Seasonal – Page 2 – Our Beautifully Messy House

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs (with Onion Skins & Cabbage)

March 24, 2016March 24, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

How beautiful are these Easter eggs!?! Ever since I was a kid and read about dying eggs in onion skins in a nature-craft book, I’ve wanted to try it. I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and how bright and colorful they turned out! The orange-brownish eggs were dyed in the onion skins, while the bluish ones were dyed using red cabbage. And no, you don’t need to buy a whole bunch of onions to get the skins. Just ask the nearest grocer at the store, and they’ll be happy to let you and the kids dig through the onion bin! You’ll find plenty there! It did not take long at all to dye the eggs in onion skins, while the ones dyed with red cabbage soaked over-night. Just takes a little patience!

Materials needed:

white eggs
onion skins
red cabbage
medium-sized pot
water
small flowers, leaves, herbs
old pantyhose or knee highs
twist ties

First, fill your pot up completely with onion skins. Then, fill with water, leaving a couple inches of space for the eggs.

Do the same with the red cabbage, chopping the cabbage first.

Next, put both pots on the stove and turn on high to boil. Let the water simmer for about 5 minutes, then turn the pots off. Let them sit and cool for 5 hours or overnight.

To prepare the eggs to dye, to get the beautiful nature prints on them, gather small leaves and flowers from your garden. We even used some weeds with interesting leaf shapes!

Cut your pantyhose or knee-highs in small sections. We used knee highs. I cut them in half and then with the top portion, I cut a slit up the side. With the bottom half, it was easy to just place the egg inside.

Press a flower or leaf onto the egg and carefully wrap the pantyhose around it. Dipping the leaves in water first makes them stick to the eggs a bit easier.

Twist the pantyhose in the back and secure with a twist tie.

Now to dye the eggs! Place your eggs into the pots, making sure they are completely submerged in the water.

Put the pots back onto the stove and bring them to a boil again. Turn down to low heat, and let the pots for 20-30 min.

After the water cools a bit, carefully remove the eggs soaking in the onion skins and dry them off a bit on a towel.

Cut the pantyhose and the eggs will come out carefully. So cool!!!

Place the pot with the red cabbage and eggs in your refrigerator and let them sit up to 24 hrs. Then do the same…removing them from the water and cutting the pantyhose off.

To make your eggs shine, you can wet a paper towel with vegetable oil and gently rub it onto each egg. Such a naturally beautiful way to celebrate Spring, Easter, or Naw Ruz!!!

DIY Nature Frame

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

Is your child a nature collector or, as Pippi Longstocking would say, a “thing finder”? If so, the DIY Nature Frame is the perfect project for them! Just about every day of the year, L fills our stroller, our wagon, or our pockets with things she finds on walks. We could be going for a walk around the block in the city and she still comes home with feathers, sticks, rocks, butterfly wings and seed pods! This past weekend we went for a walk and L brought home pinecones and pine needles that she wanted to “do a craft” with, ie. glue to paper. I knew that wouldn’t quite work, so in less than 10 minutes we put together this Nature Frame!

The best part about having a Nature Frame, is that it’s a project that is constantly changing, evolving throughout the year. While ours has pine cones and pine needles in it now, the end of February, I’m sure within a month or two it will be filled with Spring flowers, robins eggs, and fallen bird’s nests. In the Fall, our Nature Frame will most likely be glowing orange with fallen leaves from the backyard…finally, a place for all our nature findings!!!

Materials needed:

an old frame
string
scissors

First, dismantle your frame. I bought this old and ugly print, among a collection of 5 other framed pictures, for $1.75 at an antique auction. I liked two of the pictures and that was worth the $1.75 and getting stuck with 3 I didn’t care for so much! So I stashed the ugly pictures away in a closet and I’m glad I did…the frame on this one was perfect for a Nature Frame! You can find similar frames for pennies at secondhand stores, yard sales, and antique shops.

Next, tie your string to the edge of your frame and, with the help of your child, wrap it criss-cross around the frame. We used three different strings that were three different colors…anything works!

Now, after you’ve been for a nature walk and your little one’s pockets are full, you can fill your frame. And then, hang it in a place for everyone to enjoy! We hung ours in our kitchen by the back door…L’s findings usually end up on the floor by the door, so now they can go up on the wall instead! I just love it!

