Tag: handmade
Baby & Kids Clothing Product Review – Sewfunky Bonnets
There aren’t a lot of things that I instantly fall in love with when it comes to kids gear. I like to pick things up and give them some time to grow on me. But, I’ve had a moment. Actually, I had the moment a while ago. But, with schedules and the craziness of daily [...]
Easy Handmade Toys – Felt Bean Bags
When it comes to making little kiddos smile or offering them something that will captivate them for hours, simple toys are often the best. Keeping the games as easy as tossing a bean bag and giving them soft textures such as felt make it all that more fun. When you head out to find bean [...]
Playtime Crafts – Felt Crowns
There is so much fairytale playtime at our house these days, I’d feel like a giant cliche about having girls who are princesses if it wasn’t for the fact that the princesses around here fly on owls, live in trees and prefer to wear ballgowns while pounding through mud puddles. But, the tomboy princess factor [...]
The Year of Magical Making – Felt ABC Gnomes
Last year, our oldest daughter and I started creating bits and pieces to go into a magical world that – more than anything – gave her a way to bring her unicorns, castle, fairies and other magical creatures together for some major imaginative play. But, as is with so many things in life, we got [...]
Crafty Holidays 2010 – Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
This season is about great smells for me. I love a house scented with cinnamon and nutmeg. But, figuring out how to keep that scent around is kind of tricky. I saw several crafty moms making these very cool cinnamon applesauce ornaments this year and wondered how the heck they could possibly work. But, it [...]
Back-to-Preschool 2010 – Handmade Kids Belts that Rock (Giveaway)
The preschool crowd headed back to school last week too, many of them with droopy pants. It’s not an easy gig, trying to find clothes that fit all of the different shapes and sizes that tiny people come in. But, when your kids are tall and thin or just moderately slight even the pants that [...]
Kids Crafts – Flower Stamped Mother's Day Cards
Good Morning. Ever have those days (or weeks) when life just kicks you in the rear end as hard as humanly possible? I seem to be in the midst of one currently, having been incredibly sick for nearly four days now. There are times when you have to concede that life has bitten you hard [...]
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 Traditions – Handmade Christmas Crackers
Since I was a little girl, I’ve had this picture in my head of the perfect way to make everyone in the family – wherever they are – smile at the same time and think of each other. Maybe I did myself in early with grand visions of a Norman Rockwell holiday where everyone – [...]
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 [...]
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… [...]
Make Your Own (reusable) Advent Calendar
Editor’s Note: Usually the last Friday of the month is reserved for Bevin Clempson’s witty Green-e-ology column. Not to worry, she’ll be here on Sunday talking about her conversion to reusable water bottles and coffee mugs. But, today we have a bit of a special feature that couldn’t wait. Vanessa Falle of Lotus Paperie – [...]
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 [...]
Halloween Crafts – 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 [...]
Handmade Paper Bracelets
Our daughter isn’t generally what you’d think of as traditionally girlie. She serves tea to her monsters while having a growling competition with them, has a distinct aversion to a life that doesn’t involve dirt, thinks dolls are silly (she prefers the “human kind” of babies) and is spending next week learning the ins and [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 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 [...]
Nature Crafts – Make Your Own Nature Journal
I cannot even begin to count the number of science, language and history lessons that went in one ear and out the other for me in my life. Book learning has never been my forte. I appreciate having a book in hand – field guides take up some prominent real estate in our day pack [...]
Making Magic (Wands) on A Walk In The Woods
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 [...]
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 [...]
