DIY Crafts

Valentine’s Day is approaching fast, so it is time to get creative and make some cards! Homemade Valentine’s are the best, but many of them are just too cutesy for boys.  So I have been scouring Pinterest for easy Valentine’s Day ideas that my son can make and give, and he prefers funny and creative Valentines.

When I was a kid we always just bought a cheap set of Valentine’s at the grocery store, punched them out and addressed them.  But it really is easy and cheap to make something more special.  There are many different ideas online, and in most cases all you have to do is pick a craft, download a printable and start crafting.  My son wants something that does not go overboard on hearts, flowers or glitter.  I want something that is easy enough for him to do himself, because while I don’t mind helping him look for ideas I am not making the Valentines, he is!

This is a Fashionista Event and a promotional item was provided to me by Chocolate Frey. Hosts for this event are Still Blonde after all these Years and ModlyChic.

Chocolate is perfect for gifting during the holiday season. As a present for a hard to buy for relative, a treat for your best friend or a hostess gift nothing is more appreciated than a premium chocolate gift. I used a selection of candy from Chocolat Frey to create this Candy Bar Christmas Tree, an elegant way to present a chocolate gift.

While chocolate is always appreciated, it is nice to take some time and effort to make the gift a little more special. For this Christmas tree I simply used pins to attach chocolate bars to a styrofoam cone. I used a selection of the Chocoblock Dark Mini bars in a purple wrapper and Chocoblock Milk Mini bars in a blue wrapper.

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Dogs need holiday presents too, and this Dog Treat Wreath is a perfect holiday present that doubles as a decoration and lets you give the tastiest treats to your furry friends!

A few years ago I wrote about Pet Adoption Month, and encouraged everyone to consider adopting a dog. At least one person took action after my post, my Mom, who decided she needed a dog of her own. So she adopted Alex, a cute little pup, from the Humane Society.

Thanksgiving is one of those celebrations that just seems to call for a special centerpiece. After all the meal is the main focus of the holiday, so it makes sense to have an attractive and festive centerpiece for the dining room table. Here is a quick and easy Thanksgiving Centerpiece I made for our table this year.

I took some simple natural materials from my backyard and combined them with a sunflower floral spray for a simple fall themed centerpiece.

Looking for some fun craft ideas for Halloween? Here are some easy crafts for kids!

Halloween is one of those holidays that always seems to get kids very excited and worked up.  Having an easy craft for kids to do is a good way to distract them from the last minute anticipation and keep them busy.  These crafts take simple supplies that you probably have around the house already, like q-tips, toilet paper tubes and craft sticks.  Just click on a picture to get all the instructions and start crafting.

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Do you have pets who deserve presents this holiday season? Our dogs and cats give us love all year round, so make sure you remember them and make them something special, like these Doggie Treat Jars.

I realized over the weekend that I had not gotten presents for the pets in my extended family! Luckily there are quick and easy pet present ideas at the Purina Pet Park on Walmart.com. I decided to make the Mason Treat Jars for Domino, my sister in law’s dog, and Teddy, my great aunt’s dog. So I made a quick trip to Walmart to get some Alpo Variety Snacks from Purina, because I know all dogs love snacks. The jars are simple to make, so they are perfect for a last minute present.

These Stained Glass Votive Candle Holders aren’t really stained glass, instead they are made by covering the candle holders in colored tissue paper. But they look like stained glass, especially with a candle flickering inside them!

These Faux Stained Glass Votive Candle Holders are the perfect Christmas present project! I bought the supplies for this 2 1/2 years ago, and then never found time to do the the project. I don’t know why we waited so long for this project, because it was very easy to do and not time consuming at all. We had fun experimenting with different colors of tissue paper, and making designs in a variety of colors.

My kids have always enjoyed having an Advent Calendar for keeping track of the days left until Christmas! A Christmas Countdown Calendar is a great way to keep add some enjoyment to the anticipation of the holiday.  This year we worked together to make a DIY Advent Calendar that we can re-use year after year.

The general idea of the DIY Advent Calendar is pretty simple, since it is made out of paper mache boxes. We picked up paper mache boxes in all different shapes and sizes, and then decorated the boxes and arranged them in a Christmas tree shape. The kids can one box a day during the month of December.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CleanForTheHolidays #CollectiveBias

One of the big things I need to do to get ready for the holiday is clean and organize the house! We are having a big celebration at Christmas, with all of our family coming over for Christmas dinner. And we are planning smaller celebrations too, with friends and family. I want things to be tidy and organized this year, and not just do a cosmetic surface cleaning. One of the biggest things that makes cleaning challenging for my family is our pets, especially the dogs.

Sure the dogs look cute, but they make big messes. Dodger, our larger dog, is pretty laid back, so he mostly makes messes by shedding. But our younger dog Ziggy loves to chew, and he chews anything and everything, usually all over the living room and family room floor. Just last week he found a 1/2 empty root beer can, and chewed right through the aluminum to spill soda on the carpet. Yesterday I pulled a yellow marker out of his mouth – luckily before he created any stains this time. And then there is the mud that both of them track into the house, along with an occasional accident. 

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I am trying to be more organized for this school year, so I recently make this Paint Chip Calendar and Memo Board to help the whole family stay on track.

I found the inspiration on Pinterest, from this post from DIY Ready, and changed it up by adding a memo board area at the bottom, so we can maintain a running shopping and chore list. The original post used a picture frame as the base, but I used a Kludd glass message board that I bought at Ikea years ago and found sitting in my closet.

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On Friday my husband came home with a flat of 15 succulents for the house, which I used to create this Easy Succulent Centerpiece.

I wasn’t expecting to receive 15 plants, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them when my husband gave them to me. Honestly, I was a little less enthusiastic about this gift than he hoped for! He thought we could plant them outside, but that doesn’t really work in our climate because it is too wet.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WhereFunBegins #CollectiveBias

With summer approaching my family and I are getting ready for lots of summer fun! We love enjoying the outdoors, whether we are out in a boat, canoeing or hiking in a forest. Luckily, there are many parks and outdoor areas near us so we can explore nature. This weekend we set out for some early summer fun at a local park, and to make our day more enjoyable, we took along some SunnyD in a handy duct tape carrier.

The big activity this weekend was finding frogs, toads and tadpoles – one of my kids’ favorite spring adventures. Frequently the frogs and toads are too fast for us, but once in a while we are successful.