Praises of a Wife and Mommy

Learning to knit – how long should it take? It's important to recognize that learning to knit is an ongoing process. There are people who have been knitting for twenty years and still find themselves learning new things. However, the foundation of any knitting project is to learn how to cast on, knit, purl and cast off. Some people are able to learn these stitches in just a few hours, but not everyone picks up the skill that quickly. The first thing you need to do is purchase some yarns , and needles, and get yourself some tuition from an experienced knitter. This does not have to be a professional knitting class; you can ask a friend or relative for help, as long as they are good enough knitter. Starting with the basics There are two main methods of knitting, English, and Continental. The English knitting method is commonly used, and requires the yarn to be controlled using the right hand. Many left handed people find it easier to learn to knit using the Continent...

Now through July 8 th , show us your awesome party décor on Instagram for a chance to win! Weekly winners receive a $100 Oriental Trading gift card. There will also be one grand prize winner for a $500 Oriental Trading gift card! Be sure to tag your entry #OTparties and #contest.

If there is one thing common to kids everywhere, it would be their love for crafts. From finger painting at very young ages to building skyscrapers out of popsicle sticks, any hands on activity that fuels the imagination can hold their interest longer than almost anything. If you are looking for something fun and entertaining to do with your kids, why not explore the concept of harmony and maybe even world peace while working together on crafts from around the world. Some crafts are specific to countries while others share commonalities among all nations. To get you started, here are a few ideas. Fun and Easy Dutch Windmills for Kris Kringle Day – December 6 For this project you only need a few tempera paints, paper cups, felt, scissors, glue and an imagination. The paints are for the paper cups that when placed upside down on the table form the base of the windmill. This is where they will use the paints to color the base and when that has been allowed to dry they can draw in th...

The weather has been perfect this week so we have had some fun with glitter sidewalk chalk painting.  I saw this all over Pintrest the last few weeks and I have done chalk painting in the past but adding glitter was a whole new experience.  All you need: Muffin Tin Corn Starch Food Coloring Water Glitter Paint Brushes My son and daughter first started on the sidewalk making rainbows and other fun paintings.  Then we started painting on some scraps of lumber we no longer need.   Some other Chalk Ideas from Praises of a Wife and Mommy: Chalk Paint   Evangelize  through Chalk  Chalk Roads and Signs Chalk Mosaic   Shapes and Colors Liquid Chalk Spray   Fizzy Sidewalk Chalk

It was another hot n humid day here in Iowa.  I determined that movies and indoor crafts was the way to go!  The UPS had perfect timing and dropped off a big box!   So we used some bingo doter's to paint, paper plates for the wheels, and cups for lights.   The kiddos sure had fun driving around and picking up their "baby" from daycare.  :)  

I prepped the flowers and leaves but my 2 year old had fun gluing it all together.  This is  a very simple craft for toddlers and it sure brightened up the room since our spring flowers are taking forever with our cold spring.  

We can safely say SPRING is HERE!   Today we are going to hit 60's and this weekend we may hit 70's!  I am about to do a happy dance!!!    To actually bring in the nice weather the kids created a "Spring is Here" crown.  After we were done we had to go on our own parade!   These three kiddos sure had a great time on our walk and at the park.  Spring stay here we do not want any more cold spells and absolutely none of that white stuff. 

I am on a hunt to find as many flower crafts as possible since the weather forecast here in Wisconsin is calling for snow again.  :(  I REALLY WANT SPRING and so do my kids.  

April 22nd is EARTH DAY!!  I am hoping to share more ideas on simple ways to reuse things around your house for art projects for the kids!  :) The first project is embellishing some 3-D glasses.  The hubby and I went to a 3-D movie not long ago and we both agreed we should save the glasses for something fun.  (The movie theaters I attend do have a recycling box for the glasses which is awesome.)       How adorable are those faces??  I think next time we need to ask for kid sizes so the glasses will stay on their faces.   Here are the simple steps to creating your Recycled- Reused pair of 3-D Glasses. 1. Take the lens out. 2. Pick out your supplies.  My 5 year old was allowed to use nail polish while my son and friend were only allowed to use sticky gems and stickers that we had left over from a Sticky Mosaics Project.    3. Ready set let the kids create!  Mayb...

