What We Do on Rainy Days

Here are a few of our favorite crafts for those rainy days that come with Spring… 1. Make Giant Sunflowers from empty oatmeal canisters!! — So bright and cheerful! 2. Create an Easy Spring Mural with Sticky Notes! — A quick way to add some cheer to your home! 3. Make Our Own Scratch n […]

Favorite Modern Art Crafts for Kids

Think you need to buy expensive home accent decor?? Think again! This weekend would be a wonderful time to indulge the kiddos in some fun process-based art projects that can be displayed proudly in your home. Grown ups may find themselves doing a bit of art of their own too! I was so excited to […]

DIY: Fabric Wall Decals

Update: Be sure to read the comments on this post — lots of great ideas from our awesome readers to keep in mind!! A new little elf friend just moved into our house, and is causing lots of excitement around here! He made his home just underneath the staircase, and so far has been very […]

Crafting with Leftovers — Valentine Collage Placemats

These Valentine collage placemats are the perfect excuse to use up leftover craft supplies, and there is very little post-clean up involved. I love that it kept Emily happily entertained for a long while, and she has plans to make more of these for grandparent gifts!! She did almost this entire project on her own, […]

No Mess Candy Cane Ornaments

When Emily came home from school this afternoon, she asked if we could make some ornaments for the tree, and she didn’t have to twist my arm. These candy cane ornaments are so easy and so much fun to make! Added bonus — hardly any post-crafting clean up! Yay for no-mess crafts! We happened to […]

Candy Cane Painting

What’s even more fun than painting?? Painting in your pajamas!!! This candy cane painting is quite toddler friendly, and the kiddos get great results! I outlined a candy cane shape with a Sharpie on some thick card stock paper, and added some masking tape stripes. Once I invited Clara over to paint, the smiles were […]

Dove Garland

Emily and I made a pretty dove garland, and it was made using our new favorite art supply — coffee filters! These were so much fun to make!! If you have some coffee filters on hand, you can download our template, and print it out on card stock, to make a dove garland of your own! […]

Autumn Window Display

We decided it was time to update our colorful window display, and given the popularity of this activity we just had to do it again! This time the girls and I painted inexpensive coffee filters… …waited for them to dry… … gathered three filters at a time, and folded them up to cut out super-colorful […]

Easy Village Mural

Emily and I felt inspired by the beautiful colors of these fun Post-It Notes to create a new mural for our sewing room. Oh, Post-It Notes…….. how I love thee! She cut some of the Post-Its in half to form triangles for the rooftops. For each square, only one triangle had adhesive, so we saved […]

Outdoor Streamers

These colorful streamers are so much fun to make, and are a great way to brighten up any outdoor space — they are completely waterproof! The girls had a blast, and we were left with very little clean up afterwards! To make your own, lay down strips of inexpensive packaging tape with the sticky side […]

Modern Wall Art

This modern wall art project was lots of fun — and very frugal to make! Added bonus — no mess! Start with a few colored masking tape…. …and invite your child to stick pieces of masking tape on brightly colored paper. For Clara, this was a fun way to work on identifying colors! Emily loves […]

Quick Craft — Colorful Window Display

I thought our front door needed a bit more….. color. So we broke out the paints and markers….. ….. and spent a good part of the afternoon covering inexpensive coffee filters with bright sweeps of color! If you’re in need of some stress relief, I highly recommend doing this — so relaxing! There were lots […]

Beautiful Autumn Leaf Garland

We thought the dining room (aka sewing studio) could use some decorating this season, so Emily gathered up some leaves earlier in the day and we got to work on this beautiful garland for some late night crafting. Emily had been begging me to do the waxed paper leaf collage for a long time, but […]

Book Review and Giveaway — Absolutely Organized

Looking for a book with practical advice you can actually use? Then you must have a copy of Debbie Lillard’s book Absolutely Organized: A Mom’s Guide to a No-Stress Schedule and Clutter-Free Home. I had the honor of meeting Debbie while taping a recent segment for The 10! Show, and she featured some fabulous ideas […]

Frugal Wall Organizer

Oh, the stuffed animals and where to put them! Do you have this problem in your house? I try to limit the number of stuffed animals that are out at any given time, and we have boxes full of them in the basement that we rotate through again and again. I’m not sure how we […]

Behold… the Power of Mod Podge!

Mod Podge is quickly becoming one of our favorite ways to re-use recyclables. You can find Mod Podge in the glue section of any craft store, and we have found that one bottle will go a long way. Isn’t it cute?? Emily wants to make another one to organize her paint brushes, colored pencils, crayons […]

10 Chores for Preschoolers and up

Have kids? Think you need a maid? Think again! Put their boundless energy to work! Chores are a great way to teach kids about responsibility, and help build self-esteem. Here’s a list of some suggested chores to keep the kiddos busy. Make the bed — Younger kids can help strip the bed, fluff pillows, and […]

Tutorial — No Sew Spring Cleaning Apron

It’s that time of year again…. time for Spring Cleaning. Here’s an easy and frugal way to make your own no-sew Spring Cleaning Apron. Start by making a pile of three flour sack towels. Lay them flat and place a ribbon across the middle as shown below. Fold over the towels. Tie the ribbon around […]