Butterfly Art Project

Here is a fun project to do with kids of any age, but really the young kids love this one. It's so simple you only need a few items:

• Clothespin for each child
• Washable markers
• Coffee filter, one for each child
• Magnets, one for each butterfly
• Glue

Kids can get creative with this and there really is no way to mess this project up. Give each child a plain coffee filter and let them color it with the markers. They can add as may colors as they want and the entire coffee filter does not even need to be colored. When the coffee filter is how they would like it take it to a sink and wet it with a little water. The water will make the markers run and in turn give the coffee filter a beautiful color. Lay the coffee filter out to dry on some paper towels. When it is dry attach the coffee filter to the top of the clothespin, and attach with glue (hot glue works best). After that has dried let the kids draw some eyes onto the butterfly. Then if you would like glue a magnet to the bottom of the butterfly. This is such a great project for any child; it would even work for a project at a kid’s birthday party.

Simple, fun and creative.

Happy Birthday

14 years ago today my wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter Julia. Where does the time go? We made a really beautiful cake today for her and got a little creative with decorating it. Not bad for a box of cake mix and frosting. Happy Birthday Julia, we love you.

Mom & Dad Visit

My parents finally visited us this week from California, and it was such a nice visit. They got really lucky, since just a few days before they arrived we had temp's in the mid 80's, and then once they were here our temp's dropped to the 60's.

My dad, wife and my mom.  Feb. 2012

My dad, me and my mom

My dad, my wife Michelle and me

 

Valentine's Day Craft

The first of February is this week, so why not start a Valentine's Day craft project with the kids. This is also a great project for teachers to do with students in their class. If you are a teacher, just bake the hearts ahead of time at home.

Heat oven to 225 Degrees

1. Make the salt dough recipe (recipe at bottom of this post). Mix the dough with your hands, it will not be sticky, just knead until smooth.

2. Roll the dough out on wax paper. With a heart cookie cutter cut out heart shapes. I let my niece and nephew make little imprints with their fingers, kids can also write their name in the dough with a toothpick. And then poke a hole near the top with a straw.

3. Place the hearts on a cookie sheet and place into the oven. They should cook for about 50-60 minutes. Once hard they are done.

4. Let cool for at least an hour. Kids can paint them, and even add some glitter if they want. After they have dried, tie a piece of ribbon or yarn through the top for a homemade Valentine's Day decoration.

Fun for kids of any age.

Salt Dough Recipe

1 cup of fine salt
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of water (may add more)

Around The World In One Minute

I love this video. This guy shot one second of video for every place he visited and edited this short 1 minute video. Very cool.

2011 A Winning Year

We live on a very tight budget, and in late 2010 I really started using Twitter. And slowly started winning contests. Well my wife got really into contests as well, and 2011 proved to be a great year because of it.

We won some great prizes including a Macbook Pro, Various store gift cards, A Christmas Tree & Turkey, A beautiful hotel stay, A gift pack from ING Direct, A DVD, A coffee maker, and wonderful toys for kids

that were given as gifts this holiday season, even $100 from Jenny Jones Blog. And so much more. My daughter has started to enter contests as well and now she is winning. It's really true, you can't win unless you enter. So make 2012 a winning year and enter some contests. Not only is it free to enter, it also takes very little time. If you don't already have a Twitter account, sign up for one. It's easy and you can follow your favorite companies and stores for contests and free offers they have.

My Career Outlook For 2012 Looks Promising

Yahoo posted a great link today to welcome the New Year. And after reading mine, I had to post it. Here is the link if you want to check out yours. Happy New Year!

Year 2012 Career

You're in stellar standing in 2012, especially during the first half of the year. You'll definitely feel like the 'It' sign, with Mars and Jupiter doing your bidding. Your creativity is off the charts with the action planet, Mars, running an extended six-month stint in your sector of self-expression. Mars will be retrograde during the first quarter, which could create the illusion that not much is moving forward - and yet you've never felt more creative and inspired. Trust that all your inner preparation will meet with great rewards and forward motion.

Neptune had been causing some confusion about your professional identity over the past few years, but now that it will be leaving your career sector for good in February, clarity - if not a major epiphany - is coming. Write everything down, because breakthrough ideas will come like flashes of lightning and will be as easily forgotten as fast as they come. It's time to translate all the gifts of inspired creativity and vision that Neptune brought you over the past several years into flourishing future plans. The tragedy would be to keep all of these gifts locked up as mere potential.

When the big eclipse points hit your money and talent sector this summer, you'll see another huge wave of changes unfolding over the latter half of 2012. And since you can be the most stubborn of all signs when it comes to embracing the new, you may actually welcome this colossal cosmic push. There is no going back, Taurus - you're destined for bigger and more glamorous things (with many of them likely involving extensive travel). La Dolce Vita, baby!