Melted Snowman Cookie

I am finally taking some time to write something. I did not realize it has been 4 months since I last posted.

Bigfoot gave Dad and I a cute snowman for Valentine's Day that she made in school. It is the cutest thing I have seen and it is made out of a sock. It reminded me a bit of the snowman cookies I made for them in December, which I found on my second camera the other day.

Thought you would enjoy the pictures. Snowman Bigfoot made.


Pickle Face giving the thumbs up on his cookie, but he needs to eat his carrot before he gets his treat.

Bigfoot enjoying her cookie.

Here is the link for the cookie tutorial at Truly Custom Cakery. I did use my own homemade cookie dough from a favorite family recipe. I used a Royal Icing with egg whites that I found on the Internet and it was good, hard on the top but soft underneath. If you are interested, just email me and I can send you the link.

Have a wonderful day crafting (and baking) because at Bigfoot & Pickle Face we love to do both.

Back to School for Bigfoot September 2010

Like everyone else, Bigfoot started school in September. She is now in full day Kindergarten and loving it. Here are some pictures of her before school and her taking the bus home.

Pickle Face wanted his hair like his sister, hence the hair bands and he had to have a backpack like hers. He went to school with us and everyone thought his hair was a "hoot". It did not last long and the hair bands came out.

Here they are together posing for the picture.

Bigfoot posing by herself.


Pickle Face and his trademark smile, usually one eye closed.


We dropped Bigfoot off at school which is less the a mile away. She insisted on riding the bus so she takes it home. This is the first time riding the bus home, she loves it!

Hard to believe that she was a tiny baby 5 years ago!

Have fun and enjoy crafting with the little ones as it brings out the child in you.

Biking with Bigfoot

Bigfoot is now officially off of training wheels. She is so proud riding her new "banana seat" bike. Although it is used it is new to her and she does not say anything about the 2 different wheels and the rust on the bike and peddles. The little handle on the back of the bike seat makes it nice to hold the bike up without breaking your back while you are running along side until they learn how to balance on their own. I tried training her with her much smaller bike at the early part of summer and just about broke my back trying to hold her up so I put the training wheels back on.


Here are some photos to enjoy.


She is proud of her seat and is showing mom the cut in the material where she fell.

Showing me her battle wounds, scratches and dings.



Oops, steered on to the lawn.



Riding on her own, whee.



The joy on her face says it all, "I am free". Dad is running beside her to catch her if she falls.

Now she just needs to learn how to stop and get off the bike without tipping over. She moved back to her smaller bike, which makes her look like a big clown on a little bike like you see at the circus, and she is doing great. Soon she will go back to her bigger bike once she gains courage and confidence and the strength to hold it up.

Hope you had a wonderful summer with much learning and crafting.

Bigfoot's Birthday Party - Tie Dye

Bigfoot is turning 5 in June. Hard to believe, as it seems like she was born just yesterday. I put together her first 2 1/2 years of her life into a photo book ordered here at Winkflash.com for $19.95 plus shipping, what a deal.

Bigfoot's birthday party theme was tie dying and we sure had fun. Since I was running the party, it was so hard to get pictures but here is one of the birthday girl and then her and a friend actually coloring a shirt.

Bigfoot

Coloring shirts ~ lucky she had her shirt on backwards to the dye got on the back as it is a new shirts. I informed the parents to send the kids in old clothes and here Bigfoot wore a new shirt. I was so busy I did not notice.

Here is Bigfoot with her shirt complete. She is holding her doll "Bryce" who has on a tie dye outfit that Bigfoot had as a baby.

I got my supplies for the tee shirts at Shirt Suppliers, make sure it is 100% cotton if using for tie dye. The supplies were ordered from Dharma Trading Company, and I purchased the kit for 50 so I can have extra for other projects later on.

