Create a Jesus Loves Me Cross With Your Kids

Easter is such a fun time of the year. We are all so ready to put those heavy dark wraps in the back of the closet and bust out our spring colors. And who doesn't like dying eggs with vibrant transparent plaids, polka dots and swirls! Once the eggs are completed and sprinkled across a brunch table filled with fresh tulips, egg strata and pastel coconut macaroons, it is swoon worthy. Ah, I can't wait!

But, the joy of Easter can not be truly felt until we process the sacrifice and suffering that God's only Son, Jesus, endured as he died on the cross for us. He was perfect, blameless, and without sin. And yet, he took on our sins and the sins of the world. Jesus's power over death with his resurrection three days later provides us the joy, hope and assurance in his promise that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.

In keeping with my quest to create things that are Simple, Fun & Meaningful, I decided to design a 3D Easter Cross project that incorporates all three. It is my hope that you are able to use it to teach your kids to celebrate all the fresh, happy, hopeful feelings of Easter but more importantly, teach them why we are celebrating.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Click here for the link to print out the 3D cross project. I printed mine on card stock. I'll keep the link in place until Easter. Here are a few process photos to help you and your kiddos.

P.S. I think they would make nice place holders for each of your guest at your pretty Easter table!

Jesus Loves You. This I know!

Smiles and Happy Easter,

Wendy

True Love Notes

This week your kids probably started talking about their classroom Valentine’s party. Kindness and love will be marketed in store and window displays urging you to purchase, chocolates, candy, flowers, cards and stuffed animals.

While all of these are nice ways of sharing love with each other, it doesn’t compare with the way God shares his love with us. As Christian parents and grandparents, it is important for us to help our little ones know about God’s great love.

Know God’s Love 

I’ve included some love passages from God below that can be found in the Bible. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” 1 John 3:1

“Dear friends, let us love one another, since love comes from God.” 1 John 4:7

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Remember God’s Love

Read them to your child and let them pick out their favorite. You can enhance their learning experience by helping them:

1). Cut out their verse.

2). Memorize it. 

3). Put it in an envelope. 

Address the envelope-

To: Your Child’s Name

From: God

Craft God’s Love

Let you kids have a great time “crafting” those beautiful envelopes with heart stickers, markers, stamps, paint, collage, etc.

Embrace God’s Love

Now that their Valentine from God is complete, let each child put their beautiful works of art in their Valentine box. Consider it a mini “love note from God!” Need a Valentine box idea? Here is a fun one from Plaid, if you have an empty cereal box. 

I also wanted to mention this beautiful new picture book on the market titled, “Easter Love Letters from God by Glenys Nellist and illustrated by Sophie Allsopp, published by Zonderkidz. It is the perfect book to read now and start the discussion of God’s great love for us as we transition into the Lenten season.

Share God’s Love

Lastly, I want to help you give your child a love note from God in the form of an illustrated bookmark.  We can only start to understand love because God first loved us. You can read that blog post here. Click to download the pdf and print out the bookmark on cardstock from your computer. I will leave the link in place until Valentine’s Day.

Let me know which one of the verses your child chose!

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Smiles,

Wendy

If Kisses Were Snowflakes...

Do you wish you had a little Christmas leave behind that you could tuck into your child's lunch, give to clients, drop off to shut-ins or put in the office coffee room? Something that would be Simple, Fun and Meaningful and wouldn’t break the budget. Something that you could put together easily and would warm hearts. 

I have just the answer-A Blizzard!

You will need a printer, some white card stock, cellophane bags that are 4" wide, (I purchased mine at Michaels) a stapler and Hershey kisses.

Simply go to my home page, click on the button that says CLICK FOR PRINTABLE and print out the cute snowman I designed just for you. They are set up with two to a page.

Cut out, fold in half and staple to your cellophane bags full of kisses. (I added some white crinkle paper to mine for "snow."

