Holiday CardMaking for a Cause

On Friday afternoon, I hosted a very small kids holiday celebration to make some Christmas Cards. When the idea originated, I asked my daughter, Molly, if she wanted to make cards for U.S. Troops overseas or the elderly without their families in nursing homes. As Molly is six, this prompted discussions on what these subject matters are.  Quite interesting topics of conversation to have with a young one! Molly couldn't decide which cause to support more, so she asked her friends to choose. Our little guests came prepped and ready from their parents which cause they wanted to support.

We've decorated the house festively and I put out some after-snacks of fruit, veggies and rolled up sandwiches. I couldn't resist cupcakes from Ronnie's Bakery with a Christmas theme!  They turned out so cute.

The kids got right to work stamping with our PSA Essentials stamps, stickers, glue, ribbon tape and more. I had two tables set up - one for the very little ones and one for the bigger kids.

The kids were so cute making the cards! Obviously a great photo opp for me with these cute little faces stamping away with our PSA Essentials stamps.

The kids spent much more time playing outside than making cards - and the mom's enjoyed being together. Truly was a lot of fun and we made some (sort of) cute cards that I am sending off to the USO and a local nursing home. It is the thought that counts, right? What fun to celebrate the season with our friends. Group picture time! (Williamson Triplets had left already and we couldn't get Ian in this one, boo!)

Share what you are doing this season to make someone else's day bright by posting a comment here or to our Facebook page.

Stamped Pumpkins

With school back in session full time and a very busy after-school schedule, The O'Regan's have been on the go all September! We are taking some time to slow down and enjoy the season, which for me and the kids means spending time working on seasonal projects and crafts.  Yesterday afternoon we painted, stamped (and Connor washed...) mini-pie pumpkins to kick start Fall.

I set up the kitchen table with a few colors of paint, acrylic blocks and PSA Essentials UBU Happy Halloween stamps and Inks, and let them get creative. Molly chose to paint a stripped pattern of black and white, add various UBU Happy Halloween stamps and draw a "scary face" on her pumpkin. Connor chose to mix all the colors up, paint it solid, and then wash off the paint with a sponge. Cleaning is one of his favorite things to do...  Here's a peek at our afternoon of stamping and painting pumpkins!  Looking for an after-school toddler/little kid project? This was a lot of fun!

Quite honestly, the "after" shot of the pumpkins aren't necessary. I bet you can tell how they turned out.... the important thing is the activity, not the end result - and they had a great time. So we have some really ugly painted/washed pumpkins lying around but who cares?

Happy Fall! I look forward to sharing more stamping adventures this season!

Lemonade Stand

The Oriental Trading Company catalog gets me every time. They really have my number! A few weeks ago, I received a summer catalog that contained 2 whole pages of a lemonade stand party. This was how the idea of a O'Regan lemonade stand was born. The sparkly marketing of that catalog and also that my daughter, Molly, has been saving for a Barbie Dream House since the beginning of the summer. We required that she choose a charity and donate half of the earnings to that charity.  With guidance, she choose to support hungry children so we are making a donation to Feed America.

Like all parties or events with my kids, we do a lot of prep activities to support the event.  We worked on painting a sign, assembling fans (because holy cow, it was a REALLY hot day!), making lemon cookies, wrapping some store-bought lemon loaf, practicing with our cash registers and making change for customers, and making some decorations.  You know we incorporated PSA Essentials Peel & Stick Stamps into the mix, too!

We only had about 4 actual neighborhood customers but are thankful for sweet friends and family, The Bradfords, Eccles, Yaccos, Golsons, and Evanisko's for coming by to support the cause.  What fun! Here's a photo recap of the O'Regan Lemonade Stand!

(Please excuse my son in underwear, honestly, at least he has undies on. He mostly likes to run around naked... yikes!) 

Mike was so happy with me and having to put together the Lemonade Stand I purchased from Oriental Trading Company.  I honestly had no idea so much assembly was required.

So nice of the Eccles boys and Parker to come help out! (I had to get Parker a special apron, too. Love that little girl!)

What an awesome afternoon! Thanks again to our friends who were able to support the cause and join the fun.