Music Play for Kids with Jim Gill

Several months ago, we had the privilege of meeting Jim Gill at a local reading festival.  (There's Lydia Grace in a picture with him.)  Have you heard of Jim Gill?  He is a musician and author whose songs and stories my children absolutely adore.  Even little Caleb at 11 months old already laughs and dances to the catchy tunes.  Jim Gill's collection of recordings and stories are unique in that they encourage play between children and adults.  I have always incorporated a music time into my days with the kids, but Mr. Gill's songs have brought a new dimension to that time.  His songs have us jumping around, laughing, acting silly, learning, playing, and most importantly having fun together!  You can sample several of his songs at this link.  Before you hit the play button though, grab the kids and be prepared to get up and get moving.  I often joke with my husband that our music play time has also become mommy's workout time.  The Tempo Marches On is always perfect for that.  {laughing}  Truly!  You are going to love how fun these songs are.  Why am I gushing about Mr. Gill's music?  Well, I believe when us mommies find something fabulous, we should share.  I am frequently asked about the music time I do with my kids.  So...here I am sharing some of the great songs we use for our music time.

Jim Gill

Website   /   Store   /   Blog   /   Facebook

Interview with Jim Gill:

Mr. Gill graciously agreed to answer some interview questions for me.  I'm honored to introduce you to the man behind the music...

Group Giveaway Hosted by Pinkapotamus

 I'm  participating in a group giveaway over in Amie's cute corner of blogland.  Amie is a talented, fun, and sweet lady who blogs about her crafty projects and her family over at Pinkapotamus!  She also hosts awesome link parties on her blog.  To celebrate some really big blogging accomplishments, she is hosting a huge giveaway.  For my part of the giveaway, I'm giving one lucky reader a necklace from my new Summer Soda Pop Collection--any necklace of your choice.  Be sure to enter to win that prize, as well as, the other amazing prizes up for grabs!  Here's Amie to share with you the details of her giveaway...

Happy Super Giveaway Tuesday Pink Hippos!  You can enter to win 1, 2 or ALL of the giveaways and be entered to win these awesome prizes!

Prize #1 Necklace from the "Soda Pop" Collection From Bluebird Cottage Designs

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prize #2 Felt Coin Purse and Storage Basket from Toastie Studio

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prize #3 $10 Gift Certifcate to Scrappy Gifts

New Prices for 2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prize #4  Makeup Bag from Kate Pixley Designs

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prize #5 Felt Flower Crown from Pinkapotamus

Visit Pinkapotamus for details on winning this fabulous prize.

Good luck!

Love,

Pinkapotamus

 Congrats on 600 followers and 500 posts, Amie!  And thanks for hosting this great giveaway!  Good luck, everyone!

Guest: Jodi from Meaningful Mama

I have such a special treat for you today.  Jodi from Meaningful Mama is here with us sharing some wonderful words of wisdom on the topic of motherhood.  More specifically she is sharing with us her insights on being more purposeful and meaningful in our role as mothers, as well as, a creative idea to try with the kiddos.
Here's Jodi...

Becoming a mother is hard.  I learned that in the labor process, and I’ve been learning it ever since.  This blog has been, for me, a desire to be more intentional in my parenting.  I think I’ve spent the last four years of parenting living in the “I should” moments.  I should really take my kids to the park when it’s cold outside.  I really should get a reward system in place at our home.  I should get off “Words with Friends” right now and spend some quality time with my kids.  I should really invest in the character development of the kids more.   I was tired of the “I should” and decided to become meaningful.  This isn’t about me being an amazing mom.  It’s about me trying to improve daily in this precious role.  I have tips for you because I have found the observations of other moms and the advice I get from the “professional” moms as invaluable.  As I was left floundering and questioning every decision in parenting, I reached out to others I saw doing it right.  I got answers.  As I implemented them, I saw them work…and quickly.  As I became more intentional, I saw my kids thriving.  I am now working on character qualities weekly -  like joy, love, perseverance, obedience, orderliness, self-control, patience…and the list keeps building.  As I’m working on those in my kids, I’m learning how much I need to work on those in myself.  When focusing on a specific character quality, I’m discovering teachable moments around every turn.  The scripture that backs up these qualities is being instilled in my kids.  I want to use creativity, fun and play to aid in my children’s development as well as create the buy in to our family life.  I want them to enjoy us, and I want to enjoy them.  Is life at our house perfect?  Absolutely not.  Is it improving?  Absolutely yes.  I want to inspire others to be more meaningful in their parenting.  Will I have Martha Stewart moments in the process?  Hopefully, a few.  Mostly, I want things accessible.  Things you can take away and say, “I can do that.  I’m going to do that this week.”  Do everything? No, but I am hoping you’ll take something away from these minutes you spend in my corner of the web that inspire you to turn the “I should…” into “I’m going to…”

