When We Were Young

These were my favorite games to play growing up! Read on for more classic activities of a childhood without video games

Today I was watching an episode of the Brady Bunch whilst enjoying a steaming mug of hot cocoa during this lovely Winter Vacation from school. One of the scenes cut to Peter and Bobby having a contest of who could cast a fishing line and land the lure in the target (which was a bucket). I began to think to myself how innately creative children are, and yet in modern times, their minds are not exercised to use that creativity to its full potential. A conversation that I was having with a dear friend and colleague (yes, you, Theresa!) sprang into my mind: so often children have the thinking done for them in play, that they rarely get a chance to think for themselves. With the widespread use of batteries, electronics, screens, and buttons with very specific and very limited buttons in toys, playtime is becoming less and less developmentally helpful. I'll be the first to admit, I'm a tech junkie! I'm in front of a screen more than I should be during any given day...yet I wasn't brought up that way. My creativity and brain flexibility survived, and I believe it was because of my lack of video games throughout my childhood.

Wow, that was a long rant. Anyway, this is NOT supposed to be a scholarly post, but a fun one! That Brady Bunch episode inspired me to compile all the fun games I used to play when I was little into a list for a rainy day...or a power outage! :) I remember being entertained in the same game or dramatic play literally for hours as a child...whereas these days, kids are involved with an activity for a half hour and then they're bored. Actually, that reminded me of my last (or maybe not) scholarly point: I heard on the radio recently that the heavy use of technology actually lowers attention span! Think about it: Are you on your smartphone often? When are you most commonly on your phone? Waiting in line? Commercial breaks? Dare I ask, at a red light? We are so used to being occupied by something that we, as a society, are finding it harder and harder to just do nothing. Go ahead, try to do nothing for one minute, I bet you'll want to pick up that phone after about 20 seconds.

ANYWAY here is my list, broken into categories. No more tangents for me!...Yet... :)

Wait, one tiny side-note: worried your kids won't be into it? Make it into a mini Bucket List to complete over a power outage or school vacation! Do it with them! And while you're playing with them, don't forget to act as immaturely as you acted 30 years ago ;)

Artistic
*Draw
*Paint
*Clay- For the multi-talented artist, make some salt dough so their creation can bake and then be painted
*Design clothing- so fun for your little Fashionista or Fashionisto!
*Writing songs: Let me tell you. My 3 best friends from Middle School and I were in a band. It. Was. The. Sh!+. Kathryn, Molly, Sam, and I were the Ice Girlz (obviously inspired by the genius 90s band the Spice Girls). We would take popular songs and rewrite our own lyrics to them. We wrote them, practiced them, choreographed them, and preformed them. I am shocked that we are not sitting in our Ice Girlz mansion because we were fantastic. Just saying.
*Teach your kids to crochet or knit: This just leads to MORE hours of handmade, creative fun

Dramatic Play
--These are such great ways to practice social interactions!
*Trolls!! (Thanks Jen!) Or any other action figure/doll you can think of
*Play House
*Play School
*Play Store
*Play Doctor
*Playing Salon: I mean...the possibilities are endless. M, J, and I used to play this at the No-Electronics-Allowed Yacht Club they belong to. They would give each other manicures, pedicures, hair styles, massages, and they would have done make up, I'm sure, if we'd had it there. Who doesn't love free spa treatment?! I was always ready to play salon! ;)
*Raft Game: I have no idea where I got the idea for this game, but it's a Christie Millar Original. I would spread a blanket out on the floor, get all my beanie babies and a couple pillows. The blanket would be the raft, the beanie babies: the crew, and the pillows: the cabin. We would sail stormy seas, discover uncharted islands, and go weeks without eating anything but fish! Not sure why that was such a fun game for me because in real life it sounds almost dreadful, but it was my favorite!

Indoor Movement/Outside Games
*Water gun fight: I'm not talking, let's get in a line and spray water...I'm talking military tactic, hunt you down and soak you, water gun fight.
*Bike adventures
*Red Rover
*Capture the flag
*Manhunt (Thanks Niki, Molly, Tom, and Gerri!)
*Go for walks-I feel like this was our original chat room since it was more of a social event than an exercise event
*Host your own Olympics Games (Thanks Sarah!)
*Street Hockey (thanks Dad!) or any other organized sport...but probably not taking place in the street these days, depending on what kind of road you live on.

