Coronavirus Crafts: Part One

Today marks four weeks at home for coronavirus.

I've worked hard to keep the girls busy while social distancing, working, and trying not to have my own anxiety-filled panic attacks.

This post is a compilation of some of the crafts we have done.

If you are looking for ideas, hopefully one of these will help. :)

#1: Crayola Light Up Tracing Pad

Both of my girls have the Crayola Light Up Tracing Pad.

They love it and we have given them as gifts multiple times.

It comes with papers and pencils to get you started.

I have just used regular printer paper to refill once they use up all the paper it comes with.

Here is a link to get your own Crayola Light Up Tracing Pad.

#2: Art with Mo Willems

The girls have LOVED lunch doodles with Mo Willems.

They are live everyday at 11am but we watch them later on YouTube.

It's FREE and all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil.

Just go to YouTube and type in lunch doodles with Mo Willems.

More art with Mo on a different day.

#3: Make your own magic wand

 I had a kit in my craft closet that I bought from Target years ago.

But you can totally do this without a kit.

Grab a stick from your yard and use any string/yarn/fabric you have on hand.

Tie all the string/yarn/fabric at the top, let it hang down on both sides 

and voila, you have a magic wand.

Also included: photographic proof that my kids aren't always happy and getting along.

Caroline was mad that her sister's wand had more stickers (or something along those lines)

#4: Chalk art mosaic

 We didn't have a lot of painter's tape left, so our mosaic was small.
But... the kids LOVED every minute of this.
I have since ordered more tape, so we can do this again.
All you need it tape- painters or masking tape works best and chalk.

The girls thought it was really cool and had fun filling in the different shapes.

They didn't really understand at the beginning what it was going to look like, but when I took the tape off, they thought it was amazing. :)

#5: Steal ideas from other people/bloggers/pinterest

 There are a lot of people in the world that are more creative than me.

So... I totally steal/borrow their ideas (and give them credit).

One of my favorite bloggers, Andrea, runs Momfessionals, her personal blog.

I LOVED her idea for Wassily Kandinsky art and so I used her exact format from this blog post.

Andrea linked YouTube videos and art tutorials and we had a ton of fun creating some new-to-us art.

The girls had a thorough art lesson, created beautiful worked, and stayed occupied for about an hour.

It was wonderful!

#6: Liquid chalk

 I've been doing liquid chalk with the girls for years.

I use one cup of water to one cup of cornstarch.

I mix it all up and then pour into muffin pans.

After that, I drop in 2 or 3 drops of food coloring into each spot.

They like painting the driveway, creating new pictures, and comparing each other's work.

It washes away in the rain and doesn't damage the driveway.

#7: Michael's seasonal crafts

 I buy these on clearance after holidays and save them for the next year.

This year worked out well that we were able to surprise the girls with a few holiday goodies that I already had at home.

The girls painted these eggs and now they are hanging around the house as extra holiday décor.  If you look on the Michael's website, you might be able to find a few to use now or later.

I found these on the website today.

#8: Dying Easter Eggs

 Tis the season for coloring Easter eggs.

Even if you don't have a kit, you can use food coloring and cups you have at home.

Instead of the five-dozen eggs we normally color, we did a dozen eggs and then ate them throughout the week.  The girls had fun eating a snack while dying eggs and enjoying being outside.

#9: Painting. All. The. Things.

I had these wooden picture frames in the craft closet and pulled them out today.

The girls picked the colors of paint they wanted to use and picked the design to put on their frame.

If you don't have frames, you can paint rocks, paper, sticks, old shoes, anything you can think of.

Happy crafting everyone! 

Happy Friday y'all!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was our first holiday during coronavirus lock-in.

I had purchased some treats in advance and was so glad that I did.

 The night before, I decorated the table.

 When the girls came down in the morning, they were excited to see a few treats on the table.

  Caroline woke me up dressed like this :)

 She's so bubbly and happy almost all the time :)

 They wanted to eat their St. Patrick's Day cookies for breakfast and I said yes.

They couldn't believe it.  Cookies for breakfast (and lucky charms).

 

 I printed off a few St. Patrick's Day crafts and activities.

After all the activities, they played in the playroom for a bit.

 I decided we would have a lunch picnic since it was sunny.

Not totally warm (hence the jackets), but we enjoyed the sunshine.

 After lunch we made green Granny B sugar cookies.

 I bought the girls South Carolina cookie cutters when I was on my trip.

We used those plus a few spring-themed cookie cutters for our cookies.

 

Palmetto's, the state of South Carolina, and flowers!

 In the late afternoon, I set-up a rainbow craft for the girls.

I cut a paper plate in half for them to paint.

