Achieving Perfection

A Woman's Journey in Life: Motherhood and Parenting, Balancing Life, Crafting, Photographing and much more~

Sep 7

MESS FREE BABY SPOON – Babies can learn to feed themselves!

by blewis85

So I have an idea for an invention.  I normally don’t put myself out there quite to this extent, but I think it’s a great idea and nothing on the market exists like this right now.  I even made a prototype – but before you look at it and make a determination about it, know that this is a prototype using readily available materials and you have to read the description to understand what my vision for it is.  The prototype is just an example, not how it will actually look or be designed!

Okay, ready?  Ready?????

Yea, I know, terrible look!  Addison absolutely love this!  This picture was taken after her first taste of pears – they must have been sour!  :)  Read on, for more info, and more pictures!

THE INSPIRATION

After feeding my seven month old and her grabbing the spoon and flinging the food all over the dining room – again – I had an lightning bulb moment.  There are times when she refuses to let me feed her with a spoon.  She is gaining her independence so quickly and wants to feed herself.  But when she grabs the spoon, the food flys all over the place, over me, her, the room, etc.  None of the food actually makes it in her mouth.  Frustrating!  She cries and gets so upset at this – she wants to be able to physically assist in the feeding process and she can’t yet!  What to do?

THE IDEA

What if there was something out there that would allow her to feed herself and actually get food into her mouth and NOT make a mess?  Really?  Not something to take the parent out of the picture, just to put the baby physically active in the feeding process?  She would be able to learn how to use a spoon, it wouldn’t be nearly as messy, frustration-free for her, she would learn hand-eye coordination, and more independence.  Now this isn’t meant for a use for all time.  This is meant as a learning tool while she is developing her hand-eye coordination.  The parent will always use a regular spoon, and as baby develops, eventually he/she will “graduate” to a regular spoon.  But for those in between months, when baby is learning and struggling, this tool would be a huge life saver!

THE PROBLEM

When a baby starts solid foods, which are really pureed foods, they are usually around 4 to 6 months old. After a short period, usually around the time they start crawling, babies start to develop more independence and want to do things for themselves and get very frustrated when someone will not let them do it. In general, babies are fed by an adult with a spoon. It’s a messy process. If you give the baby the spoon as some babies demand or grab from you, it is even messier and the food can be sent all over the room (and all over the baby and you!)

THE SOLUTION

This invention helps a baby while they are gaining there independence by equipping them with the ability to feed themselves. It is not meant to be the sole way a baby is fed. It is meant to assist the adult feeding the baby in the traditional spoon-to-mouth way, by giving the baby their own device to feed themselves. This will assist the baby in learning hand-eye coordination and granting independence to the baby while also giving the baby a sense of accomplishment in being able to feed themselves. It will also alleviate so much frustration felt by the baby! Babies want to learn to feed themselves and doing so in this way provides a calming, mess-free, and frustration-free way to do so!

KEY FEATURES

  • It would be the ONLY product on the market giving the baby control and allowing a MESS FREE way for them to learn to feed themselves and use a spoon! It is meant for the baby to be able to hold onto and use easily.
  • There is a handle or ring that the baby would hold onto that may also have notches similar to those on a teething ring for babies to be able to chew on also for relief. It would be easy for the baby to grip and use to hold onto.
  • There is an enclosed spoon with several tiny holes in it, similar in texture and shape to a bottle nipple or pacifier nipple. There would be a hole at one end of it to insert the food in. There is no way for the baby to get the food out unless they compress or suck on it which releases the food in there mouth. Pound away baby, pound away!! No-mess!
  • There is a mouth guard similar to what is found on a pacifier. The enclosed spoon will be inserted thru the mouth guard. The mouth guard will be behind the enclosed spoon, but in front of the latch and handle. This allows the baby to use the mess free spoon device safely and prevents choking. Safety first!
  • The latch secures the device together and makes sure the food does not leak out the entry hole. The enclosed spoon is inserted thru the mouth guard and latched close which also secures it to the handle. The latch will be easy enough for an adult to open and close, but secure enough for a baby not to be able to open themselves. The latch seals the entry hole of the enclosed spoon to prevent leaks or mess!

