Letters to my Valentine

I heart snail mail. Always have, always will! Sadly, it is a dying art form. For the day of love: Valentines Day, which also happens to be one of my favorite holidays (maybe having something to do with my birthday being the following day) I make lots of pretty things for the specials in my life.

When my daughter was born I began a series of letters to her, that I mail to our address and then stuff into a box unopened when they arrive, so one day she will have a "journal" of unopened letters all postmarked. For my son, I haven't been as diligent, but write to him in an actual journal, letters whenever I remember to (The second baby always gets jilted).

Valentine Craft

So for Valentines Day I made them each a "sustainable" felt envelope to stuff with treats, and maybe afterwards if I am feeling up to it, will add to the collection, so that they can play mailman with velcro stamps and the works.

Here's how:

For the top flap, use a new piece of felt halved, then fold in half again and cut in a jagged diagonal, rounding the top.

Cut out a triangular piece from the top piece of felt on the envelope body.

Stitch the sides and bottom first. I used a contrasting red color thread for effect.

Then add top panel and stitch straight across.

All done! Easy right?

Now to decorate...

I cut out felt names because I want to use them as place cards for the Valentine table too.

I made a quick stamp and some permanent marker lines on the front.

 

I love love love them! Hope my kiddies do too!

Love and letters,

Kerry, the Momster

Sweetest School Support

Can you believe "back-to-school" time is here already? Now that I am no longer a teacher, I can join the other moms and dads and be ecstatic for this wonderful time of year!!

 As a little back to school treat I am making these candy bars for my daughter. They are encouraging and so sweet (hehe excuse the pun!). I found them over at Sugar to Designs and the printable is free.

Go ahead,sweeten up your little scholar's day. :) 

 Love and lots more free time, Kerry, the Momster 

Mad Magnets

For a recent road trip to Daytona beach I went a little nuts making goodie bags to keep the kids entertained. This little magnet toy was such a hit with my daughter that I thought I would share. I used a cd tin and drew the background ocean scene on paper. Then I found 2 small pictures of the kiddies, cut them out and glued to a magnet sheet (you can also print directly onto magnet sheets, but I use recycled calendar magnets that we get from realtors and such like-read:free!). After that I used beach themed stickers stuck ont magnet sheets and cutout. Voila! Beach magnet scene toy ready and waiting. All the pieces fit nicely in the tin, and it is small enough to put in any purse for entertainment-on-the-go boring errand days.

Love and games,
Kerry, the momster.

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Lookie lookie its a nookie

Inspired by some lovely reading nooks (or hideouts) as my daughter calls them) I whipped up this baby in under an hour. I used wire to fasten the curtain, an papasan chair cushion as the plush floor and christmas lights tied with ribbon for the ethereal lighting. Little Kaylee was so in love with it, that she slept in it exclaiming "I just know this is going to be the best night ever! I can tell!"

Love and little joys,
Kerry the Momster

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Pass me Over

Hi all, Sorry I have been M.I.A, but I am in the midst of a new project, and have had my hands full. Anyways here is a little craft for a place setting that I created to keep little hands busy today.
Happy Pesach/Easter/Spring!

I'm a lamb of God!

Love and lambs, 

Kerry the Momster 

 

Little Flower Princess

For Make-It March, here's a tutorial for a shirt I made a while back, inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Ruffles and Stuff. A simple way to jazz up a shirt for a girl:

 1. Start with a fun colored Shirt.

 

2. Cut out two shapes of "tear drops" and then cut out from chiffon. (I used the top part of a nightie that my daughter has outgrown). Cut as many pieces as will take to go around the collar twice.

 

 3. Pin the big tear drops to the shirt and run through the machine, then repeat with the little ones and voila!

4. Little Flower Princess! (Clip tutorial coming soon!)

Love and petals,
Kerry the Momster

Keep Kids Koloring (Kaylee's title)

MY daughter sits near me hovering over my shoulder as I type. So I will be setting her up with a drawing activity at the close of this post. It's a short post, because I find it rather difficult to type when a 6 yr old is reading everything aloud as I write. Like a munchkin feedback. I came across this fantastic little site, which teaches kids how to draw cartoons. Every kind, from SpongeBob to Star Wars. My favorite is the dragon. It has varying levels of difficulties, so is great for many age groups. Better yet, it's FREE!!!

