making lately: DIY (non-candy) valentines

Is it just me, or has every holiday turned into Halloween with how much candy gets handed out to kids? Granted, Valentine's Day is also a pretty traditional candy holiday, but with enough sugar in our lives already, I'm all about changing up the classroom handouts to something else. Hendrik and I are still working on this year's - going with cute little owl erasers as the fun gifty and some suitable puns to print on the attached cards (you know - "whooo's your Valentine?" or "owl be your Valentine!"). Meanwhile, here are a couple of similar ideas we've done in the past, which I still love...

Dino Valentines: you can inexpensively get a big pack of dinosaur figurines and affix them with fun washi tape to cards printed with things like "You're dino-mite", "You're tricera-tops", and "You make my heart saur".

 

Wild animal Valentines: along the same lines, with little packs of plastic safari-type animals, there are lots of fun puns to be had: "I'm wild about you" and "Wild thing, you make my heart sing" are my favorites, but you could also do things like "You're grrrrreat" or "Hippo Valentine's Day".

For both of these, Pinterest has tons of free printables if you don't want to make your own design!

making lately: kid art storage solutions

Inspired by Kelsey's recent post about making a photo book of kid art (well, that and a nearly expired free 8x8 photo book code on Shutterfly), I recently finally completed an album of Hendrik art that I'd been meaning to get around to making. Which then made me think of sharing about how I manage all of the kid art and papers that every mom of school-aged kids knows start accumulating from day 1 of preschool.... and could fill your entire house if you don't figure out a process for handling them.

In order to not actually have to keep all of the million papers, but still get to enjoy them and to treasure the good ones (because, let's be honest, there are a lot of throwaway "art" papers that come home), here's my approach:

Have a designated place for (temporary) display

In the playroom we have these giant clips mounted on the wall, and I use them to let Hendrik choose his favorite items to display - but the deal is that we have limited space, so it's time to say goodbye to an older piece if he wants to put up a new one. When we did his big kid room this fall I added a bulletin board by the desk so that he has an additional spot to put his treasured items. The rest he knows we recycle (even if there are occasional times when he gets upset about seeing a "treasure" in the recycling bin - see the final step below...)

Snap photos of your favorites and include them in photo albums

This is where I ascribe to one of Gretchen Rubin's maxims from The Happiness Project: don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. While it might be nice to scan the pieces for the best reproduction of the images, or get out the fancy camera for better quality shots, I remember that the point is (1) to have memories of Hendrik's interests/abilities/creative ideas from different stages of development that we can enjoy looking back on and (2) not have tons of paper clutter, so I just lay the stuff on a white table and quickly snap an iPhone photo before I recycle it. Then, a couple of weeks ago when I decided it was finally time to make the book, I just pulled all of the saved photos off my phone, uploaded to Shutterfly and put together this album (using this kid art themed layout design was perfect for making it cute and quick!). Aside from the art, it was really fun to include snapshots of how he wrote his name at different ages.

Have one storage bin for the ones you really can't part with

I keep one Rubbermaid bin in the basement for memorabilia, so the really special stuff goes in there - but then the key is to clean it out occasionally, like the end of each school year, in order to keep it manageable. Also, sometimes you'll look back and think, that was cute, but I really don't need to keep 12 daycare art projects that the teachers helped him glue together, so then you smile at seeing them once more and then let go of them later.

"Disappear" the rest

Having learned my lesson on this one, I don't toss the stuff in the recycling bin immediately when it comes home from school. First I let Hendrik show me all of his things, then I let them sit on the counter until after bedtime, and then they just disappear before morning... Key here is to not have them be visible when your kid opens the recycling bin to put in his yogurt cup the next morning. Made that mistake with a spelling test earlier this year: "but I worked so hard on that!" (Yeah, okay.) But really, part of the process is setting up an expectation that we can enjoy the process of making the drawings and enjoy looking at them, but we're not going to keep all of them forever. He just understands that by now even if he's not always super thrilled about it - but having the result of the photo album to show him definitely makes it easier, because it's so cool to see everything compiled.

That's my quick rundown, which was greatly inspired from the start by Kelsey's post on managing kid art - and then thanks to her for the updated post about putting together the art album, because Hendrik and I are both thrilled to have his here to page through now.

making lately: wine tasting party decor

To celebrate my grandma's recent 80th birthday, my parents planned a fun wine tasting party for the family... and I appointed myself head of decorations, because with a wine theme and a huge collection of wine corks that I've been saving for years, how could I not?

