DIY Traveling Art Supplies Book

Art Supplies Book To Go:

My 5 year old loves creating, coloring, tracing, drawing, you name it; we go through paper so fast in this house it's ridiculous. As my husband and I were gearing up for a trip with the kids, I knew we were going to need something to keep our budding artist busy while we traveled. I figured that having his stuff with him would do the trick but I didn't want to just toss all that stuff in his bag and hope for the best. I saw a bunch of different ideas on how to organize art supplies, like these from Color Wheel Meals and One Orange Giraffe 

Color Wheel Meals

One Orange Giraffe

but I know my child and after using something like this the crayons, markers and pencils would all be mixed together and dumped in the bucket, making it pointless. On top of that I wanted something that we could grab and go with as well as something he could put out of sight when not in use. I found this great notebook idea. It's an art supply notebook, good for traveling and your basic everyday organization as well. 

I bought a few items that I know he uses on a regular basis: Crayons, Markers and Pencils ($5.29)

I picked up 4 clear binder pouches that fit in a 3 ring binder ($1.88)

A spiral notebook of wide ruled paper with his favorite characters on the front ($1) and I found a random 3 ring binder in our basement (Free).

I started off by placing the different art supplies into each of the plastic pouches. This helps if you're using the notebook for basic organization, it keeps the supplies separate, neat and easy to put away.

I ripped the front and back covers off of the spiral notebook and cut the spiral fringe off so that I could use it as the cover to the binder.

I took a few pages of the spiral notebook so that he could continue practicing his letters and writing his name while we were away.

I added some plain white paper, a copy of the flash cards we've been using for him to learn his sight words, coloring pages that I printed from the internet and the rest of the lined paper. I ripped the pages out of the spiral notebook because the wire took up too much space and I really just wanted it for the Avengers cover. Here are a few shots of the final project.

Once all of the items were placed in the notebook I just made sure it wasn't too heavy for him to carry in his book bag.

You can definitely use less stuff, especially if you're traveling (8 crayons instead of 28, 2 pencil not 7) but my child doesn't listen when I say "color lightly, you're going to break the point" so we're bringing extra.

I used a small 3 ring binder so there's not tons of stuff  in it. You can get very creative with these notebooks and pouches if you use a larger 3 ring binder. Other art supplies you can stash would include:
Scissors
Glue Sticks
Pencil sharpener
Protractor/Compass
Paintbrushes
Chalk

For Boy Who Loves Tea Parties

My son loves to reenact scenes from his favorite movies, so when he asked me if he could have a tea set to go along with his play food set to reenact the scene below from Toy Story 3, I thought it would be an easy request to fill. 

Toy Story 3 movie- Bonnie introduces Woody to her other toys as they sit around a table near her play kitchen.

I figured I could find a simple, gender neutral tea set at my local Toys R Us but when we got there all they had were frilly pink and white sets with hearts, flowers or “girl themed” characters. Needless to say we didn't leave the store with any of those as my, then 3 year old, son turned up his nose and said "mommy those are for GIRLS". They learn gender stuff at such an early age but I was determined to bridge the gap so I went into my crafty mom mode and figured I could make him a set he would LOVE.

As I started to move boxes around just to be sure I didn’t mess anything I saw this set:

Here’s a picture from the website:

It’s a simple grey and white set that has a heart pattern on it but it’s molded into the plastic so it doesn’t stand out much. When I showed him the set he perked up a bit but was still skeptical because it had two girls on the front of the box. I saw that he wasn't very excited about it but I tossed the set in the cart knowing that I could jazz it up once we got home with the help of some left over stickers we had.

About a year ago I had purchased 2 sets of these stickers from Walgreens for $1.99:

They have the characters printed on clear stickers instead of white so that they will blend onto whatever surface they are applied to. I hadn't opened one of the sets so there was just enough stickers for me to make him a custom Toy Story tea set.

I waited for him to take his nap and went to work on my project. When he woke up I had the set laid out for him and once he realized what it was, he got so excited.

He played with it a lot in the beginning but after a year and his new love EVERYTHING Avengers, it only makes an appearance a few times a month. One day he asked his uncle if he wanted to play tea party with him and when his uncle responded "tea parties are for girls" he said, with conviction, "no they're not, anyone can drink tea, see look at mine." My 20 something year old brother looked at me and then back at the tea set, knowing he was just trumped, took a cup and played. When he takes it out he still smiles and gets excited about it and my heart beams to know that little by little I'm helping my son stand behind what he loves and get passed gender stereotypes. I'm sure it gets harder as they get older but for now he's still a little boy who loves tea parties.

Here are a few shots of my final project.

You've Been Boo'ed

I'm not quite sure where the You've Been Booed phenomenon came from but when it comes out it catches on and it’s so much fun for kids and adults alike.

