Monday Make Your Own Sidewalk Chalk

There's nothing like spending time outside beautifying your neighborhood sidewalks. Kids can draw pictures, trace the outlines of their friends, draw a hopscotch or other fun games and much more.

Add a new dimension to the summer fun by having your kids help make their own sidewalk chalk in custom colors, swirls and a variety of shapes.

Here's what you need:

• A Mold
• 1 cup Plaster of Paris
• 3/4 cup Water
• Medium Sized Bowl
• Powedered Tempera Paint

Here's what you do:

1. Find a mold for your sidewalk chalk. Anything from a toilet tissue roll or small paper cup to fancy candy molds will work.
2. Mix together 1 cup of Plaster of Paris with 3/4 cup of water.
3. Add color to your mixture using powdered tempera paint.
4. Blend well and let stand for a few minutes.
5. Pour your mixture into the molds you chose.
6. Set aside and let dry completely.
7. Once dry you can remove your chalk from the mold.
8. Set it aside to dry for approximately 24 hours more.
9. Take your chalk outside and create fun masterpieces!

Tips:

1. Powdered tempera paint is available at most large craft stores.
2. Experiment with making swirled colors by adding the paint and stirring very little.
3. Drying time can take from several hours to a few days depending on the size of the mold you chose.

I Found this great activity at http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/craftsupplies/ht/SidewalkChalk.htm

Whatever Wednesday: Flight of the Conchords

The Flight of the Conchords are a comedy music group from New Zealand who also had a show on HBO for a while. They are super funny guys and here is one of my favorite songs from the show. There's plenty more awesome clips like this on You Tube, so check out the hilarity :)

Thursday Treat: Patriotic Drinks

This fun idea comes from the people at Disney Family Fun. People will be asking how you did it and this drink is a fun way to keep cool at all those 4th of July BBQs.

With a steady hand and some colorful drinks, you can create a tasty, multilayered concoction. The secret is in selecting liquids with varying amounts of sugar, since those that contain more (such as soda) are denser than those with less (such as diet drinks). And that makes it possible to actually stack one on top of another (for a little while, anyway -- then they'll start to blend). Here's how to serve up a thirst quencher with two, three, or even more layers. Our recipe is for a red, white, and blue version for your Fourth of July celebrations. See how your favorite beverages literally stack up!
More: 4th of July Party Food

Ingredients

• Ice cubes
• Cranberry juice

• Wild Berry flavor Gatorade Fierce
• Diet 7-Up

Instructions

1. Fill a clear glass with ice cubes. Pour the drink with the most sugar (check the nutrition label) into the glass. For our red, white, and blue recipe, start with the cranberry juice.

2. Very slowly add a beverage that contains less sugar -- in this case, Wild Berry flavor Gatorade Fierce. Be careful to pour it onto an ice cube -- not directly into the other drink -- to keep them from mixing.

3. Use the same technique to add a layer of Diet 7-Up.

Whatever Wednesday: Fresh Produce

Maybe this is more like a tip, but either way I love this! I'm one of those people who loves to garden, but lives in an apartment where the only growing done is in small containers. Not exactly ideal for peas, strawberries, apples, etc.

So I found this great company called Click-2-Pick Produce which is a cooperative of family and small farms across California, Nevada, Utah and a few other states. Since they work together, you get super fresh produce at roadstand prices which can be up to 40% off what you'd pay at the grocery store.

They have small baskets if you have 2-3 people in your family, or larger baskets for 4-5 member families. I've gotten grapefruit, avacados, tomatoes, strawberries, baby zuccini, broccoli and even beets. The beets were new to me, but that's another great thing. You get to try new things you might not have bought yourself.

So check it out, they've got pick up spots across several states and you don't have to committ to a plan or anything.

Thursday Treat:4th of July Sparklers

Like most sparklers, these are extinguished after a short while -- with several large bites. I wish I could take credit for this idea, but it came from the fine folks at marthastewart.com. If you're looking for more great 4th of July ideas, i would definitely recommend checking it out!

To make two dozen, place 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Stir occasionally until melted; remove from heat.

Using a pastry brush, coat the upper third of each pretzel rod in chocolate. Cover with sprinkles; stand pretzels upright in a glass.

Place in the refrigerator until firm, about 5 minutes.

Whatever Wednesday : Can I get a woot Woot!

I love woot.com because you never know what's going to be on sale each day. Woot.com offers 1 product each day of the week and sells it until it's gone. I've seen everything from squid power strips, toy cars, micro secure digital cards, memory albums and even cedar planks for grilling!

Prices are great and satisfaction is guaranteed!

Occasionally there will be a woot off where any remainder items are sold at even better prices and since there are low quantities, the site can go through several listings that day.

Woot.com also has a few fun spin off sites, of which my favorite is shirt.woot.com. Independent artists create the designs and enter them into a derby to see which lucky art work will grace a limited run of shirts. The best designs are gone before 11am, so if you want to get in on the fun, do it first thing in the morning :)

Even if you don't plan to make a purchase, i recommend checking it out because a lot of the fun comes just from seeing what kind of item is up for grabs today!

Tuesday Tip: Join a Group!

Are you looking for a way to promote your shop and make friends? It's easy to do when you join a group based on any of a variety of similar interests or circumstances.

Love to knit? Are you a mom with young children? Like to scrapbook? Love to make found objects into something new? Love to cook? Whatever it is there is a group you can join to discuss you passion and get advice not only on the group topic, but other things as well.

Etsy has loads of groups, or you can try flikr, facebook, as well as your email provider. Google and yahoo both have groups you can search to find the right one for you.

A word of advice though. Before jumping right in, take some time to read the posts from the last few days or weeks so you can get a feel for what the group is talking about, points they may have already covered and a general sense of the rules of posting. Then when you join you'll be less likely to be treated as a noobie and more likely to be welcomed.