So this is just the prototype.  The nipple end has several tiny holes in it that I made.  I detached the end of the pacifier and thru that hole I inserted some pears.  Then I found this spoon that was just the right size to plug the hole and sturdy enough to not come out (even after she banged it on the table)!  The spoon represents the handle.  This is just a representation of the idea!  Not at all how it will look or an accurate reflection of the size it will be!

PRODUCT COMPARISON

  • There is NO product out there that is meant for the baby to use themselves to help learn to feed themselves pureed food besides a regular spoon. My product will provide a MESS FREE tool for the baby to safely and easily assist in meal times, and a frustration free meal time for all involved. The only product out there is for adults to have a mess free way to feed baby, not for baby to feedthemselves.

So I looked into patents and such.  What I would love is to submit my idea to One Step Ahead.  I absolutely love them – the company, the products they carry, etc.  But I don’t physically have a finished product to submit.  So I created a prototype – which is not how the final design will look, it is just to show basic functionality.  A friend told me about http://www.quirky.com – a website that allows people to submit there invention ideas for $10 and a community of members vote on it.  The ideas that get the most votes will be brought to the attention of the Quirky staff and maybe, could be turned into actual products and sold in the marketplace!  I will not have the money any time soon to develop this on my own or get a patent for it (it’s like $4000!) – so I’m hoping, if my idea is as good as I think it is, it will get into the market this way.  But I need YOUR help!

You can vote once per day for 30 days.  Signing up to vote is free and easy.  :)  Please vote!!!  Tell all your friends and family.  Post on your blog.  This is such a good idea!  I’d love your feedback!  Thoughts, questions, concerns????  Let me know!

Okay!  So go to http://www.quirky.com/ideations/296741 and vote every day!!!  Keep checking back!!  Thanks so much guys!  And leave me a comment letting me know what you think and that you voted!  :)

Okay so besides the pics I posted and the description I left for how it would work, I drew a few possible designs of how it could work (rather poorly I might add – sorry!).  So here ya go!
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Sep 3

Want to check out what I’ve been working on?

by blewis85

I mentioned in a post the other day about the stuff I’ve been working on to sell in my shop.  It’s varied.  I have a lot of interests.  So the stuff that I plan to make, repurpose or find for resale, reflects my eclectic tastes and interests.  Right now there are hair accessories (some vintage inspired, regular flower clips, bows, etc.), tutu’s, pettiskirts, wings, etc.  And there are some vintage pieces and pieces that I have repurposed or given new life.  Lots of fun stuff!

All I have on my Etsy page right now (that I just launched yesterday) are the vintage and repurposed items and 2 hair accessories.  But you can go check that out here:  www.etsy.com/shop/bigeyedbirddesigns

On my facebook page, I have everything that is completed.  The link to that is: http://www.facebook.com/bigeyedbirddesigns

I have a killer amount of things “in progress” so hopefully I can get a lot of really neat things up by the end of the week, on facebook and on etsy.  :)

So excited about all these fun things!  This is definitely what I love to do!  Creating new items, repurposing things from the past, reselling amazing vintage finds…these are a few of my favorite things.  :)

Let me know what you think!  And tell all your friends.  I need all the help to launch this new business as I can get!  And it’s called, Big Eyed Bird Designs.  :)  (explanation later, I promise).

Here are some photos of some of my favorites of items that I’ve posted for sale so far:

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Sep 3

I didn’t sew over my hand! I sewed! Really, I did! Woo-hoo!

by blewis85

Okay so that was kind of a long title. Ha!  Can you tell I’m excited?!?  I sewed!  On a sewing machine!  Me!  :)  :)  :)  It was my 2nd project.  In two days.  My first project?  It took me 8 hours to sew a bib.  A bib!  Ahhh!  8 hours!!  But hey, I used a sewing machine for the 1st time, learned to (kind of) read a pattern, cut out fabric (very badly), use bias tape (again, very badly – and btw, I HATE bias tape.  It is an evil invention.), and sewed it all together into a magnificent bib that my child cannot tear off of her body.  Wanna see?

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Well, it needs some work.  I’ll probably attempt to sew another one next week.  But, it is reversible!  And I like the fabric.  I feel like we need to be belly dancing on a beach somewhere when I see it.  I don’t know why.  And may I say again that I HATE bias tape!  Probably not the best pattern to pick for my first attempt at something.  But it is held together and I’ve been inducted into the sewing world rather harshly.

