Crafted since Saturday

Plus more.

And believe me, there was plenty of opposition.

Today I caught her with four of Suzi's raisins stuffed in her mouth.

(Those are a no-no for Ivey.)

I love her but she drives me crazy.

Review: Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake

Suzi just started her very first dance class, a short summer program. She's almost as excited as I am (she's adorable strutting around in her dance outfit). So it was perfect timing for us to review Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake! We were sent a free copy to review.

This 40-minute DVD features excerpts from Swan Lake performed by the Paris Opera Ballet narrated by a cartoon ballerina, Prima Princessa. Ballet steps are explained and demonstrated by ballet students between acts, and little girls are shown dancing and having fun in their tutus.

Suzi loved it, of course. With the help of the narrator, she caught on to the story quickly. She loves stories with princes and usually pretends to be the prince. When Prima Princessa said "now it's our turn to dance," she made me get up and dance with her. Then she made her daddy dance. She tried out the steps being taught and made up some of her own. Cute!

Here she is enjoying the show:

I know it's blurry but I couldn't resist sharing. Suzi strikes a pose!

I don't have anything negative to say about it. As an adult, I would've preferred more of the ballet and less of the dance demonstrations, but it's best for little ones the way it is. The dance lesson montages each play over again, which Suzi loved. Also, I don't know if the DVD could've held her attention the way it did with any more of the ballet, especially if it had been presented without breaks. I think it does a good job of making the ballet something little children can understand and enjoy.

The price? Only $6.99! You can't beat that. It can be purchased on Amazon and would make a great gift for a little girl who already has oodles of toys. Prima Princessa presents the Nutcracker is coming out in September, and Sleeping Beauty will be available in January. We will probably end up getting the whole collection eventually. I don't mind; I liked it too!

Elephants on parade

I made this yesterday. Suzi said she liked it. When I asked her what it looked like (just praying she'd say elephants, because I drew them myself) she said "it looks like hut, two three four!" This is a Disney's Jungle Book reference. So it was a success. I think they will probably live in Suzi's room.

Butterflies, different and improved

I spent a few minutes the other day googling "how to draw a butterfly" and then practicing, and it improved my milk jug butterflies. They are now a more realistic shape. I also got a pair of tiny, sharp, pointy scissors and I love them. I'm trying the new idea of throwing all the tools for one craft project into a little zipper bag so I can find all the stuff I need when I need it (one of my biggest problems) and take it with me to work on when I go somewhere.

I made a mother-daughter pair of butterflies for a friend who is having a baby girl in a few weeks. I tried to get Ivey to model the baby butterfly, but she was like, no. She wouldn't be still, so this was the best picture I could get. Plus her head is really too big for the headband.

Anyway, here are the two butterflies together:

And here's the mother's butterfly from the pair:

Working with recycled plastic has been fun these past few days and I think it's something I'll continue to develop. Next I'd like to make a tiny butterfly, maybe for a ring or earrings. Love making tiny stuff!

Diving for craft supplies

In the recycle bin. The other day I got to thinking about how much I love Suzi's new Green Toys dump truck. It's really cool. It made me wish I could make things out of old milk jugs. I thought for awhile and wondered if anyone had ever made flowers out of them. It turns out yes. I googled and there's an Etsy seller, Artwork by KD, who makes beautiful jewelry and accessories out of plastic bottles and metal cans. I love her stuff! So with all that as my inspiration I made the above flower button ring and these...

Two butterfly hair clips and a thistle pin

The funny looking purple flower is a thistle. You see them a lot at highland games, but usually crafted from pewter or some other metal. I thought it'd be cool to have something a little different with some color to wear with my everyday Scottish attire. Maybe with my "KILT ROCK!" shirt or on our baby bag. It still needs a little work; this was my first try. The translucent white plastic is from milk jugs, and both the purple and green are from vividly colored liquid laundry detergent containers. I still have lots of this left. I almost forgot that I also made Ivey an unfolding flower button toy but I let her play with it before I took a picture and now I don't know where it went. The beauty of this whole thing is that even if I screw up a project and waste a bunch of this stuff, I can put my cut up plastic back in recycling and grab some new one for free! And to be honest, recycling (or upcycling) is awesome, but what I love even more is the idea that anyone can make things with almost no money, tools, or training. It should be a basic human right--and it makes me happy. Now what I'd really like to do next is figure out a good way to make mother/baby themed stuff this way.

