Love and Lollipops: Favorite Blogs Tour

This is the last (but definitely not least) of the blogs from our Favorite Bloggers Tour.  I've used several of Georgia's projects as inspiration for things I've made for my kids.  You're going to love her!

Hi there Helping Little Hands readers - It's really great to be here guest blogging today.

I thought I would share some of my favourite posts of the past two years of blogging with you. (I can't believe it's been two years!)

 

I don't sew (really), but after being so inspired by ideas I saw around the net, I gave some small felt toys a try. I made this very hungry caterpillar

to go with the book as a Christmas gift for one of my nephews.

This colour car mat was part of a Colour Fun series I did and it thrilled me to hear friends say that they had recreated it for their little ones.

Squeezy pictures are one of my older son's favourite art activities and are great for strengthening those finger muscles too. I took his squeezy art creations and turned them into these pretty cards.

Our pot scourer creations were also great fun to make.

I love how something as simple as an orange can lead to so many learning opportunity's and lots of playful fun.

A chocolate bar wrapped up like a school bus made for a fun teacher gift at the end of the school year. 

I never would have thought that this  no-sew caterpillar and butterfly  would have been so popular with my readers.  

And lastly, a skeleton made from your name...can you spot the name?

Thanks so much Polly for giving me the opportunity to share some of the fun we get up to over at Love and Lollipops. It's been great to be here :).

Busy, Busy...

I know...It seems like I've dropped off the face of the planet.  Life is good.  I probably won't get back to posting every day like I was...but I'm hoping to get back to posting a couple times a week...but not yet.  (And if you've emailed me or left a nice comment...I've been really slow at responding...sorry.)

We'd hoped to be moved into our new house the first week of April...but that didn't happen.  We DID move our FIRST few boxes of things over to the new house today though, and we'll be moving most of our stuff in this weekend.

We were too cheap to pay the building company to have nice shelving put in the closets, so Eric and I will be starting on closet shelves tomorrow.  Wish us luck...

I should have nice pictures of our finished house to show you...but I don't...so here are a few other pictures of what we've been up to...

Anson is his church outfit.  The onesie has a tie appliqued on with old T-shirt fabric.  The pants are made out of an old T-shirt too...and I'm hoping to get the pattern posted soon.

Seth reading to Rebecca...he is SOOO looking forward to kindergarten next year.

The weather is finally getting warm enough that the kids spend a lot of time outside.  Becca has learned to ride her tricycle...no small task since the pedals only work about half the time.  She also likes it when Seth gives her rides.  We got this tricycle years ago for Katie for $4 at a garage sale, and it has had some serious miles put on it over the years.  It's time to buy a new one...I just keep hoping that one will show up at a garage sale or something.  We may just have to spring for a new one soon.

All of the kids are still in love with Anson and always wanting to hold him.

Seth found his own way to keep Anson happy...pushing him around in his bed/cradle.  (By the way...we were given this for a shower gift.  It has been AWESOME.  It was the perfect height for when I was recovering from the c-section to not have to bed over too much...and not have to bend over the side of a crib.  It keeps the baby tipped up a bit to help with spit-up.)

We also get plenty of wind and tumbleweed in these parts...this was a particularly impressive one...

And a nice visit from Nana and Granddad...

And just another cute baby picture...because you just can't get enough of a cute baby...

Pen Pals and Picture Books: Favorite Blogs Tour

Pen Pals and Picture Books is a blog I only discovered in the last month or so, but they have such great ideas for kids and books, you'll want to check them out.

Hi!  We are Robyn and Whitney.  You'll usually find us jabbering about children's books (etc) over at Pen Pals and Picture Books Monday-Friday.  Today we're very happy to be Polly's guests (thank you so much for letting us be here!) and also a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Polly and her entire family.  There's nothing more wonderful and miraculous than the arrival of a new little one into a loving family.... enjoy!

Now about PP and PB.  We are book crazy.  We collect, read, drool over, laugh at and often plan activities around our favorite children's books.  We'd LOVE to have you come stop by sometime soon and see what we're all about.  Without further ado we'd like to share a few teasers from our site...

