DIY Nature Treasures Book

Any adventure, no matter how big or small, should always result in treasures. That's why at the end of every walk there's a leaf bunched up in the palm of tiny hands, or a stick shoved into the stroller. I'm a firm believer that anything can be a treasure, and that treasures deserve to be showcased. That's why I came up with this easy DIY  book. It is incredibly simple to make, and hopefully all of the supplies are something you already have around the house. The only things that might be strange are the stroller rings, which I've found most parents have, but could be replaced with bread ties, and the felt, which could be replaced with paper or even left off entirely.

Supplies:

small freezer bags

duct tape

stroller rings (or bread ties, key rings)

felt (or thick paper, plastic, etc)

hole punch

scissors

Step One: Duct tape the bottom edge of your bag on both sides. Try to keep it as close to the edge as possible just because it makes it easier to keep everything even. If your tape hangs off the side of the bag be careful while trimming. We don't want to lose any future treasures!

Step Two: Make your cover. Cut your felt (or whatever you decided to use) to the exact width of the freezer bags, but not the height. You can see in the example picture that my felt is about 3/4 of an inch shorter than the bag.
Place some duct tape sticky side up on the bottom of a bag. I used the bag as a template to make sure everything got aligned correctly. After you've placed the tape put the felt on top of the tape, aligning the felt with the top part of the ziplock. There should still be some sticky tape showing. Put another piece of tape directly on top of the other piece, sandwiching the felt. Make sure there's no stickiness showing.
I customized my cover using acrylic paint, but I think it looks great blank, too. You could also use a permanent marker.

Step Three: Punch your holes. I found it was easiest to make a template that I could line up with the corner to make sure all of my holes ended up in the same spot.

Step Four: Put it all together.

If you fill all of the bags its easy to add more, or if something gross gets saved it's really easy to remove a page and throw it away. And since this project is made with rings it can totally be attached to your stroller during walks. No treasure gets left behind on my watch!

Unicorn Vomit "Printmaking"

This is a simple, messy art project that will have your kids super excited to try it because of the name alone. I mean, Unicorn Vomit. It's equal parts magical and disgusting! How could they resist!?

While it sounds gross, this art activity is actually a sneaky teaching moment. Combing elements of marbling and printmaking, this project introduces your little ones to the concept using abstract methods to create art and the basic principles of replicating it through a simplified printing process. 

Supplies:

Acrylic Paint in Light Pink, Yellow, Bright Blue, and Bright Green

Gallon Freezer Bag

Paper to Print On (the heavier the better)

Step one: Cut down the seams of your freezer bag and lay it flat.

Step two: Squeeze out drips and lines of paint on one side of the bag, staying away from the edges. At this point, the only thing you need to care about is that the colors look balanced and that there aren't any huge blank spots.

Step three: Fold the freezer bag back in half, completely covering up the paint.

Step four: Squish the paint around, or use your finger to move it. If you really want it to look marbled you can also use a fine, blunt tip to move the paint around (like the wrong end of a paintbrush). Be careful not to overmix, or you'll end up with a gross poop color.

Step five: Pull the bag apart and step back to look at the results. If you're happy, move on. If you have a section that has too much of one color, trying adding more paint until it looks right.

Step six: Carefully place your paper down directly on to the paint, face side down. Push gently, then peel the paper up. Set aside to dry and repeat the process until the results stop pulling up paint.

You can repeat the process as many times as you want!
If your colors start to look muddy you can always wash your bag off and start again.

"Peas" read me a story!

I keep seeing these "story baskets" on Instagram and thinking I could put one of those together pretty easily. It's basically a smaller version of what I do for my job every day.  So when I realized I had found a few a books that had a common theme and were age appropriate for my little guy (about 9 months) I got really excited. The only problem was the theme I had landed on... peas. I mean, that's a little weird, but I didn't let that stop me, because my motto is "limitation leads to creativity!" Or, you know, it would be. If I adopted a motto.

Whats in my  basket:

LMNO Peas and 123 Peas by Keith Baker

Peas on Earth by Todd H. Doodler

Number Flash Cards

Handmade Pea Pod Noisy Toy

"Peas" in a Bottle

I do realize it's kind of silly to give flash cards to a 9 month old. Right now I'm just using them to help my kid familiarize himself with numbers. But if you are making this basket for a toddler the puffballs and flash cards used together can be a great learning activity. They can either trace the shape with them like I did in the picture or pull out as many "peas" as is shown on the card.

