Family Summer To-Do

In and effort to keep from melting into nothing this summer in our un-air-conditioned house, Jake and I wrote up a list of fun summer-y activities to do with Chucky Sue this year, here is just a sampling of our ideas:

Go Camping*Visit Natural Bridge*Walk the Greenway*Blow Glow-in-the-Dark Bubbles*Roast Marshmallows*Make Ice Cream*Play at Smith Park with Cousins*Go Swimming at Splash Park

Look at Stars*Have a Sleepover*Pick Flowers*Take New Family Photos*Go Shopping

Find a Farmer's Market*Go To Mill Mountain Zoo*Visit Mamaw

Call Nonie and Papaw*Make a Blanket Fort*Give lots of kisses

Watch a sunset*Ride Bikes*Bake Cookies*Go to Story time*Fly Kites*Stay up late

I think we're well on our way to a fun summer!

Geek Gadget: Iphone Covers

I am slightly obsessed with iphone covers. Jake rolls his eyes everytime we got go to a department store or to the mall because he knows I will be browsing the iphone cover aisle for a good long while. (Don't worry, I limit myself for the sake of my budget, no new cover until the old one breaks!) But it just amazes me how creative people can get with such a simple shape!

Like this one, that looks like a sandwich!  This one was spotted in Asia though, so I'm not sure it's available state side.

This one proves that homemade can be a great option too! This fellow Trekkie super glued an old broken pin to his plain black case and geeks around the world were jealous!

This one featured on Babble is a contender for my next case, a lego one! I can see the awe on a kid's face if you whip this out in a waiting room and a few blocks to play with!

Besides just gorgeous patterns or colors, I love that iPhone case artists call back to old technology like in this GameBoy case. I definitely remember caring around that brick of a handheld to play Dr. Mario!

Then of course there has to be something Star Wars themed! I think this case almost got Jake interested in an iPhone.

believe me, there are some crazy talented artists out there using apple's dimensions as a canvas!

Recycled Art: Jewelry on the Cheap!

I've written about this craft before-

  Paper Beads!

This was 1.5 pages of magazines worth of beads.

Normally I try to not write duplicate posts but the last post was back in 2009, so I hope you excuse me! I made the beads myself, but Chucky Sue helped me string them into some beautiful necklaces. It was great for her fine motor skills. She is really turning into a girly girl, so she loves anything with jewelry or makeup lately.

Don't let her serious face trick you, she was having a blast- it's just hard work to concentrate! (also the bad editing is for Jake, he didn't want to show up in his PJs on my blog!)

Our first completed masterpiece.

They are a perfect rainy day craft, all you need is paper, scissors, glue and string. 

1: a dowel or skewer to roll the paper on 2: glue to hold it all together 3: long skinny triangles of magazine paper works best! 4: any string you have laying around will work 5: Scissors to keep the edges neat, I've tried tearing it before and it never turned out well!

I really love that I can make fun old necklaces and bracelets and if Chucky Sue crushes it, or it gets ruined all it cost me was a few cents and an hour or two. Quite different from when she rips my chain necklaces to pieces and I'm out at least $10!

Fun, easy, and earth friendly jewelry!