Today I had one of those extremely satisfying moments as a mom – I had a “play date” with Nadya this morning before our afternoon preschool activities began. We’re big fans of Play-Doh, so I was thrilled when SocialMoms gave me the opportunity to review the new new Play-Doh Playdates website. After just a few minutes of browsing, we opted for Play-Doh pizza from the Fresh Ideas menu and the Pizza Box from the Crafts Menu. The Fresh Ideas instructions were easy to follow, though I do wish they offered an easy to print PDF as my 4 year-old likes to “follow” the directions – and I’m not ready to incorporate Play-Doh or any other kind of dough into my computer space just yet. To “solve” this little situation, I took screen caps of the steps, added them to Word, and printed them out along with the Pizza Box. We assembled the Pizza Box first – a very cute idea, but the top of the box is larger than the bottom, so it doesn’t close properly – Nadya didn’t care, but it would have been nice if everything matched. After the box was ready, we assembled our “ingredients”:  As I said, the instructions, or recipe as Nadya called it, were simple to follow – the pictures helping to illustrate so I didn’t have to read them to her per se, more just guide her as we went along. She is NOT a fan of onions, so our white tube became Mozzarella cheese instead. She worked on the green peppers while I started on the olives. We finished Step 1 in no time! I thoroughly enjoyed watching her follow “her recipe” and pitching in when she asked me to. Definitely one of the perks of my “mom” job! We used a toy rolling pin to “flatten” the dough and sauce balls as Nadya thought that was more “proper” than using our hands.The instructions called for tearing the “cheese” and “pepper” tubes into pieces, but Nadya immediately thought of her scissors (part of one of her Play-Doh kits) and I wholeheartedly supported the fine motor skill development.  She did say that next time we make Play-Doh pizza, she’s going to use her “string” maker tool for the cheese so that it will be thinner and look more like shredded cheese.  The final step was by far the easiest – combining all of the ingredients into a finished pizza! We both enjoyed our “date” – Nadya insisted we call Daddy at work to tell him of our accomplishment.  Initially he was a bit confused when she said we had rolled meatballs and made olives!

Overall, I really like the Play-Doh Playdates site – it’s easy to use, the ideas are fun, engaging, and vary enough to be fun for a fairly broad age range/skill level, and it’s free.  The crafts and snacks sections don’t require the use of specific purchased product at all (though you’ll need access to a printer for the craft projects) and the Fresh Ideas could be done with homemade dough as well (though I personally love Play-Doh and the fact that my hands don’t feel like I’ve been soaking in a brine solution when I’m done playing). Aside from the minor inconvenience of not being able to print the Fresh Ideas instructions without additional time and software, the only drawback I found was the sizing of the pizza box – though in reality it is a bit of a non-issue as I wouldn’t be storing any finished creation in there since Play-Doh tends to dry out when exposed to air for extended periods. Nadya has already requested to build a couple of items from the Back To School Fresh Ideas and Crafts sections, so we’ll be visiting again soon!  Plus, I think the  chalk board printout would be fabulous for use in her preschool classroom art time as the kids are learning to write their letters and numbers and would enjoy forming them out of Play-Doh, clay, or similar products as well.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Disclosure: This post is part of a SocialMoms product evaluation, for which I’ve been selected. I’ve been compensated for my time with 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of SocialMoms or Play-Doh.

Your Birthday Stuff that is! Now that I’ve confirmed the card has been received, I can display this uber-fun birthday card featuring one of the newest sets in the Doodle Pantry September release – Quirky Ostrich: We sent this card to my SIL, who was quite pleased as their chosen dinner locale also housed and wildlife preserve, so she observed a real ostrich on her big day as well. I opted for the pre-colored ostrich, then “paper pieced” the gifts, an addition from the Santa Accessories set, using the coordinating digi-papers included in the Quirky Ostrich set. After printing and trimming, I added some sparkle and shine with my Gelly Roll Stardust and Glaze pens, then pop-dotted the image to a DCWV card base. A fun and simple card – which is the way my DH prefers them (at least when he requests them).

I’m playing along with these challenges:

• The Crafter’s Café – September Digi Day Challenge – Celebrations
• The Crazy Challenge – Birthdays
• Doodle Pantry – DPDC16 – Use a DP image

Have a fabulous week!

Good Morning! Another Wednesday is upon us – this one bearing the distinction of being the last day of August (wow – another month has flown by) as well as my last day as a guest DT for Doodle Pantry – Laurie has some amazing images and I’ve been fortunate to create with them.

When Laurie released her Treat Dish Card template, I knew I “had” to play with it!  I thought it would be perfect for a Back To School gift – even more so when combine with Laurie’s School Sheep stamp set and School Time digi-papers. Laurie included line art and pre-colored options as part of the School Sheep set, so I opted to use her pre-colored collage for my projects.  I love how versatile the template is!!! For the Welcome Back project, I used the scalloped edge version of the template opened in Make The Cut at 72 DPI. I cut the accent pieces from one of the School Time papers printed on white cardstock using my printer’s borderless 8.5×11 setting. The apple sparkles courtesy of a Spica glitter pen and the Welcome Back “pops” after a coating of Clear Glaze pen.  I used an EK Success edge punch on the main image to coordinate with the scalloped edges of the card/dish.  Two strands of adhesive pearls and hemp twine completed the look. I didn’t open up the A+ Teacher dish as I wanted to show the “card” look as well – easily packaged in a standard A2 envelope for quick giving or posting. I opted for the “pinked” edge this time around and a different sentiment on the blackboard.   As before, the papers are printed from the School Time set and cut out using MTC. Once again, an EK Success edge punch made matching the edges of my image and card/dish base a breeze. I added Spica sparkle to the blackboard message and the apple before using by IRock tool to adhere Swarovski gems to the top. I tied the front panels together with a bit of hemp twine as a final touch.

Nadya was very excited with the end result and will be carting these off to preschool this week. It’s amazing what a difference time can make – last year she was shy and a bit uncertain and we both suffered separation anxiety – this year, not a tear! I’m so very proud of my sweet girl!

In the way of challenges, I’m playing along with these:

• All Sorts – Back To School
• Creative Inspiration Paints – Lots of Layers

If you’d like to “score” yourself some of Laurie’s fabulous images, Doodle Pantry is sponsoring both the current Paper Playtime and Digital Tuesday challenges. Don’t forget, the next Doodle Pantry release is Sept. 5 – which will mean a whole new challenge as well!

Have a great Wednesday!