Beyond Neck Ties and Socks...DIY Father's Day gift idea round up

Is it me or are some Dad's tricky to buy for? That's partly why we make our gifts and try and create memories instead. If you are looking for something for the Father in your life then you are in luck.

We are sharing some of our past projects for Daddy Gifts:

Last year we made a custom pair of slippers that stood up to chewing from our new Puppy.
If you are looking for a low cost and personalized gift then check out the instructions for DIY Bacon Slippers for Dad

If you are looks to make memories this Fathers' day then skip the card and give your Dad a treasure map instead. Check out how we used a map for a day of family fun and instructions to make your own.

A Father's day keepsake lap book like this one we made is a great way for siblings to work together to create a gift for Dad. 

If you want to impress then try making Cookies and Creme cake pops for Dad...We shared a recipe even a nervous cake decorator like myself could pull off! 

Looking for even more ideas for gifts to make for your Dad? Check out my Pinterest board! If you have an idea to share please share by commenting on the post and sharing your link.

Follow Piwi Mum's board Fathers' Day on Pinterest.

Making halloween masks for 18" Dolls and Alton's Pumpkin Pie

After a visit to the Pumpkin Patch, the kids wanted to host a Fall party for their dolls. They have 'Our Generation Girls' which are the same size as the 'American Girl Dolls'.


Rather than make costumes for them I suggested we make masks. While Miss K finished off her math Mini Piwi and I traced mask shapes onto card and collected up some decorating supplies.

Here is what they come up with before Daddy arrived home from work.

The leaf princess mask

A Kitty Cat

Later Mini Piwi asked me to help her thread some of the leaf decorations onto floss to make a dolls necklace.

The Party included eating the Pie we made from a Pumpkin we chose at the Pumpkin Patch.

 We used Alton Brown's Pumpkin Pie recipe which has a base made from Gingersnaps. Mini Piwi had a great time bashing the cookies into crumbs.

The Pie was very popular!

Pumpkin Science activities for Kids roundup

The Perfectly Pumpkin contest hosted by  B-inspired Mamas, Preschool Powol Packets and Gift of Curiosity and us!
There were so many amazing pumpkin themed activities, recipes and crafts! It must have been a tough decision for our guest judges to pick a winner for their categories.

The Science nerd fan in me was drawn to these fun science themed Pumpkin activies that were entered.

Life with Moore Babies played with states of matter and created some very cute decorations with their Melted Crayon Pumpkins.
They also showed us how they demonstrated the pumpkin lifecycle by growing pumpkins in a pumpkin!

Little Bins for Little hands made a Pumpkin-cano which may just be the coolest baking soda and vinegar experiment I have ever seen!

A lil Scientist at Stir the wonder had a great time with an exploration of Pumpkin guts.

The Preschool toolbox shared a couple of great Pumpkin life cycle printables and the fun they had working with them.

Frogs and Snails and Puppy dogs tails made up a mixture of Pumpkin spice scented 'Clean Mud'!

These were just a small sample of the amazing entries the contest had! Thanks to everyone who entered! To see the winners head over to the announcement at B -inspired Mama.

2013 Perfectly Pumpkin Contest -Share your Pumpkin fun!

Welcome to the B-inspired Mama's Second Annual Perfectly Pumpkin Contest. Last year was a lot of fun with over 120 creative pumpkin ideas shared!

For instant inspiration you can see the 2012 winners here. This year is promising to be even more fun!

We are excited to be co-hosting along with the talented mamas from B-inspired Mamas, Preschool Powol Packets and Gift of Curiosity.

Meet our Special guest judges! These talented ladies will have the difficult task of choosing a grand prize winner in each of the Four categories.