Anyway, enough about my hatred of bias tape.  I actually think I will avoid it at all costs.  Ha, I immediately drew a pattern for another bib, with similar lines (think: this bib will hold this baby and she will not be able to tear it off her body) that was without bias tape – so we’ll have to see if it works and if I have any pattern drawing capabilities next week, or this week.  Whenever.

Oh, I said I was done ranting about it.  Let me continue.  My second project was a REVERSIBLE dress!  Notice a theme?  I LOVE reversible.  Twice as many uses out of a singular object?  I’m in!  Why don’t adult clothes come with the option of being reversible.  If only we could all dress like we were 4.  Why can’t we?  Maybe when I master sewing a straight line I’ll have to fix that problem.  I might look ridiculous, but I can cross “successfully make a reversible piece of adult clothing” off my bucket list.  Well not my bucket list.  My goal list.  My bucket list is another matter for another post.

So back to what I made: a reversible dress for my baby who is 7 months old.  It’s a little big.  But it’s beautiful.  Most likely it’ll fit her for a very long time because of the way it is made: now as a dress, later on as a shirt.  I’m estimating until she’s at least 2, maybe even a little older.  It’s way cute.  I might even have to make a pair of bloomers to go with it!

So this is the first pattern and the front of the dress (disregard the button holes, I need to fix those).  Then the next picture is the back of the dress.

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Now it’s time for the reverse side!  This is pattern #2 and the front and back of the dress!

ImageImage

So what do you think?  It’s not perfection, but I think I did pretty darn well for my first attempt at sewing a piece of clothing.  Leaps and bounds better than the bib.  Once I “perfect” it, I’ll offer it for sale in my shop, along with a whole line of clothes, toys and dress up stuff.  Or at least that is the plan.  It’s always been my dream to be able to actually make my sketches.  So if I work hard enough, maybe I can make it happen!

Next week (well, this week, why do I still feel like it is the weekend?) I’m going to tackle making a dress for Peyton. I don’t want her to feel left out.  And I’m super stoked about it!  Yay!

Happy Labor Day!

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Sep 2

Finger Paint!!!

by blewis85

Who doesn’t love a good craft?  Anyone, anyone?  With 2 kids around and a new next door neighbor with 2 kids of there own, our house is in a constant state of “go, go, go”!  How to keep 4 kids busy?  Well 3 kids.  Addison (the baby) is still far to young to participate in any of there “fun”, but she sure loves to watch!

So the other day, the kids wanted to paint.  All of them.  We have this awesome wooden easel that we bought for Peyton for Christmas two years ago from One Step Ahead – similar to this one (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=537743&parentCategoryId=85185&categoryId=85231&subCategoryId=117610), but ours is all wood, with a dry erase board on one side, chalkboard on the other, two shelves of storage and a small tray to put your paint, chalk, etc. on.  I think it’s discontinued now.  Oh well, I’m glad we nabbed in when we did!

Well Peyton has a habit of leaving the tops off the paint unscrewed and I have a habit of letting her.  My new motto: Do As I Say, Not As I Do.  I think I wanted her paint to dry up.  Not to be mean, but to have an excuse to try a homemade version.  Well lucky us, it did.  So I went over to handy pinterest and looked at my ever growing roster of crafts on the ole to do list and tada!  How to make paint.  Yes!

When I read it though, I thought I was making actual paint, not finger paint, so I was a tad bit disappointed, but it worked well for our purposes.  I wish I would’ve taken pictures – but if you search “finger paint” on pinterest, you will come across this picture, which I think leads to a blog with more recipes!

So I gave each kid a bowl with all the ingredients which I let them scoop out and mix themselves (ingredients and instructions are on the picture) and I put it on the stove and let it get to the desired consistency.  And my massive collection of saved baby food jars came in handy.  Each recipe filled like 4 baby food jars and I did 3 colors (1 per recipe) so we ended up with 12 jars of finger paint!!

