DIY Letter Beaded Bracelets

One of the trends are these adorable gold beaded letter bracelets. I really wanted one with each of the boys name on them. ShopBop has them for $36 and up. Etsy has them too, but they are still pricey. 

I was going to buy the gold beads at Michael's, but if you don't buy the real gold beads the color starts to rub off quickly. I decided to take a different route and make mine with colored beads. I saw the Dollar Tree had some seed beads and letter beads. 

Each package of the seed beads was $1 and the letter beads were $1. I spent $3 on beads total. I also have enough beads to make probably 10 more bracelets. I barely put a dent in the one package of blue beads.  I bought the elastic string on Amazon for $3.  

I decided to make the bracelets while Cashy was napping one day. G had a great time making his own bracelet and playing with the beads. He asked me to get his sensory bin down while I finished. We both sat at the table chatting away with our projects. 

I tied the elastic in a knot and then put clear nail polish over the knot. I tried to pull the bracelet to put it on before I put the clear nail polish and the bracelet exploded all over the dining room. I know there are beads hiding still after G and I both searched the floor on our hands and knees. Take it from me. Seal it with nail polish before you put them on. lol

I spent a total of $6 on supplies. I have plenty of supplies left that I could make numerous other bracelets. 

The boys love these bracelets. They each point to their names and smile. G will tell me each letter from the bracelets. They are so proud that I wear their names on my wrist. 

Sensory Bins

Last summer I created a sensory bin for G with some items I found at the Dollar Tree. Summer in Texas is soooo hot, so we spend a lot of our days indoors. Nap time can get tricky. I don't like G to watch tv while Cash is napping. I am fine with him watching a short show, but I do not want him to spend 2-3 hours in front of the tv. I also like to be able to rest some during this time, so I needed something that would keep him busy. A sensory bin was a perfect thing for G. He can use his imagination and it's also a quiet toy. 

You could also find a lot of these items at Walmart or Target pick up to avoid going to the store during this pandemic we are going through right now. 

I spent around $10 to create this sensory bin. There are sensory bins on Amazon, Etsy and other various sites going for $30+. By creating your own you can do it budget friendly and create it based on what your child loves. 

We used a bag of beans and glass beads as our base in a clear plastic bin. Get a bin with a lid! You will want a lid to store this box up high if you have little ones. 

G loved helping create this box. I also bought a bag of letter beads to mix in. This way you can also make it educational, by asking them to spell their name, find certain letters etc. 

A bug catching set has been a lot of fun! He uses the scoop and the net to scoop up beans or to put some of the animals inside as he catches them. 

We made this sensory bin over 9 months ago. G still loves to play with it! Cash has now started to play with it with supervision. This is not my favorite toy for toddlers because they like to dump beans all over the house. It becomes a huge mess and it's not a relaxing toy for a mom. lol It is a great sensory toy for toddlers, but you just need some patience when you pull this out!

Items for a sensory bin

1 plastic bin - we used a 28 qt bin with a lid 

1 bag of beans

Glass Rocks

Alphabet Beads

Insect Collector Kit

Plastic Animals

Squishy Toys 

Option 1 

Option 2

Play Doh

Trees

Construction Vehicles

You can be so creative with sensory bin themes you would like to create for your kids! 

If you make a sensory bin let me know what kind of ideas of you come up with! 

Halloween Wreath

A friend posted a Halloween wreath online that was soooo cute! She mentioned she paid $60 for someone to make it for her. I sent the picture to some of my friends and asked them if they thought we could make the wreaths! Everyone was game. I think all the supplies to make the wreaths were about $20 each. We had a fun afternoon chatting, eating some yummy food and crafting! 

All our supplies came from Hobby Lobby and Michael's. We made big bows, tied on little chalkboards, wrapped some lights around the wreath and added different little touches. I stuck some tiny little colorful spiders and some whispy black feather type things. G is REALLY into ghosts, so I added a ghost bulb. 

I really love how it turned out! 

Monday Thrive June 19

Happy Monday! 

1) I hope all you father's had a special Father's Day yesterday! I am so thankful for my amazing dad! The older I get the more I realize just what amazing parents I had growing up! I was closest to my mom growing up. I remember a change in my relationship with my dad  when I was about 18. 