Enjoy!!!

DIY Bird Nesting Kit

February 12, 2016February 12, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

The “DIY Bird Nesting Kit” is the perfect project for little hands and little helpers! L and I made three kits this week: two gifts and one to hang in our own backyard, next to our DIY Tin Can Bird Feeder. It took less than a day for our feathered-friends to find it and start picking away, flying bits of string home to cozy-up their nests! The DIY Bird Nesting Kit costs only $2.50 to make (I’m not kidding!) and it’s a wonderful project to help teach kids about giving, sharing, and caring for the world around us….aaand about birds and the various types of nests they make of course!

Before making our Bird Nesting Kits, the girls and I read “Mama Built a Little Nest” by Jennifer Ward and Steven Jenkins. It is fascinating book with beautiful, collage-like illustrations, depicting all kinds of birds, their families, and the homes they build. (It’s best to read in a pile of beach towels, swirled around on the floor into your own nest.) I highly recommend it!

Materials needed:

Wired bird suet holder
yarn scraps
scissors
ruler (optional)

First, have your little one cut the yarn scraps up into pieces about 3-5 inches long. You don’t have to measure them, but your little one might want to with the ruler!

After you have a nice pile of yarn pieces, it’s time to stuff them into the suet holder. Then, close the suet holder up and it’s all done. It’s that easy!

Now, time to find the perfect place outside to hang your Bird Nesting Kit…someplace where the birds will find it and you can spy them doing so is best!

If you’re giving your Bird Nesting Kit away as a gift, you may want to include a little card inside explaining what it is. Your friends will be sure to love such a colorful, quirky, and fun gift! Enjoy!!!

Snow Paint Fun

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

This activity is so easy, so simple, it almost seems silly to write a blog post on it…but people have asked, so here it is! Earlier this week, we had 35 inches of snow fall in our area and it’s given us an opportunity to do anything and everything snow-related…we’ve built igloos and tunnels, gone sledding, and eaten snow cream. I thought today would be a fun day to give “snow paint” a try. Every recipe I’ve seen floating around the internet involves dying water and putting it in separate spray bottles or squirt bottles though, something we just didn’t have. I figured why not just use our tempera paints!?

We rarely use tempera paints, because frankly I don’t really like them. They’re absolutely perfect for this activity though! Tempera paint in general is washable and non-toxic, so it won’t stain clothes or harm the environment when the snow melts.

To prepare for snow painting, I gathered 8 small plastic containers, 8 paint brushes, all our tempera paints, and a large plastic container. Even though the paint is washable, we went ahead and put aprons on over our snow clothes and wore old gloves too.

Outside, spread the small containers out with a good squirt of paint in each one, as well as a paint brush. Now simply, paint the snow! After a day of the snow melting and then refreezing, our snow had a nice icy layer on top…it was perfect for painting!

An hour or two later, when it’s time to go inside (L could’ve painted all day!), gather all the brushes and throw them into the larger plastic container. Stack up your paint cups and put them in the container too. Now it’s easy to carry everything inside in only one trip! Just rinse your containers out and put them in the dishwasher to clean…and don’t forget to rinse your brushes too! Super easy to clean up…definitely worth the hours of creativity outside! Enjoy!!!

Ice Cube Heart Garland

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

I don’t know why I never thought of this project until now, but an Ice Cube Heart Garland is perfect for this time of year! It takes about 5 minutes to make and costs nearly nothing! If you live up north where temps are below freezing consistently in the winter months, Ice Cube Garlands would be beautiful hanging everywhere! You could make other shapes too! Along with our garland, we also made some individual Ice Cube Hearts (more like ornaments)…the week of Valentine’s Day, the girls and I plan on making dozens of these to hang off of trees all over town. Such a sweet, little heart surprise!

Materials needed:

silicone heart molds
food coloring
water
string
scissors
a tray or cardboard that will fit in your freezer

First, place your silicone heart molds on your tray or cardboard piece. (It’s a tricky mess if you do it after the water is poured, like I did the first time!) Next, put about 10 drops of food coloring into a measuring cup and fill with water.

Pour the water into the heart molds.

