Guest Host and a Great Cause - Ladybird Ln.

I am so glad to be able to welcome Carlee from Ladybird Ln. here to Come Together Kids.  She has a fantastic blog filled not only with great ideas and projects, but also a monthly focus on a charity cause.  For the month of June, her theme is pillows and she has a fantastic charity to go with it.  Take it away, Carlee...

I am so excited to be here at Come Together Kids... My name is Carlee, and I have a little blog with my sister Alyssa called Ladybird Ln. Today, I am going to talk about a FUN blog contest, for charity I am having on my blog in June, Pillow Fight--For a Cause!

Every month on our blog, we feature a charity, service organization, etc... and a project we crafters/bloggers can unite in to help with that cause!

This month I am featuring a project very near and dear to my heart. I have a great friend, Malynn, who is 14 years old, and has undergone some tough TOUGH medical stuff recently. She has been in and out of the hospital for the past 6 months. One might expect after all the medical problems she has endured she would be bitter and resolved. But not Malynn, she is amazing in so many ways. Instead of focusing on her issues she wants to help others. Malynn is an incredible seamstress, at the age of 14 she far surpasses my sewing ability!  Just look at one of her latest purses..

Yup, she is amazing!  She has made it a goal to donate 100 bright cheerful pillow cases to Primary Childrens Medical Center, to brighten up the patients rooms!  When she was in the hospital it was so comforting to have her own pillow.

I decided I wanted to help her out with this great cause.... and what better way than a

PILLOW FIGHT!  It is called Pillow Fight--For a Cause! Essentially this is a pillow contest where you can enter your homemade ruffly throw pillows, your sweet decorative pillows, your fleece flower pillows (!!!), your bedazzled pillowcases... pretty much anything pillow related, that you have made. THE CLINCHER IS, in order to enter this contest you must donate a pillowcase, one pillowcase per entry! A bright, cheery, fun pillow case! You can either send it to me, and I will let Malynn donate it, or you can donate it to a local hospital, womens shelter, etc. You just have to let me know that you donated one!

We have some FABULOUS prizes for this contest. HUNDREDS of dollars worth of prizes!  We will have guest judges narrow down the pillow field to ten, and then open it up to voting. The top three pillows will receive some amazing prizes. Sponsors for this event include... Kati Cupcake, Cap Creations, Sew Obsessed, Vinylize It, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Naptime Crafters... And Malynn and I are even going to throw in some prizes. We will also have one random prize for anyone who links up--sound terrific, I think so!  For more information click HERE!

So are you in? What is that you say, you don't know how to make a pillowcase? Well, let me show you! Creating a pillow case is simple, fast, and fun. It is a great beginner project, for any age.  This would be a great project to teach your child how to sew! It took me less than an hour to complete this pillow case, and that was taking pictures as well!

Basic Pillow Case

Cutting List:
Main Body Fabric: 3/4 yard fabric {or 27 inches by Width of Fabric (WOF)}
Band Fabric: 1/4 yard fabric {or 9 inches by WOF}
Trim Fabric: (Optional): 1 strip, 2 inches by WOF

Instructions:

All seams are 1/4 inch, unless otherwise noted.

With wrong sides together, fold the band fabric in half lengthwise and press. Do the same with your trim fabric.

Baste together the folded trim piece to the folded band fabric. 1/8 inches from the raw edges along the length of the strips.

Basting, simply means create a long running stitch, so that the two pieces stay together. Don't worry if they do not line up perfectly at the ends, we will fix it later on!

Pin the band/trim to the right side of the pillowcase panel along the long edge, raw edges together, with trim sandwiched in the middle.

Sew together. Zig zag, serge, or overlock raw edges together (To help prevent fraying).

Trim up the uneven layers of your pillow. I used a rotary cuttery, ruler, and mat. But you could just use scissors!

Your pillow case should look like this now!

Fold the pillowcase right sides together. Pin together, making sure to match the band seam line. Sew a strait seam along raw edges. Zig zag, serge, or overlock raw edges.

