Paper Mice

There was leftover grey paper out after Trevor finished his bunny Valentines, so we used it to make some cute mice.  

Materials: grey paper, pink paper, scissors, glue, white yarn, googly eye, black pen

Fold the grey paper in half.  Draw a slightly flattened semi-circle along the folded edge, then cut.  Save the scraps- you'll use them for the ears.

 

Open up the cut out shape.  Glue a piece of yarn along the fold line.  Cut two ears from the grey scrap and set one aside.  Cut a slightly smaller pink inner ear and glue to one of the grey ears.  Glue that ear inside the opened up shape. 

 

Put glue over the entire shape, then refold along the fold line and press to seal.

 

Glue the second ear to the front of the shape.  Add a googly eyeball.  Use the black pen to draw a nose and whiskers.  My finished mouse is the one at the top of the post.  Here is Trevor's. 

Quick, easy and super cute!

Bunny Valentines

We are fortunate to live just a few minutes from the Jelly Belly Factory.  It is an awesome place. When Trevor and I were there in late January to get Steve jelly bellies for his birthday, we noticed their adorable peas and carrots candy. It's basically the same stuff as candy corn. The peas are flavored like green apple and the carrots are orange sherbet. It got me thinking....  bunny Valentines!

 

To make the bunnies, you need grey paper, pink paper, circle punch, scissors, mini heart punch, glue, and a black pen.

I helped Trevor punch out 30 circles, then we cut 30 pairs of ears. As he arranged ears, I punched out 30 pink heart noses.  

 

Trevor drew 30 faces, then glued on the ears and noses. 

 

Here's a close-up of a bunny. So cute. 

I cut white cardstock to size, then Trevor stamped "From" and signed his name on each one. We filled bags with candy, stapled a card to each, and glued a bunny to cover the staple.  

I should mention: there are 29 kids in Trevor's class. He liked these Valentines so much that he insisted on making one to give to himself.  

Bird Cupcakes

Trevor is very interested in birds.  He loves building and decorating birdhouses and is always asking if we can make birdfeeders.  Every once in a while, we make edible ornaments or pinecone feeders for the birds.  It's so much fun to watch the birds enjoy the treats.

My mom is an avid birdwatcher and subscribes to Birds & Bloom magazine.  After she's finished with them, she passes her issues along to us.  As I was flipping through the December/January 2013 issue, I found a no-bake recipe by Susan Ebnit that I knew Trevor would love to make.  By using Valentines cupcake liners, the finished Bird Cupcakes were a perfect seasonal gift for his feathered friends. 

We made some tweaks to Susan's recipe.  Here's our version.  

Bird Cupcakes

                            1/4 c. shortening                1/2 c. sunflower seeds

                            1/2 c. peanut butter           1/4 c. craisins

                            1 1/2 c. cornmeal

Add shortening and peanut butter to a medium bowl.  Heat in microwave for 20 seconds or until soft.  Stir in cornmeal and most of the sunflower seeds.   

 

Insert 6 cupcake liners into pan, then pack mixture evenly into liners.  Use the remaining sunflower seeds and craisins to decorate the tops of the cupcakes.

 

Put the completed cupcakes into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

 

That's all there is to it!

We weren't sure what birds would eat these or what the best locations would be, so we spread them in different places around the yard.  This one is on our back fence. 

 

Here's one in the orange tree.

 

Another went into our plum tree. 

What a fun way to say Happy Valentine's Day to the birds!

Heart Bunny

When I picked Trevor up from school last week, he was very excited to show me one of the papers in his folder. He flung all the other papers aside and proudly showed me this:

 

He explained that he'd had an idea about making a bunny using only hearts and that he was going to teach me how to do it. I absolutely love when Trevor teaches me how to do a craft that he's thought up. He instructed me to get grey paper, scissors and glue.  

I'd hoped that Trevor would be making a bunny as well, but he told me that he would only be the teacher this time. He told me to cut one big heart for the body, a medium heart for the head, two smaller matching hearts for the feet, and one more heart for the tail. When he was satisfied with my hearts, he let me stop to take a picture of them.  

 

Next, Trevor showed me how to arrange the hearts to make the bunny. As he was doing so, he decided that the feet looked better with the hearts oriented sideways. I asked him if I could ink the edges of the hearts to make it easier to see the different body parts and he said yes. I chose a toffee colored ink, since Trouble has both grey and tan tones.  

At this point, Trevor noticed the tiny heart punch that was sitting out from a different project. He had me go back and get pink and black papers, then punch out a nose and two eyes.  Then I glued everything in place.  

 

Trevor was thrilled with my rabbit and declared it done. I asked about adding whiskers. He was adamant: NO whiskers! The entire thing HAD to be made from hearts. I tried arguing, but it was no use. There were to be NO whiskers unless I could make them from hearts. Trevor can be a bit opinionated at times.   

The next day, when Trevor was occupied with something else, I added whiskers to my bunny. I like it a lot better this way.  

 

When Trevor eventually noticed that my rabbit had sprouted illicit whiskers, he cracked up. "Mommy!" he giggled. "There are NOT supposed to be whiskers on that bunny!" Fortunately, he let me keep them. I really do like the bunny better with the whiskers.

First Haircut

Recently, Trevor asked about his first haircut.  I love that I could go upstairs to the shelf, pull out the correct scrapbook, and turn right to the page and show him.  It literally took 2 minutes.

He loved seeing the little lock of hair I'd saved.  He was amazed that he was sitting in the racecar at Kids Carousel Cuts, now much too small for him.  He marveled at the before and after pictures.  

While I cringe a bit at what my scrapbooking looked like in early 2007, I absolutely love that this page exists.