Learning Through Online Music Labs

Editor’s Note: This morning we have Bobby Herron giving us a look inside the creative world of online music labs. Here he is:
I recently began looking online for websites that help teach drumming fundamentals and techniques so that my students would have some resources to help them learn at home. I stumbled upon a tremendous [...]

Spooky Crafts – Owl Luminara

Good Morning. Halloween is creeping up on us and here at OBE headquarters we have an annual tradition of coming up with something we can light on fire.
Pumpkins shmumpkins. Yeah, they’re totally fun to carve and we love our ghoulish globs of orange madness. But, there’s something super eerie and a bit fun about coming [...]

Family Voyage Project

When Meg Cursons first handed me the book Six String Nation, I nearly cried. Having claimed Canada as home well into my 30s, my sense of cultural identity had not settled in much of anything traditionally Canadian and I’d been feeling a like a bit of a loner in terms of discovering my sense of [...]

Fabric Covered Recipe Binder

Editor’s Note: This morning the very creative Vanessa Falle is rockin’ the craft world with this super cool fabric covered recipe binder. Go get yourself crafty:
After celebrating a month of eating locally with the 30-day Food Challenge in July, I thought it would be perfectly timed to create a wonderful hand crafted recipe book to store [...]

“Stained Glass” Sun Catchers

As much as I insist on denying the loss of sunshine, it’s definitely Fall around these parts.
A few weeks ago, the tiny person and I took a look around a house filled with Summer craft projects.
We figured it was time to get going on something a bit more rustic, harvest-like and spooky – if you are [...]

Found-Object Food Jar Terrariums

Science in a jar is something that scores me some serious cool points in the scientist in training universe. That’s especially true when it means that we can head out for a walk around our local park – or even the backyard – with express permission to pick up, handle, pack away and take home [...]

Nature Crafts – Plaster Fossils

Science girl has decided that her major professional interests are learning toward paleontology of the late – so much so that we are in full roar around here in terms of dinos, digs and – of course – fossils.
We’ve spent most of the Summer on the hunt for the coolest rocks and the collections that [...]

Back to School Crafts – Clipboard Organizer

Editor’s Note: Crafting guru Vanessa Falle has come on board here at Our Big Earth to take us on a funky project-focused journey in the land of the creative. She’ll be here once a month bringing you cool ideas on how to make just about anything fabulous, and the major bonus is that she also [...]

Summer Crafts – Backyard Paint Party

Good morning. Just back from our brief, yet very go-go-go staycation in Victoria, we are all over the play-where-you-live theory on breaking now as we got deals all over the place, explored far-off worlds and ate at one or two of our favourite spots in the process.
I’ll be back later in the week with some [...]

Foodie Crafts – Seashell Maracas

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. If you are looking for something fun to do in the local food universe today, be sure to head over to Brambles to meet the folks from Hazelmere Farms. Their unusual and tasty greens are a treat at any dinner table. The demo runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, as [...]

Foodie Crafts – Homemade Dyes

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. It’s time for a mid-week meal as part of the 30-Day Food Challenge. I think I may try to talk the hubby into sneaking off to Bisque with me this afternoon. Locals and Anderton Bistro-Pub are open today too.
I’ve been cooking up a storm at home these last few weeks [...]

Foodie Crafts – Macaroni Necklaces & Musical Beans

It’s no shock that I am knee deep in the foodie universe right now. Between the garden, the food challenge and the general joy of eating when all of the goodness that is Vancouver Island food is in season, I can’t help myself.
The same seems to apply in the kid-style creative universe too. Seems like [...]

Backyard Craft – Butterfly Feeders

Editor’s Note: Good morning. We’ve got a fun craft for you this morning. But, it’s this afternoon that brings big news here at Our Big Earth.
It’s a deliciously detailed dish comes with a month’s worth of community goodness, family fun of the foodie kind and the chance to win nearly $3,000 in tasty treats.
So [...]

