THE STEPS ARE heading back to school soon, and I’m heading back to work (oh who am I kidding–writers are always working–our beach condo will be in my
Perfect for daydreaming, keep a Beach in a Jar on your desk...
next book) and to ease the kidlets back into our autumn schedule, I created up a couple of Beach in a Jars to remind them of sunny days past, and a map marked with our next trip to think about the sunny days to come.
I brought back a couple of bags of sand (of course, there was probably enough in our clothes. In the car. In my hair . . .) but I brought a bag just to be on the safe side, and washed the sand and shells and baked it at 350 until it was dry to prevent critters (and fishy smells), and bought a couple of little pieces from the Target scrap book aisle and wrote a memory and a quote from each kid on the back of each picture and put it all together:
1. I washed and dried the sand and shells and filled the jar about 1/3 of the way with sand–then I tipped the jar to create an angled landscape that would make it easier to see all the elements inside the jar.
2. I printed the kids favorite (along with a few surprises) pics–some 3 x 5, a couple of wallet sized and a few contact sized and stuck em in the sand.
3. Then I popped in a few shells, and
4. I used scrap booky stuff including Border Punched Grass for the sea grass, then wrapped jute around the top of the jar and glued the lid on so it doesn’t spill or get creepy crawlies in it.
Oh The Places We’ll Go!
Kids love the map but they think the the name "Oh The Places We'll Go" is pretty lame--but since they couldn't think of anything better--it's keeping the name...
The kids had so much fun putting together their Beach Jars, that they couldn’t wait to work on what I’m calling “Oh, The Places We’ll Go” map (they did, however, say the name of the maps was lame at which I invited them to come up with something else to call them, which they didn’t so the name stuck).
I had the kids poke holes along our route, then sewed red thread along the way–when we get back from this trip I’ll tack pics and mementos from that trip on the map! (I also put a Vacation Bucks jar on the shelf beside the maps to collect spare change for spending money on our next trip–so far, Chap and I are the only ones who have contributed.)
And now the favorite thing I did this summer:
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And I finally got “More Southern Saying Than You Can Shake a Stick At,” the project my dad and I worked on the year before he died . . . I miss him every day, and I don’t know why it took me so long to transcribe all the bits of wit and wisdom we’d worked on for so long–I suppose it was like a way to stay in touch with him.
The book Dad and I were working on--until Aug. 25 on sale for .99!
I added some printables at the back of the book for post cards, notes and stickers and they turned out super cute. I think he’d like them, and until August 25, the collection will be priced at .99! I hope you’ll have as much fun with them as I did collecting them. Some of my favorites are “Useless as tits on a boar hog” and “Don’t try to teach a pig to sing–it wastes your time and annoys the pig…” To get your specially priced copy, click here..
- Beach in a Jar How To
More Southern Sayings Than You Can Shake A Stick At