Valentine’s Day Coloring projects

A great gift on Valentine’s Day is an art project from your children to a loved one. One simple and inexpensive idea is Valentine’s Day Coloring Pages. You can find many across the internet that are easy to download and print out.
Check out pages like this one at Kaboose or at Coloring Book Fun to find the perfect page for your little one.

For more craft ideas check out Expo’s Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

Catcrazy shows us how to make Love Notes:

Add comment February 13th, 2009

The Forever Stamp

A forever stamp is valid for first class postage no matter what the rate. By concept, once purchased, a forever stamp is a perpetual stamp that never expires or declines in value.

The Forever Stamp will continue to sell for 42 cents until May 11 but it will take on the value of a first-class stamp in the future.

Since the Forever Stamp was introduced in April 2007, the Postal Service has sold more than 6 billion Forever Stamps.

The U.S. Postal Service announced yesterday that the price of a first-class stamp will go up by 2 cents to 44 cents on May 11. So basically, want to save some money on stamps for the future? Stock up on them now!

kdrowlandnm reviews the U.S. Postal Forever Stamp:

Add comment February 11th, 2009

Make your own Snuggie!

Snuggies seem to be a popular topic of conversation. Something about the fleece blanket with sleeves seems to capture the hearts of young and old.

If you aren’t so crafty you could purchase your own: Snuggie Fleece Blanket As Seen On TV

Or you could make your own!

Here’s How to Make a Snuggie Type Blanket:

1. You will be cutting the sleeve portion from the three-yard length of fabric. About two feet should do it. Now you have two pieces of fabric.
2. On the large piece, make two evenly spaced holes (for the sleeves) about a foot from one of the cut ends of the fabric.
3. Folding the material in half from selvage to selvage, not the cut end, will guide you on where to make the cuts from side to side. Allow enough room in the center for the width of your body. Measure the width of your body, add a few inches, cut the number in half and use that to measure the distance from the fold to the center of the oval hole you plan to cut. You can even cut both layers of fabric at one time. The oval should be longer top to bottom. Measure the width of your arms to get an idea of how big you want to make the cuts, but keep in mind that you’re going to add a seam that’ll take up some room too.
4. Now, cut the sleeve piece of fabric in half and sew each half on the long side. You’ll end up with two tubes. These are the sleeves that you’ll connect to the holes.

You could make the sleeves longer or shorter and customize the whole thing to your hearts desire. The possibilities are endless really.

Or you could just cuddle under a blanket like this NAP Cuddle Blanket reviewed by bellaMOgirl

Add comment February 4th, 2009

Valentine’s Day is around the corner!

With Valentine’s Day, 2 1/2 weeks away have you started planning your Valentine’s Day gifts?

Gifts from the heart are always appreciated. One idea presented by an Expo member is:
Make these cute finger puppet valentines, and let your little ones put on a special puppet show.

Check out this video on instruction on how to create Valentine’s Day finger puppets by Zoesmommy:

Add comment January 27th, 2009

Encourage your child to save with a homemade piggy bank

As we have seen, learning the importance of saving and spending money wisely is a very important lesson to teach your children. You can start with saving allowances, cash birthday gifts, change etc in their own piggy bank.

A fun way for them to own the project and take a personal interest in it is to allow them to create or decorate their own piggy banks.

This “Decorate Your Own Piggy Bank Kit” runs about $5 at your local crafts store and includes everything your child needs to express themselves all over the piggy bank.

If you already have many craft tools at your home, ceramic pigs can be bought at stores like Michael’s. Then allow your kid to select their tools.

Really a piggy bank can be anything that can collect the cash into one area so feel free to be creative!

Killawhale reviews the Do it Yourself Piggy Bank kit:

-Froso

Add comment January 6th, 2009

Gifts for the holidays you can make

Need some holiday craft gift idea?

Moondoggie explains how to make a quick and easy Goodies in a Jar as a nice gift to let the people in your life know you thought of them without spending too much money:

Some ideas for different contents for your jar include:

sugar cookies

chocolate chip cookies

gingerbread cookies

Coffee

Oatmeal mix (can be a healthy breakfast mix! such as cranberries and nuts)

bean soup

Muffin mix

Hot Chocolate mix

Brownies

the possibilities are endless! So tailor the gift to the recipient and show them you care!

Add comment December 15th, 2008

Christmas cards

It’s about time to send out those Christmas cards. You early birds might have already done so, but for the rest of us it’s not too late to wish our loved ones Happy Holidays.

