Category: DIY

March 31, 2014

Go Fish! With Goldfish

A week ago, Cathy from Cathy Thinking Out Loud sent me a fantastic activity to play with my children after a conversation we had on Twitter. She created Goldfish Go Fish cards (from scratch I have to add!) for our boys to colour in, cut out and play. We have had so much fun playing with them that I had to share it with you!

For this activity you will need:

blank paper
construction paper (all the same colour, six sheets in total)
crayons or markers
scissors
glue

Directions:

Print out the sheet above. I have only included one of the Goldfish sheets so you can trace the outline of the fish shape and add the following names: cheddar, chocolate chip, chocolate, pretzel, pizza and vanilla cupcake.
Colour in the Goldfish.
Glue the sheet to a piece of construction paper and cut out in four.
Have fun playing Go Fish!

January 29, 2014

“Watch My Love Grow” Children’s Craft with Cathy Thinking Out Loud

Have you met Cathy from Cathy Thinking Out Loud? She is a fantastic blogger, friend and parent! Her blog is full of parenting tricks and tips, travel advice, reviews and so much more! Cathy created this super fun craft to do with our kids! I made mine Valentine’s Day themed so that I could add it to their Valentine’s Day gifts but we will be making a whole bunch more!

To make this craft you will need:

snack sized Ziploc bags (bags needed will depend on the number of crafts you are making) or you can use the small baggies from the dollar store to create ‘pouches’ to tie on a necklace

bean seeds (these sprout the fastest and this will also depend on the number of crafts you are making)

cotton balls or pads (we used cotton pads)

coloured ribbon (if you are going to make the craft into a necklace make sure to have enough ribbon to make the necklace long enough)

Directions:

1. Soak a cotton swab and fold in half. Wet one bean seed and place directly on the swab.

2. Place the bean on the swab inside the snack sized Ziploc bag in the middle of the bag.

3. Seal the baggie ensuring there is no air left in it.

4. Poke a hole above the seal on the baggie with scissors.

5. Thread the ribbon through and tie.

6. Watch the bean grow!

When it starts to grow you can always transplant it to a pot or to your garden. I hope you enjoy this craft from Cathy! Simple, fun and frugal craft to do with your kids. To find more ideas from Cathy head over to her blog Cathy Thinking Out Loud.

August 12, 2013

Re-Creating My Pinterest Dream #cbias

I have a secret to confess (although you probably wont be surprised!) – I love Pinterest! I can spend hours and hours online looking through home decor, crafts and recipes. I have spent countless of lunch hours online “researching” what I would love to do in our home, new recipes to try and crafts for our kids (it is amazing how quickly one hour can just fly by!). Pinterest is an incredible platform to easily share and save fantastic ideas with your favourite brands, blogs, community groups, friends and family. I have found so many exciting crafts and home DIY ideas this way! I love the wide variety of skill levels that you can find in the crafts/DIY sections and the cultural diversity in the recipes that are online.

I was very excited to be able to participate in re-creating one of my dream pins that I found on the CB Socially account on Pinterest. If you are not yet following the CB Socially boards you really should! There is a board for every possible event, theme, craft, recipe or product that you can think of.

For this project, I quickly focused on their Crafts/DIY board. I fell in love with their Mason Jar Succulent pin as soon as I laid my eyes on it! Here is a quick shot of the print:

We moved into our new home around three months ago and are still in the process of purchasing new furniture and re-decorating. We started off in the dining room and purchased a new dining set. I have been researching and looking into a centre piece for it but so far have not been able to find one that really spoke to me. I knew as soon as I found the Mason Jar Succulent pin that this would be perfect for our new home!

What I loved the most about this home decor project was it’s simplicity. For a person like me who is not quite the best at putting together floral arrangements and crafts this looked perfect! The only materials needed were: mason jar, stones, glass beads and succulent. Pretty simple right?

I am one of those individuals who has to prepare her shop before hand and research prices. I was able to find everything I needed for this project at Walmart online. I was able to head over to Walmart during my lunch hour at work and gather everything I needed in under twenty minutes! You can find my whole shopping experience in my album here.

I had decided that since these pieces were going to be the focal point for our new dining set that I wanted one taller jar and one of the three jars to contain a dried coloured flower instead of a succulent to add additional contrast. Looking through both the original project’s instructions and my online research I was able to find a jar/vase that would suit this need.

Here is a peak at my purchases:

I could not have been more impressed with how simple it was to put together. I always get a little bit hesitant to try out the projects I find on Pinterest as I am nervous as to whether it will be too difficult for me to create and the length of time to re-create the project. This project was easy to put together and came together in three easy steps:

The only hard part was that some of the dirt fell into the glass beads even when I tried the suggestion of watering the dirt first but it was such a minimal amount that made it through on to the beads that it did not affect the overall look.

I fell in love with the final look of this project. It suits the room perfectly and I am so proud that I am able to say that I created it myself!

What do you think of my final master piece? Would you have done something different? Don’t forget to check out my whole experience here.

What projects have you re-created from Pinterest?

March 31, 2013

Jewelled Easter Egg Craft

We wanted to try something a bit different this year with our Easter eggs. My super creative co-worker (she always amazes me with the awesome ideas she comes up with!) had this great idea to glitter and jewel her Easter eggs!

I thought this was such an awesome (and frugal idea!). The whole craft cost us under four dollars! I went to the dollar store and purchased a package of jewel stickers for two dollars – I chose black and white but they had such a great variety of different colours.

We boiled our eggs like normal, let them cool and then patted them dry. We then stuck the stickers on and they stuck perfectly (I was a bit worried that they would fall off!) – they even survived being thrown across the floor when my two year wanted to use the eggs as a ball!!

My boys enjoyed the craft but really missed dipping their eggs in dye. Next year we decided we would dip the eggs first in dye and when they were dry we would put the jewels on. What crafts did you try out this year with your family?