The Importance of Reading

I think as moms we all know the importance of reading to our children. I more wanted to talk about what a difference it has made in my toddler’s life.

My daughter is 22 months old. Up until a few months ago my daughter’s vocabulary was not improving much. She seemed to be stuck with the same ten words no matter how hard I tried to teach her new words. I was constantly pointing things out and telling her what they were. I wasn’t concerned about her intellect so much because I could tell she was really smart. But I was concerned that her vocab wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Then around that time she started developing an interest in books. In our house she has a shelf of all her books that she can reach. She is always pulling down 5 books at a time, bringing them for us to read. Ever since then her vocab has exploded. She can string sentences together and we can even have little conversations. Every new word she learns she has to repeat and soon uses it with her everyday talking.

I know that reading is the big reason for all of this. I love that she likes to read. Growing up I would literally devour books in one night. I hope that Mackenzie keeps her love of reading throughout her life.

Make Your Own Magnetic Dolls

Growing up I loved playing with paper dolls. I could spend endless hours dressing up a paper doll until the doll was nothing more than shredded tissue paper. Nowadays I’ve seen an updated version, magnetic dolls, on shelves. I absolutely love the concept, but they can be so expensive! So I decided to make my own for next to nothing! So here I am to shed light on how to make your own magnetic dolls!

Supplies Needed:

• A tin to hold the dolls…I used one that had old colored pencils in it, but really you could use anything, even Christmas cookie tins!
• Sheet magnets
• Mod Podge
• Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
• Stencil for doll and clothes. You can get one here that I drew (it’s not perfect but my daughter likes it) or you could draw your own! The stencil is included below.
• Paper to cover tin

Step 1: First, start off by printing off your paper doll and clothes stencils or create your own. Now, you can have your daughter color them herself or you can do it. Since I knew that my daughter would just put a few lines of color on them and be done, I decided to color them myself. Cut out.

Step 2: After you’ve cut out the doll and clothes, peel off the backing of a sheet of magnet and place the various pieces on the magnet, trying to utilize as much space as possible. Next, cover the magnet and pieces with mod podge. This will seal the dolls nicely and make them more  durable for the future. Set aside to dry.

Step 3: Now turn to your tin. Figure out which parts you want to cover with paper and decorate. If you have a flat one like mine then you can worry about the front of back and be done, but if you have a deeper one you may want to also cover the sides. Trace your tin on the paper and cut out. Mod Podge bottom and top of paper to the tin. Let dry.

Step 4: After the tin has dried, you may want to add some embellishments, like a name or such. I love to embellish so here’s mine:

Step 5: Cut out your magnetic pieces. Add them to the inside of your tin and have fun spending endless hours with your your daughter’s magnetic doll!

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Friday Blog Hops

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Making the Transition into a Big Girl Bed

So we’ve all been there. You put your toddler to be in their crib and not even 5 minutes later you hear a thunk and a mysterious sound like toys being played with. Yep, you’re toddler has learned to climb out of their crib. For my little munchkin I knew it was only a matter of time. She’s always been adventurous. She loves to climb and to be honest I was a little surprised that it took her so long to figure it out. So at about 21 months we decided to make the transition to a “big girl” bed. We tried a few nights and naps more of her crib and it was just not working out. So I took the side of her crib, put the support bar in, and set off on what I knew would be an adventure.

We had never really had a definite routine for either naps or bedtime. We actually had been still giving her bottles for naptime (don’t remind me). So with the change we decided a set routine would be essential. I also took this as the opportunity to take away bottles (I don’t really like kids needing something to get to sleep once they reach toddlerhood). And what do you know! It worked! My toddler generally sleeps like a champ! Obviously we occasionally have hang ups but I’ll talk about those in a minute.

So here’s our routine. Before both naptime and bedtime we have clean up time. It drives me crazy having toys strewn everywhere and I want my daughter to learn to pick up after herself so we always clean up. Then for naptime we turn off the lights, climb into bed, read a book, sing a couple songs, and we’re done. For bedtime after we clean we brush our teeth, say family prayer, and then continue with the routine. She’s done beautifully and I’m so proud.

