Thursday, March 31, 2011

Quick Glass Marble Magnet Craft


Flat Glass Marble Magnet
   
List of Supplies: Old Magazine, Scissors, Pencil,
Flat Glass Marbles, Circle Magnets, Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

 1. Find an image that fits inside the flat marble.

2. Circle around it with the pencil.


Circled Image

3. Cut around the circle.

4. Add a pea size bead of hot glue (or other clear drying glue) to the
back of the flat marble.

5. Center  the image in the marble, and press down firmly.
6. Trim any excess paper from the edges.
7. Flip the glass marble over,  and add a pea size
bead of glue to the back of the paper image to it.
  
8. Place it over the magnet and press down.
  
9. All Done
  
Here are a few baseball themed marble magnets that I created for Royce.
I hope you all enjoy making some of your own too.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Read Books, Give Books!


I spotted this site on the Money Saving Mom blog today called We Give Books, so I checked into it. I found it  worth sharing with all of you. This is a site which allows you to go online and pick a campaign,  read children's book (Gannon and Giovonnie both liked this) and then the site gives a book to the campain in  which you chose. There are a veritiy of children's books like Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, Corduroy Lost and Found by Don Freeman, Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse by Judy Schachner, The Spy-Catcher Gang by John Kelly and many more.

So why not enjoy some FREE books online with your children, and help out a good cause too? Go check out We Give Books too and get started. :)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Fundraiser for Austin and Giveaways at Crystal's Craft Spot

Head on over to Crystal's Craft Spot Blog to enter in a fundraiser/giveaway and learn more about how you can help this little boy and his family.








UPDATE: The Winner's of the giveaway fundraiser for Austin have been announced on Crystal's Craft Spot. Thanks to all who participated.

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Couple of Fun Freebies

Seeds for your garden...


For you Paper Crafters....
50 sheets of origami paper in 3 different sizes.
http://everythinginpapercrafting.com/paper_promotion.html

A Trail of Ink ~ Book Review

About the Book:

An excellent medieval whodunit by the author of The Unquiet Bones and A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel.

Some valuable books have been stolen from Master John Wyclif, the well-known scholar and Bible translator. He calls upon his friend and former pupil, Hugh de Singleton, to investigate. Hugh's investigation leads him to Oxford where he again encounters Kate, the only woman who has tempted him to leave bachelor life behind, but Kate has another serious suitor. As Hugh's pursuit of Kate becomes more successful, mysterious accidents begin to occur. Are these accidents tied to the missing books, or to his pursuit of Kate?


One of the stolen books turns up alongside the drowned body of a poor Oxford scholar. Another accident? Hugh certainly doesn’t t think so, but it will take all of his surgeon s skills to prove.


So begins another delightful and intriguing tale from the life of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon in the medieval village of Bampton. Masterfully researched by medieval scholar Mel Starr, the setting of the novel can be visited and recognized in modern-day England. Enjoy more of Hugh s dry wit, romantic interests, evolving faith, and dogged determination as he pursues his third case as bailiff of Bampton.


My Thoughts:


This was a change a pace for me, what a fun historical fiction story of murder and mystery with a touch of romance. I usually don’t like to read books out of order of what they were written, as this book was the third chronicle of the Hugh de Singleton series, by Mel Starr. I thought that I might feel completely lost, but I didn’t feel lost at all, and I totally enjoyed how the story played out. Now I really want to read the other two books, The Unquiet Bones, and A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel. I also liked that Mel included a map and a glossary of terms in the front of the book, of word that were used within the story that are not normally used today. This was an enjoyable quick read that I would suggest to many; I really think this is a book that guys and girls alike. Overall this book has very clean language, and although a murder mystery it is not gruesome at all, so it would even be a good book for tweens on up.


Want to buy it yourself you can get it here from Amazon.com.
 Want to read what others are saying about the book, check out the blog tour here.
 About the Author:


Mel Starr was born and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating with a MA in history from Western Michigan University in 1970, he taught history in Michigan public schools for thirty-nine years, thirty-five of those in Portage, MI, where he retired in 2003 as chairman of the social studies department of Portage Northern High School. Mel and his wife, Susan, have two daughters and seven grandchildren. http://www.melstarr.org/


A Contest to Enter:


Kregel Publishers is graciously donating a $50 Amazon.com gift card for the Litfuse Blog Tour Contest! Woo-hoo (thanks Kregel!) All you have to do to enter is either tweet (see TWEET THIS below) or share the book on Facebook using this link: http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Ink-Chronicle-Singleton-Surgeon/dp/1854249746/ref=sprightly-20


TWEET THIS: A Trail of Ink by Mel Star. An excellent medieval whodunit. RT for a chance to win a $50 GC to @amazon! http://ow.ly/45c2k #litfuse

(and be sure to use the hashtag #litfuse to be entered into Amazon.com gift certificate drawing and no need to email that you tweeted - we'll be able to track it via the hashtag.)

