Kayaking Near Tampa Bay...My Shameless Plug

It's not uncommon for me to promote new projects I'm working on here on the blog.  However, in the interest of full disclosure, I want to be clear that my husband and I own Island Kayak Tours.

As you know, Simply The Good Life is all about living the life you want to live with as little stress and chaos as possible.  So, it should be no surprise that when Mr. Good Life and I decided life was, once again, becoming something it shouldn't, we made a change.  I realize some of you might be thinking, "Owning a business can be VERY stressful and chaotic."  Yes, it can be, but in a much different way.  As a business owner, you are in control...and that makes all the difference.

It's hard to feel the stress and demands of owning your own business when you're on the water.  Paddling through shady mangrove tunnels, and pulling up to the sandy island beach just have a way of melting away your troubles.  I mean, really, how hard can it be to get up for work each day when that is the view from your kayak office?!  As the old saying goes, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

I encourage each of you to find your passion, and make it your livelihood.  Of course it won't be easy, and it may take a few tries to find a way to make your dream profitable, but persistence pays off.  Take control of your life and your happiness.  Live your good life, simply.

If you happen to find yourself in the Tampa Bay area, please look us up and come out for a tour.  We offer guided and self-guided (read as rental) tours through Shell Key Preserve, leaving from Tierra Verde, which is near St. Pete Beach.  We'd love to have you!

-Karissa

Writing For Storytellers

As you may recall, I like to have my kids do some sort of school work over the summer.  My kids don't like it as much as I do, but I do try to make it more fun than regular school-year type work.  I try to use the kids' interests to build fun and interactive elective-type classes for summer time.  One year, we spent the summer learning the science behind cooking.  There were some lessons to read, some worksheets to complete, and a lot of cooking & eating.

Lately, my 12 year old has been very busy writing.  She has taken a real interest in storytelling.  She has several works in progress, from short stories to screenplays to full-on novels.  So this summer I thought it would be both fun and beneficial to give her a class on how to write a novel.

Of course, I'm NOT a novelist!  I am, however, pretty good at scouring the internet for information.  I spent a few weeks doing research and gathering resources from people who ARE novelists, and came up with a 7 unit course to take her all the way through the writing process.  I'm still debating whether or not to add a unit to the end about the editing process.  I kind of feel like that could be a whole course of its own.  

The included units are:

• Before You Write
• Story Formats
• Theme
• Character Development
• Set Building
• Subplots
• As You Write

To make all this information easier to access and organize, I compiled all the articles and worksheets into one website.  If you have a budding author in your house, are one yourself, or are just looking for quasi-educational summer activities for your tween or teen, please take a look at Writing for Storytellers.  As always, the resources and worksheets are free for personal use.  If you wish to share them, please link directly to either that website or this post.

Karissa

Sea Shell Picture Frame

As I mentioned in this week's Mid-week Morsel, Beach Fun, one of my family's favorite beach activities is shelling.  Any time we are on the beach at least one of us is bent over looking at shells.  In the last year, we have amassed quite a collection.  We also love watching the sunset.  I can't tell you how many pictures of sunsets we have saved on our computer and phones.  There is truly no better way to end the day than standing on the beach, watching a beautiful sunset with the ones you love.  This seashell picture frame DIY is a great way to preserve those treasured moments.

Start with any picture frame.  Repurpose an outdated one in your
 home, or pick up a cheap one from a yard sale.  The uglier the better.

If your frame is dark, like mine was, I recommend
 painting it a lighter color.  I found small can of peachy
 tan in my shed...perfect!

The picture turned out a little dark, but the next step
 is to coat the frame with glue (I used regular school
glue), and cover the frame with sand & a sprinkle of
glitter.  The glitter helps the sand sparkle like it does
in the sunshine.  I used sand from my yard, but you can
buy sand at craft stores or at home improvement stores.

Hot glue your shells around the frame.  I found it helpful
 to lay the shells around the frame to see how they would
fit and look before I started gluing.  Finally, add a picture
from your memorable event.  This sunset was on my
husband's birthday last year.

Decorating frames not only with shells, but any other object is a great way to enhance the memories you've captured on film...or in pixels.  It is also a great way to display collections.  Rocks, bottle caps, or any other small object can be used to decorate a frame.  What will you use?

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Beach Fun (and education)

For many people the summer is quickly coming to an end.  Families are heading to the beach to soak up the last of the summer sun.  Two favorite activities at the beach are building sandcastles and looking for seashells.  This week's mid-week morsel highlights two resources for taking sandcastle building and shelling to a whole new level.  First, Delray Beach, Florida has a very informative section on their website which explains all about sandcastles and the physics behind them.  And then, Seashells.org has an extensive seashell & sea creature identification guide.  Be sure to bring some of the shells you find home with you; this Saturday's post shows you how to preserve your favorite beach memories.

