Purple Crayon Mural

Over the weekend, we took the girls to see Harold and the Purple Crayon at the theater, a holiday gift from Mark’s sister (Thank you, Aunt Julia!!) It is one of their favorite books, and afterwards Crayola was there to hand out large purple crayons to all the kiddos! Fun!! This morning, I attached freezer […]

My Kind of Baking

I made up a few pretend baking kits for the girls — which kept them happily occupied, and it’s a great quiet time activity! They are SUPER easy and quick to make up. I cut up some very inexpensive craft felt using a few cookie cutters as my pattern, added some pieces for “icing” and […]

Easy Lacy Snowflakes!

These lacy snowflakes were perfect for adding some winter cheer to our house! It was a quick and easy project, plus it gave Emily lots of practice with the scissors! They turn out perfectly every time, giving the kiddos some early success using scissors! To make your own lacy snowflakes, you’ll need some paper doilies […]

Easy Crazy Crayon Party Favors

We’ve been de-cluttering around here, and we found LOTS of broken/old crayons (they were everywhere!) I thought it would be fun to make “crazy crayons” a la Martha Stewart with a Valentine’s Day twist! Emily helped make them and she can’t wait to give them to friends! Gather old/broken crayons that you have on-hand. Do […]

Top 10 Posts of 2010 — #2

We’re just one post away from the number 1 post of 2010! We did lots of fun window displays and murals this year to help celebrate the changing of the seasons. All of them were quick, easy projects, and they added lots of color to our home. It’s amazing what you can make with coffee […]

Cheap Thrills — Indoor Blizzard!

For a fun time, create your own magical indoor blizzard!! ((Snowflakes cut from coffee filters.)) We had lots of FUN playing in the mountains of snow (pillows with a white comforter on top), and it was a great way for Clara to burn off some extra energy! Let it snow, let it snow, let it […]

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 […]

Last Minute Holiday Gifts Kids Can Make

Emily helped demonstrate some frugal homemade gifts kids can make on The 10! Show this morning! We had so much fun crafting these quick and easy gifts with LuAnn! The kiddos love to help stir up homemade bath salts, and they make great gifts for teachers, neighbors, grandmas, or anyone else you know who could […]

Rainbow Sprinkles from Highlights High Five

This little gem of a handmade gift idea comes from Highlights High Five magazine — rainbow sprinkles to use as a fun topping for yogurt or ice cream! As soon as Emily saw this craft featured in the December issue, she begged to make it! If you don’t already subscribe to Highlights High Five, I […]

No Mess Christmas Tree Craft for Tots

Clara and I made a fun Christmas tree using a few office supplies, and the best part..?  No clean up! (Yay for no-mess crafts!) They are quick and easy to make too! I cut two identical pine tree shapes out of colored card stock (I recycled a torn file folder), then invited Clara over to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Low-Mess Color Collage

When Emily came home from school this afternoon, I surprised her with this quick and easy color collage project. It was a great way to unwind from the school day! To make your own, you will need some colorful crepe paper. We used party streamers — they worked perfectly and are very inexpensive! Emily loved […]

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 […]