 Keep them busy for at least a day on this VERY long winter break.So grab pencils, paper and crayons and get those kids writing comic strips, or drawing cards for the coming year. Just get them busy! How to Draw Cartoons

Love and industrious little ones,
Kerry the Momster

Royal Babies

We had the great fortune of taking a family cruise to Mexico recently. While it was 5 days, it was still too short, and I would have loved more time to relax with the family. My little boy slept well after wearing himself out at the pool, my daughter got to see a phenomenal Ice skating performance, and my husband ate so many cones of frozen yogurt that I'm surprised he can still feel his face. I got to shop and read ( a book!!) and see some Mayan Ruins in Mexico.

Royal Caribbean Cruise line definitely makes for some wonderful family time on their ships, and so I have compiled a list of pros and cons regarding traveling with kids on their line.I would HIGHLY recommend this cruiseline, specifically this ship! We were on the Liberty of the Seas:

Pros:

• Excellent Childcare (free for ages 3 and above)- my six year old didn't want to leave the play area, and because it's separated by age groups, the activities can be tailored specifically.
• Partner with Dreamworks and Fisher price and Crayola for lots and lots of activities onboard.
• The infant childcare is so great! All childcare staff have Bachelors in Education.
• A fun looking kiddie splash area
• Early dinner time
• Attentive staff who try to cater to the kids
• Lots of menu options for picky eaters
• Cribs available on board
• Lots of shows and fun activities for the whole family- Cupcake decorating lessons anyone?
• Dreamworks Character breakfasts, parades and meet and greets
• Fisher Price Toy lending program for babies 
• Wave Simulator, Rock wall and lots of other activities for older kids
• Room service available 24 hrs a day, and eating pretty much day round, so no worries if you miss a mealtime.

Cons:

•  Childcare for under 3 costs $8/hr
• No baths for babies in room- can only shower them.
• Most evening activities start too late for children to participate in
• Childcare fills up fast
• Paper-thin walls to the hallway-not good when teenagers decide to run up and down hallways at all times.
• When babies nap there isn't much to do in the rooms (Movies were $11.99 each to watch on Tv!!)
• Drinks are pricey (this is a con for the parents!)
• Room Service has very few choices.

Hope this helps you decide whether cruising is right for you with kids. Also note that these cons do apply to most other cruise lines too.

If you are interested in booking a cruise, I recommend contacting Theresa Watson. She is a vacation planner and was a great help on Royal Carribbean, and makes sure you know all your options, and services ahead of time.Office: 800.859.7225 Ext 13205 • Hours:  Tuesday - Saturday  11 - 8  EST 
Email: twatson@rccl.com  
Love and travel,
Kerry the Momster

Festival of Lights

Hannukah starts this evening! We decided to make a homemade Menorrah that has removable (and no chance of burning) candles . It was pretty simple...

Supplies:
Blue Cardboard Cut into 8 equal parts and one longer piece
Orange tissue paper ( cut into flames)
Silver ribbon
Glue
Tape
Styrofoam Tray
Toothpicks (broken in half)
Decorating items (optional)

How to:

1. Roll the cardboard into cylinders and tape
2. Glue silver ribbon pieces into cutout paper flames
3. tape flames into cylinders
4. Tape toothpick halves to bottom inside of cylinders
5. Decorate candles
6. Stick in styrofoam (one for each day!)

Love and little hugs,
Kerry the Momster

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, me up!

Gobble Gobble!

My love for cake-pops knows no seasonal boundaries. I wish I could say these were the lovechild of my own creativeness, but they are in fact inspired by the beautiful Bakerella(search for turkey cakepops on her site).

The turkey making station.

Mine were made with the left over cake from my son's first birthday, which I had frozen. Then crumbled the chocolate-deliciousness into chocolate frosting and froze into little balls. The I experimented with various candies to come up with a turkey face I was happy with. I settled on rolled fondant icing for the heads, cracked orange circle sprinkles for the beaks, pink starbursts for the wattles, and tiny rolled up pieces of tootsie rolls for the eyes. The tail feathers are candy corns pushed into the cakes after dipping in the candy coating.

