Madison's Corner

This is the latest little craft that Madison & I did together. It is a Barrette holder.


Here's what I used:

1. Wooden Letter M (picked up at almost any hobby store)
2. 2 colors of Acrilic Paint
3. About 8 feet of Ribbon
4. Hot Glue

Aside from the hot glue this was a very easy kids kraft. I had Madison use a sponge to paint the M. Then for the polk-a-dots I taught her how to use the end of a paint brush. Hot Glue 3 peices of Ribbon to the back of the am and Viola! You have total AWESOMENESS!

Alright, before I show you how to make this awesome cake, I should first tell you my inspiration.

The Louisiana style King Cake: "A cinnamon-roll like cake inside with sugary icing with traditional Mardi Gras colored sprinkles on the outside.The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has lucky prosperous Year"

Actual Mardi Gras in 2011 is starting on Feb 19th, and the celebration continues through till the day before Ash Wednesday or March 8th. I could go on about the traditions of Mardi Gras, but that would be another subject. Lets get to the cake!

Although a true authentic king cake is much more complicated to make, this one is not, and it is by far the easiest no fuss, no mixing cake I have ever made.....and so yummy!

Here's my version of a New Orleans King Cake for Kids

To begin you only need 3 ingredients for the cake:
2 packages of Pilsbury Cresent Rolls
3 Tbs butter or Margerine
Brown Sugar 


Ingredients of the Frosting/decorations:
1 package of Betty Crocker Icing-either white cookie icing or Cream Cheese frosting......PS I prefer the Cream Cheese.
3 different color Sugar Sprinkles-  I used Blue, Pink and Yellow*

*traditional Mardi colors are purple, green and gold. Purple represents justice; Green = faith; and Gold = power.


1. Preheat Oven to 350
2. Unroll the Cresent Rolls and Seperate. Using a bunt pan line all of the cresent rolls up as shown, over lapping just a little bit. PS I did have about 3 extra rolls when I was finished with this step.




 3.  Next add melted butter and sprinkle browns sugar into the center.
4. Now add your trinket. In my case I used a little pony (don't use anytoy that has that thin plastic stringy hair). Starting at the Outside fold the Cresent Rolls into the center, making sure to cover your trinket.
5. When finished with the outside, then fold the center over.




6. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes:
7. Decorate with Icing and Sprinkles.
8. Eat and Enjoy. I prefer to it it when it is still warm, but It is good cold too. The person who ends up getting the trinket will have a lucky prosperous year!

Me: "Madison, what do you want to do today?"
Madison (Jumping up and down): "I wanna make a kitty cat craft!"

That's the scenariothat prompted this cute little craft. Here's the website link I found to make it: http://www.storknet.com/cubbies/kidscrafts/eggcartonkitty.htm

I'm still working on getting Madison to write her name, right now I'm just making sure she recognizes it. First I folded this paper in half length-wise then in Black Crayon (pressing heavily) I wrote her name above the fold. Afterwords I refolded the paper and rubbed very hard to get her name to transfer onto the bottom half. Then I traced oved the bottom hal in black crayon. Then both she and I colored it to make it look like a bug.

Around here its tradition to Eat Snow Cream:

Here's the Receipe:

Put clean snow into a bowl ( Maybe 2 quart mixing bowl)use sweetened condensed milk, vanilla...mix and enjoy...
...mix in milk and squish with a whisk or tater masher to mix.
...Grab a spoon and eat !!!!
(Variation) add Hershey chocolate syrup.... Yummy!!!!

Ponyland- its a game I made up for Madison one day when she was walking around the house complaining that she had nothing to do. First it started with the store-bought house in the center. Then Mama was bored one night after she had gone to bed. First one I made was the kitchen.





Then I had to make the Disco-land when I found a disco-ball in with my Christmas decorations. you might not see it very well, but on the ceiling is little Christmas lights that I found on clearance......Later on I also made a few pieces that she could add to it to change it into a Musical Stage.


While my friend made one, I decided that Madison needed something to carry/store all of her ponys in. So now we have a Pony-barn. Not visable in the picture is a little handle at the top to carry it.

I must say that I didn't use Madison's help to make all these, she's still a little too hyper to do something like this.....but she sure does have fun playing with them. :) Made out of old boxes, construction paper, glue and a few other miscellaneous things I had laying around the house.


Here's the last pic of the original PONY House we started with.

A Fishy Painting (Difficulty: Very Easy)

Here's another cool craft that I couldn't resist when I found these foam fish at the Walmart Craft Section.
This was a cool craft because Madison had to listen to instructions with the Tempera paints, then she got to decide where all the foam stickers went.

Painting with instruction (also helps that I only gave her one color at a time to paint with)

1.Told Madison to paint the whole background blue.
2. Madison could only paint the bottom brown.
3. Using Pink, Purple and Green she could go up and down, and even squiggly up and down.

4. Last I had Madison put the foam sticker Fish and bubbles anywhere she wanted.
5. I told her Starfish had to stay in the brown area
6. If you want you can embellish the Fish with Googly eyes to make it more Fun.

Dad Rocks! (Difficulty: Moderate, Parental help needed)

Here's a cute little idea that will require some parental help. Makes a good gift for Dad on Father's day or any day.

Part One
1. (Kids)-Pick out a rock
2. (Kids)-Paint it with Tempera Paint.
3. (Kids)-For the Face-Add Googly Eyes, and Yarn Hair with Elmer's Glue, Paint the lips.

Part Two
4. (parents) Cut out a T-Shirt and Pants out of Cardbord.
5. (Kids)-Have your Child paint it with Tempera Paint.
6. (parents!!) with a hot glue gun (ps I tried other glues, they weren't working)- Glue the T-Shirt and Pants together, Glue Pipe Cleaner Arms and Legs onto the back, Glue the rock head onto the body.
7. In Marker add "Dad Rocks!" on the T-shirt.

3D Mosaics (Difficulty: Very Easy)

Here's a cool little craft I found at my local Walmart. CRA-Z-ART 3D Stick'n Sparkle. This was so easy all Madison had to do was peel and stick the little squares on the tiles. You'll notice too that she tried to match the colors of the squares too! 
I found my set on clearence for $3 however the website list these packages for about $8.

Trinket Boxes (Difficulty: Easy)

Here's another great craft that we did I was actually a little surprised at how well these turned out.

I fount these awesome colored Popsicle sticks at our local dollar store and added stickers for embellishments.

Craft Requirements:

Popsicle Sticks
Elmer's Glue
Stickers (optional) (you could also use glitter glue or paint)

Little Pom Pom Family (Difficulty: Very Easy)

This was such a fun little craft that Madison and I did. We love Googly eyes and have use them several times in our crafts.

This particular craft we used:
2 Large Pom Poms
1 Little Pom Pom
Foam Sicker Hands and Feet
3 pairs of Googly Eyes
4 Popsicle sticks.
Elmers Klue

Although you don't have to have the popsicle sticks, it was a nice touch to be able to transport the little Family. Very easy to do just glue them together as shown.