FREE Thanksgiving printable to make your own thanks GIVING tree to help you focus on gratitude !

Just saw this this morning and wanted to make sure you didn't miss out on this great FREE printable from Ann Voskamp author of "1000 gifts, a dare to live fully right where you are" .




Go to her blog "A Holy Experience"  to get this free printable to make your own thanks GIVING tree.  A great exercise for the whole family.  A chance to be creative and focus on being grateful during this often busy but beautiful season of gratitude.  Ann is a mom of 6, wife to a farmer and best selling author so you may want to stick around and see what else she has to say..... I am always blessed whenever I read her stuff.

EASTER - free dress patterns,printables and fun ideas!

Easter is coming up REALLY fast!  So to help you out I have compiled a huge list of fun things to do and cute dresses to make so that you will be ready for Easter! The patterns are after down below the printables and Easter ideas so just keep scrolling if that is what you are looking for!
Homeschool and preschool Easter freebies and ideas for the week before Easter!

Veggie Tales creator's blog "What is in the Bible" series for Easter week "What is Holy Week".
A great explanation of all the church history that goes with this week.  A great way to focus on Christ this Easter season and learn Biblical history.

Make an Easter lent garden with your kiddos as a visual parable.  You complete different parts on the corresponding days of Holy Week.  It has clear detailed directions.  This one is from an EXCELLENT blog called A Holy Experience written by a homeschool mama who wrote the book called One Thousand Gifts an amazing book on gratitude.

You can find a ton of Easter and Spring printables for tots here at 1plus1plus1equals1. It is GREAT homeschool blog with tons of printables, great ideas, and inspiration.

Here are some great learning activities and ideas from  the blog We are That Family to make sure Easter is celebrated for what it is...a celebration of Christ's Resurrection. Teaching our kids the reason we celebrate is a great way to spend your day.

Great printable worksheets for Easter from Mama's Learning Corner that work for pre K to 2nd grade.

This is an Easter learning roundup that includes crafts, worksheets, games, etc... from My Delicious Ambiguity.  She has a lot of fun things on her blog so you will have to check it out.

Two Teaching Mommies has a great lesson plan with a ton of free printables to go with it.  There is a printable memory verse with picture, worksheets, number maze, clip cards for math, etc... Hope you have some fun with it!

Two Teaching Mommies has created a 12 days of Easter lesson plan as well that coincides with  resurrection eggs for a 12 day lesson on Easter for your kiddos.  What a fun way to go through the meaning of Easter with your little ones and have them really get it.  They recommend combining Days 5-9 have been combined for those that are younger and will find the topic of Christs suffering too much to spread out over those days.  So you still have time to get this lesson done before Easter!

I hope this has helped you get a few new ideas for the week before Easter, so you and your kids can enjoy the deeper meaning of Easter and learn at the same time.

Now for you seamstress' here are some beautiful fun free Easter or Spring dress patterns! 

These are the "party dresses" I made for my girls last year.  See post HERE for more photos and tutorial link.

Best FREE patterns with tutorials for Easter or spring dress'!

If you get started right away you still have some time to make an Easter dress or two (or 3?) for your little girls.  I looked through tons of free online patterns and tutorials to come up with a list of what I think are the best ones out there so you only have to go to one place to find the perfect dress' for Easter.  Most of these are fairly simple and all have a pattern or instructions to create the pattern so there is nothing to buy except the fabric and notions!   Last year we chose the "Party Dress" by The Cottage Home and I let the girls pick out their fabric. Hope you find something special for your special little girls!

The Party Dress tutorial by The Cottage Home

Twirl Dress tutorial by From an Igloo

Charlotte dress tutorial from IveyC95

A Line Ruffle Front Dress tutorial by IveyC95

Reversible Ribbon Dress by Couturier Mommy
A very clear tutorial but asks for an A-line pattern.  Just use a simple dress in the size you want to make the pattern by folding it in half and tracing it with a seam allowance. Then put that pattern on folded material to cut out the A line dress.

Poppy Sundress tutorial by A Lemon Squeezy Home

Lucky Layers Sundress tutorial by Moda Bake Shop

Project Run and Play Dress tutorial by Simple Simon & Co.

Let's Fly A Kite Sundress tutorial by Craftiness Is Not Optional

Sunny Little Miss Dress tutorial by Made it on Monday

Retro Ruffle Dress tutorial by Simply Modern Mom

Petal Dress tutorial by Ucreate

Hope you were inspired! If you have time add this cute little caplet to top it off.

Sweet Little Caplet tutorial by Simple Simon & Co
Happy Sewing!