Earth Day Crafts – Binoculars & Mini Journals

Editor’s Note: This week we are plugging in to all things Earth Day and thinking green as we work our way toward Saturday when we celebrate island-style with the Earth Day Family Festival.
Our Big Earth is running the Kids and Family Zone and, whoa, there is some seriously fun, green-ness on the schedule. Check it [...]

Earth Day Craft – Recycled Paper Bag Puppets

Editor’s Note: For the next few Tuesdays, we’ll be featuring art projects that you can come out and do with us at Earth Day events that Our Big Earth is taking part in.
Today’s project – recycled paper bag puppets – will be one of the fun projects your kids can try out when you head [...]

Easter Crafts, Easter Egg Hunts, Easter Food

Well, here we are – the Thursday before Easter – and I’ve got nothing. Seriously, it’s ungood. Thank goodness for our pals Nicola and Mike who threw a big egg bash for the kids last weekend.
I’m hoping I’m not the only momma out there who is relatively unorganized in the Easter/Passover action department. Luckily, it [...]

Crafty Imagination – Easter Masks

Is anybody else dealing with some seriously crazed kiddos lately? I’m hoping there’s something in the air and our tiny person hasn’t gone completely bonkers because she’s more than a wee bit wound up these days.
Normal, relatively quiet crafting that would normally take place around our house is not even an option at the moment. [...]

Crafty Imagination – Cardboard Cameras

If there’s one thing our daughter could spot a mile away, it would be a camera lens. For the last 3.75 years, she’s had that thing in her face nearly non-stop without much complaint at all.
In fact, for most of that time, she barely noticed the thing constantly hanging around mommy’s neck. Unlike most kids [...]

Book Review – Art Science & Messy Math

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a kid who wanted to move her life to one centrally scientific and seriously fun location – Science World.
Somewhere between the dinosaurs and Lego land, her brain engaged the science universe (or at least the serious fun universe) and now there’s no turning [...]

Preschool Craft – Marble Painting

Editor’s Note: While we usually run our homeschooling column this first Tuesday of the month, we are trading Tuesdays in order to welcome our newest OBE partner – Let ‘Em Loose Play Land.
This fun family-friendly, energy releasing indoor play land in Campbell River has re-opened to the public full time and we are excited to [...]

Preschool Crafts – Salad Spinner Painting

Editor’s Note: It’s no news flash that we are big fans of art around our house. But, I have to admit that I’ve been finding myself in serious need of inspiration and a little artistic freedom that the dining room table just isn’t currently capable of offering.
So, our daughter and I have been hitting Becky [...]

Crafts for Boys – Recycled Space Robot

Need I say more? The Dad in our house is here to share. He’s all imagination, goofiness, a love of recess and the reality that Star Wars will never die.
Have fun with our first project…
…and take the Craftizmos ROBOT CHALLENGE! Make your own version of this creature from the Planet Recycle and win the Clone [...]

Family Craft – Keepsake Flower Petal Valentines

M and Ken wandered into the recovery room after my surgery nearly three Fridays ago with piles of flowers and a Tim Horton’s Boston cream doughnut.
The doughnut lasted about 30 seconds. The flowers, a fair bit longer.
When it came time to empty out the vases, I couldn’t bring myself to just ditch them. To me, [...]

Family Craft – Paper Tulip Garden

One of my major small successes during the doldrums of any dark and rainy February is to brighten up the house with signs of Spring in any way humanly possible.
If I could paint sunshine and blue skies on all of the windows and not know that if I went outside the sky would be five [...]

Our Big Earth – Now with 35% More Content

Good morning! February has started off with its usual gray and rainy patina outside. But, it kicks off with a bright, lively celebration here at Our Big Earth.
Today, we unveil a new tab structure to make it easier to find the features you are looking for as well as some fantastic new features, columnists and [...]

Family Craft – Paper Robots

Another snowy morning in the Valley means another day at the craft table for us. The cold and our daughter have no issues. As for me, I prefer a cozy blanket and a cup of tea (actually, back to coffee) right now – and she’s currently very accommodating.
When we got back from Victoria, she immediately [...]