Now, cut a string long enough for your garland and/or some smaller pieces for ornaments. Using your fingers, press the string into the heart molds. Make sure you leave 4-5 inches of string between each heart.

To make the ornaments, just press both ends of your string into the mold filled with water. The center 2 hearts are ornaments in the pictures above and below. You can see the shorter loops of string.

Next, place the tray with your heart molds into the freezer for a couple hours until they’re completely frozen.

Carefully pop your ice cube hearts out of the molds.

Now for the fun part…find a place outside to display and enjoy your Icy Hearts! So sweet!

Lace Snowflake Bowls & Decorations

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

Our LACE SNOWFLAKE BOWLS are one of those crafts that started as one thing, but inspiration hit and they morphed into something even cooler in the process! Originally, L and I were just making lacy snowflakes to hang in a window…which we did! But then it dawned on me that, much like our DIY String Bowls, we could easily turn the snowflakes into bowls as well! These are super-easy to make and it’s fun experimenting with various-sized lace and bowl molds. The finished product makes a whimsical, winter decoration for any windowsill or tabletop. They’d be a lovely centerpiece with candles set inside each snowflake too…so many possibilities!

Materials needed:

white or cream-colored lace
white glue
glitter (optional)
scissors
water
craft stick or plastic spoon
a cup for mixing
silicone mats
plastic wrap (not pictured)
small bowls (not pictured)

First, prepare your work station. Have silicone mats out on the table and mix up your glue. Use about 3-4 parts glue to 1 part water. (An old yogurt cup or butter tub is great for holding your mixture.) Add some glitter to the mix as well, if you like!

If you’re making a snowflake bowl, cover a small bowl from your kitchen in plastic wrap. (We used measuring bowls.) Pull the wrap tight and smooth it down, though it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Next, get an idea of how you’d like your snowflakes to look. Cut some strips of lace and lay them out, either flat on the table or across your bowl.

When you’re ready to start crafting, dip a strip of lace into the glue mixture. Take it out and run your fingers down the lace to remove any excess glue.

Now, lay the lace strip out…either flat on the silicone mat for a simple snowflake to hang in your window, or across your bowl, if you’re making a lace snowflake bowl.

Continue to dip strips of lace in the glue mixture, then lay them down on top of each other, creating a snowflake pattern.

Once your snowflakes are complete, set them aside overnight to dry. If you’re the impatient type, you could also dry them very carefully with a hot blow dryer. : )

After the glue is good and dry, gently peel the lace snowflake off of the silicone mats. Ready to hang in a window!!!

To remove a snowflake from the bowl, turn the bowl upside down. Undo the plastic wrap and remove the bowl. Finally, gently peel the plastic wrap off of the snow flake.

Beautiful!!!

Such a fun way to celebrate a snow day!

Cardboard Heart Stamps

January 12, 2016January 12, 2016 Porter Leave a comment

How cute are these HEART STAMPS L and I made last week? Nobody would know by looking at the girls’ outfits that the hearts were made with a cardboard tube, but they were! This is such a simple craft, little hands can do the stamping all by themselves. Any imperfections make the final product even sweeter…that’s the sign that they were made with love. : ) After making Valentine’s outfits for the girls, we went on to stamp a pillowcase for L’s bed and some tea towel-dishcloths to give away as gifts. As I often say, the possibilities are endless!

Materials needed:

cardboard tubes
acrylic paints
old lids or plates
rubberband
placemats or thin cardboard (to protect surfaces)
shirts, leggings, tea towels, pillowcase, tablecloth, etc

To make your heart stamps, simply squash a cardboard tube in half gently. Then, push one crease inwards to create a heart shape. You can roll a rubber band over the tube to help hold the shape.

Next, test your stamp out and have your little one practice a bit on paper. Just put the tube end into a little paint, and then, press down on a flat surface.

Make sure whatever you are stamping is nice and flat. Run an iron over any clothes or towels. When stamping shirts or pillowcases, it’s a good idea to put a thin piece of cardboard in-between the clothing’s layers too. That way the paint won’t seep through the cloth and onto the other side.

Finally, stamp away!

We used red paint, glitter paint, and some white paint to make our hearts. Really though, you could use any colors and they’d be just as precious!

