Posts

Want your kids to be calm and confident in the outdoors? Then you’ve got to teach them all the skills that LET them be calm and confident! In Girl Scouts, I work with all kinds of girls, with all kinds of different life experiences. Some girls are avid campers already; some girls are afraid to leave their houses in the summer because of bugs. I’m not around to bully terrified children out into the woods, but I am there to give them positive outdoor experiences that let them feel capable in all kinds of natural environments....

Here is how to make easy peasy stamps using edges and seams from denim scraps from jeans. First, you want to find a bit of scrap with a seamed edge. Then begin to roll your scrap up along the edges very tightly. Tap the bottom to flatten it out. Use a pin to secure your stamp and prevent it from unrolling. Play with the shape of the stamp. You can shape it in any way you want....

A pony playset. Plastic. Did she get the idea from a friend? From an ad in a children’s magazine? Did the idea just sprout from her imagination? Who knows? The answer: no. Instead, the kiddo and I discussed the kinds of features that she’d like to see in a pony playset, we dug through the recycling bins a bit, and then we set to work and made the very fun, very versatile playset of my child’s dreams....

Have you ever found a great piece of clothing, got super excited about it, brought it home, tried it on just one more time, and then…the fatal flaw appeared? Such was the case with the above tank top, acquired at a clothing swap, which seemed to fit the kiddo just fine at the time, but when she tried it on again at home the shoulder straps were just too long....

About once in a blue moon, someone will give me just a giant amount of blue jeans, like an entire Rubbermaid bin’s worth. Now, I craft with old denim pretty often, but I can’t store a giant Rubbermaid bin full of blue jeans until the next quilt inspiration hits! The thing is, though, that there are a lot of uses for old blue jeans, but rarely for every single part of the jean....

So, let’s say that your kid comes to you, inconsolably weeping, because her favorite toy horse has just broken its leg. Now, you and I both know that repairing a broken plastic toy is the WORST. No matter how much glue you put on the dang thing, it’s going to break again the second that your kid gets her hands back on it, and then more glue, more tears. Sigh....

The amount of money that I was willing to budget for this party of a dozen children and their parents was, other than food (we do like our food!), exactly zero dollars. The invitations were made with stash cardstock and acrylic paints and homemade rubber stamps. The games involved such major hits as “Pin the (Stash) Star Sticker onto the Giant Space Mural that You Painted Earlier in the Party (with Stash Art Supplies)!...

After all, the fairies don’t go to Hobby Lobby for their furniture–they MAKE it! Fairy gardens also don’t have to be as elaborate as the ones that you see showing off all of their store-bought fairy accessories. Sure, a fairy garden wonderland is cute, but not everyone likes “cute.” But I promise everyone can like a fairy garden! All you really need to make a fairy garden are a couple of small plants and suitable potting soil, a container, and appropriate handmade, found, recycled, or natural embellishments....

Thigh rips in jeans are the nemesis of anyone who has thighs. That’s always the weak spot of my jeans, at least. Never mind that I spend half the day grubbing around on my knees or butt–on my jeans, it’s always the thighs that go first. It’s tempting to just toss your jeans when they rip in the thigh. After all, you can’t exactly make them into cut-offs there, and a patch, while it may look cute on your knees or even your butt, doesn’t exactly look… cute… on your inner thigh....

Are you tired of looking at that ugly, outdated light fixture in your home? Perhaps you’ve found a cool light fixture at a thrift store that needs some updating. They’re easy to transform with a little bit of paint and TLC. Here’s how to spray paint an outdated chandelier to give it a fresh, modern look. How to Spray Paint a Chandelier Materials An outdated chandelier or other light fixture....

The party will discuss: How to identify and where to find safer, greener gifts DIY gifts (fun and budget-friendly) Interesting ideas for everyone from babies to grandparents We’ll be joined by: Katherine Scoleri from SafeMama.com, the original one-stop child safety, product recall, health, well-being, eco-conscious resource, for parents. Janet Green from The Green Mom Review, on a mission to find products and services that are kinder to the earth and better for our children and families....

If you’ve got a kid who loves art projects, then this kid mosaic project is going to be a rainy day hit! In this project, kids will use dyed dried beans to create a kid mosaic inside a clear CD case. When the mosaic is dry, you can close the case and have a lovely, self-contained art piece that can hang in a window or on a wall. Best of all, you likely have all the supplies for this dyed bean kid mosaic already in your house....

My children don’t need pajamas treated with chemical flame retardants. I don’t leave candles, incense, fireplaces, or fire of any kind unattended, I don’t permit smoking in our house, and even if I did do any of those things, I’m still going to go ahead and say that my kids don’t need flame-retardant pajamas. They don’t wear flame-retardant play clothes, and play clothes are what they wear when they light incense and make crayon encaustic art and blow out birthday candles, anyway....

Did you get caught with your eco-friendly pants down and nothing planned to celebrate Earth Day with your kiddos today? No problem! Every day is Earth Day, and just to prove it, here’s a list of kid-friendly Earth Day projects that require no prep work and use only materials that you probably have around your house. Make one of these crafts today to celebrate Earth Day, and then make another one tomorrow, just because!...

Book Page Star Who needs a wreath for the front door when you could instead have a giant star made of book pages? I love the author’s idea to suspend an ornament for Christmas decorating, and I think it would be just as easy to embellish the star for every season and holiday. Book Page Wreath Okay, maybe YOU need a wreath for your front door, lol! I love how neutral the black and white book pages allow the wreath to be....

I’ve only ever shot with Canons, so maybe it’s the brand, but I swear that I cannot keep a lens cap on my dang camera! Whether it’s my regular lens, my telephoto lens, my Lensbaby… you get the idea. Perfectly normal camera, perfectly normal lens, and if my lens cap isn’t tied physically to my camera, there it is on the floor. This is why I’ve rigged all my lens caps so that they’re tied physically to my camera....

If you sew, you can quickly make loads of drawstring gift bags with little effort. If you like putting in some effort, though, you can choose fabric prints that you know will appeal to your recipients, and personalize them with a name or monogram, or embellish them with holiday theming. You can also choose, as I’m doing with this particular set of drawstring gift bags, to use all stash fabrics, remnants, and upcycled materials....

Add fun and color to your fridge with these DIY mini magnetic chalkboards! They’re made from old mason jar lids. We love mason jar crafts, but those crafts often leave the lids behind. These mini fridge chalkboards are the perfect way to bust your stash of mason jar lids. They’re so cute on your own fridge, and they also make a great gift. In my previous rental home, I created fridge frames from recycled cardboard, but unfortunately they didn’t hold up very well through the move....

Kids love an egg hunt. Even when it’s not Easter, they LOVE an egg hunt. I’ve played this concept out in several children’s birthday parties over the years, and it’s always been a big hit. One year I had kids hunting dinosaur eggs (otherwise known as painted personal watermelons) at a Dinosaur Party. Another year I had them hunting treasure (otherwise known as painted rocks) at a Dragon Party, and I did it again for the Pirate Party....

It can also increase a toy’s educational value! Children are born pattern seekers. Practicing pattern recognition and creating their own patterns are prerequisites to unlocking reading and math. Painting blocks in such a way as to allow children to also match and organize and pattern with colors helps them build not just awesome towers, but also sophisticated mental faculties for matching and organizing and pattern. But mostly, creatively painted building blocks are just really, really, really fun!...