My Summer Bonding Project with and for the Girls

You’ve seen them before. They’re actually quite pricey and they’re hard as heck to find; especially when you have two girls constantly begging you to find one. They are actually really cute and I really wish I knew about them back when I was a kid. I love these things. They make a bedroom doorway look so pretty. Yes, I’m talking about Door Beads. The cute little “glamorized” door beads that make entering a room so much fun.

Let me back up and tell you where this idea, for us, began. When I went to San Antonio last week; my sister, mother and I found many joys in visiting the local Goodwill stores. You know the saying- when the kids are away the moms will play…yeah, well that’s what we did. While our kids (7 of them) were on a three day/13 and a half hour (a day) BBC, we were shopping and having a good ole time. As for the kids; it was a blast; tiring, but a blast. They had so much fun learning Bible Scriptures, eating snow cones, burgers and pizza; playing games, watching movies as well as participating in many events both outdoors and in.

It was a hoot- to see the kids come home exhausted the way that they were. Furthermore, it was a very busy time for all of them. We all woke at 6:30 am to leave the house at 7:45. The first BBC started at 8:30am and it took us about that long to get from one side of town to the other. Once we dropped them off we’d head home. We’d hang out together watching the youngest two and my nephew who was a special needs child and could not attend. At 4:pm we’d leave again in order to pick them up on time (4:30 pick-up). We’d then take them to dinner and head straight for the next BBC across the street. This one was from 6 – 9pm. Because it was too short to take the 35 minute ride back and forth (especially with gas prices the way they are right now) we ended up sticking around close to the church and ended up visiting the Goodwill stores while we waited.

Anyways; to make a very long story short. I found some really cute decorative door beads (along with some jeans, shirts toys etc…). I brought them home with me this past weekend and decided to hang them up.

Well, because of some sticky little fingers in the house that liked playing with things; the beads were all a mess. There was no way I was going to free these strings from the knots that engulfed them. So, I did what any mother would do after 5 hours of trying to free the knots- I threw them away.

I talked to my husband about the possibility of, soon, purchasing some beads and making my own. Shockingly he said “yes, we’ll go in just a minute”…and we did. We headed for Wally-World (AKA- Wal-Mart) and went to the craft section. I found a box of 10,000 beads for $10.00. I had all the other material at home so we were set.

When we got home, I sat my happy behind at the table and began beading. My girls helped tremendously. They gave me the beads and helped me choose the way they wanted the strands to look. It took all of about 3 hours that night to get 4 strands done and it was quitting time. The next morning, I made my coffee and began beading again. It took another full day to complete the rest. Of course, the girls got board with it after a while, but I kept trucking. I was determined to finish this project if it’s the last thing I did!

Right before bed I had completed all the beading. I added some nifty Glue Dots ( Glue Dots, BTW, are amazing products) to the elastic strip then I sewed a strip of material over top of the elastic to reinforce the strength of the strands and it was done. When hub finished working; he came in and helped me hang them up. It felt so good!!!

Would you like to see the end results? (I hope you can see them well enough)…

I’d take you a little further in the room, but then you’d see the mess my girls didn’t clean (LOL). I would have tried to get in a little closer too, but the camera got fuzzy and the hall way is a little smaller then I thought. Sorry about that…

So, have you ever created something for much cheaper than what you might purchase them at the store?

I can honestly say, I’m proud of myself. I saved (aside from the time) about $30.00 by doing it at home. The time spent with my girls was priceless, even though they may not see it the way I do. I am happy to have been able to do a project that my girls adore. They have had so much fun waking in and out of the room today and I don’t think that will get old anytime soon.

The purpose of this post (aside from already wanting to share this project) is… I am entering a sweepstakes, hosted by TwitterMom, For a chance to win any of the following prizes:

• Fifty (50) qualifying random participants will receive a $30 Amazon.com Gift Card
• In addition, one (1) qualifying random participant will win a $500 Amazon.com Gift Card! (this is what I’m crossing my fingers for)

You are more than welcome to visit Glue Dots Facebook Fan Page for more information about this giveaway. You can even visit TwitterMom’s forum page for more information on this giveaway (along with rules). Wish me luck!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest to be eligible to receive a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here

This post was written by

barb – who has written 1177 posts on Blogfully.

Barb is wife to a taxidermist and mother to three outrageously rambunctious kids (ages 8, 10 & 18). She's a stay at home mom by choice and a blogger by surprise. She's your typical fun loving, happy-go-lucky gal...but probably the most hyperly enthusiastic one you'll ever meet...She loves to write and has so much fun connecting with everyone!

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