Mother of Pearl #2: 3 DIY Mother's Day Gifts that Celebrate Family

Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother's Day blog series. The series is week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today's best writer's (Tricia Goyer, Megan Alexander, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Beth Engelman, Holley Gerth, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, and more). I hope you'll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother's Day.

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And to all you MOMS out there! Happy Mother's Day!

3 DIY Mother’s Day Gifts that Celebrate Family By Beth Engelman

This Mother’s Day, celebrate family with this crafty games the whole family can enjoy.  

Block Photo Puzzle
Not only does this 6-sided photo puzzle provide hours of family fun, but it’s also a great way to reuse favorite family photos.

Materials:
•    9 - Wooden Blocks (Use old alphabet blocks)
•    6 - 8 x 10 Photograph Prints or Colored Copies
•    Ruler
•    Scissors
•    Mod Podge and Paintbrush

Directions:
1.  Arrange blocks in a square and measure the length and width of the square.
2. Measure and cut print to the exact same size as the 9-block square.
3. Place blocks in a square on top of print. Position blocks so they’re lined up neatly and as close together as possible.
4. Trace and cut the outline of each block.
5. Glue print pieces to blocks using Mod Podge. Set aside to dry and then seal with 1-2 top layers of Mod Podge.
6. Repeat process until all 6 sides of the blocks are covered with different photographs.
Thank you to the creative folks at www.photojojo.com for sharing this idea!

 “Go Fish with the Family” Card Game
This gift is perfect for Moms who like card games. Another bonus?  There’s always room to “grow” the deck.

Materials:
•    Camera
•    Double stick tape, or a glue stick
•    Several pieces of cardstock (one color)
•    Scissors

Directions:
1.    Take pictures of each family member and develop the pictures in duplicates (3x5 or 4x6 is fine, just make sure all the pictures are the same size).
2.    Turn the pictures into playing cards by gluing or taping a piece of card-stock to the backside of each picture.
3.    Game ideas include “Go Fishing with the Family” which is similar to “Go Fish” but, instead of matching numbers, the object is to collect matching pairs of photos. “Memory” is another fun game to play.  Place the cards face down in a grid and try to find matching pairs of photos.

Family Bingo
In my house, Bingo is always a big hit because regardless of age or skill level, everyone has the same chance to win.  However this version is extra special because the playing boards are populated with pictures of family members.

Materials:
•    Color Coordinated Game Boards (download here)
•    Images of Family Members (use photographs, drawings or clip art)
•    Bingo Markers (pennies, pebbles or buttons)
•    Glue and Scissors

Directions:
1.    Create the game boards:  Download and print desired number of game-boards. Remember each player gets a different game board.
2.    Color-copy and paste images of family members onto each game board.  Remember to paste one person per square and make each board slightly different.
3.    Make “call-out cards” by writing the name of each family member in yellow, green, blue, purple and pink (which coordinates with the colors on the board)
4.    To Play: Game play is similar to traditional Bingo except the caller will randomly select a call-out card and then read the color and person.  For example, “Blue, Grandma Mary” means there is a picture of Grandma Mary in a blue square.  Just like Bingo, the first person to get 5 in a row (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) wins!

Beth Engelman is a columnist for the Sun Times News Group’s Pioneer Press. Her column “Mommy on a Shoestring,” appears in over 30 local papers around Chicago area as well as on the Sun-times website where you can also view her Mommy on a Shoestring video series. She is also a regular on “You and Me this Morning” on WCIU and is frequent contributor for WGN America’s Midday News at Noon.  Recently, Beth was chosen by a celebrity panel from NBC Universal and iVillage to become one of 15 national  “mom” correspondents for NBC’s popular website, http://www.ivillage.com/ (over 3 million visitors a day) where she reports on issues that affect moms, families and communities such as bullying, divorce and weight loss.  For more information visit Beth at http://www.mommyonashoestring.com/

LB Games Sweepstakes

Inspired Media Entertainment/LB Games is having a sweepstakes on their Facebook page. Sign up here or here for a chance to win an iPad or a visa pre-paid card. The sweepstakes ends 3/22/2011.

