I'm so excited to be back as a contributor to Skip to my Lou's Craft Camp this year! This is our third year contributing a kids craft project, and I love doing it because it really gets me to be creative with my boys. My son designed these plushie monster keychains for his friends and I helped him figure out how to make them come to life. It's a really fun, easy sewing project to do with kids. It reminded me of this plushie monster we brought to life when he was just a little guy from one of his drawings. If you haven't already, be sure to check out all the other fun summer craft camp projects over at Skip to my Lou!

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Everyone has been talking about the new LeapPad Ultra coming out and it is now available for pre-order! You will want to order now so you can get it delivered as soon as it comes out!

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Ahh, girls camp. Spending time in the great outdoors, enjoying life unplugged, building relationships and learning new things about yourself, getting closer God and building a testimony of his gospel. What an amazing experience girls camp can be (especially when your camp offers flushing toilets and showers for the leaders)! It was almost like a little vacation for me, and I loved getting to know the girls and other leaders better since I am new to the neighborhood. 

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Remember how I told you that Michaels is now carrying fabric in stores? I am still so excited about it! Michaels sent me some of the new fabric to try out for myself. I got a couple rolls of burlap as well as some fun patterned fabric.

If you are like me you have seen some fun fabric covered boards all over Pinterest and I have been dying to make one. I grabbed some canvases and cork-board at Michaels as well as some pushpins to create some of my own photo boards (which could also be used for message boards or recipe boards, etc!) If you are like me you get tired of putting new pictures in frames all the time so I love a photo board so I can just keep switching out pictures all the time. Plus it adds a fun decor element to my home!

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I always love sharing with you my new and exciting finds! I have been a big fan of LeapFrog products for a long time and my kids love them as well. They are coming out with a new product called the LeapPad Ultra! Built for kids, inside and out, LeapPad Ultra is the 100% kid-perfect tablet with 7” hi-res screen, kid-safe Wi-Fi and instant access to 800+ fun and educator-approved games and apps. LeapPad Ultra works with LeapFrog’s award-winning library of 800+ educator-approved apps, games, eBooks, videos, music and more. With games that automatically adjust to your child’s level, kids stay challenged and inspired to learn!

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This post is part of a paid campaign with Razoo and The Blueprint Social but all opinions are my own.

Have you ever heard of Razoo? I hadn't until recently but it is a really cool site that I want to share with you!
Razoo is a movement of people who want to make generosity a part of everyday life. It helps users raise money for social good causes. I love that you can create a fundraiser for anything you feel is important and that you want to help with. Creating fundraiser and/or donating to a fundraiser are super simple and take very little time.

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We're two weeks into summer vacation and I feel like I've hardly been home to enjoy it! After a week at girls camp and a long weekend at the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay race, I am still catching up on laundry and housework while carting kids to swimming lessons and playdates. But I am taking a break to bring you my favorite new summer dessert. Because you NEED to know about this.
Our camp cook up at our LDS girls camp was seriously amazing. You wouldn't believe the things Natalie cooked up for us (I'll share that soon with some other girls camp ideas). But one simple campfire dessert really blew my mind. Gourmet build-your-own s'mores. What the what? Why have I not heard of this before? Thank you, Natalie. You have changed my life.

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I am so excited to share some BIG news with you from Michaels! Starting on June 28th, the majority of Michaels locations nationwide will begin carrying fourteen styles of craft fabric, including cotton, canvas, burlap, felt, faux fur, crushed velvet and tulle. Yep. FABRIC. I am super excited about this! What store couldn't benefit from a little fabric? Those Michaels people are smart people. I am looking forward to seeing this fabric in stores and creating some fun projects!

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Every Summer one of my big goals is to have my kids reading every day! They love reading but sometimes they need an extra push to stay consistent with it and I try to find little ways to get them excited about it. After taking the Michaels Unplugged Summer Pact, I am especially focused on reading and learning activities for my kids.

I decided to make some easy, fun bookmarks with my kids so they would be excited to put them in their books and get reading!

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This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and GoodNites, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BetterNights http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

I love my crazy little three year old! He can be so wild and energetic yet can also be so sweet and caring (when he chooses to be!).

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Being that my husband and I live far away from our families, it is always important for us to stay connected and keep in touch with our family members. My family is especially spread out across the country, so we always try to find ways to stay involved in each other's lives and what is going on with everyone. Skype is a really great tool to connect us to our family!

Sometimes emailing and texting just isn't the connection we are looking for and I love that with Skype you can talk to someone while looking at them! This is especially great for my kids because they can put a face with the name and really stay connected with each family member. Sometimes it is just not feasible to visit others as often as we would like, but with Skype you can feel like you are visiting them and seeing what's new!

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Today my friend and I took our kids over to Michaels to participate in a Passport to Imagination class.