Here's the lowdown on holding a wine tasting party:

Decor: wine corks are perfect, of course! I put out the cork star burst that I made ages ago, and made some numbers out of a bunch more corks + a hot glue gun. Also picked some particularly fun looking corks to serve as label holders (just cut a slit in the top) for our various cheese varieties. Then I found plates, napkins, and bags with gold polka dots that fit the cork theme perfectly.

Food: it's not all that hard to come up with a menu for a wine tasting party, because... cheese! We cut up a variety and put out a big spread with crackers, grapes, salami and marcona almonds. Added bonus is that it's interesting to see how different wines taste when paired with different types of cheese.

Wines/tasting process: My dad organized a set of rieslings for us to try, which we hid in bags after pouring them so that people could taste and form opinions without being biased by the label. We grouped the various pours together and spread them through the dining area and porch so that people could move around to various stations. And to turn it into a real activity, I created a scorecard where everyone could fill out their own rating of the taste, a word to describe it (which was fun to have everyone read off at the end, things like "tennis ball" and "petrol"), and a stab at what region it might have come from. A couple of top picks? The late harvest riesling from Chateau Grand Traverse (yeah, Michigan wines!) and Kung Fu Girl. Doing a similar blind setup with different varietals would also be a lot of fun, to see if people could differentiate merlot from cab sauv, etc.

Oh, and for the one under-21 present, I did a "blind" tasting by putting milk, water, grapefruit juice, and chocolate milk into sippy cups. Hendrik loved filling out his own, and he guessed all correctly except the juice (he thought maybe it was lemonade, but I kind of tricked him because he'd not had that type of juice before). He also cracked me up by rating the chocolate milk and water a 5 on his scale, while regular milk and grapefruit juice only got a 4.

Overall, a great way to celebrate a great lady! And a great use of all those corks I had been saving for seemingly no reason for several years...

pin to present: painted driftwood

Trying to think of a little craft project that we could do with some aunts and cousins and grandmas at our extended family cottage last week, I scrolled through my Pinterest board and happened upon a photo of some painted driftwood that I saved ages ago... and how perfect is that for a crafternoon at a lakefront cottage.

So Hendrik and I went for a walk along the beach with a bucket and collected a bunch of driftwood pieces, and then we pulled out our supply of acrylic paints and paintbrushes, and everyone got busy.

Such an easy little project with endless possibilities - and it works for the 5-year-old and 75-year-old among you, and everyone in between! Hendrik was very pleased with the long stick that he found himself on our beach walk.

pin to present: wreath repeat

Because we are nearing the actual arrival of SPRING, GLORIOUS SPRING (and in the meantime, approaching spring break, glorious spring break!), it feels like a good time to bring back one of my very favorite Pinterest-inspired projects ever: this tulip wreath.

And it's going to be even better this year, because this year my front door is a gorgeous turquoise. Love it.

And last I saw, the mini tulip bushes I got from Michaels last year to make this wreath are on sale for $2 each (you need about 10 of them) - so get yourself there, and make your own ring of beauty for spring!

pin to present: painted heart cookies

In last week's polar vortex school shutdown madness (schools here were off 6 days in a row, with the combination of snow and cold!), we were of course looking for some entertainment to pass the time... Baking is always a winner of an activity with my kid, but thanks to this watercolor cookie decorating idea I pinned ages ago, we had a fun new twist to keep us from going stir-crazy.

Bonus of doing this type of cookie on a snow day is that it's a three-fer activity: making cookie dough (I recommend this recipe!), cutting out cookies, and then the frosting/painting. I did my usual simple (but soooo delicious) frosting of powdered sugar + a splash of milk and then I piped on an outline using a squeeze bottle, and then filled in the outline (that helps it have nice edges and not go running off the cookie). Once the frosting was set, it was time for the fun part!

We used leftover painting supplies from Hendrik's birthday arty party to mix water + a couple of drops of food coloring in the various wells of our palette, and a pack of brand-new inexpensive paintbrushes to paint on some season-appropriate sweetness. Wouldn't a little package of these make great gifts for Valentine's Day? I think we'll have to bring some to the various people that helped out with childcare while I was traveling for work and there were still snow days happening...


