Learning About Shells

Since we live near the beach we have a lovely collection of shells. If you take a close looks you can see on the shell board that we are learning about bi-valves (two halves that fit together).
Oyster- circular grooves
Scallop- symmetrical
Ark- zig-zag streaks
Cockle- asymetrical

At our house we get pretty creative with shells. Olive loves to make ornaments and necklaces out of them, while Jem loves to paint them. Pictured above is a sand dollar and an olive shell (the state shell of South Carolina). 

 This was one of her amazing Mother's Day necklaces for me!
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I will be hosting a great BIG giveaway on Thursday....so please visit again soon!

Homemade Shrinky Dinks

The girls had some friends over the other day and we decided to try our luck at homemade shrinky dinks. This is also a good recycled craft for all your #6 plastic containers...so look for them with salad or berries, you can even use the textured parts.

                                    (Here is a fish, I traced the design and Jem colored it in).

Homemade Shrinky Dinks:
- Use #6 plastic.
- Cut into the shape you want. (Important note: hole punch before you bake it).
- Use permanent markers or even stamp ink.
- A cookie sheet with aluminum foil on it.
- Turn oven to 350 degrees, they will shrink in about 5 minutes.
  (plastic shrinks about 1/3 of the original size).

Skip to My Lou has some lovely ideas here.

My Necklace has arrived.

Thanks to Counting Coconuts and the lovely craftsmanship of Moon Dog Farm of Maine, I now have a lovely new necklace to wear. It is a rose quartz mama necklace carved into a circle. The stone is strong, smooth, and lightweight to wear.  It shines a lovely color of rose-pink and arrived on a black leather string.

When I am holding Jem she likes to stick her finger through the circle and wear it like a ring.  I just want to say thanks for such a lovely giveaway and I am so happy to be the winner. Please check out Moon Dog Farm's etsy store for more adorable eco-friendly, and felted handicrafts.

This and That

My birthday present has finally arrived! This lovely silver charm necklace from the Vintage Pearl has the names of my girl's and Buzz Lightyear (on the front side). I  love this necklace. It's the perfect way to carry your family with you and you can even add-on....if you family grows.

Olive and Jem also had fun with these snowman counting and sequence activities from Kidssoup. This is a site we subscribe to, but it's worth it for kids ages 3-7.