I had left Michigan where we lived to go to college in California. I went to college about 30 minutes from where I live now. I remember the second day I was at school l became horribly homesick. I had asked to come home. I didn't want to be there and so far away. I cried so much in those 2 weeks. I am not sure if i had ever cried that much in my life. lol My parents said I had to finish the semester. At the time it sounded like the end of the world to a 17 year old. I had no friends, was in a strange place, and I was almost 2,000 miles away. Back then I didn't realize I needed to stay because 7 years later I would end up moving right back there! I didn't know this until later, but my dad told my mom to let me come home. My mom was the strict one this round and said NO. If I had known my dad was the softy in this situation I would have talked to him more about coming home. lol 

My dad told me after I came home at some point that I was the first person he missed so bad and how hard it was on him when I went away to college. This past summer he told me that story again. I dread the day G goes away to college. 

I have spent a lot of time with my mom over the past few years. She has come to CA to take care of me when I've been sick and when I had G. She stayed with us for a few months when I went back to work, so she could take care of G. Last summer I stayed in ND to help take care of my dad after he had open heart surgery. I really cherished that time that I was able to spend with him and my family. We spent a lot of time watching the Olympics. I told him I will be coming back every 4 years during the summer Olympics, so we can spend some time watching it together. He is less than thrilled to spend time watching the Olympics. lol He said he never would have watched it if he hadn't been recovering. 


2) G started preschool last week. The first day he barely had time to even tell me good bye. When I picked him up he ran to give me a big hug. I asked him did you like school? He enthusiastically said YES! I asked would you like to come back tomorrow? Again I got a loud YES! He really loved it! He had to tell both sets of grandparents all about his day. He played with trucks, had cheese sticks and crackers for snacks and there were lots of dinosaurs. He was a little clingier the rest of the day. I asked him did you miss momma? He said yes, then gave me a tight hug. I told him it was ok to miss me, but I would always come to pick him up. 

They do lots of crafts, play with toys, play outside, have snacks and read stories. When I picked him up I loved how calm everything was in the room. It is a room with about 8-10 two year olds. Everyone is playing or reading stories on the bean bag chairs. The teachers are really fabulous! The staff is all so friendly too. I am so happy that we found such a great place. 

3) I recently bought these earrings from Mia & Mac. I follow her on Instagram. She posted these adorable gold hammered earrings on her IG story the other day. She was selling a few different designs of earrings for different price points. I loved the plain hammer gold hoops. They are about the size of a nickle. The perfect size! They are lightweight, dainty and simple. Just the perfect touch for all my gold jewelry. I am always looking for earrings to go with different necklaces. I need a plainer type of earring because sometimes I just wear my G Silver Wren tag necklace and other times I will wear a big statement necklace. I have been tending to lean more to more simple pieces since I stay home with G. 

4) Heather from My Life Well Loved started a series called Holy Grit. She talked about it on her IG stories. I was like meh I don't know that I really want to do a 30 day Bible series. I decided to sign up for the emails on it. I need some Holy Grit in my life. I am soooo glad I signed up for this series. It is so amazing! Each day I take the time to read the emails and read the verses. It has been such a blessing to me and helped me so much. There is still time for you to join in. I highly recommend you join in if you need some encouragement, positive influence or just are looking for a new type of devotional to do. 


5) We are planning some water activities this summer. I decided to buy G a puddle jumper. I keep seeing kids wearing them on social media. I am hoping he likes this and it works well for us. We have a small pool in our backyard. He is cautious in it. He would rather just stand in there with no one else and splash around just a little bit. What type of flotation devices do you use for your kids? 

Pallet Headboard DIY

Last summer when I was at my parents taking care of my dad Art made 3 pallet headboards. One was for our California king bed. I love it! He also made 2 additional queen size pallet headboards he had planned to sell. He didn't end up selling any of them. We decided to put one in our guest bedroom. I picked the darker wood. It really looks great against the gray and white striped wall. 

Back in 2010 I decorated the spare bedroom. You can find the original blog post HERE. The room is now a guest bedroom and my craft storage area. I need to decide what to do with all my craft stuff. Each year I get rid of more and more stuff. I just don't craft like I use too. Birthday parties are my crafting time. I am hoping to get some sewing in while G is in preschool this summer. 