Make sure you prepare in advance so it moves smoothly. I wrapped all the shirts in advance so we had time for other fun things.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Wednesday

It has been quite a while since the blog has been updated. Many personal and business things have been keeping me quite busy, so as a result not much updating. Weather has been really nice and here are some pictures of how we spent Mother's Day ~ at the zoo. Bigfoot and Pickle Face had a wonderful time and I have to say it was the best Mom's Day so far.

[Pictures are not the best but you can see the joy on their face~or is that confusion and concentration.]

Bigfoot and her horse.

Pickle Face on his horse.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for following me.

Award Craft Project

Bigfoot has been waking in the night to have us cover her up. So about 2 weeks ago, I told her that if she slept through the night consistently and covered herself up and did not wake us up, she would get an award at the end of the week. Well it turned into a competition with Pickle Face. Everyday she wants to know if he slept through the night. So we started to tally it on the calender and I had to extend the competition another week because she had more points them him ~ she woke us up more.

So I combined two easy projects together and created this award. Depending on who sleeps through the night without interruption, they get to sit up on the higher block. Bigfoot was on the lower block but it was bothering her and she wanted to move to the taller one, so I accommodated her as she did sleep through the night the day prior. She said Pickle Face could sit on her lap.


How Does She? is where I got the idea for the wood blocks. I took some short cuts and wanted to sand some more and stain the exposed wood, but ran out of time. I can do it later if it bothers me. How Does She? has some wonderful ideas and fun things, go visit their site HERE. I did not have 2x4 so I used what I had in my garage.

For the instructions on how to make the "figures" see Claudine Hellmuth's site HERE. I watched the Martha Stewart episode and it was very helpful. I did not have the glue that was listed so I used E6000 and it worked. I printed the pictures in black and white to my laser printer and did not use the copier. Bigfoot is not a big dress wearer, so I put pants on her. Claudine has some fun ideas on her blog which is HERE.

Have fun and don't forget to work on your rubber stamping projects. Great way to make Easter cards. ~ Cheryl

Bigfoot & Pickle Face ~ Relaxing

Very lovely days we are having lately, spring will be here soon. Yesterday the kids spent some time outside in the late afternoon and while we were at the neighborhood park we found a birds nest that was on the ground. Bigfoot just had to have it and as it is so cold I am sure there is no bird living it in now, so we took it home. She decided to put it in one of the bushes and constantly looks out the window to see if a bird has moved in. No such luck yet. It blends in with the bush, but if you look real close you can see it.

The two kids played in the snow and then decided to take some time to relax and watch the sun go down. Here they are sitting in the chairs I forgot to bring in before the snowfall. Just their size.

Enjoy your day and take time to relax.

Swing/Flip Homemade Card

This card cool because it is different and very fun to give away. Think outside the box when decorating it and always include the kids. An adult should cut out the card because it is a bit tricky, but the kids can do the designing and add their own twist.

Here is the front of the card.

Here is the back of the card when it flips. I used white card stock for a message to be written and layered it on top of coordinating card stock.

To do the outside card, first cut a piece of card stock at 6" x 5 1/2". On the 6" side score at 2 1/2" and 3 1/2". See below image as a guideline. Cut inside the card creating a 1" frame and stopping at the score line. Usually rulers are 1" in width so you can use that as a guide and cut along the ruler with an exacto knife if you have no other option [just make sure you stop at the score lines]. Fold the card like a "z" along the scored lines. When you open and close the card it should move easily.

Cut 2 pieces of card stock 3 1/2" x 4" and glue to the inside panel. This will cover up your score lines. When you decorate this card, be aware that the front of the card will be smaller then when you have the card fully opened [when you flip it]. So decorate it in the folded or closed position, otherwise you may lose some of your design behind a frame.

Time to add your own design. Here is the card from the top view. Use this as an invitation to a party, the recipient will have lots of fun flipping the card to view all the details.

Start having fun with your children doing kids' crafts and you will be impressed with the outcome. Is there a thank you card you need to send or a get well card, why buy one when you can make your own.