The best part of this whole basket, in my opinion, is that adorable little pea pod toy. As soon as I thought of the concept I knew I had to make one. Each little pea is a different type of noise maker. So one rattles, one squeaks, and the other crinkles. And it was pretty easy to make, too. 

Materials:

1 piece of green felt

a squeaky toy (mine was a $1 dog toy)

some old noisy plastic wrappers

rice (or something that rattles)

plastic bag

tape

thread

scissors

Step 1: Make and cut out a pattern. You'll need a pea pod (kind of a fat crescent moon shape) and a pea (make sure it will fit in the pod when it's all sewn up!).

Step 2: Fold your felt in half, pin, and trace your pattern to make sure you have enough room for everything. You're going to need two pea pods pieces, six pea pieces, and three long thin strips to attach everything together.

Step 3: Cut. Triple check to make sure everything fits before you do. You know the saying "measure twice, cut once?" I always measure like, five times.

Step 4: Make your noise makers.
The squeaker is the most fun, and the easiest. Just tear apart the dog toy until you've found the plastic piece. It should be a circle with a tube sticking out of it.
For the crinkle pea, you want to cut out two or three pieces of your noisy wrappers a little bit smaller than the felt pea pieces you cut.
The rattle is the most complicated. I cut 2 circles out of an old plastic bag, then taped it to make a pocket. Pour rice in about half, then tape it all the way around. You should come out with a kind of flat circular shape that makes noise. Make sure you test to see if any rice comes out when you shake it.

Step 5: Put together the peas! Note: Make sure you pin on the long pieces that will attach the peas to the pod! There needs to be one sewn onto each pea.
For the crinkle pea you can just pin your crinkle layers in between your felt layers and sew around the edge. For the squeaker pea I sewed around the edge until I had about an inch left, then pushed the squeaker inside and sewed it closed. For the rattle I just pinned it (carefully) into the middle and sewed around it.

Step 6: Sew up your pea pod. When you're pinning the pod together, make sure to pin on all three peas. I attached the long strips to the bottom of the pea pod. This isn't necessary, but it makes sure that you don't have to keep chasing down peas. Sew up the big curve first, putting extra stitches where your peas attach. I added a line of stitches across the top of the pod to make everything look complete.

And there you have it! Your pea pod is done, and a great addition to a "Peas read me a story!" story basket. If story baskets aren't your thing, a veggie felt set would also be so cute.

Making the Most of Summer

Guys, I love summer. Love, love, love it. Unfortunately, for the last three years all the sudden it's the last day of summer and I'm hit with the realization that... wait, it can't be over! I haven't done anything SUMMERY yet! Bring back the fireflies! I need those long days and warms nights!

Well, this summer I don't want to let that happen. It's our little guy's first summer, and I want it to be special for all of us. A lot of new sights, sounds, and textures for him, and a lot of classic activities that I'm usually "just too busy" to do for me.

So to help me actively focus on enjoying this summer, I've come up with a "92 Days of Summer Challenge." 92 days where I try to do something each day that takes advantage of my favorite season. And that can be anything from eating a popsicle to playing on the beach. Watching fireflies or going camping. Playing in the garden hose or going on a walk just to get ice cream. You get the idea.

And of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make some cute clip art to use in my bullet journal or an organized place to put all of my "summery activities" ideas. And I'm all for sharing, so If this challenge seems like something you'd be into, or you'd just like to have some cute bugs in your own summer journal, you can download the .pdfs here.

Confetti Banner

It's my unofficial ongoing mission to make life a little more fun. Although, now that I've said that, maybe it is an official mission now? Okay, so in my official quest to make life full of joy, I've stumbled upon an idea that takes something that's already pretty happy - a banner - and amping it up. This isn't your normal banner. This is a banner on steroids. This is Extream Banner. (So... Hulk? Hur hur hur...) This is... party banner. And what could be so magical that it instantly turns anything into a party? Confetti. 

The thing that takes these banners to the next level is that not only do they have a background of colorful awesomeness, they also are shakeable. I think that they look cute hanging, but they're definitely small enough to attach to a card and send to someone who deserves some joy.

