Happy Friday! Cheryl here. Last year at almost exactly this time, Heather, Katie and I turned in our Target Dollar Bin Bucket Challenge. I was so excited about mine. I just knew it was going to win your votes. It was so darn cute!! Mine was #3 in the photo above.

But, but- you didn't understand what made it so darn cute and fun and, and educational! You voted for Katie's bucket of fun which was cute but, but, but. And I lost the Target Dollar Bin Bucket Challenge. So this year I'm going to tell you why my bucket should have won!

First, it was an educational piece. Each circle was labeled from 1 to 44 on one side along with the corresponding President on the other side. The President's name side included his dates of service.

So, as you sat at the dinner table eating your dinner chatting with little Johnny and darling Suzie you could engage in a conversation about the importance of the role of the President. Who were these men? What was special about their Presidency?

Let me show you how I made it the second time around and give you some tips on how not to do what I did.

I needed to re-create my piece because I gave the original to Claudia. The second one should have been cuter, right?

Well, sadly that is not the case here.

Here's a photo of my supplies: The bulk of it is red, white and blue paper, scissors, 44 wooden sticks, glue, a bucket, and Styrofoam.

Using a circle template, I created 88 circles that were about 1.75 inches to create 44 paper lollypops.

I found it easier to have an assembly line going to make them. TIP: The first time around I used wood skewers that you cook with and were pointy at the end. I preferred having the pointy end to the flat surface of the craft stick because they were easier to stick in the Styrofoam in my bucket. A couple of the craft stick broke when I was putting them into the Styrofoam.

Here they are all lined up and ready for the numbers and names to be applied.

Here is where I went completely wrong the second time around. IMPORTANT TIP: The first time I had purchased Avery Round Labels. See image below. I used the Avery Templates in Word and printed out cute numbers that had little stars on them in red and blue. Red = Republican Party. Blue = Democrat Party. The second time around, I created the numbers and names in a Publisher file and printed them on red, white and blue paper.

Can you envision my mistake here? With the labels you just peel and stick and voila, you're done. With the way I did it the second time around I had to cut them ALL out and glue them to the sticks. It took considerably longer. Get the labels. Trust me.

But let's persevere, shall we? You end up with 44 paper lollies with a number on one side with the corresponding President on the other.

The only other thing to do is arrange them in a bucket with some Styrofoam in as your base, some cute shred on top and start learning.

Now, tell me that isn't clever. Now, tell me that isn't cute. It's cute, right? Just not as cute as the first one but that's okay. Live and learn.

So, not as cute but it is just as educational. Did you know that Grover Cleveland was the only President to serve two terms that were not consecutive? He is the only President to have to numbers- 22 & 24. President William Henry Harrison (#9) died on his thirty second day in office having the shortest served term. Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected President. Eight Presidents died while serving, four of those eight were assassinated. Dangerous job, being President.

These men, our Presidents, deserve our recognition. They are an important part of our history. They are men that put their lives, decisions, mistakes, and choices under a microscope for criticism and I personally believe they deserve more respect than they receive whether you agree with their policies or not. But, I don't want to get into a political debate.

What other ways can you honor and learn about our President's and our American history? Today is Free For All Friday- do you have a topic that needs brainstorming? Throw it out there for us to kick around.

Wishing you a Happy Independence Day!

Shining off until tomorrow...