Now what about those hang ups? Ok so there are times when my toddler decides the middle of the night would be a perfect time to wake up and go out and have breakfast. We have found her wandering around the house at 2 in the morning. Not fun. Then there was the one time five times she almost caught Santa in the act on Christmas Eve. So what did we do? Well we had been meaning to buy doorknob covers since she is getting tall enough to open doors (stop growing dangit!), so we went out and bought a 3 pack. Two we used on the bedrooms we didn’t want her and and the third….well we put it on the inside of her room. You may think it’s cruel and unusual punishment but it’s actually worked great. In the middle of the night when she tries to open her door and can’t she just goes back to bed. Now I mean if she really needs us (nightmare, for instance) she just screams and we go in. No big deal.

So how did you make the transition? What tricks do you have for parents trying to make the switch?

Primrose Family Dance Off Party

My daughter loves to dance. I mean, seriously. Put on some music and she’s off. And though I am, in fact, a horrible dancer, the hubs and I will boogie down with her. So needless to say I was pretty stoked when I was selected to host a Primrose Family Dance Off Party.

What is this Dance Party you speak of? Well, basically, Primrose Schools want to encourage families to have healthy eating habits and physical fitness by having fun together. Families can have their own dance parties and record 30 seconds of their dancing. They can then upload the video here and be entered for a chance to win up to $5000 for their family and $30000 to be donated to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. So really it’s a win-win for everyone!

I received a party kit in the mail complete with the essentials:

• 2 t-shirts (one for the munchkin and one for my niece)
• $25 gift card to buy healthy snacks for the party
• Flip video camera to record our dance video
• 2 pencils
• A dance off sticker book
• Kids Dance Party CD with some jammin tunes

We decided to hold our party this past Sunday evening because it was our turn to host family dinner. We live close to extended family and since some of that extended family is not, erm, in the best shape, we wanted to use this party as a little motivation to show that you can have fun while getting healthy.

We started off the night with a veggie tray (really, who doesn’t love a good veggie tray?) and some kiwis, strawberries, bananas, and grapes. I also provided some low-fat vanilla yogurt for dipping the fruit in. I wanted to get a picture but my family started digging in before I even finished putting the trays together! I’d say they liked their healthy snacks.

Here are the girls with their t-shirts ready to boogie:

After dinner it was time to dance. Now I have to be perfectly honest. My family was not excited to do this. When I told them we were going to be videoing us dancing and having a dance party I received less than enthusiastic responses. I was a little disappointed to say the least. But, as soon as I put on the music, it was like they couldn’t help it. The music was all so fun and upbeat that before we knew it everyone was up and dancing around. We ended up filming a lot more than 30 seconds. By the end of the night we were all laughing and having the time of ours lives.

I’m so glad we got the chance to do this! My mom told me the next day that she was sore from dancing! It was great because it showed that we were having fun and working out. It actually kind of made me want to take a dance and zumba class or something.

Guess what! Your family can enter the Dance Off contest too! Just go here for more details. Or, if you’d rather just support our fabulous family you can go to the site and vote for us here! Individuals can vote up to 5 times daily. Voting ends March 19.

So put on your dancing shoes and get to it!

I’d like to thank the Academy…

Who doesn’t love awards? I know I do. I’m pretty sure I still have the only 2 trophies I’ve won in my life sitting around my house somewhere (and by somewhere I mean the shelf in my game room). Anyway, the fabulous blog I’m Sew Cheap has given me this fabulous award. And here are the rules:

1. You have to thank the person who awarded you & link them back in your post and let them know you "accept" the award
2. Tell everyone 7 random facts about yourself
3. Pass the award to 15 new found bloggers (but I’m only going to do 7…is that totally awful of me?..I have a sick baby to tend to!)
4. Contact each blogger and let them know you have passed this award onto them

So….without further ado, here are 7 facts about me:

1. I hate cheese. I mean despise it. It has nothing to do with the fact that it’s actually mold. I think the smell and taste are similar to vomit. I only eat it on pizza.

