DIY Rocket Popsicle Piñata

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Jessica’s kids birthdays are close to July 4th, plus we love to celebrate America, so it’s always a really busy time of year and we are in the party mode. This year, we’re celebrating with all things red, white and blue. A party just isn’t a party with young kids without the joy of hitting a piñata. We couldn’t find the perfect (and affordable) red, white and blue piñata, so we made one with the iconic patriotic popsicle in mind. It’s DIY rocket popsicle piñata! It only took a couple hours from start to finish, so you still have time!

Materials:

  • Red, white and blue tissue paper
  • Scissors
  • Pinata, frappuccino shaped
  • Glue stick, or
  • Strips of cardboard
  • Packaging tape

Directions:

Step 1: Remove all existing tissue paper from the pinata. We found a frappuccino shaped piñata at Walmart for less than $15, left the cardboard shape and stripped it of all pink and white tissue paper. Remember to fill the piñata with goodies before you cover it with new fringe.

frappuccino pinata

Step 2: Cut strips of red, white and blue tissue paper.

Step 3: Cut fringe on each strip of tissue paper.

Step 4: With 12 inch strips of cardboard scraps (about 3-4 inches thick), position them from the lid of the piñata frappuccino shape, and angle them up. This is hard to explain, and sorry for our poor photos, but the 4 cardboard scraps will be used to made a little square (or for lack of better words, nipple) on top of the popsicle, to look like the real thing. We used packaging tape to keep it in place. We added the white cardboard tube on the bottom of dry cleaner hangers to create that indention affect along the side of the piñata, but it didn’t really work, so don’t worry about that!

craft with cardboard

Step 5: Starting from the bottom, glue the fringe onto the cardboard. We found it’s best to do two layers of fringe on each layer. You can glue the strips of fringe on top of each other before gluing onto the pinata.

Step 6: Continue layer by layer, blue on the bottom, then white and finally red. Cut a piece of cardboard the shape of a popsicle stick, and with an X-acto knife, cut a slit on the bottom of the popsicle. Insert the cardboard popsicle stick. Hang and have fun!

Enjoy…and then grab a real Rocket popsicle from the freezer to ring in this 4th of July!

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Throw A Sing Party for Kids With A DIY Outdoor Stage

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Last year, the kids were mermaids and sharks. This year, they took center stage at a Sing inspired party. There was a DIY mini stage, good music, DIY candy microphones and characters from Illumination’s Sing. Fun was had by all, including the adults who took to the stage, too.

Once again, Jessica shopped Oriental Trading for most of the party’s decorations and favors. Shop OT for the red fringe curtain, gold stars, microphone trophy, white favor boxes, glow-in-the-dark bouncing eyeballs, Inflatable guitars and star disco ball necklace.

Here’s how you can throw a Sing party for all your future super stars.

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Materials:

Directions:

Step 1: Visit Momtastic for the full DIY mini stage tutorial and materials needed. All the details are here, including the stage, Buster Moon and the moon and the DIY speakers. It’s totally affordable, and the fun can last all summer (and next summer, too) in your backyard.

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Step 2: Make the DIY candy microphones. We can’t take credit for this idea. We found it here. Fill the clear tubes with candy, add the top to the tube, and then top it off with the colorful foam microphone covers. This was a huge hit with the kids, and we can foresee a classroom holiday gift with this one. To display the candy microphones, Jessica spray painted a box (from a recent Amazon purchase) red, and cut small holes on top with an X-acto knife. Make sure the holes are not too big, and not too small – they need to be just right (and snug) to hold and secure the microphone tubes. Next, paint or add white letters to the red box. We used a comment in the movie from Buster Moon, the koala. When a contestant was nervous, he said to, “Just…sing.”

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Step 3: Prep the favor boxes. Make tags with characters on it with Microsoft Word and jpg’s of the characters online. We gave the kids bouncing eyeballs in honor of Miss Crawly’s, the chameleon assistant in the movie, bouncing eyeball. Another fun favor was the Star disco ball necklaces, trophies (see below) and toy microphones.

