I always feel bad dumping Easter egg dye down the drain, so every year I reuse it as a fabric dye, for small items such as muslin scraps, linen or cotton napkins etc. This year we had some cotton fabric squares 16×16 flour sack towels, a small tote bag and a few muslin scraps. You can do this several ways:

1. For a more pale, even color such as our pale pink tote bag, you will want to put your dye into a large bowl and add hot water then submerge your fabric.

2. For a spotty look, such as the green towel we 1. placed our fabric into a dry bowl, 2. then poured green egg dye over portions of the dry fabric 3. then we took our yellow dye and added it all over (we had a lot of yellow left). We swished it around a little bit. Gave it a squeeze and then pulled it out
to hang dry.

3. For our Blue towel we did step two. Add blue and purple to portions of our dry towel and then added a little hot water to soften the splotches and dilute. Swish it around, give it a squeeze, then hang to dry.

To heat set your colors iron with NO STEAM 3-5 minutes on each side.
Ta dah!
All done.

Now I will have to sketch some designs to embroider these little colorful bits so that we can make little things out of them. Yay!

3.

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Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Here in the Midwest we had a beautiful sunny day which was quite a surprise, because now we are wearing winter coats again haha, mother nature sure is hilarious. Here is a round up of all of the crafts that we created on Easter day and some cookies of course!

I decided to try painting paper mache eggs this year. They are light and easy to work with. I got them at Michaels for 40% off! The paints and brushes were on sale with a coupon so it was a lucky day indeed!

This is the first batch of mommy and me eggs. I love them!

These are the same eggs with feathers, googly eyes, glitter pom poms for tails, a snip of foam for the chick’s beak, dollar store easter ribbon for the bunny, and glitter scrapbook paper for the bunny ears. I used Tacky Glue to adhere everything. I absolutely love these guys!

More pom poms glued together with Tacky glue for the body, pipe cleaner legs lol! Googly eyes and bead eyes. Glitter scrapbook paper for the beaks This was so much fun!

The top chick is a yarn pom ball with googly eyes and felt, he looks like he is ready to party! The bottom is the whole crew on a cake stand as our table center piece. The tall bunnies were made out of toilet paper rolls and cotton balls with paper cut out eyes pom noses and pipe cleaner mouths. We made them last Easter. The paper chick on the bottom right is from last Easter as well, it is just 2 pieces of construction paper rolled in to two circle and glued together. I cut out paper eyes, beak, and feet out of paper scraps.

Then we made “cascarones” They are a Mexican tradition. You hollow out your eggs, rinse and let dry, dip into egg dye, let dry, fill with confetti and glue them closed with tissue paper squares and a bit of diluted white glue. Then you chase each other and crack them on someone’s head. We do it in our yard, it is all biodegradable and so much fun!

And finally our cookies! I scored at The Salvation Army and found this cookie cutter and press for 40 cents! And this my friends is the BEST sugar cookie recipe:

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-best-cutout-cookies-38629

Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

2 to 3 dozen cookies, depending on size

1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature for 1 hour
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl, using a hand mixer), cream the butter and cream cheese with the sugar. Beat for several minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and almond extracts, and lemon zest.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl then gradually add to the butter and sugar mixture until fully incorporated and a soft dough is formed.

At this point the dough can, and should be, chilled or frozen. If making cookies in the near future, divide the dough into 2 balls and roll each out to 1/4 to 1/8-inch thickness between large pieces of parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Or freeze the dough balls, wrapped in plastic wrap and a freezer bag, for up to 1 month. To thaw, leave in the refrigerator overnight then proceed with the recipe.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare baking sheets by lining them with parchment or a Silpat. Cut cookies out of the rolled dough and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness. Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack.

Cool completely before icing or decorating, and store in a tightly covered container.

We use the Kitchn recipes a lot at home and they have never failed me! They have a cookbook now which I wish I could own, but for now I just go to their website it’s free so, yay!

There you have it folks! I hope you enjoyed our Easter in a nutshell.

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Hello everyone and happy spring! We have had a few warm days this week and I am so excited! Flowers are peeking, buds are blooming, watching the natural world transforming is such a lovely symbol of new beginnings and fresh starts. We made these banners to replace the Shamrocks we had up and they are just so delicate and lovely.

I was so excited when Michaels put these banners out. They are by “Recollections” and called “Sofia banners”. When they went on sale for 40% off I got all 3 colors and took them home. I have colorful card stock, so I decided to layer colors together and make a banner of my own creation. You can do this with any cut out paper, just place a contrasting color behind it and wow! It can really compliment the look. I loved playing with different colors and we ultimately decided on 3 and made a pattern to hang.

Supplies:
1. Card stock
2. Glue stick
3.Hole punch
4. String for hanging
5. Cut out paper, lace paper doilies, your own fold and cut creations.
6. Xacto, straight edged ruler for cutting and a self healing mat or just plain scissors.