Karissa

Paste Paper Craft DIY

How many times have you wanted to do a paper craft, but couldn't find just the right paper?  Whether you scrapbook, make personalized cards, or do any other type of paper craft, finding just the right paper pattern can make or break the project.  I've discovered a simple and fun way to make your own patterned paper.  It's called paste paper.  It's a very simple concept.  Use colored paste to create patterns, designs, and pictures on paper.  Don't worry, you don't have to be Michelangelo to create really great paste paper.  I will be the first to tell you that when it comes to painting pictures, I have no artistic ability.  I do consider myself to be very creative, though.  Here's how to do it:

1.  Make your paste.  There are many different recipes online for making your own paste.  We tried a couple different ones. The one that worked best for us combined 3/4 cup of regular white flour with 2 cups cold water.  Stir them together in either a stainless steel pan or glass bowl.  Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then gradually bring it to a boil until the mixture thickens to about the consistency of pudding.  Note that if you plan to use powder paints, you should leave the mixture just a little thinner.  Pour the paste into a jar, and put it in the refrigerator to cool.

2.  Gather your tools.  Think outside the box.  Almost anything can be a tool for creating your design.  The kitchen is a great place to start your search.  We included a silicone basting brush, a lemon zester, a shot glass, a rubber grip jar opener, and forks in our tools.  Also consider objects like combs, sponges, textured fabrics like lace & netting, rubber stamps, and scrapbooking supplies.

3.  Get creative!  As one bookbinder stated, "Paste paper is essentially glorified finger painting."  Color your paste.  We put spoonfuls of paste in an egg carton, then added acrylic paint to it.  Now cover your paper with one or more colors. Experiment with different ways to apply the paste to the paper.  Using a paintbrush, sponge, and a spoon will all give you different looks.  Choose different tools to drag through the paste and reveal the white paper beneath.  You can also paint your paper with plain paint before adding your paste to reveal a color other than white.  Check out the sheet I made that reads, "Sadie's Book".  I painted the paper pink, added glitter to the wet paint & coated that with uncolored paste to seal in the glitter, then let it dry completely.  Next I used some scrapbooking letter stickers I had to add the title.  I covered the whole paper with black paste, and quickly removed the stickers to reveal sparkly pink letters.  Next, I dragged a scrapbooking decorative edge across the paper to create stripes.  Finally, I used the cap to a Sharpie to make circles on the stripes.

As I said before, I am in no way an artist.  However, with a little practice, or if you do have artistic ability, your paste papers can be absolutely stunning.  Here are a few pictures of paste papers created by true artists.  Click on any of the pictures to be taken to that artist's website.  

      

If your family decides to create your own paste papers, please post a picture on either my Facebook or Google+ page.  I'd love to see them!  And save your paper after you're done.  Next week's Mid-week Morsel has some great ideas for using your paste paper in craft projects!

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: 4th of July Crafts

Tomorrow is the 237th anniversary of our independence.  What a great reason to celebrate!  And children love to celebrate.  Waiting until dusk for the fireworks to start is so hard when you love to celebrate.  I've found a couple of websites that love to celebrate the 4th of July, too.  All Kids Network shares over 20 crafts kids can do to celebrate the 4th.  If you want more than crafts to help you celebrate, Enchanted Learning offers activity books, worksheets, and coloring pages in addition to crafts.  There's a whole lot of daylight between now and fireworks time, so break out your crafts supplies, warm up your printer, and get the party started.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Get Outdoors!

Spring is probably my favorite season.  It is a season full of hope and potential.  Nature is waking up from it's long winter nap, and everything is beautiful.  It just makes me want to be outdoors, enjoying the world around me.  But, sometimes, I don't know where to go to do the outdoor activities I want to do.  Park Visitor is a website I've found that allows visitors to search for parks, and other landmarks.  Search nearby, or where you'll be vacationing.  Search by park name, or by activity.  Visitors can also view pictures of the parks and reviews posted by other visitors.  All of these features make it so much easier to get out there and enjoy nature.  Don't tell the kids, but just maybe you can even sneak in a little education while you're there.

