St. Patrick's Day Scratch Off Ticket Free Printable

I made these fun St. Patrick's Day Scratch Off Tickets (free printable) for my little one's. Every year, a little leprechaun named McMischief, comes to visit our house the week before St. Patrick's Day. McMischief usually leaves a trail of gold coins to something fun each morning. One morning it might be a box of Lucky Charms cereal, another day green milk, and usually some sort of St. Patrick's Day surprise.

 

This year I thought it would be fun to leave scratch off tickets from the mysterious and elusive Leprechaun named McMischief. They say...Are you feeling lucky? Scratch off three clovers in a row to win!

To download this free St. Patrick's Day printable from docstoc.com visit the link here. You will have to create a user name and password to download the many free printables I have shared. Please let me know if you have any problems!

St. Patrick's Day Scratch Off -

 

Supplies:

Free printable 

Clear Masking Tape

Acrylic Paint

Dishwashing soap

Paint Brush

 

Directions:

 

1. Print out the Scratch Off Cards. There are three to a page. 2 are winners and one is not. Cover the shamrocks with a piece of clear masking tape.

 

 

2. Mix up any color of acrylic paint with a drop of dishwashing soap.

 

 

3. Paint over the masking tape area to cover the scratch off. It is a little (or very)  bubbly at first as shown below. No worries. By the second coat, it covers it perfectly. ( I used almost paint only as the second coat. Look at the last picture)

 

4. Cut apart your St. Patrick's Day tickets and get to scratching! So Fun!

 

 

You can also get this free printabe I made last year here.

 

 

 

Monster Bread Tags

Over two years ago, I saw this fun idea featured on Someday Crafts for monster tags. I finally found where they originated from Amanda here. Anyways, just this week I got around to making some similar monster tags of my own out of my stash of bread tags. I can't think of a better way to repurpose bread tags. I have been throwing them in a little drawer in my kitchen for months now in preparation for the official Monster Month of Halloween.

 

These funny little tags would be perfect on your own baked goods, goodie bags for school treats, snack bags for your child's lunch, and much more. My husband laughed when he saw me making them. He asked what I planned on using them for. My answer..."Anything. They just make me smile when I see them." I really feel like that is what crafting is all about.

 

Supplies:

 

Bread tags

Acrylic paint

Sharpie Markers

Sealer (optional)

 

 

Gather your stash of bread tags. (No I don't have this many. Lol!) I started with different shapes and sizes. I painted a solid color over the whole bread tag to start with.

 

Then I began embellishing my silly little guys with faces. I used the end of the paintbrushes to make the polka dots on my monsters. As each layer dried, I continued my painting. I also found my sharpie marker collection to be incredibly helpful in adding small details to their monster eyes, crazy feet, and minor stitches from injuries.

 

 

How can I not smile when I grab this...

 

 

 

RIP Graveyard Sign

We had the most fabulous weekend. Our family went camping at Jellystone campground in Burleson, Texas. This Yogi Bear themed park is fabulous. There were activities planned all weekend. From Friday until Sunday we managed to decorate our campsite for a contest, trick or treat, go on a scavenger hunt, ride on a Haunted Hay Ride, go to a fall carnival, plant magic pumpkin seeds, and go through a haunted maze!! Apparently, it lis every weekend in October. This might have to be a new family tradition.

 

We had heard of the campsite decorating contest on the internet before we went, so I created these spooky gravestones. It is so hard to get a clear picture without having a flash on my camera. This picture does not do them justice.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Plywood

Black Spray Paint

Jigsaw

Drill

Staple gun

Christmas lights (50 count)

 

Directions:

 

1. Cut tombstone out of plywood using a jigsaw.

 

2. Paint with black spray paint.

 

 

3. I used 1/4" drill bit (same size as my Christmas lights) to drill out the letters for RIP.

 

4. Next, I pushed my Christmas light through the holes from the back side of the tombstone.

 

5. I used a staple gun to hold all the lights in place.

 

6. I leaned them up against a tree, but you could easily put little stands on the back of them.

 

Here are my crazy little pirates. My little one is screaming Arrrghhh!!! Lol! You can see the tombstones in the daylight in the background. His home made costume won 1st place in the costume contest and he was super excited to take home a huge pumpkin as a prize.

