Indian Corn Made with Buttons

This was a fun craft project to make with Nathan.  I took a poster board and made some corn shapes, then brushed Mod Podge on the board.  We took tons of buttons (orange, yellow, red, gold, green and brown) and glued them to the board.  I bought some buttons at Walmart......

Then later that day, I posted on my facebook status about wishing I could find a big ol' jar of buttons.  I think I remember one of my grandmothers having a big jar of buttons when I was growing up.  I've been looking for something similar in thrift stores for a while now and have never been able to find them.  A lot of people responded, including an old friend from my childhood (we went to church together and youth group, etc....I love that I can reconnect with old friends on facebook and new ones too, of course).  At any rate, my friend offered me her box of buttons.  I was surprised when Amanda brought the buttons home after school.  The buttons were in a coffee can and it was almost filled to the top.  I was so thrilled and thankful to my generous friend.  I love all the buttons.....Thanks Kim  :-)

When they were dry, I cut the corn shapes out. 

At first, I thought I should glue the corn to another poster board.  I painted Nathan's hands brown and stamped them to the paper to make the husks.  We also used green prints.

  

 

I glued some straw to it for decoration.  But, I wasn't sure I liked the look of it.......

So.........

I cut them off the board and glued each one individually to some construction paper (orange, green and yellow).  I took some paper bags and cut them to look like husks and glued it all together.

I think I like them this way better

But either way, it looks great.....Button Indian Corn!

Paper Snow Globes

(check out my little apron hanging in the background...finally bought myself one, heehee)

Yesterday, we had our first snow flurries.  Nothing major, nothing stuck.  Nathan said "Look Mommy it's raining snow!!" LOL!  I love how their little minds work, don't you? In honor of our "first" snow of the season, we made paper snow globes. 

All you really need is some construction paper, glue, glitter glue and/or glitter and some scissors.  I took a sheet of black construction paper to use as a background.  Then cut out a stand with red construction paper.  I also cut out a big white circle to use as the globe.  We made a tree and a snowman to go inside the snow globe.  We traced the snowman and made eyes, mouth and buttons using glitter pens.  I cut a tree out of green construction paper and got out some sequins for Nathan to glue on the tree as ornaments.  Then I brushed some glue on the globe and Nathan sprinkled glitter on the globe. 

Came out great, didn't it? Nathan LOVES it!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Wendy Paul, the author of 101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes, posted on her facebook status a week or so ago that she was making Harvest Pumpkin Cupcakes.  I asked her for the recipe, because I live for pumpkin! She obliged and sent me the link to her recipe.  

These cupcakes were so yummylicious, I could inhale the whole platter full! In fact, before I even spread the cream cheese frosting (also a recipe of Wendy's), the kids were literally begging me to let them eat some.  Nathan helped me bake these and he must have looked at the clock when we started, because when I was done he said..."Mom that was fast, it only took 10 minutes".  First of all, I didn't know he could tell time (but, 10 mins did go by), and secondly, I never mentioned where I got the recipe from LOL!

Here's the recipe......

Harvest Pumpkin Cupcakes

(from 101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes)

1 box spice cake mix
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Mix together cake mix, eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin, chocolate and butterscotch chips. Pour the batter into paper liners, filling ¾ full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until the cakes are light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

*Frosting Suggestions: Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Buttercream, Cream Cheese or Vanilla Buttercream

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 ¾ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and light. Stop the mixer and add sugar, and vanilla extract. Start mixer on slow and gradually increase the speed until frosting is fluffy. Frost and refrigerate. Sprinkle with grated nutmeg for added flavor and presentation. 

* I topped  mine with cinnamon instead of the nutmeg and they still tasted great.

Aww, look at that poor little cupcake that didn't fit on the platter...

Don't worry, I gave it a good home ;-)

Cardinal and Sunflower (craft project)

Since I haven't been feeling well I haven't been doing very much, including crafts with the kids.  It's been all I can do to help them with their homework or read them bedtime stories.  Mostly, I've been sleeping off the pain I'm in.  Today, I realized how much they have come to enjoy our little projects and how they were literally starving for some mom and me craft time.  I don't think these came out as great as they could have, but Nathan didn't care.  He just wanted a 'real' project to do (and not just coloring in some boring book - his words).

We ended up reading two books about sunflowers.  The first book was Sunflower House by Eve Bunting.  This was a cute book about a boy who planted sunflower seeds in a circle and ended up with a sunflower house.  He and his friends played in the sunflower house all summer and were sad to see it come to an end when the sunflowers died.  Nathan and Nicholas asked if they could have a sunflower house next summer.

The second book was Cardinal and Sunflower by James Preller.  This book is more about cardinals than the sunflowers, but it was basically about spreading sunflower seeds and watching a sunflower grow and the birds eating the seeds. 

