Little Gardner Gift Idea

This time of year is full of birthday parties for us. My adorable little nephew turned three last week and I struggled with what to get him. Between him and his two brothers, they have almost every toy a child could ever want; plus I really like to make gifts for them. So I thought I would make him one of those amazing poufs you see at Pottery Barn so he can sit in his room and look at books. I had a day and a half set aside to make one for him (and probably one for his older brother too) and then a wrench was thrown into my plan. Two back-to-back days spent at the hospital; one with my mom and the other my husband.  Everything turned out fine with both, but I no longer had my day and half to sew. What to do?

Well this is what we (my daughter and I) came up with. Since Brendan loves to play in the garden, especially when his parents are working in it, we thought we would make him his own gardening kit. Even though he is a little young for gardening per say, he still loves to get in there and dig stuff.

We started at the dollar store and got him a watering can, a knee pad and two pairs kids gardening gloves. All three were in his favorite color green. We then headed to our local hardware store and bought a gardening bag that had kid sized tools in it, a small plastic rake (they only had purple), some seeds (pumpkin, tiny tomatoes, snap dragons, etc) and a large pot.

 I created a design on my Sure Cut Alot 2 program to put on his container that said 'Brendan's garden' with a few walking bugs. He hates almost all bugs so I tried to make them as cute as possible. I cut the design with my Cricut out of vinyl (didn't use contact paper this time) so it would stand up outside.

We put all the items into the container, wrapped it all in cellophane with a happy birthday balloon.
 I had really wanted to make a little sign to put in the garden with chalkboard paint, but time was limited so this was all I could do.

 The total price was around $30 ($10 for the tool kit, $6 for the rake, $5 at the dollar store, $6 seeds and $4 for the container) but if I had more time and planned ahead, I could have done it for less. But that is what happens when I wait until the last minute.

Either way I was happy with how it turned out and he seemed thrilled to have the rake and the tools.

I have for many years planted vegetable gardens with each of our kids. They pick the vegetables, plant them, water them and harvest them. Even though we live in a pretty big city with smaller yards, we still feel it is important to grow our own vegetables and teach our kids how to do this. We personally love Tiny Tom tomatoes, larger tomatoes, red and green leaf lettuce, slicing cucumbers and all types of peppers. Do any of you do the same thing?

Perhaps I will share in May how we do our kids gardens. We can't plant outside until May 26th weekend this year, so I will have to wait a couple of months.

Happy gardening,
Stephanie

DIY Daytime Constellations

Last week I recreated this Cloud identification tool that I saw on Pinterest and my son has loved it! Almost every day he has been outside trying to identify what clouds are in the sky. I am not sure if he is correct every time, but it has really entertained him and sparked an interest I never expected him to have.

So I thought I would recreate another Pinterest inspired educational tool that you can do with your kids, the daytime constellation activity.

I created the following 5 common constellations in a Publisher file using little circles and lines:

• Canis Major (the Dog)
• Ursa Major (The Big Dipper)
• Leo (The Lion)
• Hercules
• Orion (The Hunter)

I found the constellations online on various sites to create each of the constellations. I found it odd that there were different designs for the same one..so I think some sites include surrounding stars. I saved the file as an image and printed it on card stock paper.

 I carefully cut around the outer line to create 5 circle constellations.

Using a 1/8 inch circle hole punch with a 2 inch reach (this is important) I punched out each of the dots where a star appears in the sky.

The reason you need a 2 inch reach punch is so you can punch the holes in the middle of the circles.  I bought this 2 inch reach punch at Micheal's a while ago for around $5. If you find a coupon you might be able to get it for less. See how it is able to reach the middle of the large circle?

This is a regular hole punch; it doesn't reach the middle spots.

I punched each of the small dots on the 5 constellations.

Next is the fun part; head to a dark room or outside in the sun with your constellation cards and shine a light through them. You get to see what the constellations will look like up in the sky but during the day. I apologize this image is so bad, I was hiding out in my walk-in closet trying to take this photo. You get the idea though.

I created a few different versions of this file. The first was the one you see in the pictures above, all names, dots and lines are printed. The second, only has the names and dot, so you can have your child connect the dots to draw his/her own constellations. And the last one only has the dots.

UPDATE: I have saved the three images for you to download. Here are the links

• Constellations with no name and lines

• Constellations with no lines

• Constellations

Please leave me a comment with and let me know whether or not you were able to get this to work. Again, please keep this for personal or classroom use only. 

If you find any major errors, please email me and I can correct it for future emails. I am by no means an expert in this so any help is appreciated.

Happy star gazing!
Stephanie

To the Cloud! DIY Cloud Identification Tool

I am sorry for being away from here for a few weeks. I truly appreciate all the emails I received from readers asking where I have been and if I was returning. Don't worry, I have no plan on stopping Full of Great Ideas.  No one has been sick and unfortunately, we have not been away, I just can't seem to find time to post anything. My projects have continued as normal, but finding the time to sit down and share them with you has been difficult.

So I am starting with a small post that I did with my kids this past week while they were on March break.

I pinned this Cloud Identification Tool kit idea a really long time ago and had always intended to make it. You can buy a kit online for a pretty reasonable price; however, they are intended for a classroom use so you have to buy at least 25 of them for $35. I have no need for 25, so I made my own.

I started by going online and found free images of the different types of clouds. Using Publisher (you can do this in any format), I arranged the clouds by the way they appear in the sky. The lower ones, are low clouds, the upper clouds are high in the sky...well you get the idea. I added the name of the cloud type below the image.