Using the book As the Crow Flies (which is a great introductory to maps book) I collaborated with my son to create a couple of maps seen here.  Simple activity, hours of play.  -Robyn

Activities inspired by Jan Brett's The Mitten.  Here you'll find a sewing lesson for children and taking a favorite book, then turning it into a play!  So much fun!  -Robyn

Here we have a little color mixing fun ala Mouse Paint and the lovely little hands of my four year old.  Plus! This post has painting tips to make it more managable for mama! Fun, easy, I'm in! -Whitney

Things that Go?  Yes please!  In conjunction with Mo Willems beloved Pigeon (Don't let Pigeon Drive the Bus & Pigeon Loves Things That Go) we experimented with art that 'goes'.  -Robyn

These food faces were a tasty and HUGE hit at my house!  They are book inspired too, of course. And the secret ingredient? It's fun! -Whitney

This activity created a whole lotta fun at my house! (And, after we'd tried it out together, my kids played with it on their own.  They even took turns-- and it was without quarreling! Amazing, right?)  All thanks to Jan Brett and an empty box  -Whitney

There you have it, a small taste of what goes on over at our site.  We'd more than LOVE to have you come for a visit and browse a while.  Thanks again to Polly, and give that new baby an extra hug and kiss from us!

Just Lu: Favorite Blogs Tour

Hello, friends of Helping Little Hands! I am so happy to be here today to give Polly a bit of time to breathe and enjoy the newness of a new baby and a new house. :)

I am Lorene, or Lu, and I blog over at just Lu. I am married to an amazing man and mom to two adorable little things. I've been blogging since early 2010, but I'm not very good at sticking to just one topic. I blog about all of the good things in my life, from crafting to food to books and more! Since my daughter was born in August, I haven't been blogging as regularly, but I still love sharing the things that are meaningful in my life, so feel free to come over and say hello!

One of my favorite things that I've done on my blog was the Housewife MacGyver series that I hosted last year. Thanks to many, many amazing guests (including Polly!), we had a year of becoming more self-reliant in many different areas, such as financially, domestically, around the house, and spiritually and emotionally. You can get more details and see all of the posts here. On the more crafty and creative side, I dabble in a little bit of everything.... My all-time favorite project (so far, anyway ;), as well as my most popular post, is my Beach Rock Souvenir Collage.

On top of being fairly easy (despite my tendency to complicate things :), the project was inexpensive, brings back sweet memories of a favorite vacation, and is a beautiful addition to my home -- the trifecta of any craft! (If you decide to create one of your own, I suggest you just glue the string for the word(s), not follow my crazy convoluted method...:)

The Felt Game Board is another favorite and popular project, that, for better or for worse, illustrates my tendency to complicate things, but still end up with an awesome end product... It's not the quickest of projects, but it is still one of my favorite and most popular posts. Get the tutorial here for this inexpensive, double-sided portable game board, featuring tic tac toe and checkers. For the younger set (and a simpler construction), see the felt activity board tutorial. 

If you have a birthday party coming up and want some simple, non-character dominated hats, check out my Fabric Party Hat tutorial. I provide a template for a young child's hat, and the instructions for creating your own template to fit any size party-goer. A few of my other favorite DIY projects (because I am indecisive like that :) include (from left to right):

An Elephant's Welcome (cardboard sign) Quilled (curled paper) Monograms  Rock n' Roll guitar pick and stamped washer earrings  The Dahlia Top Harley Davidson T-Shirt Quilt The Daddy Diaper Pail  Paper Bag Brag Books  Pink or Blue: button jewelry set

I'd love to have you stop by! Thanks for having me, Polly -- and enjoy all of the exciting and new things in your life!

Easy Book Cake

Our Sweet Becca turned 3 last week!  She requested an orange Ms. Frizzle Book Cake for the big day.

As my sister said, "A request like that is what you get for not raising your kids on Disney Princesses."

