DIY Soft'n Slo Squishies & Paint Markers

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Squeezed many times after two coats of Soft'n Slo paint markers completely dried over two days. 

 My 11 year old daughter has been on the crazy-for-squishies train for a couple of years now.  She may even consider herself somewhat of a squishy expert.  That being said, she and her twin brother own several Soft'n Slo squishies, and have been very pleased with them.  They have held up for months before beginning to show signs of being lovingly squeezed over and over again daily. Since this brand of squishies has been pretty dependable overall, I was excited to see DIY Soft'n Slo squishies and paint markers at our local craft store. I purchased one of every style of blank squishy I could find, plus both packs of paint markers (regular colors and brights) as a gift for my daughter.  Our daughter is a crafter at heart, and was so excited to receive this gift bag full of DIY squishies supplies.

Did the Soft'n Slo DIY Squishies & Paint Markers Meet Our Expectations? . . .

The blank squishies felt like the same great quality my children have come to expect from Soft'n Slo.  Unfortunately, the paint markers did not perform as well as we would have liked.  The freshly painted squishies looked amazing with very good coverage. After we allowed the paint to dry for a few days, however, there appeared to be spots where the paint did not adhere to the surface of the squishy.

Squeezed twice after single coat of Soft'n Slo paint markers dried for 4 days.

 I suggested to my daughter that she try adding a second coat of paint.  After allowing the second coat to dry for two days, we found that there were still spots where the white showed through.

Unsqueezed after two coats of Soft'n Slo paint markers dried over course of two days.

 Next came the squeeze test.  When we squeezed the squishy several times, the paint began to crackle and flake off.  What would have been a beautiful one-of-a-kind squishy, did not end up being the masterpiece my daughter had hoped for.

What will we do with the remaining blank squishies?

We still love Soft'n Slo squishies, but the markers were just not the same quality we have come to expect from this brand.  The blank squishies are great though, so what we will likely do is to try painting them with puffy fabric paint.  This type of paint comes in a wide variety of colors and is made to be flexible.  If that goes well, maybe my daughter can try to salvage her cake squishy or perhaps repaint other squishies to give them a makeover.
Two Soft'n Slo squishies our children received as stocking stuffers.

Two Soft'n Slo squishies our children received as stocking stuffers.

What kinds of squishies are your children's favorites?

Tell us in a comment here.

Fun Ideas for Kid-Friendly Sunny or Rainy Day Picnics

PHOTOS: Provided by Oriental Trading Company

Oriental Trading Company will be sending us supplies to use in our son's community service project, aimed at donating bags full of toiletries and fun items to children of local families in need, in exchange for sharing these kid-friendly summer fun picnic ideas with 3G2S readers.

By the time we are halfway through summer vacation, I am usually looking for fresh ideas to create some fun memories for my children.  Planning something fun doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be complicated.  There are two things I try to do . . . get the children involved in preparations and keep some supplies on-hand for impromptu fun.

Oriental Trading Company is my go-to place for fun ideas year-round.  You can find everything you need for a kid-friendly picnic indoors or out among their extensive collection of Picnic Party Supplies.  There, you will find everything from colorful gingham plates and napkins to fun summer-themed picks.  One picnic must-have would be the disposable checkered tablecloths, available in 4 colors.  They come in a pack of 12 and are perfect to cover your picnic table outdoors or to sit on during rainy day indoor picnics.

Keep it simple, but colorful!  My children would be perfectly happy with cheese, crackers, pepperoni, and fruit for a lunchtime picnic.  We try to keep a supply of colorful picks in the kitchen drawer to add some fun to cut fruit or cheese.


4 Fun Ways Kids Can Help to Prepare for a Picnic . . . 

1.  Ask your children to build a utensil holder and a napkin holder out of plastic interlocking building blocks.

2.  Have your children decorate LED tealights with colorful washi tape for a flameless candlelit meal.

3.  If you don't already have picks for serving bite-size food at your picnic, ask your children to make some with toothpicks and washi tape.

4.  When you have cut all the food, whether it be sandwich quarters, cheese, fruit, or something else, ask your children to arrange them in a pattern on plates or platters for you.

For more creative summer fun ideas, visit the Create Fun blog!

What ideas do you have for a fun kid-friendly picnic?  Share them with us in a comment here and be sure to pin this post for later.

Text-UR Foam Turns Crafting Into a Fun Sensory Experience for Children

Thank you to FibreCraft for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing additional products for our contest prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

If your children like crafts (and my 6 year old really does!) they will love Text-UR Foam from FibreCraft. Text-UR Foam takes art to a whole new dimension . . . literally. This craft foam is the same spongy, cut-able version as the regular craft store foam, but with fun textures and 3D space-urs that make what otherwise would be ordinary projects three dimensional. With themed kits and free-for-all ones too, any child is sure to find something they would love to build and create with Text-UR foam.

We received the stand-up turtle, flower frame, stand-up bee, bug shapes, and multi-colored foam sheets kits. Each kit comes with the Text-UR Foam pieces that are pre-cut (all but the sheets kit) so you can just pop it out and start creating.

The Text-UR Foam itself comes in many textures like dotty, scaly, or bumpy, so it’s a great sensory experience just holding them. Creating the items is fun too and pretty simple so nearly any child preschool age and up could do it with a little help from an adult. This is certainly an entertaining, unique craft kit that is sure to delight children of all ages. I know that everyone in our family (including the adults) loved creating projects with the Text-UR Foam and it will be staple in my art cabinet from here on out.

