'Day at the Beach' Moon Sand Sensory Bin

Pretty excited to say that my first attempt at a Sensory Bin was a success! 

(And by success I mean over an hour of quiet play by both 15 month old Bub and 6 year old T, success!) 

Day at the Beach Moon Sand Sensory Bin

First things First...Since Bub is still in the mouthing phase, all sensory bins in our house are made with edible ingredients. We still supervise closely and discourage him from trying to eat them, but since he's still learning, we choose to only use edible ingredients.

What You'll Need:

4 Cups AP Flour

1/2 Cup Veg Oil

Sensory Bin (We use a large, under the bed tupperware)

Toys 

1. Start off by making the 'Moon Sand' - if you haven't made this before (as I hadn't) it's pretty neat! All you need to do is knead the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into the 4 cups of flour. Much to my surprise when it's fully kneaded, the moon sand becomes silky smooth and is not at all sticky or greasy. 

(**Disclaimer: We did notice that when mixed with the oil the flour didn't wipe off our clothes as easily, it washed out just find and left no marks, but it wasn't as easy to just brush off as true beach sand might be)

2. Pour your moon sand into your sensory bin, add in some toys (we went with beach theme toys to go with the 'Day at the Beach' theme - a shovel, bucket, and some sea animals turned out to be enough for over an hour of entertainment for BOTH boys and some neighborhood friends! They did later also add in some hot wheel cars - BOYS!) and enjoy!

Bub with a starfish 

The great thing about this Moon Sand is that it's not only cheap to make, but will keep for up to a week in a sealed container. (Although I must warn, we accidentally left our sealed container outside and had some squirrel bandits break into it and cover themselves in flour! haha)

This is definitely a sensory bin we will be repeating in the future. Let me know how it turns out for you and/or any new ideas you have on what to do with it!

Disclaimer: All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my children.  As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family.  If you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity, I strongly encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision.  Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies).  Observe caution and safety at all times.  The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.

Memorial Day Weekend

As a Military Family, it is never lost to us the sacrifices that so many (soldiers & family members alike) have made for our country's freedom, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  It's easy to get caught up in the fun of a 3 day weekend, cookouts, and celebrating the kick off to summer - but we also recognize that it's very important we never forget what the true meaning of Memorial Day Weekend is, and why we get that extra day off of work. 

As T's countdown to the end of his kindergarten year (ALREADY?!) constantly reminds us, summer is practically here! Summer in our house is an extremely busy time of year, and not long after summer ends, so will our time in South Carolina. While John and I may be counting down to the day we leave SC in the rear view, T isn't quite as ready to leave his friends behind and so we wanted to make sure this summer will be his best one yet!

Well, what better way to start off the best summer yet then with a neighborhood Memorial Day cookout?!
Wanting to make the neighborhood cookout more exciting to the kids then their typical afternoon in the backyard, we decided to rent an inflatable slip-n-slide! With a bit over 20 people on the invite list we took care of the hotdogs, hamburgers & some snacks, and asked each family to bring a side dish or drinks.

Loving party planning with a theme, I stuck to everything Red, White & Blue for the cookout. Not wanting to spend a fortune (the slip-n-slide alone was almost $200 - ouch!) I hit up the Dollar Tree for decorations and then picked some simple, inexpensive snacks that were cookout appropriate and could be spruced up to match the theme with some food coloring! Red White & Blue Rice Krispies, Cupcakes, and a white chocolate Trifle cake - check out pictures and the recipes below!

Red, White & Blue Rice Krispie Treats

Red, White & Blue Rice Krispies Quick & Easy to make and delicious! Check out my recipe for them here! Also, how cute is the star platter from the Dollar Tree?! 

Red, White & Blue Cupcakes

Red, White & Blue Cupcakes - Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting spruced up with a bit of blue food coloring. The flags and cupcake liners came from the Dollar Tree - cute right?!

Red, White & Blue Trifle - This recipe I got from skinny taste, with ingredients like white chocolate pudding mix, sweetened condensed milk, and cool whip - you really can't go wrong! Check it out here!

What did you and your family do for the holiday weekend? 

Not a Craft, Recipe, or DIY-er...but I just HAD to share!

Not typical of this blog but I just had to share this new little gadget that has joined our family...the LG Smart-watch aka the 'Gizmo Watch.'

Now, first let me start off by saying, I'm a bit on the old-fashioned side in that it is absolutely crazy to me to see these young kids at T's elementary school pulling out their cell phones at the end of the day.  I had my first cell phone at 16, (when I was driving my own car, and my parents wanted me to have a phone for emergencies and to be able to track me down,)  T is 6...quite a difference in age!

