Not just Pinning!!

I was introduced to an awesome website by my friend Shauna.  It is called Pinterest (pinterest.com) and it is a great time waster, and a place that you can find so many amazing ideas on literally anything your little heart desires.  It is an online pin board, where all you need to do is look around, see an idea you like and repin it into your own boards.  Done, simple, online collection of fabulous ideas, recipes, pictures, whatever, in one place so no more papers lying around the house (this makes Chad happy).  I can spend hours on there, but limit myself, and I can't go on right before bed because then I lie awake thinking of all the fun things I can do. (Mom, you would like this website I think). 

I have been "pinning" for a while, tons of great stuff, however I realized that I have never attempted any of these things. So recently I made it my goal to start to create some of the stuff I have been pinning.  I loved crafty things when I was young and just haven't really done much in the last while.  While I have yet to make a big dent in tackling my pins, I have started and it is fun.  Here are a few pictures of things I have made. 

I would love to give credit to the original pinners, the people who I stole these ideas from, but I don't know how to make a link (which is kind of sad considering all the technology I used teaching and how much I use it everyday).  You can go to pinterest.com/saramsay and look on my boards to find the originals and I will work on how to add links to the original pins and add them in if I figure out how. 

The first one...

This is Wil's "Magic Jar"

On pinterest, this was called lots of things, a mind jar, a calm down jar etc.  Wil decided it was a magic jar, because the sparkles magically help him feel better when he is sad, or upset.  When he is having a meltdown of some sort, he will ask for his magic jar, we shake it up and he sits and watches he sparkles float around and settle to the bottom and he smiles and says, "I feel better!"

To make this all you need is an empty clean jar (with a lid), some glitter glue, extra glitter, hot water and a few drops of food colouring.  Pour hot water into the jar, some glitter glue (some sights recommend 1 tbsp/ 1 cup water, but I had to play around with this to get the right "float"), some extra glitter and a few drops of food colouring to make the desired colour.  Put the lid on and shake vigorously!  Done.  Anytime someone needs a little calm down time, they can shake the jar and watch the sparkles swim and settle to the bottom.  

The second craft...

These were the boys first shoes.

I love this idea of putting the shoes into a shadow box frame as a way to display them.  I did have some trouble finding frames to fit.... most were not wide enough.  These are a little on the small side I think, so I am keeping my eyes open for bigger ones.  The bigger ones I did find were WAY too big for these itty bitty shoes!   Just mounted them onto cardstock with two sided sticky stuff (yes, that is the technical name for it), had some craft letter stickers and voila, finished and so cute!

The third craft...

This idea I liked so much I made one for each of my guys and then one for a friend's new baby boy too!

8x10 frames, card stock and alphabet sticky letters and an i, a heart and a u in red.  Of course the one on the webiste looks way more professional but i think the little imperfections in these ones make them cute and personal.  Wil loves his and Carson's and sings while pointing to the letters. 

That is all i have made so far, but I have some plans in the works and some great ideas to test out soon.  I am happy I found time to do any of them with two small boys, especially since one in particular still doesn't sleep through the night!!  I will keep you posted on new and exciting things!  In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the website if you haven't yet.