Sharing on The Blended Blog.

pin to present: art cart

Even before I started watching the Marie Kondo Netflix series, I was in a tidying up mode, brought on by Christmas... particularly in our playroom, where several new Lego sets and more needed a new home. Making room for those involved some weeding out of "little kid" toys, but then I also assessed the drawers full of haphazardly arranged art supplies - and decided I needed to turn to Pinterest for inspiration for a more elegant solution. Enter the art cart!

I was going to go with an inexpensive white cart that is a lot like the inspiration photo, but then Target.com's helpful "recommendations" feature showed me this bigger library-style cart, and I fell in love at first sight. More storage space, and such a fun color.

We have a lot of built-in storage in this room, so we already had the wire baskets, glass jars, and utensil caddy for storing these supplies, but they were kept on various shelves and inside cupboards that were out of Hendrik's reach. Now all of the supplies are out and in sight, which makes for a festively colorful display - plus, when we can immediately see what we have, Hendrik is more inspired to create with it, and he can access it all on his own as well. The first day we had it arranged on the cart, he right away pulled out some glue and pompoms and made a fun collage. All around, we love it!

I linked some similar storage solutions above that are working well for us - glass jars are great for various crafty things like pompoms or acrylic paints, a caddy holds all of our markers and scissors and such, and wire baskets hold other miscellaneous supplies like stickers, pipe cleaners and so on (separated in individual ziplocs), along with a separate one for paper, coloring books, and workbooks.

pin to present: DIY gift ideas

I've shared three of my four 2018 gift grids, full of ideas for what people in your life might want, need, wear (and read, coming tomorrow!), but sometimes it's nice to channel the gift giving spirit more toward making things with love, rather than just buying stuff. So: a recap of some of my favorite Pinterest-inspired DIY gift ideas. All easy and fairly inexpensive, but sure to be enjoyed and appreciated.

for neighbors, kids' teachers, etc.

Christmas "crack" - it's soooo yummy and easy!

homemade hot cocoa mix - also so easy, and simple to make cute and giftable in a mason jar with bow

for the hostess or the foodie

etched wooden spoons - who doesn't need more of these in their kitchen? Especially some polka dotted ones 

colorblock cutting boards - fun to customize to any one's favorite colors

for your lady friends

leather hair ties - I love a pretty version of a super useful thing, and I bet your girlfriends will too

jewelry dish - a great use for your favorite pretty Instagram photos!

for the kiddos

car ramp - so inexpensive to make, and worth HOURS of entertainment

dishcloth apron - perfect for the kiddo who likes to bake, or maybe who is getting a play kitchen for Christmas!

Are you DIYing any gifts this year? I haven't decided if I'm going to take on a project yet... or just keep buying paint by sticker books for everyone. It's not a DIY, but it lets your giftee have some of that kind of fun themselves!

pin to present: ghost costume

Hendrik has been saying for months already that he wants to be a ghost for Halloween. He saw in a book somewhere the classic bedsheet ghost costume and was fully planning on that, until I disabused him of the notion - as a mom, it's pretty much my job to foresee disasters, and this totally would be, with the eyeball holes slipping out of alignment, or him tripping over the end of the sheet...

Though it seems to me a classic Halloween costume, there really aren't any to be had at Target or Amazon - so, naturally, I took to Pinterest to come up with an easy DIY solution. And what I came up with was not only easy, but it is also warm, a necessary component for Halloween in Michigan! The poncho style topper is made out of fleece, and is big enough to be layered over as many sweatshirts/coats as necessary, depending on how the weather turns out. Plus there's a hat!

This really was super easy following this no-sew tutorial - took me probably 1/2 hour, especially because I skipped the step of knotting the fringe. And since I hit a good sale day at Joann Fabrics (plus coupon), the whole thing cost about $10. All around better than an Amazon costume, and Hendrik loves it. I even have enough fleece left over that I might subject Ginger to the same treatment...

What's everyone being for Halloween at your house this year?

pin to present: Thanksgiving table

It's right about this time every November that my mom and I start perusing Pinterest (okay, frantically searching) for Thanksgiving tablescape ideas. Which reminded me that I had a few snapshots of last year's Pinterest-inspired settings I hadn't yet shared!

We love a good kraft paper table topper, and - importantly - my mom still has remnants of a huge roll of it from my sister's wedding, so this one was pretty quick and easy, once I had cut out little cardboard templates for the utensils and could then trace them all on. And table settings with a nice candle glow are always a good touch - we opted for the safer LED versions, but lovely all the same.

How are you prepping Thanksgiving this year? I'm still thinking my herringbone pumpkins might be a good centerpiece option over here...