Tie-Dye Gone Wrong

This is what happens when you don't read the instructions on the bottle:

It starts out like this- my first solo attempt at tie-dye:

Despite what it might look like, no animals were harmed in the dyeing of these sheets...

Scarlet might not have been the best choice color. It looks like a prop for CSI.

But it still might have looked cute, in a patriotic-4th-of-July-kind-of-a-way if I hadn't just run them through the dryer "to set the color", and then washed them.

Guess what Denim blue and Scarlet Red make in my washing machine...washed-out Purple!

The bottles of Rit Dye that I bought don't have instructions for using the dye for tie-dying, so I will have to check out this tutorial and this one before I try again.

Any wise words of wisdom before I embark on take 2?

I meant to post about this last week, but I got caught up in getting ready to go camping with a group of girls from church. It was short, sweet, and fun. One of the highlights was watching two turtles make their way out of the water for a little sunbathing on the beach.

Have I mentioned how much I love living in Hawaii???

So I've added something else to my list of things to look forward to this summer...

Check out this new line of fabric from Sarah Jane. I love it! My favorite print is her Family Tree. Isn't it gorgeous? It's a panel that you can embroider the names of your family onto.

(photo source)

I can't wait for it to show up at my local fabric store! Check out her shop for a printed version of that same family tree. She also sells embroidery patterns- including one for (my other favorite) the "Make it Do" pillow in the picture. Happy Browsing!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

I see cute bean bags looking at me.

Bean bags Bean Bags, what do you see?

I see a bright blanket looking at me.

Blanket, blanket what do you see?

I see this great Eric Carle fabric looking at me!

Back in March one of my favorite bloggers Lier from ikat bag, wrote this great post about cardboard. If you read her blog, you know the AMAZING things she has made with cardboard for her kids. I read the post and knew that it was a bit beyond my abilities right now... however it did make me take a second glance at the cereal boxes I was regularly throwing away.

So when my 3 year old asked me to turn the baby's bathtub into a car, I thought "Ahhah! Cardboard!". So I started cutting and by the time we were done it had gone from Car to Boat to Rocket Ship!

This year we got 2 Flat Stanleys in the mail from cousins. If you're not familiar with Flat Stanley- it's a book about a boy how gets flattened by a bulletin board, and then goes on trips around the world via the mail.

If you should happen to host a Flat Stanley, please show him around your town, take lots of pictures and send him back to where he came from. The girls had a great time "hosting" Flat Stanley- and wanted to make their own. So with a little help from Costco, we brought home some huge sheets of (free!) cardboard and made our very own life-size Flat People! Presenting:

We traced the girls' body shapes onto the paper, and then let them decorate (or in this case I decorated according to the 3yr old's instructions). The best thing about cardboard? When the playing is done it goes in the trash!

Summer Break

Our summer break starts in just a couple of days. It's hard to believe our 6 year old is finishing up Kindergarten! In preparation for the 66 days of vacation coming up, I've been trying to plan some activities for us to do. Here are some of the fun things I'm looking forward to trying out with the kids this summer:

Fun games to play outside:

1. Tin Can Telephone as posted by Childhood 101.

2. Outdoor Color Match by FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

3. Taking our sidewalk chalk playing to another level with Story Stones again from FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

4. Some pretend camping with this A-Frame Tent from My Cakies.

5. And finally just some flitting about with these cute Dress Up Wings by Eri via Prudent Baby.

I also came across good ideas in 15 Fun & Frugal things to do with your family by Keeper of the Home via Simple Mom.

And some fun things to do indoors:

1. Suminagashi as posted by FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

2. Fabric Scrap Paper Dolls by This Mama Makes Stuff.

3. Monster Boxes as posted by No Time for Flashcards.

4. Maybe a few science experiments like these from Momtastic.

Add in some swimming lessons, trips to the beach, and our local library's summer reading program... and I think we'll be keeping busy!

Hello!

Not sure if anyone is still out there, but I've finally decided to stop neglecting this blog. Things have been a little busier around here since he came along in March....

...but it sure is fun having a sweet new baby in the house again!

The Wizard of Oz Medley

The Wizard of Oz Medley: "

(YouTube link)

The class of 2013 perform a medley of songs from The Wizard of Oz for the annual Nykerk Cup competition at Hope College. Sure, they sing well, but where are they hiding all those props? You can also watch the performance of their competition, the freshman class. -via Buzzfeed

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