Tom Ward, whose work will appear in The Best of Instructables book we’re currently editing, has just posted an awesome new “extreme business card.” It uses a matrix of 5×15 0603 LEDs driven by a PIC16F57 MCU. He says you can get the parts cost down to about each in quantity. Not the kind of card you’d give out on street corners, but if you *really* want to impress somebody…

Dot Matrix Business Card

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The weather is getting hotter & hotter. Tomorrow there is a lot of chatter about a seriously hot day. Cool drinks are much needed when the wether is hot. They’re fun to make, look pretty and actually keep you cool all day. (assuming your sippin’ all day)

After finding out about some health issues posed by drinking decaf coffee as well as reading about the process of extracting the caffeine, I’ve been looking for alternatives. I found Teeccino, which is an herbal blend of caffeine free coffee. I also read in the book Raising Baby Green > By Dr. Alan Greene that the healthy extracting process is called The Swiss Water process. Many coffee companies from Starbucks- Seattle’s Best offer decaf coffee made from this process, which is great!

One of my favorite things to drink is iced coffee, if you didn’t pick up on where I was going. I’ve found one of the best ways to do this is make a tray of coffee-infused ice cubes. That way when they start to melt the flavor doesn’t go away- it actually increases! But of course lemonade, made fresh is always one of the most refreshing drinks.. I’ll have to look into making my own soon.

In other worldly subjects, I believe I need to give up cheese, again. I met with my Gastro Doc and well- just like I had suspected.. the dairy issue has returned! I wish all cheese-based dishes a sad goodbye.

This shot is of my belly at 20 weeks. If I was correct when I gave them my weight, I’ve gained 21 pounds! Um yeah. Luckily I don’t feel too big. Although we need to get our bed put together, because it gets more & more difficult to roll outta bed everyday!

My crafty plan for today is to cut out a bunch of fleece coffee sleeves. Sketch & cut a couple of appliques, to add to some hand-me-down baby clothing- to refresh them and the list goes on. Is it crazy to be thinking about the holidays? Oh don’t forget the new Project Runway starts tonight! yay xo
Have a great day hobos!

Valentine Headband (Super Simple)

Cut a strip of pink construction paper about 2 inches wide, fit it around your childs head to make the headband, and staple together. Next, cut several hearts of different sizes and colors ranging from about 4 inches across to 1 inch across. Glue the hearts onto the headband randomly until the headband is completely covered. Decorate the headband with glitter, sequins, stickers, markers, etc. and let dry completely. Now you have a beautiful Valentines Day headband that children will absolutely love to wear!

Lollipop Mice (Template Provided)

The inspiration for this craft came from a craft book many years ago, and I created a template for Lollipop Mice here.

Print the template out onto construction paper (red, purple, or pink construction looks great) and cut out the two mouse heads. Use a hole punch or a sharp pair of scissors (adult job) to punch holes in the nose where indicated. Thread a 3-4 inch length pipe cleaner through the top two holes to form whiskers. Do the same with the bottom two holes. Slip a lollipop down through the loops provided by the pipe cleaners. These make really great party favors!

Toilet Paper Tube Valentine Butterfly (Template Provided)

It just wouldnt be crafting if we didnt make something out of a recycled toilet paper cardboard tube. Youll need a cardboard tube, construction paper (any color you choose), gluestick, wiggle eyes (optional), and pipe cleaners (optional). You can use this template for this project if you want.

Wrap a cardboard tube with a sheet of colored construction paper and glue in place. Cut out two hearts that are about 4 inches across and two of a different color that are about 3 inches across. Glue the small hearts into the center of the larger hearts. Glue the two large hearts into place as the butterfly wings. If you dont use the face provided with the template, cut out two small antenas (or use pipe cleaners) and glue in place. Glue on the wiggle eyes and make your butterflys face. My girls really enjoyed making these!

If youre looking for more Valentines Crafts to get started early with your children, youll find lots of Valentines Day Crafts and fun stuff to do listed here.

The Oakley Ballet Center and associated Footworks Youth Ballet is located in Ventura at 1594 Saratoga Avenue.  Footworks Youth Ballet performs at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center.  The Oakley Ballet Center offers classes, lessons and workshops for children ages 2 and up as well as teens and adults.  For more information visit www.footworksyouthballet.org or call 805.676.1600.

The main star of the film is Nim, a young girl who lives with her father, a marine biologist, on a remote island. She is home schooled and spends her time surrounded by exotic animals or escaping with her favourite books. However disaster strikes when her father fails to return from a sailing expedition. Nim then turns to the hero of her favourite book, Alex Rover, for help via e-mail. But it turns out that the author with whom she is communicating is nothing like her hero. I don’t want to spoil the story by giving away too many details, but both characters have to learn to overcome difficulties, and there is a happy ending

Whilst adults may find large parts of the plot rather inplausible, the scenery is stunning and my children thought the film was great fun. They especially liked the fact that main character was an all-action girl. All in all a big thumbs up from us.

WHMI

Town Hall Forum Shines Light On Underage Drinking IssuesWHMI, MI - 3 hours agoAlcohol use among kids starts early and increases rapidly with age, which is why organizers say it’s so important for parents to play an active role in …

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