Pink and Green Mama

ALEX Toys Craft Kits Review and Giveaway! @alextoys #alextoys

2013-06-17T05:00:00.002-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

My friends at ALEX Toys were generous to send some of their super fun craft kits
to me and the girls to play with this month! The girls had a blast with them and we wanted to share the fun with you by offering a giveaway from ALEX Toys to Pink and Green Mama readers.
If your name is drawn by Random.org, you may select one of the three craft kits we sampled
to Create, Play, and Explore with your own kids!
ALEX's mission is to provide children with creative products to help them learn and build confidence, personal expression, and self-esteem -- I couldn't agree more on how important that is!

ALEX sent us an Eco Scrapbook kit to play with.
My oldest daughter, "E" (age 10) got into the Eco Scrapbook kit immediately.
She has been working on it for several weekends and is still working on it.
She is making a scrapbook about our backyard and taking photos with my camera for it.

She loved the fun alphabet stickers, the cute papers, and the suggested layouts shown on the box cover.
She's having fun adding her own touches like "faux woodgrain"contact paper trees, washi tape, and nature drawings. She's also using mommy's scrapbooking trick of marking her layout pages with post-it notes to remind her of which photos she wants to go back and add later!
It's so fun to watch her creative process.

ALEX sent us the Super Window Sticker Art kit to play with.

"E" also loved the Window Sticker Art Kit. But it was too challenging for her little sister, "C" (age 6.)

The kit comes with black and white line drawings to use as patterns

but my girls wanted to make their own designs so they sketched some drawings

with a black marker on white paper and used them instead.

"C" really wanted to try it though so her big sister took one of C's drawings of her favorite stuffed tiger "Hobbes" and made her a custom Pink Tiger face window cling for her bedroom window!

"E" loves squids so she made her own squid window cling by outlining a custom line drawing.

She used the kit's flower, fish, and "BFF" patterns to make some clings for friends.

DIY stained glass with a personal touch! Love it.

They were also generous to send us the Sweet Treats Jewelry kit,

we are planning to play with that one this weekend! We ALL love shrinky dinks!

So...now I bet you want to play and create with some ALEX kits as well.

Here's your chance, enter my giveaway below

for a chance to win your choice of one of these three, super fun craft kits from ALEX Toys!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

o Like ALEX on Facebook: www.facebook.com/alextoys

o Follow ALEX on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alextoys

o Follow ALEX on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alextoys/

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by ALEX Toys.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of ALEX Toys.
ALEX Toys is not responsible for how the winner is selected,
or for the manner in which this giveaway is structured (that is solely up to me!)

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DIY Nature Journal for Kids With Tombow Art Supplies #Tombow100

2013-06-13T05:00:00.001-04:00

I was contacted by Tombow products and asked to participate in a special program

to show how crafters and bloggers use their "Tombow Time."

The best part is that it helps give back to a cause I feel strongly about -- Arts Education.

In March of this year, Tombow kicked off its "100 Days of Tombow"program at the National Art Education Association Conference in Forth Worth, Texas. They promised to provide up to $10,000 of Tombow art products to the Council for Arts Education, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting and supporting art education and quality art programs nationwide. They asked 100 different bloggers across America to share a project using Tombow's products. For every submission by a blogger, Tombow donates $100.00 worth of products to the Council for Arts Education. You know I'm all about art supplies and getting them to art teachers to use in their classrooms!

Tombow was established 100 years ago, in Japan in 1913, as the wood case pencil provider for Japanese students. Since then, they've grown their company to provide adhesive tapes, ballpoint pens, drawing pencils, dual brush pens, glue sticks, and other scrapbooking and art making supplies.

Tombow sent my family some lovely colored pencils and dual brush pens to play with.

My Kindergartener, "C" (age 6) is a little naturalist like her big sister and wanted to make her own Nature Journal to record her bird drawings, leaf rubbings, and other sketches. She loves making her own books as she is learning how to read and write.

It was a very basic and simple book construction method.

We folded piece of lime green card stock to use as the cover.

Then, I folded some white printer paper in half and drilled two small holes in the fold with a large needle. I laced some twine through the holes to bind the pages. We cut out a simple tree silhouette from "woodgrain" contact paper and she did the rest - adding words and drawings to her journal.

Happy Creating and Exploring!

Are you a blogger that would be interested in participating in the "100 Days of Tombow" movement? They still need bloggers! Contact Barbara Pritchett, public relations coordinator, who will facilitate the provision of the 100 days of Tombow starter kit, containing: Dual Brush Pens, Irojiten Color Pencils, and the Stamp Runner Adhesive. Every submission to the "100 Days of Tombow" blogging program will result in a $100.00 product donation to the Council for Arts Education.

They hope to donate $10,000 worth of product to this dynamic, vibrant cause that shapes the future crafters and artists of America through its educational programs.

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Tombow.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Tombow Products.

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If you are looking for even more ways to have fun with kids in your own backyard this summer,

check out my "Backyard Fun" ebook!

(With 13 Arts and Crafts Lessons to make cool stuff for your own yard!)