The kids loved it.  It’s all homemade, non-toxic, from kitchen cupboard ingredients.  They got messy.  Real messy.  I wish I had a picture!  They had it all over them, the table and a load of paper.  I think the consistency of it was the most fun for them.  It kind of comes out a little like gelatin, think “jello”, but a little less solid.  But it’s fun to mush around in your fingers and rub on the paper.  And the best part: it was free (minus a few kitchen ingredients) and it cleans up easily AND it was easy fun!

I will caution one thing though.  If you make a bunch like I did and don’t use it all at once, then store the extra in the fridge.  We left ours on the counter for a few weeks and I noticed a few jars had started to mold.  It makes sense but it hadn’t even crossed my mind before that.  It is made out of “food”.

Once Addison gets a little bigger, I’ll even let her participate in this craft.  It might taste bad, but it won’t harm her if she gets any in her mouth.  Ha!  And she can squish and splat until her little heart desires.  :)

I think I may have to whip up another batch…pictures next time, promise.  :)

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Feb 28

Monster Tissue Box!

by blewis85

This weekend, I found an empty tissue box hidden behind a table at my parent’s house.  I was about to throw it in the trash and for some reason, I find it very difficult to throw anything away.  I’m all about reusing and up-cycling as much as possible.  So, instead, I decided to allow Peyton to make a “monster box”.  I covered the box in copy paper (all my parents had in the house) and cut out some teeth from paper and taped it to the inside of the box.  They don’t have any “craft” stuff, so we used what we had on hand.  Then I let her and her Nana have fun coloring it.  What a wonderful Sunday afternoon craft!

Ours isn’t as “pretty” as some of the other ones I’ve found out there, but I think my 3 year old did a pretty good job!  :)

Here is ours:

And I found some links via pinterest that led to some other “monster box” creations out there.  Take a look around.  Enjoy!

http://gigglesgalorenmore.blogspot.com/2011/08/tattle-monster.html
http://adaywithlilmama.blogspot.com/2011/05/monster-first-birthday-party.html
http://honeybeebooksblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/tissue-box-monsters.html
http://funfamilycrafts.com/tissue-box-tattle-monster/

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Feb 27

BEST Playdough EVER!

by blewis85

So I have FINALLY found a play dough recipe that is absolutely amazing.  Really.  Seriously.  Better than the store bought stuff and better than any other homemade recipe I’ve ever tried.  I’m so excited about having discovered this recipe and I can’t wait to share this with you.  So try it, for sure!!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Water

1/4 Cup Salt

2 Tsp Cream of Tartar

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

Food Coloring (about 4 drops – however much you want to get the desired color)

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients in a pot.  Put the pot on the stove and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it firms into a ball.  (Note = it took a while for it to do this.  I almost added some more flour and I’m glad I waited.  It formed into a ball after about 15 minutes of pretty continuous stirring).  As soon as it joins into one big glob, take it off the heat and dump out onto the counter (or wax paper or a cookie sheet – just whatever you have).  Wait for it to cool and then knead it a few times until it is nice and soft.  I started kneading it after about 5 minutes off the heat and it turned into a really soft, perfect play dough consistency.

See?  Perfect purple play dough!

Make sure to keep the play dough in an airtight container.  I’ve been using a freezer ziploc bag and it’s worked great.

Peyton has been playing with this play dough all weekend.  For Christmas, she received a “clay center with play-doh” kit and she has been making shapes and creating all sorts of fun stuff.  Seriously, hours and hours of fun!  Here is a link to the kit: http://www.cptoy.com/cgi-bin/pf.sh/2.0/product.htm?pf_id=CPX-555L.

If you have any questions, let me know.  This is really amazing play dough and my daughter can’t get enough play time with it.  It’s already lasted over a week and as long as you keep it in an airtight container so it doesn’t dry out, I’m sure it’ll last quite a while.

Happy playing!

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Feb 27

Dear Peyton…

by blewis85

(This post is a letter to Peyton about our developing relationship since her birth – the truth – the ups and downs – a pouring of honesty and love directly from my heart – part 1).

