Unique Gift Wrapping Ideas

With the holidays just around the corner, it's the prefect time to share some unique gift wrapping ideas with you. When I give presents, I try to make sure the wrapping is just as special as the present. A well wrapped present makes a gift feel special no matter how much money was spent on it. It says to the receiver, that you took time with it and didn't just quickly throw something into a bag. For ideas and step by step photos, click below. 

Who doesn't love a party!

It's that time of year again, my oldest bear will be celebrating her 6th birthday soon (how in the world is it possible that she's turing six!) and this year for her party she wanted to decorate gingerbread houses with her friends. I've written about how special it is for kids to receive fun and creative party invites (click here for the post), so this year I thought it would be fun to bake mini gingerbread house cookies to match the invites. For photos of the invites and where to find them along with gingerbread recipe (which makes the softest, tastiest gingerbread) click below. 

Start your engines...

So a five month long blog hiatus was not planned, but life got busy, really busy and the blog got put on the back burner. I have been thinking about posts I wanted to do and have taken loads of pictures but have just not had the time, or head space to post. Now that my hospital placement is over for the semester and my uni classes are under control, I have a bit more time at night to devote to the bears four. 

Recently my littlest bear had his fourth birthday and he is hot wheel OBSESSED. So of course the party theme had to be hot wheels. Click below to see photos from the party with ideas, tips, free downloads and recipes that will insure you throw a super duper hot wheels party. 

DIY Easter Treat Bags

I haven't been able to post recently since our camera keeps giving out on us, but I was able to snap a few photos of these cute bunny treat bags I made for the kids friends at school for Easter this year before the camera really died. 

Easter is extra early this year and with exams, papers and hospital clinical rotations, it's lucky the little bears are getting to take anything to school! When I was trying to come up with ideas, I wanted to make something original but also easy and inexpensive. With most of the supplies already on hand, it was virtually free (other than my time). Click below for a a step by step tutorial and photos.  

Teaching Kids to Sew

My little bears see me sewing all the time and they always want to have a go. They love to take turns crawling under the table and pressing the foot. On a gloomy day not too long ago, Isla came to me and asked to sew a doll herself. Oh man was I excited! The day had finally arrived where I could share something I love to do with my little bear without boring her. I think five is a great age to start to teach the basics of sewing, kids are better at staying focused, eye-hand coordination is there and they can listen to directions well. My mother in law gave me the book, Sewing for Children by Emma Hardy, which was a prefect starting point for Isla's, hopefully, life long interest. Read on for more pictures and review.

Rainbow Art Party Recap

I've been meaning to write a post on this for a few months now but other things ended up taking precedence and I just never got around to it until now. My oldest bear is a crafting, painting, drawing fiend and she decided pretty much right after her fourth birthday that she wanted a rainbow art party for her fifth birthday. This post is a photo recap of her party with some rainbow themed food and craft ideas that were easy to put together and a big hit at the party. 

DIY: Clothing Labels

Until recently I had no idea how much prep went into starting school (buying uniforms, backpack, school supplies, lunch and afternoon tea prep to name a few. I thought I had everything under control until I read the kindergarten manual again the other day. I completely forgot that I have to label all those uniforms, backpack, school supplies and lunch tupperware! After searching the internet for a company that makes cute and affordable clothing name tags I gave up. The cute ones were way too expensive (over $30 shipped) and the cheap ones were just that, cheap. So I came up with a very inexpensive and easy alternative. I made my own! For more photos and directions on how to make your own clothing name tags, click below.

Advent Calendar

I loved advent calendars as a kid, especially the ones with chocolates behind each door, though I often couldn't wait to open each one, so they never lasted until Christmas day. I wanted to make the little bears an advent calendar that could be used over and over again each year, something they would remember from their childhood and look forward to. To make this sweet vintage advent calendar, click below for step by step directions.

DIY Fresh Holiday Wreath

It's heading to that time of year again. The shops are already decorated with fake pine trees, tinsel, flashing lights and it's 30 degrees Celsius out! I don't think I will ever get used to having Christmas in summer. This year I wanted to make a festive wreath for our front door, but nothing overly Christmasy and something that actually reflects the native environment we live in. What better foliage than eucalyptus! It's affordable (e.g. free), smells amazing and dries beautifully. For a step by step on how to make your very own holiday wreath, read on.