Easy Kid-Made Father's Day Gift: Popsicle Stick Fix-It Sign

2013-06-08T05:00:00.000-04:00

My hubby has a late May birthday so we always have birthday gifts

that run into our Father's day gift timing. The girls made their daddy some sweet homemade gifts

this year that would be perfect Father's Day gifts too, so I'm sharing them here with you today!

"C" my 6 year old made this Daddy Fix-It sign for my husband.

He's a homebuilder and a very handy guy to have around, he really can fix anything.

Don't know what we'd do without him around here!

We loved this project from B-inspired Mama and it was the jumping off point for our own gift!

She glued popsicle sticks together and wrote the message with sharpie.

The tiny popsicle sticks on the side are from Michaels' "Creatology" brand.

She made a Duct Tape card to go with it - I love the rainbow heart.

Then, we picked out some cool looking and colorful hardware goodies and do-hickies

from daddy's tool box and I glue-gunned them to her sign.

Daddy's special sign is hanging in a place of honor in his workshop!

For more great Father's Day gift ideas, click here to check out my

Father's Day Pinterest Board.

Click Here for my Gifts From the HeART ebook

Happy (Homemade) Daddy Gift Making!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

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Last year's Back Rub t-Shirt Was a Huge Hit too!
Click HERE to see how to make your own.

Heartfelt Father's Day Gift: Isabella Grace Jewelry Super Dad Keychain Review and Discount Code!

2013-06-06T05:00:00.000-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

Isabella Grace Jewelry sent me this beautiful key chain for the girls to give

their hero, daddy for father's day this year.

Our favorite daddy loves practical and useful gifts but if they have a special message

that makes them even more cherished!

My favorite part is the inscription on the back.

Isabella Grace Jewelry also makes custom stamped Dog Tag necklaces, and initial necklaces so daddy can carry his own heartfelt message, important dates, or initials with him.

They are offering Pink and Green Mama readers a 20% off discount code

so you can give your own Super Dad his own keychain for father's day this year!

Use code: mommy20 to save 20%!

For more Father's Day Gift Ideas from the heart,

check out my Father's Day Back Rub T-Shirt Tutorial

and our

Father's Day Shoe Deodorizers and Personalized Boxer Briefs

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Isabella Grace Jewelry.

The opinions expressed herein are my own.

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Recycled Crown Craft Inspired By Oz The Great And Powerful #DisneyOzMovie

2013-06-04T05:00:00.000-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

This is the crown I would want to wear on my adventure in the Land of Oz!

When my girls and I watched trailers for the movie, Oz The Great And Powerful,
they fell in love with the beautiful witch, Glinda, and her magical golden crown.
This craft was perfectly timed to coincide with the release of the Blu-Ray Combo Pack!
They asked if I could make them one for playing dress-up and I knew I had the perfect material in my craft room stash for it -- cardboard coffee cup sleeves!
I always save materials that seem like they would be useful as craft supplies.
The best ones are freebies like colorful plastic lids, nifty jam jars, and in this case,
cardboard drink sleeves. Hoarding recyclables and art supplies goes back to my art teacher days.

Just look at how beautiful those corrugated inside pieces are?!

I opened up several sleeves and cut out petal shapes with a pair of scissors.

Then, I took them outside and covered them with some Krylon Metallic Gold spray paint.
I also spray-painted one of the girls' yellow headbands.

After everything dried, I used my glue gun to attach the corrugated gold cardboard petals
to the headband to form a tiara - just layer the petal shapes.
The girls found some sparkly gems in our beads and I added those as well.

"C" (age 6) looks like she's ready to take an adventure to the Land of Oz.

Such a serious face.

We added the jewel dangle-thing later (not sure what I'm supposed to call it),

I just punched a small hole through the cardboard with a sewing needle and tied the beads to the crown.

Both girls love the crown and it has already been taken into the backyard for some serious fantasy play!

"E" (age10) thought it was pretty nifty.
She's off to explore the magical Land of Oz!

Here's a close-up of the front and back of the crown.

You can see how easy it was to layer the cardboard.

The best part about this project was that we had all of the supplies in our house.

(Yes... I have metallic gold spray paint in my garage - don't you?!)

This project was quick, easy, and inexpensive.

The longest part was waiting for the spray paint to dry and the glue gun to heat up!

The movie is a bit intense for younger kids, I would recommend it for at least age 10+,
(I'm not letting my 6 year old watch it until she's older - those flying monkeys are scary!)
Oz The Great And Powerful will be available on Blu-Ray Combo Pack and HD Digital.

You can find more information on where to purchase the movie here.

You could win a @DisneyOzMovie prize pack by pinning your adventure into
the land of Oz! Click here for more information.

Follow Oz on Facebook

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Check out even more great Oz-inspired crafts, snacks, and ideas from my fellow bloggers below!

Warmly,
Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

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Homemade Father's Day Gift: Top 10 Things I Love About You Popsicle Stick Sign

2013-06-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

My 10 year old daughter, "E" made this sweet "Top 10 Things I Love About You"

for my husband's birthday and I thought it would be a perfect Father's Day gift!

It was inspired by this project, but I like E's version much better!

She wrote her list with sharpies (permanent markers) on wooden popsicle sticks.

Then, she shaded/colored the sticks with crayola twistables and colored pencils.

To put it all together, she glued the back with some other popsicle sticks and the glue gun.

