Value Bookshop's Reading Notes

Are you a digital scrapbook enthusiast? Or maybe you are thinking of picking up the hobby. Well, then you will be interested to know that you have an opportunity to win a $25 gift certificate from Scrap Girls Boutique.

What do you need to do?
Very simple really. Just tell them what is your favorite summer-time activity. Then they will choose a winner through the random number generator.

Where do you need to do this?
The contest is on a thread on their messageboard.  So, just click here: MESSAGEBOARD

Good luck!

Oh, forgot to mention that you need to hurry as you need to enter  your comment before Midnight (MDT), Monday, July 19, 2010.
Also, you need to register as a member before you can start posting. Signing up is free and easy. So no worries.

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School holidays and bored kids at home… that combination is a nightmare to some parents. Well, here is a suggestion… get them to learn how to draw manga.

I was around the net the other day and came across someone’s manga avatar. I thought it would be cool to have one too. Searching around for a site where I could make one, I landed at the Avatar Face Maker. As I was contemplating which cute hairdo I wanted, it occurred to me that this was a great resource to help improve my children’s drawing skills. It was a good way to show them how a face can be drawn in many different ways. I’m not very good at drawing, so this actually helped me too

I went to YouTube to see what they had on manga drawings and found this guy called Mark Crilley to be really educational. He has many videos on how to draw manga. Even though me and my kids’ manga faces still look kinda mangled, it was really inspiring to see how he easily drew those manga characters.

If your kids really like doing this, why not invest in this book: Kids Draw Big Book of Everything Manga

Anyway, just thought I’d share with you this fun activity.

p.s. This activity is more suited towards older children, probably around 6 years and up.

Here is an activity that you can give your children to do when they get restless or bored: fun with paper cups.

So happened I had some paper cups around the house and they were getting a bit dirty cuz’ we hadn’t used them for a long time. I gave them to my kids and said “see what stuff you can create out of them”. And this is what they made:

They made binoculars, flowers and a gift. They also drew pictures on some. This would make a good activity for toddlers too. It will build their pre-writing skills. Gives them something to scribble on besides paper.

Here’s my boy cutting away. I didn’t give them any instructions. Well… I did show them one thing and that was to cut it so it would look like flower petals. That was it. The rest was up to their imagination and creativity.

Flowers for mommy!

Looking for a nice, homemade gift for Mother’s Day? Let me show you how I put together a candy flower. Candy bouquets make very special gifts. Nice to look at and yummy to eat.

Step 1: Attach 2 candy sweets of your choice to a bamboo stick. I used cellophane tape to hold it in place.

Step 2: Cut out colored or patterned paper into squares (measurement about 4″ x 4″). This is the “petals” part of your candy flower. Use 2-3 pieces of paper. You can also use different colors for a nicer effect.

Step 3: Cut a little hole in the middle of the paper and put it through the bamboo skewer. Bunch up the bottom of the papers a bit. Just look at the picture, you’ll get the idea.

Step 4: I used a green cloth tape for the bottom. It is stickier than cellophane tape and holds the candy flower together better. However, a better alternative is green floral tape (I think that is what it is called). I couldn’t find it here so I just made do with what I could find.

Step 5: I cut out a long piece of ribbon (the one that you can make curl). It was too thick so I shredded it into 4. Just tie them to the bottom of the flower and then curl it.

This is what it looks like in the end.

Bunch them all together and this is what you get. Of course, it would be nice to find an appropriate container, put some styrofoam or floral foam at the bottom and then stick them in there to form a nice arrangement.

Hope I have given you an idea of how to make a candy bouquet. Now have fun making one yourself. Happy Mother’s Day.

p.s. My 9 year old daughter could make this. May not look very pretty at first though. Hahahah. But I’m sure with practice, your kids will start to churn out beautiful candy flowers.

p.s.s. For more candy bouquet ideas and illustrated instructions on how to make candy bouquets, there are 2 excellent step-by-step guide called “How to make beautiful candy bouquets for fun and profit” and “Candy bouquet designs”. You will quickly learn how to make memorable candy bouquets for any occasion. Click here to check it out: Candy Bouquet Instructions.
And if you want to make some money on the side, you can even start a candy bouquet business. The guide includes notes on how to start the business.

Mother’s Day is coming soon. How about taking up this special offer of 3 free cards by Tiny Prints and get your children busy designing a personal card for grandma!

Let your children choose which picture they want to use. Then let them craft out a special Mother’s Day message for grandma. Kids love to play around on the computer. Why not give them an opportunity to create something meaningful on the computer rather than play senseless, violent games. Click on the affiliate link below to learn how to get your 3 free cards. Do it before their offer ends.
Personalized Greeting Cards from Tiny Prints.

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• Do you have photos laying around on memory cards or in computer folders???
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• Do you feel like your family’s memories are being forgotten???

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