Here is our how to:

1. In the bottom left photo you can see how I am layering the blue Sofia triangle over the lavender card stock. I used the lace banner triangle as my template, took a metal straight edge and an xacto knife and cut out a piece of card stock to size on a self healing mat.

2. The middle photograph shows the pieces all cut out. Take your glue stick (mine is non yellowing and acid free) and glue your pieces together

3. Line them up once dry, in a pattern of your choice or simply use a single color.

4. Punch your holes, thread them together and string them up!

I hope you enjoyed this craft. Have a lovely Easter!

This is such a fun and easy craft to do with the kids. The hardest part is waiting for them to dry!

Here are the materials you will need:

1. Yarn
2. Plastic container or bowl to act as a mold. We used empty yogurt containers.
3. White glue
4. Water
5. Bowl for glue

The how to:

1. Start by cutting your yarn into random strips. You can work from one long strip however, I find that short strips won’t tangle and are easier to layer on for the little ones.

2. Add equal amounts of white glue and water 1:1 to your glue bowl. Mix it up.

3. Soak your yarn until glue mix is well absorbed.

4. With your containers face down, start laying yarn all around them in a variety of directions.

5. Walk away and let dry over night or all day. It will seem like they will never dry completely because they are so saturated, but trust me they will!
We made ours in the morning before heading out for the day and when we returned 7 hours later they were dry.
Enjoy!

Hello all! I am happy to report that we are lice free and because of this first time experience with lice, I decided to put together a post called “Everything you need to know about lice for the first time mom”. I learned so much with this experience and knew very little when we got the notice from school, so I thought I would put all this info out there in hopes that it will help someone. Look for it in the next few days.

On to crafting…We made several things out of thread and yarn for this year’s Easter crafting. The first were these thread ball banners. I strung them up in the dining room, put tiny LED lights in them and they are quite lovely. Here is the how to:

Tools and supplies

1. Water balloons

2. Colorful crochet thread or string of your choice yarn, twine etc.

3. White glue and water 1:1 ratio. I decided to try out this Mod Podge stiffy for the first time. The Midwest is humid in spring/summer and I would like these to retain their shape. They were really solid!

4. Brushes for spreading glue.

5. Sharp object for popping balloons- we used a paper clip.

6. Scissors for snipping.

7. Plastic tray or yogurt containers for drying time.

8. Pretty ribbon for making a little bow

9. Crochet thread, twine, string of your choice for hanging.

The how to:

1. Blow up your balloons and tie them.

2. Add your glue to a bowl for dipping. This part can go two ways, you can either 1. Place your thread into the glue bowl and wrap wet thread onto your balloons OR 2. You can wrap your balloons with dry thread and paint your glue on with a brush or sponge. I did the latter because I tend to get tangles when I dump my string into the glue bowl, especially when working with a fine thread. Either way, it will be messy lol. I recommend starting the first layers of wrapping for your child because the thread can slide around quite a bit in the beginning and it could become frustrating for small hands. Working with a thicker tread or yarn is easier. I will post our yarn nests tomorrow.

3. Once you are all done wrapping, place your wrapped balloon on your container of choice to dry.

3. Once your balloon is dry. (We dried ours overnight.) Take a sharp object and pop each balloon! That was super fun!

4. Take your decorative ribbon and tie a bow onto the top of your ball or you can hot glue one on.

5. Using a yarn needle we treaded our white hanging thread through each bow and added a drop if glue in the middle so that they will stay in place. Once dry we hung them up! I put mini LED lights in them and they look so beautiful in the evening!

I hope you enjoyed this craft!

Happy St. Patrick’s day everyone! Are you feeling lucky? I am not feeling lucky at the moment. My daughter is sick with a high fever and cough, I received a lice notice from school via email today so I decided to check her head thinking THERE IS NO WAY SHE HAS LICE. I put her hair in braids every day and spray it down with a rosemary mint water spray so I was feeling very confident that we were safe. And then it happened….I found a nit and I almost had a heart attack. No I am definitely not feeling lucky today lol. I have laundry washing now, the stuffed animals and hats are bagged and in the deep freezer, I combed her hair with the terminator nit comb I am getting my hair checked as I type this so I think we are going to be ok. Onward to today’s craft and a better tomorrow lol!

I have really gotten into my cereal box sun catchers. This time I used a smaller bread stick box. Here are the tools for the trade:

1. Cardboard or card stock
2. Stencil, printed picture, or you can freehand a drawing.
3. Glue
4. Tissue paper
5. Sharp object for hole poking
6. Ribbon
7. Paint and paintbrush

1. I began by cutting the front and back of the breadstick box out and discarding the sides.

2. My daughter used a cookie cutter to trace the shamrock onto the breadstick box. I cut the image out using an xacto knife. I used the cut out shamrocks for a small door hanging.

