I missed a post yesterday. I was too tired after work to sit down and write.  Today I'm going to share another project for my granddaughter's preschool.  They are called Valentine Candy Poppers.  This is not my idea. I found the craft online from another blog. So many good ideas out there.  These are made with empty toilet tissue tubes, Mod Podge, candy, and Valentine wrapping paper and/or tissue paper. 

This is what a finished popper will look like. You'll want to add ribbon and a name tag once the poppers are dry.

Begin by putting "tops" on the roll. Trace two circles on whatever paper you'll use for the tops and bottoms. I used a paper cup to trace the big circle and the actual roll for the other circle.  Cut slits to the inner circle so the paper will fold around the roll better. Mod Podge the tops on, let dry, then fill with candy.

Now you're ready to cover the other end.  Once the ends are covered, let dry then you're ready to Mod Podge paper for the center of the tube.

 I used Valentine's wrapping paper for some and tissue paper for others.

The kids can have fun popping out the ends and finding candy surprises inside.  
Here are the finished Flower Gardens for the teachers. Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day.  I've been working with my grandkids on making special V-Day gifts for their teachers.  I found this craft online while looking for craft ideas. I wish I was this bright!

This is called a flower garden, made with foam sheets, tissue paper, decoupage, wooden Popsicle sticks, buttons, and candy.  If I forgot anything you'll see it in the pictures.

I covered paper cups with Valentine tissue paper using Mod Podge.   I cut squares (doesn't have to be perfect squares) from three tissue paper designs.  An older child could help cut out the flowers and paper.

Mod Podge can get really messy and don't brush the tissue paper too much or it will disintegrate!

I glued two Popsicle sticks to the height I wanted for the cups, then I cut out the flower shapes from foam sheets and let my 3 year old granddaughter choose how to put them together.  This requires a hot glue gun so it takes an adult to help put them together.

Then stick the flowers in the cup, fill with candy,  and you have a flower garden!  And fun with the grandkids.

I intend to add more flowers. With a 3 year old attention span, this is more like a week's project!  But, this shows a finished cup.  My granddaughter had me glue a large button on the top of a wooden stick so I cut the stick to the height of the cup and glued it to the front (cup not shown).  You can also add more candy to the cup.  This cup looks like some little fingers have been sneaking candy!

Today I want to share a couple crafty things I've been doing.  First, for my daughter-in-law's birthday I embroidered my grandchildren's hands (3 yr old and 9 yr old) and a happy birthday wish from them, framed it with lace and the kids presented it to their mom on her birthday on January 30th.

Next, this is a photograph of my bedside "table".  We moved into our small house recently and I saw this idea in a decorating magazine. I found three old suitcases and the picnic basket at an antique store, and the lamp at a thrift store.  I love it. And, the suitcases act as storage as well.

Tomorrow I'll share the foam flower garden my granddaughter and I are making for her preschool teachers for valentine.

Super Bowl Sunday. Chips, dip, soda, pizza....okay, I'm ready.  We've made quite the celebration of super bowl haven't we? Did you see the excitement over groundhog day? Fireworks? Really? for a groundhog?

I'm excited about this election year, only because there might be a chance of ousting Obama.  What I've never understood is why some states have primary elections and some caucuses.  In order to win the Republican nomination Mitt, Newt, Rick, or Ron have to get 1,144 delegates.  Now some states (12 apparently) will hold caucuses and 37 will hold primaries but Missouri will hold both a primary and a caucus.  Why?  And doesn't it seem that you would get less "votes" with a caucus since the people in that state have to go to a specific place at a specific time and publicly make a pitch for your candidate and then make a public vote? Whereas with the primary, just like an election day, you have all day to get to your polling place and make a private, secretive vote. In and out. Bamb. Done. On your way home.

