How to Make a Paper Flower Garden

Today I surprised my kids with paper flowers for Easter.  My oldest son liked his so much that he wanted to make a whole garden of paper flowers.  So we pulled out the cupcake liners and pipe cleaners and began making flowers.  My son came up with the idea of the garden.  We grabbed a shoe box and covered it with green construction paper.  Then we poked holes in it to stick the flowers in.  My son even figured out that we could use green pipe cleaner to make "grass" for our garden.  He is so proud of his garden that he put it on display in our dining room.  This is what we did to make our Paper Garden:

Supplies

• Cupcake Liners
• Pipe Cleaners
• Shoe Box
• Construction Paper
• Pen (for poking holes)
• Tape or Glue

Directions

1. Make your paper flowers using cupcake liners and pipe cleaners (see below for instructional links).
2. Cover a shoe box with green construction paper.
3. Poke holes in the top of the box.
4. Insert flowers into holes.

How to Make Paper Flowers

• Cupcake Liner Flowers
• Tissue Paper Flowers 
• Flower and Garden Crafts for Kids
• Paper Flower Templates

Paper flowers are a great gift idea for children to make.  It's perfect for Teacher Appreciation Day and Mother's Day too!We had so much fun spending time together making this craft!  I hope you do too! 

Free 14-Issue Digital Subscription to Parenting School Years

ValueMags has tons of great offers on discount magazine subscriptions.  They often have free magazine offers too.  Right now they have a special offer for the Parenting School Years magazine.

As many of you know, having a child start kindergarten is a big change for the whole family, especially if it's your oldest.  Parenting School Years is a great source of helpful information for parents with kids in elementary school.

To get your free 14-issue digital subscription with no strings attached click here.

How to Make Hair Bows

My 2 year old daughter has been blessed with lots of hair.  However, the only things she will let me put in her hair are very girlie hair bows.  I found some great hair bows at a craft show this past winter but, they were quite pricey.  I asked the woman who made them how she did it.  She explained and it seemed simple enough.  So, now that I am finally finding a bit of free time in my schedule I thought I'd give it a shot.

As always, I headed to my computer to search for tutorials on how to make hair bows.  I didn't think there would be many free ones, but luckily I was wrong.  I found some great sites that make hair bow crafts super easy.  These are the ones I keep going back to:

• Hip Girl Boutique LLC
• Make Bows & More
• Girly Things
• SouthernPlate.com

I'm just starting out and I wanted to test the waters before buying supplies in bulk.  So, I found everything I need to start making hair bows at my local Michael's and Sally's Beauty Supply stores (click on store name to find a location near you).  I purchased the Mini-Bowdabra at Michael's for $9.99.  It is helpful but, you can make lots of different kinds without much at all.  The basic supplies I used to get started and their estimated costs were:

• Scissors
• Lighter, $0.99
• High Temp Hot Glue Gun, $3
• Glue Sticks, free (3 came with glue gun)
• Bow Wire, $0.99 (to tie off the bow)
• Alligator Clips, $2-3
• Ribbon, $1-$4 each

Hair-Hardware.com is a great website where you can buy all of your bow making supplies in bulk.  If you plan to make a business from with your bows, buying in bulk would be your best bet.  I, myself, have lots of little girls in my family with lots of demands for hair bows.  So, I plan to visit Hair-Hardware.com very soon.

Easter Brunch Menu Ideas

There's been a change of plans.  We will be having an Easter brunch (instead of dinner) after church on Sunday with my sister and brothers.  So, I hit the net again for some menu ideas for a simple Easter brunch. 

If you plan to have an Easter day celebration for you kids and maybe a few of their friends, you can Host an Easter Brunch for Kids.  Parents magazine puts together a fun collection of Easter crafts, recipes ideas and even instructions on how to make your own Easter brunch invitations.  (For more Easter crafts see my Easter Crafts for Everyone post.)

I myself will be trying to make as much as I can ahead of time, since I'm sure we will all be starving after church and eager to eat when we get home.  So, I'll be making a few recipes from the Make-Ahead Easter Brunch article by Taste of Home.

But there are plenty more ideas for Easter brunch recipes and here are a few: 

• Easter Entertaining: 4 Brunch Menus
• Dazzling Easter Brunch Recipes
• Affordable Easter Brunch Recipes

Make Your Own Bunny Hair Bow

My work in progress

I love crafts and I wanted to try something new. So, a couple of days ago, I decided to try making hair bows for my baby girl.  And my search began for online tutorials on how to make hair bows.  My favorite one I found (especially with Easter just days away) is the Easter Bunny Clippie. 

I gathered the supplies needed:  scissors, hot glue gun, white/pink/purple ribbon and a hair clip and gave it a try.  Thanks to all the pictures and simple instructions, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be and so adorable.  I just need to pick up the googly eyes and it will be perfect for Easter.

With all the online videos and tutorials on how to make hair bows, you can easily begin your own collection.  View my post How to Make Hair Bows to find out more.

Easter Dinner Menu Ideas

Ever year we celebrate Easter with my parents or my in-laws.  But this year is different...it's our first Easter at home.  So, the dinner is all on me!  Although I have celebrated over 30 Easters, for some reason I cannot think of a single recipe for a dinner menu.  I know it's silly to stress about a dinner with just my husband and kids but, it's our very first Easter at home and I want it to be special.

So I hit the keyboard and began my quest for Easter dinner menu ideas and these are my top contenders:

• Best-Ever Easter Dinner
• A Glorious Easter Dinner Menu  
• An  Easter Dinner Menu

Here are more great ideas for a fabulous Easter meal with your family:

• 7 Easter Dinner Menus
• Top 10 Easter Dinner Recipes

Patriotic Coloring Pages

Whether celebrating Memorial Day, Flag Day or the 4th of July, the links below are great sources for patriotic coloring pages.  Teach your children about our countries history while having fun coloring. 

• Free 4th of July Coloring Pages
• HelloKids.com - 4th of July Coloring Pages
• 4th of July/Flag Day Coloring Pages
• 4th of July Coloring Pages by MomsWhoThink.com

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large cooked chicken breast
• 1 heaping tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 celery stick
• 1 tsp dill weed

Directions

1. Cube the cooked chicken breast and put in a mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of your favorite mayonnaise.
3. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of dill weed and mix ingredients.
4. Dice one celery stick and add to bowl.  Fold into mixture.

Tips

• Replace celery with halved red grapes.
• Try it in a pita with a leaf of lettuce. 
• My kids like it on Hawaiian sweet rolls.  

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 2 split fryer chicken breasts
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• 4-6 medium potatoes
• 1-2 bay leaves
• parsley
• sage
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Directions

1. Remove skin from split fryer chicken breasts and place them in a soup pot.  Fill pot with water up to 1 inch above chicken.
2. Bring chicken to a boil.  Then add bay leaves, 1-2 pinches each of parsley, sage, and thyme.  Add salt and pepper.  (You can always add more herbs and spices later.  So, don't put too much in now.)
3. Lower heat to medium/medium low and continue to cook chicken for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center. 
4. Then remove chicken from the pot and let cool.
5. Wash and cube potatoes and slice carrots and celery.  Add vegetables to the pot as you finish cutting them.
6. The chicken should be cool by the time you finish adding the veggies.  Store one chicken breast in the fridge to use for another recipe (like Chicken Quesadillas or Chicken Salad).  Cube the second breasts and add to soup. 
7. Add more herbs and spices if desired.  Continue to cook soup for 20 minutes or until vegetables have softened.