If you’re a little tired of the standard children’s book selections in your local brick and mortar store, Blurb has a really incredible assortment of self-published children’s books that you won’t find anywhere else this holiday season. Try a few of these future classics and create some new holiday memories this year.

Title: Ollie + Loo
Author: Joni Cooper
www.blurb.com/b/4554150-ollie-+-loo
Joni Cooper brings incredibly original characters to life with brilliant illustrations in a book that will have parents and kids laughing along together.

Title: Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch
Author: Mike Smith
www.blurb.com/books/1189264-edward-hopper-and-the-carrot-crunch
Very few children’s books have financial mismanagement as a central theme—we can only assume most children’s book authors have not had the pleasure of meeting a rabbit named Edward Hopper.

Title: My Bug Journal
Author: Hannah Rollings
www.blurb.com/b/1925331-my-bug-journal
Bug-lover or other, this journal is sure to spark interest from anyone who takes a peek inside the covers. Enchanted illustrations, bug facts, room for records and much, much more.

Title: Myrtle & the Scarecrow
Author: Kate Lowe
www.blurb.com/b/4662116-myrtle-the-scarecrow
Myrtle finds solace with a not-so-scary scarecrow?and learns a lot about herself? in this short but sweet tale. The atmospheric illustrations have a little magic about them—we look forward to more from this young, talented illustrator.

Title: The Trouble with Bears
Author: K.D. O’Reilley
www.blurb.com/b/400437-the-trouble-with-bears?pid=Featured
This story cleverly combines a lesson on self-worth with an exploration of different cultures, geography, and history. The talents of a former writing instructor and a visual artist are a winning combination here.

Title: Mylo & Peet
Author: Janyce Portalatin
www.blurb.com/b/4290427-mylo-peet
A graphically pleasing book with a message tailor-made for the new generation of eco-warriors the importance of recycling and protecting the planet.

Title: Theo
Author: Kenny Lim & Grant Gilliand
www.blurb.com/b/781375-theo?pid=Featured
Join Theo on his journey as he navigates the obstacles and challenges of school—made all the more difficult due to his not-so-normal third eye. Fantastic illustrations bring this story’s great message to life.

Title: A Whimsical Tale of Invention
Author: Kara Pooley
www.blurb.com/b/628072-a-whimsical-tale-of-invention
Fascinating facts, inspired inventions, intriguing illustrations, a poem or two—this book has it all.

Title: Ahwen’s Journal
Author: Alice Alder
www.blurb.com/b/4291566-ahwen-s-journal
It would be impossible not to fall in love with the beautifully illustrated characters in this book. Ahwen, Harn, Charwood—we’ll be keeping an eye out for you the next time we’re in the woods.

Title: Marco and the Zombies
Author: Justin Kerr
www.blurb.com/b/1360926-marco-and-the-zombies?pid=Featured
Another collaborative project delivers a brilliant book. With Zombies at the heart of this story—and superb illustrations by Bret Bowers—it’s one older children are sure to enjoy.

Title: Baby Bear gets a Present
Author: Chris Wood
www.blurb.com/b/4387364-baby-bear-gets-a-present
Even toys relegated to a box in a forgotten corner of the house have lives of their own. In this heartwarming tale we learn just how much fun they have.

Title: Penelope and her Puffy Brown Crown
Author: Jasmin Ortiz
www.blurb.com/b/4181634-penelope-and-her-puffy-brown-crown-paperback
Popping with color and originality, this rhythmical story makes reading aloud a real pleasure. Apparently, bad hair-days happen to young people too.

Title: My Best Friend
Author: Nathalie Josephine
www.blurb.com/b/4295225-my-best-friend
In this lovely little book, bright (and very cute) characters illustrate a story designed to help children deal with the loss of a friend.

Title: A Bit Lost
Author: Leanne New
www.blurb.com/b/4275053-a-bit-lost
Delightful creativity elevates the imagery in this standout book, a simple tale of lost-and-found for little ones.

Title: The Goose Girl
Author: Madeleine Valley
www.blurb.com/b/4274145-the-goose-girl
A lesser-known story by The Brothers Grimm gets a thoroughly modern makeover in this graphically rich retelling of Goose Girl from Madeleine Valley. This is one for the older bunch.

