Ready for the Fireworks!

We’re going to be in Oklahoma for the Fourth (without the hubs…apparently the Army thinks patriotic holidays are good recruiting opportunities or something…whatev), so we made these shirts to take with us.

The hooligans each made their own, while I made some for the Okie cousins.  

I first made these back in March after seeing them on the Martha show. Then we used green and orange for St. Patrick's Day (and because Princess Thundercloud needed those colors to match some pants).

To make them, just make dots with a Sharpie on a white t-shirt, then use an eyedropper to drop rubbing alcohol into the center of each cluster.  It just takes a few drops and spreads out in a very cool pattern.  We put wax paper inside the shirt to keep the marker from bleeding through when we drew on them.


When the fireworks dried, I drew some sketchy lines with a Sharpie, just to suggest the trajectory for the fireworks.

Super cool, we think...and with adult supervision and nerves of steel, totally a kid-friendly, instant gratification craft!

I'm linking this up at a few parties...check them out!

Happy-Go-Lucky
The Taylor House

Personal Patriotism

I was thinking of ways to decorate for Memorial Day and Independence Day, and remembered all the “patriotic” family photos I love from our life as an Army family.




The photos were taken at Fourth of July parades and celebrations, my GI Joe’s Change of Command last summer, and most importantly, homecomings from deployments. 

They’re all favorites, but one I especially love is the one of our eldest taking his first steps…the day after his daddy returned from Iraq after a year-long deployment.  The hooligan was ten and half months old then…so you can do the math and imagine how thrilled I was to have my soldier home safely to join in the parenting adventure.


I’ve looked high and low for a sign with this saying on it, to no avail.  Then, just last week, a blog I read offered this free printable.  You can get it, too, at The Scrap Shoppe blog. I love the vintage sign feel of it.

I found the Army Strong sign and the heart wreath made of wood curls at Hobby Lobby.  That’s a definite plus for living in the middle of the country…I missed Hobby Lobby in the Pacific Northwest!

Now that I’ve printed all these photos, I’m thinking I may need to find a collage frame to display them year-round.  These memories deserve to be enjoyed more than six weeks out of the year!

Pinwheels!

I recently discovered the secret of everyone getting along in the car…kid books on CD.  I know, I’m late figuring this out, but I didn’t think they would listen, since they don’t listen to me or each other in the car.  It’s amazing how captivated they are! 

So what’s the connection with pinwheels?  I’m glad you asked. We were listening to a Nate the Great book and at the end are all sorts of nifty little crafts and information.  One segment described how to make a pinwheel, and it sounded super easy. And it was!

Once I made one, I couldn’t stop.  The kids even made them.  That’s how easy peasy lemon squeezy they are. Yes, I need to stop listening to kids’ books.



I used Stampin’ Up! cardstock to make this decoration for the front door.  It was, frankly, a bit too thick to bend without creasing.  For the sticks, I wrapped that cool paper tape from Target around dowel rods, then wrapped red and white bakers’ twine around that. To make them lay flat against the door, I tied monofilament line from each stick to a metal clip in the center, above the white pinwheel.  See it?  That’s also how I hung it on the door.

Then I wanted to make a garland for the mantel, so I raided the kids’ stash of construction paper.  I don’t think these will last through storing them, so it’s not important that they be colorfast.  I thought it was for the ones on the front door, since the sun would fade the construction paper in about 2 seconds.




How do you make them, you ask?  (Aren’t you just full of questions today?) Here’s how:


Cut your paper to a square.  The ones on my door are 8-1/2” squares, the garland is 6” square.  Draw diagonally from corner to corner, making an “x".”  Cut from the corners to about 1” from the center.  Punch a small hole (I used a 1/16” punch because I was using tiny brads) in the upper leftr corner, then the next left corner and so on. Also punch a hole in the center.


Push a brad through from the back of one corner.  Work your way around, tucking each corner under the brad so that the brad goes from back to front. 


When all four corners are on the brad, push it through the center and open the prongs to hold it.


To make the garland, I punched holes in two adjacent spokes and used brads to hook one to the next.
You could also put a cute stamped or printed circle image in the center, to cover your brad.

Please don't burst my little bubble of happiness and tell me I'm the last person in the world to learn to make these.  Even if it's probably true.

While these aren’t true pinwheels that will spin in the wind, they’re a fun, summery, inexpensive way to brighten up your décor!

Not Too Shabby for 237 Years

A question for all you non-Army types out there…what significance does June 14 have?  Flag Day?  Yes, that is correct, but more importantly (in our household’s opinion), it’s the Army’s birthday! And how do we celebrate every occasion, big or small?  With thematically appropriate food!


Ta-da!  I hope you’re more impressed with this than my hooligans were.  They just went, “Oh, that’s cool.” Not even with an exclamation point in their little hooligan voices.



So here’s what I did, for you eagle-eyes who noticed that the cut slice is not decorated with writing and blueberries…I’m sending this in with my GI tomorrow, but I wanted to brag  show you how cool it was.  So I took the photos, put the slice back in, and frosted over it.  Then I decorated with icing and blueberries.

Here’s the photo from Pinterest that inspired me…it’s from Kimmi Knippel at Just a Pinch.

I read her directions a couple of weeks ago and obviously didn’t follow them to the letter.  I made mine the same way I made the rainbow cake for First Communion.  I used 8” pans with a 5” pan in the middle of two of them for the blue.  You’ll see what I mean if you read Kimmi’s instructions.

I also made a batch of these stamped almond butter cookies. 

I bought this set of cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma last fall, and then I forgot I had them.  I was digging around in the corner cabinet for my small springform pans to use for the cake and found them.  They worked wonderfully.  I followed the recipe included, except that I used almond extract instead of vanilla.



I had planned to write U.S. Army under the Happy Birthday on each one, but my family decided they wanted to eat dinner tonight so I had to content myself with some festive dots that took less time.

You can always celebrate further by belting out the Army’s song, “The Army Goes Rolling Along.”  Here’s the version we favor, since we’re a Field Artilleryman’s family:

Over hill, over dale,

We will hit the dusty trail,

And those Caissons go rolling along.

Up and down, in and out,

Counter march and left about,

And those Caissons go rolling along,

For it's "hie-hie-hee",

In the Field Artillery,

Shout out your numbers loud and strong,

For wher-e'er we go,

You will always know,

That those Caissons go rolling along.

You can find the “official” version by Googling, but the original was written by a young field artillery officer, so we like to stay true to tradition! Hooah!

Linking up at The Taylor House