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Step 4: One must have a trophy for a singing competition. Luckily for our guests, they were all winners, or Sing champs. We made custom labels on the Oriental Trading microphone trophies with vinyl and our Silhouette CAMEO electronic cutting machine. We designed the words, Sing Camp, and put the vinyl on each trophy.

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Step 5: Hang the gold stars. Use a white Sharpie oil-based paint marker to write all the guests names on the stars. Hang the stars with string. Jessica used a piece of cardboard, and her Silhouette machine to cut out RISING STAR letters with Astrobrights Paper.

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Step 6: Every singer needs a microphone. We had a karaoke machine, as well as toy microphones with everyone’s name on it.  Use puff paint to add the names. White shopping Target, Jessica found an empty box with holes in it (used to store another toy on the shelf). She added it to her cart for $0, and wrapped it with wrapping paper. Each microphone fit perfectly inside each hole.

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Step 7: Sing and have a good time.

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Oriental Trading sent us some items of our choosing for this post, free of charge. We’re so happy they did! All opinions are honest, and our own. No other type of compensation was received. Thanks for supporting the companies that support j. sorelle. We love Oriental Trading, even before this post.

This post contains affiliate links. 

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DIY Mason Jar Night Light That Glows Bright

mason-jar-night-light-with-a-white-unicorn-on-top-rainbow-twinkle-lights-inside

If you have kids who are afraid of the dark (like we do), add this DIY night light to your DIY list. It’s ridiculously easy with a mason jar and twinkle lights. Plus, it has magical unicorn powers during the day, and then at night, all will be calm and bright (not too bright, but bright enough to put your little ones at ease).

See the full tutorial at Momtastic.

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Voting Idea for Kids: DIY Ballot Voting Booth

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What an election circus it’s been this year?! We’re happy to see it end. Our ballots are in. We will be tuning in to see the results on Election Day!

Our kids have been hearing about the election from every direction. They are too young to cast their vote on Nov. 8, but with an election at school, they still feel like they are part of a voting process, at their level.

Their school ballot has really fun issues. Oh, to be a kid again where the word donut is actually on the ballot. Bravo to the creative moms that created the ballot ‘issues,’ and the idea of this mock election at school.

ELECTION BALLOT FOR KIDS

Dessert
the school will vote on the best dessert, and the there will be a party with the winning dessert served
Donut vs. Cupcake

Charity
$100 will be given to the charity chosen
Toys for Tots vs. Make a Wish

School Theme Song
the song will be played at all sporting events for the year
Can’t Stop the Feeling, Justin Timberlake vs. Hands Clap, Fitz and the Tantrums

Election week is full of activities. First, the kids will spend some time completing this sentence, “If I were President, I would…” Those papers will line the school hallways, then go home to parents, which is sure to be a priceless document to hold on to forever. Next, the kids will register to vote during lunch. Finally, on Nov. 8 the kids will cast their votes, just like America. Their voice will be heard.

Of course, the kids need a proper voting booth, so we went to work.

This is so easy, and took less than 1 hour.

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Materials:

  • Duct tape, red, white and blue
  • Large box
  • X-acto knife
  • Silhouette America electronic cutting machine

Directions:

Find a big box at your local Home Depot, or appliance center dumpster.

Line the front and back of the box with red and white strips of duct tape.

Line the sides of the box with strips of blue duct tape.

Fold over pieces of the white duct tape, and cut out stars. Use double-sided tape to stick the stars on the blue sides of the box.

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Use an X-acto knife to cut a slit in the front for kids to drop their ballots.

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Add the letter VOTE to the front of the box. We used our Silhouette America electronic cutting machine to cut the letters.

Now, get the kids to VOTE.