Turn right side out; Press! You are finished Easy Peasy right! Below is some pillow case inspiration, all of these pillow cases are ones that I made, or that were given to me. Pillowcases make great gifts!

I tried to make this tutorial as strait forward as possible, but you can email me with any questions!

Please come join the Pillow Fight, on our blog! You can link up your pillow creations
June 15-22!

I am trying to spread the word about this contest, I would love to donate 100 pillow cases! I can not imagine what it would be like to have a child in the hospital for extended periods of time.  I hope these pillowcases can be a comfort, and reminder of home! Please put a button on your blog, or contact me, I would love to come to your place and guest post about it!

<a href="http://www.ladybirdln.com/2011/05/pillow-fight-for-causepart-1.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Ladybird Ln" src="http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/LadybirdLN/Pillowfight.jpg" /></a>

Thank you so much Laura for letting me crash your fabulous blog today!!

Thank you, Carlee, it was my pleasure! I wish you tons of success in reaching your goal of 100 pillow cases!! 

Beanbag Game (with a Math twist)

Did you happen to catch my guest post at Sun Scholars this weekend?  If not, pop over to find out how to sneak a little bit of Math into a fun beanbag toss game!

You'll find directions on how to play a few fun Math games 

as well as a tutorial to make your own beanbags and targets.

Go ahead and click HERE for 

the full post on my beanbag game

and to check out Rachel's great blog, Sun Scholars.

Sharing at:
DelicateCONSTRUCTION 
Smilemonsters 

Red, White and Blue Strawberries

I love making treats that look impressive when you set them out on a tray, but are really easy to make.  For the Memorial Day barbeque I went to yesterday, I brought some of my Hamburger Cookies and these awesome Patriotic Strawberries!  Both look super cool, and were a big hit, but literally just take minutes to put together (and you don't even have to turn on the oven!)

Patriotic, fun, easy and YUMMY!

NOTE:  I found this fun idea on Pinterest.  It's an awesome site where you can "pin" pictures and links of things you find on the web and browse the pins of others.  It's by invite only, but I have a few invites to give away.  Just let me know your email address and I can send you one.  ( Just prepare to give up a ton of your time looking at all the great ideas! )

INGREDIENTS:

• whole fresh strawberries (rinsed off and dried on a paper towel)
•  white melting chocolate
• blue decorating sugar crystals  (in the baking section at the grocery store)

DIRECTIONS: ( Really, it's so simple you don't even need directions ~ but I'll give a couple tips!)

1.  Melt the white chocolate according to the package directions.

2.  Dip the strawberries in the chocolate.

3.  Dip the chocolate strawberries in the blue sugar crystals.  ( So the sugar doesn't get too gloppy with the liquid chocolate drips, I ended up spooning the sugar on instead of dipping the whole strawberry in)

4.  Set on waxed paper to cool.  ( If you can avoid it, don't refrigerate the dipped strawberries ~ I did on my first batch and the condensation that formed made the sugar a little bit wet and sticky.  Other batches that weren't refrigerated were fine)

5.  To impress your guests even more,  put your dipped strawberries on a "crystal" tray (from the Dollar store! ;)  )

Looks very Martha Stewart, doesn't it?  :)


Sharing at:
Skip to My Lou
Not Just a Housewife 
C.R.A.F.T. 
Sugar Bee Crafts 
 Nothing But Country
Someday Crafts

Five Fun Ideas for Backyard Fun

One of the best parts of Summer is getting the kids outside for some fresh air and fun!  

Check out these five awesome ideas for backyard play that were linked up to our Summer Fun party!

 1.  Misting Sprinkler

{Here Comes the Sun}

What a fun way to cool off! I bet if I set it up on the sidewalk, 

the kids would have a blast riding their bikes and scooters through the mist!

2.  Homemade Slip and Slide

{Making Memories with Your Kids}

Another great way to keep cool! I love that it will be so much sturdier 

than the store bought ones that rip after a few uses!

3.  Marshmallow Shooters

{Mom's Crafty Space)

The backyard is the perfect place for a

marshmallow shooting showdown!