With the economy in a slump. Some of you may have opted out of the usual Christmas card extravaganza but there are still affordable ways to spread your Christmas cheer.

1. If you have the luxury of planning ahead, remember that holiday cards go on sale AFTER the holiday. So stalking up ahead of time can save money for the next year.

2. Since that is a bit out of the option at the moment, buying in bulk is always ideal. Friends and family understand the economy so sometimes a nice note in a simple card will send your love.

3. You can get creative and create your own. Martha Stewart always has great ideas like these Easy Holiday Cards or these Kodak Photo cards.

4. Many people send out family pictures as their holiday greeting. Check out some online websites for deals on holiday photos:
Snapfish: free shipping through December 16 via coupon code “CCABSHIP” (on orders of $15 or more). Of note, Snapfish is the only site we found to offer talking photo cards at $5.99 a pop. For more traditional cards, hit up coupon code “ENTMTGIFT20″, which will give you 20% off through December 31, so a set of 20 5×7 photo greeting cards will sell for $28. It also applies to photo calendars. Coupon code “”MYBOOKDEC” gives you 40% off on photo books (till January 3.) Otherwise, purchase any photo gift and get 20% off with coupon code “BESTGIFTS” until December 16. Coupon code “SHIP365″ will extend the free shipping offer till January 8, 2008.

WinkFlash: Coupon code “HLDY27″ offers 40% off select cards (including greeting cards, note cards, 4×8″ photo cards, and 5×7″ greeting cards.) So a set of 20 5×7″ greetings cards drops from $29.80 to $17.80.

Kodak EasyShare Gallery: Up until December 14, coupon code “JOLLYGIFTS” yields 20% off on cards, photo books, and calendars (when you spend $30 or more). So a set of 10 photo cards, normally priced at $7.99, goes for $6.39 when purchased with the above coupon. Spending $50 or more at the EasyShare store. Use coupon code “FREE2SHIP”, which ends on December 9, and you can take advantage of free shipping. If it’s an 8×10″ print that you seek, use coupon code “ENTR8XTEN” and get one 8×10″ photo for free when you purchase one at the original price of $3.99.

More online photo deals can be found here at Dealnews.

For more tips on how to save for the holidays check out this video by travelmom1:

-Froso

Add comment December 5th, 2008

Crocheting goes Green

Over at ExpoTV, we are always interested in ways to make your life more EcoFriendly

I was intrigued to read a post on how to crochet with reused plastic bags (but can also apply to old clothing, sheets, or whatever you imagine!

You essentially cut the bag so that it loops into a long line of plastic which can then be rolled like a ball of yarn. I can only imagine the things you could possible create with this method. Its just another way to keep those items like your old high school tee shirt or first blanket close to you in new ways AND help the environment one bag at a time.

2 comments October 22nd, 2008

Create your own Halloween costume

Since Halloween and the economy seem to be on the mind today, I thought I’d share some easy and creative ideas to create your own Halloween costumes from pretty basic items I found here at Maholo.com.

Some of my favorites are:

1. Cereal: Carry around an empty cereal box with a plastic knife sticking out of it. Drip red paint down the side of the knife holes

2. Bag of jelly beans: Wear white (or at least a white shirt). Get a large clear plastic trash bag. Cut out holes for your legs and your arms.5 Step inside the bag and then fill it with different colored balloons.3 Use a flash scarf to tie the bag around your neck

3. Bubble Gum:Wear pink clothing and attach a shoe to the top of your head.

4. Magic 8 Ball:Dress in black and attach a large 8 out of white cloth or paper and pin it to your back.8 When someone asks you what you are, tell them “Reply hazy, try again,” “Better not tell you now” or “Ask again later.” You can also say one of the standard 8-ball phrases whenever someone shakes your hand.

5. Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Showers: Dress in blue. Glue white cotton balls on your shirt and carry a squirt gun.9

6. Pink Floyd: Dress in pink and wear a name tag that says “Floyd.”8

Add comment October 17th, 2008

Art = Huge Spider

Those wacky Brits have more creepy crawlies than the Beatles hanging around in Liverpool. Well, just for this week. Part of the 2008 Capital of Culture events - a series of art installations, performances and happenings - include La Machine, a huge and mechanical spider. The spider/monster is currently attached to the side of a building, but it will soon take part in a series of street theater performances throughout Liverpool at various locations. How would you like to meet that sort of thing during your morning commute?

-Christina

Add comment September 4th, 2008