Sustainable & Creative Living
Every Christmas I love making special holiday-themed crafts with my son so that he can give them to grandparents and other family members. Sometimes we make handprint Christmas cards or festive DIY ornaments. This year I decided to combine the two and make a Christmas Tree Handprint Ornament. [Read more…]
If you’ve read some of my older posts, you know my 3 year-old-son is obsessed with cars. I imagine most little boys his age are so, with Christmas right around the corner, I decided to make my little guy this DIY Hot Wheels Christmas Tree. Now he has his [Read more…]
My 3-year-old son is finally at an age where we can do crafts together. I have found that over the past 6 months while teaching him the alphabet, I have used crafts to not only teach him letters but to also connect with him. Over Thanksgiving, we took a break from the alphabet to just focus on fun holiday activities. One of which is this [Read more…]
I’m always amazed when I hear about the impractical, silly, or downright thoughtless gifts some of my friends have received. I’m talking about the same restaurant gift card 5 years in a row for people who rarely eat out. Or beautiful pierced earrings for a woman without pierced ears. Or the loud musical instrument for a child whose parents clearly disapproved of the “gift”! Those are the kind of gifts that leave a person wondering “What were they (the gift giver) thinking?” The thing is, they probably weren’t thinking. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, they probably just haven’t practiced how to be a thoughtful gift giver. And who’s gonna tell them they’re gifts are [Read more…]
With Thanksgiving just about a week away, I’ve been doing some fun turkey crafts with my 3-year-old. One of my favorites is this Thanksgiving Turkey Magnet. Making this with J brought back some fond memories from when I was a kid. I don’t remember much from my early childhood but I do remember doing holiday crafts with my mom every year. I think that’s one of the reasons I make such a point to [Read more…]
Christmas is just around the corner! Yay!! I just started my shopping the other day at T.J. Maxx and as I bent over the jewelry counter to look at some earrings, I said to myself, “ NOOOO…do not buy any of the girls another pair of earrings! They don’t need them!!” (Of course, I considered getting them for myself, but that’s another subject). I got to thinking about what gifts I could get the special people in my life in the way of experiences instead of [Read more…]
When I asked my 3-year-old son what he wanted to dress up as this Halloween, he said with confidence, “A racing car driver!” So I thought, ok this should be easy. I’ll just get a costume at Target or on Amazon and we’re set. Jumpsuit—check. Helmet—check. I thought I was done but to my surprise when my little firecracker tried on his new racing car driver costume, his next question was, “Where’s my car?” I LOL’d because he was right—how could I forget the car! So, I scoured the internet for boxcar costume ideas and found this No-Hassle Racecar Box Halloween Costume. [Read more…]
I’m back at it again with hand and footprint cards this Mother’s Day. The last few cards I’ve made were with J’s footprint because I couldn’t quite get him to be still enough to use his handprint. He was always squirming around or fighting to get out of my arms and play with the paint. Somehow the feet were just quicker and easier to capture. [Read more…]
Valentine’s Day is traditionally known as a holiday for couples in love. But it doesn’t have to be. Expensive gifts, fancy clothes, and high dollar wine don’t have to be all that Valentine’s Day is about.
I still remember getting Valentine’s Day gifts as a kid from my mom and dad. Usually, they were small boxes of chocolate and sometimes even money, but it felt like the best thing in the world.
Fast forward to life as an adult—we are conditioned to think Valentine’s Day is more about the stuff. Especially when you’re in a relationship. [Read more…]
I tend to save scraps and odd pieces that are supposed to be discarded. I always think, “Hmmm…could I make something out of this?” That’s how I came up with these Snowman Ornaments. They are made from Ashland candle jar lids from Michaels (but you can use anything circular).
Every time I get a candle with a lid I feel terrible throwing out the lid. Then it occurred to me that these lids would make great Christmas tree ornaments. They’re so simple to make that you could make them with your kids or make them by yourself.