3. Then it was time to paint

We just used tempera paint. Let dry thoroughly. I then applied Mod Podge over the painted areas, you can seal it with white glue or not at all.

4. Pick out colorful tissue paper and sandwich in between both layers of cardboard with glue.

5. Let dry and place under a heavy book to flatten curls.

6. Poke holes for hanging and add a pretty ribbon.

And there you have it, a pretty little shamrock hanging in your sunny window. I hope you enjoyed this how to, I certainly enjoyed sharing it with you.

Hello! How have you been enjoying the end of winter? We are getting closer to Spring and the weather in the Midwest has been warmer this week, which has been WONDERFUL! It may not stick, but I’ll enjoy it while it’s here. Now onward to our next crafting adventure! Gold coin garlands woo hoo!

Here’s what you will need:

Paper punch or scissors
Gold, glitter or yellow paper
String
Paperclips or a heavy book
Glue- We used Mod Podge and Elmers

We began by punching out circles with our 1.5 inch punch. We used a sheet of gold glitter scrapbooking paper. You can stack yellow construction paper and cut out a circle. Or glue gold glitter onto white cardstock etc. I am a big believer of “use what you have”.

Then proceed by grabbing your gold coins by the handfuls with your kiddos and throwing them into the air while exclaiming “we’re rich!” Laughs and giggles are very important here! Especially because now it has to all be picked up to continue lol. Wasn’t that fun?
So this part is a take it or leave it part. I did not want to punch holes into my coins nor did I want to sew them together because I did not want to see a seam in my shiny gold beauty so I pulled out some crochet thread, lined up my coins with about 3 inches in between each one and glued 2 coins together onto the thread. To prevent curling I grabbed paperclips to help keep them together. My daughter ran around the house waving them around this way and they held well! You can also lay a heavy book on them until they dry.

Remove paperclips. We let ours dry overnight as we made these before dinner.

Hang and enjoy! They compliment our shamrock garlands nicely don’t you think?

Hello there world! How sad it is to take down Valentine’s Day crafts. Hearts are just so inspirational and lovely to see around the house. I LOVE our cereal box sun catchers so much that we will be doing a similar project for every holiday to come! For now, I will start with some easy peasy garlands to get things started. Garlands transform a room they are simple and give you a little pip of color and cheer. Just like our Valentine’s day instructions in the Valentine post but more green lol!.

1. Foam or paper punched shamrocks or cut out your own- We did both, I bought a pack and also traced and cut some shamrocks out of scrapbooking paper using a shamrock cookie cutter as my stencil.

2. Pencil for marking holes. My 6 year old likes punching the holes out for stringing so I mark the holes it helps her know where to place the hole punch.

3. Hole punch

4. Twine or any stringing thread you prefer.

Line them up on a table in the order you prefer, we used different shades of color and my daughter made a pattern (woo hoo math skills!), once the holes are all punched you are ready to thread!

We had punched out gold coins for another craft using a 1.5 inch punch However, my daughter wanted to glue a gold coin to every other shamrock, so we did and it looked great!

I recommend putting a heavy book over the gold coin glued on to shamrock pieces if you decide to do the same, as our coins began to curl up immediately after applying glue to them.

Once the glued on coins were flattened and dry she threaded the shamrocks with twine using a plastic yarn needle. You can tape the end of your twine to prevent fraying and frustration when little ones are doing the work.

Hang them up and enjoy!

When you suffer from a life changing physical event such as I have, it is important to have what I call “post its for life” little reminders of motivation to help you stay focused on the positive things in your life. This small dish, was a reminder to myself that despite my physical limitations, I can still create. I received it over the summer for my birthday, my daughter took it over as her own and the other day I saw it and thought “my how lovely this dish is, especially with all of her little treasures organized just so!” It was so inspiring.

I have been disabled for 3 years now and have improved a bit this past year which brought on hope for the future. I remembered a lovely art school and applied for a scholarship to take a class there last year and I GOT IT! The class was unfortunately cancelled twice due to low enrollment which was quite discouraging. I applied again for this term and today was my first day of class! I will be creating for 5 weeks in a medium that I am not at all familiar with and I am so looking forward to it! Where will this road take me? I do not have an answer, but I took that first step and remained hopeful even with the bumps in the road.

“Do more of what makes you happy” what wonderful words to live by.

I had completely forgotten that the long weekend meant that my daughter’s  card exchange would be on Thursday! Wednesday morning  I was a bit panicked, rounded up some supplies and put them out on the coffee table. My daughter came home from school and put 15 wonderful cards together. The lovely, most moving part of it all, was how she carefully thought about who each card was going to while she was making them and made each card to capture the personality of it’s recipient. I would have made the same card 15 times, so once again I learned from my child to slow down and really think about my work. Every card made was truly a personal piece of thoughtfulness.

I was so proud of her hard work!