Title: The Great Bear Surprise
Author: Carolan Coughlin
www.blurb.com/b/4259737-the-great-bear-surprise
Join Carolan on her hike up Red Plume Mountain where she discovers much more than the view of the surrounding landscape. This is a sweet story of unexpected friendship.

Title: Goodnight Forest
Author: Emilie Dale
www.blurb.com/b/3018559-good-night-forest
See your little ones off to sleep and bid goodnight to the forest with this rhythmic wind-down bedtime book, from graphic designer and illustrator Emilie Dale.

Title: The Adventures of Dude, Squat and Mose
Author: Michael Hall
http://www.blurb.com/b/4720681-the-adventures-of-dude-squat-and-mose
With fabulous illustrations from Gerald Kelley and a fun-packed story from author Michael Hall, the adventures of this brave trio of adopted dogs if sure to become a favorite.

Aren’t those some really unique book ideas? I love trying out new books, and finding some new cute ones to share with my kiddos. I LOVE reading with my children, and hope you do too! And! Because Blurb is awesome! They have a coupon {like they always do!} Save 20% on print books when you spend $40 or more!

Let me know about some of your favorite *unique* books! I really want to check out the Baby Bear gets a present! Kind of makes me think of the little misfit toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!

Merry December and Happy Reading!!

Traci

The post Making memories! {Share the experience of a unique children’s book from Blurb!} appeared first on A Mouse In My Kitchen.

I went to Goodwill on Black Friday to get the supplies for this craft. Everything was cheap anyway, since it’s Goodwill, but that day everything was 50% off. So I was able to buy everything I needed for less than $4. How awesome is that? 

So all I did was glue the ornaments onto the wreath.

When it was done, I hung it up with a command hook. It took me less than 5 minutes and I seriously LOVE it. It is probably my favorite decoration. See, crafting doesn’t have to be hard or expensive! 

Linked up to remodelaholic’s link party

The post Upcycled Christmas Wreath appeared first on A Mouse In My Kitchen.

I’m super excited to be able to share some awesome new with you guys. Silhouette is having some awesome Black Friday deals. We’ll get to that later in the post though. 

First, I want to talk a little about my Silhouette machine. For those of you don’t know what a Silhouette machine is, it’s an electronic cutter. It can cut vinyl, card stock, fabric, heat transfer material, rhinestone templates and other specialty media. The things you can make are endless. Silhouette has an awesome pinterest board with tons of projects. You can check out that board and see just how awesome this machine really is. 

I haven’t had my machine very long, so I haven’t gotten to explore all the different features this machine has, but what I have gotten to play around with is really neat. One of my favorite things that it does is print and then cut. So if you have a project you want to have cut, but you want it in color, you can design it on the Silhouette cutting program and tell it what colors to print and which lines you want to cut. Then, you print it on your computer’s printer and run in through the Silhouette cutter. The machine is hooked into your computer and it can tell which lines need cut and which ones don’t. It’s like magic. 

So I wanted to show you one simple way you can use a Silhouette in your every day life. We just moved into a new house and my kids now have their very own playroom. That means that toys. are. everywhere. All over the place. I decided to make a couple of little sacks for my kids to organize their toys. I used some scrap fabric. I wanted to make it super simple, so I cut a long piece of fabric, folded it in half “hamburger style,” put the wrong sides of the fabric together and sewed up the sides.

I left about an inch at the top that I didn’t sew. Then I folded over the top to leave room for a drawstring. I was going to put in button holes but… my machine decided it didn’t want to do that. So I left openings at the seam for the drawstring. 

So now to the part where I use my Silhouette machine. I used some heat transfer vinyl that I had on hand and cut out the words “Trains and Cars” along with a picture of a train. I ironed the vinyl onto the bag so my kids would know what this particular bag was for. So, I cut out the heat transfer and ironed it on. Easy peasy. My kids were so excited about their new bag and couldn’t wait to put their toys in it. 

I got my vinyl from (affiliate link) Pick Your Plum. If you’re going to do a heat transfer project with their vinyl – a word to the wise! Make sure your design is flipped. You can do this put hitting the button in the top left of the Silhouette program that says “Open the replicate window,” and click the mirror left button. Then get rid of the original and just use the mirrored image. 