Dear Peyton,

I just dropped you off at school where you go part-time.  You love it there, though recently it’s been more of a struggle to get you out the door.  I think it probably has something to do with your baby sister being born.  You probably feel a little deprived for attention – especially one-on-one attention.  Since I’m breastfeeding your little sister, it’s hard to get any time alone with you, though I try to squeeze in as many snuggle and play one-on-one moments as possible while your sister is sleeping.  I promise you, it will get better.  Not only will we have wonderful family moments, when your sister is a little bigger, we will start being able to have one-on-one Mommy-Daughter moments again.  I’m working on planning an afternoon outing just the two of us for next week.  It will be a nice break from all the chaos our house has endured these past six weeks.

I want you to know that I love you more than anything – more than I thought I could ever love anyone or anything.  (Tears streaming as I type this).  You were born to me and your daddy at the exact right moment (although we thought we weren’t ready).  I was on birth control when I got pregnant with you – but it failed.  Word to the wise, when you are on prescription meds when you are an adult – be careful.  I had just had neck surgery and even though I was on birth control, will all the meds I had been taking, you were created.  With all the hell my body was going through at that time, it was a miracle you were created and born problem-free.  God has a plan for you as he does for us.  You are our miracle child and you were placed on this earth for a reason.  And we couldn’t have been happier when you were born.

Since you were born, you have been a blessing to all of those that you have come into contact with.  You have these big bright blue eyes and the most enchanting smile.  You have this uncanny ability to brighten up any room you walk into with your smile and laugh.  You turn strangers into friends instantly.  You have friends from baby to age 100.  You remember everyone you meet – names and faces.  There is a never a trip to the grocery store that you don’t encounter someone you know and we usually leave with you having made a new friend.  All the elderly people you meet – I’m positive that you have brightened there day and probably there week.  You make people just feel better by your presence.  And you are so concerned for people’s well being.  You hate it when people are hurt or sad.  When someone is hurt or crying, you feel there pain, and it effects you.  You talk to them and try your best to make them feel better.  You are so concerned for there well being.  You keep checking on them and there are times, where when someone older has been hurt, that you have asked me repeatedly to take you to “take care of them”.  There was an older lady at our church who fell and hurt her hip.  She had to have surgery.  When you found out, you told me that you had to go take care of her and she would get better.  You say the sweetest little prayers for those you love and know.  You ask God to take care of those you know and love and even those you don’t.  When someone is hurt, you always ask about them constantly until they are better.  And those rare times that you have caused someone pain (like when you scratched your baby sister’s face), you have been so saddened by your actions that you have apologized for weeks and it has brought tears to your eyes on several occasions.

We struggled developing a connection after you were born.  You and me.  Of course I loved you and you loved me.  But I worked all the time and your Grandmama took care of you during the day.  Then most evenings, your Nana and Papa took care of you.  I was out of the house the majority of the time for work – at one point, even working two jobs.  So, when it was just you and me, we struggled with what to do with our few hours together.  It broke my heart when I would come pick you up and you would cry because you wanted to stay with your grandparents.  It kept me at arms length for a while because I was afraid to “love you to much”.  Of course, I got over that, but it took me a while.

Honestly, losing my job, just before your 2nd birthday, was a huge blessing in our relationship.  I’ve sort of become a stay-at-home mom since then.  We have spent the majority of time with each other since then and our days are fun filled.  We play all day.  I don’t spoil you and I discipline you.  But I try to plan something memorable to do with each day it’s just us – crafts, a trip to the park, outside time, whatever it may be.  We have been closer that I ever thought we would be at this age.  Our relationship now is the epitome of what a mother-daughter relationship should be.  It’s more than I ever hoped for.  My heart is over-flowing with love for you.  And now that your sister has arrived, it hasn’t changed, if anything, it’s increased.  I’m so blessed to have this time with you at this age.  I don’t know how much longer I will be a sahm, but I want you to know that I’m truly enjoying and treasuring these moments with you.

