birthday cake toppers! July 2, 2015 - we are hosting a birthday party for my lion on saturday. we will be making an awesome ice cream cake as the weather is going to be hot and sunny (recipe for that coming soon). i cannot believe he is going to be 5 years old! that’s one whole hand, people! i only […]
DIY macrame plant hangers June 9, 2015 - with the warmer weather has come the urge to plant and grow things. we have a lovely little covered porch where i hang a big basket of petunia’s each season. there are other hooks that need plants hung from them and i’ve been trying to think of ways to HANG plants without actually spending money. […]
mother’s day flower crafts. April 16, 2015 - mother’s day is less than a month away, so it’s time to get crafty! all mother’s LOVE flowers of any kind, especially something made with love and heart. my kids love to make gifts for their grandma and mummo, for mother’s day. look at these lovely flower crafts i found. some are harder than […]
earth day craft round-up! April 8, 2015 - earth day is coming up…. april 22 to be exact. easy to remember, because at our house that also happens to be DH’s birthday! i gathered some fun, creative, inspiring and beautiful crafts to help everyone get in the spirit of earth day. i think these crafts are a great way to talk to […]
make your own bead keychains! June 24, 2014 - for father’s day the kids made these awesome keychains for their grandfather’s. aren’t they amazing? If you love Custom keychains, you’ll love these bead keychains. They make great gifts! If you are anything like the men in my life, you are constantly misplacing keys! A custom keychain can help make your keys stand out and […]
painting flower pots! June 17, 2014 - now that the growing season is here i want to share a favourite project that my boys love to do… paint terracotta flower pots! it’s a wonderful way to be creative, while also learning about how things grow. my kids made each of their grandmother’s a painted pot for mother’s day and planted a geranium […]
make your own backyard teepee! June 3, 2014 - We have been spending an enormous amount of time outside. The weather is warm and inviting, so we’ve tried to take advantage of the summer weather! With all this time we’re spending in the garden, one of my friends suggested we look at lawncare.net to see if they could help us keep our garden looking […]
stamping with food & natural treasures! May 27, 2014 - my kids love to paint and be creative. so, when we headed up to the cottage for the may long weekend i decided to plan a fun activity for the boys to try out. there are so many posts and pins about painting and stamping with food. i was a little weary at first, as […]
DIY birthday applique shirt! April 13, 2014 - Â my bear turned 6 in february, so i made him this fun applique shirt. i bought a plain t-shirt for $5, found some fabric i thought he would like and then the night before his birthdy quickly sewed up the shirt. MATERIALS: plain t-shirt fun fabric for your number hem fuser thread scissors iron […]
birthday party name tags! February 6, 2014 - bear has asked for a dinosaur themed birthday! for this craft i couldn’t actually find any wee dinosaurs, but i found these cute lizards for 99 cents a pack and i thought they were close enough! here’s what i did… first, i painted the clothes pegs with acrylic paint. i had to do a couple […]
cute pom pom crafts! January 30, 2014 - before christmas i shared a tutorial on how to make basic pom poms a few different ways; check it out HERE. recently i’ve been trying to think projects that are slightly out of (my) box and then it hit me pom poms! these soft, plushy, cute things can be made of any funky […]
DIY rubber stamps! November 28, 2013 - i purchased some erasers on sale and decided to make some simple, festive stamps out of them. i’m hoping to make gift tags with them eventually. aren’t they cute? this is what i did… with a pen i drew my design on the eraser. once i was satisfied, i used a small knife to cut […]
paper bag puppets! November 21, 2013 - this was a HIT as an after-school craft last week. i was watching a friends lovely ladies, so i had to come up with a craft that would interest kids from 3yrs to 7yrs. this was it! before i picked up the big kids from school, lion and i got all the supplies ready. * […]
not your average burlap round up! October 17, 2013 - when dear hubby and i were married, we gave our guests little live spruce trees as favours, because we me at tree planting and it was so fitting! the trees had root pods, which we wrapped in burlap with a simple ribbon! they were perfect. but, when i purchased the burlap i bought WAY too […]
DIY stamps! October 2, 2013 - about 10 years ago i made some simple potato stamps and decorated tissue paper with hearts and x-mas trees. every christmas my mum and i still use the few sheets that are left for each others gifts. there is something sweet about the personal, creative touch, don’t you think? so, now that my 5yo bear […]
wind tubes craft! August 19, 2013 - here is a fun, simple and creative craft project for kids. my 5 YO was happy to do most of the work himself, which was great! materials: tube like containers like toilet paper rolls, yoghurt containers, etc various colours of tissue paper duct tape & string scissors, glue, markers, stickers, paper, sparkles instructions: glue toilet […]
teach kids how to sew! August 11, 2013 - sewing is an important skill to have. we don’t all have to be experts, but some basic knowledge of how make things is valuable and helpful. i realize in today’s culture where everything is so cheap and easily replaced, rather than fixed, it might feel strange teaching kids how to darn socks! but c’mon, from […]
pressing flowers with kids. August 1, 2013 - I remember as a little girl collecting all sorts of flowers and leaves and stuffing our old school, massive phone books with them. If I had an Instagram account, I would have definitely posted them on there instead of creating a book! I was never like in school due to my hobbies. I would have […]
