Sharpie Tie Dye Shirt

It's Monday and we've finally started returning to our normal sleep schedules.  (Yes!)  And now that we're back and settled in, I realized that Easter is right around the corner.  Yikes.  Is it April already?  It totally snuck up on me this year. So here's my first semi-Easter related tutorial:   Sharpie Tie Dye Shirt

Wait, what does this shirt have to do with Easter?  Well, kids seem to wear cute, colorful outfits on Easter.  (See last year's DIY I heart Peeps Shirt.)   A friend graciously donated a bunch of clothes to us and one of the items was a blank white shirt.  It screamed "Paint me, paint me."  And so Chuck and I used it to make this year's Easter shirt together.  Keep reading to see how we made it!

Freezer Paper Stenciled Canvas Bags

We're back from Australia!  Chuck had a ton of fun playing with his cousin.  I'll try to upload some photos next week once we get readjusted to East Coast time.  (Eeek.)  In the meantime, here's a quick post showing how I made these freezer paper stenciled canvas bags.  A couple of weekends ago, I hung out with some old college friends.  Wanting to give them something handmade, I whipped up these colorful bags. 

Freezer Paper Stenciled Tomato, Pear, and Flower Canvas Bags

Like the designs?  I think they're happy and bright, but I can't take credit for them. I modeled the images from ones that I saw via Pinterest. 

Kid Made Stenciled Artwork

Greetings from Australia!  Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  We're currently visiting family in Brisbane, so posting will be sporadic till we get back.  Since I had a couple of free moments today, I thought I'd share these handmade gifts that Chuck and I made for this trip.  Chuck currently enjoys painting, so we created some lovely pieces of contact paper stenciled artwork.  We gave them as gifts and I think they're extra special because they were handmade by Chuck.

Kids' Contact Paper Stenciled Artwork

Keep reading to see how we made them!

Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.  I've got a black, black thumb.  And this saddens me because deep down, my heart is really green.  I love looking at plants, I love eating plants, and goodness one year I was even a tree for Halloween!  But I'm a plant killer.  So this makes today's toilet paper roll craft perfect for me.  These cardboard roll plants are pretty to look at, and impossible to kill.

Make Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

Yup.  Aren't they pretty?  If you're interested in making yourself some everlasting recyclable plants, keep on reading!

Make Pretend Play "Dirt"

Does your child love playing with construction toys too?  If so, today's post is just for you.  It's all about dirt, glorious dirt.  Since it's freezing cold outside (and we live in an urban environment), playing in real dirt just isn't an option for us.  But no worries, I whipped up a batch of Pretend Play "Dirt" and we had a blast playing with it inside. 

Make Pretend Play "Dirt"  

The coolest thing about this recipe is that you only need three common household ingredients to make play "dirt."  (It was inspired by MollyMoo's Leprechaun slime recipe.)  So keep reading to see how you can whip up some play dirt at home too