You are the Apple of my eye {Cards}

Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings

Psalm 17:8

Bottle top apple of my eye cards - our Valentine's cards this year.

PS. Click here for more bottle top crafts.

PPS. Linking this to:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

Silly Valentines

Oh I can be silly - it's one of those things I like about myself - I think my children like it too. 

So I had great fun and giggles thinking up silly Valentines. The kiddos joined me. Big One with his own ideas (as always) and Little One enjoyed punching out little hearts... everywhere... he loves my punches.

Big One's... 

My Inspiration:  

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

A delightful book by Michael Hall - twenty animals all made from heart shapes. And the best part, twenty different emotions and behaviours for you to chat about with your child. It's a super book that can easily be used in play therapy too. Do click on the link above and grab the kids for a super little trailer of the book. Really cute.

Heart Zoo (from Katherine Marie's Happy Hearts Theme of the Week)

My dear friend Katherine inspires me so and makes me look at every piece of pretty or interesting paper in a new fun visually creative light. If you do go visit over there, I know I've probably lost you for now, but that's okay - I won't blame you. :)

Happy Valentine's day!

The Heart Project

(Due to some unforeseen internet trouble, this post is a day late - my apologies.)

I'm very excited to be sharing some super news today!

Behind the scenes and in an effort to raise funds for the American Heart Association, I have had the privilege of being part of a wonderful collaborative project hosted by Jamie from hands on: as we grow. More than 70 fellow bloggers have contributed over 100 gorgeous heart-shaped crafts to a book called The Heart Project. This book is filled with beautiful photographs of the crafts and all the bloggers links are available, so that you can read the "how-to" if you would like to recreate the project.

The inspiration behind this great effort is a little girl called Ellie, and you can read more about her here. 

The e-book is a gift to you, for a very small donation of $5 to the American Heart Association (that's less than R40 for my South African readers) . A printed copy (which I'm really excited about) will also be available for $20 and $5 of that will go to the Association. Both versions of the book will only be available during the month of February, so hurry if you want a copy :)!

And if you need some more encouragement,  Craftprojectideas.com is contributing $1 for every e-book sold this month. That means in addition to your $5 donation Craftprojectideas will donate another $1 on your behalf (up to $500).

To add to the fun, many of the participating bloggers are also having giveaways linked to the book and there will even be an opportunity to win a printed copy of it. To see all the giveaway action, head on over to hands on: as we grow. Jamie has set out all the details for you very nicely. 

And just to wet your appetite, I have included a few preview pages here.

My projects shared in the book are speckled origami hearts, made last year, and some heart finger puppets, which I shared in my last post.

So don't hesitate - it's a great cause. To purchase the e-book, click on the first button and to purchase the printed version, click on the second. 

US $20.00

Order the Printed Version

Till next time.

Heart Pencil Toppers and Finger Puppets

Valentine's day is no biggie in our home. But,  I do love hearts and I do love red and I also love I-love-you ideas, so this day always get's my attention.

I was thinking of a simple craft for kids to do...a little gift to give a teacher, or friend...something sweet. Isn't Valentine's day just a perfect reason to tell someone you like them, or love them. I think so. Pencil toppers came to mind, inspired by some heart finger puppets I saw many years ago (in the nineties!) in an American Parent's magazine. 

  

To make pencil toppers, cut out two identical felt hearts. I drew the heart onto a piece of felt and then folded it double, so that I could cut out two hearts simultaneously. Draw a line to indicate where you need to put your glue (see top photo), leaving a gap for the pencil. Glue the two pieces together and wait for it to dry. If you want the heart to stick to the pencil (and not slip off), put some glue on end of the pencil, before you pop the heart on.

Or you could make a heart finger puppet family...

Easy craft and a sweet gift.

Till next time.

PS. Shared this at Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Georgie's Picks {Cakes II}

Georgie's Picks is a post where I share some of my favourite moments and pictures.

In 2010 I wrote about some cakes...cakes that I was lucky enough to photograph and eat!

Today I'm sharing some more.

When my own little monkey turned one, it seemed perfect to have a Curious George Party. It was a great theme - balloons, bright colours, bubbles and of course lots of little monkeys running around. This cake was baked by Marleen, a lady who has baked many wonderful cakes for me over the years.

Jake and the Never Land Pirates - this amazing cake was baked by 

The Chocolate Moose.

I did a whole post about this Spider Party. This terrific tarantula was also baked by The Chocolate Moose and just in case you are assuming that this was a hard-core boy party - it wasn't!

I love the simplicity and colours of this Beach/Pool Party cake.

The perfect cake for a Soccer Party.

And this one took me way back to my childhood. Did you have a Kewpie Doll? I did - a BIG one - well, she seemed rather big at the time. This is another cake by Marleen, baked for my sister-in-law's baby shower. If you would like Marleen's details, please send me an email.

To view my previous "Cakes" post, click here.

So basically, if you want your cake to be famous (Love and Lollipops type fame)...just invite me to your party and I'll come and eat...I mean photograph it for you and share it here :).

Till next time...

Happy 2012 and {Back to School}

Happy New Year! Is it really the 13th and a Friday too? :) I hope that it will be a wonderful year for you and I also want to thank you for reading and sharing my gettings-up-to (yeah, just made that one up) here at Love and Lollipops.

For many South African children it has been Back to School week and the shops have been busy with frantic mommy's buying new uniforms, books, and stationery supplies. I, on the other hand, have been surfing the net for some great back to school ideas and thought I would share these links with you. No pictures of the links - I try to keep all photography here my own :), but I promise that you won't be disappointed.