I love the little sideways, topsy-turvy hearts…simply “falling” in love.

Happy Valentine’s crafting!!!

Elf Donuts, Fairy Donuts, Wee Folk Donuts

December 14, 2015December 17, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

What kid wouldn’t love making these teeny, tiny “donuts” for the fairies, gnomes, and Santa’s elves? They’re just too cute! L and I make chocolate-sprinkle donuts, powdered sugar donuts, and cinnamon sugar donuts; because, you know…it’s nice to give the wee folk some options after all. We make these “donuts” throughout the year for L and her fairy tea parties, but we also like to whip up a batch at Christmastime and leave them alongside Santa’s cookies and the reindeer’s carrots on Christmas Eve…we wouldn’t want any elf to be left out! They’re rather simple to make and your kids will go nuts when they see them! Sometimes it’s the littlest things (literally)!

Ingredients:

O-shaped cereal
chocolate chips or baker’s chocolate
syrup (or honey)
powdered sugar
brown sugar
mini-sprinkles

Materials needed:

small bowls
toothpicks
double-broiler (or microwave)

Chocolate-Sprinkle Donuts

First, melt your chocolate in either a double-broiler or in the microwave.

Next, carefully dip your O-shaped cereal into the chocolate.

And L’s favorite step, cover in sprinkles!

Yumm!!!

Powdered Sugar Donuts & Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

These donuts are super easy to make. First, dip the O-shaped cereal into a little bowl of syrup or honey.

Next, remove the cereal with a toothpick, and toss around in either a bowl of powdered sugar…

…or a bowl of brown sugar.

It’s that simple, but oh so sweet!

A few weeks ago, L gave two of her classmates homemade fairy sets for their birthdays. Sure enough, we included some fairy donuts in little, folded-paper boxes!

Sometimes you really do have to make your own magic! Enjoy!!!

The Christmas Tree Teepee (No-Sew!)

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 Porter 1 Comment

“The Christmas Tree Teepee” is quirky, fun, and magical…perfect for celebrating Christmas with kids! So often when building forts for the kids, they beg me to get inside to play with them and I just barely fit, if at all. This teepee is big! It’s nearly 6 feet across and 7 feet tall, leaving plenty of room for 3-4 people inside, adults included! It’s perfect! So far this week, in our teepee, we’ve eaten breakfast every morning, made christmas garlands and decorations to send loved ones, played board games and puzzles, and each night before bed we curl up and read a couple Christmas books under the lights. We just love it! After the holidays I plan to collapse the teepee, folding it up much like an umbrella, wrap it in plastic and stow it away. Next year we plan to set the teepee up in L’s bedroom during December and let both girls sleep inside!

Since the teepee is replacing our tree this year it includes all the trimmings…sparkly lights, colorful ornaments, and a few surprises when you get inside and look close! The best place to find fabric for this project is at a local, second-hand store or an antique/junk store. We have an awesome antique store in the area that has a booth full of fabrics. Most of the fabric is clearly from the 80s and 90s (ie. funky and fun!) and is anywhere from $1 -$6 per piece. I picked out anything green with various patterns and textures: corduroy, twill, jersey-knit, silk, suede. You really can’t beat the prices for all that material! I was also lucky enough to stumble upon a bunch of, what I call, “old-lady, sequined, Christmas appliqués” in the same booth. They were all less than a dollar a piece and made for perfect ornaments for the “Christmas Tree Teepee.”

Oh, and did I mention that there’s NO SEWING INVOLVED when making this teepee??? I do not, cannot sew, especially anything of this magnitude! It’s held together all thanks to my handy, dandy hot glue gun. We had so much fun with this project!

Materials needed:

6 x 1″x 2″x 8′ lumber (Any quality will do, but I went for the nicer, less splinter-filled sort!)
jute
green fabrics
christmas lights
felt or sequined Christmas appliqués
drill
hot glue gun and glue
scissors

First, drill two holes in each wooden, teepee pole. One 12″-15″ from the top, and the other 1″ from the bottom.

String some jute through the holes that are 12″ from the top, before carrying it all inside. Having someone help you, spread your teepee poles out and around until you get the teepee shape you’re looking for. (It will not be perfect, so don’t drive yourself crazy trying to make it perfect! Just go with it!) Once the poles are in place, wrap the jute around and in-between the poles until they are secured.

