Mohawk Upside-Down French Braid

That's not really the name of this hairstyle, just my version of it. It's usually called "Upside-Down French Braid". I saw this hairstyle here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLqO0Fe5aVU. When I did a quick search on youtube I found that it also seems pretty easy to do on yourself as well. Although I never actually tried it, but I do intend to try to accomplish that someday. What made me get inspired to do this was that we we're having a really hot and humid day and I just couldn't stand seeing my girls' hair down or even in a ponytail. I needed to put it up and out of their faces so I remembered seeing this hairstyle online and decided that this was a great opportunity to go for it and so I did.

 

From my personal experience for the very first time on making this hairstyle, I'd say that you need to really dampen the hair first. I did spray their hair with some water, but apparently not enough so I had a little trouble braiding it and ended up with some flyaways here and there. Upon finishing this awesome hairstyle, I was really impressed by how it turned out!

Also, I did a slight variation from the actual hairstyle on my daughter Smile's hair since her hair is pretty long, by braiding all the way up. So I went all the way up as much as I could up to the forehead, then I brought it back down the middle and pinned it down. This gave it the dutch braid illusion effect if that makes any sense. It really popped out which was really neat in my opinion. 

As for Princess's hair, she has much shorter hair so I only could put it in a bun. I went a little further up then I should've then made a really high bun (sorry it's not showing much here).

Homemade Playdough

Having playdough is considered as a staple in my house. Kids just LOVE to play with it. I enjoy playing with it as well! I love many things about playdough; the kids can spend literally hours playing with it, it's colorful, it's gushy and squishy, very educational and fun, non-messy, kid-friendly and safe, and it smells great even without any scents added into it, and best of all, it's very easy to make right at home.

I basically searched online for some playdough recipes and found that there are a lot of ways to do this with so many recipes out there. The only one I tried and worked best for me was the one using boiling water. This is the recipe I found (can't remember from where, sorry), it turns out perfect everytime:

Playdough

3 cups boiling water
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
1 1/2 Tb oil
3 Tsp cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients except for flour. Once well mixed, gradually add the flour. Stir until well blended. Knead on floured surface until a soft ball forms. Divide into even sections, knead in food coloring for desired colors.

It's really simple and easy. My kids love adding food coloring. It really teaches them about color mixing. All in all it's fun for everyone. Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

Dutch Flower Braid

I've been doing this hairstyle quite often on my girls' hair and it's considered as one of my favorites. Since I've been practising this hairstyle by doing it alot, I think that I have mastered it pretty ok. I tell you, I'm not a very good braider at all. For being just a beginner, I may proudly say what I have accomplished as not being so bad. It's very easy to make once you get hang of it. With a little practise and patience it'll be just a breeze.

This hairstyle was inspired by cutegirlshairstyles.com . This is such a great website with many great hairstyles that Mindy does on her girls' hair. I always go onto her website to get many great ideas for doing such beautiful yet simple and quick hairstyles for my girls. Now I may not have the best photos of this hairstyle, but do check out the link above to see Mindy's pictures and a tutorial video as well. My photo below was taken after we came home from a wedding, so it may seem a little messy. When I do make this hairstyle again, I'll be sure to take better shots of it before we go out.

                                               

Pencil Shavings

My mind is racing with ideas on where to begin. Hmm...Well, since it's the beginning of the school year right now, I thought I'd start off with this pencil shaving crafts since we're constantly sharpening pencils and coloring pencils A LOT. I hate to waste the beautiful, vibrant colors and thought I'd put them to good use. I simply googled pencil shavings and came up with tons of crafts that can be done with these. I specifically went for the fish craft since I was teaching them little about these beautiful creatures from craftziners.com which is an awesome website by the way and a great resource. It's a community of many different artists who submit their projects and articles to this website offering a wide range of topics. I wanted to do a simple drawing using a simple technique for my kids since they're young in age. To be honest, I've done this project way back sometime during last spring. My daughters used to love coloring with their new coloring pencils, so I asked them to sharpen them all in one big jar. So we started saving them and ended up with a whole bunch of pencil shavings, then began with our craft. Some pencils may have a glitter wrapper on them which add a really nice touch to these types of crafts. Too bad I don't have a closeup to show off those sparkles. I haven't really tried this, but it just occurred to me that this project can be used as story craft in the book "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister. So this is what we came up with:

 

All you need is a thick cardstock, crayons or coloring pencils, glue, and ofcourse, colorful pencil shavings. 

 

The first thing we did is, we drew a fish which happened to be done by me. Then the girls colored it in, then simply just glued the pencil shavings on. It's that simple. But since the shavings had a little bit of a curve to them, they had some difficulty doing this so I helped them with the gluing process. That's about it! This technique can be used in many different drawings. Upto this very day we still hold on to those colorful pencil shavings. We may never know when another pencil shavings craft will strike up! Will update when this happens...

Starting Off...

"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs...since the payment is pure love." ~Mildred B. Vemont

I open my first post on my blog with this beautiful quote that has inspired me and keeps me going everyday. "Pure love" is what really matters afterall by the end of the day. A hug or a kiss can be more than enough to emphasize this emotion without any words. Nothing can ever replace this sensational feeling of happiness and enthusiasm. Not even all the money in the world.

I am forever grateful to God for blessing me with three beautiful children to raise. Indeed, this is such an honor and one of the most beautiful gifts I can ever receive. Children are the seeds of life. Without them, it's impossible to survive. They are a necessary in life to fulfill one's never-ending joy and happiness and make everything seem worth-while. I once watched the movie "Children of Men" and couldn't stop wondering how life would be without any children running around. It would simply be pointless living.

As a full-time mom of three little kids, I'm always on the search for ideas to do with them to keep them busy throughout the day. Sometimes I aim for being educational, while other times I would aim for just simply having fun with the project. I was introduced to the world of blogging through the process of getting inspired with the help of links and recommendations here and there. Gradually, I became very fascinated and intrigued by all the creative ideas out there. I have came to be very interested in many bloggers that have inspired me into being a fun mom in all aspects of raising up a child.Therefore, I started blogging myself. I want to put all my projects, ideas, and thoughts all in one place to share with other mothers out there in which I hope will motivate and inspire them as well.

This blog is about nearly everything and anything motherhood has to offer. Nothing specific at all; simple kids' crafts and activities, baking and cooking, tips and ideas, kids' hairstyles, some sewing, and anything random.These are all based on my life experience with my kids at home on a budget using everyday things, nothing too extraordinary. Most of the ideas or projects I make are from other bloggers or websites I find along the way of getting inspired, which will be cited accordingly. I may have some posts of things I've done before I decided to make this blog in which I don't have the sources on hand, so if anyone has any information about these sources please do take the time of providing me with them. It will be very appreciated. Another thing is, I may not have the best photos of my projects. I will try my best to give detailed steps and instructions for those posts that need them and post photos if available. All in all, I hope that all you mothers out there, caregivers, homeschoolers, or whatever your relation with the kid is, who came upon my blog will get inspired to simply have fun and explore with your kids, learn along with them, and most of all simply enjoy them while they're still young. Please feel free to leave me any comments or questions or ideas or any thoughts, I would really appreciate it. Let's get started! More coming soon...