You are your mother’s daughter and your father’s daughter.  You have some of my personality traits, but you have a LOT of your dad’s personality as well.  You are kind, gentle, open.  But you have a short-temper and get mad easily (thank you daddy).  ;)  But you love BIG and you have a huge heart.  You forgive quickly and have more love inside of you than anyone I’ve ever seen.  You have a lot of your dad’s talents.  I can already tell that you are musically inclined – you got that from your daddy.  He’s a very talented singer and plays guitar.  And although you are a girlie girl at times (like me), you love to play outside and get dirty, which are also traits you got from me.  I was girlie, but a tomboy at the same time and played numerous sports.  I also did a lot of theatre.  I have a feeling you have a combination of all of these talents and interests and I am excited to see you grow and see what interests of your own you develop.  You are unbelievably smart.  You have the vocabulary of a 5 year old and you’ve been talking in complete, complex sentences since you were 18 months old.  You understand adult conversations without needing a translation.  You understand farsi and can speak it  with your Papa (he is from Iran and I’m 1/2 Persian, so you are 1/4).  You used to know a lot of sign language, but I’ve kind of let that slide, so we are going to pick that back up again.  I love the fact that you are bi-lingual.  And you are learning some spanish at school which makes me incredibly happy.  You are brilliant.  I have high hopes for your future and I know you will do amazingly well with whatever you decide to do with your life one day.

I want you to know how much I love you and that I am so thankful and blessed to be your mother.  I will continue these letters in the future, but I wanted to start somewhere.  I hope one day you will understand how much love I have for you and how deep our connection is.  It’s hard to explain how our relationship has developed and changed since your birth.  But this is a start.  I love you my darling girl.

Love, Mommy

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Feb 25

Salt Dough Hand/Foot Prints!

by blewis85

Yesterday we finished making the salt dough hand and foot prints we had started on the night before.  I had been looking for a kit to do hand and foot prints for Addison, but they were all pricey.  I remembered back to when Peyton was an infant and the kit that I was given then was pretty terrible.

So as an avid do-it-yourself person, I decided that I could come up with something on my own that would not only be inexpensive, but be fun and easy to do with my girls.  Then I flipped through my idea book and glanced on pinterest for something to spark my creative eye and realized that salt dough was an easy solution to my problem.

So how do you make salt dough?  The recipe for salt dough is:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt (I’d recommend table salt)

Cold Water (start with 1/2 cup)

Instructions:

Mix your ingredients together until it has the consistency of play dough.  I started with a 1/2 cup of water and probably added in less than 1/4 cup more.  Then, I added a significant amount of flour in addition to the 2 cups called for in the recipe.  The salt dough will be sticky at first, so you need to add in enough flour to make it like play dough and to get rid of the stickiness.

Then roll out your salt dough on a cookie sheet.

Since I was making hand and foot prints, I wanted my salt dough in circle shapes.  So I used a small plate to get the right size of the circles I wanted and then a pizza cutter to cut the shapes out.

 

Once it’s cut out in the right shape, make your hand and/or foot prints in the salt dough.  If you plan on hanging it like an ornament, use a straw to puncture a hole in your salt dough at the top.  (Disregard the coloring that you see – I had food coloring on my hands when I started this project.  It wasn’t a problem since I was planning on painting the finished product anyway.  Also, the specks that you see are from the salt.  When we made this batch of salt dough, all I had on hand was sea salt, not table salt.  It works the same and doesn’t make a difference as long as you paint it.  If you are not planning on painting it, then be sure to use regular table salt).

Once you have made the hand and/or foot prints in the salt dough, leave the salt dough on the cookie sheet and place it in the oven.  Bake it at 250 degrees for at least 2 hours.

When your salt dough comes out of the oven, make sure it has a hard, rock-like feel.  It needs to be completely cooked through.  Once it cools, you can paint it.  Our daughter had a lot of fun helping painting these creations!

Here are closeups of our finished products:

After you are done painting, make sure to seal the finished product.  You could use a sealer or even mod podge.  Seal both sides and it should help your creation from ever falling apart.

If you have any questions, let me know.  Has anyone out there ever done anything with salt dough before?  If not, it is super easy and you can make absolutely anything out of it.  Simply mix up the ingredients, create, bake and paint!  Ta-dah!  Easy crafts for kids (and adults) of all ages.  Happy crafting!

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Feb 24

A Bridge Over Troubled Water

by blewis85

In God‘s economy, you can’t out give God.

Think about that statement.  Process it.  To me, it means that if you give your time and energy and talents to God, He will provide for you in unexpected ways.  When things are tough and you feel you have nothing else to offer, know and trust that God will never give you more than you can handle, and He wants you to do your best to offer yourself up to serve the Lord in whatever ways and with whatever gifts He has blessed you with.