Indoor Games
*Slinky Races (provided you have a staircase)...need I say more?
*House- wide hide and seek (this would be REALLY fun in a power outage)
*Board games- any good ol' classic board games!
*Create your own game! For example, the first game I'll create will be to upcycle a Monopoly board to Harry Potter Monopoly!

Scientific/Nature
*Building a fort
*Building SOMETHING (Legos, blocks, LINCOLN LOGS!!) Architecture at its finest.
*Making fairy houses...No! Not the kits! I mean go into your back yard and scavenge for items like a REAL fairy would do ;) No manmade materials! You need something stuck together? Get some sap. You need to tie something? I hope you have long blades of grass in your yard.
*Climbing Trees: Thrilling and an immense feeling of accomplishment! Also, good exercise :)
*Scavenger hunt
*Experiments (just please don't harm any animals!)

There are millions of other things to do, I'm sure. And if you've read this blog and you would like to contribute I ENCOURAGE you to email me, leave a comment, or find me on Pinterest and comment there.

Thanks so much for reading, and may your New Year be filled with love, health, happiness, and a good dose of creativity!

xo Christie


**Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the safety or well-being of any people participating in any of these games in their personal lives. It is a sad truth that some of these games are not as safe to play as they once were, so please be smart and safe in every choice you make!**

Crochet, and Tulle, and Ribbon, Oh my!

Hello Friends!

A few months ago, Tom and I were at the mall and I saw these AMAZING red glitter Converse shoes. Naturally, between my obsession with Converse and the Wizard of Oz, I had to have them.

I then decided that I would be "Awesome Dorothy" for Halloween, as in Dorothy in an updated, modern sort of style. I also decided that Tom could be the Scarecrow, and if I played my cards right, Molly could be the most precious "Princess Glinda!"

I had to think very carefully about how I was to propose this Princess costume to Molly. What if she was totally not into it? I was nervous. Here is how it went:

Me: Molls, what do you want to be for Halloween?
Molly: Umm...a butterfly!
Me: (Thank goodness, something girly) That's great! I have an idea. How about you can be a butterfly with your mom, and you can be a Princess with Daddy and me!
Molly: (To my great relief and with a smile on her face) Okay! (She so did not get her compliance from her dad. ;) Love you Tom!)

Thus begun my "Pinteresting" for ideas on how to make a Tutu costume. I saw many tutorials for how to make them, but my real inspiration came from this video. I didn't exactly copy it, but I did mostly everything they did. I'm so in love with this dress, and the whole time I was thinking, "I could make the flower girl dress at my wedding!"

One of my favorite things about this project was its price. I made sure to start with so much time ahead of me (I started it about a week and a half ago) that I could go to Michael's, AC Moore, or Joann Fabrics once a day to use a coupon! With the wonderful technology that is my smartphone, I can use a 40% or 50% off one item coupon EVERY DAY! I added everything up and it should have cost me $42 (which is still pretty good for a gorgeous [ if I don't say so myself ;) ] costume!) BUT since I used so many coupons for so many days, it only cost me $26! Mind you, I ended up having some leftover items that I never used AND one of the shopping trips, I was so excited, I bought more than one thing because I couldn't stand the wait ;)

Anyway, I hope you like the dress AND I hope it inspires you to make your own beautiful tutu costume, even if it's just for the dress-up bin. Remember, there are INFINITE possibilities of colors and styles so you can make it your own to meet your very specific and unique needs!

Close up of the front. The two pieces of ribbon will be the halter straps

The whole front, complete with silver glitter felt 4-point stars

Close-up of the back

The whole back

 

UPDATE: We have had the fitting of the costume!!! She looks too beautiful!!

As always, feel free to comment or email me any questions! Have a Happy Halloween!!

xo Christie

Freezer Paper Tutorial

This is my first video tutorial!! I really hope you guys like it. 

 

xoChristie

Scratch Ticket Bouquet

Hello my friends! Today I'm going to show you how to make a Scratch Ticket Bouquet! My mom looooves her scratch tickets and I end up getting her some for almost every holiday or occasion. I wanted to spice it up a little bit this year and made this:

My inspiration from this project came from this post of a Nip Bouquet (I also have a picture of one I made that I will put up at the end of this tutorial)

Here are your materials: 

- 2 bags of craft sand

- Small tin bucket (found mine at Michael's for about $3

- BBQ Skewers

- Clothes pins from the dollar store

- Acrylic paint (works best on the skewers and clothes pins)

- Glue gun

- Paint brush

- Ribbon

- Scissors

Fill the tin with as much sand as you see fit. I wanted to make sure the "stems" of the "flowers" would stay up so I put about a bag and a half

Not Shown/Optional: Break the skewers...this depends on the size of the bucket and how many scratch tickets you are putting in the bouquet. Just use your judgement. You could break them so they stagger in length, but I just bought different sizes of tickets.

