EASY DUCT TAPE BOOKMARKS DIY

I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend! It feels like forever since I blogged. Maybe the sign of a blogaholic? We recently bought some classic books with newly designed covers for Elliott. They were in the Target $1 bins (go Target!) and we love them. Pretty much every night, we read a chapter from one of the books to Elliott and we thought we could use a bookmark or two to keep our place. These bookmarks are great for your little avid readers in the family. Especially those who are still getting back into the whole school thing. 

I used a cereal box as the base of the bookmark. You can use any cardboard really. Cut it to size and place it on the sticky side of some duct tape. If you are going to use a lighter color, you may need to double up on the tape.

Now for the fun part! To make the decorations, just place a strip of duct tape on a cutting mat and cut the shapes out with an exacto knife. 

Then peel up the tape and you should have your design ready to peel off and stick on your new bookmarks!

Happy reading!

DINO PENCIL TOPPERS DIY

What is better than a set of pretty new pencils? Pretty new pencils with dinos on top! I was going to make these for Elliott - and truthfully he will most likely confiscate them - but for now they are all mine. These would be awesome to put on top of your kiddo's pencils and would make for great play breaks amidst all that learning. They are super easy and pretty fast to make. Here we go!

First, drill your dinos. You'll want to stop occasionally to be sure you can fit the pencil in there securely. You'll most likely have some plastic shavings when you are done. Mine looked like white chocolate. Do not eat them! 

Next, paint! I went with white, but whatever color combo your little heart desires would be just fine. After a few coats and after they are totally dry, you are ready to add them to your pretty pencils.

Aww, dino love.

WE LOVE: BEAR LAKE

Last week my boys took me to bear lake for my half birthday. It was gorgeous and fun and perfect. In every way. The water is a beautiful blue color that made me feel like I was in the Caribbean. We decided to go to the most popular beach at the lake, and lucky for us it wasn't crowded at all! It may have had something to do with the fact that school just started and it was a weekday. But still. It was nice. Elliott and I built some drip sandcastles. We were bummed we forgot our sand toys to build a normal sandcastle, but I grew up building drip sandcastles and was happy to share my vast knowledge of dripping wet sand into lumpy towers. Between swimming and dripping sandcastles, the boys decided to rent a canoe. Elliott's first canoe ride! They had a great time paddling around the lake. And after a long day of fun in the sun, we finished the day with some amazingly good raspberry shakes. Bear lake is famous for their raspberries, so you can imagine how delicious the shakes were! It was really a perfect half birthday. I can't imagine a better one.

AROUND HERE

Honestly not a whole lot happened this weekend. That was my fault. My silly illness just won't go away! Elliott did however write his name for the first time all by himself. He also is kind of obsessed with his new pants complete with suspenders. They're his new "school" pants. And maybe I'm a little obsessed with them too. Just a little bit. Preston introduced Elliott to one of his favorite childhood movies - The Never Ending Story - I have to say it's a lot cheesier than I remember! But Elliott loves it. Of course. This week we will be getting the little guy ready and psyched up for school and I have a few fun projects for his first week to school. Happy Monday! 

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Yesterday was my half birthday (hence the whole no posting thing) so Preston and Elliott whisked me away for a day at the lake. It was perfect. But more on that later! This weekend we are going to a little BBQ with some friends and hitting up some fun things around town. We also have a few last minute preschool preparations to take care of - procrastinator? Me? We have one more fun school-ish DIY coming up next week, so stay tuned for that! Until then have a very happy weekend, friends!