That's it! Repeat as necessary. I'll leave the download in place until the 25th! I hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful Christmas season as you celebrate the joy of our Savior's birth.

Thanks for making this year Simple, Fun and Meaningful!

Smiles (and kisses),

Wendy

Be Good Gobblers

Hello Friends, I'm trying something new this month for my blog post. I know a lot of you are cooking this Thanksgiving which also means a lot of you get to enjoy someone's culinary skills. That makes some of us chefs and some of us gobblers and all of us blessed! For the gobblers out there, I have included a link to help you with some creative ideas for a hostess gift. It doesn't have to be much but the gesture is a small way to say thanks for making the day special. And to help you along, I have made a pretty gift enclosure tag for you to print out, and tuck in with your offerings. All you have to do is go to my homepage and click on the blue button that says Thank You Gift! That's it! They will be available until the end of the month. :0)

Have a Simple, Fun and Meaningful Thanksgiving!

Here is the link I mentioned. It will take you to my Spread Sunshine Pinterest Board. These are good gift ideas for teachers, co-workers and neighbors too.

Smiles,

Wendy

Focus On The Right Light

It's loggerhead sea turtle nesting season here in Wilmington. If you are visiting one of our beautiful beaches, you will likely come upon a nest. Local volunteers have done their best to mark them so you and the turtle eggs won't get hurt.

Here are four things to teach your kids about loggerhead sea turtles-

1. The common name is Loggerhead because their heads are so large! Like a log!
2. Adult loggerheads weigh 155-375 lbs.
3. They have powerful jaws that allow them to maintain their diet of shellfish that live on the bottom of the ocean. They also like crabs, clams and mussels.
4. Every 2-4 years they lay their nests with 3-5 nest per season. Each nest has about 120 eggs. The eggs take 60 days to hatch.

Now, here is the tricky part. When the little turtles hatch at night, they must stay focused on the light of the moon's reflection on the ocean and swim towards the water to stay alive or else they will die. But as the beach is more populated and active during the summer, there are lots of lights. Unfortunately, those other lights, even though pretty, are distracting and can throw the little turtles off course to their death.

Local volunteers know this and have taken it upon themselves to stay with the nests during the night to make sure when those little ones hatch, they stay focused and swim towards the light, the correct light.

As Christian parents, this scenario is a good reminder to us that just like the sea turtle volunteers, we need to stay watchful and vigilant because our little ones need us to make sure they are getting steered in the right direction. We need to help them stay focused so they can follow the direction of the correct light-God's light. Just like the pretty beach lights, there are lots of distractions to throw them off course. God wants you to keep pointing them to the living water of His word. 

Here are four things you can do to point them to God's light.

1. Go to church as a family. Be their role model every week.
2. Have a morning devotion with your kids at the breakfast table. 
3. Say prayers together as a family. Breakfast, dinner and bedtime is a good start.
4. Steer them in the direction of good quality friends who are also following God's light. It is easier to swim with like minded friends.
5. Mentor them, listen to them and stay watchful.

Lastly, I started this blog post to help you do a little summer beach craft with your kids. God made the animals of the sea (including awesome loggerhead sea turtles) on the 5th day. Need a reminder of what God made the other days of the week. Open up your Bible and check out Genesis 1:1-2:3.

This is fun, your kids will love it and you can start to share some of God's light with them while you are painting.

You will need some green paint, ( I also had some white, blue and yellow) a glass of water to clean your brushes, sturdy paper, a plate to mix your paint, a paper towel, a pencil, a marker and a can to use as a circle template, scissors and a stapler.

Place the can on your paper. (I used Strathmore Mixed Media paper) and draw around the can to create the turtle body. Freehand his head and flippers as shown.

Paint your turtle!

While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I made a template on a blank sheet to make sure my idea was going to work. :0)

After the paint dries cut your turtle out.

Draw a line to the center of his shell and cut on the line. Overlap the paper and staple in place. (Note, when I did this, his tail gets hidden under his leg). 