This is a sand castle that will dry and last, making it a permanent, air-hardened sculpture. When working with this material, It feels like wet sand, but it sticks together well. It is like working with a rough play doh, moon doh or anther sculpting material.  It has a really fun texture and is a great material to work with - my kids loved the feeling between their fingers.  It dries completely within a week.  I can imagine making some cool centerpieces with it for a beach party. I got the idea from my sister.  She had cut it out of an old magazine and had it in her craft file.  I believe it's from Family Fun magazine.  We made a few different castles together, but this one was my favorite.

 Materials Needed: * 1 cup sand (you can use beach sand, but I bought this at the craft store) * 1/2 cup cornstarch * 1 tsp alum (sold in the spice section of the grocery store) * 3/4 cup water * shells and rocks (optional - I bought mine at the Dollar Store) I doubled the recipe, and I would highly recommend you do too.

Pour the sand, cornstarch and alum into a saucepan. I always like to let my kids do it.  Yes, Kenzie spilled a bit of the cornstarch, but that's easily cleaned up.

Stir together your ingredients with a wooden spoon and then add water.  Stir again until the mixture is smooth and the cornstarch is dissolved.  Cook the clay over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  It should start to thicken within a few minutes.  Stir more vigorously, making sure to scrape the mixture from the sides and bottom of the pan.

After a few minutes, the clay will have thickened to a dough-like material that can be molded and sculpted to your liking.  Please allow for it to cool to the touch before you begin sculpting.  For best results, use the clay within a day or two of mixing it.  Your kids will love building their own creations.

Jodi
from
Meaningful Mama


Thank you so much for sharing with us, Jodi!
 Be sure to visit this talented lady at her own fabulous blog by clicking here.

Blog Swap: Meet Biz from Busy Biz Blogs

It's a swap!  Biz from Busy Biz Blogs will be spending some time with you today.  I am over in her lovely corner of Blogland.  I know that you will love what she has to show you today.  Biz is a very talented lady, but even more than that she is an amazing mother, wife, and friend.  I am blessed to have met her through blogging and even more blessed to be able to call her my friend!  Here's Biz!

Hi Everyone!


I'm Biz from Busy Biz Blogs.

I felt so blessed when Jennifer asked me to come over and share my most recent craft project with ya'll.

I am the wife of an Air Force Officer and I am blessed to be a stay at home mom to my beautiful baby girl Bitsy.

With all the transition in our lives, adding a baby is a lot of change, finding time to craft was a challenge at first.

We are a little over 5 months in and I'm finally starting to feel like a normal human again, most days!
This is a craft that isn't too complicated or time consuming (as sometimes with little ones you don't have the luxury of time)

Today I am going to share with you my Blarney Rag Wreath.

(JUST IN TIME for St. Patrick's Day!)

Here is What You'll Need:

 3 heart shaped wire wreath frames 

(you could do 4 if you want to make a 4 leaf clover, I opted for 3)

1 yard each of 2 types of green fabric.

(or 2 yards of one green fabric OR 3/4 a yard of 3 types of green fabric, you get the gist) 

I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby, but I've seen these heart wreath frames at most craft stores near the floral section.

Fold your fabric in half long ways.

Fold in half long ways again.

Now cut 1" strips in the fabric.

You'll have strips like this when your done.

(Save 3 or 4 of these longs strips..you'll need them for your stem)

these strips were a little long...oops

 Cut each of those strips into 5 pieces.

You should end up with strips that are approx 1"x 7"

 Figure out how you'd like to lay out our clover.

Then starting in the center, start tying your strips of fabric on.

As you can see you'll want to tie your hearts together at first.

Once that is done you'll start tying the fabric around 2 bars at a time.

 Knot it once...

 ....and then twice.