I printed the design out on photo paper with my color printer as a 5x7 and carefully cut out the middle rectangle. (I don't love the quality of my printer, so I think I might send it to Costco for a nice, professional print.)

 I then cut a piece of white card stock to the exact size.

I glued the two pieces together with a wooden stick secured in the middle to be used for a handle. To be honest with you, I have no idea why I have tongue depressors in my house, but I had a few of them. I was expecting to have to eat a Popsicle just so I could get a stick..but nope. I still ate a Popsicle though :)

 We are having the best March break weather ever, so we went outside to test it out. Unfortunately, we only had a few clouds in the sky.

 Here is the only cloud, but you get the idea though how it works.

 My son loved it...my daughter wasn't as interested. It always amazes me how different two kids from the same parents can be.

If you would like this, leave me a comment with your email address and I can email you the 5x7 high resolution jpeg. 
Here is the full size image. To download it:

• Right click on the image and select open in a new window or tab
• On the full size image, right click again and select 'save as'
• Save it to a place on your computer where you can easily find it
• Send it to your favorite photo developer
• Please only use these for personal use!
• Enjoy!!

As usual, I just ask that you use it for personal use..or classroom use :)
What do you think?

I hope everyone has/is having a great March break.

Stephanie at Full of Great Ideas

Giving Hydrangeas New Life with Spray Paint

As you may remember, I made gorgeous fresh hydrangea wreaths for my front doors a year and a half ago. I absolutely loved them. I loved how they looked, I loved the bright and vibrant colors and I loved that they cost me almost nothing at the time to make.

They stayed that way for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, they now they look blanched because the color has fully leached out of them.

They are still pretty but not something I want to hang on my front door. I honestly thought my only option would be to throw them out, but I had one of those aha moments when I was redoing (aka spray painting) some accessories for my family room (I will share those soon). I was spray painting all sorts of things and thought, why can't I spray paint the hydrangeas? What would be the worst thing that could happen? I might ruin them? Well they were already destined for the garbage so it was worth a try.


Here is what wreaths looked like before they ventured into my garage for some spray painting:

 Here is what they look like now after a few different colors of spray paint:

 

 

Not bad huh! Sorry the photos are a little dark...it is pretty dreary here today.

Here is how I did it. I pulled out four colors of spray paint that matched the original pre-dried color of the hydrangeas. I only have 3 in this picture but I also used a bright lime green.

 I started by painting the entire wreath a light green.

I then progressively got darker. So went next to the lime color, then the celery and finally the brick color. I made sure to do sections with just one color to mimic how the hydrangeas look when fresh.

See how parts are green and others deep red? If you look really closely you can tell it was spray painted...but if someone wants to look that closely they can just go home! :)

I will probably make these again with fresh hydrangeas again next fall, but for now, the wreaths have new life and look great all over again.

Can you image the possibilities? Hydrangeas come in so many different colors so you can match any room in your house. If you have some dried on your bushes outside, go cut them and grab your favorite colors of spray paint. See what you can make.

What do you think?
Stephanie

Natural Weed killer (made with basic items in your kitchen)

I have to warn you, for the next month and a half my posts will be of a frugal nature. This doesn't mean I won't post items that will be of use to you...it just means I won't be spending very much money on them.  We are planning a big family trip (to San Francisco!!! I am so excited. If anyone has any tips or things to do there with kids..please share) and I feel I need to slow down on my crafts/projects until we come back. So another month of Frugality for me.

Ever since moving into this house, I have struggled to keep our front walk weed free. As you know, we have 2 young kids (that seem to cringe at the site of shoes thus are always walking around without them) and a little dog, so I personally do not like to use Round up or other harsh weed killers on our property. To add to that, the city where we live has banned the majority of pesticides.

I got this frugal, yet extremely effective, way of killing weeds from my neighbor. He was out spraying his weeds a couple of weeks ago and I had to inquire what he was using because all I could smell was vinegar. I love that it is safe for my family and the environment. I also love the price!

I have googled this recipe and there are a million and one different variations so I thought I would share what I used and show you how well it worked.

Materials:

• spray bottle (I had a 34 ounce one I purchased at the $ store a while ago)
• Pickling vinegar (It works better than regular vinegar because the acetic acid % is higher)
• Salt (1/2 cup for m size bottle)
• Dish soap (a squeeze)

That is it!!

Method:

Fill a spray bottle almost full with Pickling vinegar. Since my spray bottle wasn't huge, I added only 1/2 cups of salt. If you spray bottle is big, add more salt. Squirt in a dash of dish soap into the bottle. Close the bottle tight and shake, shake, shake. You are done!!!

Go outside on a bright sunny day and spray those weeds. I found the sun sped up the process so try to pick a good day to do it. Remember though, this will also kill your grass and plants too. So don't get trigger happy like me and kill other things around the garden :)

Here are the before images:

Here are the images after 1 hour (see how the color is out of the plants and they are starting to wilt):

Here are the after/end result images (I just now use a wire brush to get the dried up weeds out of the cracks):

Just to show you how well it works, here is an image where there is a weed still alive and the rest killed. I would like to say I did this on purpose to show you all how well it works but I actually missed this weed :)

The grand total was $0 since I had all the materials on hand. What more could you ask for..costs nothing, not bad for the environment and it gets rid of pesky weeds.

Happy spraying.
Stephanie