Aren't they cute! FYI-If you want to make the wave in the background, I used construction paper and a blue pastel.

I hope you and your kids get to enjoy some of God's wonderful creations at the beach this summer.

Smiles,

Wendy

We Love Because.....Valentines

I wanted to share a Simple, Fun and Meaningful Valentine's Day craft with you that you can make with your little ones. It's loaded with happy colors and will provide fun memories with your favorite little crafters. Go ahead, invite the neighbor kids over too. The clean up is easy!

To make We Love Because....Valentines, you will need the following items:

• White tissue paper.
• Red, orange, and pink acrylic paint (available at any craft store)
• Tray for mixing paint
• Flat paint brush 
• Stiff white paper (I used mixed media paper)
• Mod Podge (waterbase sealer, glue)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Permanent marker
• Paper hole punch
• Ribbon

How to Make We Love Because...Valentines

Pour a teaspoon of paint on the mixing tray and add a few drops of water.

Paint a few brushstrokes on the tissue paper.  FYI, the more transparent, the better the outcome because some layers of color will overlap.

Let dry. (Give the kids a snack and read Eric Carle's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, while you wait. Did you know, Eric Carle creates his picture book illustrations with painted tissue paper too!)

Once the paint is dry, make a heart template.

Use the template to outline the shape of the heart on the mixed media paper.

Using the flat brush, brush on a thin layer of Mod Podge on the heart.

Tear off a few pieces of the painted tissue paper and lay them down on the thin layer of Mod Podge.

Brush on a little more Mod Podge on top to seal the tissue pieces in place.

Repeat the last two steps until your heart is full of color! 

Let your tissue paper hearts dry overnight.

Cut each heart out.

Use a paper hole punch at the top of each heart and run a piece of ribbon through to hang.

You can vary the look by using a big section of painted tissue paper rather than tearing off pieces. *Note-typically the bigger pieces get more wrinkles in them when the glue is brushed on. You can also mix your own colors and draw your heart shape freehand.

Are you wondering why they are called We Love Because... Valentines? Because of God's incredible love for us, we are able to love others. 

We Love Because He First Loved Us.  1 John 4:19

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day,

Smiles,

Wendy

Thanks Giving

I love Thanksgiving. I love being with family and friends and celebrating our together time. But Thanksgiving is more than a happy celebration. It is our response to that happiness that brings us true joy.

For those of you who remember Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, you may also remember at Thanksgiving, he would read letters from children on how to cook a turkey. The letters were always fun and reminded me of children’s simple thought processes. Usually, they went something like this:

1. Buy a 40 lb turkey.
2. Stuff him with something.
3. Cook him for 10 minutes.
4. When Dad carves him, make sure his wings aren’t moving.

While your children are learning about Thanksgiving and how to cook a turkey, you might want to incorporate this into your tradition.

Set up a little craft time with the kids prior to your dinner. (You know there is always a kids table). Lay out an assortment of markers, construction paper, crayons and scissors. Draw around each child’s hand to make “the turkey.” Cut out the turkey shape in one continuous cut. Remove the turkey shape but DO NOT throw away the other piece that shows their hand cut out!  It is the most important part!!!!

Let the kids decorate their turkeys and place one next to each guest’s plate. The other piece, the hand cutout, can lay directly on each plate. Tell the kids the turkeys will make wonderful table decorations but the most important part is the cut out of their “praise hands.”

The joy that is ours at Thanksgiving is offering up praise to God and thanking him for the many ways he has blessed us. If you throw away the praise hands, you are only left with turkeys!

Don’t throw away the most meaningful part of the day. Don’t overlook the joy time by jumping right to the turkey and forgetting the praise hands. As you gather around your table, thoroughly enjoy all of God’s blessings as each guest shares then use your praise hands to give him thanks.

Have a great time Thanks Giving!

Smiles,

Wendy