I really love the pallet headboard in our guest bedroom! We are debating about making a pallet headboard for G's room too. Although I am not sure if I want every bedroom to have the same headboards, but then again it would be nice to match. You can find lots of pallet headboard ideas and tutorials on Pinterest too. 

Homemade Sea Salt Spray!

I have been straightening my hair for the most part since I cut it back in February. Once in awhile I will curl it with big loose curls. And a lot of time I just throw it back in a ponytail. Ok let's just be honest it's in a ponytail the majority of the time. The shorter my hair the less I do it.

I have been wanting to make my own sea salt spray. I have seen recipes on Pinterest how to make your own. I can't handle the sea salt sprays from the store because of the fragrances in products. I will get an instant headache and sometimes a migraine. If you don't want to make a sea salt spray BeautyCounter and Honest Beauty each sell one. I didn't want to spend $18-26 for a spray I felt I could make at home. I also wasn't 100% sure I would like the spray, so another reason I didn't want to spend the money.

I had a travel size spray bottle that wasn't being used. I put a little under a tablespoon of sea salt and BeautyCounter kids conditioner each into the travel size spray bottle. I filled up the rest of the bottle with water. I shook it all together really well. I let it sit on my counter for a couple days. The mixture doesn't stay incorporated very well while it is sitting on the counter. Before I used the spray I shook it really well, so everything mixes again.

I washed my hair in the morning, left a towel wrapped around my hair while I put my make up on, brushed it out after I was ready, scrunched the ends and then I sprayed it with my homemade sea salt spray.

Here are the results from the spray after my hair had dried.  I really like the results. My hair isn't stiff like when you use hair gels hair spray. It was very easy to make! I can't imagine it cost me more than a $1 to make. I already had all the items in my house, so I was using things I had. 

Recipe:

2.6 ounces squirt bottle

1 tablespoon conditioner

1 tablespoon sea salt

Fill bottle with water once you have added the conditioner and sea salt. 

Shake to mix all ingredients prior to each use. 

You can also use this mixture to help bring back hair you have curled the day before. Spray it lightly after you have combed your hair. Scrunch the ends and revive your loose curls. 

Let me know if you make your own sea salt spray and how it works for you! Have a great weekend! 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Homemade Sea Salt Spray appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant.  

Monday Thrive!!!

It's crazy to me that it is May already! I feel like this year is just flying by. I was going to say I felt like April flew by, but I feel March also flew by. Last week we had some amazing summer weather! It was in the 80's for a few days. We wore shorts almost all week. Shorts and flip flops are my favorite things! 

1) I have been uploading some of my posts to Pinterest lately. I go in stages with Pinterest. Sometimes I go on there a lot and other times I just go on to find a recipe. I do look for meal ideas and paleo type recipes often. I pin a bazillion projects I would like to do that never happen. If you want to follow along with me on Pinterest you can find me under MrsPost08. My goal is to complete some of those projects in the month of June. G will be going to preschool. My goal is to go to yoga a couple times a week and work on projects the other days. You can follow along with me on Pinterest by clicking the Pinterest button on my blog page upper right corner. 

2) BeautyCounter has a beautiful new gift set out for Mother's Day. It comes with a lip sheer, blush, mist spray and a white make up bag. I have talked about how much I love the lip sheers in the past. I love their blush too! I wear the powder and cream blushers. They just are fabulous at staying put! If you add the mist spray to your make up it really helps set it for the day. 

3) I usually keep a blanket over our couch cushions to help with spills and dog hair. I keep seeing these pet covers that covers. These things kind of remind me of the plastic covers that people in North Dakota use to keep over their couches. I remember sliding off couches as a kid. Or in the summer you would get stuck to it. It sure kept those couches from looking brand new even after the springs were worn out. I decided to order one from Amazon for less than $25. 

