Back in the Saddle Again

After a short break and many craft shows here I am again! Cannot wait to post about the new fabulous designs that are out there, new launches and of course my new designs that I have been working on!

Pretend Play

It's that time of the year again when little ones are in school either full or part time. The weather is too cold to go out and play on the swing set hidden by the snow.

How about a little pretend play using what you already have at home. The Children's Museum is always filled with fun activities that your little ones are screaming not to be torn from and wish that they had at home.

Let's get creative. We have an area where we created a grocery store. Just set up some extra shelves that we had sitting around. A coffee table or other tables will works just as well.

If you have a cash register that is great! If not maybe a pouch or apron with pockets. How about that old art smock. If you are creative you can sew an apron for little ones.

We raided the pantry and found boxes, containers and canisters to use. First we washed them out and let them thoroughly dry. Then we taped the boxes shut and used a hot glue gun to glue the lids on the containers and canisters.

Oatmeal boxes, peanut containers, old syrup bottles, pop bottles, empty milk jugs you get the idea!

We then placed them on our empty shelves in our pretend grocery store area. Used the plastic food we had from our play kitchen set and finally our store was stocked. We could not forget that our ladies or gents would need a place to store their play money and coupons so we used old purses and wallets that should have been donated a long time ago. We used some empty baskets as our shopping baskets.

We used brown paper bags that we save after our weekly shopping trips or gift bags from gifts.


We found great templates for pretend money at :

http://www.moneyinstructor.com/docs/pdf/bills_20.pdf

We also found great templates for coupons at:

http://couponing.about.com/od/groceryzone/ss/teach1_1grp_3.htm

We printed the money and coupons and then cut them individually. Pefect size for little hands. We were now ready for our grand opening!

Halloween Right Around the Corner

As we are preparing for our annual Halloween Party I am loving all of the beautiful designs out there again! Here are a few of our favorites. Each year we create a haunted trail in our yard and set up games and costume contests for the kids. What a blast! Cannot wait for another bigger and better party this year!

4 Things Every Mom Must Do

Create a budget

Get Life Insurance

Update Beneficiaries

Have a will or living trust

Going Euro with Style

I am absolutely loving the Euro designs out there this year. So many wonderful colors and unique designs make them a favorite.

This Bear dress by Maddie*Kate is absolutely darling...


There are so many more designs that are simply stunning. Search Boutique Euro on Ebay and Etsy to find more wonderfully designed outfits.

We love the bright colors so much we had to design a necklace to go with many of the designs out there. You can find this necklace on Etsy by Spoiled-Rotten-Designz

Cheerful Givers

In this day and age with so many jobs being lost and it being hard in many areas to find a new line of work with the economy kids are harmed as well. I found a great article that spoke of a wonderful group called Cheerful Givers. They provide toy filled birthday gift bags to food shelves and shelters so that parents living in poverty can give their child a gift.

What a wonderful organization. Every child deserves something special for their birthday!