Why spend the money on those boring party invitations that everyone uses when you can make your own!

Scrapbook stores are the perfect place to go when you want to make your own party invitations. All you have to do is visit a scrapbook supply store and your creativity will spark with ideas.

Handmade party invitations are not only fun and easy to make, but they are personal. Your kids will love making their own party invitations to hand out to all their friends.

First, start with the basics: blank 3”x5” or 4”x6” cards. You can find these in any scrapbook supply store. They come packaged with blank envelopes. Next, browse the aisles and buy stickers, punches, markers, and whatever other fun things you see to make your party invitations in the following themes:

SPORTS
Use soccer, football, basketball or baseball stickers or page sets. Create a fun sports theme on the front and include the party information inside the card.

CHARACTERS
If your kids love animated characters, such as Elmo, Rugrats or Lazy Town, use these to create character-themed party invitations. Include bright borders and sticker confetti to add flare to the card covers.

PRINCESS
What girl doesn’t love anything princess? Use crown stickers, pink and purple confetti stickers, and heart punches to create pretty, princess invitations.

TEA PARTY
You can find cute teacup page sets and use these to create pretty invitations. If you want to get really fancy, trace a teacup template around the outside of your blank cards first. Then cut the cards to make them look like teacups. You might even include a fancy napkin inside the card.

Creamy Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. Cubed stew beef
1 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 medium onion (diced)
4 potatoes (cubed)
3 carrots
1 small can of corn, drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Season cubed stew beef with a little garlic powder and place in frying pan with olive oil. Brown on all sides over high heat. Place vegetables in crock pot. Place beef over vegetables. Pour soups over both beef and vegetables. Add a little salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for approximately 8 hours or until beef is tender.

Product Name: Parents Young at Art
Submitted by: Candace Sabo; San Antonio, TX
Rating: 10
Where to buy: www.Target.com

Description: The Parents Young at Art toy is a magnetized drawing board.  It is the perfect size for little ones ages two to five.  It’s bright and colorful and has a padded underside so it sits comfortably in a child’s lap without sliding around.  It has a curved handle for easy carrying.  It also has an automatic wind-up retraction erase lever.  At the top of the toy there are four removable magnetic animal shapes to enhance any picture. It’s very affordable at $14.99.

Review:  I absolutely LOVE this toy!  We bought it for our two year old daughter, but all of our children, ranging in age from 14 to 2 want to play with this toy.  We’ve owned Magnadoodles before, but this one far exceeds the others.  We love the padded underside and the automatic retraction erase lever.  We’re going to have to get the other children their own.  The kids love the removable shapes to add to their creations!  We definitely give this a 10!

Creating crafts with your kids can be a fun, yet educational process. There are so many ways that crafting can help your kids to learn things they didn’t know. Here are just a few ways your kids can learn through creating crafts:

Introduce new things – Making crafts is a really good way to introduce something new to your child. For example, if you’re crafting with a toddler, you can incorporate a new letter of the alphabet with each craft you make together.

The art of discovery – Let your kids experiment in their crafts. Let them try new things, or different ways of doing something they already know how to do. When your kid has that moment of discovery while crafting, it will cause them to want to craft more. What better way for your kid to discover something, than while crafting with you?

Coordination skills – For younger children who are still learning to use hand-eye coordination, crafts can be a very useful way to enhance these skills. From holding crayons and paint brushes, to gluing together a popsicle stick house, your child can practice their coordination skills.

Build on what they know – If you have an older child, crafts are a good way to help them build on the knowledge they already have. Use more advanced crafts to enhance your kid’s learning ability. For example, if your fifth-grader likes making cute bracelets, incorporate a math lesson into her next beaded bracelet craft session.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed banana (ripe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, mix butter and brown sugar. Mix in egg, mashed banana and vanilla. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix well. Stir in rolled oats and walnuts (is using). Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a non-stick cookie sheets. Leave about 2 inches between cookies for spreading. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Product Name: Noah’s Ark Stuff Animals
Submitted by: Rebecca White; Sylvania, OH
Rating: 9
Where to buy: http://www.noahsarkworkshop.com

Description: Stuffed animals that your child can stuff themselves with cute little outfits to go along with your child’s hobbies.

Review:  When the postman came to our house my soon to be 4 year old son was so excited.  He loves it when mommy gets prizes in the mail.  Well little did he know that he would be getting a prize himself today.

We took the package into the kitchen and opened it up.  When he saw the bear that came out of the box he started jumping for joy!  He grabbed it out of my hand and opened up the bag that the stuffing was in.  I had to make him wait a minute so I could find the little star that comes with the bear for him to make a wish on.

I told him to kiss the star and place it in the bear.  He did and then started stuffing the bear so fast I had to stop him long enough to evenly distribute the stuffing lol.

It was so easy for Adam to stuff this bear.  A cute shirt came with the bear and Adam proceeded to dress the bear and he immediately walked out of the room, I didn’t know why until he came walking back into the room with a little wool cap that he wanted his bear to wear. 

And I am not making this up, he would not go to bed without his new bear friend last night.  He hasn’t named it yet but once he tells me I will fill out the “birth certificate” that came with the bear.

If you are looking for something that your child will love and can feel it’s all their own, I recommend buying them a Noah’s ark stuffed friend.  The look on Adam’s face as he was stuffing the bear and dressing him was priceless.