We worked on a couple of Valentine’s Day treat prototypes and were happy with how they came out! Ryan is still laughing at the very large bag of corks I ordered off eBay. I deal, a grand deal I tell you. Someone’s Two-Buck Chuck obsession was my advantage.

We tested the boats out and they indeed float! Our inspiration came from this tutorial by Jonah Lisa Land. I simplified ours a tiny bit since we have to crank out twenty five.

A few Valentines ideas I’m bookmarking for years ahead:
Love Bug Valentines | Secret Message | Color Theory Cards

And maybe, just maybe you were curious as to the depth of my nerdiness? Well, a couple years back I designed a couple of Twilight Valentines that you can download. Because it wasn’t enough that I was obsessed with the books at the time. I had to go out of my way to illustrate my passion. Um…tada?

I first thought Pantone’s color of the year Tangerine Tango was a bit of a doozy until I happened upon a few pieces that executed the bold color choice in a more subtle way. And I loved it! See sources for items above and more at my guest post for DotcomsForMoms.

And to Kristine and Miranda, I’ll be sending you some Valentine cards! Thanks for all the romantic movie recs too. I’ve got Elizabethtown, The Road Home, and North and South queued up on my watch list (thanks Lindsay, Susan, and Abby!)

Here’s a simple project that is a craft and rudimentary lesson in color theory all wrapped in one.

What you’ll need:
*self-sealing laminating sheets or pouches
*tissue paper in cyan, magenta, and yellow
*a CD or DVD for tracing
*metal brads
*permanent marker

Step 1:
Using permanent marker, trace around the DVD/CD onto laminate sheet. Mark a dot in the center. Cut out circle, making sure to cut inside the line (so that marker line is cut off), and cut center dot out. Use the tip of your scissor, a craft knife, or hole punch if you have one long enough. Just make sure this center hole is large enough to accomodate your metal brad. Repeat all of Step 1 so you have two circles.

Step 2:
Make a small stack of all the colors of the tissue paper and cut out various shapes. These will eventually be layered on top of each other, so have multiples of each shape in all three colors (eg. a cloud in cyan, magenta, and yellow, etc).

Step 3:
Unpeel laminate circle. Set aside the non-sticky side for sealing later on, and lay the other part of the circle on work surface, sticky-side up. Carefully stick on tissue paper shapes. My younger son free-styled this part, placing shapes arbitrarily, whereas my older son created a pattern. The laminate is very sticky and unforgiving, so your child may need your steady hand for help! We made a couple mistakes, but built any wayward tissue pieces into our pattern.

Step 4:
When finished, seal up your circle with the non-sticky side you set aside earlier. Now lightly (I used just two small pieces) tape this circle down to your work surface, just to keep it steady and in place for the next step.

Step 5:
Expose the sticky side of your second circle, setting aside the non-sticky side for sealing later on. Sticky side up, lay the circle down on top of your previous circle. Remember making multiples of your shapes in Step 2? Carefully stick on same shapes to align with the shapes on the circle below. This is essentially a duplicate of the first circle, but use different tissue paper colors. Here’s where the lesson in color theory comes in; your child can see how adding a blue cloud on top of the yellow cloud makes it green. When all the shapes have been added in, seal up this circle with the non-sticky side you set aside earlier.

Kai’s two completed circles. Shapes don’t overlap exactly. That’s okay!

Step 6:
Remove your first circle from the tape and off your work surface. Use the metal brad to attach the two circles together and you’re done! Hold and spin the circles against a light-source to get a really neat kaleidoscope effect. Video (no sound) at the end of this post to show kaleidoscope in action.

I made my own ‘kaleidoscope’ using three layers of circles instead of just two. Each circle had stripes in a single color.

This is also my craft contribution this month to the always great Bloesem Kids. I would hasten to subscribe if you haven’t already done so!

My latest project for Bloesem Kids can be found here.
An easy project using things you may already have on hand;
tin foil, permanent markers, cardboard or foam core, and glue.

The kids and I created this papier mache igloo using just vellum paper, glue, and a balloon. It was messy fun (okay, and maybe a tiny bit stress when goopy glue went flying because of the kids’ over-eagerness!)

Find the full tutorial at Bloesem Kids.

Here’s an easy Halloween craft that even involves a little bit of outdoors time. All you need are 1) twigs (bendable, or strip some dead-ish thin branches off a tree or bush), 2) yarn, 3) glue gun, 4) fishing line, and 5) plastic spiders.

I made two hoops, one smaller, one larger, by tying ends together with the fishing line. Next, to make the weaving process easier for the kids, I used a glue gun to attach ‘spokes,’ connecting the inner and outer hoops. When it felt solid enough, I let the boys weave their webs.

At some point, I had to take over Dax’s, but Kai did great creating his web. Finishing touch was to glue on plastic spiders, then hang.

A little lot more crude and rough, but these were inspired by this tactile Yarn Font project by Teri and these pretty dreamcatchers. I also spotted Dana’s yarn spiderweb DIY this evening. I like this as alternative decor to the cottony stuff.

I’m happy to share that I will now be a regular craft contributor to the ever-inspiring Bloesem Kids!

My first contribution are suncatchers inspired by the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It’s a very simple project for children that involves reusing plastic food packaging, drawing a Halloween design, coloring in with Sharpie markers, and displaying on your glass door or window. Kai really loved this and wanted to make more, but we ran out of plastic to use. Need to buy more Trader Joe’s cookies!

Full instructions can be found on Bloesem Kids and feel free to download my (very rough) template for skulls and such. And make sure to check out lots more neat bKids crafts.

When I first spotted CitiBlocs at the store around Christmas time last year, they looked so cool and fun, I just knew they’d be a hit with the kids. I made sure to grab a set as a ‘Santa’ gift for the boys. Sure enough, it has become a favorite in our home since then. And these blocks are so simple and pretty, I don’t quite mind as much when they’re scattered all over the floor.

So the boys and I were super excited when CitiBlocs sent over one of their new colored sets for review. And what’s doubly exciting is that CitiBlocs has offered an additional 100-piece set to give away, any color set of your choice! Care to enter? You can choose from Hot Colors, Cool Colors (the set we tried out), or Natural.

To enter, (1) Leave a comment.
For an additional entry, (2) ‘Like’ the CitiBlocs Facebook page.
For a third entry, (3) Tweet this giveaway
(mention @Citiblocs and @AmbrosiaGirl).

Please make sure to leave separate comment for yourself if you do (2)
and another separate comment if you do (3).

This giveaway will close at midnight EST
next Tuesday the 27th.Best of luck!

To see more pics and neat building ideas, visit the CitiBlocs website.

Finished the last of my posts at Tangled and True this morning. Blogged about boyfriend jeans, baby shoes, one of our fave books, and natural art supplies.

Blogged a tutorial at Tangled & True.

Also, a t-shirt stencil download.