4.  Building with PVC pipe

{MyKidsMake.com}

I know my kids would have a blast building 

their own tubes and tunnels with some PVC pipe.

(and if I give them a small corner of the backyard 

as a construction zone to dig in, they'd love me forever!!)

5.  Lemonade Stand (from a microwave cart!)

{Just Pleased as Punch}

Okay, so this is more of a front yard fun idea,

but how amazing is this lemonade stand from an old microwave cart?

(I'm going to be on the lookout at Goodwill and yard sales!)

Thanks so much for sharing your awesome Summer Fun ideas,

feel free to grab a Featured Button from my sidebar!

Don't forget to check out our Summer Fun party 

and link up your own great ideas.

Guest Host: Rachel from Sun Scholars

I am so thrilled to be doing a blog swap today with the talented Rachel, from Sun Scholars.  

Check out her adorable idea for an End-of-the-Year teacher's gift!

(and then swing by her blog to see MY POST for a

sneaky, yet fun, way to practice Math over the Summer!)

Hi!  I'm Rachel.

I LOVE M&M's, singing along with the radio, dancing in my living room, sewing, sleeping in, filling out paperwork, bringing chaos into calm, and looking at the brighter side of life.

I think I have fooled many people into thinking that I'm a SuperMom.

I assure you, I am not.

I'm just like many of you, trying to juggle my passions with my responsibilities.  I just have to have an organized home to not feel like life is caving in on me!

I don't watch TV.  I don't read many books.  I don't eat fast food.

I do craft.  I do cook.  I do shuttle kids all over town.  I do blog!

I am responsible for these three crazy little people....

As a mom, my world revolves around these three kids, and the things that I do are reflections of that.  My love for craftiness and teaching inspired my blog Sun Scholars.  When I created Sun Scholars, my goal was to provide a resource for other moms who, like me, wanted to provide the best for their kids.  For me, education and fun is what 'the best' is all about.  I hope you stop by and find something that inspires you!

Some of my blog favorites...

        

And now for my latest project!

A Notebook Bag for Teacher

My children and I made these as part of our teacher gifts this year.  Inside, we will include the Summer Checklists they created and a little package of goodies.  I am thrilled with how these turned out!

My inspiration...

The Paper Bag by The Crafty CPA

Ok... I LOVE this bag...  I just needed to simplify this a bit.

For one... I didn't have the time.  Two... I wanted the kids to play a part in creating it.

The best part is, I made these for less than $4 a piece!

Supplies:

-  Canvas Bag, white (I found this 3 pack at JoAnn's for $9.99 and used a 50% off coupon)

-  Sharpies in Blue & Red, fine tipped

-  Needle & Embroidery Floss, #414 (OR... you could use a grey Sharpie)

-  Pencil

-  Ruler

Directions:
1)  Use a ruler to make lines about 1/2" apart with the blue Sharpie.  I started my lines 3" from the top of the bag. 

2)  Using your red Sharpie, draw a line down the length of your bag, as you see me measuring in the photo below, about 3" from the left of your bag.

And this is what you'll have...

3)   I found that the lid of the Sharpie was the perfect size for the notepaper "holes".  You can use this as a stamp by coloring the edge with a washable marker, place your "hole" and go over it with a grey sharpie if you wish.  I did this with one bag (as you'll notice in the main photo) but decided not to with the others.

 

4)  Using a pencil, I had my children write their teacher's name in large lettering. 

 

My 3 year old struggles with writing names still, so I asked her to draw a picture of her teachers instead.

I thought these turned out SO adorable!

5)  How crafty are you?  I chose to embroider my children's pencil lines to finish these off nicely.  If this is not your thing, you could go over your child's pencil lines with a grey Sharpie, or let them write or draw with the Sharpie in the first place.  (I would recommend the pencil first... just to be on the safe side.)

**  I'd also recommend tossing these in the dryer to heat set them.  That way if they ever need to be washed, your lines will stay in tact.

 And here is an up close shot of a finished bag.   Totally adorable, right?

What teacher wouldn't love that?!