And here is what Jordan and I did with the handles of the detergent containers:

They make great ergonomic handles for grocery bags (or tote bags) that cut into fingers. Placed around several bag handles at once, we are also thinking they'd be great for keeping bags together and stopping your groceries from rolling around in the car.

Now I can't stop thinking about what other fun garbage I can use to make stuff. Have you ever tried this? What did you use and what did you make?

Ceilidh and the highland games in Greenville

Friday night. We were having a good time in our front-and-center seats at the ceilidh. Even Ivey was enjoying the fresh air and goldfish crackers.

Until people started hollering when the bands got ready to play.

What did I do?

Why's everybody yellin at meeee?

Once the music began, she had a good time jumping up and down in Daddy's lap.

We'd never seen Albannach before, and we liked them. Their set emphasized high-energy drumming and was fun to watch.

But Grandma and Grandpa preferred Coyote Run, I think.

Suzi loved this because it looked to her like he was playing a big stick. The girl loves sticks.

And we were having a great time enjoying the music. But, alas...

We ignored it for a while.

Suzi and Jordan danced through a couple of songs.

And Ivey snuggled up to Grandpa. But then it became obvious we weren't getting out of this one. The announcement was made, equipment was covered, we ran back to the van and I got two eyefuls of pollen and dirt from the wind. The drive home was fun.

Thunder.

Lightning.

Then we went to the games today and Suzi got her face painted in the Wee Scotland area. She wanted it painted Braveheart-style blue but I talked her into a blue butterfly.

She explained how the lady painted the butterfly on her.

The Montgomery clan in the next tent brought bubbles to share!

Prince Edward was there, it's true, but he was pretty much constantly surrounded by a big crowd of people. Suzi didn't care though. She was much more interested in meeting the gorgeous fairy lady.

She's holding her little hand out like that because the fairy gave her some fairy dust. I'm pretty sure this fairy spent 98% of her day talking to kids and posing for pictures.

Then Suzi rubbed the fairy dust on her cheeks so she sparkled.

We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, packed up the stroller, and headed for the van. (It was a long walk.)

By the time we got home, we had a sleepy blue butterfly girl.

And now I realize I didn't get any pictures at all of anything important, like the prince or the parades or the competitions, did I? Nope. No I didn't. Oh well.

Participate in Coke Rewards, even if you never buy Coke

My husband Jordan and I enjoy the occasional soft drink. We used to drink one or more a day, but over the past few years we've cut back, both for our health and to save money. However, this doesn't mean we can't participate in the Coke Rewards program! My husband Jordan first signed up and entered the codes on the drinks he purchased, but it didn't add up to much because he hardly bought any. Then, while at work, he noticed a bunch of Coke bottles lying around in hallway recycling bins. He unscrewed the caps and entered those codes, too. (Since many recycling programs request that lids are removed but most people don't do it, it's almost like a public service. Sort of.)

This was on my mind tonight because we drove by the recycling center on our way home and found 15 or 20 caps in the plastic bin. A community recycling center is a great place to look for caps because there are so many in one place and you don't have to dig through trash to get to them. Have a peek when you are already there dropping off your recyclables. I would definitely take some hand sanitizer and/or gloves, though. Those bottles are sticky. I have long thought that a sporting event (after a game) would be a good place to rack up some caps, but we rarely go to any. Next time we do, I will be running around like a crazy woman unscrewing soda caps. Powerade caps, too!

So what can you get with the points from your caps? My husband subscribed to a magazine he enjoys and wasn't even charged shipping for it, although many of the items do require you to pay shipping. You can get prints from Snapfish, gift certificates for online shopping, a whistling tea kettle... Lots of stuff. A bunch of saved up points come in handy around Christmas shopping time when you've got lots of gifts to buy and would like to stick to your budget. That's the thrifty part. And recently my husband used a few of our points to get $10 off our dog's heartworm preventative.

Anyway, the points come in handy, and they can be had for free. Might as well grab those caps when you see 'em.

For more frugal tips, check out Kristin's Thrifty Thursday post at Bits and Pieces from My Life!