We were Boo’ed for the first time when we moved to our new neighborhood, I came home from work one day to find a small goodie bag and a note tied to my door knob. When I read the “You've Been Boo-ed” poem and directions it put a smile on my face and made me feel welcomed. Though it’s intended to be a kid’s activity I ran with it at home and at work, our son was only 1 at the time. We passed the Boo onto two of our neighbors but then I drove a few minutes away to two of my friend’s houses and Boo’ed them too J.  The next morning I made another copy and left it on a coworker’s desk along with a candy treat. The office got a kick out of it for the day, not sure if my friends ever passed it on though.

What you’ll need:

Candy or some other item that will make a person smile

A printer or copy machine

Stealth moves

Print out two or three of the You've Been Boo’ed Direction sheets/poem

And two or three of the I've Been Boo’ed sheets

Create a little goodie bag and then pick 2-3 houses to Boo. Go to each house and place the goodie bag and poem in your neighbors mailbox or right on their front door.

If you know that one of you “victims” will need a little help to pass the Boo along quickly, give them a hand and print out a few extra copies for them.

This can also work in an office setting if you work in an environment where it’s okay to have a little fun.

You can find more information at http://www.beenbooed.com/

Thanks for stopping by 

Niki

(If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

Maria Kang, a mother of three young boys is “apologizing” after causing an uproar on Facebook, and other social media platforms by posting a picture showing off her flat abs and asking other moms, "What's your excuse?"

Many people took offense to her picture and some even retaliated with their own. 

Though I hate Fox News, I saw that they gave her an opportunity to respond to the backlash and Maria says she was just trying to inspire people.

When asked if she was suggesting to other moms that in order to be happy, healthy and beautiful they need to look like her, Maria is quoted saying “No, that's absolutely not what I'm saying. I'm saying, what is your excuse for not working out? People can take it how they want to. My intention and where I stand my ground is, you know, if I can do it, so can you. Here I am with three kids, 3, 2 and 8 months. I'm able to make fitness a priority, maybe not my first priority. Maybe it's my fifth, but it gets done…”

I hear what she’s trying to say but I feel she could have gone about it another way. When I look at her photo I hear I have kids too, three of them, but I still found time to work my ass off, literally. This, to me, is not inspirational. You know what would have been inspirational…Let us see the pictures of what you looked like right after you popped those kids out, when your stomach was flabby and you maybe tried to hide it by putting on a body shaper. Let us hear how you felt about your body after you had your first kid; if you loved what you saw in the mirror and embraced your stretch marks or avoided seeing yourself naked because you didn't want to face your new mom body. Show us and tell us what it was like to be pregnant 3 times back to back. Let us hear about your struggles to find time to work out and eat well while working a full-time or part-time job, caring for three kids under 4, keeping a relatively clean home and maintaining your sanity. 

It’s not about feeling inferior, as she put it, it’s about feeling judged. No one is privy to all of the individual struggles that we each deal with on a day to day basis, so to sit back and ask moms “what’s your excuse?” comes off as judgmental and smug NOT inspirational; moms don’t need this crap they need support

Sorry Maria

Check out the interview  auto and transcript- Fit Mom of 3 asks “What’s Your Excuse?” 


Thanks for stopping by
Niki

 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connected Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 2

My Mom Bag - Modernizing the age old diaper bag

If you’re already a trendy mom or dad this post will seem like old news to you but if you’re like me and you sometimes struggle when it comes to looking “trendy” or “hip” (geez I can’t even believe I just typed that, I’m old) anyway, if you're like me then this post will be right up your alley.

I’m not big on purses, mostly because I’m afraid it won’t “go” with what I’m wearing or even worse, that I’m going to leave it somewhere. Usually when I’m out with the kids I stick my wallet and keys in our diaper bag and keep it moving but last month when I saw my husband's cousin not only “wearing” his son but also sporting his backpack stuffed with diapers, wipes and other kid stuff I thought to myself, why don't I do that?  Not the backpack per se, I'm not a backpack person, but a bag that I like and that could work double duty.

So one day while roaming the aisles at my favorite store I came across this beautiful red bag and when I opened it up I HAD to buy it, these are my favorite colors.

Zebra!!!! :)

It’s now my “mom bag”, basically a large purse that I also use as a diaper bag for quick trips when I don't need a bunch of kid stuff.

I'm able to get a good amount of stuff in this bag:

3 diapers, wipes, travel size diaper cream, teething tabs, a burp cloth, a change of pants, a magazine and all my personal stuff. Stop wondering why I have so many keys :)

This particular bag has lots of pockets to store my things separate from theirs and that comes in handy when you're trying to keep it all together. 

Little eternal zipper area for makeup, gum, etc.

Mommy's side of the bag

Kid's side of the bag

There's also a zippered area in the middle where I stash a gallon sized zip-lock bag for any dirty or wet clothes, a must.

Like I said earlier, my cousin pulled this same concept off using his book bag, so there's really no need to buy some fancy designer diaper bag system that you don't really like, you can make your own. My next bag will be a basic black so I can avoid the whole "does this match" drama, I have enough to deal with :)

Thanks for stopping by

Niki