DIY Superhero Mask

The long gap in posts was not intentional but with uni exams, assignments and a week of being sick, the blog had to take a back seat. Exams over, assignments petering out, and antibiotics taking affect, the blog is finally getting some attention again. Just because I've taken a little break from posting doesn't mean I haven't been creating up a storm, I just haven't had the time to sit and write about it. I promised to post a few more details from Charlie's birthday party, so here's a fun little craft that the kids got to do. Click below for directions and more pics.

Caramel & White Chocolate Covered Giant Marshmallows

This year's birthday party for my littlest bear was a lot more low key in terms catering and decorating than previous years. For the goodies bags I kept it simple and made these caramel and white chocolate covered giant marshmallows and giant chocolate chip cookies. These marshmallows are super yummy and decadent but the best part is they are easy to make. For recipe and more party details click below. 

Tips for Throwing Children's Parties

I've been a bit slack lately with the blog, but not without reason. My midwifery classes started up again at the beginning of August and I was busy planning my littlest bear's 3rd birthday party. This year the party planning and actual party were a lot more relaxed and stress free compared to pervious years. I think after four years of kids birthday parties, I'm starting to get the hang of it. So, I thought I would write up the most useful tips I've discovered and hopefully they will help you for your next party.

DIY Flower Crown

There is something very ethereal and whimsical about a flower crown, especially on a child. While in Hawaii on vacation I wanted to take some portrait photos of the little bears since nothing beats a tropical beach backdrop. Also since in Hawaii I thought it would be fitting to make my own version of a Haku Lei for my little bear to wear. For a photo step by step click below.

Mother's Day Market Tote

Why not surprise mum this Mother's Day with fresh bread, fruit and flowers from the local farmers market in her very own market tote bag that you've made her! You can even make her brunch from your selection of market goodies. 

The Almost Free Easter Garland

I'm not huge on decorating for the holidays, simply because we don't have the space to store decorations, but the one thing I do do each holiday is make a garland. Garlands are a fun, simple and festive way to decorate for the holidays plus they're small so easy to store! The garland I made for Easter this year uses some very thrifty supplies. For instructions and more pictures click on the link below. 

Bunny Bags

I was recently asked by the amazingly talented Sharon Wee of Sharon Wee Creations to be a guest contributor on her blog. So over the next few months you'll be able to catch some new and fun crafts, recipes and sewing projects of mine on her blog. 

First up...Bunny Bags. These are so sweet and quick to make plus they give a really nice personal touch to your Easter treats. 

For step by step instructions and photos head over to Sharon's blog here. 

Happy Sewing!

Bunny Food Potted Garden

Unbelievably Easter is not far off! I don't know where the year has gone so far, one minute it was New Year's and now it's halfway through March. Crazy. I know Easter is still a month away, but for this kids craft, you will need to get started early. 

A bunny food potted garden is a really fun way to get the kids interested in growing edible plants and it's an added incentive for the Easter Bunny to visit. 

Kids Art Placemats + Delicious Black Bean Taco Recipe

I don't know about you, but keeping the kids busy while cooking dinner is a challenge pretty much every night! We try to use the television very sparingly and I have to admit that the time of day when they are most likely to get a "yes" when they ask for TV is right about the time I start chopping. Well, no more! Here is a tutorial on how to make fun placemats that the kids can colour and personalise every night while you're cooking and what's even better is that they can admire their work while they eat!

DIY Doll's Wardrobe

I have been a little slack lately with the blog but I have a good excuse, my Midwifery classes have started back up again. Two years down, three years to go! At least it's part time, so still plenty of time to craft, sew and cook with the kids and I can sneak in the blog between studying for pathophysiology and writing hospital briefing reports!

I recently made Isla a doll's wardrobe as she's been playing with her American Girl Doll a lot lately. She needed a way to store her doll's clothes and shoes other than just shoving them into a box. So I got to thinking about an inexpensive and cute solution. Here's what I came up with.

Watercolour Initial Art

We've been looking for a way to display the kids artwork for a while and with the renovation of their bedroom, suddenly we had a lot more wall space that could be utilised for just this purpose. After a trip to Ikea for their affordable Nyttja photo frames, we were ready to make some art! After the jump check out a simple but fun way to personalise your kids room with watercolour negative space initial art.