pipe cleaner princess (and prince) crowns

I love finding fun little girly crafts to do with my daughter since she spends a lot of her time playing with action figures and toy cars and her three wild brothers. She also gets her fill of doll houses and ponies thought so I suppose it's a good mix for her but selfishly I love to do the tea parties and nail painting just as much as she does. What surprised me with this craft though was how into the crown making my five year old boy was - I think seeing all of Moms special fabric and embellishments and glue got his creative juices flowing. Whatever it was these super simple crowns were tons of make believe fun!

supplies: 

pipe cleaners

fabric scraps

glue

sequins and jewels

To make a crown simply measure your child's head with pipe cleaners to create the base and then use one or two more pipe cleaners to shape any points you want on the face of the crown.

Using fabric scraps and glue cover the entire crown and then add any jewels, sequins and embellishments your heart desires. Then get ready to make believe some royal fun!

On a side note I made a practice crown the night before our little cousin tea party to use as a visual example. I put it on and walked by my boys room where Chris was reading to them before bed. He looked up and I kid you not looked at me like I had lost my mind. He confessed later that he was worried I was making the crown as an accessory NOT a dress up toy. It was super awesome...I wore around a bit longer with a smirk. :)

cousin amelia came for tea and crown making

It was such a special treat to have Amelia for tea today, Josie just adores her older cousin and has been talking about it for weeks. We ate yummy coffee cake, sipped on coffee and cider and made a huge beautiful mess all around. It was a gift and blessing to our hearts and I loved spending some time sharing with my SIL Rachel too while the kids played. Family is rich and full around these parts and we just adore making memories together!

Tomorrow I will share a simple little tutorial on how to make your own princess (and prince) crowns too!

8/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

a bit of sunshine in parenting magazine

The March issue of Parenting Magazine hit newsstands this past week and I am super honored to have a little shout out on around page 73...can you see our closet crib space?! Not exactly a big break per se but these little moments are so super special and exciting and especially fun when I am feeling a little under-inspired these days. Seeing the photo of my kids nursery made us all a bit sad because we miss our old space so very much - but it's getting the juices flowing and Josie and Zeb's new room is almost ready for a tour of it's own so stayed tuned!

See the entire nursery tour HERE.

Thanks for letting me gush a bit about it I did get some major butterflies when I held it in my hands for the first time!!

Henry John Maxwell (and all his ladies)

I had such fun today photographing the dashing Mr. Henry, prince among many beautiful ladies and the deepest blessing to this family of six.

His Mom was hoping for a pretty studio style series and so she set up the perfect little backdrop in her living room. We took turns wrangling all eight of our kids combined and managed to squeak out a few keepers...but man that place was kind of wreck when we left.

 I mentioned to her that children were like the exact opposite of Mary Poppins who walks into a room and waves her arms to make the place spit spot instead it seems they enter and a gigantic bomb goes off without much more than a flip of the wrist...ah well we still had a great time and are so grateful for these dear friends and the life we have shared together. Blessed indeed - thanks for the wonderful afternoon Myrons we love you guys!

Check out Kim's maternity set here she's kind of a stunner!

7/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

The 52 project has been so fun the past few weeks and much harder than I thought it would be - which I love because it forces me to pay attention and be intentional with capturing my littles behind the lens. 

That picture of my five year old art lover is a favorite for sure...he discovered Bob Ross for the first time this week when he happened to switch on PBS at just the right time. I kid you not he turned and looked at me like that and said "you have got to be kidding me Mom"...I can not believe I actually had the camera sitting right there it was a perfect moment. And who doesn't love Bob Ross right? Levi also pointed out that he has his own DVD :) awesome!

Zebs first time on the swings

And then my heart exploded...I wish you could have heard the squeals of glee. That first frame it just gets me every time he threw his head back just like that and let the exhilarating joy in, oh how I love him!

Ten on Ten :: February 2013

I hope you guys had a wonderful day today - I am off to take a look at all of your beautiful sets of photos. If you haven't had a chance to link up yet the linky will be open for the rest of the week. Thanks to all who participated with me this month, ten on ten is always such a treat! xoxo