 

 

Halloween Wooden Peg People

Recently I have seen all kinds of precious peg people. When I realized you can buy a package of 8 wooden peg people for $2.49 at Hobby Lobby, I decided to try my hand at painting. I started out with some simple characters...a witch, vampire, ghost, mummy, and a pumpkin head. I love that they are small and easy to store each year unlike the rest of our Halloween treasures.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Wooden Peg People

Paint

Sharpie Markers

 

Directions:

 

 

1. I started by painting three wooden pegs black and two white. I used some accrylic paint I had at home.

 

2. Next, I painted on faces. This took several coats, but the paint dried quickly.

 

3. I used a black sharpie marker to decorate the ghost and a red one to draw a heart on the mummy.

 

4. After a few more painted designs I drew on faces with sharpie markers to finish them off.

 

 

 

My son had fun playing with this rough crowd of spooky Halloween creatures all weekend.
They remind me of the old fashioned (antique) Little People. At a total cost of $2.50, this was a great investment of time! Now I just wish we still had our cardboard haunted house from last year. We might need to construct a new one.

 

 

Click here for directions.

 

 

 

DIY Felt Halloween Sugar Cookies

I saw some cute Halloween cookies on Etsy and was inspired to make similar ones of my own. You can always click the link and order an embroidery pattern. I wish my sewing machine was that fancy. I made a set of these for my boys to play with and for a sweet little girl whose birthday party we have later this month. I never realized felt food was so popular until I started looking around etsy. We may just have to make some more because it was a huge hit at our house today.

 

Supplies:

White Felt

Orange Felt

Black Felt

Beige Felt

Sewing supplies

 

Directions:

 

1. I started by drawing my patterns on paper. For the pumpkin, I cut out my orange shape first. Then I laid it on top of double layers of beige felt and cut out two background (sugar cookie) pieces at the same time.

 

2. Next, I used some black thread to sew on the design for eyes and a mouth. Embroidery thread would have worked even better, but I didn't have any laying around.

 

3. Then, I sewed my orange pumpkin on top of my top layer of the sugar cookie. I tried some with hand stitching and some with my machine. (Both ways worked well. Of course the machine was MUCH faster)

 

4. Fill with a small amount of stuffing.

 

5. Sew your two layers of "sugar cookies" together.

 

Apparently, my little one thinks cookies should be cooked on the stove top. Ha!

 

Our cookies provided tons of fun this morning. I hope they make a great birthday present as well!

 

Star Spangled Glow in the Dark Ring Toss

Are you ready for the 4th of July yet? Have you scoped out where to go see the best fireworks? I googled the whole DFW metroplex today, and found out Granbury, Texas has an amazing show. It is a really small town, but apparently they have an enormous fireworks show. It was ranked in the top 10 in the Southwest and top 50 in the nation. It is tomorrow night...so we will see if I can keep the kiddos up late enough to go at 9:40pm. Yikes! Today we made a Star Spangled game to play in the dark.

We started playing as soon as it was completed. Our rings for the ring toss were made out of two glow in the dark bracelets put together. They held together even better then I expected.

Supplies:

3 wooden stars

Dowel rod

Wood glue

Red, white, and blue paint

Glow in the dark bracelets

All of my supplies were left over from previous projects. The dowel rod was just long enough to cut into three sections. I used wood glue to adhere the dowel rods to the wooden stars.

Next, I painted them red, white, and blue...the obvious patriotic color choices of course.