Supplies:

Contact Paper

Confetti (or bits of colorful paper)

Ruler

Scissors

String

Writing Utensils or Paint

Step One: Cut out a square and dump confetti all over it. Make sure your square is about an inch bigger than you want your banner to be on all sides. After you dump on your confetti, try brushing some off. It looks more impressive when you can see through to the other side. This is the only chance you'll get to arrange your confetti to look the way you want, so take advantage of it!

Step Two: Cover up your confetti with another piece of contact paper. This second sheet should be roughly the same size as the first, but it doesn't have to be exact. You are making a sheet of confetti paper, so you want the sticky sides of the contact paper to touch, and the smooth sides to be on the outside. Once you've put the two pieces together, use a flat edge to smooth out the bumps, wrinkles, and air pockets.

Step Three: Trim your banner to the size you want. I think it looks best when the confetti goes all the way to the edge, so don't be afraid to cut through some of it.

Step Four: Fold your banner in half and cut an angle that starts at the edge and goes up towards the fold. Then flatten it back out and smooth out the crease.

Step five: Cut two more sheets of contact paper, one a little bit larger than your banner, and the other more than double the size of your banner.

Step six: Trace your banner onto the smaller of the two sheets and cut it out.

Step seven: Peel both of your sheets off of their backing, then place the banner shaped sheet you just cut out into the middle of the large sheet, sticky side touching sticky side. Place your confetti-filled banner directly on top of the smaller banner sheet.

Step eight: Cut around your banner, roughly creating the shape in the picture above.

Step nine: Wrap the sticky side of your freshly cut sheet around the confetti-filled banner, folding in the two lower triangle corners first, and then the two big wings on the side. This should create a pocket.

Step ten: Use an extra contact sheet back to cover up the upper flap. This allows you to put more confetti into the pocket you created without it sticking where you don't want it to.

Step eleven: Fill up your pocket! I usually added enough confetti to fill it up about 1/3 of the way.

Step twelve: Peel off the contact paper backing and close it up. I added my string before I closed it, just running it along the seam. It worked well.

Step thirteen: Add your message. I loved the way the white contrasted with the colors, but the black looks good too. I'd like to see what someone could do with a paint pen.

I know you could do this with a sewing machine, but since this project would be hanging I was trying to come up with a way to keep the confetti from falling to the bottom. I think contact paper was a good (and easy!) solution.

Who in your life deserves a confetti banner?

Easter Baskets for Babies

One of the strange things about having a child is all the sudden you have, like, 200% more responsibility on holidays. Where it used to be that we just had to coordinate when to show up where, all the sudden I find myself creating detailed schedules of where we will be when he needs to feed, sleep, and be changed. On top of that, some holidays (Easter being one of them) require forethought and a little bit of work ahead of time if I want to continue in the traditions that my parents did with me (and yeah, this is one of those moments where I appreciate my mom and her ability to do this with not only one, but THREE kids.) So right now I'm realizing that I have a week to get an Easter basket ready, but I have it covered and will hopefully be able to help you, too, all thanks to Amazon Prime.

Keep in mind that my kid is only five months old, so these baskets are geared towards babies. I had a lot of fun putting them together with themes in mind, and hopefully, everything in there is something that will be used often.

For the Vintage Inspired Bunny Basket:

1- Bunny Bonnet Hat - $8

2 - Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt - $8

(Note- I got this for my baby's basket and the $8 book is quite small)

3 - The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown - $6

4 -  Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry - $7

5 -  Angel Dear Bunny Mint Blankie (13"x13") - $13

6 - Mary Meyer Bunny Lovey - $17

7 -  Bunny Ear Basket - $38 for 5

or

Bunny Ear Bag - $8

For the Mod Bunny Basket: 

1 - Bunny Swaddle - $12

2 - Black Bunny Hat - $9

3 - Wooden Egg Rattles - $9

5- God's Animals by Erin Balzer - $7

6 - Thank You God! by Kim Mitzo Thompson - $6

7 - Square Bunny Storage Bin - $14

For the Textures Basket:

1 - Palm Swaddle - $13

2 - Bearington Baby Lamb Rattle - $8

3 - Donkey Lovey - $13

4 - Lamb Crochet Hat - $11

5 - Little Lamb's Bible - $19

6 - Wooden Teether Sticks - $10

7 - Open Top Basket - $14

Those baskets do total to quite a bit, so I picked and chose what things I wanted to put into my little guy's first Easter basket. That's why I tried to find amazing items for each and every part. I hope this points you in the direction of some memorable baskets!!

