All posts filed under: craft

DIY Handles!

So I saw this very pretty closet door handle on one of my favorite sites and was about to purchase it when I realized that it’s probably very easy to make on my own. Off I went to Canadian Tire, bought 6 handles for the price of one of the pretty ones and completed my entire project in under 30 minutes. I simply used hot glue on one end of the handle, then wrapped twine around the entire handle and used the hot glue on the other end. It literally took me less than 5 minutes per handle and I saved lots of money, can’t go wrong with a craft like that one.

DIY Advent Calendar

Growing up in a Jewish home I was always fascinated with the commercialized side of Christmas. I slowly started to buy decorations but could never quite bring myself to buy a tree. Till I met my husband, who happens to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Well in all honesty mostly just Christmas as his mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish. So, now I had real reason to buy a tree and my son will now celebrate both holidays! Which is very exciting for his Jewish mother who loooooooves Christmas! I made him his first Advent Calendar and enjoyed every minute of it. It was relatively easy and not that time consuming. Materials: Canvas Board (16×20) Hot Glue Sharpie Brown Paper Bags (small size) Construction Paper and Patterned Paper (with gingham print) Glue Stick Twine 25 Clothespins Christmas Decorations   Directions Decorate your little bags, I used the gingham paper for the numbers and cut out green hearts. Then glue one strip of twine to your canvas board (use the glue on the back …

DIY Under the Sea Birthday

This past weekend we hosted a wonderful birthday for a little girl who turned 8 years old. She requested “under the sea” as her theme and we had so much fun with it! The guests made “Under the Sea” treasure boxes and decorated cupcakes with fondant dolphins and seashells. For the decorations, we made lots of beautiful fish and used tissue paper for seaweed. The hanging Jelly Fish were made from a paper bowl and a cut up table cloth. If you want to skip all the work you can always contact us to host your Under The Sea Birthday Party – visit our Birthday page for more information!        

Happy Halloween!

Everyone seems to love Halloween, from little children to big grown-ups. This past Sunday we had our annual Haunted House and it was a hit! We tried to serve as many healthy snacks as we could, which included Clementine Jack-O-Lanterns and bran muffin cupcakes. We were left with only crumbs at the end, so I’m guessing our Halloween Sweet Table was a hit! Here are some pics from the big day! We’ve really enjoyed getting into the Halloween spirit this year, we’re particularly excited about going trick or treating for the first time!! My little one is dressing up as a monster (or a shark, we’re still undecided) and will be walking the Halloween streets for the first time! I’m slightly nervous about the temper tantrums that may ensue regarding the eating of candy, but I’m bracing myself for them. Happy Halloween everyone, wishing you a safe and fun evening!  

Halloween Treats

Our Annual Haunted House is just around the corner and we’re getting ready by making all our own treats for the event. We are trying to stay on the healthier side of things but it’s not so easy at Halloween. We made organic gingerbread dough for our Skeletons and used a very small amount of brown sugar in the recipe. I did find a recipe after the fact that had no sugar in it, so if anyone has a chance to try it please let me know! For the Ghost Pops you could definitely use sugar free Lollipops. We’re also going be decorating bran muffins to look like yummy cupcakes! One of our healthier snacks will be the return of Clementine Jack-O-Lanterns. A quick and easy DIY project to help decorate your treat table are Mason Jar Mummies. This took me all of ten minutes and most of that time was waiting for the glue gun to get hot enough. I simply wrapped the jar in gauze (which I purchased from the dollar store) and …

Kleenex Box Monsters

This is an easy DIY craft for you to do with your kiddies! There’s so many great things about this craft, not only is it made using recycled parts it can also be used for fun games after, like skeleton toss or really just about any kind of “toss” you want. Supplies Kleenex box (with plastic sleeve intact) Paint (your choice of colours) Construction Paper White Paper Scissors Egg carton (you just need 2 dimples from the carton) Hot glue Googly Eyes Directions Paint the Kleenex box and 2 sections of the egg carton, let stand to dry. Cut circles (or shape of your choice) out of construction paper. Once paint is dry glue your eyes and shapes on, using hot glue. You can also glue the googly eyes onto the egg carton at this point. Cut teeth out of the white paper and glue to plastic sleeve on Kleenex box.

Another Ikea Hack!

So this one I really have to thank Panyl for. I simply painted the top and sides of the Malm Dresser and then used Panyl’s “limited Oak woodgrain” panels to finish off the piece. Personally I think it’s my best Ikea Hack yet (given that I’ve only done 4 up to this point I think I can claim that statement). Have any questions about how I made this feel free to ask away, I’d be more than happy to share my “Ikea Hacking” secrets with you!    

Rainbow Fun Foam

This is a great activity for toddlers/preschoolers (or really any kid who likes bubbles). It was easy to make and also worked as a fantastic learning tool as we were able to experiment with mixing colours.  Materials Dish Soap Water Handheld Mixer Food Colouring Large Bin Glass Bowl   Directions Using the handheld mixer, mix 2 tbsp of dish soap with 1/4 cup of water in a bowl. It will take about 2 minutes for the foam to form, at this point you can mix in some food colouring. Scoop out the foam and dump it in your “sensory bin”. For each colour I mixed two batches of the foam. The 1/4 cup of water and 2 tbsp of dish soap actually make quite a bit. I do suggest using this as soon as possible to avoid the bubbles from disappearing.

Edible Flower Cookies

Not only do these look beautiful but they happen to taste great too! To top it off they are very easy to make! First you need a sugar cookie recipe (I tried making these gluten free as well and found that the cookie was a tad too crumbly). Materials Sugar Cookie Dough Edible Flowers (after searching high and low I found some at The Harvest Wagon) 1 egg beaten Paint Brush (used for food only) Directions After you’ve made your sugar cookies you want to put them in the oven for about three quarters of the time the recipe suggests. Once they’ve come out of the oven and cooled down a bit you will need to beat your egg in a small bowl with a fork. Then using your paint brush you want to coat your cookie with a bit of egg. Then place a flower on top of the cookie and brush it with some more egg to get the flower to lay “somewhat flat”. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar and voila! Put …

How to Make a Piñata!

Ever wondered how to make a Piñata? Well wonder no more, it’s actually much easier than you think and it’s a great activity to do at a birthday party, or really any celebration for that matter. Here’s a list of supplies: 2 pieces of Cardboard Mural Paper (slightly thicker than regular paper) Masking Tape Crepe Paper (aka streamers) Candy/or your choice of small objects for the inside of your Piñata Step 1: Decide what you want your Piñata to be and then draw an outline of the shape onto the cardboard. Cut out the shape and trace it onto the second piece of cardboard, when finished cut out the second shape. Step 2 For the next step, the width of the paper you use will determine the thickness of your Piñata. We used about 2.5″ wide mural paper for this step. You’re going to cut a strip of the mural paper and tape it onto one of the pieces of your Piñata, following the outline of the shape. Once you’ve secured the mural paper to …