 Do you have a free one I should have included?  If so just put a link in the comments!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

FREEBIE Friday!!! Tutorial for 3 Shirts from one FREE pattern

10 weeks after having "little minnow" my old wardrobe still doesn't fit the way I want it to.  So I have been looking for shirt patterns I can make.  I saw this really cute one and thought I would share it!  Thank you SewTLC!


Great the free pattern and tutorial HERE from "Sewing - The Little Heart Collection"

Hoping to getting to this sometime soon!  Let me know if you try it, and how it comes out. Have any other great free shirt patterns to share? If so drop a line in the comments for all to see. Happy weekend! I have lots of free patterns in my pinterest board "sewing" , so stop over and see what I have pinned.

Fun kids color wheel art and science project! Guest post by Everyday Art

Today I have a fun guest post for you from Everyday Art, a great crafty, yummy, DIY blog!  Enjoy, and make sure to go check out their blog for more creative ideas!

Every year about this time I start to really, REALLY crave color. Like clockwork, every January I start scheming about decorating with yellow or orange or something bright just to liven things up a bit. It's been a little better this year because my kitchen is south-facing and everything is white and light blue, so it feels nice and light and airy. 

That being said, I still think more color this time of year is great. So, the kids and I made this fun food-dye color wheel the other day. It was a great little science and art project. (What could be more fun that mixing art and science?!!?)

It was such fun, and I couldn't believe how patient the kids were (ages 3 and 5), just staring at the colored water move slowly up the paper towels and mixing together. We learned about color-combining  and the color wheel. We also learned a bit about osmosis, diffusion, and siphons.

Here's what you need to make this fun color wheel:

6 clear cups

6 paper towels

red food dye

blue food dye 

yellow food dye

Here's what you do to make the color wheel: 

1) Fill 3 cups with water and mix in red food dye into one, blue food dye into the second and yellow food dye into the third. 

2) place the cups in a circle as shown above with an empty cup in between each of the 3 you already made with the primary colors in them. 

3) fold the paper towels into about 1-inch strips and place each end into adjacent cups. (I snipped off a bit of each paper towel to make them shorter.)

4) Watch as the dyed water seeps up the paper towels and combines into the empty cups to make the secondary colors of orange, green and purple.

After all the colors had mixed, we took them out of the circle shape and made rainbows and such with them. Fun little science project with the girls. Certainly added more color to our day!

Let me know how it goes if you guys try it! Happy weekend!

Top 10 DIY homemade gifts for every boy on your list!

Every year I try to be creative and make most of my gifts.  Not just for friends but for my kids aged 2-8, my parents, my sister and even my husband!  I try to start in Nov.  If I don't get started getting them done I try to at least be compiling ideas.
Here are my current favorites and most of these I am currently working on for my 8 yr old or my 2yr old.

BEST DIY GIFTS FOR BOYS..

Fort Kit

LOVE this idea and already made my son one this year for Christmas complete with cool bag and with the downloaded tag from above.  Complete directions found HERE from Saltwater-kids.  You can also download the fort tags which in my opinion really add the final touch! PS you can make a cool girly version as well!

Cutest Sock Monkeys EVER

Full directions and pattern found HERE at craft passion.   I am trying to make two of these for Christmas for my 2 year old son and my coming new born. The eyes and ears make them SO cute!

Guys leather cuff bracelet

What a great simple idea!  I am making one for my sons, myself and sister!  Find a clear easy tutorial HERE at The Red Kitchen My girls shouldn't get to have all the fun dressing up!  My two year old is always wearing their necklaces and crowns, so I think it is time for him to get his own guy jewelery.

Guys nail cross necklace

I saw this at Molly Dodd listed as a summer camp craft.  There are no directions but it looks straight forward enough.  I love it because it is a visual reminder of  what Christ did for us as well as being pretty awesome.






Lego Tray

This clever idea from Some What Simple is perfect for my oldest son and my oldest daughter!  We are making them each one.  This enables them to keep a project they are working on and transport it out of a bedroom when a sibling needs to nap, or keep it out of reach of curious hands.  My daughter has recently gotten into the "Friends" girly lego kits and can play for hours!  When she is done though she doesn't want to put it all up as she is playing with it still so this is perfect!  I just bought the lego flats at amazon pretty cheap.

DS travel pouch 

I really like this DS travel pouch with spaces for games.  Keeps it all organized and together.  There is a full tutorial to print off but I hope you speak French as it is not in English.  I am still debating if I will be able to get to this one, but hope to!  I would make one for my daughter and son! Check out the tutorial HERE at By Gabs.

