Happy Ten Day!

10/10/2010
In honor of today's special number 10 date, I thought it would be fun to share ten of my favorite posts! I broke them into five activities for kids and five of my own crafty projects.

5 Kid's Activities & Projects:

Our Color Dice Game is one of the easiest ways to help your child learn their colors in a meaningful way because it connects the concept of color with objects in their everyday life. Developing Fine Motor Skills also share simple ways to work to preschoolers at home. Reuse your child's artwork or have them create new one of a kind originals and then turn them into these children's art showcase cards for mail anyone would love to receive! Mommy and Me Valentines are another good way to turn your child's painting into mailable art.When we reviewed these adorable ABC flashcards from Zooples and Co. I also shared several easy ways to incorporate them into learning activities. On a side note, Lindsey now makes cool ABC magnets, that I love! Playdoh mats are another good way to introduce the alphabet to kiddos.
A Gift for Jesus, in this post I shared a family tradition we did every Christmas. It's a wonderful way to teach children about the true meaning of the holiday. My number one post of all times, hits wise, is also a holiday post. I continue to get inquires about the handprint calendar I used to make with my kindergarten classes, to this day even though it was from the first month I had my blog.Here is a more recent one, but it's my current favorite: 10 Reasons Why You're A Great Dad. This mini books combines our photos, my daughter's beginning writing, and many priceless memories in an unforgetable gift that celebrates the relationship between my husband and daughter. Brad say's it's one of the most meaningful gifts he's ever gotten.

Another great time capsule type gift you can make with even the littlest of tykes, is the handprint and footprint canvas we gave my Dad one year. I love looking back and seeing those tiny prints!

5 Favorite Crafty Projects:

Don't just give a picture, when you can make this cute three step frame. To create my apple frame all I had to do was paint, embellish, and tie on ribbon to make it super special! My Simple Things frame is an example of a more embellished altered frame and is my favorite, I love seeing it in my office every day. Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Decorations: A cute frame, one of my favorite centerpieces - that illuminates your photos printed in vellum and is so pretty and inexpensive, the cute kid's table decoration shown above, paper star banner, handmade treat baskets and clippies for little girls, AND a quick way to finish your kid's tablecloth...there's a lot of fun ideas in this post! My favorite handmade holiday decoration, a Valentine Countdown can be see in this post.
The Envelope Mini Book I did a tutorial for is an easy way to get started with making your own mini books. The main components are premade envelopes, perfect for stashing little mementos. Here is another project using envelopes, Thanksgiving Treat Mini Book. One thing I love to do, is turn empty containers and turn them into unique gift containers, I made this upcycled Starbucks drink container box and bottles set for Valentine's Da. It would also be a great project to make for holiday treat giving. This hot chocolate tin turned treat canister is another favorite project.
This button pillow is one of the first sewing projects I ever attempted and it got featured a lot of places too:) I hand sewed it, although now I am confident enough to use my machine to make it a much quicker project. The other project I hand sewed and love is the handprint ornament, my favorite to see on the tree.

That was a fun trip down memory lane for me, I hope you enjoyed it too! Did you notice I snuck in ten more activities so you really got twenty of my favorite links? I have lots more to share too:) You can find all my Crafty Projects, Crafting with Kids, and Learning Activities by using the links.