Our Mommy Daughter Vacation Day 1 Port Aransas TX

Hi everyone! Well last week my daughter and I had a mini vacation in Port Aransas TX. We go every summer all summer long on the weekends. But this summer we were able to stay a few days by ourselves :-). So much fun! I wanted to share some of our trip with everyone and links to the places we went with reviews.

Day 1-Monday we started out by taking a quick morning stroll on the beach ANNNNND a quick stop at a candy store LOL! It's awesome and it has a big rattle snake!! http://www.wintonscandies.com/

Then headed over to Fire it Up Ceramics http://www.fireitceramics.com/ this place was great! It's right in town and very convenient wither great hours. Make sure that if you plan on going, go on your first day so they have time to fire your art work so you can pick it up before you leave Port A.

You walk into a very nice set up with a great staff and a large friendly shop cat ;-) wandering around. The staff will explain how everything works. You get to take your time picking out your ceramic that you want to paint. We picked a DAD one for Father's frame and my daughter picked a pretty butterfly for her room. There are TONS to choose from. And even some that are already painted that you can buy.Then you pick a spot at one of the already set up tables and the staff will come over to ask you how long you will be in Port A and tell you when your ceramic will be ready by. Then they give you a card and point you in the direction of the "paint" sample wall....wish I had taken a picture. Any who they explain what paint does what and what is compatible with what. You take your yellow card and write down the color numbers you want, you can pick up to 6. Give your card to the staff, they will prepare your paints while you pick any brushes you want and then you get started! No rush, take your time and they clean up any mess. 

If you see on this wall you can see some of the paint samples ;-).

We did our's Monday afternoon and picked it up Wednesday evening.  And look how pretty!!!

We ended out 1st day with Putt Putt at Kody's $4 play as long as you want! Eat and drink too! http://kodysportaransas.com/

Homemade Play dough

Hi every one! Just getting around to writing this post from FRIDAY! We got this recipe sent home last week from my daughter's teacher for fun things to do for the summer! We made the dough and it turned out awesome. Here is how we did it!

Supplies:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
1/3 cup salt
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
food coloring
Sauce pan
stove

In your sauce pan put in 1 cup of flour

2 Teaspoons of Cream of Tartar

1/3 cup of salt

1 cup of water

And one tablespoon of vegetable oil and turn your burner on medium/low & stir.

It will be a little lumpy just keep stirring and add in your color choice or food coloring. My daughter thought long and hard about what color she wanted.....after careful consideration she chose green. LOL. Now keep stirring for 20-30 seconds. Any lumps left you can work out. When the dough sticks to your spoon that's your clue it's done :-)!

Now all there is left to do is HAVE FUN with your DIY dough! It's been 4 days and ours is still good. We are keeping it in sandwich bags. If it does get a little dry just add a little water. So far four days in we haven't had to add any water :-).

Sewn Petals felt flower

Tutorial #2 for the day!
This is a felt flower that I made. It can also be purchased on my Etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmiciBello  my daughter LOVES this flower!

Supplies:
Felt for flower
Felt for base
Petal template
Fabric pen
Thread
needle
scissors
Bead or button for center

Cut three petal sizes, small medium & large. I'll find the template I used and try to add it. Cut out your template now cut 6 petals in each size. I drew them out on my felt with a fabric pen. When your done making the flower just put a little water on it and the pen marks DISAPPEAR.

 After you have cutout your petals get your needle and thread ready. Now starting with the largest petals first  fold over each side inward and pinch all together and sew through the layers and down into the base felt. Continue you this with all 6 large petals sewing them together.

Now do the middle layer and the top layer! Then take the button or bead you have chosen and sew it into the middle! Then gently run your flower under your faucet and watch the blue pen marks disappear :-).  You can then line a hair clip and hot glue it to the back of your flower and place it in your hair. Now grab your swim suits and go take a dip! That's where I'm headed this afternoon ;-). I'll post us making home made play dough later on today.

XOXO,
Jess

Fleece Fabric Rose

Good morning! Need to catch up on my tutorials! I have been so busy setting up my Etsy shop and end of the school year activities. FUN FUN! Well it's now the first day of summer VACA! Whewww I will have some fun kid activities to post starting today!
For my first tutorial of the day I will show you how I made my fabric rolled rose that you can buy on my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmiciBello .

Supplies
Fleece fabric
coordinating Craft felt
coordinating thread
needle
scissors
Hot Glue gun
Glue sticks

Cut out a strip of fabric to your liking. Don't worry it doesn't have to be perfect cuts...as you can see I wasn't to worried about it no my strip LOL.

Get your needle and thread ready. Next your going to pick up an end of your strip up and make a ball. Get your needle and thread and sew through the middle of your ball to make it stay so it's a good base for your rose.
Now here is where I just noticed I FAILED to take an example picture of my actually rolling the fabric. I will try to add photos later. This rolled rose is a little different then using regular fabric. Regular fabric rolled roses I twist them tightly and use hot glue. We aren't using hot glue at all on this one and we aren't rolling it tight. Instead lightly twist around your middle knot. Your making it more bulky and light twists.

There are no wrong ways to twist this flower. If you don't like the look of your twist just re do it :-). After you have twisted your fleece rose to your liking and you have a little fleece left flip the end under the rose and sew again like sooo...please excuse my helper....Hannah Montana the cat. She likes to help inspect my work ;-).

Turn on your glue gun. Now you need to cut out a small circle from your craft felt. Glue this circle to the bottom of your Rose to cover the stitches and to have a base to add your clip.

Line your clip with a coordinating ribbon and attach it to the back. And WA-LA

Keep your kids in touch over the summer with their classmates!

What I did was SUPER simple. If you wanted to...if you have time you could order actual cards from Vista Print. But I just thought of this idea so I'll just make them with what I have. I simply pulled up my Excel pasted a picture of my daughter then underneath wrote
(picture)
Keep in touch over the summer.
XOXO,
child's name
phone number
parents email

And then I picked out a font and printed it on pink card stick. Super easy and quick. I'll cut them out and she can hand them out tomorrow to her girlfriends! Now

XOXO
Jess