This is a vintage postcard available here.

1.  Send your name, email address, mailing address, and something interesting/unique about yourself to pinningpenpals@hotmail.com

2.  No being a “poop head.”

3.  Send something to your penpal on the 5s (the 5^th, 15^th, & 25^th of each month). You can do it more often but try to commit to at least those three dates.  If you are anything like me, you’ll start out strong and start fading, so this is to help keep us accountable to each other.

4.  You have to have a Pinterest account. OK, not really, but there are TONS of great ideas for fun things to mail on there.  Check out my board if you are so inclined for some ideas. 

5.  I will email you the info for your penpal when I have someone for you.

6.  Have fun with it!!

Pinning Penpals

OK, so obviously I am not much of a blogger.  My apologies.  In other news…

I’ll be honest. I’m not really a people person. I really want to be. Honest! I wake up and think that today will be different but then I check my email or Facebook or cell or (heaven forbid) leave the house, and the reason I’m not a people person becomes glaringly obvious.  In the words of my youngest, people are “poop heads.”

While I’m getting it all out there, I’m pretty awkward in social situations too.  I either sit there nervously trying to think of something clever or relevant to say or I say something sarcastic that comes off as rude instead of funny.

That being said, I think there are loads of people on Pinterest that I would actually ENJOY and could add a little something positive to my life.  I hope some of these folks might not mind getting to know me too.  Thus, I am starting Pinning Penpals.

Here’s how to join me:

1.  Send your name, email address, mailing address, and something interesting/unique about yourself to pinningpenpals@hotmail.com

2.  No being a “poop head.”

3.  Send something to your penpal on the 5s (the 5^th, 15^th, & 25^th of each month). You can do it more often but try to commit to at least those three dates.  If you are anything like me, you’ll start out strong and start fading, so this is to help keep us accountable to each other.

4.  You have to have a Pinterest account. OK, not really, but there are TONS of great ideas for fun things to mail on there.  Check out my board if you are so inclined for some ideas. 

5.  I will email you the info for your penpal when I have someone for you.

6.  Have fun with it!!

Adventure is Out There - An UP Themed Birthday

First order of business, a bunch of balloons.

Next, tie them to the house.

Technically, it's my birthday party too, thus the 8 and the 29.

Gotta have grape soda!

I made Grape soda pins for the guests.

I hung clouds to the ceiling by running fishing line through white stuffing and attaching them to the ceiling with clear thumbtacks.

Our family's version of the Carl and Ellie mailbox.

Up cupcake house.  I found a picture of the house online, printed and cut it out, and glued in on a piece of blue poster board

Cloud Jello.  I saw it here first.

Hard boiled eggs colored to look like balloons.

Shenanigans

What is more fun than a water balloon fight?  A paint balloon fight!!!

Today I filled water balloons with a little bit of paint and then the rest of the way with water.  My only rules were to not hit anyone in the face and to not hit the photographer (me).

This is my hand after filling up a ton of balloons.  This moment is all I am promised with my kids, and I am trying to make the most of it!

Painting with Egg Shells

or Why My Husband Doesn't Like to Leave Me Home Unsupervised   (I kid...)

I've been saving empty egg shells for a while and decided that we finally had enough to have a little fun!  I first saw the idea here.  I'm not patient enough to make a small hole at the top and wait for all the egg goo to drip out, so I used a knife to carefully chop off the top of the egg.  (Be careful not to get any shell pieces in your breakfast!)  I then broke another egg in half to make a little "hat" for my egg.  (Make sure you wash them out first.)

 Then fill them up with paint!!

 Hot glue the "hats" on.

And let the kids go nuts!

I got sprayed with orange on this one.  Guess mom should have worn a paint shirt too!

 And our finished artwork

(Cheap) Beach Crafts

I love to take my kiddos out and do all sorts of things with them, but sometimes the budget requires we have a little creative fun at home.  We go the Outer Banks every year for our family vacation.  This year, I planned ahead and took a crafting bag to keep everyone busy during the down time without breaking the bank.

Seashell Necklaces

This was super easy.  We found seashells on the beach, colored them with permanent markers, and put a cord through them.

We made it easy on ourselves by picking shells that already had holes in them.

We tie dyed one day too!

This is my patriotic shell.

Oceans in a Bottle

I think this has been around forever, but is no less fun.  Take an empty water bottle, fill it halfway with water, add blue food coloring, shells, small toy fish, etc and then fill the bottle the rest of the way with cooking oil.  When the kids move it back and forth it make "waves".

 Paper Bowl Jellyfish

Paint the underside of a paper bowl, glue on googly eyes, and add ribbon, streamers, etc to the underneath.  I saw it here,

Even the grownups had fun making these.

In cases of extreme silliness, they can also be used as hats!!

Clothespin Mermaids

I saw the idea here.  First, you need to color your clothespin with a Sharpie.

I bought glitter foam to makes the tails.  I traced the pattern before we went to make it easier for the kids.  I hot glued the mermaids' tails to the clothespins.

The kids wrapped yarn around their hands for the hair.

We took another piece of yarn and tied it around the strands and cut all the loops.

I hot glued the hair on top and VIOLA.  Mermaids.