Two Tips Tuesday

TIP #1 Rainy Day Ideas (or any other day)

This has got to be the rainiest (is that a word?) summer I have encountered since moving to Florida. Rain is common in the summer but usually for only a few hours per day. This summer, we have been hit with monsoon marathons. Not really. But a cute label, right? So being a Mommy, I have had to come up with some creative ideas to stimulate the girls. Plus, its fun to see what works and what does not.

This list was initially devised for a friend of mine who's sweet son had a bit of a stomach bug which caused many bathroom trips. Poor guy was not feeling too hot for a number of days. So I came up with this list, told her about it, but never sent it. Now she is one of my loyal 6 followers so I know she will read this and be so excited that it is published on my very famous blog. A girl can hope.

I titled her list, "Fun Things To Do When You Are Not in the Loo." But of course, I have rephrased it for this post...

1. Take a photo or cut out a picture, glue it to a piece of cardboard and cut it out to make a homemade puzzle.
2. Make a fort under your dining room table (remove chairs) using bed sheets and pillows. Bring snacks, flash lights, books, and favorite stuffed animals for more fun!
3. Blow up a balloon, draw a picture or write a message, deflate it and mail one to a friend (or a few). You could even do this as birthday invites.
4. Fill up 10 empty water bottles with water, (tighten those caps WELL) use food coloring to make different colors and roll a heavy ball for indoor bowling.
5. Color coffee filters with washable markers, put them out in the rain or spray them with a water bottle to see what cool designs they make.
6. Make rice krispie treats and put them on bamboo skewers. Then use leftover marshmallows, cut up fruit and graham crackers, heat up some chocolate chips in the microwave and have a fun fondue!
7. Make a placemat out of scrap paper (or even fabric or ribbon), stickers, or draw on the paper (fabric markers for fabric) and put it between 2 pieces of contact paper.
8. Bake cookies and if you have ice cream, make homemade ice cream sandwiches. YUM!
9. Do a scavenger hunt in your house or backyard (if it isn't raining). Time yourself. Use themes like a photo scavenger hunt (take pictures of objects or people) or work on things like colors, numbers, etc.
10. Have a pretend party. Examples are a pizza party (cut out paper pizzas, fixins' and decorate a bunch), tea party (use iced tea and play dress up), music party (Use instruments or make them to jam) and get creative.

TIP #2 Easy Gift Tags or Post Cards

I have this major pet peeve with how expensive the little things are these days...especially greeting cards. Now I don't know about you but I feel like there are too many occasions for greeting cards. Holidays, birthdays, Tuesdays. Makes me crazy. And I have enough people in my family to create it's own zip code. I am half Italian and half Irish. They tend to do a lot of people making. So it just gets rather overwhelming. Here is a good way to put all that money to good use a second time around and use those cards again...

Use greeting cards and cut up the front to make a pretty gift tag on a gift or cut the card in half and use the front of the card as a post card. (This goes without saying but I will say it...do not send it back to the original sender of the card...so tacky. But in my family, it would probably make everyone laugh. Other uses are photo mats in scrapbooks, make them into bookmarks, or even tags for organization. There are some really cute cards that can be recycled into another use.

Enjoy another Tuesday with new and exciting wisdom from a tip guru such as myself. Next Tuesday...how to encourage friends to remain humble and meek.