I just love this thing! I wish I had bought it years before. It keeps all the pet hair off the couch. Sammy likes to lay on one couch which annoys me. It's our newer nicer couch. I have just got done fighting him over this couch and now keep it covered. I also feel like a granny now that I have this. lol

4) I have been on the hunt for a non-toxic and fragrance free dry shampoo. I have been using an organic baby powder that was just not doing anything. I have felt frustrated because I have needed to wash my hair way too often. I HATE washing my hair! I decided to try LuLu Organics Hair Powder. It is a little pricey. I decided to try the 1oz size just to see how I liked it. I have been using it for a couple of weeks and I really like it. I sprinkle it on my hair at night before bed. I pat it into my head, but I don't brush it in. I let it soak in over night. It really helps soak up any greasy hair. I can now wash my hair once a week. 

5) Can we talk about Birkenstock's? I bought a pair of the Gizeh's last summer. I wore them on and off since then. They are the most uncomfortable shoes I have ever worn in my life. I have tried to break them in, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I keep hearing people rave about how comfortable they are. Is it just my pair? Or my feet? I want to love these. I want them to be comfy. I need some comfy mom shoes for summer. I tried to wear them the other day and within 5 minutes I took them off. I went back to my Tory Burch flip flops instead. I seem to wear my Tory's or Havaianas all summer. What are your go to summer shoes? 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive Ideas appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

Valentine's Play Date

I had a little Valentine play date party for G and a few of his friends. It turned out to be a lot of fun and really cute. I bought donuts from Krispy Kreme. Finding donuts that were not fried in peanut oil became my mission. I did not want to make donuts. I knew Dunkin Donuts didn't use peanut oil; however, they are over an hour away from me. 

I checked with our local little donut shop. They use peanut oil. I called Krispy Kreme headquarters to verify what type of oil they used. They use a vegetable oil to fry their donuts right on site. Perfect! There is a Krispy Kreme not far from our house. 

G and I headed there early before his party started. He of course needed to eat some of the donut as soon as we got into the car. I made a fritta and sausage to go with the donuts. I figured everyone would need something other than donuts. G wanted nothing to do with the other food. He just chowed down on donuts. 

I made cute little crafts for us to do. I bought some canvas from Michael's. I used painters tape for the LOVE. The plan was for the kids to paint the canvases, take the tape off and see LOVE. 

I bought the valentine plates and napkins at the Dollar Tree. 

After everyone enjoyed some food we pulled out the paints. The kids had so much fun painting on the plates and canvas. 

Then it was time to start to burn off some of those surgary treats! The kids played for a good 2 hours. Around 1pm G told everyone nite nite and headed to bed. He crashed for about 3 hours. Once he told everyone nite nite everyone decided to head home for nap time. It really was a cute day and a lot of fun! 

Leave in Conditioner

Are you trying to use safer products for you and your family? The kids conditioner works great for adults too! I use it and love it! You can also make a leave in conditioner very easily by following the instructions below! 

#switchtosafer

http://www.beautycounter.com/arthurpost

Rainy Day Bathtub Painting

Rainy days can be rough days with a toddler. What in the world do you do to keep them busy? 

Bathtub painting for the win over here! I went to the Dollar Tree to buy some baby wash. I mixed 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1/8 cup of baby wash, 3 drops of food coloring and 1 teaspoon of water. Next time I will probably add a little more food color for richer colors. 

I grabbed 2 paint brushes, paints, stripped G and headed to the bathtub. I put him in a diaper. We have had too many incidents with poop in the tub to put him in there naked. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do at first. I painted a little on the wall. He got it and had a blast. One of the best thing is after he was done painting I ran a bath and he had a fun bubble bath. The paint washes right off. It didn't stain him at all. 

The next day he woke up at 6am. He took me to the bathroom, pointed to the cabinet where I stored the extra paint and pointed to the tub. I told him it was waaaaaay too early to be painting at 6am. Thankfully he is easily distracted with milk and Blue's Clues. 

Halloween Costumes

This is a long over due post, but I wanted to post about our Halloween costumes. I started thinking about Halloween costumes before George was even born. Art dresses up as a Viking almost every year. There has only been 1 year where he dressed up as a pirate since we have been together. Kids that has almost been 10 years.

We had to be Vikings! I didn't want to do it our first year because George was too little. I knew no one would see us, so we saved it for this past year. I sewed our skirt and pants. We bought the fur from the fabric store. I used some of the fur and some leather strings to tie around our boots, so they were furry. This worked really well. The helmets came from various places - Halloween super store, Amazon, Etsy and a little gift shop.

