Roadtrip Ready: Elastic Bookmarks

Hi Friends...I'm (the other) Kelli and I am honored to be over at THE Kelli's spot today.

I blog over at Outside My Kitchen Window where I randomly talk about my life...my walk with Christ, my hubby and two kids, crafting, and my attempt at organizing my life :)

Today I'm sharing something neat that I discovered a few years ago...simple elastic bookmarks.

On road trips I read a lot in the car and so does my oldest child.  Since we have enough stuff to keep track of on a road trip it is nice to have something that we don't have to worry about losing.  These bookmarks stay in place all of the time...so Jamison and I don't have to worry about losing our place in our book if we happen to fall asleep while reading.  This also eliminates having to search the already-crowded car for a bookmark.

Here's what you'll need:

Charms, rings & elastic string.  All of these things you can find in either Michaels or Hobby Lobby in the jewelry making section.  I found all of this at Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite places).

There are usually a wide variety of charms to choose from...I'm using this one for Jamison's teacher.  The one I made for Jamison has a cupcake charm :)

Here's another charm and that thought was really cute.

Once you have all of your materials you will measure your string...you need 15 inches.

Depending on which charm you have will depend on whether or not you will need the ring.  This apple charm already has an extra ring so you can just slide the string directly through the ring of the charm.

This charm has a smaller ring and does not have an extra ring so you will need to take one of your rings and attach it to the charm...like you would attach a key ring.

Now you are able to string your charm.

See...

*Please excuse the blurry picture*  You will make a knot to secure the charm.

Then make a knot at the top.

Finished product!

You will then simply loop the bookmark around the book to hold your spot.  You can leave the bookmark in the book while you're reading too because it doesn't get in the way.  This way you never have to take it out of the book...you just move it to the next place that you stop.

See...doesn't fall out!

So there you have it...a simple bookmark...leaving you with one less thing to worry about and allowing for more joy on the road.

Thanks for having me Kelli :)

Roadtrip Ready: Make Roadtrip T-shirts

Today's Roadtrip idea is one that is SUPER fun and really easy to personalized for your trip: Roadtrip T-shirts! I've made vacation shirts for my boys before, and we always get so many complements on their shirts. Plus having a cute personalized shirt for the trip makes it that much more fun for the kiddos, and saves you a little money because you won't have to buy those expensive and not very cute touristy t-shirts!

You can really make almost anything into a cute shirt for almost any kind of roadtrip:

Mickey {here's my version} or Minnie {here's Amanda's cute version} for a trip to Disney

a silhouette of the Statue of Liberty for a visit to New York City

a surfboard with waves for a trip to the beach

your kid's favorite animal for a trip to the zoo

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I decided to make camper {aka Airstream} shirts for my boys since that is going to be our mode of transportation for this roadtrip, and I think they turned out SUPER cute. I especially love the silhouette of the Airstream on the tie dye shirts...kind of has a hippie feel:) You can also make a girly version of this shirt, but since I don't have any girls to make shirts for you'll have to check out my friend Liz's cute camper shirt.

I didn't do a step by step for this shirt {mostly because I have a million things on my to do list and I didn't have time to stop and take pictures at every step} so you can check out my other crafty T-SHIRT tutorials to get more detail on how to make cute Roadtrip T-shirts for your next trip!

Roadtrip Ready: 10 Tips to Survive Disney with Small Kids

Hi!  I'm Jill, the Mom from over at the Barnes Yard and I am so excited to be here today at RTSM!

My friend, Kelli, is going to have so much fun road trippin' with her family this summer!  I'm totally in love with her Airstream!

So the Barnes Yard doesn't do road trips.  I know!  We are super wimps!  I've got two kids that get barf-a-rama the minute we leave our town! 

Last month we went to Disneyland via plane.

I do have some great tips for staying (somewhat) sane while doing Disney with small children!

1.  Make lists 

Making lists is actually one of my favorite pastimes...Anyway, each day before we headed to the park, I made a list of things I would like to accomplish, i.e. picture of kids with Mickey ears on, ride on It's a Small World, meet Rapunzel, etc.  That way I could stay focused whilst being pulled in a million directions by over-excited children.

2.  Bring Grandparents

Honestly, there is no way we could have pulled off this trip without the Grandparents in tow.  They were there to push strollers, wait with the "too shorts" while the bigger kids went on rides, and take anyone in the middle of a meltdown back to the hotel for a nap.  We LOVE them! 

3.  $$ saving tip: Buy your Mouse gear before you get to the park.

I knew I wanted to dress my kids Disney every day so I stocked up months before our trip at Target, Old Navy, WalMart, and disneystore.com

 I also swiped Kelli's idea of making our own autograph books!

4.  Wear bright colors

This is what my daughter was wearing the day we lost her.  Yep, we totally lost her for about ten minutes.  Luckily my eagle eyes spotted her bright skirt from a mile away!

5.  Bring your own stroller and rent one

We brought our own strollers for the babies but, let me tell you, it was nice to have something to push around all of our drinks, snacks, cameras, purses, and purchases in, plus have a place for the big kids to sit when they got really whiny.  

6.  Don't eat too many Oreos the first night.

My husband made fun of me for leaving a note, but seriously, I would have felt really bad if the maid had put her hand in that black mess.

7.  If they love Princesses, give them Princesses!

You better believe that I rode on that Ariel ride 50 times too!

8.  Eat at IHOP

Kids eat free with purchase of adult meal.  We had 6 adults and 6 kids so this totally worked in our favor.

9.  Get a special souvenir  

The days were long and super exhausting (we estimated that we walked 10-12 miles each day), but every time I look at this I will remember how magical it was for my kiddos (well, at least the two older ones)!

10.  Act like a kid and HAVE FUN!