Getting ready for the holidays....with candy :)

Finley asked if we could buy a wreath for our door the other day, because she saw one at the neighbors. I said "Pshaw! We're the crafty kind of folk, we'll make something!" and she wholeheartedly agreed! My little google search first led me to Miss Martha's site, where she made this pretty white gumdrop wreath.

But another quick google search brought us to this beautiful picture, which to a four year old is like the holy grail ;)

She was salivating at my lap so I relented and agreed to pick up all the ingredients we would need to make this gorgeous little gumdrop wreath. Full instructions on how to can be found here, on the Kiddley Blog.

Here's what we bought:

Total bill was about $7 and included a dollar store floral sponge round shape, gumdrops, ribbon and toothpicks. Please, if you are trying this at home, do not skimp on toothpicks! I bought the cheap flat toothpicks, instead of the round ones. BIG mistake! Sheesh, are they ever flimsy. Splurge the extra 50 cents for the good stuff ;)

We sat down and decided to taste the goods. :)

Mr. SLD and Finley got in there....

Immediately they were thrown back into the bowl! (see the green flashing thing?) YUCK!

Turns out, little did I realize that I bought 'Spice' flavored gumdrops. Mistake number two. These things taste terrible!! At least it saved us from eating the entire wreath! ;) But seriously, avoid these (sorry gumdrop maker, I just don't like these. Sue me (no don't, please.)


And look how easy it is to make! We found it easier to assembly line it...Mr. SLD made the little Gumdrop trees for us to use.





Anyhow, regardless of the toothpicks, or crummy gumdrops, look how PRETTY they look! Seriously pretty stuff. Like a Pretty Overload :)





Anyhow, we've finished the wreath, but now I realized I don't have a hook to hang it with! oops...so you'll have to see our finished product at another date. trust me, it's cute, including the button beadwork Finley added to the bottom. :) Here's the last photo of it that I took!




What's your favorite holiday craft? I want to try more!

xo,
Shari

So Finley's Book Party Planning is a go....

It better be, it's only 10 days away!! The awesome news? I hired a storyteller!!! She is a librarian in Riverside that comes out to the desert and is apparently a phenomenal storyteller! Yay!! She's thinking of making the book theme about water, (and maybe frogs) and I like the idea, it being so hot here, we could all use some water stories. :)

I bought these amazing looking blank board books for the little party guests as a craft activity.



I need your help though....what do you think we should do with them? Should I pre-set up collage pieces and pictures for them? Should we ask the kids (4 and under) to draw their own story? Should I write a story in them that they get to draw? Should I just plop them down in front of them and say "GO!"?? I need your help, what do you think we should do with them?

You can buy these awesome little blank board books at Romp, who also has incredible customer service by the way :)

Thanks to those of you who have been emailing me party ideas.....keep em coming! :)

xo,
shari

Your gifts have arrived!

I'm so excited about this! I always try to include a little tiny gifty in every order from SLD. But when I ran out of my recent gifts, I started looking around and found a guy in Peru who sells handmade finger puppets!

Finley and I had so much fun picking which styles to order...I had an impossible time narrowing it down so we ordered a lot ;)

Here are just a few of my favorites :)

So watch for one of these in your next order!

xo,
Shari (and a massive amount of new finger puppet friends)

One imaginary Friend + One package = Pure Joy

Finley's been begging her imaginary friend (IF), Soren Lorensen, to write her a letter. I sent her one from her other IF, Evie, but it didn't seem to do. Then my wildly creative and incredible friend Ashley did this. You must check out her pictures of the package contents on her blog, they're amazing! I am still blown away!

Finley usually doesn't like having her picture taken, so we had to tread lightly. She also doesn't like to do things that weren't her idea first, so we set the package up outside on a blanket for her to stumble onto.

This was her reaction:

"For me?" She asked...

She shook it to see what could be inside...

And then we told her it was from Soren Lorensen.

Oh Happy Day!

She opened it up...

To find tons of treasures!

And we pored over every gorgeous little thing Ashley put into it. We read the incredible letters...

She was shocked to hear he left all his letters to her by mistake in his backpack! "No wonder they were late!" she said!

Elephants are her favorite (she sleeps with Harry Elephante, a stuffed blue elephant). She named this one 'Lumpy'

She made up a little game using the erasers in the packet, where we had to throw them and gather them from the grass...

She LOVED the origami paper and paper crane (one of her favorite books is about a little girl who makes a paper crane and names him "Menu" and he becomes her best friend because she hasn't any real friends at school)

We played with the little animal chips

She was like a kid at an Imaginary Friend Store ;)

It was a wonderful way to spend the morning...

Thank you Ashley, for making such an incredible memory for our family. We will cherish this forever and ever!! xoxo