2. I was an extra in the Disney film Read It and Weep.

3. I once spent the day with Mandy Moore as her talent escort (and yes she is really as nice as she seems)

4. I used to be a firefighter.

5. My biggest pet peeve is when people chew with their mouth open.

6. Random strangers have approached my husband to tell him he looks like Keanu Reeves (we once even had a creepy guy follow us in the airport).

7. I could eat sushi everyday of my life.

Ok then, now it’s time to hand out those awards! I feel like I should be wearing a fabulous dress and saying something cheesy with a celebrity.

1. Melissa’s Bargain Blog
2. Emergency Preparedness: So Here’s to You Martha
3. Freebies 4 Moms
4. Stuff and Nonsense
5. Veronica’s Creative Spot
6. Confessions of a Crafty Housewife
7. Crazy Simple Life

Congrats ladies!

Car Mats

Ok, do you remember a few months ago (and when I say a few I mean like 6) when I made that fabulous car mat for my friend’s son? Well I loved it so much that I wanted to try it again! So for Christmas this past December I decided to make one for my nephew. I know this isn’t a true tutorial, but if you’d like the tutorial you can go here. This is more an add-on to the tutorial so you can have more ideas for making one of your own!

So you can see I added a couple things, like a concert hall (his dad is a musician), a little pond, and a soccer field (the family sport). I’m actually really proud of it and from what I hear my nephew loves it! Hurray!

Well then I decided to make a girl version. My niece’s birthday was a couple weeks ago and I knew she’d love having a little town for her dolls and such. So I followed the same basic concept and just used “girl” colors instead. And here’s the result:

(sorry for the quality of picture…I took it with my phone just before wrapping it..)

This one is actually a little longer than the boys’. I think I like the size of the boys’ better but I still like this one! My niece was so excited when she opened it! If any of you ever decide to make please let me know! I would love to see what kind of ideas you come up with!

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Friday Blog Hops

Welcome to My Decoupaged Life! Formerly known as Everyday Mom. Browse around! If yo choose to follow (and I hope you will!) leave a comment below with your domain and I will follow back! You can also find My Decoupaged Life on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @decoupagedlife!

Perfectly Practical in Every Way

So a couple weekends ago my church held this awesome conference for women. They had like five different classes. The theme was “Perfectly Practical in Every Way”. Hello Mary Poppins! Anyway, all of the classes focused on various practical skills and knowledge. We could choose two to attend. I chose “Couponing 101” and “Upcycling and Repurposing”. The others that they offered were a class on starting your food storage (something I could also use help on), avoiding the funeral trap (funeral home directors prey on your emotions so you’ll spend tons of money), and preparing a preparedness binder.

The first, Couponing, I have to admit is something I really don’t know much about. I mean it seems simple enough, yet I’ve never been able to quite get the hang of it. But our teacher was wonderful and she has a blog of her own that does a lot of the work for you! You can find it here. This week I even tried out a few things and got free Kraft cheese and salsa for $.92. Hurray!

I actually happen to love Upcycling and Repurposing, but I went to class to get some new ideas. Plus since I’m new (ish) to the area I was able to learn where all the great thrift stores are in the area. Plus they had even more websites and blogs with tons of inspiration (turn a small entertainment center into a play kitchen!). Unfortunately I’m not in town and I left the list at home! Sorry! Maybe I’ll do a follow up post.

Being ‘practical’ in these days is, well, practical. I’ve been trying to be more practical in life and do things myself. I’m finding ways to stretch my dollar and save money. Recently I started making my own bread (don’t worry, I’ll do an entire post on that). I’ve done some research on making my own laundry detergent. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to or not. If you have advice on that I would love to hear!

So in what ways are you being more practical?

Hard Times

Lately I've been feeling like I am more than ready for 2011 to be over. Do you know the feeling? It seems likes the hits just keep on coming and I can never quite get a handle on everything. I’ve even found myself missing living in my ghetto apartment! Most of the problems (but not all) have arisen out of money woes. We’ve all been there. So what do you do? I have a post coming up about being practical. But more than being practical, how do you save money? As you read from my Budget post, I’m a already a bit of a tightwad.

