Halloween House Kids Craft

I've really been skimping out on my library craft posts!! Yikes. I thought I'd better toss this one in before we're moving on to Thanksgiving!! This is a Halloween House for toddlers and preschoolers to make. Pretty simple and *kinda* spooky....but not scary. :-)

What you need:

black poster paper (Dollar Store for .50cents each)

gluesticks

large white (or any fun color) 8x11 cardstock

Halloween Stickers (Target for a $1)

white printer paper

~Trim out the posterboard into pieces shaped like these (in black, below) and make duplicates:

 

 There is a folded door to make (seen on the right, here). It's just a rectangle with it's side folded, large enough to fit over the silo-shaped doors.

~Trim out the two white pieces seen above (small square and silo-shape) and make plenty of duplicates as well....these are the doors and windows of the house.

~Have the kids place the black pieces on the colored cardstock and make the house. 

~Have them add the windows and white doorways. 

~Glue the folded part of the black doors to the sides of the white door shapes so that the doors can open and close. Then start adding stickers behind the doors and around the house!!

Peek-a-boo!!

I shared this post at the following funky linky parties:

Amazon Rain Review and Giveaway

I've recently been using the Amazon Rain Lluvia Botanical cleanser and I've been loving it. Amazon Rain products are entirely free of the chemicals, additives, and fragrances that most brands of beauty products have in their ingredient list. Have you ever used a skin care product that actually made your skin hurt?? I just tried some lip gloss the other day that could've brought me to tears. You won't find anything toxic like that in Amazon Rain products.

The Botanical Cleanser is contains some fun ingredients from the Rainforest that help to do it's work:

• Jatoba- to cleanse and soothe skin
• Iporuru- Calms the skin and has been used by Amazonian tribes for centuries!!
• Stevia- used for treating breakouts and blemishes

 I have found the product to be extremely gentle and it does a great job of purifying my skin without any sensitive reactions to it's organic/wild harvested ingredients. In particular, I love the *smell* of it. It doesn't smell like some product trying to copy the aroma of real plants. It smells like natural ingredients. It makes me perfectly giddy!! See:

Yup, that's me. Shaking my hair in the rain.

I bet you're wondering how buying products from the Amazon Rainforest can actually be good for the Rainforest itself. Good question. This company supports the use of sustainable and renewable resources and provides income to communities living near the Rainforest, giving them more options to do what they will with their land (including acquiring titles and deeds). A portion of each Amazon Rain product is also donated to the Amazon Center for Environmental & Educational Research (ACEER).

Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month?

Amazon Herb Company contributes a percentage of its profits to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of cancer for every product sold. Fund are given year round to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre [http://www.oliviaappeal.com/].) You can learn all about Amazon Rain products, its mission and vision here: http://www.amazonrain.net/Lluvia-2011/Deeper-Than-Beauty.shtml

 

Not only did I get a free Botanical Cleanser, but I got a chance to offer you one as well!!

This Giveaway will be ending on Sunday, October 30th and is open to U.S Residents only. 

Here is how to enter (one comment per entry type please):

• Subscribe by Email to Amazon Herb  (MANDATORY)
• Become A GFC friend of Marvelously Messy
• Leave a Comment on this Post
• Follow Amazon Herb on Twitter 

Good Luck!!!!

Exercise Inspired

It's time to inspire myself. I need some exercise help. This butt spends too much time sitting in a chair behind the computer everyday and not enough time moving around. I've made all the excuses I can about gaining weight recently: my pants shrunk in the dryer, this shirt is from a couple years ago when sizes ran smaller, I'll start dieting tomorrow (I should eat all the sweets in the house today so I won't be tempted), Ice cream is dairy food and therefore counts as part of my food pyramid. 

These excuses just don't wash anymore. It's time to kick my butt into gear!!

I used to go to curves and I was really successful at losing (and keeping off) weight when I went there.....but we just don't have that in our budget right now. Especially with the holidays coming up. So, I'm going to dust off the weight bench we have upstairs in the garage and haul it into the house (can that count as my exercise for today?) and get started with a strength training routine to jump start my metabolism. At the same time, I'm going to lower my carbs....not to the Atkins 20 carbs a day low....because that just aint healthy.........but to around 40-60 carbs a day. 

I'm also going to try to get a brisk walk (a mile or more) in with my pups everyday for some healthy cardio. No running for these knees, I'd like to keep them from disintegrating when I'm 48. :-) 

Now there are plenty of programs online for those of you with some extra cushion in your budget. I've heard GREAT and kind of SCARY things about P90x. There are guaranteeing success with a 90 Day Review. 

From everything I've heard, P90x is an extreme body workout. You should probably be in better shape than me before you even attempt it. :-)

For other ideas, check out the website Beach Body. They have got a whole collection of different types of workouts for the kind of shape you're looking to get into!! 

This is a guest post provided by Fitness Alliance