Weekend Blog Hops

Welcome to the weekend... I love Blog Hops and didn't get to as many this week as I had hoped so thought I would do some this weekend... I love meeting so many wonderful bloggers.. Be sure to stop by these hops and follow the hostesses and any featured blogs then join in..



Blog Hop
Blog Hop

Badettes, Labels for Cups

I received a pair of Bandette's from Question Moms to review... I love the idea of these brightly colored little bands.. A great way to label sippy cups or other plastic cups for kids.. While we don't use plastic cups anymore we tried the bands on our glasses, the boys thought they were pretty cool, unfortunately or fortunately depending on the perspective the bands were really hard to get off the glasses.  I love that I can color code them for my boys: Blue for Cameron and Green for Nathan. We actually used them on our pencil/pen cups at the table for school time. I am always looking for new ways to keep the peace and this line makes it easier and fun.
This would be a wonderful tool for daycare moms or even kids while attending a playday , church classes, etc... You can write on the band to identify the cup's owner.

Here are some of the features from the website:

Features

• Simply use a non-toxic ball point pen to write their name, date, allergies or any other pertinent information on the unique “name plate”. Pen markings can be rubbed off and changed daily, or made long term by boiling or dishwashing the band with the desired writing left on.
• Bandette cup labels are dishwasher and microwave safe.  (Just remember, before dishwashing, rub off the information that you do not want to remain long term.)
• They fit most cups and bottles (even small containers and adult cups!)
• They are completely reusable and easily moved from one cup to another.
• They make children’s cups easier to grip.
• Made of non-toxic material that meets FDA standards for plastics that come in contact with foods.

I love what Mom's can come up with to fix a problem.

Disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for my review. No other monetary compensation was received.

edited and updated to add pictures and some additional thoughts 6/1/2012

Swap Bot Mail Day

Picked up the mail today and couldn't help but smile! I received 6 swap-bot packages today. Lots of ATCs, my name in inchies (which by the way is a new addiction... I love making inchines), lots of Label Bags (now I can finish up my FBs with some names), and 101 journal prompts on pretty papers... I also got a set of inchie stamps I ordered from Amazon... Happy Mail Day at Unvlmom's Spot.

Blog Hopping this weekend.

I am now officially additced to blog hops... what an awesome way to meet fellow bloggers and find new blogs to follow.
Here is a great one for the weekend::


 I am trying to post for each hop I do so I can go back and do them again... If you found me from this or any hop please follow and leave a comment so I can follow back.

Journal Prompts swap

I sent a package to a swap bot partner full of  journal prompts I had saved in a Open Office document.  I printed the prompts on colored scrapbook paper and cut them into strips. I used a different font on each page for variety.
There are so many wonderful websites full on journal prompts as well as books. As a writer in training (constant training) I love the prompts, I actually refer to several writing prompt blogs when I need a quick bit of inspiration.

I think I am going to decorate/ repurpose an oatmeal box as a journal jar... I can print up a set of my own prompts and place them in the "jar" for offline inspiration.. I think we sometimes depend on the internet and our technology too much...  (that is another blog all together).

Speaking of blogs I need to finish viisiting the rest of my wonderful partners from the swap-bot blog followers swap I am in ... I will add them to the list later this weekend for everyone to share.

Blog Followers #2

I am participating in another blog follower swap on Swap-bot. This time around I will be visiting 20 blogs. I will list them below so unvlmom spot followers can also check them out.

Memtree  introduced me to the fun world of masking tape. (who knew???)
Justingrid  Shows off her wonderful fashion designs
Amy528 A collection of Book reviews with lots of kids books

provadia A fun site with a focus on Blythe dolls (they do look like fun)

phoerauf  a mom's look at the world... She is participating in a photo project that looks like a ton of fun.

madaboutpink a fun blog full of ideas and tutorials (I already follower her blog but it is still a fun stop)

leecytx a fun inspiring site with crafty ideas. (thanks for the podcast reminder!)

Loolie: a  glimpse into her life. She shared a wonderful banana cookie recipe I will have to try

Ichigorshartcake  All things pink and pretty. 

Scamp A drawing a day.. a wonderful blog of  drawings.

