First Day of School and Duck Tape Grade Numbers

If you follow me on Instagram (hey and if you don't follow me well then you should just go ahead and follow @larissa_anotherday--just sayin'), you know school started this week. In fact, this is the second time I am mentioning the start of school on the blog this week.

Yeah, I am kind of excited about it.

I love the start of school. I loved it when I was in school and I love it now with kiddos in school. The start of school is a fun and exciting time.

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of Oldest and Middle's first day of school.

I had their clothes laid out. Middle very obediently put what I picked out on. Oldest, well he made some modifications. I guess he is at that age, right? At least he kept on the red shoes (Ruum).

We got ready in record time. They had to. The bus comes quite a bit earlier now.

In fact, the Duck Tape Grade Number pictures were actually taken after they got home from school. A keepin' it real moment for ya. I was pretty amazed that they looked as put together at the end of the day as they did before they went to school. Well, I did have to make Oldest tuck his shirt in.

I thought I would throw in a quick how-to on making these Duck Tape Grade Numbers. They are easy peasy to make.

You need:
Duck Tape
Foam Poster Board
Exacto knife

I used some old foam board, so ignore the red stripes.

1. Write the number on the board.
2. Cut out around the number with about an inch to a half inch boarder.
3. Tape off edges first.
4. Starting at the bottom, rip off pieces large enough to wrap around the part you are covering. Keep layering up, trying to match the pattern best you can. Cover the whole number.

In the end, your number will look like this.

So easy.

Now that the project is done, the photos are taken, and the first day of school is done...

We can have cookies and milk.

 

 Thanks for reading!

A Pinteresting Wednesday: Duck Tape Wallets

Welcome everyone to A Pinteresting Wednesday!

Do you remember when duct tape only came in like two colors??

How boring was our life?

I recently was in charge of an activity for the girls at my church. I remembered having a friend a couple of years ago make duct tape wallets with a group of girls. With all the really cool duct tape available now, I thought that would be a really fun thing to do with my girls.

I had never made one so I went to the best place available to find the instructions. I went to Pinterest and typed "duct tape wallets" in the search box.

Several options came up, and THIS tutorial from Crafty Nest seemed to one that had a lot of pins, and links back. So this one was the tutorial I went with.

I went to pick out some girly Duck tape and then was faced with the most awesome boy Duck tape EVER.

I suddenly realized that I should probably create a couple of test wallets before teaching my girls. So I decided I should probably purchase some awesome boy duct tape and make some wallets for my Little Men.

I mean, seriously, did you see this Super Mario Brothers tape? How awesome is that?

So I busted out three duct tape wallets.

In the original tutorial, she says it will take you 45 minutes to make one. I think that is more time for sure. The first one will take a little longer as you figure out what you are doing, but then the multiple ones I just busted out.

I played around with mixing and matching. Seriously it was really fun.

My boys were kind of obsessed with their wallets. Their first question was, "how much money can I have to put in it?"

Then I nicely informed them, "uh, none. But I love you and you have a really cool wallet."

I am not sure that is the answer they wanted. Hahaha.

This was a super fun project, and Crafty Nest has a pretty easy-to-follow tutorial.

Not only did my boys love their wallets, but my girls had a blast. Their wallets turned out great. They immediately asked if they could make more. Unfortunately making wallets with a fun and giggly group of girls will take a little longer, so they only had time for one wallet...at least for that night's activity.

There will probably be more wallet making in the future.

How has Pinterest helped you plan an activity?

Pinterest just has so many ideas all in one place.

Love.

It.

I would also LOVE if you followed Just Another Day in Paradise

on Pinterest or Facebook. 

That would be grand.

You are the bestest.

Fun with the Kids Fridays: Cardboard Indoor Hockey

A couple of weeks ago we weren't only snowed in, but we were also sub-temperatured in...totally a word...

The weather was so cold we even had a snow day due to negative temperatures. Needless to say we were desperately in need of some indoor fun and a little bit of off-our-fannies-time.

I got an idea to use our old wrapping paper tubes and some cardboard to make hockey sticks. Which of course are only useful if you are going to use them to play some hockey.

After just an hour of cutting, tapping, and moving furniture we were ready for some indoor hockey.

One on one indoor hockey to be precise.

With one player waiting his turn in the penalty box. Not always happily waiting either.

Hahahaha...man I love that face. He eventually got his turn.

He shoot, he scores!

GOOAAAAAL.

Defending the goal.

Do your kids wanna play some indoor hockey?

Let's make the stick and the puck.

First you need wrapping paper tubes, duct tape, paddle-type shape (yes I am sure there is an accurate name for this and I could look it up, but that would imply I know something about hockey) cut out of cardboard, and foam (or anything soft).

Cut two 3-4 inch slits across from each other at one end of the tube. Slide the neck part of the paddle into the slits.

Cut strips of duct tape. Then cut those stripes in half, making skinnier strips. Wrap the skinny strips around the neck of the paddle securing it to the tube. Wrap a lot.

Then using more strips of duct tape (not halved) and wrap the opposite end of the tube. Go ahead and add some decorative sporty stripes.

You can even add a design to the paddle. We also personalized our sticks by giving our players nicknames and writing that on the handle.

To make the puck, simply wrap the circle cut out of foam in black duct tape until it is covered and smooth.

Another thing we did to make the hockey more fun, was to make indoor skates using wax paper and rubber bands.

Cut out rectangle sheets of wax paper large enough to fully encase each foot. Wrap each foot in several layers and then loosely attach with a large rubber band (aka Do no cut off circulation. We would like them to keep their feet.).

This will in effect make the floor "slippery".

DISCLAIMER: Since the wax paper can make it slippery, there may be falling. So be careful. Also, my bigger Little Men tore through their wax paper skates really fast and ended up just taking them off halfway through.

With their hockey sticks and wax paper skates, they were ready to get down to business. With the furniture cleared, I taped two goal boxes to the floor on opposite sides of the room. Let the scoring begin.

Merriment and a little body-checking was done by all.  The boys had such a good time and were rough enough that I had to keep a roll of duct tape around to repair the hockey sticks of the older two.

I always think it is amazing how much fun can be created with cardboard and duct tape!

Thanks for reading!

Linking Here:
Tidy Mom, Design, Dining, and Diapers,
Your Homebased Mom,
Be Different Act Normal