A strip of blue masking tape held it together to keep everything even while she glued.

She added a ribbon to make a "hanger" so the sign can hang up

in my husband's cubicle at work or on his peg board in his garage work shop.

There you have it, a simple, easy to make, homemade gift from the heart.

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Last year's Back Rub t-Shirt Was a Huge Hit too!
Click HERE to see how to make your own.

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Escape From Planet Earth DVD Review, Giveaway, and Alien Spaceship Craft!

2013-05-30T05:00:00.000-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

The girls love to play "outer space" and aliens and when I was given the opportunity to review a DVD of the new movie, Escape From Planet Earth, I knew my girls would love it!
The girls even came up with a fun craft inspired by the movie.
At the end of this post we will be giving away a copy of the movie to one of you!

My family has "Family Movie Night" on Friday nights.
We're super classy -- we sit on the floor and eat homemade pizza on trays
while our dog (a giant greyhound) walks around and offers us dog toys in eternal hope of
one of us offering to trade her a piece of pizza!

So this past Friday, we settled in with our homemade pizza
and this crazy blue alien-inspired popcorn (more on that in a minute!)
to watch the movie, Escape From Planet Earth on DVD.

Our whole family enjoyed the movie and I'll warn you now... you may have to make
a run to 7-11 for a blue Slurpee after you watch the movie because you'll want one!
We loved the way the characters showed bravery against bullying
and stood up for their family members and friends.
The movie producers did a great job of balancing any scenes that were a bit scary or intense
with light-hearted comedy and silly-ness so no one got scared (reminded me of "Ice Age.")
We decided as a family we would rate it 3 stars out of 5.
*****

I thought it would be fun to try to make blue popcorn. It worked...sort of.

I probably should have used candy melts, but I had these white chocolate chips in the house

and I wasn't going to go to the store in my Friday night fuzzy pants!

I attempted to melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave and they had a hard time

getting liquid-y enough...it melted but stayed thicker than I would have liked.

Then I stirred in some blue food coloring and tossed it on some air popped pop corn and tossed on

some blue and green sprinkles we had leftover from E's birthday party.

The girls didn't mind and they ate it all without complaining.

It wasn't beautiful but then again, I'm not a food blogger so who cares!

The next morning, the girls and I made some pom-pom aliens inspired by the characters in the movie.

We didn't have big blue pom-poms so we made our own with a salad fork and some fat blue yarn.

Just wrap it around the fork. Tie it in the middle, and cut the sides.

The girls glued on googly eyes and made a variety of characters.

Then, they made spaceships for our Aliens out of paper plate bowls and plastic cups.

Just decorate the paper bowls with markers or paint and glue them together
with Elmer's glue or glue gun. Cute right?!

Guess what?! You have a chance to own your own copy of the movie!
I have a copy to give away to one of you just for leaving a comment here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Escape From Planet Earth heads to retail

on June 4, 2013 on DVD and Blue-Ray Combo Pack.

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review and giveaway were provided by Anchor Bay Entertainment via the Weinstein Company.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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Big Sister, Little Sister Friendship Bracelets and Personalized Book Review #ChronicleBooks

2013-05-27T05:00:00.000-04:00

When my lovely and generous friends at MyChronicleBooks offered to send my sweet girls

their own, PERSONALIZED Big Sister/Little Sister book I couldn't say no.

My girls have names that don't appear on a lot of personalized items,

we always search those displays with pens, keychains, cups, etc and they're never on there.

I can relate, because there were never any "MaryLea" things either!

I blocked out my children's names for privacy on this post and these pictures, but take my word for it, MyChronicleBooks printed this beautiful book for my daughters and used both of their names in a lovely and heartfelt dedication at the beginning of the book (it made me cry.) My oldest daughter's name is on the cover and appears throughout this sweet story about big sisters and little sisters.

The book was illustrated by the very talented Laura Numeroff

of "If you Give a Mouse..." series fame and "The Big Red Barn."

My girls and I have enjoyed reading the book several times already and they were inspired

to get crafty and make BFF Sister Friendship Bracelets for each other. How sweet is that?

Because they decided THAT is what sisters do.

I can't even tell you how much their close relationship means to me.

Watching them play, craft, and read together warms my heart.

This lovely book is also available in a "What Big Brothers Do Best" version.

They offer a few books that can be fully personalized - we're talking names, skin, and hair color!

With fun themes like Pirates, Princesses, Fairies, and Race Car Drivers.

You can also order famous titles from Chronicle Books like: "Goodnight Construction Site,"

"Duck! Rabbit!" and Bob Marley's "One Love" with personalized dedications.

You can visit their website for the complete list and details.

Want your own personalized story book for that special child in your life?

Visit MyChronicleBooks to order your own and they're offering Pink and Green Mama readers

a discount code to apply to your order: MyCB-d5285JW

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Chronicle Books.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Chronicle Books.

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Graduation Gift Basket For A New Teacher With Personalized School Supplies #ChronicleBooks

2013-05-23T05:00:00.000-04:00

When my dear friends at MyChronicleBooks contacted me recently to see if I would like to review some of their beautiful, personalized school supplies I knew I had the perfect recipients for them!

Remember how I told you about our next door neighbors that just graduated

to become elementary school teachers last weekend?