And why do the candidates drop out so early when the early states like Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, etc. only give the candidates a small portion of the delegates they need.  For example, today I heard (after the Nevada caucus) that the delegates so far have been divided like this:

Mitt - 97
Newt - 30
Rick - 16
Ron - 7

That's a long way to 1,144. I'm just saying. 

On to bed sheets. My husband asked me how often I wash our sheets.  I usually do them every two weeks. I prefer to do them weekly but I don't always get to them that often.  But, I began to wonder how often I SHOULD wash them, not wanting to let them go too long to feed all those little critters that you hear about occupying the same space we do in our bed.  So I looked it up.  And I found out that I'm okay with washing my sheets every two weeks.  But it brought my attention to the bed pillows.  Who thinks about the pillows I wonder? I change the pillow cases as often as the sheets, but now I learn that the pillows need to be washed at least twice a year and if you haven't done that, you should throw out the pillows and buy new ones!  Time to buy new pillows I guess!  I love the feel and smell of fresh sheets.  I'd wash mine every other day if I could afford the water, electricity, and cost of worn out sheets! Or better yet, had someone else do them for me, like hotel room service. 

Time for the super bowl.  Go Patriots.

So, today I croched my bird feeder holder.  I can't take credit for coming up with this idea. I actually saw it on another blog and decided to try it.  Here are the photos and instructions.

Begin with some twine, crochet hook, and a bowl. I used a paper bowl but I'll exchange it for a heavier, glass or plastic bowl later.

Next, crochet a circle large enough for the bottom of the bowl to sit, then double crochet for two rows.  As a finish, chain 4, skip next stitch, single crochet on next stitch, chain 4, and repeat all the way around. You want to make sure the bottom circle is small enough so that the bowl doesn't fall through.



Finally, make sure the bowl fits.

To hang: chain enough stitches and attach in four equal spaces to the holder, hang, and wait for the birds to come by and check out your new feeder:

So today I tried creating another interesting way to teach my 3 year old granddaughter her letters.  I started with the 4 beginning letters: A, B, C, and D.  I wrote two letters on an unlined index card then cut the card in half.  So I used two index cards to make 4 letters.  Then I took each letter and laminated in plastic, put a Velcro dot on the back of each letter and the other part of the dot on a large piece of poster board.  We practiced putting the letters in proper order on the poster board. She enjoyed pulling them off the board and putting them back on again.  We would mix them up and she would have to put them back in order and stick them on the board again.  I plan to teach her 4 letters a week.  By the end of 7 weeks she should be able to recognize her letters and put them in order...so we hope.

Since the birds are enjoying my feeders this winter, I plan to hang another one this weekend using a pattern I found on the Internet, crocheted with sisal twine: 

Hello February! We've had some beautiful warm weather this winter so if we're in for another 6 weeks of this I'm okay with that Punxsutawney Phil.

This is a drawing of me....drawn by my 3 year old granddaughter.  She was very serious about her drawing and used me as her model (I was sitting at the table with her).  And no, I'm not that round.  LOL  I think that's pretty good for a three year old!  Her portrait of her dad I think was even better. 

I nanny two of my grandchildren and there are days that I wouldn't trade this job for anything and yes, they out number the days when I could just pull my hair out.  It's hard at times because I'm not as young as I used to be and overdo it often (like playing baseball with my grandson or give my granddaughter piggy-back rides) but when I see my little granddaughter take such joy in "drawing grandma" it's all worth it.  My grandson beat me at the card game Hand and Foot.  I was distracted of course while posing for my portrait so we have a rematch tomorrow.

I have another grandson in town and we get to see him every couple weeks when he does a sleep-over with grandma and grandpa.  We have fun together. We've been close since his birth and it's priceless when he comes bounding thru the door and running to give me a hug. 

There is an old Welsh Proverb that says: "Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild."  Its hard to explain that to someone who is not a grandparent but to me it's like the years of training up your own child in love to have it perfected when you have a grandchild.  My children will be terrific grandparents and it would be awesome to be able to live long enough to see one of them become a grandparent.