Jul 29, 2012

Pinata for Almost NOTHING!










       

Party Piñata

 

Step One: Inflate a 24-inch-wide balloon  set it atop a large bucket so that the balloon’s narrow end rests just inside the bucket.

Step Two: Cut newspaper into 3"L x 1"W strips (you'll need about 200 strips total). In a bowl, mix equal parts school glue and water. Working one strip at a time, dip paper into the mixture and immediately place on the balloon. Once the strips are dry to the touch (about an hour), turn the balloon upside down and cover its narrow end—stopping a few inches from the top to leave a four-inch-wide opening (where you’ll later insert candy). Allow to dry completely, about six hours. Repeat with two more layers on both ends, allowing six hours of drying time between each layer.

Step Three: Use a pin to pop the balloon, then tip the hive over to empty. Set the hive back in the bucket and fill with candy.

Step Four: Create a hanger for the hive by making two small holes at the narrow end with an X-Acto knife, on opposite sides near the opening. Cut a four- foot-long piece of twine; thread one end through both holes and tie off near the top of the hive, leaving enough twine for hanging.

Step Five: Close the open end using six-inch-long strips of papier-mâché, applying a total of three layers and allowing for drying time between each.

Step Six: Cut honey-colored crepe paper streamers into three-inch-long strips. Glide a glue stick along each strip; then, starting at the bottom of the hive, affix in a horizontal pattern until the hive is covered.

 

 

THIS IS A GREAT IDEA FOR ALL !

AND CHEAP FAMILY FUN &TIME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pom-Pom Bees

Step One: Hot-glue a one-inch black pom-pom to a two- inch yellow pom-pom.

Step Two: Cut 2 two-inch-long pieces of black pipe cleaner, then wrap each around the yellow pom-pom, leaving about a half-inch between the pipe cleaners. Hot-glue ends in place. Finally, fold a piece of vellum paper in half and cut out a one-and-a-half-inch wing shape (as shown). Unfold and attach the creased center to the bee’s body, just above the stripe nearest to its head, with hot glue. Repeat to make additional bees, then hot-glue them onto the piñata.

 

 

YOU CAN EASILY TURN THIS INTO A FOOTBALL, OR ANY OTHER PARTY FUN!

 

 

 

 

 




      

         







             
























Jul 25, 2012

GET YOUR HEAD............. IN THE HEAVENS



 GREAT IDEA FOR MIDDLE LITTLES!





Make a Star Finder. Learn your way around the night sky by finding some of the constellations. Download and print the Star Finder for this month.
Color or decorate the Star Finder, if you like. Then cut it out on the solid lines.
Fold it like this:
Steps to fold the Star Finder

Play the Star Finder game:

  1. Thumbs and first fingers inside the four corners of Star Finder.Stick your thumbs and first two fingers into the four pockets on the bottom of the Star Finder.
  2. Ask another person to choose one of the top four squares. Then, depending on the number on the square she chose, open and close the Star Finder that many times (open up and down, close, open side to side, close, etc.). For example, if she chose number 6, open and close the Star Finder 6 times.
    Steps to open and close Star Finder.
  3. Then, ask the person to look inside the Star Finder and pick one of the four visible constellations. This time, open and close the Star Finder once for each letter to spell out his choice. For example, if he chose "Lyra," you would open and close the Star Finder 4 times, once for each letter: L - Y - R - A.
  4. Ask the player again to pick one of the four constellations visible. Open the panel to see the name of a constellation (highlighted in red) she will try to find in the sky for this month.
    For some of the months, not every part of the Star Finder may show a highlighted constellation for you to find. In this case, just try to find the constellation that is nearest to the part of the sky you picked. Or, just find any constellation!

What ARE Constellations Anyway?

A constellation is group of stars like a dot-to-dot puzzle. If you join the dots—stars, that is—and use lots of imagination, the picture would look like an object, animal, or person. For example, Orion is a group of stars that the Greeks thought looked like a giant hunter with a sword attached to his belt.
Join the stars and they look like Orion, the giant hunter of Greek mythology.
Other than making a pattern in Earth's sky, these stars may not be related at all. For example, Alnitak, the star at the left side of Orion's belt, is 817 light years away. (A light year is the distance light travels in one Earth year, almost 6 trillion miles!) Alnilam, the star in the middle of the belt, is 1340 light years away. And Mintaka at the right side of the belt is 916 light years away. Yet they all appear from Earth to have the same brightness.
ScorpiusEven the closest star is almost unimaginably far away. Because they are so far away, the shapes and positions of the constellations in Earth's sky change very, very slowly. During one human lifetime, they change hardly at all. So, since humans first noticed the night sky they have navigated by the stars. Sailors have steered their ships by the stars. Even the Apollo astronauts going to the Moon had to know how to navigate by the stars in case their navigation instruments failed.

