Golden Tone Effect Challenge

My friend Rachel from Bubbly Nature Creations has been flexing her photo-recreating muscles today and has come up with a fun challenge!  She found an AWESOME site called, PicMonkey, where users can do all kinds of funky adjustments to photos for FREE!  She's even offered a tutorial to add a subtle (or not so subtle in my case) golden-tone to your photos using the site.  

Jamie took the photo on the top the day before yesterday when I was wanting a new profile pic for my various online communities.  This was one that could have been ok, but I wasn't totally thrilled with it.  But, now that I've messed around with it on PicMonkey, I think it's sorta groovy.  In fact, one time I went to visit my grandma and she had a picture of her mother, my great-grandma, on a table in her living room.  When she left the room, I quickly snapped a picture of it so I'd always know what she looked like.  It was taken the in early 70s but was really faded out so it had the same coloring as the one I just adjusted there on the bottom.  So...yeah, that was random ---but it's kinda cool in my mind.  

Anyway, I said all that to say this:  Go visit Rachel and check out her "Golden Tone" Effect Challenge and let me know how much you LOVE the PicMonkey site!

Learning About Holland with Elmer's #CBias #gluenglitter

Last week, the kids and I had a blast creating this fun display board for the country of Holland.  This was the first time I had used an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board for a project and, believe me, poster board is now a thing of the past around here!

    
I plan on buying these boards about once a month so we can start making a collection of different displays for countries and other interesting things we learn about.  The kids really enjoyed this project and were worried we might have to give it away to someone.  They want to keep it for our homeschool!

Before beginning our project, we had to run to Walmart for supplies.  Selah really wanted to get this Elmer's Classic Glitter Glue, but we decided to get a package of 10 Washable Paint Pens in Classic Glitter Colors instead.  For more pictures and commentary on our shopping trip, visit my Google+ album.

When we got home, it was time to start creating!  I cut out some strips of construction paper to make a flag.  Cainan cut some grass from construction paper and, along with some of the other kids, colored some strips of scalloped border that I printed from TeacherHelp.org.  Elisha and a couple other kids colored the letters to spell out Holland.

It was really important to me that our project reflect each one of us in it's different creative elements.  One of my favorite supplies to use when we're doing group projects is Elmer's Craft Bond Extra Strength Glue Sticks because they aren't the least bit messy and they dry clear!

We had borrowed this book from the library and Lynzie made a little miniature book with a book report written on the inside.  We glued it in one corner of the display board for a "book recommendation" section.

Selah and I were both really excited to try out the new paint pens!

I wanted to try out this purple one as it had big chunks of glitter in it and reminded me of things I had when I was a little kid.  I love the way it looks---but it did get stopped up easier than the other pens and would sometimes come out a little globby.  Once I got the hang of it though, it was fine.

Selah picked green---her favorite color.

There are many great elements to add to a country display board.  It's basically a big, visual, book report.  We had an info section that listed basic facts about Holland and included a photo of some tulips there.  My favorite painter happened to be Dutch, so we added a little art info section.  Depending on the country, we might change out that section to have information about musicians, political leaders, food, etc.  We also printed a map of Holland from Europeetravel.com.

In addition to wanting the project to reflect each kid's creativity, I also wanted there to be something on the display to appeal to each child.  For some of the older ones, the Art and Holland History sections, as well as the Book Recommendation section, would be most interesting.  The younger kids prefer the map, flag, and colorful pictures.  No matter how you choose to do your country display, I can't recommend enough that you use an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board for a sturdy display and easy folding storage!

Happy Creating!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  #CBias.  All opinions are honest and are my own.

#gluenglitter

Linking with:  What's Working Wednesday @ NextGen Homeschool

Adorable Hartstrings Easter Outfits #CBias

One of our family's Easter traditions is to get dressed up as adorably as possible!  I love to make my kids' Easter outfits; but, some years, that's just not feasible.  This year is one of those years, so I was so thrilled when I was given the opportunity to shop www.Hartstrings.com for a couple of cute items for Avalon and Liam!

Usually I go with one color and match everyone, but this year I thought I'd try mixing it up a little.  I normally put Avalon in pinks and purples so I decided to go a completely different direction by picking out a dress for her in blues and greens.  I knew that Liam, with his irresistible strawberry blonde hair, would be sweet in bright yellow!

When I got to the Hartstrings website, I was greeted with a pop-up window that invited me to enter my email for a 10% off coupon!  Being a savvy couponer, I jumped on that!  I looked around the site for a little bit and pinned a few things onto a Hartstrings Pinterest board that I created for future reference.  I had originally picked out a really adorable anchor-button dress for Avalon but then realized it was a newborn size!  Bummer!

One thing that I really liked about the selection on the site was that, in addition to there being lots of different colors to choose from, there were also many different styles to choose from.  This is something different from the cookie-cutter children's fashions I'm used to seeing in some other collections.

Other things I loved about the site included the mouse-over zoom to see products more clearly and the fact that, at checkout, I could see actual photos of what I'd chosen. This helped me remember what I was buying and made it easy for me to compare and make sure the colors would go well together. 

By this time, the 10% off code had been sent to my email so I was able to use that...and...I didn't realize that both the items I'd chosen were on sale!  So, with the sale price and promo code, I saved $25.35!  

At checkout, I do remember wishing that they accepted PayPal, as I do a lot of shopping with my PayPal balance.  But then, I remembered that I had a PayPal Debit Card so I was able to use that!  Yay!  I was excited to see that I was receiving Free Shipping, but I would later come to wish that there were other shipping options available.  

After receiving my shipping confirmation email three business days later, I ended up needing to call the company because the tracking link didn't work in the email.  I found out that they have quite a round-about way of getting their orders out to customers and I would have liked the option to pay to have my order shipped more quickly.  My tracking number was first scanned on the afternoon of the third business day after ordering.  I received it eight days later.  Even so, I'm glad I ordered these early enough to be able to match them with things the older kids have for our adorable Easter!

Our order arrived safe and sound and without a wrinkle!  I was impressed to open up the box and find these nicely packaged in plastic, pressed and folded!  I felt that this was a really professional presentation.  Avalon was so excited to put on her new dress that she was jumping up and down on my bed and clapping her hands!

I chose this tropical print for Avalon---it's just the right length and I love the ruffly capped sleeves.

I like the way this dress hangs and doesn't ride up when she walks.  Later, when I went to change her back out of it, I was surprised to find that it had pockets too!  The way they're cut into the dress, they're completely invisible!

I was totally sold on the crochet trim!

Liam's shirt fit him well and I could tell that he really felt grown up in it!  Both of these pieces were just the right size.  Avalon turned 3 a few weeks ago and I bought her a 3T.  Liam will be 2 in about 6 weeks and his shirt is a 24 month.

The fabrics are soft and comfortable...Liam just might take a little nap after this photo shoot!

When Avalon was born, we had several instances where daffodils ended up being her theme.  These bright colors and good quality items make me want to order more things for our little ones and do a great big family springtime photo shoot!

Happy Easter from Liam & Avalon!

To see more from Hartstrings, visit them here:

Hartstrings.com
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This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  #CBias  All opinion are honest and are my own.

#MyHartstrings