Family Craft – Your Animal Family Genealogy

As my belly gets bigger, there are TONS of questions about how families are made and our ongoing “Family Tree” project expands, I found myself a little stumped recently when working out age-appropriate ways to talk with our 3.5 year old about families and who goes where.
Traditional genealogy – packed full of research and hunts [...]

Family Craft – Glitter Mushrooms

We are having more than a wee bit of trouble getting our rears out of bed the last few days, and this morning was no exception as all of us rolled over at about 8 a.m.
But, the one thing that seems to get us over the perpetual mist and gray is our “Family Tree” project [...]

Family Craft – Waldorf-inspired Winter Birds

I am a bit of a Christmas scrooge when it comes to taking down the decorations. The pile of pine needles on the floor and the clutter from the holidays send my brain into crazy mode and generally everything comes down within 24 hours of the big day.
This year was just the same, and we [...]

The Best of A Crafty 2008

I never really thought of myself as a crafty sort of gal. Seriously, I have long lived with the crafty curse, trying many a Martha-centric project and failing in expensive, ugly sorts of ways.
I very much admit that my mom got the short end of the stick when it came to these sorts of projects [...]

Guest Craft Tutorial – Stamping 101

Editor’s Note: I am taking a few days off here so we’ve got a couple of guest writers this week including energetic Stampin’ Up demonstrator Susan Spyker who is here today to give us all a lesson in how to fine tune our stamping skills.
This tutorial on how to get a perfect stamp every time [...]

Holiday Craft Tutorial – Homemade Wrapping Paper

It wasn’t an uncommon site – back in the day – for the moms in our lives to lock themselves in a back bedroom one December afternoon. I thought it was some sort of magic, how they went in and came out a few hours later rather refreshed (6 hours of peace and quiet will [...]

Holiday Craft Tutorial – Cookie Cutter Gift Tags

The last couple of years, as I spend more time with folks like the David Suzuki Foundation and learn from folks like the Comox Valley Regional District, I find myself a wee bit overwhelmed at the things that AREN’T recyclable during the holidays.
One thing that I never even thought about was gift tags. In fact, [...]

Holiday Gems for the Heart (& The Kitchen)

I like to think of our family as a crew of non-traditional traditionalists.
We love Christmas and birthdays, presents and sweets. But, in ways that present the age-old traditions of those times with a classic sense of heart, not necessarily a classic point of view.
After falling hard for Eve Bunting’s holiday gem The Night Tree this [...]

A Garden Full of Family Holiday Creations

With Christmas just around the corner I am starting to scramble…
WHAT am I going to get everyone this year? Ideally, each year my children and I will create a beautiful, crafty tree ornament. Two years ago we made playdoh angels. Last year is a bit of a blur.
Now it is that time again… But coming [...]

Holiday Tutorial – Card Making with Kids

There once was a little girl who so wanted to make her own holiday cards. Her mom, relatively junior in the crafty universe, yet fussy nonetheless, had personal issues about it all.
Preschool cards are messy and generally not so pretty in a traditional, big person sort of designer style way. They require a fair bit [...]

Holiday Crafts – Old Skool Snow Flakes

When I was a kid, scissors were the coolest thing ever. I would, literally, spend hours during the holidays cutting out snowflake after snowflake in an effort to coat every inch of window space in our house with the white stuff.
Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, snow for the holidays was never an issue. But, [...]

Stained Glass Twinkle Lights

Has pregnancy ever sent you into the cave of solitary confinement? It’s like I know I won’t be capable of making it through more than two or three hours in any given day without some narcoleptic moment so I don’t even try to plan to do anything more than the basics any more.
The tiny person [...]

Hidden Secrets at Finlay Creek Farm

Editor’s Note: Today our intrepid local food writer Robyn Butler is revealing a true diamond in the rough when it comes to local charm and absolutely amazing products.
I had the chance to meet the women who run Finlay Creek Farm on Halloween and, I have to tell you, they are two of the most charming [...]

Story Boxes for Kid Storytelling

Storytelling is big around our house. The tiny person is totally into making up her own universe filled with adventures, conversations, friends and a bit of drama to keep it interesting.
I’ve always been excited about her penchant for telling tales. But, there are definitely times when the stories veer off into the “We’ve obviously been [...]