Game on! My son is so competitive and we are really working on sportsmanship and behavior. Lol! At first I kept telling him he could not be a "bad sport" when we played games. It took me a while however, to realize he did not know a "bad sport" meant a poor loser or attitude. He just thought I was telling him he was horrible at it. (That was what he was already upset over) Oops. Lesson learned. Sometimes, I just think my kids are little grown ups and I don't even realize what they don't know yet. I really want to teach him it is just about having a good time and trying.

As it grew darker, we grew better, and the boys loved how the rings glowed in the dark. Did anyone else notice that pesky little cricket that jumped into my picture for his "superstar" moment on the red star?

Have a wonderful 4th of July!!!

Patriotic Party Ideas and Crafts

Do you need some last minute Memorial Day games or food ideas? Here are some from my past posts and a couple of new ideas. These are one of my favorites...Patriotic Jello Snacks. Just click on the links for the original post and instructions on how to make each of these patriotic treasures.

Patriotic Fruit Kabobs 

These are the fruit kabobs I made this year. I found these precious red, white, and blue marshmallows at Walmart.

Let little ones enjoy lighting up the sky for Memorial Day with this fun sparkler alternative. My sons are too young to safely use sparklers so I created these little star sticks (I can't call them wands because they are boys). I bought 8 glow in the dark sticks for $1 and added holographic stars on top. Simple and fast...just the way I like doing crafts!

Patriotic Bean Bag Toss

Patriotic Ping Pong Ball Toss

Patriotic Dish Towel

Patriotic Star Quilt

Patriotic Chair

Firecracker Chicken Nachos

Use a frisbee as a plate holder...and then let the kids play with them when the meal is done.

 I bought these patriotic flip flops on sale last year for 50 cents each. A bucket full would serve as perfect gifts for your guests.

I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day!!!

McMischief the Visiting Leprechaun

It is that crazy time of the year when our little McMischief appears during the night as our visiting Leprechaun. Last year was his first year to visit when my son was 3. Two days ago he reappeared for this year. He left a trail of gold coins from his room to the dining table. He took a green finger painted plate my son had done at school and filled it with Lucky Charm bars, gold coins, and gold beads. My oldest son woke up and I could hear him yelling from downstairs. Mom! Mom! You are never going to believe this!

The second day, McMischief left a treasure hunt. I found this clever treasure hunt printable at Oopsey Daisey here.

An upcoming night of mischief might include this adorable free printable candygram from Every Creative Endeavor.

I also found these clever St. Patrick's Day Conversation cards at Happy Home Fairy. McMischief may drop these off one night for a fun dinner activity.

Tomorrow McMischief plans to set the breakfast table with everything upside down including the chairs. The cereal bowls, cups, napkins, and chairs are upside down for a crazy start to our morning. I asked my son if he wanted to build a trap to catch McMischief. He thought about it for a while, and then came back to me and informed me that was not in the plan because then the Leprechaun would stop visiting and leaving gifts.

Some other great Leprechaun adventure ideas:

Draw on framed glass photographs with green dry erase markers

Dye your milk green and leave a coin trail to the fridge

Make a leprechaun trap

Leave a St. Patrick's Day book

Dye your toilet water green

Leave a piece of torn green fabric caught in a door or window (Leprechaun escaping)

Make tiny green Leprechaun footprints

Leave green treats in your child's shoes (Leprechauns love shoes)

Make an edible Lucky Charm necklace or bracelet

Here is a funny excerpt from McMischief last year...It was a definite case of Leprechaun mischief gone bad.

March 9th, 2011

Some may say my poor three year old is deprived when I tell you that he has never had any cereal besides Cheerios and Raisin Bran. Therefore, when he woke up this morning and discovered our little mischievous Leprechaun had left a golden coin path to some Lucky Charms cereal he did not know what it was. Lol!

After he found out Lucky Charms had mini marshmallows in it he was very excited. We served them up with some green milk from yesterday. Unfortunately, it was a complete mishap of timing. Little did I know my son had a stomach virus until...GREEN MILK WAS GOING EVERYWHERE! Talk about your all time backfire! White milk is bad enough to clean up but green milk is even worse