What could be more fun for a brand new teacher-to-be than a gift basket

FULL of school supplies and teacher goodies?! I will always have a soft spot in my heart for new school supplies, stationery, and office products and when you personalize them, they're even cuter. How is that possible?

MyChronicleBooks has all kinds of fabulous books and goodies on their website and now they're offering a brand new way to celebrate all of the milestones in a child's life with MyChronicleBooks.

It is the first and only personalized line of products from a book publisher featuring award-winning and bestselling children's book authors and illustrators. They are perfect gifts for any occasion like birthdays, baby showers, back to school, holidays, end of the year teacher thank you gifts, or even NEW teacher (graduation) gifts! They have an a-dorable Eric Carle line of products featuring

The Very Hungry Caterpillar™ -- my personal favorite!

(see the personalized ThankYou notes in the photos below)

MyChronicleBooks has personalized lunch boxes, stickers, notebooks, placemats, growth charts,

note cards, wall art, and more. Their prices range from $3.99 to $99.99 and ship in just 2 weeks. I was able to select my products and preview them to see what they would look like with the names on them. You can even change skin and hair color on some of the products!

For the new teacher-to-be gift baskets, we personalized lunch boxes for each of the girls and included co-ordinating notebooks, stickers and just for fun some Eric Carle thank you notes.

I also picked up some bulletin board borders, teacher supplies, and other new teacher goodies from the office supply store. I found the super cute chevron baskets for 60% off at Michaels craft store.

MyChronicleBooks also makes personalized story books that you can dedicate to your favorite kid --

I'll be sharing our personalized "What Big Sisters Do Best" book with you in my next post!

But wait, there is something for you, my lovely readers, too!

As a special thank you, MyChronicleBooks would like to offer Pink and Green Mama readers

a special discount off any order with this special promotion code: MyCB-d5285JW

Have fun!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Disclosure: Products for review were provided by Chronicle Books.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and are not indicative of the opinions of Chronicle Books.

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Easy Heartfelt DIY Fingerprint Cards for Dads and Grads!

2013-05-21T09:48:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again, time for Graduation Celebrations and Father's Day!

We had the honor and privilege of celebrating two very talented college graduates this weekend.

Our next door neighbors have raised three smart and beautiful young women that I got to teach

(a million years ago) when they were still in elementary school. Two of them graduated

from College and Graduate school this weekend and are going to be teachers. I couldn't be prouder!

We put together gift baskets for each of the graduates (I'll share them in my next post)

and these easy DIY "heartfelt" cards! The third is still in college and our favorite babysitter.

The cards were so quick and easy to make.

They would be great for any graduation, teacher appreciation, or dad for father's day.

We started by picking out stamping ink in the school colors,

in this case George Mason University - Green and Gold, and

James Madison University - Purple and Gold.

If you didn't have ink pads in the house, you could try coloring and stamping

fingerprints with washable markers (think Crayola) or Do-A-Dots!

For a Father's day card, I could see dad's favorite team colors,

alma mater, or children's birthstone colors -- you get the idea!

To make the cards, we traced a pale yellow heart on a piece of white card stock (folded into a card)

then, the girls filled in the heart with fingerprints in green and gold ink for our GMU grad

and purple and gold ink for our JMU grad!

After filling the inside with heartfelt messages of congratulations

and drawings from the girls we were good to go!

Quick, easy, original, and from the heart.

Here's to all the new grads (and dads) out there!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama

MaryLea

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Disclosure: I only share links to products that I actually use and love.

I do receive a small compensation from Amazon if you purchase products from these links. Thanks!

Favorite Kid-Friendly Looms and Weaving Projects Round-Up

2013-05-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm sharing some of my favorite Weaving projects from the blog.

Weaving a great way to build hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

You can use a store bought or homemade loom.

You can weave with paper, ribbons, grasses, leaves, yarn, string, fabric scraps, etc.

Making your own Cereal Box Loom

Paper Weaving: Mixing Two Paintings Together

Recycled Milk Carton Weaving

Recycled Cup Weaving

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

Below are some of our favorite looms:

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Teacher Appreciation Week Gift: Easy and Cute Fairy Garden in a $1 Salad Bowl

2013-05-08T12:11:00.001-04:00

This week is teacher appreciation week.

One little week to let our children's teacher's know how much they mean to us and our children.

Isn't EVERY week teacher appreciation week?

It's kind of like "Mother's Day," in my book, every day is mother's day!

But it is nice to get a little reminder.

I shared this photo on instagram on Monday.

We like to make these cute little gardens every year.

The girls and I loved making these salad bowl fairy gardens for this year's teachers.

They gave them to their teachers this morning so I can share them on the blog now!

Project How to:

* Instructions to make the bird houses can be found in this post.

* Step-by-step instructions for the Fairy Dish Gardens can be found here.

* I bought the Salad Bowls at Walmart for $1 each!

They always stock them this time of year in the picnic outdoor

plastic drink pitcher and trays seasonal display area (I'm sure that's the official name!)

More Eye Candy

And... please take a quick minute to hop over and

check out the cute fairy gardens my bloggy friend Melissa at Green Owl Art blog

made with her kids this week - my favorite is the tether ball pole!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

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DIY Backyard Makeover on a Budget with Help from HGTVGardens!

