A few pieces of felt, a 5 oz cup, wiggly eyes, thread (for whiskers), large Popsicle stick and glue is all you need.

I made groundhog finger puppets for my crafting partners.  To give the ears dimension, I folded the sides of the ears to the center and place them between the two body  pieces and machine sewed around the edge.

Add some facial details and you have a groundhog finger puppet.   To use the finger puppet for the hiding groundhog just place it over a large popsicle stick.

My crafting partners also made their own groundhog puppets. To make it simple for them they glued their groundhog pieces directly to the popsicle stick.

Then they added the face.

Cut a hole in the bottom of the cup for the popsickle stick to fit through.

Next they glued felt to the outside of the plastic cup.

Then they cut slits in the felt around the top edge.

Fit the groundhog through the hole. Now you see him.

Now you don't.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Just when you think you have thought of the most clever craft ever, you then find others have thought of it also.  I have seen similar groundhog puppets around the web. If you have a similar craft or fun idea to celebrate Groundhog Day please leave a link in the comments so everyone can check it out!

Can you believe this is a groundhog shaped meatloaf? It was made by Sommer, a Skip to my Lou reader.

Sommer said she was surprised at how easy and fun it is to shape meatloaf.  She says if you bake your normal meatloaf on a foil covered cookie sheet, you can pretty much shape it into whatever you want.  The eyes are olives and the whites of his eyes and teeth are mashed potatoes.  Her family calls it the Ground-Groundhog Meatloaf.  I think she should be a food sculptor. Sommer has some skills!

I have linked my hiding groundhog puppets to Today's Creative Blog's Get Your Craft On! Go check her out and be inspired. Don't forget link up a project and show her what you've got!

We gathered our supplies.

After I cut the egg carton in half lengthwise, they painted and painted.

With a sharp object I punched two holes in the top end.

The girls then threaded a pipe cleaner through the holes. We added a dab of glue to the underside to keep the "antennae" in place.

The girls then added some wiggly eyes and I hot glued some pom poms to the tops of the antennae.

Now were off the read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and give our caterpillars some embellishments! You might also enjoy reading Clara Caterpillar ,Gotta Go! Gotta Go! and Charlie the Caterpillar.

To make our custom pillowcase we used Crayola Fabric Markers (I found them at Michael's Arts & Crafts and used a coupon) and a plain white pillowcase.

These markers are great! Bella literally spent hours working on her pillowcase.  She is really into hearts as you can see!  She asked me to draw a heart shape. The pillowcase was thin enough that I slipped a paper with a heart drawn on it in the middle and she could see it well enough to trace.  It would be fun to use coloring book pictures as templates also.  A child could easily decorate anyway they like, but if they seem intimidated have them make a drawing first on paper and then they can trace it.

** Make  sure you place a piece of cardboard inside the pillowcase to keep the markers from bleeding through to the other side. Read package directions for setting the fabric.**

Really the possibilities are endless for this craft---- slumber party or birthday crafts, gifts, etc.. They could even be further embellished with bits of fabric, trims and embroidery.

Bella loves her new pillowcase!

If you would like to try out these awesome fabric markers please leave a comment on this post before Tuesday at midnight CST. Crayola is giving FIVE lucky readers a set of fabric markers!

To make these fun notepads you will need:

two clamps

two pieces of wood

100% silicone sealant

cardboard for the backing (I used a cereal box)

paper for your notepad (I made 12 copies of the download so my pad had 24 sheets)

Cut the paper and cardboard to the desired size.  Line up paper sheets along with your cardboard backing and place between two pieces of wood (I used my child's blocks). Place clamps on each side of the wood. Once everything is clamped, place the silicone along the edge.  Wet your finger and smooth a thin coat of silicone along the top.  Allow to dry and then add a second coat.

Once silicone is completely dry remove from clamps.  If you got some silicone on the wood make sure to remove the wood carefully. It might help to run a sharp knife along the edge to release the paper from the wood.

The sheets tear beautifully from the pad.

Add a magnet to the back of the notepad and you have a great magnetic notepad for your refrigerator.

I crocheted some chains in different lengths (actually the girls told me what color and how long).  If they were older it would have been fun to have them crochet their own chains.

They put glue on the cardboard.

Then they expertly arranged the crochet chains on the glue.

Ta Da!

I think this activity would be great for older (Kate and Bella are 4 1/2) children  too! It would be easier for older children to fill in the whole space and it would also provide a fun way for them to practice crochet skills.

Burning up daylight around here with pink play-dough. This activity kept these two, two year olds busy for much longer than two minutes. Actually they enjoyed themselves for a very long time.

Homemade Play-dough

Mix together in bowl:
2  1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon alum (found in the spice section)
In a saucepan on the stove stir the following ingredients together.  Bring to a boil.
2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
food coloring (if making the whole batch the same color, otherwise knead individual colors in at the end)
(you can also use unsweetened kool-aid type drink mix packets to color and scent the dough, add in with the water)

Once mixture is boiling, add

2 -1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoons alum

Cook over low to medium heat stirring constantly until dough comes away from the edges of the pan and it becomes very hard to stir. Remove from heat and let cool slightly(until you are able to knead the dough).

Knead until smooth and elastic. Store in an airtight container.This recipe is for a smooth dough similar to the consistency of Play-doh.

Never underestimate the lure of play-dough

It also kept these three "big" boys just in from golf very busy (and it was even pink)!