Game Review: LEFT BEHIND: Rise of the Antichrist

Left Behind: Rise Of The AntiChrist is a really fun adventure game. We’ve actually never seen the Left Behind movies or read the Left Behind book series. But that didn’t keep us from enjoying the game! It must have taken a lot of work to design all the buildings and people in the setting of futuristic New York City. The graphics are excellent. A word of warning: Don’t start out without going through at least part of the tutorials. It will leave you frustrated and confused. Once we figured it out, we spent literally hours recruiting people to our cause, building everything from an international bank to a mission training center to a cathedral to a coffee shop and more! It was fun to create helicopters, Abrams tanks, and Humvees with our weapons depot. You can train new friends/recruits to be builders, worship leaders, spies, missionaries, snipers, prayer warriors, and more! They all serve a specific purpose and have different cool things that you can make them. You’ll have to play the game to find out exactly what ;). There are different levels that a person can go through to become a more advanced version of their trade. For example, you put a "friend" inside the clinic and make him/her into a medic. Then, you put him/her inside the mission training center (where the advanced training happens) and you can make that person into a nurse and then a doctor. By the way, the medical profession is important for healing those who are injured by the enemy. Speaking of the enemy, that’s where things really get exciting! Battling the forces of evil (demons and minions of the AntiChrist) through prayer and weapons shows our need to fight both physical and spiritual warfare. You can take command of 3 forces: Tribulation, Peacekeepers, and the American Militia. Over 45 missions and over 40 unit types!

Our computer (where we installed this game) is not hooked up to the internet so we didn’t get to try the multi-player games but I’m sure they’d be a blast, too. The box says that you can choose to play with up to 7 friends online for free. This game is appropriate for teens and up because of violence (fighting/shooting).

~I received this CD-rom for free from LB Games in an exchange of my honest review. LB Games produces quality PC-based Christian interactive games for children, teens and adults. Their games are supported by Focus on the Family, the Billy Graham Center and many preachers who appreciate that their games provide a healthy alternative to other violent games. I share their approval.

Game Review: Keys of the Kingdom

Keys of the Kingdom is an interesting brain puzzle/logic game. You go through different levels solving puzzles, trying to get the brick with the lock and the brick with the key to come together. It gets tricky as the levels pass by! There are bombs and pulleys that make the puzzles more complicated. Like-colored bricks blow up if you pull them together. A Bible verse pops up between each level. There are 100 levels. My daughter likes the pretty sparkles that happen whenever you click on something. We’ve enjoyed solving the challenging puzzles and being encouraged with God’s Word. We’re looking forward to helping Sir Lancelot succeed in freeing the people from the oppressive king. The journey to the King’s castle is filled with puzzling adventures :). Lots of fun for everyone!

~I received this CD-rom for free from LB Games in an exchange of my honest review. LB Games produces quality PC-based Christian interactive games for children, teens and adults. Their games are supported by Focus on the Family, the Billy Graham Center and many preachers who appreciate that their games provide a healthy alternative to other violent games. I share their approval.

Game Review: Charlie Church Mouse Super Pak

Charlie Church Mouse Super Pak includes a 3-game set: Preschool (for ages 2-4), Kindergarten (for ages 4-6), and Early Elementary (for ages 6-8). Kids learn age appropriate skills through 18 exciting Bible stories such as Jonah and the Whale, Noah’s Ark, Three Wise Men, Birth of a Savior, The Prodigal Son, Queen Esther, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, David and Goliath, Ruth, and more. Lessons cover colors, shapes, numbers, letters, measurements, addition/subtraction, spelling, synonyms/antonyms, time, etc.

Each story has fun games. In the story of Ruth, there is a game where Ruth tries to gather grain while avoiding the birds and the mole. It is similar to Packman. This was one of my son’s favorite games. Another game from the story of Daniel and the Lions Den teaches kids how to tell time. The animations are colorful and lively but aren’t realistic. For example, in Zacchaeus & The Big Tree, they had a car and in David and Goliath, David’s dad called him on a cell phone telling him to go bring his brothers food and the food he brought was pizza. I recommend Charlie Church Mouse Super Pak because it is educational and entertaining while instilling kids the Biblical accounts that will stay with them throughout their lives. Great value!

~I received this CD-rom for free from LB Games in an exchange of my honest review. LB Games produces quality PC-based Christian interactive games for children, teens and adults. Their games are supported by Focus on the Family, the Billy Graham Center and many preachers who appreciate that their games provide a healthy alternative to other violent games. I share their approval.

Friday's Fave Five #36

It's time for another Friday's Fave Five (hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story).

