This month we have had record traffic and interaction on Impress Your Kids—in fact, we’ve grown 300% since January! I am so honored and humbled that people are reading and getting involved with the blog. Thank you so much!

In honor of YOU, I’m going to link to some people who have been inspired by Impress Your Kids and documented it on their own blogs. Check YOU out!

We Love Sally (& Jesus) by Raising Deep Roots {a cute version of our fingerpaint canvas!}

Thrifty Thursday at Sneaky Mommy {more fingerpainting–with some different and awesome scriptures!}

“A” Scripture & Craft by Hope In the Daily Grind {a cute start to the Alphabet Scriptures!}

Shoes2Share at Counting My Blessings {More kids helping kids in Haiti! I love love love this!}

Stumbling on Gentleness by Mrtyle’s Turltes {an encouraging post about parenting!}

Our Father’s Day Gift at the McGinnis Message {a cuter version of our popsicle stick photo craft!}

And one final feather in my cap–a facebook fan said she used the Go To Church post as a bulletin insert at their church this week! How cool is that?!

Again, thank you for joining me as I journey to impress my kids. I’m honored to journey with you.

linked to itscome2this’ Saturday Stumbles

Giant Bubbles at Childhood Magic {I must do this!}

Tokens & Chore Chart at I’m Topsy Turvy

Circle Shape Viewer {I can’t find the blog where I got this from…she doesn’t have a link in her profile, but just print out the circle and attach it to a paint stick for kids to look through to find more circles! She’s got tons of shapes, too!} Lindsay from Bytes of Memory found the blog–it’s by Love My Life x4!!

The Busy Box by Casa Camancho {Love this!!}

Free Entrance Days to 100 National Parks from Field Trips With Sue {We missed August but there are dates in September and November.}

linked to itscome2this’ Saturday Stumbles

Pretty Peacock Pictures by Frugal Family Fun Blog {perfect for the Letter P!}

Tommy Nelson Kids Blog {a blog by Christian Kids Publisher Tommy Nelson}

Giving Your Full Attention by Amy at Let’s Explore {easy tip and great reminder!}

Toddler Busy Bag Resource by Delicious Ambiguity {this is a linky of over 100 great ideas!}

Jelly Telly {have you been here yet?!}

linked to itscome2this Saturday Stumbles

You can learn a lot from me. Not because I am so amazing and creative. Nope. Because I learn (and mess up) as I go. And might as well learn from my mistakes instead of making your own.

Here’s our letter “C” verse from way back when. And apparently the hard-c, soft-c, c-h combination thing didn’t even cross my mind. I picked CAT and a verse that begins with CH. Which doesn’t help Lydia learn her letter sounds whatsoever.

But at least I drew a cute cat, right? Right?! And Lydia did do some nice matching of the black and pink pipe-cleaner whiskers. Just lovely!

I cannot for the life of me remember what else we did with this craft. I’m sure we checked out some “C” books and talked about cats. Or children. However, this verse is ingrained into Lydia’s head. This is one of those we say over and over again. Well, really, my husband and I don’t say it. We ask Lydia, “What’s our ‘C’ verse?” And she’ll say it back to us. Then God’s Word reminds her of what she should be doing and how she should be acting. So, even though it wasn’t a great phonics choice, it was a good choice for my little girl’s heart!

Anyway, if you’d like some cute (and phonetically accurate) alphabet crafts, you MUST download No Time For Flashcard’s Alphabet Crafts ebook. It’s only $8 and totally worth it. (Look at the cute “V” craft Lydia and I did from it!)

See more of our ABC scripture crafts!

Pasta Dying at Moments of Mommyhood

List of Best Picture Books at Holy Experience {some of my faves are on this list!}

Happy Sunday at Joy’s Hope {isn’t that nice?}

Around the World in 40 Weeks {amazing idea for teaching, crafting and learning with your kids!}

DIY Notebooks & Crayons…to Haiti with love from Ashley Ann photography {super wow.}

Speaking of Haiti, our Shoes2Share linky party is Monday! You’ve got one more day to scrounge up some shoes & get involved with this awesome project!

Did you think I forgot? Well, I almost did. But never fear–here are the 2 winners for the Yancy CD and devo book combo: April from To Live is to Love and Ashley from Lindler5! Check your inbox, ladies or shoot me an email (amanda at impress your kids dot com) with your snail mail address!

linked to Saturday Stumbles

I told you I was going to post all the ABC scriptures Lydia and I did before I started this blog. Well, the letter A was a pretty good one. But when I realized *this* was all I had for the letter B, I thought, “Oh, wow. That’s a little embarassing.” Not too crafty. Not even very thematic. Oh well. You know by now this blog is not about craftiness…it’s about dropping God’s Word in our kids’ hearts, however and whenever we can!

I remember I just let Lydia look through all my stickers (I have quite a lot because I’ve been saving them all my life. Seriously, do you see the red & yellow “b” on the left? I got that as a prize inside Alphabits cereal when I was a kid.). Hmm. Where was I? Oh yeah, I let Lydia look through all my stickers until we found one that started with the letter “B”.