rock painting crafts! July 18, 2013 - i love using items from the natural world for our craft projects. it’s a wonderful opportunity to get out for a hike or explore some hidden corner in our backyard, but mostly it’s a great way to connect my boys with their outside environment. i have always collected rocks and now i watch my kids stuff […]
make a paper mache pinata! July 9, 2013 - my lion turned 3 and i decided it would be fun to have a lion head pinata at his birthday party. i did some research on pinterest on how to make the perfect pinata, but decided that we would just do our own thing… i mean, how difficult could a paper mache lion head really […]
themed thursday: road trip activities & games! (part 3) June 20, 2013 - keeping kids content, quiet and busy is an important part of the SANITY piece for parents road tripping with kids, to preserve your sanity even further, you could consider a service like Comfort Drive where a safe driver will ensure you safely get to your destination whilst taking care of your kids. It is super […]
how to build fairy houses! May 16, 2013 - fairies are wonderful, magical creatures that live in the corners of gardens, under the roots of trees and through-out the woods. they rarely come out when us humans are around, but many children have shared stories of sightings. there is no right way to build a fairy house.it’s all about exploring the land and environment […]
wind catcher craft! May 13, 2013 - look at this fantastic wind catcher dear hubby received from lion for his earth day birthday back in april! here’s how we made it! i found the idea HERE at inspiration laboratories. first, the kids and i went on a nature hike by the river in search of natural treasure we could use on the catchers. i […]
salt cookies for all occasions! March 31, 2013 - a few years ago the kids were hooked on baking and painting salt cookies. after the millionth batch, i kinda went on a salt cookie strike, and we discovered lots of other projects to get excited about. the other day i decided to quickly whip up some salt cookies and re-introduce the fun of them […]
birthday invitations :: a DIY craft January 26, 2013 - bear is turning the big five-o-roonie in a few weeks!!! valentine’s day to be exact. and what almost-five-year-old doesn’t want to have a birthday party with their friends?! of course i went on pinterest looking for birthday invitation ideas, but nothing sprang out at me. so, bear and i designed our own little invitations. […]
silly spoons :: a craft January 21, 2013 - bear, my older guy, gets a magazine in the mail once a month, CHIRP. it’s totally cute, age appropriate and makes his day when he receives in the mail.one of the activities in the january edition, is something called, SILLY SPOONS. it’s a super fun and super creative activity, that both the boys enjoyed doing. the spoon […]
discover the fun of discovery bottles! January 8, 2013 - my bear got some homework for this past holiday season. he was to make a “discovery bottle” and then was to share his bottle with the class during their “show & share” time. it was an assignment that he completed with the help of dear hubby and lion, too. lion actually made his own little […]- simple and fun road trip activities for kids! July 25, 2012 - here are some of the funny and crafty activities i made or purchased for the boys for our upcoming road trip out east to the maritimes. the ideas are universal and not at all unique, but as usual i was inspired by pinterest. here’s a pretty extravagant activity board by one mama, which is beautiful, but way too […]
lion’s birthday par-teh! July 9, 2012 - we had a small and simple birthday party for lion’s second birthday. we invited everyone to join us at a local park, next to the river and a playground. it was perfect. we found a picnic table next some big ol’ shady trees and set up our party.there were carrot cake and chocolate lion cupcakes. rainbow fruit […]
a how to :: birthday bunting flags. July 9, 2012 - for my sweet lion’s second birthday party, i decided to whip up some bunting flags last minute. i have some old sheets i have purchasednand collected over the years for just such a quick project. i cut the flags with my pinking sheers, not worrying too much about size or symmetry, as the flags will be […]
chair re*do. May 1, 2012 - welcome to the first of thirty one posts in may!we have a beautiful dining set that my grandmother shipped over from glasgow, scotland at least a decade before the second world war started, when she immigrated to canada with my grandfather. it’s a small simple table with built in leafs that can be extended when […]
bow tie tutorial: how to make your own! February 16, 2012 - the first bow tie i made for bear was a few years ago for my sister-law’s wedding.since then i’ve made a few more for various special occasions. materials:fabricthreadscissorspinselasticbasic instructions:choose your fabric. synthetics and silks tend to fray and be much more slippery when sewing, so more patience may be necessary as well!1. fold fabric in half […]
tea towel tutorial May 15, 2011 - this project is as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. embellishing tea towels is something people have been doing for a long time, but it’s what and how you do it that makes it fun. the window for creativity is huge on this project.i started off by buying a pack of […]
magnets for kids BIRTHDAY loot bags April 9, 2011 - check-out these great magnets we made for the loot bags for bear’s third birthday in february. they were easy and fun to do. we got the idea from this site and followed her instructions for the most part. all you need are clear glass stones that are flat on one side, we bought ours from micheal’s, round […]