2013-05-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

My husband and I enjoy teaming up for DIY projects around our house and yard. Last year, we took out a wall in our kitchen together and changed the whole feel of our house. This spring, we've been revamping our backyard. We challenged ourselves to make our yard more green, dog-proof, and kid-friendly but still something grown-ups want to look at too! All of this on a limited budget with lots of sweat equity and found treasures in the mix. It's trickier than it sounds, but with some help from the Internet and my new favorite go-to gardening website, HGTVGardens I think we pulled it off!

Planning and Research

We started by doing some research. We read articles on HGTVGardens about what kind of plants would do best in our yard and "zone" using their plant finder tool. I loved the way I could search by our area and look for different types of plants by light levels and moisture needs. Then, we took advantage of some of the articles like "How to Measure Your Yard" (very useful for my math-impaired self!) to create a scale plan of our backyard. We also needed this to calculate square footage of mulch, weed block fabric, and how much rock to order.

We browsed garden ideas and created a "Garden Love" Pinterest board by Pinning images from the site as well as the community member-created photo galleries. We also made our own photo album on the HGTVGardens site. You can upload your own images to the photo albums or use their photos from all over the site; I used a mix of both. The photo galleries are chock full of awesome ideas for your own yard and gardens! They served as our vision boards for the whole project.

Wish List

Then we made our wish list of "wants" and "needs."

We WANTED a yard that was:

* Kid-Friendly. Places for the girls to CREATE * PLAY * and EXPLORE.

We wanted to create areas for play and relaxation that would work for all ages in our yard!

* Dog-Proof.

We rescued a retired racing greyhound who needs to run safely every day.

* Pretty. Aesthetically pleasing for grown-ups.

I like to feel like I'm escaping and unplugging from the world when I go in my back yard.

* Accent tree. Provides some color in the middle of our big hill.

We NEEDED a yard:

* with Good Drainage. Carries rain water AWAY from the foundation of our house

and... did not flood the flowerbeds every time it rained!

* that was Easy to Maintain. So we wouldn't have to spend every weekend working on it!

* that is Green. Use less water and no chemicals.

* Budget-Friendly.

Drainage Problems and Xeriscaping

One of the big problems in our back yard was poor soil drainage. We have clay soil here and the way our house is oriented, we have shady areas where the rain water run-off was making our yard a soggy, muddy mess. Our greyhound's daily laps through the yard were making it even worse!

We started by digging trenches and burying the downspouts to extend them out into the hillside. We also made a french drain with gravel and sand at the end of each buried downspout. Each downspout terminates underneath (and into) the dry river bed. The downspout at the other end of our backyard feeds into a rain barrel that we use to water our vegetable garden and flowers.

My husband and I dug out a "dry river bed" that follows the natural slope of our yard and where the majority of the rainwater drains naturally. We stripped what was left of the sod and grass and dug a small swale in the center. We used rocks from our yard to line the edges of the "river." Then, we lined the whole thing with weed-blocking fabric and anchored it with landscaping staples to prevent dirt, mud, and weeds from filling up the rock bed too quickly. We hauled almost 5 tons of "river jack" stones from our driveway (delivered) to the backyard with two wheel barrows. The stones we used were 2"-3" stones and 5"-8" rocks.

You can see the hillside in these before-and-after photos and the way we replaced large areas of grass with mulch areas and the dry river bed. The mulch is much more kid- and dog-friendly and it serves the second purpose of being a great way to xeriscape. What's "xeriscaping" you ask? It's a way to landscape that uses a lot less water. We don't use chemicals on our lawn because of our kids and our dog. Having large areas of hardscaping like our patios, deck, and dry river bed combined with the mulch uses a lot less water and we don't have to spend as much time mowing and maintaining our lawn.

Sticking to a Budget

How did we keep it budget friendly? The mulch we used is free and recycled from our county dump. They collect yard waste and triple shred it into free mulch. We just have to use our truck to haul it. We can also get free leaf mulch for our garden beds.

The swing set was a hand-me-down from our next door neighbors. We only needed to replace one big beam and some hardware but it was much less expensive than buying a new one!

A lot of the rocks in our landscaping came from other parts of our yard. We re-purposed slate pavers from a broken patio and we did some bargain-hunting online to find a good deal on our new footbridge.

The tree stumps in our play areas were also "found" from neighbor's trees and the dump.

We did buy the "river jack" stones but we negotiated the price for that as well!

The plants were sale finds and the accent tree, a Coral Bark Japanese Maple, was also on sale with a coupon. It is called an: Acer Palmatum 'Sango kaku'. Sounds fancy right? I learned it's proper name and lots of detailed plant information from the HGTVGardens site!

The small footbridge is fun for our daughters and it gives our dog a safe way to cross the dry river bed without any hurt paws!

Kid-Friendly Areas

It was important to us to create areas for all of our family members to feel welcome. We have play "zones" around the yard for the kids that encourage plenty of imaginative play and exercise without overwhelming the yard the whole yard. We also wanted our yard to be a place where our kids could observe and learn about nature. See my previous post about how we made our backyard bird friendly and became a Certified Wild Life Habitat with the National Wildlife Foundation!

