Around Christmastime we made an IKEA run and, per our usual, came home with a unique smattering of items: festive chair cushions, drawers for under Beany’s bed, a few packs of batteries and a gigantic roll of paper designed for an easel we still don’t own. The cushions were fun through the holidays, the drawers are great toy storage…
Wrapping Week 2014: Magic wands
It seems like every year for Wrapping Week, I plan and buy supplies for four ideas and then end up making the last one pretty last minute, pieced together from the scraps and bits left behind by the first four presents of the week. Some years it works out better than others, but I think…
Wrapping Week 2014: It’s Sharpie time!
I love wrapping presents, and I can get almost as jazzed about the outside of a pretty package as a I can about what’s on the inside, but I know not everyone wants to spend a precious Saturday in December trying to construct the perfect paper bow or wrapping yarn just so. There are trees…
Wrapping Week 2014: Finger paint Frosty!
Holidays have always been a big deal in our house, but now that we have a 3-year-old who’s hitting her holiday-loving stride, it only feels fitting to kick things up a notch. This year for Halloween, we visited a pumpkin patch, where Beany picked out a teeny tiny pumpkin she named Spookley. After a decorative…
Super Simple Toddler-Friendly Valentines
This toddler-friendly Valentine’s Day craft really is easy enough to warrant zero tutorial for how to make it, but Beany had such a good time with her piles of pink hearts the other day, I thought I’d share our super simple project. Basically, you just cut out a gazillion hearts of different sizes, supply your…
Wrapping Week 2013: Ready to Mail
My love for paper is pretty intense, and I could probably be happy for an unreasonably large amount of time surrounded by cardstock and stationery. But no matter how strong that love might be, watching an hour’s worth of bow-making get crunched and smooshed by way of suitcase, mail or toddler hands is not my…
Wrapping Week 2013: Pretty in Polka Dots
The other day I was hanging up some laundry to dry and realized that between Beany and me, we could rock a polka dot nearly every day of the week. The entire doorframe of the master closet (the designated drying spot in our humble abode) was filled with a smattering of spots in varying sizes…
Wrapping Week 2013: Fa La La Felt Ornaments
Ever since I made these felt cookies for Beany and my niece last Christmas (which are holding up amazingly well and still favorite toys in our house), I’ve been toting around a ridiculously large supply of scrap felt. It’s like when you’re eating dinner at one of those gigantic-portions Italian restaurants, and no matter how…
Wrapping Week 2013: Holly Jolly Reindeer Prints
We got our first real covers-everything-and-makes-the-world-look-pretty snow last night in Boston! Woo hoo! After living in North Carolina for two years, where we barely, barely got anything that could count as flurries for nearly the entire stay, I think Jared and I just assumed that moving to the Northeast would mean bunches and bunches of…
An easy peasy, no-sew craft to keep your coffee cozy
Last December I wrote an article for Carolina Parent magazine about super simple gift ideas your kids can make (or help make) themselves, and though I think I posted most of them not long after the article came out, this one slipped through the cracks. As luck should have it, the chilly weather and warm-drink…