Tutorial On Crafting With Kids (Grand-and not-so-grand)

First you must hang a

banner

INSIDE..

So that the

GRANDKIDS

will know

which Holiday

they are

celebrating.

Just a word of caution..

If you hang one

that looks like

the one below..

SOMEONE

(who shall remain nameless)

will be sure to ask..

Is him's

NAKED?

Your reply should be

Absolutely..

That is why he is

carrying an envelope.

This is sure to produce

a giggle from at

least 2 or the 3 grandkids..

The third one doesn't

giggle.

She doesn't giggle

because she doesn't

"get it".

She is

trying to figure out where

HIMS

got that BHIG of an envelope. Secondly..

You must lay out supplies.

These will cost somewhere

in the neighborhood

of $500.00...

and..

after you buy

ALL THAT STUFF,

you will realize that you have

forgotten at least one or

two crucial supplies..

Like...

Elmer's WASHABLE glue.

Lord help you

if you buy the

REGULAR ELMER'S GLUE

because it will

NOT

be pretty.

Now that you have

your supplies home

and have signed

the bank loan

to cover the expense..

you must lay out the goodies...

Lay them out nice and neatly.. Sigh over the paper-Oh So SweetlyNext---

Hang a flag outside

your door..

A cute little cherub flag

to greet them with a smile

is perfect.

Love Mary Englebriet's flags.Then they arrive...

bringing presents.

Bringing PRESENT?

PRESENTS

For ME?

Yep-these are for Nana..

and they made them

all by themselves..Inside are beautiful little

hearts made with love..

One from Ria.

Two from Lulu...

and one from SweetCheeks.Of course I must put them all on..

I pick up SweetCheeks...

What does this say, SweetCheeks?

Dass jus' sumbuddy ehlse's name

on there...Doan't pay eny

attenshun to the name...

jus' putt it on..Whereupon I am informed

by Lulu that

"I told SweetCheeks

NOT to give you that one".

Whereupon SweetCheeks says

NOAH.YOAH.DIDN'T.LULU

an' I doan't kare cuz I is gifving

it to hers enyway. Hmmmf.

Great.. We are off

to a nice, calm start...

NowWhere were we?
Okay..girls..

Let's get started...

Who wants to make a

Valentine?

Everyone's hand shoots into the air.

In short order everything

looks like this.....

and this....and this...
Little Lulu is busy..
Making this.....

And Dear Little Ria is busy making her own..

She loved the self-stick hearts...

And SweetCheeks has now changed into her third

Princess Outfit...and has busied herself..And Oh, Dear Lord In Heaven...

Pray tell WHO left HER alone

with the glitter there?

There is glitter glitter everywhere..

On the floor and on the chair..

I could go on and on with the

rhyming thingy but I'm afraid

the Dr. Suess police would get me.An especially nice touch was the globs of

glue that had dropped here and there

that were now shining brightly up

from the chair...and the table...

and the floor...and the countertop...

Did I say floor? Ah..yes...

Nothing like glitter on the floor

that can be tracked from

room to room..

Leave NO ROOM untouched

seems to have been the motto

of the day.

I decide I need a bathroom break

to dispose of the 3 gallons of coffee

that I have downed in an effort

to keep up with this

CRAFT DAY WITH THE KIDS.

Lo and behold,

in the small reading nook

(where the old steps used to be)

I see

THIS...How did all these books get off

the shelf and on the floor?

I ask ever-so-sweetly

between slighthly gritted teeth.

Uh-oh---Here it comes...

Welllll...says SweetCheeks..

Ria taked a few books off

the shellff and then I hulped her

and taked the rest offf..and

we jus' put 'em here for now.

Yeah? Where do you think

your gonna put them later?

Wellll...I sayed it was Ria's idea.

I dunno how they gonna

go bahck on there.

Hmmmm...I dunno where YOU'RE

gonna go either if you guys don't put

these books back.

(Let's just say that big sister, Lulu,

helped the process along).


Soon, the day is winding down.

My dear daughter-in-law,

TheSecretAgent, is going home

and taking her tags with her.

The photos do not do these justice

for coloration..

And, I just want to say...that if you ever

get a daughter-in-law...I hope you get

one just like her...cuz trust me..

you don't want a bad one...

And we made a few coffee filter roses..

and dyed a few of the white coffee filters

pink for some pink roses, too.

At the end of the day

CRAFTING WITH KIDS

we had this....and this....

and a few cute tags....The button on this one was

from my Mother's sewing box...

And the bling on this one was from

the girl's great-grandmother's shoe..

I love that she saved everything and

had it neatly organized and labeled.

And, after the glue and glitter were

cleaned up...the three girls put

their new dresses on so we

could take their picture...

and remember the day..

at Nana's...

where even if you were

a little bad...

you had a pretty good day..

We took a

STAND UP PICTURE...

And then I told them we'd take

a SIT DOWN PICTURE..

(Only MY family...would sit like this)

Well, the story isn't quite over yet...

My oldest daughter, TPot,

took a picture of her sister, Mimi,

all dressed as a ballerina at age 4

and made it into a tag that is

glitzed and glammed up

with another shoe decoration.

Mimi couldn't be here this year

for our

CRAFTING WITH KIDS day..

But we have decided to make

it an Annual Valentine's Day

tradition...

Maybe next year she will

be able to join us..

Just to finish up

the weekend...

MyHero and I drove down

to Milwaukee today

and delivered her tag to her...And because this little guy

missed out on all the fun

with his cousins...I made a special

Valentine just for

BabyE....Cuz he is just

THAT kid!Now I will tell you

that this tutorial

is NOT for the

Faint-Of-Heart..

and please do

not attempt this

at your own home..

or...if you do...

proceed with caution!