Finding the Constellations

We see different views of the Universe from where we live as Earth makes its yearly trip around the solar system. That is why we have a different Star Finder for each month, as different constellations come into view. Also, as Earth rotates on its axis toward the east throughout the hours of the night, the whole sky seems to shift toward the west.
PiscesThe Star Finder charts are for a latitude of 34° N, which is about as far north of the equator as Los Angeles, California. (Charts are from The Griffith Observer magazine.) The farther north you are, the more the constellations will be shifted south from the Star Finder charts. The Star Finder charts show the sky at about 10 PM for the first of the month, 9 PM for the middle of the month, and 8 PM for the last of the month. These are local standard times. For months with Daylight Savings Time, star chart times are an hour later.
The star charts are maps of the sky overhead. So, to get the directions lined up, hold the map over your head and look up at it, and turn it so the northern horizon side is facing north.
If you live where big city lights drown out the beauty of the stars, you may see only a few of the brightest stars and planets. How sad! But see if you can find at least one or two constellations on a clear, Moonless night.






 Symbols of 12 signs of the zodiac.
Some curious symbols ring the outside of the Star Finder. These symbols stand for some of the constellations in the zodiac. What is the zodiac and what is special about these constellations?
Imagine a straight line drawn from Earth through the Sun and out into space way beyond our solar system where the stars are. Then, picture Earth following its orbit around the Sun. This imaginary line would rotate, pointing to different stars throughout one complete trip around the Sun—or, one year. All the stars that lie close to the imaginary flat disk swept out by this imaginary line are said to be in the zodiac.
The 13 constellations in the zodiac.The constellations in the zodiac are simply the constellations that this imaginary straight line points to in its year-long journey.
In ancient times, astronomers did not fully understand how Earth, the Sun, and the stars moved. Nor did they have any idea the Universe is so vast. But they were keen observers of the sky and tried very hard to make sense of it.
People had already imagined that the constellations might be important symbols, telling stories of their gods and other myths. It was not a big step to suppose that the changing positions of the constellations at different times of the year might be important to people and events on Earth.
The Babylonians lived over 3,000 years ago. They divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts--like cutting a pizza into 12 equal slices. They picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 "slices." So, as Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the Moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself.
OphiuchusBut even according to the Babylonians' own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. (Other cultures and traditions have recognized as many as 24 constellations in the zodiac.) So the Babylonians picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn't fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and slopped over into the next one.
Earth, Sun, and constellation Leo in alignment. When the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of zodiac, a birthday between about July 23 and August 22 meant being born under the constellation Leo. Now, 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because Earth's axis (North Pole) doesn't point in quite the same direction.
Now Mimi's August 4 birthday would mean she was born "under the sign" of Cancer (one constellation "earlier"), not Leo.
The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the Sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the Sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days. To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the Sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time. Besides the 12 familiar constellations of the zodiac, the Sun is also aligned with Ophiuchus for about 18 days each year.
If you want to find out what your "sign" really is (not that it matters!), here are all 13 traditional constellations in the zodiac and the dates the Sun "passes through" them.

 THANK YOU NSA

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/starfinder2/



Jul 22, 2012

Another................... PRACTICALLY FREE BOREDOM BUSTER


        

                                                                                                                                                                                    




                                                                                                                                                                  


 HEX NUT  BRACELET








You’ll need:







Gather the 3 strands of twine and tie a knot at the top, leaving about 2 inches of slack. Start braiding. At about an inch of the way down, you’ll begin braiding in the nuts. Before you braid the far left strand over the middle strand, thread on a nut, push it against the base of the braid, and crossover. Depending on the thickness of the twine, you can wrap tape around the bottom tips to prevent the twine from fraying. 
Keep your thumb at the base of the braid, holding the nut in its place. Before you braid the far right strand over the middle, thread on another nut, push it against the base of the braid and crossover. Again, hold your thumb tightly against the base of the braid, keeping the nuts in place. Thread another nut onto the far left piece and crossover.
Repeat the steps, by threading the rest of the nuts to the outer pieces of twine before they are crossed over. Thread, cross, thread, cross. Finish the bracelet with another inch of braided twine and a knot.
The bracelet should wrap around your wrist at least two or three times. Trim it to your liking






Good Luck




CREDIT           http://www.gilesandbrother.com/search?q=hex

GREAT SITE WITH MORE IDEAS



and ANOTHER   PRACTICALLY FREE.................