Karissa

School's Out...almost

May is here.  The kids are in the final stretch of the school year.  It's hard to believe another year of school is almost over.  This school year has been quite an adventure; one I'm sure the kids will never forget.  We moved to Florida just about a week before the school year started, so this has been a school year full of firsts.  Regardless of whether or not your school year has been quite as unique as ours, you & your children will want to remember this year and all the great memories it holds.  I've scoured the internet and found several free printable memory books to help put all those memories in one place.  Enchanted Learning has a memory book children can print and color.  Just look on the right side of the page, where non-members can print the individual pages of the book.  Elise Stoddard posted a fill-in-the-section memory book on Teachers Pay Teachers which is suitable for middle to upper elementary students.  Site registration is required to download the book, however both the registration and the download are free.  Fellow blogger and first grade teacher Cara Carroll created a memory book suitable for younger students.  Either visit her Teachers Pay Teachers store or click on the image to download it for free.  Teacher turned assistant principal, Alicia Lochridge made an 18 page, color memory book available for free at her Teachers Pay Teachers store.  It is suitable for younger & older students.  Third grade teacher, Ashleigh put together a 16 page, color memory book.  Visit her blog to download it for free.  It is suitable for older or younger students, however it may not appeal to older boys as much.  

With all of the parties and gifts, the end of the school year can get costly.   Here are some do-it-yourself, inexpensive gifts to make for your children's teachers.  First and foremost, iVillage has put together a list of do's and don'ts.  This is particularly helpful if you are new to giving gifts to teachers.  The Happy Home Fairy put together an extensive list of ideas.  So long, in fact, that she made it a two-part series.  Check out part 1 and part 2 to see them all.  Mique at Thirty Handmade Days has a few cute ideas as well.  Finally, the crew at Tip Junkie has put together a list of 24 ideas to show teacher appreciation.

Now that the teachers are taken care of, what do you send with your child to give to his/her classmates?  Don't worry, I found some affordable handmade ideas for that, as well.  Maura & Sheila, The Two Crafting Sisters, created adorable candy bags to give away.  Erin from Making Memories shared a dollar store goodie bag idea she made last year.  Rebecca, The Crafted Sparrow, has a "kool" gift idea for her son's classmates.  Finally, 24/7 Moms has found a way to help your children's classmates "have a ball".

Now that you have everyone at school taken care of, how can you make the last day of school special for your own child?  I found some very creative ways to show your child how proud you are of his/her accomplishments.  First, help build the excitement with this countdown to summer paper chain from Laurie over at Gallamore West.  When the day finally arrives, make them feel special throughout the whole day with this keepsake t-shirt idea from Awesome Craft Pins.  (S)he can even feel special at lunch with this lunch bag idea from Everything Pink.  However, after school is when the real celebrating begins.  Dixie Delights posted about how she celebrated her son's last day of school last year.  It was quite the extravaganza!  I also found this really fun finish line idea from Canadian blogger Gina Bell at East Coast Mommy.  Top it all off with this hand made keepsake meant to remind your child of all of his/her great qualities.  Confessions of a Teaching Junkie's Mrs. Wilson made them for her entire class, however I think they are great gifts for children at home as well.

Wow.  This is a much bigger post than I expected it to be when I came up with the idea.  Hopefully, there are plenty of ideas to help you celebrate the end of the school year with your children.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Printable Pattern Puzzles

Patterns are an important part of developing math skills.  Furthermore, understanding patterns help children problem solve, make predictions, and use reasoning skills in all other areas of their life.  This week's Mid-week Morsel highlights a resource found right here at Simply The Good Life.  When I first started the blog, I posted the Pattern Puzzles I created several years ago on my Free Printables page, but did not write a post about them.  Since traffic has been very low to that page, I decided to write a post about it.  There are 10 different pre-made pattern pages (meant to be duplex printed), 2 blank pattern pages for creating your own patterns (again, meant to be 2-sided), and 1 page of numbers to cut apart (print as many of this page as you wish).  I recommend printing them all on card stock, and laminating them if possible (particularly if you want them to last through more than one child).  I've considered creating more pages with more complex patterns such as ones using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  I'd love to have your feedback.  Would you like more Pattern Puzzles?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: Warfare by Duct Tape!

As a continuation of last week's theme, this week's slice of the good life has more home made fun for children.  A few years ago I found the website, Warfare by Duct Tape.  I loved it!  What could make little (and big) boys happier than weapons and duct tape!  It is run by two creative and enterprising brothers who have created how-to ebooks on making your own duct tape weapons.  The ebooks are available for purchase from their website and also on CurrClick.  Normally I only recommend resources that are free, however I feel that if you have a child who is interested in historical arms and armament, then these ebooks are well worth the price.  Also, if you'd like a sneak peek, they offer a free Throwing Axe booklet as a sample of what you'll find in the ebooks for sale.  

Mid-week Morsel: String Games

Remember how much fun it was to make Jacob's Ladder out of string when you were a kid?  Can you remember how to do it?   Many New Year's Resolutions include wishes to spend more time with family, so for this week's Mid-week Morsel I found a website with instructions on Jacob's Ladder and many other figures and games to play with string.  Cut a few lengths of yarn, and spend some fun quality time with your kids today.