3D printed Valentine's Hearts

Hope you are having a great week.  The kids and I have been working on Valentine's!  We are having a small party at our house this week for coop friends and we are also participating in a homeschool valentine's exchange in the mail!  Check out these 3D printed hearts that we have been printing from thingiverse.  We just added googly eyes to them and I think they are so fun.

 Here is what they look like before googly eyes.  The kids like to put them in a flower pattern!

 And after googly eyes...

 It's amazing how different they can look just from the eyes.

Ellie Claire Interactive Art Journals Review

Ellie Claire Journals

I have some of the most amazing art journals to share with you from Ellie Claire:  Illuminate Your Story, The Illustrated Word and Faith & Lettering.  These journals are each so unique and such fun additions for my creative soul.  These journals offer an interactive way to get creative with your quiet time.  I love that they teach and encourage a breadth of creative expression of faith.  If one style doesn't work for you there are plenty of other options!

Ellie Claire's Faith & Lettering Journal

This beautiful journal is designed to be a safe and comfortable place to try your hand at different handwriting styles and grow in your lettering skills.  This journal walks you through the basics of practicing hand lettering, Bible journaling, and sermon sketch note-taking - awesome right?  Let me show you just one example.

 Here is a page that shows you the verse, asks you to trace it, and then practice it on your own.

The second column shows you my tracing.

 And voila, I'm so happy with how my free hand turned out!

I love that this journal comes with basic instruction, tips and lots of ways to practice.  If you have ever been timid about Bible journaling or wanted to get a bit more creative and found yourself at a loss of where to start this would be an amazing journal for you.  I think it also works for pros too letting you fine tune your skills and possibly learn some new things along the way.

 Ellie Claire's Illuminate Your Story Journal

In this book I learned that the term "illuminated manuscript" was derived from the usage of silver or gold leaf decoration within text, which became illuminated when captured by the light.  Initials, borders, and miniature illustrations comprise most of this style.  This journal encourages you to explore your skill and create images that beautify your writing.  I loved the easy to follow step-by-step instructions for illuminated letters.  Again, let me show you just one example from this journal.

 Step-by-Step instructions for one style of the letter K

 My completed K!

Ellie Claire's The Illustrated Word - An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal

In this journal 40 illustrations have been recreated as line drawings for you to color.  Included in this gem are full-color illustrations from the Museum of the Bible archives.  I love that this journal has illustrations to color and pages to journal right along side them!  The lined pages are interspersed throughout the journal.

Here is an example of a page I am currently working on.

As you can see all three of these journals have similar features in that they are beautifully bound (just stunning), have lay-flat binding (no interference), have thick paper (no bleeding through pages) and encourage creative faith expression to name a few.  I hope I have highlighted a few of their differences as well so you have a feel for what they each offer.  I would highly recommend these journals and I think they would make unique gifts as well.  Let me know if you have any questions - I'd love to answer them!

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Ellie Claire for sending me all three of these journals for review in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Squiggle On-The-Go Product Review

I want to tell you about a new product that my family has been enjoying, Squiggle On-The-Go Barnyard version.  Squiggle doodle pads are based on the simple concept of turning a squiggly line into a picture.  It gives children a starting point of where to begin while encouraging creativity.  It can take away the intimidation sometimes felt from a blank piece of paper. 

 The kids circled around watching.

Simply spin the wheel to select your animal and try to draw the spun animal beginning with the squiggle you are given.

A's first squiggle, she spun a horse

A's finished horse

A wasn't excited about her first attempt but I thought she did a good job.  And as we continued playing I noticed improvement in everyone's drawings.  There is something to be said about practicing!

 B working on a chicken

 B's favorite was her rabbit.

 C working on his pig

His finished pig with a loop :).

D and her pig, not bad for a 4 year old!

My rooster

 And David's turkey

 I love that we can play at home, in the car, at the park - anywhere!  It truly is portable and able to go with you.  Children and adults can both appreciate having this around and creating works of art.

The Squiggle line of award winning games and activity pads now include over 30 doodle pads and Spin and Seek hidden-object pads that offer something for all ages and interests.  The pads are designed for ages 4 and up and retail for $4.99/$5.99.

Disclosure:  I received the Squiggle-on-the-Go Barnyard version to facilitate my review.  All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Fun Candy Sleds/Sleighs

I saw this amazing idea and knew that the kiddos and I had to do it - candy sleighs (or sleds as some people call them).  I first saw the idea over here.  I changed it up slightly but it is the exact same concept.  Hope you enjoy these as I have.

 

First step is to gather the supplies.

We used holiday packaged Kit Kats, Hershey's miniatures (Mr. Goodbar, Krackle, Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate, peppermint candy canes, gold and silver ribbon, an assortment of miniature bows, Boogie Wipes and scrapbooking tape to secure it all together.

 Bottom View

Next we secured a Kit Kat to two candy canes and added a Boogie Wipe to help with the clean up after enjoyment!

Top View

Then we began our candy pyramid.  Originally we were going to use 4, then 3 on top, then 2 on top and 1 but we thought that the 3, 2, 1 arrangement looked great and allowed us to make more sleighs!

Sleigh with bottom layer of pyramid

Next layer

Pyramid complete

Add ribbon on both sides and a bow on top and voila!

What do you think?  I love them :).

Father's Day Bookmarks

A friend of mine sent me a blog link for making cute bookmarks of your kids.  I took a look at it here and thought I could do that!  So, yesterday the kids and I did just that.  I am so pleased with how they turned out.  I made five bookmarks (one of each kid) for Grandpa, Puppa, and of course Daddy for this Father's Day!  I love creative gifts (especially ones that include photos).

 I had the kids make poses.  Here is D in her pose.

I cut the photos out as close as possible.  I wrote the kids names and ages on the back of the bookmarks for fun.  Then I laminated them and added the tassels.

Here is D's finished bookmarks.

I love the different poses and different sizes.  I think it is pretty funny that E is the biggest one and A is the smallest.  So, what do you think?