I used the clear stamp from our fish set 2 and our very popular child safe/washable ink stamp pad in black from our Bigfoot & Pickle Face collection. Thanks for stopping by and when you are trapped in by snow, rain and sickness and the kids are climbing the wall, pull out the stamps and let the creativity flow.

Triangle Treat Box - Homemade

Once again, this item is great as a party favor for a birthday, bridal shower, baby shower or for a holiday gathering. Very easy and quick to make and a wonderful project for the kids to assist with decorating. It took me about 5 minutes to put this together.

Take a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock and on the 8 1/2" side score or fold at 3 1/2", 7" and 10 1/2". Turn to the 11" side and score at 3". Cut as shown below up to the score line and cut off the small end piece. Fold and glue the box together on the side.

Fold 2 of the flaps back and up and hold and take a pencil and trace the triangle onto the piece of card stock. Do this with all 3 sides. See below for example.

Cut along the triangle and cut on the inside of the triangle. Glue the flaps down.

Decorate and then put your treats in a bag and you are done. If you would like to have a top border, the paper size is 1" x 11". The font that I used is from the following website ~ freefontfun.com. You will find many cool fonts and it is very easy to download.

The elephant is from Bigfoot & Pickle Face clear rubber stamp set and I designed a hat for him to dress him up for a party. Go to our storefront if you would like to purchase the stamp set; don't forget to buy a child safe/washable ink stamp pad. Have fun and have a great weekend creating kids crafts!

Valentine Folded Heart Card

I love this idea of a Valentine's Day card. Very simple and easy to make, and it does not have to be perfect so your kids can help you with this project. Since Patti at "Creations by Patti" blog has a wonderful tutorial on how to do this project, you can click HERE.

This is my card following her instructions. I did modify and used a ribbon to go around the card and stuck my flower to the ribbon. I did cheat and glued my inside card on the heart and then scored around around the card; I was off a just bit, but the ribbon and flower hide my mistake :). I did use tissue paper for the flower [it was pretty wrinkled] and it worked better if I folded the tissue paper in half and then used the punch. I then put the flower together with a pink brad and dipped and rubbed it on out Bigfoot & Pickle Face child safe/washable ink pad in the color pink.

Card Folded

Inside of the card.

I found this stamp at the local craft store at 1/2 off the clearance so I paid $1.88 [original $7.50]. The stamp is by Great Impressions and I really like it because it reminds me of Bigfoot & Pickle Face when they are playing nice.

Here is Bigfoot showing off her barrettes.

Happy stamping and creative crafting with the kids.

Matchbook Valentine

Bigfoot gave to me the other day a "secret Valentine" from an admirer, which was obviously her. So I had to put together something for her from her "secret Valentine". So I quickly put together 2 matchbooks that were a Valentine theme and presented them to her and Pickle Face [similar to the ones below]. Inside their matchbook was a mini Heath Bar that was wrapped with a saying. They were not to eat their treat until after dinner, but Pickle Face snuck his treat in and I found the wrapper later. He let me smell is breath and I knew he was the one that ate it. He is very picky about dinner but he sure loves his sweets.

Here is the matchbooks completed.


Here they are opened. As long as you can put the item in it and close it, use what you want for a filling.

Cut a piece of card stock 1.75" x 5". Score on the 5" side at 2", 2 1/4" and 4 1/2".

Decorate your matchbook and then choose what you want to put inside and staple the treat inside. You can decorate with just about anything you have handy. I used mini Heath candy bars and Life Savors hard candy. If giving it as a Valentine's card, have your child sign it on the inside or the backside.

These are quick and easy to put together and does not require much thought. You can have your child do the decorating, just have them do it over a period of time if they have lots of them to do.

Here was the note from my secret admirer. Boy did I feel special. This was the inside.

This is the front. Oh, she has to put periods at the end of each word ~ cute.

These are great for party favors at a child's party, baby or bridal showers or wedding favors. Quick and easy, I love it.

Have a great weekend and keep stamping and spending time with your children. Crafting with them is fun!