Our verse is Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus…” The rest of the verse says, “…and you will be saved—you and your household.” When she was little, I just gave her snippets of scripture because I wasn’t sure if she could memorize a long piece. Now I know, I should have given her the whole thing–including the reference. Preschoolers can memorize anything, so make it worth your time and theirs by teaching the whole verse!

I can’t remember what else we did with this verse except I KNOW we read The B Book by Jan and Stan Bernstain. Lydia still loves that book and I can quote the whole thing for you: “Big. Big Brown. Big Brown Bear. Big Brown Bear, Blue Bull…”

Cover of The B Book (Bright and Early Books)

I don’t want to leave your craftiness completely unsatisifed, so here are some really cute “B” crafts for you and your kiddos:

Buzzy B at No Time For Flash Cards

B is for Butterfly at Totally Tots

“B” Activities (including this beehive!) at Mozi Esme

Letter B Handwriting Practice at Christian Preschool Printables

Do you have any fun “B” activities? Feel free to leave a link!

For several months I’ve been wanting to make something on a canvas to hang in my kids’ rooms. There are so many cute tutorials and ideas around the interweb. I’ll admit I’m just a crafty wannabe. But after seeing Book Inspired Nursery Art at Silly Eagle Books and  Faux Wood Letter Tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets, I was pining after a canvas in my kids’ rooms. Finally I ran across Messy Masterpiece at *explanation required and knew it was right up my alley! All you need is a canvas and a preschooler willing to fingerpaint! Oh, and one more thing. Alphabet stickers.

But I didn’t have any alphabet stickers. So, what’s a girl to do?

I made my own. Yes, I cut out letters by hand. What? You can’t cut letters out by hand? Well, why didn’t you say so? Here’s the basic tutorial:

I used this same technique to cut my letters out of the contact paper, then I placed the words on the canvas. I chose a phrase from my very favorite book, The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. It’s a phrase that describes God’s love for His people “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love”.

Once the letters were arranged how I wanted, I let my daughter crack out the paint. I chose two pinks and she did those at the same time.

Once the pink dried we did Leaf Green.

After it all dried, I peeled the letters off and VOILA!

But I couldn’t let my son be left out. So, as I peeled the letters off of Lydia’s canvas, I carefully placed them on Asa’s. Then, I gave him two shades of grey and one orange.

I right-justified his and I really like the white space to the left.

You can see up close that the paint really spread underneath the stickers, but from far away, I think they look pretty swanky!

I’m so excited that my kids will have a constant reminder of God’s great love for them right in their room!

So, do you love it as much as I do?!

(ps–yes, I see the misspelling on the orange canvas. If you don’t see it, don’t go back and try to find it, please! ack!)

linked to:
Today’s Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On!
Sugar Bee: Take a Look Tuesday
Tutorial Tuesday
Tot Tuesday
Lucky Linky Tuesday

Win A Modern Eden Poster, iPod App and Tote at ohAmanda {yeah, it’s my own blog, but seriously this stuff is cute!}

Simply Audiobooks has a FREE audiobook every month. This month is Anne of Green Gables! ChristianAudio.com does the same thing and right now you can get AW Tozer’s The Pursuit of God.

Make Your Own Water Table by Fireflies and Jellybeans

Quick Trick: Playing on Positive Behavior by Teach Mama

Summer Kids Craft: Weaving Without a Loom at Scribbit

Win a Hallmark Recordable Storybook at 5 Minutes For Mom

Much Ado About Names…Again by Jodilightful {awesome way to pray for your kids!}

Oreo Moon Phases by Casa Camancho {makes me want to teach Lydia about the moon! think she’s too young?}

linked to saturday stumbles at itscome2this

Panda Bear Rice Balls by ME {my guest post at the fabulous No Time For Flash Cards!}

20 Upside Down Prayers for My Children by Lisa Tawn Bergen {she is a fabulous author & now I’m addicted to her blog!}

What Every Summer Needs: A Peace Retreat at Holy Experience {beautiful. so beautiful it hurts!}

My Alphabet Book by Today’s Housewife {easy & fun idea for teaching the ABCs}

Motherhood and Identity by Kat at Inspired to Action {you’ll want to read this one a few times!}

Parenting from the Overflow at The MOD Squad {have you seen this new blog just for moms with girls?}

Don’t forget! Our week-long “Have a New Kid by Friday” series begins on Monday. Don’t forget to grab the book if you want to play along!

Do you have a post of your favorite links? Add your list to itscome2this & her Saturday Stumbles!

I have to apologize for such a light week of posts! It was a crazy week–my daughter was at Princess Ballet Camp, my son had to get x-rays and Leigh’s sweet good-bye post. I guess they all threw me for a loop! Don’t worry, I’ve got lots of fun links for you today and I’ll be back full force on Monday! Happy Weekend!

Faux Wood Letter Tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets {super cute room decor & really easy!}

Polymer Clay Necklaces by Muffin Tin Mom {oh, here’s another great activity for the Fruit of the Spirit!}

Book Bash by Casa Camancho {a fun book party & reward!}

Biblical Discipline at 1+1+1=1 {oh, I want to read this post a few times!}

Free Printable Bookplate link at Silly Eagle Books {so adorable!}

linked to saturday stumbles at itscome2this