• For the cutest book plates and labels to print out, be sure to visit we love to illustrate for children. This is the most talented and generous group of illustrators, always sharing wonderful freebies.

• I love this little poster that I found at eighteen25. I think that this makes the perfect gift for an older child's teacher, as it's not cute or babyish in any way. I decided to print out one for Big One's room - he needs reminding of these great points too :).

• Wouldn't it be sweet to have a little back to school party for the kids, like the one shared at Dukes and Duchesses, perhaps the day before school? Or maybe a special breakfast on the first day of school with some back to school decorations of sorts.

• Speaking of party decorations, these party printables at Bird's Party, are probably one of the main reasons why I had to have a scalloped circle punch. Do go and check out her photographs too, to see what I mean.

• Do you ever put in a note into your kiddo's lunchbox?  Remember these love notes of mine? I found some great lunchbox notes at Rook No.17 and Big One is definitely going to get some of these this year - if Dad had a lunch box, I would probably pop them in there too :). I also found these sweet school jokes from chickabug.

• I LOVE all things alphabet, so for the coolest ever alphabet colouring pages (uppercase letters), go and visit Goodnight Stories. To create some alphabet flashcards, look no further than these from homemade by Jill and for all the teachers reading this, there are some really nice alphabet posters at Early Learning HQ. Each mini poster has the upper and lower case letter and four images for the letter - great for the classroom. So are their editable interactive alphabet cards.

• For crafts (can't leave those out), I really like this "Doing Homework" pencil door hangar, as well as the magnetic Schoolhouse picture frame from Kids Crafts, both made from craft sticks.

• Those that know me well, won't believe me when I say this, but getting that perfect shot of the children on their first day back at school is not something I have had any success at. I should have read these fantastic photo tips by Rebecca (simple as that). There is even a back to school photo checklist for some extra inspiration (and reminding - I need that!).

• And just because I think that this is absolutely beautiful(!!!), I had to share this amazing Schools in Session photoshoot from CRAVE photography. It's the perfect ending to this (looong) post.

Till next time...be good.

PS. The images are from Dean's Tell-The-Time Pop-Up Book. A copy given to my husband in 1974.(I couldn't find a link to purchase this book anywhere on the net, so I think it may now be a collectible.)

PPS. One last thing, if you are looking for any more ideas, I have recently created a Back to School Pinboard on Pinterest to save all my favourite finds. 

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem {Craft}

Wishing you, all my lovely readers, a truly blessed Christmas time. 

Yes, I do realize that it's a few days past, but it is the Christmas season...and it's not quite over yet :).

We had a very special Christmas, celebrating with our family on Christmas eve and day. I must admit though, that my favourite part of this special season is the leading up to and the anticipation of the big day. Big One was so sad on Christmas night and kept on saying "it's almost over". I truly had empathy...I felt the same way.

If you have been following me this past month, you will know that I was very excited to share the e-book Truth in the Tinsel with my children. Amanda (the author) really inspired me to think about Biblical Christmas crafts, rather than just Santas and Snowmen (although these are fun too!). So with that in mind, I created this little Bethlehem, from toilet rolls. It took me less than 15 minutes to make and I love the simplicity of it. Perhaps you can pin it for next year :). I think my children definitely felt the change in focus...I certainly did. 

I'll only be chatting to you all again in the New Year, so whatever your plans, may it be wonderful. See you in 2012!

Build a {Bottle Top} Snowman

There's no snow here at the tip of Africa come Christmas time, but that doesn't stop us from building snowmen (and snowladies).

Top tip :  Don't worry about glue. Just lay out the supplies and let the children build and re-build. 

Hope you are having a happy Christmas week, wherever you may be. 

PS. Remember these? - sock snowmen from last year :).

Christmas Memory Match {from simple as that}

Remember a few posts ago, I wrote about some great Christmas links, including a memory match game from simple as that , that you can download for FREEE. Well I did, and I created this version using bottle tops (of course!).

I quickly realize that I'm not a pro-crafter when I tackle projects like this and make such silly mistakes. Like printing the pictures on a basic inkjet printer and them painting modge podge over it. It (obviously) caused the ink to smudge and the paper to bubble. I almost thought I would have to throw it all away and start again, but somehow I managed to remove the paper from the bottle tops and re-apply. I decided to live with the bit of smudging - it's not too noticeable.

Just a tip - I would not have tackled this project without my circle punch. I like my circles to be perfect :).

Big One and I have played a few times already (when Little One is occupied). I will be packing this up with the Christmas goodies to be enjoyed in years to come. Thanks Rebecca for sharing such super stuff :).

PS. Need a punch? Locally, PNA stores have a great variety. Otherwise, there's always Amazon.

Till next time. 

Mom's Big Book of Things to Make

Author and creator, Melanie Bosman, kindly sent me a copy of her book Mom's Big Book of Things to Make to check out. I'm such a fan of books like these...books with art and crafts that inspire you to get creative with your kiddo's. The book offers over fifty fairly easy projects with clear photographs and good instructions.

I decided to try the coffee filter project with the children and both enjoyed the process of colouring the filters (with cokies) and then spraying them with water. The effects achieved were very pretty  and in the spirit of Christmas I decided to cut them out and make some trees.

To order a copy of the book or to see other titles, you can visit the website here.

Thank you again Melanie!

PS. Sharing at 
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123