Flutterflies22 A scrappers blog full of layouts and scrapbook projects (might get me back to scrapping)

tanchyka a blog full of super yummy looking cakes and treats.  (Some day I'll get to have sweet treats again.)

hxkendra a blog containing a little of everything.

tamtamlee a very full blog I have been following for a while.
Blackbird4  Patricia create beautiful art dolls (I am amazed at these dolls) as well as other art.
Doreen247 I was drawn to one post on Doreen's blog... a post about 2 quilts she had made as gifts... They are beautiful.
The Artist Chick a new blog I can't wait to see how it grows... Welcome to the blogging community.
Pink Stitches I'm always happy to find SAHMs of boys...  she has a great collection of dewing crafts and links to her shop... Stop by and say hi...
The Altered Page/ The Bling Theory an inspiring blog! I love when I find Christian creative blogs.. It is a blessing to follow her blog.
Chinnu Art, ATCs, challenges, a little of everything and a lot of creativity.




I hope you will stop by some of my swap partners' blogs and enjoy their contributions to the blogging community.

Art Journal Pages and painting pages

PAINTING BOOK PAGES
For our homeschool art time today Cameron and I painted pages from a book.  I found an old book that was not worth saving and began by cutting about a dozen pages from the back. I was inspired by several blogs I follow showing journal pages that had started life as book pages.  I figure we will use them for journal pages as well as bases or elements for ATCs.

The book has several pages with illustrations; I'm trying to decide if I want to cut the illustrations off the page and use it or use the page as is. I might scan some of them first to use later as well.

We used Crayola Finger Paint for the translucent quality. I had some old jars of Acrylic Glossies that added some shine but more opacity. I also used some Making Memories brand scrapbook acrylic paints and a sample jar of Glidden Interior Paint.

I found a box of reinkers of various colors and added drops of color to several of the pages then we played with q-tips to see what kind of designs we could create.






Finally using some pigment re-inkers and an extra fine paint brush the last 2 pages were done. We are both very excited to use these pages to create some fun projects.  I have about 300 more pages from the same book that will be used in various forms for art projects.





ART JOURNAL PAGES

 Here are the Art Journal pages I made for 2 swaps on swap bot. We are suppose to do them front and back on a piece of card-stock so they can be bound by the recipient but I think I am going to ask each person if they want them loose and enclose a piece of card-stock cut to size.  All 4 pages are based on rice paper with various elements added. I'm not sure if I will had journal lines or leave them blank. I need to finish up the other 4 pages and get them ready to send.  They are kind of random but that is what is fun about the art journal pages. I am going to make some for myself as well but want to get these ready to go first. Not sure what I want to use for my own book though, maybe I will alter the book cover from the painting project. It is a neutral cover and could be used to make a pretty color altered cover... Guess I'll have to figure out book binding with a traditional book cover...

Friendship Books

As promised here are 5 of the recent friendship books I've made. The two in the front are made using home decorator fabric from a sample book I got off Craigslist. I made 3 others but they are packaged to send overseas on their journey.
I am going to make a set of rainbow colors (5 of the colors anyway) for another swap-bot swap.  FBs as they are called are small books with a few pages that people send in the mail, sign with their information and send on to another swapper. These are a new creative outlet for me.  Tonight I will be making LBs (Label Bags). Basically the same idea as FBs but you send address labels in the "bag" rather than signing a book. Either way I hope this new adventure will be fun and creative.  Between these and the art journal/ journalling swaps I should get my creative fix and "meet" some new people in the process.
**Art Journal pages to come.

Clutter Rehab Toys and...

Today Mike had a car to deliver to a customer so he took Nathan with him and left Cameron with Mommy.. We went to work on the Living Room, cleaning up and purging toys we have grown out of ; namely the Duplo Blocks/ Mega Blocks. They are happily in a Rubber-maid Storage Tote in preparation of listing on Craigslist or something similar.

I also moved their Lego Blocks into a Steralite 3 drawer container and set it next to the couch just out of the line of site of the room, but still accessible.  The top makes a great building surface for just one child... Cameron tried it out and decided it was a good height to stand up and build..



 




Next I decided to move an empty game table drawer set out of the room. It was holding up a speaker for the television so I needed a replacement for that job. The speaker's mate is setting on the sub-woofer (all black) so I re-purposed the Duplo bin covering it in black fabric to match the sub and the speakers now match. (no cost involved and stores the bin for later use...) I will most likely move it our the chair slightly as it should be centered in the space, but I'm pretty happy with it..   The next step is to either get an antenna or fix the homemade one that is laying on the floor (hence the black cables hanging out of the front of the shelf.)

Back to organizing, I'm going to sort some of the ATC and Art Journal supplies into the game table drawers to clean up the front entry but still be able to create with the boys in the space. I pulled some fun pages from magazines today in the clean up / recycling efforts so I have lots of pieces to use for ATCs and Art Journal pages.  I will post the Art Journal pages for swap-bot later tonight.