Anyway, whether you broke the skewers or not, you hot glue the non-broken end to the side of the clothes pin that you would pinch to open or close it.

After you've glued them, recruit your boyfriend who is SUCH a good sport ;-) and have him paint the stems. Nice job, Tom!

Now you get to put them in!

I started with the biggest ones and put them toward the back of the bucket

Voila! 

Don't forget the finishing touch!

There you have it. Your own little Scratch Ticket Bouquet! Definitely better than flowers ;-)

Don't worry, I didn't forget! As promised, here are a couple of pictures from my sister's 21st Birthday Nip Bouquet I made for her this week!

If you decide to make one of these instead of the Scratch Tickets, MAKE SURE you use extra skewers! I DID stagger the length this time and I used 3 on each nip. Don't be stingy or your nips will fall over and they will not look good.

Uhh, this apple pie liquor is delicious, just saying.

Did you notice I just re-used the tin and ribbon from my mom's? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, people!!!

That's it for today! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. I have a very special post coming within the next few days...and guess what? It is my long-awaited first post that has everything to do with Harry Potter! Very exciting stuff, folks, so stay tuned!!

xo Christie

Make Up Magnet Board: Tutorial with Pictures!

Hello Friends! I haven't posted in almost a year :( But I'm really going to try to post more of my crafting adventures now that the holidays are over.

This year for Christmas, I made my sister, Courtney, a magnetic make up board. I couldn't post it until now because I didn't want the surprise to be ruined! Now that I'm sitting here with my feet soaking in my new foot massager, I feel it's a perfect time to write this tutorial. This one's for you, Jo!

First, here are the materials you'll need. A frame, fabric, a sheet of magnetic sheet metal (I got mine for $5 at Home Depot), some spray adhesive (make sure it works on metal!),  and magnets. Not pictured are scissors, an iron (optional), and your make up, of course!

I noticed my fabric had creases EVERY WHERE when I started, so I went back to my craft closet and dug out my iron. I'm really glad I didn't skip this step, wait till you see how smooth it turned out! ;) 

Next comes the glue! Just follow the directions on whatever glue you get. I highly recommend the spray adhesive because it doesn't get all gloopy and thick. It sprays a nice, even coat which is really important if you want any magnets to stick right. What I did was lay the fabric over the sheet metal and then fold it back (I hope you can see from the picture) so all I had to do was lift the fabric back up and over onto the sprayed metal.

Working quickly and still trying to hold my phone to take pictures (;-P) I smoothed out any wrinkles in the fabric over the metal. This was pretty easy and I attribute that to my method of "Up and Over" before gluing. 

See?? All glued :)

Next, I trimmed off the excess fabric. You should have seen it before...I had a whole YARD for this 12x18 piece of metal. Silly. As you can tell, the edges don't have to be pretty. No one will see them.

Fold and glue the sides over...

And again...

TA-DA! Pretty, clean, smooth Metal-Wrapped-in-Fabric.

If you're like me and get cheap frames to save a little cash, you might want to touch up yours. I left the glass on because, guess what, Genius? We're not using it! After you TAKE THE GLASS OUT, put your Metal-Wrapped-in-Fabric in the frame, and put the backing on, you end up with....

A BEAUTIFUL magnetic make-up (or whatever you want it to be) board! Yippee! It was super easy and probably only took a half an hour from start to finish.

I even went a little fancy and added my own picture hanging hardware. I'd always been really intimidated by it but trust me, it's SO easy! and it's easier to hang with a wire than with those stupid metal teeth things or the puny, dinky triangles that always smoosh back into the frame...ahhh yes. Definitely take the extra time and $5 to put the hardware on. If you're not sure which one to get, just ask the person in the frame shop at your local craft store.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! I definitely had fun making this and Courtney loved it! Please feel free to add any comments or questions about this. I will do my best to reply ASAP! I hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year!

xo Christie