Our kids love to use the slate stepping stones and our hardscape patio areas as "blank canvases" for their chalk drawings!

We have a small corner in our yard with a circle of tree stumps that my children use as an outdoor play kitchen to mix "potions" and mud pies. It is stocked with some old baskets, a plastic Halloween cauldron, garage sale dishes, and a mortar and pestle. This is the favorite play area in our yard when friends come over.

The girls built this container fairy garden with their grandparents a few summers ago and it is also a favorite go-to play destination in our backyard! It is in a teak planter set on locking casters so we can wheel it around our patio area. They love to play with small fairies and animal toys in it!

My husband and I recycled and re-built a homemade swing set from our next door neighbor. The girls love this "secret" play area behind our shed. The large tree stumps in the foreground are used as giant stepping stones and "stages" for imaginative play and fort building under the trees.

The kids love to pretend to "go fishing" in the new dry river bed.

As a member of the HGTVGardens website, I made my own photo album on the site of our DIY Backyard Makeover to share our before and after photos with other gardeners. This lets me get feedback and advice from other gardeners as well as a chance to "show and tell" a little bit! It also has more detailed photos and some of the steps we took to makeover our yard. You can see it here. I hope you will come join me, I'd love to see what kind of project ideas you have for your own backyard oasis!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama,

MaryLea

Brought to you by the gardening crew at HGTV.

All opinions are my own and my husband and I really did re-do our yard all by ourselves
but if anyone from the HGTV crew wants to come help out they're more than welcome!

5 Easy Ways Make Your Backyard More Bird Friendly

2013-04-23T15:51:00.001-04:00

1. Provide the Birds With Shelter.

In addition to bird houses, we have made sure that our landscaping

provides cover and places to raise young for our back yard birds.

We have bushes, shrubs, and evergreen trees around our property.

The girls and I stock our empty Suet feeder with nesting materials every spring.

We include things like pieces of thread, yarn scraps, wool felting bits, cotton balls, and raffia.

(We keep it stocked with suet cakes all winter)

* EXTRA CREDIT: Make your yard a Wildlife Habitat *
Read more about how my family got our backyard

Certified as a Wildlife Habitat HERE by the National Wildlife Federation.

2. Provide Food Sources for the Birds.

Hang up Bird Feeders.

We have several home-made and store-bought feeders around our property.

We picked up these bird feeders at the Dollar Store and decoupaged them with

tissue paper squares and Outdoor Formula Mod Podge.

Make some Birdseed Cakes for your backyard friends.

Instructions to ours can be found here.

3. Provide Fresh Drinking Water for the Birds.

We provide clean water with a bird bath that we refill using a watering can and our rain barrel.

I do keep a Mosquito dunk inside to battle the Asian Tiger Mosquitos that love our area.

Note: Don't allow pets (like your dog) or children(!)
to drink from or play in bird baths - our little feathered friends do carry
diseases and bacteria that can make your canine companion or child very ill.

4. Practice Sustainable Gardening in your own Yard.

We try to garden without chemicals or yard sprays - I use corn gluten and milky spore for grubs.

We mow and weed-whack with a rechargeable electric lawn mower week-whacker.

When we do mow, we mulch the grass clippings back into our lawn

instead of bagging them for the landfills.

We Xeriscape - we have replace LARGE sections of lawn and grass with mulch and

hardscaping (slate, river stone, and brick.)

We have a rain barrel to water our veggies and we have a large Blue Planet compost bin

in the backyard for kitchen and yard scraps

as well as a vermi-composter (read about it here)

5. Nurture A Love of Nature.
Encourage your children to

EXPLORE and LEARN about Birds and their habitats.

Set up a Bird Watching Basket or

Bird Watching Station for your kids to observe their backyard feathered friends.

We have ours by our family room window stocked with:

binoculars, bird identification books, a Bird Song "Identiflyer" and

a journal to draw birds or record observations.

For more Backyard FUN ideas - check out my E-Book,

filled with 13 fun Art and Craft Projects to add some artsy fun to your backyard!

Discount Code:

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama,

MaryLea

Here are some of our backyard favorites!

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Easy Kid Craft: Mod Podge Bird Houses

2013-04-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

Sponsored Post Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post, however all opinions are my own and truthful.

This post does contain paid links.

The girls and I had so much fun with our new Apple Barrel all purpose acrylic craft paint and our new favorite Mod Podge (Mod Podge Washout) that we made some cute little bird houses for our backyard. The girls know real birds can't live in them but they sure are a cute addition to our garden and we've been using them as fairy houses. I picked up the unfinished wood houses at Michaels craft store.

Both girls loved the spring colors our friends at Apple Barrel paint sent us and got to work painting their houses. The paint covers well and washes out of clothes and off of skin with soap and water!

The artists at work!

After the paint dried on the houses, we applied some birds and flowers with Mod Podge Washout.

We cut the birds and flowers carefully out of these napkins I picked up at Ikea (so cute!)

Once the houses were dry, we took them out into the garden to play Fairy houses with! They've been a fun addition to our backyard spring outdoor imaginative play.

Happy Spring Crafting!

If you missed our first Mod Podge and Apple Barrel paint craft last week,

you can see it here. We made this super cute windowsill garden for our playroom!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama

MaryLea

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Disclosure: The Apple Barrel paint and Mod Podge in this post were given to me for review.