BOOKSHELVES





This Book Shelf made from those Pallets you see everywhere!

you could whitewash them










     Wooden Pallet Bookshelves
  1.  REALLY COULD YOU DO ANY BETTER THAN RECYCLING ?

     
     




Jul 20, 2012

Mom trying to take a Facebook Pic



Summer Fun at Millerton Lake

Wednesday was Davids Day Off

 so off to the lake

Friant Dam

Millerton Lake



                   The Day was Cool (87}

                    and we brought 3 Cars and a Motorcycle

                    just to bring the Food!






 
we had it to ourselves (almost)













 
The water was low












Tiffany and josh hogging all the food






Kayla and Elexis learning to hold their breath


Please Uncle Dave are the burgers done yet


just wait til  you see him eat then...



Totally awed by My Blogging

pondering a blind date his cousin Josh set up for him

too much Sun

and they all slept great!

Jul 14, 2012

Can You Say Penny....less?









Remember the Whirlybird..............






What You will need:


Paper
Scissors
Paperclip (optional)

1. Print out this template at the bottom of the page, on to an A4 sheet of paper.

2. Cut along the solid grey lines.

3. Fold flap A forward and flap B back

4. Fold lines C & D upwards – this adds weight to the base of the tail

5. Fold flaps E & F inwards along dotted lines

6. Hold the whirlybird by the tail, high above your head and let go.

7. If you change the length of the wings you can make the whirlybird go faster or slower. You can also add a

paper clip to the tail to give it more weight.

Scrapbook Paper works well adding Individuality to your Whirlybirds!





 Paper toys: Whirlybird

Fun Cheap Boredom Busters.................

Eggshell Salt Geodes
Materials:
Epsom salt
Hot water
Food coloring
Eggshells

Eggshell geodes 2
Begin by taking eggshells that have been broken at the middle and trimming them slightly with a pair of sharp scissors or a serrated knife to get a fairly even edge along the top.

Eggshell geodes 3

Arrange your eggshells in an egg carton so that they have a place to sit upright when filled.

Snowflake 5
Make the salt solution by mixing Epsom salt into hot water until the water cannot hold any more salt.  In other words, you will pour salt into the water (we used about a cup and a half of water, but you could easily get by with much less), mixing well with a whisk until you see that the salt is no longer able to dissolve into the water and a slurry begins to form.  At this point, you can add a bit of food coloring as well.

Eggshell geodes 5

Fill the eggshells with the salt solution.  You can then set them aside to dry.  This will take some number of days, depending on the humidity level in your house.  As they dry, salt crystals will begin to form inside the shells, giving them an appearance similar to a geode.  As an alternative, you can also put the eggshells into the refrigerator for a few hours and from what I hear, crystals will form this way as well.  Nearly instant gratification! We haven't tried this method at our house yet, but I'm pretty sure that it is what Tiffany did with hers, and they seemed to have turned out well.


Eggshell geodes 6 
Add caption













How To Catch A Spider's Web
Supplies:
Black construction paper (or black cardstock)
Spray adhesive
White spray paint (optional)
Scissors
Directions:
1.  Locate a clean spider's web (preferrably one in which the spider has vacated)
2.  Spray the black paper with spray adhesive
3.  Spray the spider's web from each angle with white spray paint, careful not to get any spray on nearby leaves, fence, etc.  This may require the use of some newspaper as a dropcloth.
4.  With the black paper behind the web, slowly bring the paper towards you until it touches the web.  Then with the web on the paper, carefully cut the guy lines holding the web in place.
5.  Document with chalk or pencil on the back of the paper the date and where the web was collected. 
spiderweb captured
Charlotte, our friendly summer spider wondered what we were doing!





paper doll for Birthday Party

Card-BirthdayPaperDoll.gif - 133178 Bytes











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