Bigfoot & Pickle Face ~ Blue Tongue

I forgot I took this photo of Bigfoot & Pickle Face. They both were treated to a blue sucker and thought it was cool they ended up with a blue tongue. I was able to get them to stand still together so I could take a quick photo. They are at that age where they play real nice together and Bigfoot is forever trying to teach Pickle Face new things. Some days, he wants nothing to do with her; but you can see the love they have for each other.

Oh, Bigfoot is in her summer dress and when this picture was taken it was probably 15 degrees out.


Enjoy!

Valentine Matchbox

Bigfoot needs to bring to school 22 Valentine cards during the week of February 8th. We decided instead of giving out cards you can buy, we would make them ourselves. The teacher sent home a note about a week ago to have the kids start signing their cards over a bunch of days so that it would not be such a big task for 4/5 year old. Here is a pile of the project we did.

Using the paper we had on hand I printed, cut out and glued 24 boxes [cannot forget the teachers]. I used bright pink for the bottom and then coordinated the outside box with decorative paper we had on hand. Since Bigfoot is still young and her attention span is not that long, I did the boxes on my own. I decided that as long as the paper coordinated we could dress it up with hearts.

I wanted to try out polymer clay as I have seen some cool looking buttons on blogs that I follow, so we rolled out the clay and used a heart shape cutter on both the red and blue clay. We mixed in a bit of white clay to give some of them a marble look. I used a glossy glaze on one side of the heart to see how it would change the look; I like it glossy. The kids can re-use the clay hearts and make a necklace for their mom or grandma if they want ~ recycle.

I printed out on pink paper hearts for her to sign her name so we could attach them to the box. I kept telling her over the last 4 days that she needed to sign the hearts. I am trying to get her to write smaller and keep her "long 8 letter name" all on one line. Yesterday she took the pages and I thought maybe she would only get about 5 of them signed, she wrote her name on all 30 hearts and then cut them out without me knowing. Truth be told, I was happy that she cut out all the hearts and even though they do not look perfect I still think they look fabulous. She saved me a ton of time. We used hemp and attached all the hearts together and then hemp again to wrap the hearts around the box.

As for the candy wrap, I used Hershey Nuggets and then printed out the sayings we wanted to use on to labels, and then used a background I designed in MS Word and ran the sheet back through the color printer. Bigfoot then put the labels around the candy for the inside of the box. After all her hard work, she was able to have a few Nuggets herself [I found out she had 4!].

Here she is wrapping the candy.

Here she is showing the 6 wrapped candy she has done. 18 more to go!

Not your usual Valentine Day card, but we do like to be different. We had fun doing this project and we are done, yeah! Now she needs to decide if she wants to make some Valentine Day cards for her gym friends and if so we will make it a much simpler project.

Have a great day and thank you for visiting my blog.

Template Half Page and Full Page ~ Circus Tent

Here are the templates for the Circus Tent I promised. If you need a smaller size, see the post I did on January 25, 2010 HERE.

Here is my Circus Tent that I did on the 2 per half sheet. I did not get a chance to finish it, but when I showed the kids my example many of them wanted to copy it. Bigfoot & Pickle Face provides a wonderful selection of circus stamps on our online store, visit there for ideas and to purchase.


Remember, these are my designs so if you are using them and publishing them please give me credit. They are a copyright 2010 of Bigfoot & Pickle Face.





2 per page Circus Tent


Full Page Circus Tent

Happy stamping and have a great week. Make sure you include the kids when crafting, you will be amazed at what they will create.

Template Half Page and Full Page ~ Fish Bowl

Here is the templates of the fish bowl on a full page and 2 on a full page. Have fun rubber stamping and coloring, and if you need rubber stamps stop by our store HERE.

Here is my sample of the fish bowl using the 2 on a full page template.





Full Page Fish Bowl


Two per page Fish Bowl

Remember, these are my designs so if you are using them and publishing them please give me credit. They are a copyright 2010 of Bigfoot & Pickle Face.

Happy Stamping and creating! Tomorrow look for the enlarged Circus Tent Template.