This post was written as an addition to part of a campaign with Blue Print Social.

All opinions expressed are my own.

Springtime Learning Through Play eBook Bundle - Last Chance For Great Spring Savings!

2013-04-12T19:43:00.000-04:00

April 15, 2013 UPDATE: Please Note This ebook bundle is no longer available at this price.

You can still visit the individual blog authors to purchase their ebooks

Calling all preschool teachers, homeschoolers, parents of young kids,

this is your LAST CHANCE to take advantage of our huge sale

for the Learning Through Play eBook Bundle.

It is chock full of great eBooks from experts in parenting, play, and education!

Our SPECIAL SALE ends this weekend on April 14th.

We have put together a package worth over $130 – but available to you at a very special price – of ebooks and resources, all based around Learning Through Play.

This Spring Special Offer includes books, resources and an on-line course, and covers sensory play, outdoor play, art and crafts, positive parenting, learning to read and write, math and lots more. There's so much in the bundle it will give you ideas to use with your children all spring and summer long. You’ll recognize the authors as the writers of some of your favorite blogs (including yours truly)!

I’ve read the books (and written one of them!) and I’m so happy to recommend this offer to you. These ladies really know their stuff and the books and resources are packed full of fantastic creative and practical ideas that you can use with your children. There are sixteen different authors joining in, bringing you over $130 worth of resources. And, guess what – you can buy the lot for just $9.99!

That's 15 (!) eBooks for the price of one -- you can't beat that!

This special bundle of books is available for you to buy only between April 8th and April 14th.

So buy it now or you’ll miss the deal!

Depending on the apps you have installed and your operating system you might be able to go ahead and download each book on your mobile device but if you have any doubts or problems, we recommend you use a computer to download the books and then share them to your mobile devices.

Okay kids, go get yours today -- this offer is too good to last, you can get all of the ebooks for this special sale price this weekend only!

Warmly,
Pink and Green Mama
MaryLea

Spring Windowsill Garden For Children with DIY Flower Pots Using Mod Podge Washout and Apple Barrel Paints #plaidkidscrafts

2013-04-11T05:00:00.000-04:00

Spring weather always beckons my children into our backyard but lately we've been experiencing some chilly temperatures and "rain delays!" The girls have been eyeing all of the beautiful bulbs and flowers for sale at the garden center and begging to buy some for our own yard. I was hoping we could find a way to bring some spring indoors. When Blue Print social sent us some some Mod Podge Washout and Apple Barrel paint in cute spring colors to play with, I knew this little playroom windowsill garden would be the perfect cure for our springtime wanna-be gardening blues!

We picked up some terra cotta pots and dishes at our local garden store and the girls painted them with the Apple Barrel paint. The girls picked yellow (Banana) and green (Lime Tree) paint for their pots. We love their all-purpose acrylic craft paint for our family projects because it cleans up with soap and water (while wet) and Apple Barrel paint comes in so many pretty colors!

The coverage on this paint is great, it only took two coats to cover the terra cotta pots nicely and it dried quickly - a plus when you're working with kids who are impatient and want to move on to the next step!

After the paint dried on the flower pots, we cut the bird and flower shapes out of some decorative paper napkins I picked up at Ikea and applied them to the flower pots with Mod Podge Washout. It's the same great formula as "regular" Mod Podge Gloss but it washes out of clothing and furniture with soap and water, even when it's dry. This will be my new "go-to" Mod Podge for kid's projects. It is great for moms and teachers!

We also Mod Podged the top edge of the flower pot with some botanical leaf print paper napkins we found in a drawer. Blue napkins on the yellow pots and orange/hot pink napkins on the green pots.

HELPFUL HINT: Whenever you Mod Podge decorative paper napkins to a craft surface, make sure you separate all of the layers of tissue - the image is printed on the top layer and there are usually at least three or four layers on the napkin to pull apart. Paint the area with Mod Podge, press on the napkin and gently dab another layer of Mod Podge on top to seal it.

The girls really love their new playroom windowsill garden. When the bulbs are done flowering, we're going to plant them in the yard and try growing some other green kitchen garden goodies like an "avocado" pit tree, lemon seeds, and scallions. We're bringing science, art, and nature to our playroom! A special thank you to my friends at Plaid Enterprises for sharing such fun art supplies with us, we have another project coming up with Apple Barrel Paint and Mod Podge Washout that I can't wait to share with you!

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Happy Spring Crafting!

Warmly,
Pink and Green Mama
MaryLea

This post was written as part of a campaign with The Blueprint Social,
but I really DO like Mod Podge Washout and Apple Barrel Paints!
As always, all opinions are my own.

Spring Learning Through Play E-Books and Learning Resources Bundle!

2013-04-08T01:00:00.000-04:00

Brought to you by Melitsa of Raising Playful Tots and Cathy of NurtureStore along with some of our favorite bloggers and authors, the Spring Learning Through Play special offer is now open – but for April 8th to April 14th only.
April 15, 2013 UPDATE: this ebook bundle price is no longer available but you can still purchase the individual ebooks from each blog author.