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Lauren and Derek write...

These bright and colorful tissue paper flowers are inspired  by the book Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf.

We love the book Ferdinand for its beautiful illustrations and wonderful story about a bull who would rather sit under a tree and smell the flowers than charge the bullfighter who is taunting him at the opposite end of the ring.

How to make Paper flowers inspired by the book Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf

Ingredients:

Colored tissue paper

Scissors

Floral wire

Floral tape

How-to:

1. For each flower you will need 3-4 squares of colored tissue paper, measuring about 5" square. Stack up the paper and fold into quarters.

2. Cut a rounded edge with your scissors, adding little wavy scallops as you cut.

3. Bend the top of one of your pieces of floral wire into a loop and thread the opposite end through the center of your stack of tissue, pushing it all the way up the floral wire until it catches on the loop.

4. Wind a 4" piece of floral wire around the base of the flower, making sure to catch a bit of the paper and continuing down the stem 1"-2".

5. Gently separate the layers of tissue paper and crinkle them slightly to create the petals and give the flower some volume.

Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith are the owners of the Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco and are the DIY editors at the popular design blog, design*sponge.

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Who loves flowers as much as Ferdinand? -- Bees!

From India to the Dominican Republic, bees from Heifer International help struggling families earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen.

Beehives require almost no space, and once established, are inexpensive to maintain. As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable yields. In this way, a beehive can be a boon to a whole village.

Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family's livelihood. Your gift provides a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, and training in beekeeping.

Today we were busy baking and making. With Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller as our inspiration we filled our tummies with yummy doughnuts.

We used 101 Cookbook's recipe for baked doughnuts. They were (yes we ate the whole 1 1/2 dozen YIKES) delicious. I would like to believe they were healthy since they were baked---but they were dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. We were able to make the entire recipe in the food processor. This makes quick time of the kneading (we counted to 45 slowly and it was done).

And so you don't think we are only about weapons around here, we made felt doughnuts too. My eleven year old was amazing with his needle and his sister was thrilled to have some new play food.

First we cut out our felt circles. You may use our template if you like.

doughnut-template

Sew the frosting to one of the doughnut pieces.

My son then sewed "sprinkles" all over the "frosting" with embroidery thread.

With right sides together sew doughnut pieces together, leaving an opening for turning

Turn doughnut right side out.

Stitch completely around the center of the doughnut. We found this easiest to do on the sewing machine. Stay as close to the edge as possible, catching the top and bottom layers.

Stuff doughnut and slip stitch dounut closed!

Ta Da!

We hope you will consider reading along with us to Reed to Feed! This funny and superfluous story gave me pause. As we are reading and eating I am reminded of how lucky we are to have an abundance of food. We can "play" with our food. This it not the case for so many. As a world population over 800 million people will go hungry today.

Pour 2 cups of liquid starch in the pan then add 1/2 tsp alum stirring until mixed.

Gently drop acrylic paint on the surface of the starch. Some paint will sink to the bottom- do not worry. Try not to use too much paint. For best results choose light and dark colors that go together. It will take some experimenting to know how much paint works best for you. Brands of acrylic paint differ in consistency. If after several tries you have trouble with the paint not staying on the surface, try adding a drop of water to your paint.

Take the wooden skewer and drag the paint through the starch. Continue dragging the skewer through the paint until you get a design you like. You might try other tools like a fork, feather or comb besides the skewer. Really the fun of this activity is watching the paint swirl around making different designs. There is no right and wrong. Enjoy the experimenting. We were mesmerized ---- we hope you will be also!

Lay your piece of paper on top of the starch. Allow it to sit for a couple of seconds.

Lift the paper out of the pan and allow the starch to drip off the paper

Rinse the paper under running water removing any extra starch. This does not change the intensity of the colors (the below photo is a different piece of paper paper from the above photo)

After the paper has been rinsed, lay it out to dry. It will take about two hours for the paper to dry. When the paper is completely dry, iron on medium setting until the sheets of paper are flat.

You may find that you can print two sheets of paper before adding more paint to the starch. In the photo below, the bottom piece of paper was made first. We then used our skewer again making a different design and put on another sheet of paper.

In the photo below we had too much paint on our starch so we went ahead and made a print then changed up the design and then made another. If you feel that you have made a lot of prints and your starch is too full of paint, just pour it out and start again.

The possibilities of what to do with your paper are endless---- cover pencils, a book or a box, make note-cards, book marks or a picture frame etc.

Have fun!

I first made a pattern out of cardboard measuring 15 x 12. Cut a 2 1/2 inch square out of each bottom corner.

Take two pieces of oilcloth right sides together and draw around your template. Cut out. I used small clothes pins to hold the pieces together.

I used pinking shears to cut across the top (very optional- I thought it gave the edge a finished look)

Sew down each side and across the bottom. I used a stitch length of 5 and 1/4 inch seams on the entire bag. My machine handled the oilcloth beautifully, but If you have any troubles, Sew Mama Sew has a wonderful article on sewing with oilcloth.

Fold in bottom of bag bringing bottom seam and side seam together

Pin bag bottom to bag side with clips

Sew across on each side

Turn bag right side out and fold in top of bag about 1/2" and then top stitch

Measure about 2 1/2 inches from middle side seam on all four corners, finger press, clip with clothes pins

Top-stitch closely to the corner fold on each of the four sides

Finished!