FACEBOOK THIS: A Trail of Ink by Mel Star. An excellent medieval whodunit. Share on your wall for a chance to win a $50 GC to @amazon! http://ow.ly/45c2k

(email info@litfusegroup.com to let us know you 'shared', and add your link.)


Join the Flock! LitFuse Publicity Group blogger

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity group’s blog for books program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Thinking of a Playful Spring

With spring just around the corner I started thinking of going out doors more, and taking the boy to the park, or just going outback at home to play. We have a nice backyard area that the boys can play in, which extends into the next-door neighbor’s yard where there are some nice backyard swing sets that my children have enjoy playing on since we moved here. 

This is a photo of the neighbors  play yard. About a yard behind
the logs is where our yard meets the neighbors yard.
The first day we moved in the neighbor lady (who ran an in-home daycare) made a point to come over and invite the children to come play whenever they would like. We took her up on the offer, and we would often enjoy hanging out in the backyard playing in the neighbors play yard, but due to unfortunate circumstances, our neighbor gave up the daycare, and sold many pieces to her outdoor equipment before she moved across town last fall. We were lucky enough to be able to buy a couple of the outdoor activity cubes (these are great for Gannon, but are really to small for Royce and Giovonnie)

but I would really like to get a swing set for the boys too, now that we won’t be venturing over to the neighbors to play. It would nice to get something that all my boys can enjoy, and I’ve seen a couple of nice ones over at CSNStores that are a bit more budget friendly and have free shipping.
Gorilla Playsets - 01-0002 - Congo Free Standing Swing SetSwing Town - MA3101 - Phoenix Swing Set

I'm thinking either just the swing set, or maybe it would be better to get one with a little fort attached. What do you think? Is the little bit extra money for the fort and climber worth the cost?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

And the Winner for the book giveaway is.....


The WINNER of the book The Life Ready Woman by Shaunti Feldhahn and Robert Lewis is from
commet number 10, Taleah!

 

This is what Taleah had to say...


Taleah congradulations on winning this book! I will be contacting you soon.

Also, I'd like to thank all of you who entered and were willing to share your gifts/talents with us, and how you used them. For those of you who did not win, but would still like the chance at winning the book The Life Ready Women, you may want to checkout the others blogs would were part of this blog tour.

Don't forget that there is also another contest going on where you could have the chance win The Weekend To Remember Get-Away Giveaway just visit the link to findout more about it.




Tuesday, March 1, 2011

We Had a Flipp'n Good Time!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GIOVONNIE!

Giovonnie's birthday was yesterday (Feb. 28th), and we had a great time. I think it was  extra special for him because they are also doing a fun week at school to celebrate Dr. Seuss, and it was inside out/ backwards day (just to explain the clothing). When he came home from school he said he had a great day, and he even had extra treats to bring home. He watched as I created little penguins with premade fondant that I rolled and shaped into the little guys then piped on white frosting. ( The fondant was a small premade package by Wilton that I picked up at our local Wal-Mart.) Once I was finished I asked Giovonnie if he'd like to put his penguins in there habitat; so he placed them all where he thought they should go. Then laughed at them swimming and diving into the water.
Giovonnie's Birthday Cake, with fondant penguins!
Thanks for the fun idea from Fowl Single File.

After we finished decorating the cake, Giovonnie and I started preparing his birthday dinner of Chili, and cinnamon rolls. I love that he enjoys cooking and baking because it gives us some one-on-one time. Once dad came home from work it was dinner time (supper time, to some of you). When we all finished eating we said we were to full for cake, so Giovonnie wanted to go play computer games with Dad (Joe) and Royce, but the rest of us chanted, "Presents, Presents, Presents...until Giovonnie said, "Ok, I'll open my presents."


Giovonnie opened his gifts and got a couple of  How to Train You Dragon toys,

so he had to try one out. (Neat little science experiment).

I also had to give him that Dragon Puppet that I got from Swag Bucks and Amazon.Com.
I meant to give it to him at Christmas, but with the abundance of other gifts
 I decided to hold it for his Birthday.



I'm glad I did because he loved it.
 After Presents Giovonnie, Royce and Joe went off to play a computer game.
 (Joe has a  mini-network set up.) Then before bed time it was cake and ice cream time.

Singing Happy Birthday




....and relight again,

blowing out the candle for the 4th time, or 5th, or 8th. ; )


Ice Cream and Cake.



A little penguin birthday dance.



Happy Birthday, Giovonnie. I hope all your
birthday wishes come true.



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