I already lamented earlier this week about the hard time I had coming up with a good Father's Day gift last year. In the end I was successful, read all about it here, but a whole year has gone by and I'm having the same problem. I always seem to default to a photo gift of some sort. Maybe it's because my kids are still so young that they change A LOT from year to year and I like to give the hubs mementos of how small they once were. This year I'm once again going the photo route … [Read more...]
Father’s Day Idea: Help Dad Create Great Memories
Father's Day is hard! I think gift-giving for men in general is tough. Add on the pressure to find something that's personal, special, and that he actually likes - and it's damn near impossible! Around this time last year I was bemoaning this problem when it dawned on me that the greatest gift I could give my husband was to help him create some lasting memories with the kids. Don't get me wrong, my husband is generally fantastic at telling jokes, playing around, and just being … [Read more...]
Easter’s Over, Now What?
I know it's been Easter-central here for about a month now. I'm just about ready to put it to rest and move on to lots of new and interesting stuff for May, I promise. But before I do, I've got one more post I know we could all use. Because aren't we all incessantly tripping over plastic Easter eggs, haphazardly strewn about the house, right about now? And if you're anything like me, you probably cringe a little at the thought of chucking all that plastic into a landfill somewhere … [Read more...]
Anatomy of a “Creative Play Easter Basket”
I hinted about this post last week, so here it is - C's "Creative Play Easter Basket". I had 3 goals for this basket: No candy allowed Absolutely every part of the basket has to be usable for play Inexpensive to make (and by that I mean CHEAP!) Thanks to a lot of clever bloggers and the dollar section at Target, I was able to meet all three of my goals. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I think C will be thrilled. Click through and I'll share all my resources so … [Read more...]
Candy-Free Easter Basket Goodies
Dunck from Skip Hop. Sunny Bunny Wooden Teething Toy at Buddy and JoJo. Animal Ear Headbands at Hart + Sew. I'm putting the finishing touches on the kids' "all play, all the time" Easter baskets this weekend. (For a sneak peek, see here and here). In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a few basket ideas of the non-DIY variety. Check out the candy-free finds above (OK, so one of them is a DIY - I couldn't resist). Then click through for lots more items. Set of Six Rainbow … [Read more...]
Free Printable: Easter Memory Game
When I rolled out the Easter toy I made for S's basket, I also mentioned I had a few more projects up my sleeve. So today I'm sharing a memory game I made for C's basket. To make these patterned bunnies, I used Photoshop and a few of the awesome (and free!) patterns over at Sprik Space. If you haven't been there yet, be sure to stop by and check out the whole series. There are 13 different patterns in 25 colorways, which is enough for all kinds of cool projects. To make your own set … [Read more...]
Easter Style: Sew vs. Shop
Easter will be here before we know it. Which means it's time to think about suiting the family up to look good in all those pics. Whether you want to make or buy your duds this year, you have lots of great options. Today I have for you a round up I'm calling "sew vs. shop" with a little bit of something for everyone. First up is this super sweet girl's skirt at Aesthetic Nest vs. fun flowy layers at J.Crew. Click through for the rest of goods. Of course, mama needs a cute … [Read more...]
A Simple Handmade Toy For Baby’s Easter Basket
What would you get if you combined Made by Joel's latest super simple toy and Craft Jr.'s free Easter printables? Click through to find out. It's the perfect handmade toy for baby's first Easter Basket! I'm putting an MPMK twist on S and C's Easter baskets this year and this is your sneak peek at what's to come. For this project (which I also refer to as the "Which Came First?" toy), I simply printed out Craft Jr.'s Easter chick and egg graphics in a small, medium … [Read more...]
DIY Paint Chip Easter Garland
I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to paint chips (see exhibit A below). They all look so lovely in the hardware store that I have a hard time sticking to my intended color scheme. As a result, I have quite a collection. Lately I've been eyeing my stack and formulating a few simple projects in my head. The first of which I present to you today - a DIY Easter egg garland. This was super easy and turned out even better than I'd hoped. I love how the white line … [Read more...]