Text-UR Foam is available at Michaels, Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores, Meijer, Amazon.com, and A.C. Moore. It has packages priced from $2.99 to $8.99, so it’s very reasonably price for any budget.


Our giveaway winner will be able to choose one of the packages below as their prize . . . 

The Standard Package (ARV $27.95)

• 1 shape kit- The bug kit - 7.99 value
• 1 frame kit (flower theme) - 3.99 value
• 1 Bee Standup kit - 3.99 value
• 1 turtle standup kit (exclusive to Michaels) - 3.99 value
• 1 foam sheets kit (the package of Multi color sheets) - 7.99 value

The Crafty Package (ARV $23.96)

• 1 shape kit - 3.99 value
• 2 FOAM sheet KITS - 7.99 each
• 1 OWL KIT- (exclusive to Michaels)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random number drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

My GBC Creative Laminator Makes Craft and Kids Projects Even More Fun

I recently shared an easy craft for a DIY menu board.  One of the last steps in the project is to laminate the cards on which you have written your dinner choices.  I wanted to show everyone how super-easy this is to do using my GBC Creative 9" Laminator with the GBC HeatSeal UltraClear Thermal Laminating Pouches.

I used custom printed Moo MiniCards for my meal cards, which have my own food photography printed on the backs of the cards.  It was difficult to show in the photo, but I was amazed at how clear the UltraClear pockets turned out after going through the laminating process.  I was extremely pleased that the quality of my photos was in no way reduced.  This is light-years better than our old "antique" of a laminator that used to leave bubbles amidst a sea of cloudiness.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Laminating my meal cards was as easy as placing them between the two layers of the laminating pouch, carefully covering them with the top layer, and inserting the pouch between the two layers of the cardboard sleeve that comes with the laminating pouches.  I placed the cards over an inch apart because our old laminator would leave a wide bubble of air around the item being laminated.  I soon learned that was not necessary with the GBC laminator.

After the the green light comes on indicating that the laminator has heated sufficiently, simply feed the filled sleeve into the front of the laminator.  The sleeve then self-feeds itself through the heated laminator and comes out the back.  Even though it may not be necessary, I always feed the sleeve through twice to get the best results.  Then the sleeve is placed on a flat surface to cool completely before I cut out the individual laminated cards.

Some other projects I would like to do with this laminator are . . . 

• Photo ID cards for pretend play for our children
• A memory card game made out of photos of our family members (pets included)
• Pretend play restaurant menus
• Dry erase chore charts
• Bookmarks out of our children's art

Visit MyBinding.com to view their full assortment of laminating supplies for use at home, at the office, or in an industrial setting.  You can receive Free Ground Shipping on orders over $75.  Also visit the MyBinding.com Blog and MyBinding.com on YouTube to find helpful product information, reviews, and product demos.

Thank you to MyBinding.com for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing additional product for our contest prize.  I was given complimentary Moo MiniCards because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

How to Make Easy Holiday Window Decorations

I have just been dying to try out this Klutz Window Art craft book. Since Christmas is almost here, I decided it would be fun to add some subtle decorations to our living room windows. We live in a townhouse community, so we do not really have the chance to decorate the outside of our home.

This would be a fun family activity for grade school-age children. The kit is actually recommended for anyone ages 8 and up, but I think slightly younger children would enjoy it if they were assisted by an adult.

There are tons of fun templates in the book, including landscapes, dragons, flowers, and much more. There were not any holiday-themed templates, so I had to draw mine freehand. Instead of slipping the included plastic sleeve over a template page, I just put it over the cover. Then I used the black outline paint to draw all my outlines, making sure all my shapes were closed.

Then I used the colored paint to fill in my enclosed areas. The black paint was thicker, while the colored paint was thin and easily spread out to fill the shapes no matter how irregular they were.

The tough part is that you need to let your Window Art dry flat on the plastic for 24 hours. The waiting may not be easy for a child. The final result was definitely worth the wait in my opinion. I only had to peel the designs off the plastic sleeve and stick them on our glass windows. The designs adhered to the windows without any problems at all.

After trying the Klutz Window Art Classic for myself, I am going to do the next project with our nearly 7 year old son. I think I could draw the shapes and he could easily fill in the spaces with color. I might have to buy some more Window Art supplies. I actually wanted to create a snow scene, but the book did not come with white paint. I am curious what ideas my son has for our next Window Art project.

Thank you to Klutz for providing a complimentary sample product for us to use in this project.

Free Printable Holiday Crafts for Dog-Lovers

Inspired by the Disney movie Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws, which is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray/DVD on November 24th, here are some fun holiday crafts for dog-lovers. They include a 3-dimensional dog ornament wearing a Santa hat, a dog collar Christmas chain, a recipe for candy cane-shaped dog biscuits, and a paw-shaped Christmas stocking that would be perfect for a dog or a cat.



To Print: Make sure your printer is on and ready to go. Click on the desired image to enlarge. Then right-click on the enlarged image and select print.

If you get a chance to try any of these, I'd love to hear how your project(s) turned out!

New 3G2S Series: Creating With Colors

Since my Kindergartner-in-Training series will be coming to an end in a few weeks, I was wracking my brain to come up with another series about early grade school children.

Right around the same time, my children were offered a chance to try out some Colorations art supplies courtesy of Discount School Supply. Of course we happily agreed, but when we received the box, I almost fainted at their generosity. That is when I decided to start the "Creating With Colors" series. We literally have enough arts and crafts supplies to feature in this series for several months.


I hope I don't run out of ideas too quickly. If you have any ideas for fun, easy, and colorful kids' crafts, feel free to share them with me.