My Fave Five this week:-

1. You can get a FREE sample copy of "An Encouraging Word," magazine for Christian women of all ages. $5.00 value! Enter promo code: AEWFB in the check out process and click "Continue." Please feel free to share this offer with your friends! http://www.anencouragingword.net/aewsample.htm

2. We've had a blast singing with Praise Champion (Karaoke World Tour) CDrom. Great song selections (lots of hymns, praise and worship songs, Christmas songs, songs by Lincoln Brewster, Kari Jobe, etc.)! We all try to get platinum records :).

3. We had so much fun playing games with our Chinese and Taiwanese friends last Friday night! We played Whoonu, Apples to Apples, Would You Rather...?, and I Have Never. Lots of laughter and I discovered I enjoy crispy anchovy snacks :).

4. Tomorrow, January 22, Focus on the Family is co-sponsoring the first annual Life and Justice Conference at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. You can also join live via simulcast. Discover how you can be an advocate for the preborn child, orphans, those living with special needs, the elderly, or victims of human trafficking and genocide. For more details: http://www.lifeandjusticeconference.org/?page_id=817 

5. I enjoyed reading Life Without Limits and highly recommend it. This inspiring book is written by Nick Vujicic, who was born without arms or legs. He is living his life to the fullest with gusto for God's glory! Please take a few minutes to read my review here and rate it.  Thanks so much!

Games at Swagbucks

If you are my regular blog visitors, you already know that I love Swagbucks. I like to redeem my swag bucks for Amazon gift cards :). I earn my swag bucks just by searching online which I do often anyway.
Today is the first day that Swagbucks offers Free Games to the public. People can now randomly earn swag bucks by playing games or participate in game tournaments for a chance to earn even more swag bucks.
It's free to sign up at Swagbucks.com.  If you use the code SBGames when you sign up, you will get an additional 30 Swag Bucks in your account (add that to the 30 Swag Bucks that you automatically get for joining and you're doubling your Swag Bucks)! How cool is that?! This code will be active only until 11:59pm PST on Friday, January 14th (tomorrow).

MiniMonos

MiniMonos is a fun virtual world for kids, focused on sustainability and generosity. Founded by a mom and entrepreneur Melissa Clark-Reynolds in New Zealand, MiniMonos welcomes children from around the world to create monkeys and play on MiniMonos (which means Little Monkeys in Spanish)!
This is not an ordinary virtual world.  It helps kids to be aware of how to take care of our earth while each new membership provides clean drinking water for children in India.  What a wonderful concept this is!  In addition, when they hit their first 50 Gold members, they adopted an orangutan baby for a year.

I was given a free 6-month Gold membership in exchange for my honest review.  I signed my 9 year old son up.  He has had fun exploring and playing MiniMonos during our holiday break.  First, your monkey (your child's avatar) gets to select a universe: Star Tiger, Bounty, or Cyclops.  Then there are so many cool places to explore: Treehouse, Einsteins Lab, Traderz, Carlos, Time Square, Mutts Gallery, Hana Cove, El Rio River, Compost Zone, Bea's Place, Butterfly Meadow, Long Beach, Avanga Cave, Recycle Center, Castle Beach, Bimini Rocks, Kittyhawk Bluff, and Leatherback Lagoon.  When your child plays games, he/she will earn banana chips which can be used to buy clothes, toys, things to decorate his/her house and yard, etc.  For example, in the Holiday Catalog, you will find Christmas trees, wreaths, toys, costumes, and more.  You can also design your own holiday cards.  Games (Monkey Flight, Monkey Fist, GoGoGreen, TicTacPoo, Monkey Swim, R.A.T.S.) are fun, clean/safe, and help kids think.  My son's favorite game is Monkey Fist; mine is GoGoGreen :).  The whole virtual world of MiniMonos (including all the games) meets my approval.

Go green, have fun, and help others...great combination, don't you think ?

Friday's Fave Five #9

It's time for another Friday's Fave Five (hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story).

My fave five this week include:
1. Quiche. I have not tasted any quiche I didn't like yet.

2. Massages.  I love getting my shoulders and neck massaged by my husband or my daughter.  Quite relaxing!

3. Screen saver.  I enjoy looking at our random photos popping up on our computer screen.

4. I'm so happy for my youngest son; he won an honorable mention for the WaterBrook Multnomah's coloring contest.  His prize includes a free copy of This Little Prayer of Mine and Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione by Chuck Black.  He was thrilled.

5. Playing games with my family.  Five of us take turns picking a game (boardgame or card game) to play in the evening after dinner and our family's Bible & prayer time.  Lots of fun and laughter, discussion and interaction, bonding and memory-making :)!  What is your family's favorite boardgame or card game?