Creativity Made Simple with Jo-Anns: How to Make Pom Pom Hair Ties Video Tutorial

Can y'all please pinch me cause I feel like I am dreaming. Jo-Anns asked me to create a video for their YouTube channel and I still can't believe it. How freakin' cool is that?!

Jo-Anns contacted me earlier in this month to create a video tutorial as a part of their Creativity Made Simple campaign.  On their Youtube channel you can view my video along with a few other pretty crafty bloggers where we share how to create simple and fun crafts helping you to rediscover time for your creativity!

Here is my video below:

Or click here to see it!  If my video is the most viewed I will get to host a giveaway for a $100 Jo-Ann Gift Card for one of you to win, how fun right!  And in full disclosure, I'll win one too!  So please, watch, view, and share my video!!!  Learn how to make fun Pom Pom Hair Ties and see how the Clover Pom Pom maker works...its is the neatest little gadget and once you have one you will never want to put it down.

Jo-Anns is also giving y'all a 40% off coupon to use in their stores, valid from 3/22-3/31/13 
Just print if off and save some cash on your next shopping trip!

XOXO,

** I have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions are truthful and my own.  This post contains paid links.

These Boots Are Made For Walking...

Well, not really boots...more like soft-soled leather baby shoes :-)

If you are still not picking up what I'm putting down, let me just clarify a bit more...my little Eloise is now walking!

WALKING!  W. A. L. K. I. N. G. !!!

Here is a little video proof of my sweet 10 month old doing her thang::

Since walking is just the gateway to scaling furniture and all other 'give your momma a heart attack' baby mischief it's only natural that we have already found her on top of our Little Tikes picnic table and rocking out while standing up on Noah's little chair and table set...good times :-)

XOXO,

The Proof is in the Pudding

Oooh, here is proof that Penny really is taking after her Momma! Shoes...lovely, beautiful, pretty shoes...she just can't seem to get enough of them, kinda like me! Hooray! Now we can shop 'til we drop when she is older, ok...maybe when she turns 3...I just can't wait that much longer to have a shopping buddy!!!

This little obsession started when she was just itty bitty and she figured out a way to squirm her little body to the mudroom where all of our shoes are kept. She would roly-poly herself over there and start chewing on our shoes. Blech, I know, but there was really no stopping her. Ok, I guess a gate would have helped but really, she would have found a way around it...that's what obsessions do, right!?! Ahhh, so proud, I am ! Here's a little video of my little girlie humming and as happy as can be in my shoes! By the way, those are my crazy yarn-colored Dansko clogs, I think they were a limited edition last year...pretty and comfy...perfect for a momma on the run!

Love her!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My

Ok, so it was more like Tigers, Elephants, and Clydesdale Horses...but it was still an 'Oh My!' because I'm always so amazed at how these animals can be trained to do the most amazing things! Yesterday, we went to the Kelly Miller Circus that was in town for the day. It is a great one ring circus that is one of the only circuses that still use elephants to help raise the Big Top. I went with the littles in the morning when the circus crew gets into town and we were able to get a front row viewing of just how the elephant does it. It was so neat to see! Check out the video below if you want to see it too!

Raising the Big Top...the bobcat is just there to guide the huge pole into place, the elephant still does the majority of the work...CRAZY I know!

This is what the elephant needed to raise, the very middle of the tent!

Check out that massive harness on the elephant...10,000 lbs of cute wrinkly gray skin ready to get to work!

Why is this fence here? Don't they know we are mini Dr. Doolittles?

We had seats right in the center of the tent so Noah and Penny had great view of all the action. They both seemed mesmerized by the trapeze artists and their high flying abilities...it was a family act and two of the best performers were these two young boys who were probably 14 and 16 years old!!! Noah L-O-V-E-D the elephants and couldn't wait for their act...which of course was the last act of the show, but well worth the wait! During intermission he and Daddy had a ride on one too, you should of seen the excitement on this kid's face...priceless! When Penelope saw the little doggie act come out she started clapping and screaming like a maniac, it was just too cute...she loves her doggies! It was a great time and we had so much fun...see ya next year circus! We miss you already!

Ready for the show to begin...bring on the tigers!

Momma with a mesmerized little girl

Daddy with a mesmerized little boy....how do they get those tigers to line up, stand still and then have another tiger jump over all of them...amazing!

Noah super excited for his 'elli-phant' ride!

There they go...

And now for Noah's all-time favorite act of the circus...ELEPHANTS!

Oh No!...We've Been Slimed!

Our Thursday art class has ended...boo hoo! So here is a project from a previous art class that I just never posted. Not sure why, I guess I was having mommy brain or something! In this class, we made slime and it was soooo much fun! This type of slime is incredibly fun to mess around with because it acts as a liquid if you play with it slowly like by dripping it off a spoon or from between your fingers and then it acts as a solid if you hit it hard with a spoon or your fist. SO COOL! It's a great science project for all you science nerds like me! Here is how we did it:

Slime

2 cups cornstarch

1 cup water

food coloring if you desire (we added yellow food coloring here...if you do add it, add it to the water before you mix it all together)

This is so simple! Mix the cornstarch and water together until it is pretty hard to mix. Ours felt a bit rock like. You will have the urge to add more water but DON'T DO IT! Try to hit it with the spoon and if it feels like a rock you made this crazy slime. If you try to spoon some of it up and drip it it should be liquid-like. Yay cool....science IS fun...do you believe me NOW!

The ingredients...cornstarch and water

Hit the slime with a spoon really hard and it becomes rock-like. I know you can't really tell from the picture...but it's waaaay cool!

Drip the slime from your hands and it's a liquid...COOL

This is a video so you can see how truly neat this stuff really is...enjoy my hand model, can you guess who it is? Yuppers, Clif again!! He is a great hand model isn't he? We may need to insure those babies!

And, my little Peanut just wanted to say "Bye Bye". Isn't she a doll...she's going to be ONE in less than a week, I still can't believe it!

Baby Steps