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 […]

Bang on the Drums All Day

I can’t even tell you how much FUN Clara had with our make-shift drum table this morning! I laid out a bunch of old pots and pans, lids, and some wooden spoons on her play table. Then it was time to Rock N Roll!!! She experimented using the spoons as drumsticks, and later hitting the […]

Nesting Shoebox Dollhouse

While playing around with some empty kid shoeboxes, I came across these two that nest together quite well — a fun find that lend to some creative dollhouse making! I covered them up with wallpaper samples (discontinued wallpaper sample books are available at most paint stores for free, just ask for them!), and scraps of […]

Stunning “Glass” Sculpture

The neat thing about this beautiful “glass” sculpture is that it is flexible and can be re-shaped again and again! Emily was so proud of her sculpture, and they are simple and frugal to make using materials you probably already have on-hand. I used wired cutters to cut a long piece of thin gauge wire, […]

Trip to Paris!

Last night we packed our bags for a fun impromptu trip to Paris, France! The girls dressed up in their most colorful outfits, and fanciest …. .sunglasses..?? We left from Washington, D.C., and we didn’t have any delays, problems with airport security, or any turbulence. A very smooth flight! Well…. the pilot may have taken a […]

Rainbow Village Printable

As soon as I finished designing one of these adorable paper cottages, the girls went off to play with it while I made a bunch more! We had lots of fun playing with these, and then took them apart and stored them flat in a file folder for future play times. They are very frugal […]

Pretty Peacock Pictures

While I was doodling with the girls this afternoon, we made these fun peacock pictures inspired by a recent trip to the zoo! Emily was proud to be able to do this without any help from me, and Clara did a great job with only a little assistance on my part. Start by gluing a […]

No Mess Marbled Painting

This no-mess version of marbled painting was quick, easy, and inexpensive to make! Plus, it kept the girls occupied all morning while we experimented with different paint color combinations! Both of the girls loved the way they could move the paint and swirl the colors all around without getting their hands dirty! To make your […]

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 […]

Tripping the Lights Fantastic

For a fun time, crank up some dance music on your stereo. Grab some flashlights, and in a dark room….. get your groove on!! Be sure to set your camera to keep the shutter open for a few seconds, and snap some super-fun photos!! Dance, dance, dance!! Awwwwwww…. yeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!! Weeeeeeeeee!!! Added bonus — tuckered out […]

Quilted Color Match Game for Tots

I sewed up this little color match game for Clara to practice identifying her colors. It ended up being a great quiet game for keeping both of the girls occupied while I was in the kitchen making dinner. It is so colorful! I sewed the color mat using pieces from fat quarters (very inexpensive), and […]

Easy Fishing Game

We went fishing in our foyer this afternoon — it was so much fun! I made up some fish out of pipe cleaners, attached a magnet to the end of the string on the fishing pole (a stick from our backyard), and we had an instant fishing game! Merlin wanted to play too! For the […]

Elevator Fun

We did a bit of tidying up that involved several trips up and down the stairs. So we installed an elevator in our foyer! Problem solved! Added bonus — the buttons on the inside of the elevator helped with Clara’s number recognition. Suddenly, I had no shortage of helpers to make the trips up and […]

DIY: Travel Play Kitchen Set

This travel play kitchen set was super-frugal to make, and is perfect for small living spaces since the entire set folds up! I’m thinking we’ll take it with us for trips to the garden plot, visits with grandparents, or just playing outside in the backyard like we did this afternoon. I used an ordinary folding […]

Fun with Music — Ribbon Dancing!

We had rain all day, and the girls needed to burn off some energy. So we tied some ribbon onto some canning lids, cranked up some Latin music, and had a DANCING fiesta in our living room!! Woo hoo!! Both of the girls had so much fun!!! Weeeeeeeeee!!! You know I can’t resist an excuse […]

Pretend Play on a Dime — Donut Shop

It rained all day today, so while Clara was napping, Emily and I had a nice pocket of time for some crafting. She worked on some adorable paper dolls, and I put this together — A Mini Pretend Donut Shop! I used tan felt to sew the donuts (and batting to stuff them), then cut […]

Rainbow Slides

On the drive back from the Pancreatic Cancer Symposium last weekend, we were so lucky to spot a fantastic rainbow!! (A sign I took as a good omen!) Emily remarked that she wished she could slide down the rainbow, and I thought that was a great idea! First, take some photos of the kids pretending […]

Ladybug Cuteness

This fun ladybug picture was inspired by a recent ladybug sighting at the playground a few days ago. In our household, we are all about celebrating the little things in life! The best part — this project is very low cost!! Did you know that Home Depot has paint chips in the shape of leaves? […]