Pencil pillar for a favorite teacher

 For today, I had some time to make a pencil pillar for my co-worker because she had my 5 year old in her class for about a year.  And I thought this project was the perfect teacher "Thank you".  

What you would need for this project is a 2 pack of pencils, a clear pillar and a bunch of glue sticks for your glue gun.  But before you do this project, make sure that the glass is cleaned off there are no smudges while putting the pencils on.

 The next step is to put the pencils into place.  Learning the hard way, I decide to burn my fingers just a little bit. What I did to make sure not to burn the fingers was to put glue along the side of the pencil that was already glued to the pillar.  Of course I had help with my 11 year old, so Samantha insisted on gluing the remaining pencils.  You want to make sure that all the pencils are touching each other.  If not you may see little tooth pick gaps.  But no one is pickier than me when it comes to making your own crafts.

   Then there you have it.  38 pencils that are glued by me and my little helper. 3 items for 3 dollars from the dollar store.  For the inside of the pillar, you may  use any filler you may like.  It could be glass stones, pen flowers or any thing that a teacher, friend or neighbor may use.  The choice is yours when it comes to crafting.  There is no right or wrong way, just "Your way".

Till next time and be creative.

~Nicole~

Last stretch of the summer week.

Hi everyone,

I know I have not been on for a couple of weeks.  It's been a little hectic with school shopping for the new school year, to capturing my 6 1/2 month old trying hard to crawl and hanging with my little 5 year olds at work before they head off to the "big kid school".  

Since this past weekend the family went school supply shopping for 3 out of the 4 kids.  Target is the best when it comes to school supplies.   12 pack of Crayola crayons was .50 cents, 2 pack of glue sticks was .99 ( I believe)  I could go on and on.  The total was about 37 dollars and rough change for little over a dozen items.  I am sure Walmart has good deals and I will not complain, but it's too far from our house.

This post I really don't have any pictures this time, but for the end of the week to early next week I am going to do a couple of posts.  I am deciding on what I may write and share about since there are a few ideas still in my head and I just have to transfer it and share.  It's from up cycling soup cans to cleaners that you can use around the house.  

If you have any suggestions that you would like to share feel free to let me know, I am up for any challenge.  


Well I must close for now and I apologize for keeping it short and sweet.  In the next post(s)  I will let my creativity shine.  You never know when I may give out a free give away gift just by visiting and supporting my blog..

Have a great week.

~Nicole~

Just another week.

Well another week has come and gone, and we say "Hello" to August.  I often ask myself each and every summer," where does the time actually go"? 

I admit that I have a blast spending time with my kids as well as my husband, but capturing each moment and sharing these precious moments with close friends and family, that's what is important to me.  

This week, my work holds an annual VBS bible school with anyone that would like to come and participate.  We do games, snack, a story about the theme for the week/year.  This year we taught the kids that reading the bible, friends and family as well as praying to GOD helps everyone stand strong. It is offered to children from pre- school to grade 5.  Samantha is entering the 6th grade in September and she had the privilege to help me out with my little group.  

 Abby had a wonderful time playing and trying out a Popsicle.  Since she is at that wonderful age at 5 1/2 months she is chewing on everything that she puts into her mouth.  When she was done eating the Popsicle,  she got mad at my co worker because Abby wanted more.  But at least she loves to have them,  especially when her gums feel a little sore.  

This weekend our family is driving down to Mankato to the Vikings training camp and do a little swimming, bowling, maybe some autograph signing but will see what happens.  I am getting a few things together for my next blog project.  But I have to made up my mind on what to show.  Maybe 2 blogs in one.  Decisions, decisions.  

Wisconsin Dells trip

 

This past week the family went to Wisconsin Dells just for a get away for 4 days 5 nights.  The first hotel that we stayed at was Chula Vista.  

From our house to the hotel took about 3 hours and 22 minutes to get there.  I must admit that Abby did a great job on her fist road trip, even at 5 1/2 months.   Chula Vista reminds me of the outdoors.  It has foxes,deer, geese and antelope among with other wild life you may find.  

The wave pool was a lite ways down from he indoor watermark along with the outdoor and beach setting.  The kids loved the wave pool except for Abby.  But I will give her some time to get use to it.  Over all our stay was great for the first 2 1/2 days.  

Our next day stay was at Kalahari.  The resort was something you would want to stay a day or two.  The view from out room was ok,  but the sites that we saw was nice .  When you walk into the lobby,  there was 2 baby tigers that were about 3 to 4 months old and you got to take pictures with them if you wanted to.  Along with the tigers was a baby kangaroo that you could get a photo with also.  