That being said however, I can't deny that  my son is growing up in are much different times then I did. Also, due to the fact that he spends several weeks in the summer out-of-state, John and I began looking into different options for a direct line of communication to him when he's away from home. After some research and shopping around, we came across The Gizmo at Verizon.

Set up to look like a Smartwatch (and yes it does tell you the time ) the Gizmo comes in either pink or blue and has sticker 'face plates' - T choose to go with the Transformer looking faceplate - connected to an app on my phone, the phone can communicate with 4 numbers I am able to set up 2 phone numbers that can both call in and be called by T, and 2 numbers that can call in to the watch but that he cannot call himself. (These numbers can be changed at ANY time in the app) In addition to this the watch is 100% waterproof, has GPS tracking (I can at any time pull it up on my phone app and see exactly where he is,) and has auto answer in which the watch automatically answers after 5 rings. The upfront cost of the watch was $80 and the monthly fee is $5/month with NO contract! To us, there was NO beating it!

We've had the watch a little over 6 weeks now and we love it! T wears it everyday (we don't allow it to be worn at school) he will call me while playing out back to 'say Hi,' L O V E S getting calls from his Grandparents, and is excited to go out of town this summer and get to talk on it daily.

Another great thing we've learned on it is the battery life on it is great! Typically after 2 days it will have decreased to 80% (I can see the battery life on my app, as well as it announces it when it is plugged in) If you have Verizon (it may be available with other carriers but I can't speak to that) and are looking for a cheap way to get in touch with your kids without the worry of online apps, text messaging, unsupervised internet access, etc. I have to say, the Gizmo get's 5 stars from us!

Hello All! :)

Hello all who happen to have stumbled upon this blog! I figured as my first official post it'd probably be best to introduce both myself and this blog, giving you an idea of what you can look forward to seeing on here in the future :) 

So as the saying goes...here goes nothin'!

My name is Kendall, I'm a military wife currently displaced living in Charleston, SC. 

I'm a Florida Girl at heart having lived there all but the last couple years of my life, and soon will be able to once again call Florida my home! 

I have two amazing boys, "T" who is 6 years old, and "Bub" who is 15 months old, and thanks to my awesome husband, John, I have the privilege of being a stay at home mom, and truly enjoying the years that pass by way too quickly. 

Our Family - January 2015

I've always been a creative/crafty type of person. I was the young girl asking Santa for scrapbooking supplies, the teen who changed the color scheme and furniture layout of her room practically monthly (thanks for putting up with that Mom & Dad!) When it came time for my wedding I took on as many DIY projects (centerpieces, wedding favors, bridal party gifts, etc.) as I could find, and now that I'm a Mom, I find myself forever working on sensory bin ideas and having just about as much enjoyment planning birthday parties as the kids have at the party itself! ;) 

In 2013 after having received such positive feedback on my DIY projects I pulled off for my wedding (more on those later!) and looking to make a little extra cash to possibly leave my desk job, I decided to open my own Etsy Shop: Kendall Marie's Crafts! Initially I only sold hand-painted bridal party wine glasses and beer mugs similar to those that I had painted for our bridal party. Over the next year or so I slowly adding misc. glasses to the inventory (including our most popular seller 'I teach therefore I drink' seen below)

The wineglasses that started it all! 

Our top selling wineglass!

and from then on, the craft shop has evolved to selling a wide range of crafts. If you visited my shop today you could expect to see the hand-painted wineglasses that started it all, crocheted infant photography props, embroidered clothes, and much much more! My shop is always expanding, and since I can be a bit of a craftaholic, I always have something new up my sleeve that if nothing else I will add to the shop just to test the waters!

Why 'the Crafty Dandelion'? 

Well, why not? As many ideas as I can come up with for crafts to make, coming up with a name for a blog (&even my etsy shop for that matter) has been SO much harder, I guess I'm just too indecisive! So finally after days of throwing around random names and debating what (if any) I could see fitting, while looking at a dandelion outside - it all seemed to fit - so, the Crafty Dandelion it is! ;)

What can you look forward to seeing on the Crafty Dandelion?
DIY Crafts (a wide range from sensory bins to crochet patterns, repurposing projects & more!) Recipes, Giveaways, & More!

So stay tuned for more! And feel free to comment with suggestions on anything you'd like to see on the blog - I'll do my best to accommodate!