So maybe the better question is: how do you earn extra income? Obviously this is more a question for those of you who are SAHMs. But I really want to know. Now it can be either through your blog/twitter/etc. or just in general. I actually do earn a little extra income by watching my niece but we try not to touch it because we would really like to go to Disneyworld this summer after my brother’s wedding (and my parents have informed me we’re going no matter what).

I have considered opening an Etsy store. Based on some of the craft tutorials I’ve posted, what are the items people are most likely to buy on Etsy? And for those of you who do have an Etsy store, do you make a nice little extra chunk of change or is it not worth it?

I would love everyone’s feedback! Thanks!

P.S. My life in general is good. My daughter is fabulous and I have a blissful marriage. But I’m want to focus on how I can “make my life prettier” by earning and saving money. :)

Felt Hair Flowers

So there are tons of felt hair flowers out there in the blogging world. I wanted to make a few (let’s face it…felt is so cheap!) but I never really saw one that I fell in love with. When I get visions in my head of what I want to make, they are pretty specific. My husband gets annoyed with me when we go shopping because I already have my mind set on things. At any rate, I decided to just design my own….and I love how they turned out! So here’s my super easy tutorial:

Supplies Needed:

• Felt (I chose charcoal…I’ve been buying a lot of grey lately)
• Hair clips (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
• Ribbed ribbon
• hot glue
• embellishment for middle (I chose pearls)
• Stencil (which I will provide later in the tutorial because I’m awesome like that)

Step 1: Print out this stencil:

Make sure that before you print it out you adjust so it’s the size you want. My flowers are about 3-3 1/2” across. Print and cut out. Trace on your felt (if you use 9x12 pieces you can get 4 full flowers out of one sheet). Cut out.

Step 2: Layer your pieces on top of each other. I really liked the look of turning them a degree so the petals fill in spaces (does that make sense? Just look at the picture) Put a dot of hot glue between each layer in the middle. While still hot, press all three pieces together in the middle. This will give the flower a bit more volume. Let cool.

Step 3: Carefully glue the ribbon around your hair clip. Attach it to the underside of your flower.

Step 4: Glue your embellishment to the center of the petals. Put in your hair and look fabulous!

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Friday Blog Hops

Welcome to My Decoupaged Life! Formerly known as Everyday Mom. Browse around! If yo choose to follow (and I hope you will!) leave a comment below with your domain and I will follow back!

Independent Playtime

I am of the firm belief that children need playtime on their own. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing with my daughter, but the times I see her imagination most at work is when she is playing with her toys on her own or with her cousin.Because they don’t have me there to dictate how things go or how toys are played with they have to put their minds to work and do things for themselves. I love watching the games they come up with. My daughter is very much into pretend play and I know a lot of it stems from her time on her own with her toys. So each day, I have time set aside where they play on their own and I do my thing, whether it be cleaning, doing the laundry, or finishing up a project leftover from nap or bed time. I get annoyed with parents who feel they have to be constantly with their children at all times. I think by letting my daughter play on her own she is also learning valuable autonomy and independence skills to use later in life.

New Look New Name!

As you can see I have a new name and look! (though I’m sure you figured out that yesterday when your day was ruined because you couldn’t check my blog ) Anyway, a few weeks ago I went to this fabulous blog workshop with my new friend Stacey over at Tree, Root, and Twig. Though most of the workshop was for beginners I was able to pick her brain a bit about making my blog the best. She gave me some absolutely fabulous ideas, including changing the name. I had been thinking of that for awhile so here we are! I'm having some trouble getting the new domain to work so until that point the address will remain the same. If you’d like to know more about the name and philosophy behind it check out the “about me" on the side.

Also new is that I have created a Twitter account (welcome to the 21st century right?) and a facebook fan page. So please follow me @decoupagedlife and like “My Decoupaged Life” on facebook! I may have some exclusives on there so make sure you follow!

Now then, one last thing…I want your feedback. Are there any craft tutorials you want to read? What sort of parenting, wife, mom, etc. issues are you facing? What should we discuss? Let me know!