Superhero Story Stones

Welcome to A Pinteresting Wednesday!

Oh wait, it is Thursday. Well I am going to share these Superhero Story Stones with you today for A Pinteresting Wednesday anyway. So let's just pretend for right now that it is still Wednesday and that I blog more than just couple times a month. I have been a little lame lately...well not lame, but just attending to other things.

I truly meant to get this all posted and wittily delivered yesterday. But well, I wanted to finish my book. So I did. Hehehe.

So now my book is finished. So blogging seems like a good idea.

These Superhero Story Stones make me giddy. I had the idea for these story stones on Pinterest. I pinned it to my For the Kiddos board. (The specific ones I pinned are no longer available, in fact I can't even find what store they came from). Little attended a birthday party recently and the birthday boy liked to be creative and liked to read.

I thought recreating the story stones from my Pinterest board would be a perfect present. I decided to make them even more perfect for a little boy by giving them a superhero theme. That is how these Superhero Story Stones were born.

 Making your own set of Story Stones is easy.

All you need is:

a pack of river rocks
craft paint
fabric and cording to make a little bag (or a little bag already made)

I painted little pictures on the rocks that would coordinate with making up a superhero story. I am not gonna even hide the fact that this was my most favorite part of this project. Could you die over that itty bitty rock Hulk? He is my favorite.

Once I had painted various superhero themed pictures onto the rocks, I whipped up a very simple drawstring bag. I used yellow duck cloth for the outside and a superhero print for the inside.

I drew a red cord through as a drawstring. I also hand painted the tell a story word bubble onto the outside.

Since our birthday boy liked to read, I also threw in a super hero book to complete the present. My boys are now requesting their own story stones.

These Superhero Story Stones were such an easy fun gift to make. They are also so easy to fit any theme. Man the possibilities are endless--princess, animals, cars, farm, ocean, robots, Frozen...I could go on and on.

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Build A Snowman Activity (Printable)

Yesterday I gave a little teaser of our Build a Snowman Activity on Instagram (follow along @larissa_anotherday).

When it is cold outside and there are some crazy Littles who have a pretty severe case of cabin fever, a fun indoor activity is just what the doctor ordered.

So I put together a fun Build a Snowman Activity printable that my boys could cut out and glue together.

Download Build a Snowman

I printed off the pages on cardstock.

Then the boys cut everything out.

Little required some help on the smaller pieces...aka the twig arms.

I made the face so that the individual eye and mouth dots didn't need to be separately cut out. I made them in a square that fits right onto the head circle.

Cut out the face square. Glue it onto the circle , and then glue on the nose.

I used larger pieces of craft paper for the backdrop of the snowman. They glued all the separate pieces on to that.

All three of my older boys were able to do the activity. Building their snowmen took up a good chunk of after school unrest time. Plus now I have three pretty awesome works of art to hang up on my Santa's Art Gallery wall.

I hope you enjoy and that you have fun with this Build a Snowman Activity Printable.

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Fun with the Kids Fridays: Snake O'Cups

Fun Fridays!! Woohoo.

Now that school is out we are in desperate need of fun projects and boredom busters.

These snakes are super fun and just about the most awesome thing ever. Just ask my boys.

They are obsessed with snakes. We have several books all about snakes, and they read them all the time. Their favorite snake fact:

There is a snake that farts up to 6 feet to ward off predators.

Every time the boys talk about it they laugh and laugh and laugh.

In one of the books, there was an idea to make a snake from cups.

Yep, that was going to happen.

A bunch of cups and an hour or so equals three very happy boys.

Here is how you can make a Snake O'Cups all your own--

You need:
colorful paper cups
brads
red pipe cleaners
craft eyes
hot glue

Every cup, except the head cups and the first cup, will need 4 holes.

Two holes on the top on opposite sides of the cup and two holes on the bottom on opposite sides. Both sets of holes need to be about an inch from the top and bottom.

Punch the holes with a push pin, that will make it easier to put the brads in.

You connect the cups by putting one cup into the other. Then you attach them with brads through the top holes of the outside cup to the bottom of the inside cup.

The first cup you do only needs the holes at the top. This will be the tail. You continue attaching cups working towards where the head will be. Alternate colors, create a pattern. Basically keep at it until you have a snake to your liking. Our were about 17 cups long.

I will warn you that you will need to help. The brads were a bit tricky for little teeny fingers. The brads also really need to be fastened good. I mean they have to withhold any ensuing snake fights...that will occur, I promise you.

The snake wranglers will appreciate all your hard work though.

Just before you add the head, you will stop with a cup only attached at the bottom. Set it aside and make the head.

For the head, first make the tongue.

You need 2 red pipe cleaners.

Twist it together, leaving about and inch untwisted.

Then twist it all together.

Cut a tiny hole in the bottom of a cup and pull the pipe cleaner through using the left over inch to keep it in place.

With hot glue, attach the eyes on either side of the top of the tongue cup. Then glue that cup to the last cup of the snake body.

Draw some fangs by the tongue and....

DONE.

The brads make the cups move very snake-like.

These are the only pet snakes our boys will EVER have.

When not being carried, they prefer to lounge in the sun.

My boys gave this project two very enthusiastic thumbs up. Now they can stop pestering me for their own pet snake.

Which is good, cause it was never.gonna.happen.

Happy Friday!!
Linking here:
Your Homebased Mom
Thirty Handmade Days

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.