardest part for the kids). It only took about 15 minutes.

Then cut out shapes of hearts in all sizes. I just eyeballed it as Rachel Ray would say but I am sure you could use templates to get the perfect heart shape. Mine looked pretty damn good I must admit.

Poke a hole in the heart toward the top for hanging. You can use a hole puncher or I have a screwdriver type type that has a point on it. I use it for jewelry making and while I am sure it has a technical term, we will just call it the pokey thing.

Next I took thread (sewing thread, I am sure any color would work fine but I used black as it is all I have. We don't do much sewing here). and put it through the hole and back again to create a knot so I could hang the heart. I staggered the sizes of the thread to that the hearts look like this....

Wah La...there you have it. Cute Valentine stained glass ornaments that are easy and fun to make. Even Handsome, enjoyed himself.

My First Twitter Giveaway - Valentine's Ankle Bracelet from Street Angel

This is my very first Twitter follower giveaway. Maria's Space is only 2 followers away from 1,000 Twitter followers. This is very exciting to me and though it is a totally selfish plug, here it goes!!!!

Most of you know, I have a sad, lonely, little shop on Etsy called Street Angel which has unfortunately not seen a sale in over 3 months. OK, I digress...Check out my sweet banner from Street Angel. Love it!

I recently made a beautiful anklet for Valentine's Day and thought, what a great giveaway for Maria's Space.

Isn't it festive?!

Here is a close up of the beads

The white ones are glass. I love the richness of the red. Almost like velvet.

If this is your type of jewelry, why not try to win it.

Blue & Mellow Yellow Monday - Party Painting

This weekend we were invited to a dear friend's daughter's 1st birthday party. The kids were so excited because last year they went to their son's birthday and it was a really fun Mad Science Party. They were hoping for the same of course but I informed them it was a 1st birthday party and Science would probably not be the theme.

When the clown walked in the door, I wasn't sure what my kids would think but they loved it. He couldn't come at a better time. Handsome was struggling to fight back some tears after having his drink spilled on him accidentally. He was so embarrassed because his shirt got wet. The tears quickly sucked back into his lids and all was well.

The clown performed a magic show and eventually got to the face and arm painting.

Remembering Sally's Blue Monday, I had to grab a few photos.

After his second episode of fighting those tears that threatened to cascade down his sweet face (a friend decide his balloon hat was better than their hat and claimed it as their own), you can see he had an awesome time.

Ahhh if you are wondering what the heck he and all the boys ended up as; I had to ask the clown myself. They are army vampires. Ahhh....umm....OK then.

It's A Good Day When......

The bubbles in your cup show up as a heart!!

Now, I can hear you guys out there. Half are saying, awwww...and the other half which will include Clary are saying, 'You're so stupid". By the way, she is saying it with a big thick Bronx accent and she will make sure to tell me in person too.

Oddly enough, my husband accidently cut his foot two weeks ago on the kitchen floor and the blood mark was in the shape of a heart too! I cleaned it up and was quietly wishing I could get my camera but was worried about his foot. He made a statement later that he was surprised I hadn't gotten the camera to blog it. Damn! Wish I had because it would make this pre-valentine, heart post, so much better.

Shadow Shot - Ice Cold Heart

Having trouble with new computer. Can't include a photo. Grr....So...without further ado, here is my Shadow Shot for today.

I took my wood heart wall hanger outside and grabbed a Shadow Shot for Harriet's weekly meme.

Here is my snowy heart shot.

New Product Alert - Kid-E-Cover - A Safe, Easy Alternative to Those Outlet Covers

Please allow me to introduce you to a company created by single dad of two, Mitchell  who created a product to protect his daughters.  Elicole, LLC sent me a product called Kid-E-Cover and I am so happy to show it to you.

 

When I was about 3 months pregnant with my son back in 2003, safety in the home was a top priority. Long before Handsome even made an appearance in the house, we got outlet plugs, door latches, and those locks for the window blind cords.

Everything was easy to use and gave me the confidence I needed when my little guys started to toddle. However, outlet covers were often a problem. Not only was my son protect and couldn't remove them (great), but I also couldn't remove them (not so great).  I found myself getting things that I could wedge underneath to pry them off. Grr...how annoying!

Hoodwinked on Blu-ray And DVD on February 15th

I liked the movie and appreciate the character styles and pop culture references. Goddess and I watched it three times in a week, so obviously she liked it too! Not your typical cartoon. Very well done. Witty and very well voiced. My favorite character was the Andy Dick voiced Bunny while my 5 year old love Twitchy.

Personally, I liked it better the 3rd time I watched it. The first two times, I felt there was too much down time and less laughs than I expected.

Good for the whole family and everyone will have a favorite character and enjoy their character's take on what happened.

Valentine's Day IS it About Love, Or Our Love Of Chocolate?

I am torn! I love the idea of a day dedicated to LOVE! There is nothing better than our ability to love. Not sure about the rest of you but I can literally LOVE everybody. Last night I watched my girlfriend's baby and while putting her to bed, told her "I love you!" and I TOTALLY meant it.

But.....there is something about Valentine's Day that gives us the get out of jail free card on chocolate eating. In my twenties, I thought nothing of eating a whole huge, thing of chocolate from a velvet shaped heart that a boyfriend got me and felt no guilt about it. 

That is why I am so happy to host this giveaway. Who doesn't love chocolate? Well, my son! He doesn't like it one bit. Not a problem for the rest of us because we have no problem taking it off his hands.

Color Carnival - Valentine Craft

Finally, I have something to add to Color Carnival.

This is a craft I did with the kids last weekend. I will post the completed product in a how to post very soon but for now.....