Mouse-Themed Valentine's Cards with Matching Rainbow Loom Mouse

It was last month when my daughter approached me with the idea of using mice as a theme for her Valentine's Day. Originally she wanted me to make cake pops to go with her "big idea," but her school doesn't allow candy or sweets of any kind, so we opted instead for a Rainbow Loom mouse. Because 3D looms are SO easy for a 6-year-old (i.e., I'm officially a Rainbow Loom expert). Her entire goal for this project was to use the word "mice" in place of the word "nice" for her Valentines. Below is how we pulled it all together.

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Papercrafting Christmas Ornaments for Gifts or Decor #Crafts #Spellbinders

We normally like to give out gift cards to special people who help my daughter throughout the year, but this year we decided to make some homemade ornaments to go along with them. We made them for my daughter's first grade teacher, the principal at the school, and her piano teacher. These are a fun idea if you're looking for to spruce up the regular gift card idea, or if you're looking for a fun craft to keep the kids busy over winter break.

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DIY Hello Kitty Snowflake Window Clings #Crafts #HelloKitty

My daughter really wanted to share a little craft that we've been working on as we're decorating for Christmas. As most of you know, my daughter is a huge Hello Kitty fan, so we've taken this age-old technique of making homemade snowflake window clings and stepped it up a notch by adding Hello Kitty, herself, to a few of the snowflakes!

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Celebrating 6 Years with a DIY Rainbow-Themed Birthday Party

Another birthday party come and gone. Whew! Having taken my daughter to Disneyland for her birthday last year I had completely forgotten how hard it was to throw together a birthday party between Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, there's nothing like having a kid who's old enough to help out, especially during Thanksgiving break. There were no, "Mama, I'm SO bored," during the holiday because we managed to keep ourselves pretty busy putting together all of the homemade items for her birthday party that week. When the day of her party actually arrived, I only needed to assemble her push-up cake pops and decorate. Yay for pre-planning!

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DIY Rainbow Birthday Party Invitations #Crafts

It's that time of year again! Nope, I'm not talking about the holidays, I'm talking about my daughter's birthday. She's turning 6 this year and I have to admit I'm super excited about that, in large part because that means she's old enough to really pitch-in when it comes to pulling her birthday party together. This year (like her previous birthdays) she chose a theme based on her Halloween costume. So, after having a snow princess party for her 3rd birthday, and a Hello Kitty birthday party for her 4th birthday, she's doing a rainbow party this year. (She went to Disneyland for the first time on her 5th birthday, so we didn't have a party that year.) We're still pulling the rest of the homemade decorations together this week, but the invitations have been completed and we posted instructions below.

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