Super Hero Costume

This is the set I made for my Cruz (hence the C super cape)!  I know he will love it!

Find the mask tutorial HERE at Swanky Press   I used it as a guide and added thunder bolts to the sides. Check the eye holes to make sure the little one who will wear then will be able to see.

I used this tutorial from The Train to Crazy to make the cuffs, because how cute are they!  I just made mine with thunderbolts to match the mask and made everything out of blue and red felt.  Really easy project that really adds to the costume!  My girls always dress up so I wanted my son to be able to join the fun!

Hobby Horse or Stick Horse

My little cowboy would love this!  In fact I have one in the works right now.  I know there is only 6 days or so till Christmas so I better get on it!! This one has a great tutorial at  Light Blue Grey.  I love all the details she uses!

This one by Dandee-Designs is really cute too!  She has a great mane tutorial and her horse doesn't take many supplies.  I  think it turned out so cute!  I need to finish mine!!

DIY Dinosaur Fossil Kit
 
My son LOVES the fossil kits you buy that you chip away to find the dinosaur bones and then put it all together.  This is a similar idea, from Paper Vine NZ and it looks so simple!  I would like to find a dinosaur 3 d puzzle to use on the inside and probably won't bother with the mold.  A loaf pan would work great.  You can just hide the dinosaurs or dinosaur pieces all over.  As he gently chips away at the block he is rewarded with discoveries and you are rewarded with hours of silence!  A rare joy for mothers of boys!

DIY Art Station

Last but not least a fun was a bit hit with our son a few years ago.I made a space for both my son and daughter and filled it with fun glitter, pipe cleaners, glue, crayons, markers, etc.. Check out my post for more details HERE. 

Need more ideas?  Check this older post "Need to save some cash? Homemade gifts and online secrets for savings!"
Hope you enjoyed these ideas!  What are you making the boys in your life?  Love to hear more ideas!

DIY Handmade Doctor Play Kit (tutorial). GREAT kids gift!

I love a handmade holiday.  The gifts are so memorable and your kids know you really thought about them while you labored over a great gift.  It sure is cheaper as well!  With 4 kids aged 2-8 girls and boys I have been scouring the internet for ideas and come up with quite a few great ones! This one is great for the boys or girls, and they can all play together.  So here it is... the completed doctor kit.

I think it cost me a total of $4.50!  I found most of the stuff around the house, got the 2 surgical masks from the hospital for free when I was there for an ultrasound, printed stuff off and bought only the bag and stethoscope   Would you believe the stethoscope was only $3 brand new off Amazon!  They had other colors, but some of the other colors cost twice as much (same exact stethoscope), so I thought blue looked fine.  I love that it really works!  The bag was $1.50 at the thrift store and has the great doctor bag shape i was looking for.

Here is a closer look at the contents.  I printed off the labels you see above from the link below and attached to empty containers we had around the house.  I love the vintage uniform look.  The doctor badges I printed off from a great link I posted below that allows you to add your own photo and customize the text.  The silver bottle is a spray bottle filled with water for "wound care" or other imaginative play.  I added some band aid stickers that I printed from the computer onto sticky paper cut them out and put them in a band aid box.  The cotton balls and Q-tips they can use to "clean wounds", and doctor up their siblings or stuffed animals.  The plastic syringes we had as well as the medicine dosser.  You can also get a better look at the monogramed bag tag that I used to girly it up for my Bella.

I added a ear bulb for fun, a water balloon filler as otoscope for inspecting ears, some play money we had to pay the doctor, an ace bandage for wrapping up those sprains and broken bones, surgical masks, and of course the real working brand new stethoscope!  I made both my daughters a badge as I know they will both want to be the doctor at some point in the game.

I put it all together in this really cute doctor shaped bag and added a cute little laminated initial tag to give it a little more feminine appeal since it was for my daughter.  I may add a red felt cross to the front of  the bag on the black.  We will see.

Vintage medicine labels found free HERE at Eat Drink Chick.

Official Doctor badges created for free HERE at  Big Huge Labs

I am still thinking of adding a small clip board, white shirt for a lab coat (cut of the sleeve's cuff and the tail and hem), and file folder for official doctor papers to include...

Printable x-ray images like those found Here from Net Places, and free printable customizable eye chart from Eye Chart Maker.

I know she will love it!  I expect to get hours of play from all the kids out of this one!

 If you happened across a pair of kids crutches at a thrift store that would be pretty fun for the kids too!   I am sure I will find little things from now till Christmas to be adding in as well.  Hope you found some inspiration for a handmade kit for the kiddo in your life!  Love to hear if you  make one and how it goes!