But seriously, what book-loving parent can refuse a request for a book cake.

So I baked a rectangular cake, wrapped some marshmallow fondant around it, frosted the three open sides, and scanned and printed out the picture from the cover of her favorite Magic School Bus book and laid it on top.  That's right...I'm no cake decorating purist.  I don't insist on everything being edible.

Anyway, she was thrilled with the cake.

And the fondant was easy enough to make that I just might attempt it again.  (This was my first time.)

And as an added little side note...when she went with Daddy to the store earlier in the day, they ran into some of his high school students.  One of them looked a Becca in the Sweetie Pi shirt she's wearing and said, "Doc, it figures that you'd put your kid in a shirt like that."

Little Family Fun: Favorite Blogs Tour

I'm excited to welcome Linda from Little Family Fun on our Favorite Blogs Tour. I love her blog because her ideas are so do-able and fun.  You're going to love her...

Hello everyone!

I'd like to thank Polly for giving me a chance to write up a guest post on her awesome blog!

My name is Linda, and I am a mother of 2 little boys (5 & 2 1/2) and 1 little girl (newborn).

I love coming up with fun ideas of things to do with my kids, and sharing them with others on my blog: Little Family Fun. 

Here are a few of our favorites! 

(For more details on each project, click on the links below each picture.)

Square Felt Farm Animals

These were so fun to make! We use these to sing Old McDonald.

Wiggle Worms Game

This is such a fun game to play with a group of kids or as a family. It helps create a feeling of love while also helping to get the wiggles out!

Chicken Craft

We made this craft to go along with a book we read. It was so easy and turned out really cute!

Fish for Numbers

This is a fun way to practice numbers and counting!

Exercise Cube

Another fun and simple way to get the wiggles out!

We've had so much fun with these crafts and activities and have tons more to share! Come check them out!

littlefamilyfun.blogspot.com

A Turtle's Life for Me: Favorite Blogs Tour

I'd like to introduce you to Natalie from a Turtle's Life for Me today.  I'm a newer-ish follower of her blog in the last few months.  I love her ideas because they seem like things I could actually try.  I'm excited to have her here for our Favorite Blogs Tour.  Enjoy...

Hi!  I'm Natalie from A Turtle's Life for Me and am so excited to be guest posting here today! I just started blogging about a year ago and am constantly amazed at how much I love this little community!  I've been having a blast at A Turtle's Life for Me getting to know so many of you and decorating my house at the same time!  I may possibly be the cheapest person you'll ever meet, so you won't find anything too extravagant over at my blog. Just lots of easy, quick, low-cost projects (decorating and recipes!), so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from this past year!

My daughter's Dress-up Center that I made out of an old, broken dresser, is still one of my all-time favorite projects.  I personally love it because it cost me pretty much nothing, I love taking pieces that others would throw away and making them useful, and it's extremely functional!

 The Beadboard Headboard that my husband and I installed in our bedroom is another one of my personal favorites!  It was cheap, quick and brought our whole room together!  I still go back often and look at the before and afters because I just can't believe what a difference it made! It also highlights the turquoise and yellow wreath I made.

I'm also a huge fan of themed parties and one of my favorites from this past year was the BaByQ Shower I threw for my best friend for my goddaughter's impending arrival!  It was a very casual backyard BBQ and we had a ton of fun! 

I do love to post about food, as well and without a doubt, the most popular food posts I write are my freezer meal ones!  My original freezer meal post, the 2 follow-ups ( #1 and #2), the spaghetti freezer sauce and the football freezer cooking have totally taken my blog in a direction I never expected it to go!  It was just something I've been doing for years, that I casually shared one day and still get daily emails about almost a year later!

I also, have been known to decorate cakes and cupcakes in my spare time!  This one was always one of my favorites and I still enjoy looking at it!

That's just a little sneak peek at what I'm up to, but there's lots more over on A Turtle's Life for Me!!

So stop by and say hi! I love meeting new people!

Thanks, Polly, for letting me invade your little corner for the day!