“Chalkboards” for Party Supplies & Gift Giving – from Beau Coup

Chalkboard accessories are a hot trend…be on the cutting edge with these party supplies and gift items from Beau Coup – (one of my favorite supply sites)

They are adorable and there are many unique items…see the link below for their whole fabulous collection…

Here is a teeny tiny sampling:

http://www.beau-coup.com/wedding/all/chalkboard?s

Mother’s Day Flower Craft

There are two sides to me when I do crafts with my kids. One side lets them do the craft however they want to since it IS a craft for kids. The other side SAYS it is a craft for kids but there really are rules to follow and a “right” way to do it.

I think my kids lucked out getting me as an older mother because I have mellowed in my need to “do things a certain way”.

Unless of course, there happen to be rules to follow and a “right” way to do something…

I thought it would be fun for my kids and I to make flowers in vases for Mother’s Day so I have been collecting the materials, namely empty toilet paper rolls and cut up blocks of paper out of the millions of pieces of paper that get cut up in my home daily.

Today we worked on our Mother’s Day gift together. I drew the flower borders and they decorated them. I cut the stems and they taped them on. They taped their “pretty” blocks of paper scraps to the paper rolls and then placed their flowers in the vases.

My muffins had a great time and it was a very easy craft. We could have put more into it by using paints and a variety of scrap papers or stickers but we were working under the time constraints of my toddler’s nap so we stuck to some basics.

They would make a lovely gift for a mom, mom figure or a grandma.

Except that my two kids were fascinated with the May Day Baskets that I threw together late at night and secretly left outside hanging from our doorknob yesterday morning, so we had to give these as May Day presents to our neighbor that afternoon. I kindly mentioned that I had planned these to be for Mother’s Day.

They disagreed.

I pretended to “forget” that we needed to deliver them.

They repeatedly brought it up.

So, I forfeited my Mother’s Day flower vases for May Day and we secretly left them hanging on our neighbor’s door knob yesterday afternoon. I am happy that they enjoyed May Day and that they were excited to do something special for our neighbor.

Changing my plan was not that painful after all.

And it WAS a craft for kids any ways…

Gingham Rag Wreath & Garland from Lakeside Collections

http://www.lakeside.com/For-the-Home/Decorative-Accents/Decorative%2BAccents/Gingham-Rag-Wreath-%26-Garland/prod960275.jmp?navAction=jump&fm=search

$11.95 for wreath, $5.95 for garland

I loved these pretty spring colored decorations. My mom and I like to exchange seasonal decorations as gifts because it is something fun to add to your collection. These look like they would be easy to make too if you were so inclined!

Cone Wreaths Craft

http://amysoccasions.com/?p=1459

I have seen these popping up as crafting projects and thought they were different and pretty. There are many sites to check out to see how to do them but this site caught my eye for the kid’s room version that they prepared. They appear to be simple, but with my line of work, I am sure it would take me many steps to actually complete the project. The first being to make a trip to the craft store to get the supplies. Hmmm…do I take the kids with me during the day or make my famous “midnight run” to the store once everyone is in bed? Pros and cons to both. Phew, once that was completed I would need to prep my project by organizing colors and cutting squares. And so on…

But definitely doable and I would feel quite accomplished! Plus, I would have a really cute wall hanging. I should probably pick up extra craft paper because once I had the hang of it, I just might make another one – perhaps for a gift 🙂