Flying Bat Puppets

Ugh. One very sick monster decided to visit our house last night, passing by everyone else and gifting his goo to me and me alone. It is remarkable how unwell a person can feel in the span of a couple of hours. So, here I am at 8:30 a.m. still making my way through the [...]

The Spooky Family Tree (& Free Craft Gear)

We have been gearing up for Halloween around here for a looooooong time. In fact, I’m quite serious when I say that I am nearly out of ideas for ghoulish holiday creations and am now going to have to dig in to come up with something of which the 3-year-old approves. Seeing that the daily [...]

Whooooo’s There – Paper Owl Door Decor

When I woke up this morning and realized this was the last time I’d ever post on Comox Valley Kids, I had one seriously weepy moment.
Tomorrow morning, most if not all of you will be redirected over to Ourbigearth.com and we will launch our new phase as Our Big Earth-Comox Valley.
I feel like I’m in [...]

Family Traditions – The Gratitude Alphabet

I’m always looking for new ways to celebrate old traditions around our house.
One of those oldies but goodies I remember fondly from childhood is sitting around the Thanksgiving table – staring down my brother for the rights to be the first one to dig into the fresh perogis – taking turns telling everyone what we [...]

Wax Paper Pressed Leaves

The other day, I was clicking through blogs, pawing through craft books and staring blankly at a bowl full of Fall leaves we’d collected on a recent Filberg adventure when I thought (uhoh) – wax paper.
Who knows what triggered this childhood memory. But, I was trying to figure out a way to press leaves that [...]

3D Pumpkins, Witches, Bats & Spookiness

So, I completely cop to loving Halloween.
Other holidays, they’re fun.
But Halloween, even minus the stat holiday, is hilarious and weird and creative and outrageous – which ranks it right up there in my bizarre book. Any chance to get dressed up…
While the candy is all well and good – and the pumpkins rock – I [...]

Shadow Lanterns with Repurposed Jars

The tiny person totally digs shadows these days.
She follows hers around, has lengthy conversations with them on the walk to library, thinks that our bedtime routine is nowhere near complete until a round of shadow making commences.
She’s also right into the whole spooky Halloween tale universe – insisting that Eve Bunting’s “Scary, Scary Halloween” and [...]

Learning Trees With Leaf Hangings

There is a bit of a chill in the air and early last week, as I was packing us into the truck, I spotted red leaves.
Then yellow, even a couple of orange beauties stood out against the bluer than blue sky.
We’d been talking, the last couple of times out in the woods, about getting to [...]

Making Paper Beads

If there is one thing our daughter ALWAYS notices about anyone, it’s what is around their neck.
A cool necklace could be a mile away and she would spot its shiny glint, stopping the person in their tracks to make sure she told them what a gorgeous piece of jewelry they were sporting.
“That’s a beautiful necklace [...]

The Farm – Paper Quilt Making

It seems that all good things (like Summer) must come to an end – and our time with Popsicle out at the Filberg’s Hands-On Farm officially wraps up this Sunday.
We have totally loved spending the Summer getting to know this feisty friend who greets us at the barnyard door and nudges us into hugs and [...]

Fingerprint Bug Parade

Editor’s Note: This short week has thrown me for a loop. And, the Filberg Festival meant I had no access to our pal Popsicle all weekend. We’ll have to check in this week to see what mischief he’s up to lately.
So, I wanted to share an older post about a favourite craft around our house [...]

Making Bookmarks to Track Our Tales

Our daughter loves stories.
From the second she pops her head up in the morning until she falls asleep to them at night, yarns about everything from how monsters make nutty butter to the vacations her collection of puppets are on float through the air non-stop.
She is ALWAYS making something up, building imaginary cities, talking with [...]

The Farm – Rocking the Barnyard

When we popped in at the Hands-On Farm over at the Filberg on Sunday, Popsicle was giving us the evil eye.
Maybe it was the “Please save me from these crazy pigs” eye. Nonetheless, his new “buddies” Penelope and Veruca are scaring the spots off of him.
P & V may only be six weeks old. But, [...]

