Christmas Advent Calendar

It's December 1st, and time to get out the Christmas advent calendar.

I whipped up this colorful Christmas count-down for my
college daughter.  My youngest was the best helper!
Fortunately, we had all the craft supplies handy - tissue paper, foam board,
tape, and number stickers.  We wrapped up small nail polish bottles,
perfume vials, decorative mini soaps, and fun holiday earrings.
Talk about last minute; I think it turned out really well!

Sharing My Love of Books

These photos from Life Connection Mission made my day!

I sponsor a young girl through Life Connection Mission, and along

with my summer package for her, I sent my remaining

author's copies for the preschool kids in Haiti.

They are in need of so much more, but it warms my heart

to share my joy of books with them.

Several years ago, I initiated a program with authors and illustrators,

and collected children's book to donate to Life Connection Mission.

They are an amazing non-profit organization serving the
poorest children in the Western Hemisphere.

A Rock Climbing Crystal Geode Party!

My daughter has figured out that having a graphic designer
for a mom is handy when it comes to her visions and ideas...

She had the unusual request for a
crystal-geode-sparkly-rocking climbing birthday party,

with special touches such as sparkly gems on the rock climbing

wall invitations.  Yep, girly-girl.

Making the cake was easier than it looks, and so fun!
We took some rock candy and broke the
sugar crystals off the sticks.

Surprisingly, our first attempt making this recipe for
marshmallow fondant was pretty successful.  

We added purple food coloring, folded the fondant over several times, 

and then started rolling for the marble effect.

It looked pretty cool, and my daughter really enjoyed the marbling. 

It was a bit tricky placing the fondant on the frosted cake;
we did not have any special fondant tools. 

We cut out a section for the geode, frosted the carved area,
and decorated it with rock candy.  And that was it!

Here's my fancy little rock climbing birthday girl.

Her friends loved the cake and

I loved the mommy-daughter baking time!

Mixing Colors - A Colorful Spring Visit!

I had the pleasure of kicking-off the spring season
with these preschool cuties.

We flapped, stomped, cheered, buzzed, and wiggled through
storytime with our spring bug friends from

Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

A spring book about color-mixing lends itself to 

a fun and colorful experiment! 

Next, I handed each child a spring egg filled with Playdoh™

that I had cut into flowers.  Each egg contained two of

each primary colors: red, yellow, and blue.

As you can imagine, the kids were excited to begin blending colors.

We kneaded the red and yellow flowers to make orange.

The blue and red flowers made purple.

And the blue and yellow flowers made green.

To prepare for this activity, be sure the depth of the yellow

flowers are twice as thick as the red and blue ones.

The children were thrilled to see the colors blend!

Lastly, we made stick puppets of the book characters.

We colored ladybugs, grasshoppers, bees, caterpillars, butterflies and crickets,

and decorated them with flower stickers.

Click here to print out the coloring templates for this activity.

We had a great time celebrating the spring season!

For more spring and color activities, visit:

Fun Rainbow Color Activities for Kids!

Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring! Book Launch Party

Fun Rainbow Color Activities for Kids!

I love these wonderful color activities from Toddler Approved. 
Pair them with reading Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

for a playful and interactive storytime.

Make it a craft and coloring day too.  Check out some Color Wonder

spring craft activities, perfect for the older kids.

Younger kids will enjoy coloring, and making stick puppet

characters from Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

Click here to print out the activities.

Have fun!

Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring! Book Launch Party

It may have been a cold and gray winter day, 
but the book launch celebration for Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring!
was certainly a bright and cheerful one.

I was impressed with the children’s knowledge of their colors; many knew
the color combinations needed to turn the color-mixing wheels in the book.
They loved mixing and matching the colors to the spring flowers.

A garden party with refreshments was enjoyed by all.
I'm blessed to have the support of my wonderful family and friends
who put together this lovely spread.  The Joy of Cupcakes
generously treated the guests to these festive and amazingly tasty cupcakes.

And what good is a spring party without the spring crafts?
The super fun FunFit joined in, making craft projects with the children.

And a book about colors certainly needs some coloring activities.
Children made puppets and colored bug characters from Hooray for Spring!
Click here to download the Color Wonder printables and incorporate
these fun activities with your story time.

The lollipop flowers were sweet and easy to make.
Use a heart shape craft-puncher for the petals and a circle
craft-puncher for the leaf.  Fold green paper in half and punch out
a leaf shape by using the top arch of the circle craft-puncher.

Fold the heart-shape petals in half, punch small holes on the bottom
of all the paper pieces, and thread them onto the lollipop stick.  
Adhere clear tape around the base of the lollipop wrapper.
Be sure the tape is also touching the leaf, to serve as a stopper.

The younger children enjoyed coloring
big butterflies, or perhaps it was the Smarties® they liked?

This little caterpillar critter was made by threading a handful of beads
onto a pipe cleaner that was folded in half for strength.

The older kids twisted and shaped colorful spring buggies.

To make the butterfly, you'll need two pipe cleaners, 
 three .75 pompoms, wiggly eyes, and glue dots.
Shape the pipe cleaners as shown above and assemble all the pieces.

To make the bee, you'll need 1/2 of a white pipe cleaner,  1/4 of a green one,
1 inch yellow pompom, .5 black pompom, wiggly eyes, and glue dots.
Shape the pipe cleaners as shown above and assemble all the pieces.

Hooray!  Cheers to a warm and colorful spring season to come.
I hope your kids enjoy Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring!,
and have fun coloring their favorite spring bug characters.

Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

Hooray!  Color Wonder makes its debut with the first book

in the color-mixing novelty series - Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

I’m a big fan of fun-learning and interactive books.
That in mind, I designed a unique format to compliment

playful reading, and provide some fun story time for the children.

Join the romp with lively bug characters as they frolic through colorful
spring flowers.  Kids will enjoy reading, experimenting, and turning the

layered wheels to mix and match primary colors (red, blue, yellow), 

and blend them to make secondary ones (orange, green, purple).

I hope you and the children enjoy Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

Be on the look out for Color Wonder: Winter is Here!,

coming this October, 2017!

Available in fine stores everywhere, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.