Disney Printables

My husband and I have been living in our house for seven months now and I have yet to hang up any of our decorations. I admit that laziness is a contributing factor, but a main reason why I haven’t done so is that I’m not very good at anything crafty, decorations included. It’s hard for me to look at a blank wall and know what should go where, so I have the same problems scrap booking, designing room layouts, or even decorating cookies. That’s probably why I never noticed just how many cool craft features Disney has on its … Continue reading

Pet Commemoration

On Wednesday I revealed that my sister-in-law gave my husband and me a pet-themed gift as one of our wedding presents. Well, she gave us more than just the book on games to play with your dog. She also gave us a little kit for making paw print molds from our future cat and dog. My sister-in-law knew we planned to adopt both a dog and a cat, so she included a gift that would work for either of them. She has three cats herself, so she also understands how deeply attached one can get to pets. The packaging for … Continue reading

Fun With Cookie Cutters

My daughter loves my mom’s Chocolate Bar Cookies. The giant sweet treats are filled with coarsely chopped Hershey bars instead of traditional chocolate chips. While they may not taste exactly like an ordinary chocolate chip cookie, they look just like the popular snack. At least they did before my daughter came up with the brilliant idea to use her favorite dinosaur cookie cutter on mounds of dough. Truth be told, the cookie cutters work better on sugar cookie dough, but my daughter was determined to make a chocolate chunk dino and didn’t seem to mind that her T-Rex came out … Continue reading

Simple Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

You don’t have to cook corned beef and cabbage for a busload of guests or paint your house green to show that you have St. Patrick’s Day pride. Instead, you can celebrate the holiday in a more low-key fashion by completing some of these simple projects: 1. Bake Glazed Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies Ingredients for Brownies: 3/4 cup Cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted and divided 1/2 cup boiling water 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Mint Chocolate Chips Ingredients for … Continue reading

Ways To Go Green on St. Patrick’s Day

It may not be a national holiday in this country, but March 17th is a day to celebrate nonetheless. St. Patrick’s Day is for the Irish, those who wish they were Irish, and those who are simply looking for a reason to drink… I mean… party… I mean… wear green. For my family, which happens to be part Irish, March 17th is a day filled with parades, corned beef and cabbage and crafts. Even if you are not Irish you can get into the spirit by going green with these fun activities: Green Shaving Cream: Add a few drops of … Continue reading

Toddler Creations

I love how creative my son is. Has your toddler built a tower out of blocks lately? Have they decorated the refrigerator with magnets or stickers? Have you shown them how to glue pieces of paper together? Have they drawn with markers on some of their toys or books? I call these “toddler creations” and I love to collect and photograph them. I want to remember, years from now, what toddler creations my son has made. I want to show off his creative ideas in his scrapbook. I want to share his creativity with our friends and family by letting … Continue reading

Green Kids Crafts

Today I spent most of the morning with my two youngest kids creating crafts for the fall season. We’ve made pumpkins, leaves, hand turkeys, and even a friendly trick or treater or two. In the process of these crafts, we’ve gone through some paper, some glue and some crayons. It got me thinking about whether or not we are being responsible about all of these crafts. The answer, as you might expect is somewhat. We make use of paper that is already printed on one side, so we are making an effort to get the most out of each piece … Continue reading

What to Do with Trash

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, we Americans produce approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. In case you were wondering, that is enough trash to cover the entire state of Texas – twice! It is estimated that each of us produce, on average, about four pounds of garbage each day. That’s about all the statistics I am going to go into because math hurts my head, but let’s just say, we have tons of trash. Of course, you can use some of it to make compost, but, you can turn some of your other trash into useful items … Continue reading

Make Your Own Paper from Old Newspaper

I saw on a kids show once how to make your own paper from old newspapers and I just thought it was the coolest thing to do. It may not be as easy as going to the store to buy paper, but you will save trees and have the satisfaction of knowing that you made your own paper – how cool is that? You will need a food processor or blender (you may want to use one you don’t plan to put food in anymore), an electric iron, a wire hanger, a pair of old pantyhose, white glue, water, a … Continue reading

Recycling Denim – Part 1

If you loved my “Recycling Old Record Albums” blog, chances are you have another type of material that needs to be recycled – denim! Chances are that you have denim that needs recycling, whether it is yours, your spouses, or your kids. Remember that if you are just tired of your old jeans, but they are still in decent shape, you can always donate them to a local thrift store! What can you do with old denim? Here are a few ideas: Hot Rice Pack Oh, do I need one of these with my aching back! You can use the … Continue reading