It was in the 80's on Halloween, so the furs only stayed on for the pictures and to arrive at our party. Once we arrived we quickly shed all our furs. George was darling!

Sensory Paper Bag Book

There are a times I need to entertain George while I try to get things done around the house. He gets bored with the same toys day after day. We put some toys away and bring them out which is like WOW where did that come from?

I decided to make 3 boxes of different type of toys, crafty items he can play with 3 days a week. I have a lot of scrapbook items that are just sitting around my spare room. I decided to make him a book out of a paper bag.

I looked on Pinterest for some ideas of things to put in the boxes. I will blog about the boxes at a different time. I used them the other day and it was fabulous! He was soooo excited to go through the box and play with everything.

I used 3 paper bags. Folded them in half, punched holes in the end and tied it with string.

I had the stickers above in my collection. He likes to rub the mustache.

I am not sure how long these letters will stay on the page. He is trying to pick them off already. I hot glued them to the page. If he picks them off I can glue them back down.

In the pages that are open on the ends I cut cardstock to stick inside. I hot glued some twine to the page to make a G. Used stickers on the other pages.

I took a straw that was left over from his party, cut it and glued it to the page. He really liked the straw. The owl he lost interest in quickly.

The car sheet was his favorite. He played with that the most. Then he took it, folded it in half and shoved it back in the open section of the book. That is when I realized it will be lucky if the book lasts a month. lol

These books are so easy to make! You can just use items you have around the house or grab some items at the dollar store. Michaels' has cardstock on sale a lot of times for about $2-3 a pack of 50. Use a coupon and save 40-50%.

Curious George 1st Birthday Party

I started planning George birthday probably when he was a couple months old. I was pinning things on Pinterest for months. I decided on Curious George right away! It was a perfect theme for our little Curious George!

I made the majority of the decorations, signs and banners. I had a lot of fun planning it until 2 days before then I started stressing. I now understand why people rent jumpy houses and order pizza. lol

Guest Book Table

I had a Curious George Birthday book for everyone to sign as the guest book. We have this large crate I covered with a table cloth on the sides and yellow wrapping paper over the top. I bought the clips and G from the $ section of Target & Michael's.

Birthday Cake Throne

I made the I Am One sign that wrapped around G's high chair. I bought the balloon on Amazon.

Dessert Table

I made the OOH AAH OOH AAH banner. My friend Krystal made the banana hanging in the middle. She also made the monkey face with the mustache.

The table I covered the sides with a table cloth, covered the top with yellow & white polka dot wrapping paper. We served cupcakes and banana splits. I made G's smash cake.

Chalk Board

Our chalk board in the kitchen I drew Go Banana's. I am no artist let me tell you! I probably redid it a couple times before the party.

Drink Area

I collected straws from the dollar section of Target and Michael's for a few months. Picture up some red solo cups from the dollar store. The yellow bucket is from the clearance section of Michael's. My nanny helped me cup all the tissue pom poms. They were pretty easy to make once we cut them all out. I was soooo grateful she helped me with things.

Front Yard

We had some leftover wood from the deck project. My father in law cut out the 1 and painted it a solid color. I painted the polka dots all over it.

Back Yard Photo Prop

I found a picture on Pinterest the above photo prop. I printed it out and asked my father in law to draw it out for me. I told him I would paint it if he could just draw it. Well my father in law not only drew it out, but he painted it. I was soooo happy! He did such an amazing job!

I painted the confetti and party hat.

George LOVES the monkey still. It is still in our backyard. He loves to go put his head through it and laughs away.

I didn't get a picture of the food table! I set up a taco bar. Ground beef, shredded chicken, pinto beans, all the fixing for tacos, tortilla chips and salsa. Oh it was delicious! I take after my great grandma and mom. I cooked for an entire army. We had 5 pounds of ground beef left over and probably 2 pounds of beans. lol Good things those things freeze well.

The party turned out perfect! It was a lot of work, but so worth it. It was such a fun afternoon spending time with our family and friends celebrating our little boy 1st year. He was worn out after the party and took a long nap.