Seashell Maracas

Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that the NeighbourWood Walk for next week would be out at Cumberland Community Forest. I blame it on birthday brain. We aren’t in Cumberland next week. We’re out at Ship’s Point in Fanny Bay.
Sorry about that.
Read on and it may make sense to you why my brain is [...]

The Farm – Keep Cool, Pioneer Style

It is HOT on the Farm these days.
This week is blazing as the dog days of Summer set in the animals are feeling it too, bucking for shady spots and taking quick dips in the pool (they have one, ya know) to beat the heat.
Our Hands-On Farm Friend, Popsicle, was feeling a little sluggish in [...]

Homemade Matching Games

Our daughter loves to match.
You wouldn’t guess it from her willingness to throw outrageous outfits together on a whim (although, they are amazingly colour coordinated).
But, she is methodical about discovering how things go together in a pattern, texture and colour sort of way.
She’ll spend literally hours making piles of buttons, shells, ribbon, anything she can [...]

Family Crafting – Tin Punching

When I first started collecting supplies like a mallet, a nail, wood and tin plates, Ken wasn’t too stoked about the tiny person taking part in our first crafting adventure involving actual tools.
I totally admit that the whole concept of a 35-month-old and a mallet was mildly daunting. But, she digs tools and I really [...]

Give Dad A Hand (or Two)

So, I left it up to the preschooler this year as to what we would do to make sure her Dad knew how very special he is to us on Father’s Day.
We started talking about it two weeks ago – paint a picture, make a card, catch bugs (her fave, although she didn’t want to [...]

Union Bay’s Coal Hills & Flower Chains

There are some places that need to be seen in the name of historical reference.
You may not be catching said locale in its heyday. But, the remnants of a past long gone are amazing clues to recreating the scene for yourself.
The Coal Hills in Union Bay is one of those places.
Ken is my reference, as [...]

Preschool Crafts – Frog Hats

It’s that time when early morning or evening walks are filled with the white noise of unending croaking.
When tadpoles turn marshes and backyard ponds into a black mass of squiggling tails.
Frogs are so crazy cool…and there are so many around the Valley it’s not even funny.
They seem to be following us around, too.
A friend and [...]

Family Crafts – “Stained Glass” Butterflies

We have a soft spot in our hearts for butterflies.
Family folklore has it that when my grandfather died many years ago the butterflies descended upon his funeral and reclaimed him as one of their own.
Since then, grandpa is legendary for showing up at special family events.
One of the most memorable for me was, as my [...]

Do-It-Yourself Snail Shells

Tis’ the season of gooey creatures.
Spring rains are heaven in the universe of snails, slugs and other varieties of slimy forest friends. We are personally working on attaining “groupie” status in terms of L-O-V-I-N-G banana slugs and our daughter’s newest discovery – the forest snail.
She totally digs beach snails. A day on the tidal flats [...]

Kin Beach & Bird Badges

On those sunny days when the wind is warm and a day digging in the sand is in order, starting your morning out at Kin Beach Provincial Park is the way to go.
This tucked away spot, just down the hill off of Kilmarnack Road in Comox, is the perfect combination of quaint picnic/cookout locale, beach [...]

Flower Stamped Mother’s Day Cards

It’s about 10 days before every holiday that demands something cute, sentimental and homemade be sent thousands of miles to grandmas and grandpas that I realize I have failed. (mail takes roughly two weeks to get where it is going for us)
I am, or at least have been, the woman who shops or makes or [...]

Seal Bay Swamp Loop & Boot Plants

When you wake up early, the kiddos are going stir crazy and you just need to get out of the house on a Sunday morning, there are walks that make all of that chaos fade away.
Taking the winding drive out to Seal Bay Nature Park is relaxing all on its own – with its fields [...]

Recycling Project, Homemade Crayons

Crayons have long been a tough sell in our house.
While art is way up on the daily to-do list, crayons often linger at the bottom of the barrel in terms of preferred mediums.
Emerging motor skills and the quite possibly a bit of peer pressure from the crayon-loving crowd have made crayons at least usable for [...]

Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens & Pressed Flowers

Let me just start by sending out a big, warm hug to all of the wonderful folks who braved the cold to hit the Today Party yesterday! More than 200 kiddos dropped by to decorate cupcakes, colour like crazy and meet some friends over at Karen’s studio.
I loved it – getting to meet so many [...]

Family Craft – Button Flowers

“We have to go out and check the flowers!” our daughter has yelled from her room the second her eyes popped open each morning for the last week. “They might have bloomed overnight. We have to go see.”
And so, every day about 7 a.m., you can find us standing on the cedar boards of the [...]

The Northeast Woods & Hand Trees

This is the second in our 4-part series of Spring walks that include insider details and activities to pair with some of our favourite trails around the region
Check back in every Sunday in April for a new walk and some fun tips to get the family outside enjoying the season together.

Wow, it’s gorgeous outside, [...]

MacDonald Wood and Magic Wands

This is the first in our 4-part series of Spring walks that include insider details and activities to pair with some of our favourite trails around the region. Check back in every Sunday in April for a new walk and some fun tips to get the family outside enjoying the season together.

We first discovered MacDonald [...]

Family Craft – Waldorf 3-D Butterflies

Our kiddo has never been into doing the girlie girl thing.
We instituted the no-pink, no-ruffles rule (applied loosely).
She loves bugs and snakes, Roberto Luongo and digging in the tide pools for creatures of all kinds.
But, lately, our house has gotten very fairy tale, very pastel, very soft and pretty thanks to the tiny person’s newfound [...]

Spring Break Reading Adventures

After a long Winter of snowy tales, the tiny person and I hauled out the books about blooming flowers, baby animals and sunshine a few weeks ago to get ourselves geared up for the activity of Spring.
I’ve definitely had a tough time charging myself up lately…whether it’s the chill factor in the mornings or feeling [...]

The Paper-Bag Easter Basket & Easter Bunny

The other day I found myself cruising the aisles at an unnamed big-box store in complete awe of the piles of gear available for Easter festivities of the kid-related kind.
Unbelievable…really.
..and then I left, entirely empty-handed.
I was shocked at my lack of a purchase. My childhood Easters were filled with plastic eggs cracked open to discover [...]

Recycled Easter Crafts

Today’s comment challenge: What is your favourite part of Easter? What events do you try to hit or traditions do you have? Bonus points for craft and food ideas:) I’ve got a Super Scrapbooking Kit for one random commenter.
There are times, on those days when I have to fight through the gigantic pile of [...]

Homemade Valentines for Kids

Valentines Day is such a sweet treat to burst through the lingering gray of February.
These days of intermittent rain and chill make us wonder if it’s truly time to start spending most of our days outside again – or plan another big whack of indoor fun.
I’m halfway there, plugging away at getting the back porch [...]

Chinese Lanterns & Other Traditions

All he did was turn his lantern on.
I had no idea why it could possibly be so cool, but the Chinese lettering and lovely art that glowed red through the paper hanging from the ceiling sucked me in and my pal Cliff, with his parents smiling modestly in the background, began to tell us all [...]

Family Crafts – Making Spring Scenes

I am of the mind that it is time to will the cold away.
While at least mildly unrealistic as February dawns on us, I’m all too willing to perpetuate my delusions of warm sunshine, crocus and tulips pushing their heads up through the still-frozen front garden – in the form of construction paper and cut [...]

Nature Crafts – Bagel Bird Feeder

OK, I’m over all of this serious cold outside.
Brrrrrr…
In honour of coaxing Spring along, and making sure the local birds (who I think are as stunned as we are by this frosty snap) have enough to snack on, I went looking for some cool ideas for making backyard bird feeders today.
There are always pine cone [...]

Felt Boards to Spark Imagination

I have to be honest, I’d never even seen a felt board until we were shopping for the tiny person’s second birthday last summer and discovered some AMAZING ones at Kool & Child in Nanaimo.
We hooked her up with a huge ocean scene that now lives on a wall in our hallway thinking she’d love [...]