• Pumpkin Kids Activities
• Pumpkin Crafts
• Pumpkin Carving/Decorating
• Pumpkin Recipe

Jen from Tatertots and Jello

Jill from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons

Laurie from Alex Toys

Natania from GeekMom

InLinkz.com

Each winner will receive an awesome prize package (to be revealed very soon!) from some of our generous sponsors including ALEX Toys.  ALEX Toys offers a vast collection of toys and craft kits to foster creativity and imagination in kids.  we are also excited about our sponsor is C & T Publishing, publisher of the super fun FunStitch Studio series of creative books for kids.

How to enter:

• Link up all of your Pumpkin themed ideas by Sunday October 20, 11pm EST. There are no limit to the number of posts you can enter. As llong as it is pumpkin themed or made with a Pumpkin you're in! Don't worry about specifying a category, we can do that for you.

• Follow all of the co-hosts on Facebook: B-Inspired Mama Facebook, Preschool Powol Packets, Learning and Growing the Piwi Way and Gift of Curiosity

• Share the contest on Social Media (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, G+ and/or Instagram) with the hashtag #PerfectlyPumpkinContest.

An InLinkz Link-up

Making a Pinata for our Kitty!

When your kids love pets and parties it doesn't surprise you when they announce that they are throwing a birthday bash for the cat.
I had plenty of warning too. Miss K started planning months ago. At the top of her list was a piñata. A cat sized one.

Perry the cat was going to be opening it himself so we went with a pull string design.  It took all three of us and it was messy but well worth the fun we had. Here is how we made it.

A small recycled  cardboard box is a lot easier to line (with a plastic bag) than a balloon. If you are going to be filling the pinata with loose treats you need to ensure they aren't going to come in contact with the paper mâché which could make your pet sick.

Our glue mixture was 1 part school glue and 1 part water and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to prevent Mold growing.

 I had forgotten how long it took to rip up so much paper! After attaching a paperclip to the top (so the piñata could be hung) we gave it three layers of newspaper and one of white paper. It sat on the doorstep for the afternoon and by dinner time it was nearly dry!

Part 2. Decorating a fish piñata for a cat...

First a tail got taped on to one side.

Then I showed the kids how to cut 'fringe' strips and tape them onto the box.

Next we added eyes and fins....

And lined the box with a ziplock bag, secured by tape.

The treats were sealed inside and the kitty attracting ribbons were added.


Here's what happened when we gave it to the birthday boy!

He pulls some more at the ribbons...And it rained treats!

Perry spent the rest of his birthday snoozing and finding sunny spots but we like to think he had a good day. Happy Third birthday Perry!

Bacon Slippers for Fathers' Day

The kids asked Piwi Daddy what he would like for Fathers' day and he said he would like some new slippers. Here are the ones he got for Christmas... or what is left of them.

and here is the slipper bandit.

We decided to get some basic flip flop which could withstand an occasional chew if Butter manages to get hold of them. Not very exciting....

Thankfully I was inspired by Diana's Coffee Mug makeover at Diana Rambles. Who knew you could get Bacon themed Duct tape! Piwi Daddy is a huge bacon fan so we decided to make him some bacon flip flops.

The kids would have liked to cover the whole shoe but I just did the upper part.

It went on surprisingly smoothly and I was careful not to leave any rough edges to irritate a toe or two.









The kids reckon he is going to love them!





Fathers' Day Card Alternative: A Treasure Map!

This year we are trying something new and giving Piwi Daddy a Map instead of a card! The map will be his guide to all the fun activities we have planned. The art work was a team effort: Mini Piwi drew the roads and our car on the map. Miss K added all the activities.

Last month we started talking about all the things we could do together for fathers day. The list got fairly long so we are going to be celebrating all weekend!



The list includes:

• Visiting the Butterflies and Dinosaurs at the Houston Museum
• Making Breakfast for Dad
• Dessert at The Chocolate bar
• Lunch at a Baja Grill
• Visit the Pet shop with Butter the Basset
• Present time!

Here's what we will be presenting to Piwi Dad at Breakfast on Saturday. The kids are excited already!