Also – Newbie alert – In this picture you can see I was cutting with the shiny part up… That, my friends, is wrong. Cut with the shiny part down. I used a 4 for the blade setting and a 3 for the speed and it worked great. After you cut, peel the excess vinyl away from the plastic, lay the vinyl – vinyl side down – on the fabric you want to iron on. Cover the plastic with a thin piece of fabric and iron with a high setting. 

Peel back the plastic and you should be good to go! 

Now for details about the Black Friday deals Silhouette has going on! There are a lot of different package deals - 

(1)  A Silhouette CAMEO®, Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, a dust cover (the color is decided by Silhouette), a $25 download card, a hook, a scraper, a spatula, and a pick-me-up® tool for $229.99. Retail price for all of this would total $406.93 (over 40% savings!)

(2) A Silhouette Portrait®, Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, a dust cover (the color is decided by Silhouette), a $25 download card, a hook, a scraper, a spatula, and a pick-me-up® tool for $129.99. Retail price for all of this would total $286.93 (over 40% savings!)

(3) A Silhouette CAMEO®, a Silhouette Portrait®, and two $25 download cards for $299.99. That’s right: If you buy a Silhouette CAMEO® at full price, you get two $25 download cards and a Silhouette Portrait® ABSOLUTELY FREE! Retail price for all of this would be $406.93 (over 40% savings!)

(4)  40% off consumable products at silhouetteamerica.com. This excludes machines, subscriptions, download and gift cards. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Rain checks not available.

(5)   FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25.

Click here or click this picture to be taken to the Silhouette Black Friday page. Be sure to use the coupon code MOUSE to receive these awesome deals.  

The post Silhouette Black Friday Promotion appeared first on A Mouse In My Kitchen.

This bow has to be one of my all time favorites. It is simple, you can use ribbon scraps and can be so many different colors and styles and embellished so many different ways! Love, love, love! I am dedicating this bow to a sweet little girl named Adi who has a lot of beauty and spunk! Just like this bow! Here goes!!

Step One: Cut four pieces of ribbon the same length {I ended up cutting mine 4 inches long} -You want these to be as even as possible.Note: You can use different widths, but my favorite is the 3/8 inch.

Step Two: Glue the two ends together to make a circle. Then put a dallop of glue in the middle inside so that your circle lays flat {do with remaining 3 ribbon}

Step Four: Layer your four ribbons one on top of the other in a star shape.

Then! EMBELLISH! My favorite is to place buttons in the middle, or other fun embellishments. But they are pretty cute without anything at all! Place on your covered clip! These are fun on there own, or make two to use for pig tails!!

The post the Adi Bow appeared first on A Mouse In My Kitchen.

This was one of the first things she taught me, just how to wrap a basic alligator clip. This works well for the one or two pronged clips. I like to get my clips at Sally’s Beauty Supply. {No, no one paid me to say that! :)} They are a great price, and you get a ton!

First, Put glue on the inside top. Yes, there is a top and bottom The top will be the side that DOES NOT lay flat. Grab you glue gun and put some glue on the top, and lay your ribbon all along the top {centering of course!}

Second, wrap around the top and glue toward the squeezy part {yes, I did just say that

then glue into the part you squeeze, and fold around to the bottom.

then, I like to stop right where the two prongs separate. I know at times other people will continue on the bottom, fold around and into the inside bottom, but I feel like stopping here makes the clip have more grip to it.

And! You’re done!

Pretty simple right? Then you just glue a bow on top. And if you use cute ribbon, that bow doesn’t even have to cover the entire clip! Sometimes it’s fun to see a bit of it poking out

One more tip: You can burn the ends of ribbon to make them seal and not fray, I do that quite often because fraying drives me nuts!

Another thing I have heard about, but haven’t done yet {because my little girl has more hair than I know what to do with these days!} Is you can glue some of the stuff you buy to put in your cupboards so your cups don’t slide around. Glue some of that to the inside of your clip and it will grip silky smooth hair better!

Happy Bow Making! More tutorials to come tomorrow! {And tomorrow’s is actually a bow! :)}

Traci

The post Bow Basics: How to Cover an Alligator Clip appeared first on A Mouse In My Kitchen.