Happy Easter HAPPY EASTER!  Christ is RISEN!   This shaving cream dyed eggs was a blast.  It was very messy which is part of all the fun.   I know several friends who did this style of eggs this year.  Here are a few tips to help you get your eggs to look marbleized.   1. Put shaving cream in a cake pan and add drops of food coloring.  2. Take your egg and roll it in the shaving cream and food coloring.   3. Set your eggs out to dry. 4.  Once dry wipe off the excess shaving cream.  If I were to do these eggs again I would find gloves to wear so our hands were not so pretty after.  ;)  I also would add only a couple colors to the food coloring so the colors don't mix and turn brown.   My daughter is asking to try it again so we just might have to before tomorrow.   What type of egg dyeing did you do this year?  Last year we did Kool-Aid Dyeing .   I pray you...

I got a package that had a lot of packing peanuts so I had to find a way to reuse the packing peanuts!   Since spring is being very slow at arriving and we seem to be getting snow almost every day lately I thought a snowman would be a good choice. For my little guy I put the glue on his paper hand over hand and let him put all the pieces on his paper on his own.   My daughter had a lot of fun just digging in the box and getting some extra sensory time in while creating her snowman.  

I love the look of these 3-D rainbows which are perfect for St. Patrick's Day or talking about Noah and the flood.    I pre-cut the stripes of paper or my little guy but older kids can work on cutting.  I also helped my kids with the fold at each end but they enjoyed gluing them on their paper.   This activity is easy to adapt to the age level needed!  Another fun touch is add some cotton balls for clouds, that added touch really completed the project.  My daughter did not care about the saying ROY G BIV, she did her rainbow the way she wanted and my toddler he did not put them in a straight line which created a very neat effect, his looks super cool!   These projects will make great center pieces for the next week!  :) 

St. Patrick's day is March 17th so its approaching quickly.  I have a few ideas on art and food projects that i want to do with the kiddos.  Hopefully I will have enough time to complete them and share them with you.   This was a super easy one for those little hands.  I cut the stripes of colored paper but if you are working with a preschooler or school aged child then they can practice cutting.  The two toddler boys here only had to glue the pieces on their piece of paper.  EASY, but they enjoyed it!  :)  This is also a great craft for anyone doing ADHD parenting , as it’s simple to explain and can give you a break while the kids enjoy the process. It sure has brightened my kitchen with them hanging on the fridge!  :)   I also talked more about the Promise God gave us with the rainbow since I know that history a whole lot better then the history of the Irish Holiday!  

I had the pleasure of reviewing another item from "The Orb Factory."  Some of you might have seen my review on the Veggie Tales Sticky Mosaics Review and recall how much fun it was to create each Veggie Tale character.   This time we were able to review the Fairy Box, another Sticky Mosaics item but in a fun jewelry box,  perfect for my little girl.   Thank-you Orb Factory for sending me the Fairy Box to conduct my review.  I was not paid for this review and all opinions are 100% mine. My daughter was in need of a jewelry box and being able to help create it was fun for her.  It took her quite awhile to get all the stickers on but she enjoyed it a tremendous amount.  She did need help with the jewel type stickers.  They were harder to peel off then the foam kind.   I thought we were going to run out of the stickers for each color but sure enough we never did and always had extra's to spare.  :)  Every little girl...

This week in my daughter's craft/cooking class they "visited" Australia and made a didgeridoo and for cooking they made some fried potato recipe that sounds yummy.  :) I love the way my daughter decorated her didgeridoo  and we have had a lot of fun playing with it.  She calls it her "instrument"  and she is waiting for daddy to come home and play his guitar while she plays her didgeridoo.  Daddy is working late so that will happen tomorrow! I will try to take some pictures.  :)  

We felt like painting so we got creative.  We walked around the house and outside searching for things we could "paint" with.   So here is the set up: long paper rolled out paint on a tray rock squishy ball leaf straw spoon sponges guitar pick paper First up was the squishy ball (her favorite). Next a golf ball and I loved the dotted effect it gave.   She loves getting messy! Next, was painting with a leaf and she thought this was hard but after I showed her that less paint was better she liked it.   Oh, the fun you can have with a straw.  She struggled blowing hard enough but she thought it was so funny cause she got paint all over her lips.   Laughing because I told her she had blue lips.    Getting ready to help clean up the mess.  Too late she is the mess!  She was due for a bath anyways and it was washable paint so it all came off in the wash.  I saved the paper again and I think I am going to wrap her birthday pre...

Our theme this week for kids camp was Ocean Voyage and we used a lot from Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  (Kids camp is for kids aged 8-12 but since my hubby and I both help out our kids come with us.)   Here are the hats that were made.  My daughter did a very nice job.  She took her time using a stencil and some help holding it but did awesome work.  :)