There was also a indoor theme park that was open to the public as well as the guests staying at the resort.  From riding on a 8 story Ferris wheel to bowling on the second floor.  Samantha,Zack and Emma had a blast bowling and the scores to all 3 games were a little close.  But most of all the 3 older kids loved the go carts. 

The last 2 nights we stayed at was the Wilderness resort.  And I must admit the resort is pretty huge.  There are about 4 indoor and 2 outdoor water parks plus mini golf and laser tag.  All 6 of us has our work out since we did all the water parks and took a break to rest out of the water for a few with Abby.  Yes it is the Dells is known to be the water park capital of the world.  Everyone had a lot of fun playing and enjoying the vacation.  Thursday night we took time to go to downtown Dells to shop for sweatshirts for the older kids.  

But being home and looking forward to another week of work is what I am looking forward to.  

~Nicole

4th o July fun

Celebrating the 4th of July is one of the best holidays where families and friends get together for BBQ's, camping, Bon fires 

at night while watching fireworks, or even watching your kids laugh and play around win relatives or their friends from school.  

This year, the husband and I invited Zack's good friend form school along with his parents and younger sister for dinner and some neighborhood fireworks.  

We set off sparklers for he kids to do.

The 5 kids had the best time running around with sparklers acting like it was a flag waving behind them.  Us adults just had a friendly conversation about the upcoming school year along with catching up on small things.  Since Abby was a little small to hold a sparkler much less need her little eyes open till the beginning of the fire work show, she didn't mind getting spoiled by a little baby fix by Roseanne.  

Emma and Ella made the most if it by holding water balloons and pretending it as "babies".  These two girls are soo fun to watch and while I watched them play,  it made me think of the imagination I had at that age.  

To top it off the night with an awesome light show care of my neighbors across the street.  Us adults were planning on going to the local park to watch fireworks,  but caught up with our children's laughter and fireworks,  not to mention our biting friends, he mosquitoes.  

I am looking forward to having more play dates and adult get together a with our friends, the Brown family.  

Until next time

~Nicole

Upcycling a glass votive

I am going to admit that I am a junkie when it comes to Pinterest.  Who does not love going onto the site and just look around to see what trouble we can come up with.  It can be organizing the home to finding things to do with the kids during the long summer months. I have done this little glass votive that I cleaned out and decorated for my oldest daughter.  Here is what I did: 

The first thing I did was to put the candle in a pot of water and let the candle melt.  It took about 10 minutes or so but it went by quickly.

Then when the candle is all out of the votive, wash it out with mild soap and water.  Of course I don't have a picture for the second step but you have the idea.  

What you can do is use Mod Podge or go the effective way,  use one part or white glue and one part water.  Use any type of glitter that you may have at home or just stick to the color theme.  The possibilities are endless.  

Make sure you use a foam brush when applying the Mod Podge.  Work quickly because it dries fast.  One you coat the votive you are ready to use the glitter.

Since the glitter tube is small.  I just dumped the whole thing in a d tilted the votive so all the glitter stayed.  With the remaining glitter I just put it back in the container.  

And here is the finished project.  It took less than 5 minutes and I am planning on doing more of these as gifts and for around the house.  

Hope to give you more tutorials soon.  Have a good week.  

~Nicole

Summertime. 😃

I do hope that many of you are having a great summer as well as myself and my family.  Even though I have not been blogging in a few weeks,  things have been a little busy for me as well as my family.  Working at a child care center teaching 5 year olds their basic letters and numbers as well as following directions has keeping me on my feet at all times, not to mention my 4 children.     Samantha is officially in middle school,  Zack is in 5th and Emma is going into kindergarten.     The only child that is not leaving yet is Abby.  Here is a couple things I have done at work:  

        This was a little experiment at work that I did.  It was just about 4 drops of green food coloring and less than 1/4 cup of bubbles.  I gave each child a straw to blow into and TONS of bubbles covering the bowl.  

               As you can see my daughterer Emma having a lot of fun making a lot during the 20 minutes of blowing.  

                Last but not least Emma and her friend Amira with bubble "beards".  They called them that and thought it was funny because the bubbles would pop on their skin.              My husband is looking into a different position at his work and I sure do hope he applies since he has many years of experience as a manager.  I am crossing my fingers each day and maybe he may get the job.  Who knows.  My next blog I will show all you what I have done upcycling glass for your home or a gift for a teacher/co worker.  Till next time, my friends.          ~Nicole