This program is so great! Explore the 7 continents and their amazing landmarks and icons on a 7-week voyage around the globe! The 2-hour crafting adventures take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to Noon for just $2 per session for children ages 5 and up.

In today's class they talked about North America and the kids got to make a few fun crafts. They had such a great time!



I asked my son if he would want to do another one of the Passport to Imagination classes and he said, "Definitely!"

The kids got a tote bag to bring the crafts home and a fun book that talk about what they were learning and has a bunch of fun crafts to do at home throughout the summer!

Check out your local Michaels for more information on the Passport to Imagination  classes in your area! It is such a fun activity to do with your kids this summer!

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Summer vacation is upon us and I know for me that means fun in the sun, plenty of beach days, and spending 24/7 with my three little guys. Summer can be a real challenge for us moms because we want to entertain our kids and give them a great Summer experience but that can also be exhausting!

Michaels says Summertime is time to break free from the smart phones, laptops and video games. Time for lazy days by the pool. Long weekends and road trips with friends. Backyard cookouts and picnics at the park. Time for breezy evenings outside with the kiddos running and laughing breathlessly, doing their best to play freeze tag and catch fireflies at the same time. Let us show you some great ways to have your own technology-free summer adventures. Join us and start by taking the Unplugged Summer Pact.


One great thing you can do after you sign the pact is register for the Michaels Passport to Imagination Program.  My boys and I will definitely be participating this Summer! The program offers 2-hour crafting adventures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to Noon for just $2 per session for children ages 5 and up. Explore the 7 continents and their amazing landmarks and icons on a 7-week voyage around the globe!

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The projects are piling up, and I haven't had time to post anything lately! And I only have two more days of freedom before my boys are home all. day. long. You may not see my craft room makeover until Christmas at this rate. But I had to take a break from Girls Camp prep to post this fabulous recipe that I am currently obsessed with. A few weeks ago I was crafting at a friend's when her husband brought us each a basil lemonade. Love at first sip. I am not exaggerating. It reminds me of an Indian lassi. Its tart flavor is balanced nicely by a dollop of whipped cream on top. You must make this today.

Fresh Basil Lemonade Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
3 cups plain yogurt (not Greek)
About 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tsp. Truvia natural sweetener or sugar (optional--I like mine just a little sweeter)
2-3 cups ice cubes
Whipped cream
Lemon slices and basil leaves for garnish (optional)


Put all ingredients in a blender and blender until smooth. If lemonade is too thick to pour, let it sit a few minutes then blend again (this gives the ice a chance to melt a little).

Pour into four glasses (or 8 small glasses for smaller servings). Top with whipped cream. Garnish with a lemon slice and basil leaves and serve with a straw. Heaven in a glass!

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I am always looking for ways to get creative and keep my boys entertained and with Summer upon us, I really need to find fun activities for them. They recently watched the movie, Oz The Great and Powerful and so I thought it would be fun for them to take an adventure to the Land of Oz for their lunch!

My boys loved the hot air balloon theme in the movie, so I decided it would be fun to dress up the chandelier above my kitchen table with a hot air balloon hanging mobile for our adventure to the Land of Oz.

Here is how I did it:
I drew a simple hot air balloon template to trace each of my balloons onto patterned paper. I did a half of a hot air balloon and then traced my template onto a piece of paper that was folded in half. You want to trace the template onto the seam that has a crease in it so that when you cut it out, you will have a full hot air balloon shape.

I used 4 cut out balloons for each hanging balloon, but you can add more if you want a more dimensional hot air balloon.

Once you have all your balloons cut out, you want to start gluing them together. Stick the seams together and glue the one side down to another until you have a dimensional balloon. I did some patterned balloons and some solid balloons so I glued patterned balloon sides to solid sides so that the finished balloon would alternate between solid and patterned.



The hot air balloons could be used for so many different things, party invitations, place markers, a mobile,  or strung together for garland or a party banner! You could even attach them to the string and let the kids run around the room like they are flying them!

I also used a few of these balloons as place markers and wrote the names of the boys as well as "Welcome to the Land of Oz" for our Oz inspired lunch.


Then I created a very simple hot air balloon meal. I cut bread into a circle (using my wide mouth canning jar) and then made a sandwich. I used pieces of string cheese to attach the balloon sandwich to a graham cracker basket. I also added a carrot inside the basket to represent the wizard that was being carried to Oz.

My boys loved it. Something about making food into a shape makes them so much more likely to eat it!


Click HERE for some really fun printable kids activities for Oz The Great and Powerful that my kids really enjoyed. Use them to have your own Oz inspired lunch!

Be sure to check out the info on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter for the movie Oz The Great and Powerful. The Blu-ray Combo pack comes out June 11th! You can find out more info on how to purchase it HERE.


I wrote this post as part of a campaign for Disney and Blueprint Social. I was compensated for this post, however all ideas are 100% my own.

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