It was a fun little project that my daughter and niece are going to love at their place settings at dinner.

     I am thankful for so much this year, the usual stuff:family, friends, my health- but I REALLY feel it this year. Straight through the heart. As my good buddy Bjork says (okay we are not buddies in the real sense, only in the creepy I hang on to every note she sings sense), "All is full of love."

Happy Thanksgiving Momsters!
Love and grateful hearts,
Kerry, the Momster

Bread and bones

Family fun has this awesome edible craft which we tried today. I jazzed it up with bit of olive oil and dusted with sesame seeds before cooking. Bones for dinner anyone? Happpy Halloween!

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The Big 5

Today its official! My little baby is a bonafide five year old. One can't even classify her in toddler terms anymore in clothing, and she no longer has a car seat, but a booster! So grown up!

Of course, this rite of passage requires cupcakes at school. So she decided she wanted chocolate. I decided I did not want to make regular cupcakes- as often they are not that chocolate-y, but something more along the line of brownies. Brownies don't make for the same cute,colorful, celebratory indulgences as cupcakes however, and thus I made a new concoction. A hybrid of brownie and cupcake, ingenious!

It was as simple as mixing two recipes together, and the only real talent came in mathematically trying to figure out the bake time, as brownies have a shorter cook time. I was afraid that the cakes wouldn't rise sufficiently, and although they did not rise as much as regular cupcakes, they still came out spongy, but moist and speckled with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. The perfect choco-combo!

We dressed them in blue frosting, sprinkles and colorful toothpicks that I found on sale at Target. And my "big" little girl was off to school, looking all five and alive, leaving me with a whole bowl full of cake mix (I had double because of combining two recipes).But no fear, preggo-mama is here, and will certainly be ingesting the two-layer, choc-chip, brownie cake I was able to bake from the leftovers.

In conclusion, mixing the two recipes worked great and I baked at 325 for the number right in the middle of the two (35 minutes for the cake, and 25 minutes for the cupcakes).

Of course I sampled a few already...And by few I mean 9 ;)


Love and sugar
Kerry, the Momster

A Monkey's Party

My little girl, who is actually not quite so little anymore, will be five this week. Yesterday we had her birthday party. Seeing as I am just about to pop with another baby, I didn't want to do a big party where I had to make and prepare an assemblage of snacks, treats and decorations. So when my daughter begged me for a party at Monkey Joe's I gladly agreed (Really, she said " I beg you, Mommy"). Until, that is, I saw their insanely off the wall prices. $300 seemed reasonable for a party of 8-16 guests, but when you look closer you see that this does not include food,cake, treat bags or drinks (except one drink for each child), you start seeing dollar bills flying out the window. Technically, the $300 only covers playtime and a visit from Monkey Joe.

The pizza, which is added on, start at $15 a pie, and one would need approximately 8-10 for a party that size. Then there's the cake:another $30-50 and goody bags:about $30, bringing the grand total for a party of 8 children to about $550!!  I would rather take a family vacation for that price.

So with suggestions from my good friend, Heather, I planned a "moving" birthday party. Right near Monkey Joe's there is a little Italian restaurant, which has "real" pizza for $12 a pie. This would go over much better for my husband's Italian family, than the cheap, tasteless cardboard they serve at the playplace. I organized with the restaurant for a party, and set up the menu ahead of time. I also brought in all our own plates and decorative things (about $30 on Littlest Pet Shop party supplies, and $30 on goody bag items at Party City). Once food and cake was eaten we moved along to Monkey Joes, where I paid admission for 8 kiddies ($10 each- and was even able to get a 2-4-1 deal thanks to an online coupon).

The children ran around, wearing off the cake and pizza until their parents had enough and decided to take them home. The only hard part was having my daughter agree to not getting to sit on the blow up monkey throne in the party room, but when I explained it was because I wanted to be able to buy he a special gift she was cooperative.

The end party total was $330, saving more than $200 and having the same activities, with better quality food! Sigh, I love bargains. So just know that you just need to look around for alternatives to save a little green.

Love and savings,
Kerry, the Momster