Australia Photos (Part 1)

Yikes!  I just realized that I hadn't posted any photos from our trip oversees.   (Hubby's from Australia and we recently flew there to visit family.)  Some of you were so keen on seeing them, so here are some highlights from our trip.  We had a really jam packed schedule, so we were able to travel all over.  First stop- The Beautiful Gold Coast!

(Special thanks to hubby and my sister-in-law for taking some of these photos!)

Pops takes Chuck to meet the ocean for the first time.

His reaction^^  Yup.  Apparently he isn't a big fan of the water and waves. Sand is much more his thing.

Our beautiful Gold Coast view  (Don't all the buildings look super modern?)

Nanna hanging out with her two favorite grandkids

One of the few rare shots where both boys are facing the camera. (I swear, kids at this age are just super squirmy.  Photographing two clear faces?  Fuggettaboutit!)

Sharks are so cool... and super scary looking.  Eeek.

Loved touching the starfish- these felt like lovely, bumpy rocks

Hee hee... Chuck loved feeding his cousin hot dogs.

Hubby holding the two cousins.  (Aren't their identical penguin hats adorable?  Sadly we lost them somewhere in Australia... Boo.)

And that's it for now.  I'll upload the rest next week.  ( But if you can't wait that long, you can always check out my Instagram feed for a couple more.)

Have a great weekend!

Marshmallow Peeps Play Dough

After celebrating many, many Easters.... I've realized something.  I have a love-hate relationship with Peeps.  On the one hand, they're just so cute and colorful.  I want to pinch their squishy blobby cheeks.  On the other hand, they're way too sweet and taste gross on their own.  Blech!  If you dislike the way they taste too, here's a fun activity to try with your uneaten sweets.  Microwave them and turn them into some Marshmallow Peeps Play Dough.!

DIY Peeps Play Dough

I found the original recipe from Tip Toe Fairy.   The dough is fun to make, edible (although yuck, I still think it tastes way too sweet), and will certainly wow any kids at your Easter gathering.  Keep reading to see how we made our Peeps Play Dough!

DIY Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss

Tomorrow the theme is bunnies at our library toddler group.  We're going to make paper bag bunnies and play a bunny game too.  Since I already had this lovely large piece of cardboard, I made a really simple Cardboard Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss game.... complete with... wait for it... carrot bean bags.  

DIY Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss

Ack.  Too adorable.  Too adorable!  (Btw, is it strange that I swoon over large pieces of cardboard?)   Hrmm... anyway... hopefully the kids will have fun playing tomorrow.  But even if they don't, I'm just going to lug this guy home and prop him up against my wall.   His cheesy grin is just too cute. 

Keep reading to see photos of how I made it...

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.