 Very easy set-up and clean up is a breeze, just wipe down the trays.

 They both LOVE art and painting is their favorite.

 Our after-dinner dessert was green pudding with whipped cream and lucky charms on top.

It was a tasty ending to a fun day!

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Sprinkles Cupcakes and USA Guided Tours

This post is not sponsored, I just want to share my great experience.  Enjoy!

The week of Valentine's Day, I entered a contest sponsored by USA Guided Tours.

You had to submit a love story and like their post on Facebook and Instagram.

I found out at the end of the week that I was one of two winners!

Fast forward to March and I was able to pick up a dozen cupcakes and scheduled our tour.

I have to say that Sprinkles Cupcakes is amazing!

The tour company handled placing my order, and when it was time to pick them up, I pulled up outside their store and they brought them right out to my car.

This is especially amazing for two reasons:

1. They are located in Georgetown and parking is AWFUL

2. This was before everything was locked down, so curb-side delivery was not a thing

After I had my cupcakes, I headed over to see my sister-in-law and nephews.

 The box was cute and the tour company had left me a note.

 

A dozen vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing.

AND... they put the tour company logo on top of the cupcakes!

I thought that was really cool and will keep that in mind when I need custom cupcakes.

I left a couple cupcakes with my nephews and headed home later in the afternoon to get the girls.

 Caroline and I enjoyed a cupcake after school.

I might have enjoyed another one later that night :)

And that next day :)

Our DC at Dusk Tour is going to be rescheduled because of Covid-19, but Ben and I are looking forward to it when the world re-opens.

The cupcakes from Sprinkles were amazing (I did share with my family) and I will definitely keep them in mind when I need a special dessert.

Happy Monday y'all!

2020 Girl's Weekend Away!

My annual girl's weekend away was the trip that almost didn't happen.

The entire week before I was sick, Elizabeth and Ben had the stomach flu, 

and Coronavirus was on the rise.

However, at 10pm on March 6th, I was able to hop onto my plane, sanitize my seat, and take off towards Columbia, South Carolina!

Reagan was pretty empty on Friday night.

On my flight down, I scored free wine!

My flight attendant was training a new flight attendant and used me as an example on how to "comp" a cocktail.  :)

Landed in Columbia at 11pm and Stacy picked me up!

I would love to tell all of you that we hit the town, but we did not.:)

We went back to her house, chilled for a bit, and then went to sleep because we had a busy weekend planned.

On our way to Charlotte on Saturday.

Dana and Stacy wanted coffee and I thought this Chick-Fil-A drive-thru cover was AMAZING!

Dana and Stacy laughed at me, but we don't have anything like this in DC.

It's the small things folks.

Stacy got all the food recommendations for us and #1 was 7th Street Public Market.

We walked around to all the booths and then settled on lunch.

I had the most delicious salad... 

while my lactose-abled friends enjoyed grilled cheese and tomato soup!

We split this strawberry-Nutella crepe with a glass of rose.

After lunch and cocktails, we headed across town for a mural walk.

One of my favorite artists, Evelyn Hansen, lives in Charlotte and was hosting a walking tour.

We walked for an hour, checked out about 10 murals and even stopped at her most famous piece.

This is Evelyn and she is telling us about her mural, Confetti Hearts Wall.

You should definitely check out her work, here is a link to her website.

Stacy, me, and Dana enjoying the #confettiheartswall

I had so much fun (this was one of my favorite parts of the trip)

After the tour, we headed to Evelyn's studio and made a few purchases.

We walked around Southend enjoying the day, shopping, and relaxing.

Before dinner, we headed to the mall and did a little more shopping.

For dinner, we met up with a few more friends and had the best time!

Shelley and I had a great time catching up!

Our dinner group.

Saturday night, we drove back to Columbia and relaxed in town with wine.

Sunday morning, Stacy and I picked up Dana and we headed to brunch.

Dana recommended Momma Rabbit's and it was SO GOOD!!

All of these pictures are just of my food.  Haha.

Our appetizer.

Homemade cinnamon roll.

Homemade chicken salad.

So much good food in the South!

After brunch we headed over for pedicures.

Second round of cocktails for the day :)

After pedicures and champagne, we headed to the State Museum for their Sherlock Holmes experience.

They had props from different Sherlock Holmes movies and TV shows.

We had to solve a murder.

Dana won!

We headed into Five Points to shop and have a snack.

Stacy recommended The Baked Bear!

Homemade chocolate chip cookies, lactose free chocolate chip ice cream!!

This was so good!

After ice cream and shopping, it was time for me to fly back to DC.

I had a fabulous time with my ladies and hope we can do it again next year!

Happy Friday y'all!