Winter Window Display

Are you busy decorating the house for the holidays?? We sure are!! The girls helped me decorate the front door for Winter over the weekend. It was a real group effort! Since painting inexpensive coffee filters is such a popular activity in this household, we decided to use that approach. Again. Speaking of coffee filters, over […]

Handmade Holiday Gift Guide — Manly Man Edition

The holidays are almost here!! Need some holiday gift ideas for the men in the family? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered — all in frugal style, of course. Get the kiddos involved for some crafting fun! Handmade Gifts for Him: Macho Manly Man Pocket Handwarmers for Men – Kids can help stuff these with […]

Kids Waiting for the Turkey? Do Some Crafts!

Have a few brown paper bags on hand? Are you looking for ways to keep the kiddos entertained while waiting for that delicious turkey?? Here are some fun crafts from around the web to help pass the time! I love this paper bag turkey from One Charming Party (found via The Crafty Crow)! Note: Instead of […]

Turkey Place Cards

Around this time of year, Emily and I like to work on Thanksgiving place cards for our festive table. These turkeys are super-cute and easy to make! We started by cutting up some flower-shaped sticky notes in half to form the tail feathers of the turkey. We added a half-circle cut from a paper bag […]

Easy Leaf Wreath

Clara thought this colorful leaf wreath was so much fun to make! We used some of the tissue paper leaves from this post to make it. I cut a large circle from a brown paper bag (using a plate as a pattern), and invited Clara over to glue the leaves on top! She was really […]

Super-Easy Corn Craft

Clara and I did a bit of crafting this morning to make this corn arrangement, which is now hanging on the back of our front door! They are super-easy and lots of fun to make! To make your own, you will need yellow tissue paper, a brown grocery bag, and some plastic netting that comes […]

Weekend Rewind — Gratitude Activity Jar

This was one of my all-time favorite posts — a fun ACTIVE way in introduce kids to the concept of gratitude. It’s perfect for this time of year, and we enjoyed this activity so much last year that we are doing it again this year. Enjoy!! Around Thanksgiving we try to do crafts and activities […]

Pumpkin Gift Bags

Clara and I had a lot of fun with this little (frugal) project — we made up some gift bags to give to friends who come over for play dates! I think they would also be very nice to wrap hostess gifts for any sort of gathering this time of year. She was having a […]

Toddler Art — Autumn Tree Painting

Clara and I worked on this simple Autumn painting project together this afternoon, and I think it is one of my all-time favorites! I was so pleased with how well it turned out, and I wish you could have been here to see the look of pure joy on her face when she spotted the paints […]

Frugal Halloween Tips and Tricks

It’s been a fun and exciting week around here! Tuesday morning, I visited 69 News at Sunrise to demo a few Halloween crafts and some fun Autumn active play ideas for the kiddos. Eve and I had SO much FUN!! In case you missed the segments, you can view them here. If you’re looking for […]

Creepy Crawly Placemats

Here’s a festive Halloween craft that toddlers or preschoolers could make! These creepy crawly placemats make fun gifts for family or friends. The best part is that this project uses common household items you probably already have on-hand!   Clara surprised her big sister with a creepy crawly placemat this afternoon! Here’s how to make […]

Weekend Rewind — Pumpkin Printed Treat Bags

Emily still has this trick-or-treat bag she decorated last year, and she plans to use it for trick-or-treating again this year! We have some great posts lined up for next week, so be sure to check back. You won’t want to miss it! Today’s project was inspired by Lisa Anne from Smell the Coffee, Lisa! […]

10 (Frugal) Autumn Things That Make Me Happy

So much of the frugal lifestyle is made up of finding ways to celebrate the little things in life. Here are some of my favorites! Taking the girls to an organic orchard to pick apples. Trips to the playground with a girl whose feet never seem to hit the ground. Library visits on rainy days. […]

Candy Corn Family Play Set

This CUTE project can be done in just a few minutes, and is perfect for the kiddos to do during Halloween get-togethers! To make your own candy corn family play set, all you need are some inexpensive make-up sponges and a bit of paint. Dip the fat end of a make up sponge in some […]

Indoor Leaf Pile!

Tired of rainy days?? For a good time, cut out leaves from several sheets of colored tissue paper — you can cut through several sheets at one time, so it goes quickly. Play in your indoor leaf pile!!!!! These leaves are great fun to toss around! It’s fun for grown-ups, and kids alike! Rake them […]

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

We have had such great luck with these super-simple frugal paper kites! This time, we decorated a few for Halloween…. …went to a local park, and flew them!! It was so much fun! Even Clara could get her kite off the ground easily — and that’s saying a lot for a 2 year old! Complete […]

Spooky Bones

Inspired by Martha Stewart Living magazine, we made a super kid-friendly version of these spooky bones using just newspaper, cheap-o paper napkins, masking tape, and a 50/50 mixture of glue and water. Once they were dry, we took turns hiding them around the house for an indoor fossil hunt! Roll up a sheet of newspaper […]

Owl Family Play Set

It is good to be home again, and we are back to our usual fun crafty selves! Before I left for NYC, I had left a few paper towel rolls on the kitchen counter to be used for a some upcoming craft projects. Turns out, a certain someone (aka Mark) got a little too trigger […]