To ensure that the poles won’t move on you too much, thread some jute around the bottom too, knotting it around each pole. Even though the poles can move closer together and shift a little bit, it certainly helps to see where they originally were and where you want them to be while building your teepee.

Now for the real work. You will cut strips of fabric and using the hot glue gun, secure them in place along the teepee poles. First, spread out all your fabrics and see which material you have the most of. You will need to use this for the bottom. I didn’t use a ruler or yardstick to measure my fabric precisely while working, instead I laid it out on our hardwood floor, and just used the planks of wood to “measure” each strip of fabric.

Looking at the teepee, you may think I used one long piece of fabric to wrap around the entire structure, but in fact, each layer is made up of 5 shorter strips running from pole to pole. I started each layer with one piece of fabric along the outside of teepee…wrapping, gluing, trimming, and tucking the fabric into place. Now this is just the first section, between the first two poles. On the next section, I ran the fabric along the inside, gluing it into place. When done in this manner, the teepee poles will be invisible from the inside and outside of the teepee (except for the top of course) and all you will see is green, green, green! The pattern on each layer was outside-inside-outside-inside-outside. If you get frustrated at the beginning and things aren’t perfect, do not worry! After attaching the first few pieces, you will certainly know what you’re doing and the process will get a lot easier…promise!

As you go up the teepee, adding more layers, overlap the fabric by a couple inches above and below. This will help avoid gaps in the teepee. If there are places where gaps are seen, you can use a touch of hot glue to fasten the fabrics together.

As I got to the very top of the teepee, on the last two layers I used light-weighted fabrics that gathered well. Instead of cutting each sectioned-piece and gluing it outside-inside-outside, etc., I loosely gathered it around the teepee and glued it in place along the outside. I wanted the poles exposed on the inside in the top so I could string-up some Christmas lights to brighten things up a bit!

The top and front of the teepee was a bit of trial and error. I sort of knew how I wanted the finished teepee to look, so I wrapped fabric, held up fabric, and pinned some in place until I was satisfied. Here again, it was important that I saved my light-weighted fabrics that gathered well for the top and front of the teepee to achieve this look. I must say that it looks even better than I imagined…both like a teepee and a tree!

I was up in the air on whether to decorate the outside of the teepee, the inside or both. We decided on just the inside, keeping the magic inside and “secret” for all those who enter. L and I used duct tape to tape each sequined ornament in place. I could have glued them, but I wanted something that could be done by the children, year after year.

Inside the teepee, just below the lights, is my favorite little detail. I’ve held onto these fabric scraps of Santa flying through the night sky for a few years now, not sure what to do with them. Their placement, tucked away inside our teepee, is just the perfect home for them…I knew I was saving them for a reason!

The Christmas blanket underneath our teepee is the finishing touch. We usually use the blanket as a tree skirt around our tree each year, and in a way it is the tree skirt once again. This time it’s just in a more practical, more appreciated, and loved sort of way!

Think you’re ready to build your own??? Go for it! Your kids will absolutely love snuggling inside the Christmas tree this year, reading books, drinking hot chocolate, and playing games!

Feel free to leave any questions you may have below. Enjoy!!!

Acorn Donut Holes

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

Another adorable, little treat that I like to make around Thanksgiving, along with our No-Bake Acorn Cookies, is our Acorn Donut Holes! They are perfect for breakfast snacking, leading up to the main event. I make some with toasted coconut and some without to add some variation to the plate and to please all the little picky eaters in our world.

Ingredients:

plain donut holes
bakers chocolate or chocolate chips
coconut
pretzels

To make the toasted coconut, spread a couple handfuls of coconut on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven on 350 degrees, for 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on the coconut…you want it to be lightly browned, but not completely dark brown and burnt!

While the coconut is toasting, melt your chocolate in a double-broiler on the stove top. (Or in the microwave if you have one!)

Break up a few pretzels to use as the “stems” of your acorn tops.

Depending on how big your donut holes are, you can choose to cut off the tops or not. Sometimes I like cutting them in half to make little acorns for little hands, other times I leave them whole and they look just as sweet!