Bubbles bubbles everywhere!

I've become obsessed with Pinterest.com lately. I could spend all day just browsing around at all of the cool ideas!  One "pin" that caught my attention the other day was "the world's best bubbles" - by AshleyAnnPhotography.  And, I found another website with two recipes and a great idea for bubble solution storage and dispensing at ComeTogetherKids.

Here are the two recipes:

Recipe #1

•  1 gallon hot water
•  1/4 cup glycerin (available in many pharmacies and craft stores)
•  1 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid

Gently mix all ingredients together.  Seems to work best if you allow it to sit overnight in an open container before using for the first time.


Recipe #2

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid

Put water and corn syrup in a bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes.  Stir to combine.  Gently mix in dishwashing liquid.

So, last week I decided to put one to the test.  I happened to have glycerin available, so we used that recipe.  Some recipes say to use unscented clear Dawn.  Many say to use Dawn dish soap. I used regular Dawn blue. A last minute idea hit me as I walked out into the garage and stepped on the badminton racket.  Hmmmm......a pizza pan and a bent handle racket.....Hmmmm?

Here are the results:

My "Bubble Refill Station," pizza pan and bent handle racket.

 Turned out this was a great "active" bubble blowing session.  Grammy J made the bubbles and Soph chased them and popped them with her racket.  I guess I could call these Badminton Bubbles??? The bubbles came out kind of snake-like. It was pretty cool and loads of fun.

This picture shows the snake-like bubbles.  I read somewhere that you can make the snake bubbles by using terry cloth around the end of an empty papertowel roll secured on with a rubberband.  Easy and cheap!

I am convinced Grammy J had just as much, if not more, fun as Soph.

My first Ana White.com project

This past Christmas I got a 10" compound miter saw and a brad nail gun that I have been dying to try out. About a month ago we had to have some work done in our basement.  We are friends with our contractor and so I begged to help out so I could learn how to use my tools.  He hesitantly agreed and I became an apprentice. I learned how to make beveled miter cuts, grout, properly remove base trim, put up drywall and more.  I gained a lot of new knowledge....more important was confidence gained to use the tools.

I have been looking around ana-white.com for months looking at all of the cool projects and thinking "I can do that!"  This one looked relatively easy:

My kids love to build forts! So I thought this would be a great beginner project.  We (both kids and I) headed out to Lowe's to get the supplies (easy supply lists are included in each project outline). The project took me probably four hours but realistically it took maybe an hour.  Mine took longer because I had to include lunch, naptime, breaking up spats, etc.

Here is my final project:

 

I added some webbing at the top (both front and back) to prevent the tent from flattening/spreading out.  I also did not trim the bottom of the panels and brought them up and sewed the middle to create storage pockets for dolls/books/supplies.  Additional ideas I have:  add a cool hanging lantern in front, add a monogram to personalize the tent, add closure panels to front and back for privacy, use velcro instead of stapling for easy removal for cleaning.  

The kiddos love it!