I was planning on making one of those pinecone bird feeders too and use sunflower seeds as bird food, but I couldn't find any pinecones large enough to do this with.  We may end up doing it at some point this winter when I find some pinecones to use.  We have a family of blue jays living in one of our trees, Nathan and Nicholas are always throwing old bread at the tree to feed the birds.

Our first project was to make some cardinal puppets.  I got the idea and the printout at Danielle's Place.  We used the blue puppet craft idea and made our's red instead.  This was a simple craft to make.  We used the printout that was included (since there were four baby birds in the book, we made four puppets).  We used red craft sticks too. 

Then we made a "nest" for the baby birds.  We took a paper plate and painted it brown, cut it in half and glued some little twigs to it.  We glued the sides of the plate to a piece of paper, leaving the top and bottom open for the puppets to sit inside.

We also made a sunflower "house" we took these little yellow paper doilies that I found at the Dollar Store and glued 4 of them to a sheet of paper.  Then we made stems and leaves for the sunflowers.  We put glue in the centers and sprinkled sunflower seeds to them.  Easy, simple and fun, not to mention cheap...my kind of craft.

One of the things I love about my kids and my family is that they are always willing to help each other.  Sure, it's not always roses and sunshine, they do fight and get mad at each other, but alot of the times they simply love each other.  The other day, while I was crashed out on the couch, Anthony was doing his homework in the kitchen.  At first he helped both his brothers with their homework and while he did his, he played with Nathan.  They colored and it was so cute listening to them.  Anthony helped Nathan draw a turkey with his hand and told Nathan to color it, which he did.  Then they drew some pumpkins and Nathan sang Anthony the five little pumpkin song.  It did this mom some good to hear that, let me tell you.

Linking to......

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Ahem...{{tap tap tap}}...is this thing on?

I have an announcement to make.......the winner of the EcoMom $15 GC is Jackie of My Perfect Little World!!

Jackie I need your email addy to send to EcoMom, so you can claim your prize.  You can email it to me at jfamilyofeight@hotmail.com.

Congratulations!!!!

Novica Review

I was recently asked to do a review for Novica, a division of National Geographic.  They feature artists from all over the world.  As I was looking at the website, I did find a lot of strange things....beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, but as I kept looking I discovered a lot cool, neat art.  They have rugs, jewelry, furniture, home decor, art, tables, musical instruments, masks, mirrors, vases, sculptures etc.  As per their website "NOVICA unites you with more than 2,000 extraordinary master artists around the world. Read about their lives, explore their fascinating cultures, and select from more than 30,000 handcrafted works of art."  Their website is easy to navigate.  Everything was broken down into catagories...Jewelry was broken down into earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc.  It was easy to order my purchase, the only problem I had was deciding what to get


They offered to give me a gift certificate, so I decided to treat myself to a couple of cute necklaces.  The artist who designed these was from Thailand.  I was impressed by how quickly the jewelry was shipped and the cute little box that they came in.  There was even a card about the artist and what inspired the artist when they designed the jewelry, tucked inside the box.

These ain't your momma's pearls!

I also chose this pendant as well:

Aren't they both pretty?

Novica has many options to chose, from Corporate Gifts, to Eco Friendly Gifts and so many more.

*Disclosure: I received these products for review purposes only.  I did not receive any monetary compensation.  The opinions herein are my own and not influenced by the artists, Novica or National Geographic in anyway.

Best Laid Plans.....

......I had every intention of making a few more Halloween crafts with the kids and a few other goodies.  I have tons of Halloween cupcake liners and sprinkles left that I was going to use yesterday.  The liners, I can throw in a box and use next year, but still....you all know how the guilt likes to eat us alive, right?  Oh well, that's life as they say. 

Yesterday, I didn't feel very well, but I brushed it off, because I wanted the kids to still have fun.  But, by the time they were done trick or treating my heart just wasn't in it anymore.  Plus, Amanda ended up losing her cell phone somewhere along the way, so that put a damper on my mood.  Then, we all went to our friends' house to watch the Steelers game.  It was fun, the kids got to beat up Vince (our friend), which he loved rolling around on the floor with them and I got to talk to Terri and have an adult conversation with someone other than Rich. 

By the time, we got home from their house, I was really feeling cruddy...my throat was on fire, I was coughing and my nose was running.  I felt like I was freezing to death.  I had three blankets on me, the heat cranked up and asked Anthony to get a space heater out of the workshop for me.  I was completely miserable. 

I was up and down all night long, my whole body hurt like hell.  Somewhere in the middle of the night, Rich told me he was sick and throwing up.  Great! I was supposed to work today, but I called off sick...there was no way I could work like this.  I'm off until Saturday, which is nice.  Maybe I can get some rest and feel better by then {{fingers crossed}}.

Here are some pics of the kids trick or treating....Nicholas and Nathan were the only ones that dressed up this year.  Zach and Sarah went around and got some candy anyway, without costumes.  They had fun, even though I wasn't feeling well...and that's all that really mattered.  And hey, there's always Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts to be made.

The look of pure exhilaration on his face......Priceless!