This sweet lil’ mushroom house was so easy and so much fun to make! Plus, it’s made using recycled materials — making it a super-frugal project! It would make a great handmade holiday or birthday gift, and there is only a little hand sewing involved. I used an empty oatmeal canister for the base, and […]
Handmade Holidays – Soft (Felt) Pretzels
October 25, 2010 by
I sewed some quick and easy soft pretzels for the girls using just two 9″ x 12″ sheets of craft felt and some stuffing. It’s been a great addition to their fold up kitchen set! The pretzels are just long skinny tubes sewn from the felt (no measuring, just eyeballed it), stuffed (by Mark, thanks, […]
Candy Corn Family Play Set
October 19, 2010 by
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 […]
Let’s Go Fly a Kite
October 14, 2010 by
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 […]
Owl Family Play Set
October 11, 2010 by
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 […]
Around the Web – Owl Crafts
October 6, 2010 by
Some fun owl crafts for the kiddos (and grown-ups) to make…. Enjoy!! This owl snack by Christy over at Superheroes and Princesses is cute and nutritious! Whooo whooo! These stuffed owls look like so much FUN to make! Find out how at Elsie Marley. I’m loving these cupcakes by Almost Unschoolers! Cute and EASY…. my […]
Toy Camera
September 17, 2010 by
I made a fun toy camera for Emily, and it’s been a big hit around here! It’s just an empty soap box wrapped with colorful paper, and some milk caps glued on. We love crafting with recyclables — free art supplies!! I colored the inside of the lens with black sharpie and added a drawn-on […]
Pretend Car Wash
August 18, 2010 by
Inspired by Emily’s recent request for a car wash toy, both of the girls were kept busy for a long time with this pretend car wash activity, and they had a lot of fun! To make up the cars, I pressed down on a sheet of inexpensive craft foam with car and truck shaped cookie […]
DIY Slip-and-Slide
August 17, 2010 by
We faced a hot, sunny afternoon today. Armed with a 50′ x 3′ heavy duty contractor drop cloth, a package of U-shaped garden stakes, and several jugs of water, we made our way to a nearby park where there was a big hill and…. …..and made our own Slip N Slide!! Emily thought this was […]
Nesting Shoebox Dollhouse
August 16, 2010 by
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 […]
Rainbow Village Printable
August 9, 2010 by
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 […]
Quilted Color Match Game for Tots
August 2, 2010 by
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
July 30, 2010 by
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 […]
Fairy Cafe
July 29, 2010 by
During Clara’s afternoon nap, Emily helped me declutter the sewing room. I was re-organizing a drawer with thread, when I looked over and saw she had fashioned a table from some empty thread spools. We got a teensy bit side-tracked …….. I found some toothpicks with umbrellas in the kitchen and added them to the […]
Jumping Bean Races
July 23, 2010 by
The girls and I made Jumping Beans this afternoon, and then had lots of fun racing them! They loved it!! Print out the template onto heavy cardstock paper. We used the print-out template found at Having Fun at Home, and it worked beautifully! The girls enjoyed decorating their jumping beans…. They used lots of color! I […]
Configure Your Own Cardboard Castle
July 22, 2010 by
We made this cardboard castle set, and it kept the girls happy and busy for a large part of this afternoon. For something as frugal as cardboard, it was a big hit! Not only did they spend a lot of time immersed in pretend play, but they also really enjoyed getting to decorate the castle […]
Super-Easy Cool Comets
July 19, 2010 by
Faced with yet another hot afternoon, we made up some comets, dipped them in a bucket of water, and the girls had a blast hurling them at each other until they were soaked! It started off innocently enough with Emily tossing a comet at Clara….. ….but Clara wasn’t about to take that sitting down. Once […]