 Alternating fabric colors as you so choose :)

The final touch is to add your stem.

Take your extra long pieces that you saved from earlier and loop them through your back two adjoining hearts.

You'll have 6-8 long streamers hanging down.

At this point you can gather them haphazardly and braid them together.

(Sorry I didn't get better pictures of this part)

When you are done you may want to go around the edges and clean up or sharpen them.

I trimmed up a little and here was my final result!

 And there you have it!

Your very own St. Patrick's Day Wreath.

I just want to thank Jennifer so much for having me over today.

Jennifer is such a wonderful friend to have here in blogland.

I feel so blessed each and every time I stop by to visit her and check on her little ones!

It's crazy that our babies are nearly the same age and growing so quickly!

I hope you all feel as blessed by her as I do!

Feel free to come by my place anytime you want...in fact I'm hosting a give away if you are feeling lucky?!



 

Guest: Lisa from Lisa's Craft Blog

I have a fantastic guest for you today.  Lisa from Lisa's Craft Blog is joining us.  She has some really BIG plans for her blog this year, so be sure to visit her in her corner of blogland.  I'll let Lisa tell you more about herself and her blog.

 

Hi there!!  I'm Lisa and I blog over at Lisa's Craft Blog!!  

I'm so excited to be here today and am so grateful to Jennifer for letting me share this project with you all!!

Today, I'm going to show you how I made my Quick Fabric Covered Magnets, which is actually a version of Jennifer's Fabric Magnets.  She originally shared her tutorial here at The Life of Jennifer Dawn back in November.  I loved this project soo much I had to try and make my own version!!

The two biggest changes you'll see in my version is that I sewed my fabric around the wooden shapes, rather than glue them.  Also, I used really inexpensive wooden shapes that I purchased at Michael's in a bag of a few hundred pieces for just $5!!


At the end of the tutorial, I will explain the adjustment you'll need to make in order to cover square/rectangle and heart shapes with fabric.  They can be a bit tricky so be sure to read these "adjustments".


Let's get to the tutorial for my version, shall we?

SUPPLIES

Wood Shapes

Fabric

Felt

Magnets

Glue

Hot glue & glue gun

Step 1: PREP FABRIC & FELT

Cut Fabric

Cut pieces of  fabric about 1/2"-3/4" larger than the wooden shape.

Cut Felt Backing

Trace your wooden shape onto felt in coordinating colors and cut out.

Step 2: COVER WOODEN SHAPE

Stitch Edges

Sew a loose running stitch around the edge of the shape.

Cinch Fabric

Place the wooden shape in the center of the fabric and cinch the fabric around the shape.

Tie a knot to hold the fabric tight around the wooden shape.

Step 3: GLUE FELT BACKING

Using tacky glue, attach the felt to the back of the fabric-covered wood piece.

Step 4: ADD MAGNETS

With a hot glue gun, attach a magnet to the felt side of the shape.

FINISHED!!

SQUARE SHAPE ADJUSTMENTS

Trim the corners of the fabric squares so that they are a bit rounded.

Follow the rest of the steps described above.

HEART SHAPE ADJUSTMENTS

Trim the bottom point of the fabric heart so that it is rounded.

Sew a running stitch around the edge of the fabric and then cinch it around the wooden heart.

Add a stitch from the bottom of the heart to the top indent and back to the bottom; pull the thread tight so the fabric fits tightly into the top indent.

Follow the rest of the steps described above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!! I know I had a blast making it!!  You should definitely make a set of these for yourself or as a gift - you'll enjoy it too!!

If you happen to like step-by-step crafty tutorials, I hope you'll stop by Lisa's Craft Blog because I have many for you to browse through.  I also host a weekly linky party called "Lisa's Linky List".  I personally invite you to link up your crafty creations each week!!

If you happen to stop my blog by before January 31st, you can even enter my Grand Re-Launch Giveaway to try and win one of 3 crafty prize packages that have a combined value of over $175!!  Click the button below to be taken to the entry widget.

I want to say "Thank you" to Jennifer for allowing me to share my version of her great tutorial!!  I've had a great time here at The Life of Jennifer Dawn, but now I must head home to Lisa's Craft Blog and give my readers some attention!! hehehe

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

Thanks, Lisa, for stopping by!  Good luck with your Grand Re-Launch!