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You Are Enough + DIY Custom Stamp

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We are all a work in progress. But, while we do our work, we need to be kinder to ourselves. Because how often do you let your mind go to that place. That judgmental, negative place? You know the one, where you are too fat, too thin, not smart enough, not rich enough, not good enough, not popular enough and not a good enough mom, wife or friend. We, especially women, barrage our minds with negative thoughts all the time. How are we supposed to be the best version of ourselves if we are our harshest critic all the time? Isn’t it time we became our own champion?

These thoughts stem from an interview we recently watched on Oprah. The New York Times best-selling author and blogger, Glennon Doyle Melton, graced Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday show. She is a beautiful woman, and as a young girl she was consistently told that she was pretty. She was told this so often, she began to believe that all she was was just a pretty face. Beauty became her sense of worth. It became an impossible standard to measure up to. Eventually it became too much, and she developed an eating disorder, and addictions. She is now sober and helping others with her new book Love Warrior and it’s predecessor, Carry On, Warrior. She tells it like it is, and she is changing lives for the better. Bravo, Glennon.

It got us thinking…how can we love ourselves more, and help our children do the same?

1. When we start the day, we need to use a love language when we look in the mirror. For example, I am powerful. I am courageous. I am amazing. At the end of the day, we need to give ourselves a break if we don’t get everything on our long to-do list done. We need to love who God made us to be – flaws and all. We are enough. YOU ARE ENOUGH.

2. We need to tell our children how brave, smart and remarkable they are every day. We need to teach them how to be kind and show compassion to others. Too often we tell our girls, “You’re so pretty.” “You look so beautiful in that dress.” “You’re hair looks perfect like that.” Just like Glennon Doyle Melton, our daughters young brains begin to associate their worth by just their beauty (similar comparisons can be said for boys). And, there’s so much more to them, including their minds, hearts and souls. Let’s tell them, “You are smart.” “You are sunshine.” “You are strong.”  We love our children, and we tell them how much we love them ALL THE TIME. But, as we go about our busy days reminding them to pick up their toys, finish their homework, fix this and do that, we rarely take the time to stop and remind them just how special and extraordinary they are. So, we put together a phrase that is a game-changer for us.

The simple and power phrase is: You are ______ (fill in the blank).

It should be said everyday, and we’ve learned it should also be in writing.

To help us with our efforts, we made a stamp. With our Silhouette Mint custom stamp maker, we designed the stamp to say, you are_________. Every day we stamp a Post-It note, and find a word that describes and compliments our children to fill in the blank. We hide the notes in our kids lunches, bathroom mirrors, inside pages of books and on their wall next to their bed. Honestly, it brings the biggest smile to their faces and a joy to their hearts. They love it so much, they ask us daily for more surprise notes. Now, their friends at school are asking for notes. We’ve seen what a boost of confidence it can be. What a blessing to wake up everyday and tell our children how wonderful they really are! Thanks to Silhouette for helping us do that.

Materials:

  • Silhouette Mint custom stamp maker, stamp kit and ink
  • Post-It notes
  • Pen or Sharpie

Directions:

Step 1: Follow the directions included in the Silhouette Mint pamphlet for the best results, but we’ll tell you how we did it. It was really quite easy. First, design the stamp with the Silhouette Mint software. Make sure the right size stamp is selected.

Step 2: Print the stamp. This took about 10 seconds. Amazing!

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Step 3: Bend the stamp at the perforated edge to remove the stamp.

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Step 4: Remove the sticker on the stamp base, and add the new stamp to the base.

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Step 5: Add ink to the stamp’s design. Wait for about 5-10 minutes so it can soak in, and then do a couple tests stamps.

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Step 6: Stamp away, and then fill in the blank.

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Step 7: Get creative. Leave notes for your kids to find, and remind them how loved and special they are.

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Thanks for supporting the companies like Silhoeutte America that support our creativity. We received product for this post, but all opinions expressed are our own, and we would love Silhoeutte regardless.