Part of Psalm 34 reinforces this concept.  ”The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.  The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all….The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34: 15-22).

Life is not easy for most people.  Even the people we may deem as “perfect” in our minds have there own set of problems and issues.  You never know what is going through the hearts and minds of people under another roof.  It is not our job to judge others or say that they are not worthy of our time and talents.  God has blessed us all with some ability, even it’s just the blessing of being a comforting shoulder to those grieving.  Offer yourself up selflessly to help others in need whenever and wherever you can.  Do not expect anything in return.  Ever.  If you give selflessly without any want of recourse, then God will bless your unselfish heart in unexpected ways.  It may not be in ways that we want, but always in ways that we need.

There have been times in my life (and I’m currently in a difficult stage) that I thought that there was no way out of the situation that I was in.  With the economy the way it is, my family is struggling financially.  I lost my job in late 2010 and due to my health at the time and the lack of jobs in our area, I was not (and still not) able to find something sustainable to do.  My husband took a leap of faith and left his dead-end job soon after to do student teaching for a semester so that he could become a teacher (hopefully the following fall).  We prayed that if we kept a tight budget and subsided on savings and student loans that he would find a position that fall and we could get back on track financially and as a family.

With the economy the way it is, he was not able to find a job.  He has been substitute teaching since last fall and though the money is pitiful, it is something coming into our household and we are thankful.  We are praying that God will find it in his will to provide my husband with a teaching position or lead us down another path this year.  I’m still looking for work and now with two children, I’m hoping God will lead me to what I am supposed to do with my life as well.

The reason I’m telling you all of this is because even though our income has been tight and at times non-existent, we have survived so far.  God has always – and at times we have no idea how it happens – provided us with a way to pay for our basic necessities and bills.  We have used student loans to get by as well (we are both still in school part-time), but that is only a small portion of it.  With odd jobs and substitute teaching, and random influxes of income, we are able to make it month to month.  There are times that the money coming in and the money that is supposed to go out doesn’t seem to match, but somehow we are able to get enough together to do so.  By God’s grace we have been blessed.

My husband and I are actively trying to find a way out of our situation, but we know that God has us here for a reason and when He is ready, He will provide us with an answer to our prayers.  Nothing can be done without Him.  While we are waiting, we are using this time to improve our relationships and be role model’s to our children.  I never thought we would be able to spend so much time together or with our children at this young age and for that I am grateful.  I have used my time and talents volunteering in the community as well and lending an ear to those in need.  I try to keep an open mind and heart so when I feel I am needed, I try to be there to offer my services to others.

I know one day soon this trial will end and I am sure another will rise in the future.  But God is always holding our hand during troubling times and this is no exception.  Always give openly and you will be blessed.  Remember the bible verse from earlier….”[a] righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19).

Looking back at difficult situations in your life that you have overcome, did God always provide you with a way to rise above your situation, even if it was in an unexpected way?

Faith Inspiration

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Feb 24

Bathtub Paint!

by blewis85

So today as an incentive/surprise for my daughter to get in the bathtub, I made bathtub “paint”.  I had purchased bathtub paint for her in the past and it was runny and not up to my standards as far as child-friendly products go.  And it didn’t last long.

So….as a surprise to her….ta-dah!  Easy bathtub “paint”.

 

I bought a can of shaving cream for sensitive skin.  I sprayed some shaving cream in a six section cupcake pan and then I added a drop or two of food coloring to each section.  Easy, right?  It works really well.  It spreads nicely on the bathtub and on my daughter.  :)

Here is a picture of the final product and of the ingredients I used:

 

 

 

I think any kind of shaving cream would work.  I chose to use Gillette Foaming shaving cream for sensitive skin as to prevent any possible skin irritation with my daughter.  And I used the food coloring I had on hand.  Use whatever you have – it all works well with the foaming shaving cream.

I would have posted a picture of my daughter, but seeing as she is 3 now, I thought posting a bathtub picture might be inappropriate.  Ah, they grow up so fast!  Happy bath tub!

If you decide to try this out, let me know what you think and how it works for you!

Crafting Homemade Items Instructions and How-To's My Children Recipes and Cooking Fun

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