Happy Easter!

Bullet Journaling: 1 Year of Experiance

Okay, so I can honestly say this has BY FAR been the most effective journaling/to do/brain organization method I've ever used. It's hard for me to keep anything up for longer than two weeks, so the fact that I was able to maintain this for over a YEAR really means something.

Bullet Journaling (officially) is a concept developed by a guy named Ryder Carroll as a way to catalog his thoughts and keep on top of his tasks. It's a system of symbols and lists that makes it easy to see what you need to do at a glance.  If you want the best explanation you can possibly get about bullet journals, check out the website bulletjournal.com.

Bullet journals basically need two things to make them function... an index and a key. Honestly I only use the index regularly. It's not even a revolutionary idea, but it has kinda changed my life. Or at least my list making habits. At the start of the notebook, you keep a couple of pages blank for your index. Then, as you add lists, you write the page number and the topic in your index.

After your index pages, you just dive into putting pretty much whatever you want into your journal. I usually have a few standard things that I include in every journal: a list of short-term goals and long-term goals, a monthly calendar to keep track of appointments, a habit tracker, and, most importantly, my daily log.

The daily log is where the key comes in. It's a hybrid of a to-do list, a day planner, and a journal, where you list off random thoughts and use bullet points to organize what kind of thought it is. So, I use just a dot for a task, and mark it off with an x when I complete it. Then any thought or event I want to remember I just use a dash for. Sometimes I make my key a little more complicated, but I always end up coming back to dashes because I can't remember the rest of the symbols, haha.
I was worried about how my bullet journal and daily log would work once I became a parent, but man is it handy to have around! I am able to write down all the little adorable (and not so adorable) things that happen so I can come back to them when I fill out calendars, baby books, etc. In fact, if you look in the collage below, the "holy poop!!" entry was the day I found out I was pregnant. :D I used it to religiously to track our feeding schedule when we were still getting the hang of that. Right now I have a page dedicated to what new foods we are trying and when, and I have another one that's our babsitting/day care schedule. I'd be lost without it, I swear.

There are a lot of other pages that I don't put in every volume but I loved having. Playlists are always great because I feel like music can take you back to a certain feeling so easily. Book lists are obviously something I support. One month I did a graphic novel list that I still go back to when I'm looking for suggestions. I folded up pages and taped them into the book to expand on ideas more than once, and last year I did my "inktober" drawings on sticky notes that I taped to the back page of my journal. I think random little pages like that are what take my journal from being just a planner to something more unique and game-changing.

Do I like bullet journaling? You could say that. Or you could say I love it, and it's become so routine to me it's like breathing, and without it I might die... but if you said that I'd call you dramatic, so let's just go with "I really like it." It's great for my forgetful self because I can look back on what I did last week. It's great for my unorganized self because it's an ongoing to do list that I keep in my pocket. It's great for my creative self because I'm constantly playing with fonts and layouts. And it's great for my office supply addiction because I now have a place to put all of the cute post its I buy. But maybe it's also not so great for my office supply addiction because now I have a reason to buy more. So that's it's one drawback... it makes you want to buy more sticky notes. If you can call that a drawback.

So if you want to create a bullet journal, and you're willing to risk feeding your office supply addiction, I say go for it. All you really need is a notebook and something to write with. 

Here are some links to get you started:

bulletjournal.com - This is the end all be all guide to bullet journaling.

Field Notes - This is where I get all my notebooks. Obviously, you can use whatever kind of book you want... actually, this would probably be easier with a bigger notebook. I just am obsessed with the Field Notes brand and all of their amazing designs. Also, their books are durable, fit in your pocket, and come with grid paper. See why they're my favorite?

Bullseye's Playground at Target - The place that affordably feeds my office supply addiction. 

Pinterest Board - Just a collection of cute ideas. There are so many creative people out there!

Go forth and journal!