Family Craft – Pop-Up Thank You Cards

Before the husband and I took off for some time on our own this week I knew there was one thing the tiny person and I had to finish – the thank you cards from all of the great holiday gifts that showed up at our door this year.
If there’s one thing I am religious [...]

New Year’s Eve Crowns

New Year’s Eve is one tricky holiday to get the family involved with.
Most of the long-standing traditions of the event portion of it revolve around activities not meant for kiddos, and generally the big project for this day is finding a baby sitter that doesn’t mind an extra late night.
But, around our house, the festivities [...]

10 Ways to Enjoy a Rainy Day, Outside in the Comox Valley

Lately my commitment to getting the tiny person outside for at least an hour a day has gone the way of the dodo. I’d blame it on the holidays or the mad rush of company that invaded our house the last few weeks. But, since the holidays were actually pretty chill, and we had no [...]

Toilet Paper Roll Penguins

Ah, the Thursday after Christmas.
We are still very slow to get going around here, enjoying the leisure of snoozing at will, snacking on leftover turkey and trying out all of the new gear that Santa brought.
It seems like that should be plenty to do. But, there’s still a whiff of boredom in the air that [...]

Winter Break Projects for the Whole Family

With the Santa countdown about to officially begin, family and friends about to gather and joy to commence there is a rather un-joyful reality that families often get at least a wee bit agitated when piled in the same general vicinity for long periods of time.
I’m no Scrooge, and I totally love getting the whole [...]

Holiday Green Guide 2007

Pulling the trappings of the holiday season together and getting them ready for the big day is where you can really make a difference environmentally this year.
Millions of rolls of wrapping and tissue paper will end up decorating presents in the next few weeks – and I was seriously shocked to learn that not [...]

Holidays Around the World – Hanukkah

For the next few days we’re going to spend some time checking out other holidays celebrated by children around the world this year. When I was a kiddo, some of the most memorable experiences I ever had included experiencing the different holiday celebrations of friends of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
Giving your kiddos the opportunity [...]

Holiday Mini Photo Books

While I realize most people aren’t generally as photo junkie-ish as I am (I take the camera to the grocery store…I know, it’s an issue), everyone always seems to have a giant pile of snapshots shoved in a drawer or in a computer file somewhere that needs pulling together.
With families living all over the globe [...]

Bottle-cap Christmas Trees

Welcome to the first installment of Homespun Holidays!
Once a week for the next six weeks we’ll be offering up ways for you to build in family time, have some fun and personalize your holiday season with family-friendly crafts, eats and adventures.
Today, we start it all off with a craft favourite that I am personally quite [...]

Fall Leaf Rubbings

The last couple days of spectacular Fall weather have inspired us to spend as much time as possible outside soaking in all of the goodness of cool, sunny afternoons.
We also ended up collecting a whole slew of cool pieces of the outside – from seed pods and acorns to ALL KINDS of leaves to [...]

Beating the Dog Days of Summer with Bubbles & Games

I was out having coffee with my pal Kathy recently when trading stories across the table turned to the topic of summer seemingly nearing its end.
The cloudy coolness of the last few days makes moms like us think maybe it’s time to start talking Halloween and Christmas instead of beaches and fun in the backyard.
We’re [...]

Egg Carton Tulips and, well, Bats

Egg cartons are one of those things that I never know what to do with.
The styrofoam ones are just plain landfill rubbish, the cardboard ones just beg to be reused. But, no matter what, I always end up with a stack of them cluttering up a corner of the kitchen (we are major egg gobblers [...]

Grocery Sack Bunnies

I love this craft project – mostly because you are almost guaranteed to have everything you need already in your house, or can easily substitute something to make it all work.
It’s also fast, fun and a bit silly, offering all sorts of options for decorating, having fun and being creative with something as simple – [...]

Sandwich Bag Butterflies

If the rain continues to plague Spring Break week, you can bet your last buck that by Thursday the Dollar Store craft supply section will be packed with parents.
My pal Ange across the pond in Vancouver is a master at entertaining her 2- and 4-year-olds on soggy, cold days. So, it’s no surprise that she [...]