We have put together a package worth over $130 – but available to you at a very special price – of e-books and resources, all based around Learning Through Play. This Spring Special Offer includes books, resources and an on-line course, and covers sensory play, outdoor play, art and crafts, positive parenting, learning to read and write, math and lots more. There's so much in the bundle it will give you ideas to use with your children all spring and summer long. You’ll recognize the authors as the writers of some of your favorite blogs – check out the full details below to see who’s joining in.

The Garden Classroom by Cathy James of NurtureStore

The Garden Classroom brings you fifty-two creative and playful outdoor activities, giving you a whole year’s worth of garden-based projects to enjoy with your children. Value $9.99
ScienceArts by MaryAnn Kohl of Process Art and Treasures of Childhood

ScienceArts inspires children to explore the world of science through art with open-ended experiments. 141 pages of art experiments amaze & delight children as they discover the magic of crystals, light, constellations, plants and more. All scientific reactions and concepts explained. Value $9.99
The Playful Family by Shawn Fink of Awesomely Awake

The Playful Family encourages and challenges busy parents to slow down and spend quality time together with their children, regardless of their age. With nearly 100 ways to connect, engage and play together this easy-to-read e-book is a must-have resource for any parent interested in becoming more playful and happy while raising children. Value $4.99
Connecting Family through Creative Play e-Workshop by Gina Kimmel of Connecting Family and Seoul and Katherine Lockett of Creative Playhouse

Connecting Family through Creative Play is a 30 day e-Workshop designed for families who wish to connect with their children on a daily basis through simple, creative play. These ideas are perfect for parents looking to find a balance between the everyday responsibilities and connecting with your child in meaningful ways that fit into your family’s daily rhythm. You will receive daily messages from us in your inbox with inspirations to play, ideas for connection, and resources to help spark your imagination, including access to a private Facebook community. {Please note this course is running April 29th 2013 to May 28th 2013 only and you must register on the course before May 15th 2013} Value $25
Alphabet Glue: Volumes Nine through Eleven by Annie Riechmann of Bird and Little Bird

Alphabet Glue is a downloadable e-magazine for families who love books, and aims to help more families to incorporate creativity, imagination and all things literary into their everyday routines. Each issue contains leveled book recommendations organized by theme, bookmaking tutorials, story-building activities, and hands-on projects that complement favorite titles in children's literature or teach basic elements of science. Value $11
Alphabet Summer Learning Pack by Erin Wing of Small Types

The Alphabet Summer Learning Pack is a collection of flexible summer learning ideas organized around an "A to Z" theme. Use these resources to prevent the dreaded "summer slide" and build fun learning routines into your summer plans. Ideas are simple and flexible, so families can pick and choose the activities that work for their particular child and schedule. They provide opportunities to practice key literacy and math skills, and they leave plenty of time for lemonade stands and sand castles. Value $7
Pink and Green Mama Crafts: Backyard FUN by MaryLea Harris of Pink and Green Mama

Backyard FUN brings you 13 Art Lessons and Craftivities to create your own Backyard Fun Camp at home or in your classroom with step-by-step instructions, supply lists, and full color photos. The supplies for these fun and easy projects will come from your own art and craft stash, garage, hardware store, and recycling bin! Value $10
Alphabet Crafts by Allison McDonald of No Time For Flash Cards

Alphabet Crafts lets you create the alphabet from A-Z with fun crafts that promote more than just letter recognition. Kids will love making their own alphabet and forget that they are learning in the process. With 5 exclusive crafts never published on No Time For Flash Cards. Value $8
Alphabet Games by Malia Hollowell of Playdough to Plato

The Alphabet Mega Pack includes 12 hands-on games that teach children to recognize the names and sounds of letters - skills that are important for learning how to read. Each activity includes easy to follow parent instructions and helpful photos. The games are addictively fun for kids AND their families! Value $6
Raising a Creative Kid: Simple Strategies for Igniting and Nurturing that Creative Spark by Jillian Riley of A Mom with a Lesson Plan

Raising a Creative Kid will help you raise a creative thinker by simply setting up a creative environment, using intentional language, and nurturing mistakes. This easy read is full tips and tricks that will help you transform your environment into a creativity growth center. Value $7.99
5 minute reading tricks for raising rockstar readers by Amy Mascott of teach mama

Fifteen 5-minute reading tricks that cover everything from teaching names to what parents should say during read-alouds, from learning sight words to reading fluently. It’s about rolling out the red carpet for our rockstar readers. Now. Whomever you are, wherever you are, no matter how busy you are. Value $10

Parenting with Positive Guidance: Building Discipline from the Inside Out by Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute

Parenting with Positive Guidance gives you the tools for understanding your child’s behavior and effectively teaching and guiding your child toward increased self-control while fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. 100+ pages of information you can start using today! Value $9

Treasure Basket Play by Melitsa Avila of Raising Playful Tots

Treasure Basket Play lets you learn step by step how to make your own natural sensory baby play activity with a Treasure Basket. Includes case studies and interview with a sensory play expert on using Treasure Baskets. Value $8.95
Play Grow Learn Issue 2 by Christie Burnett of Childhood 101

Issue 2 of Play Grow Learn is packed full of playful fun with 55 pages and over 100 activity ideas. Includes ideas for creating family stories with internationally acclaimed author Hazel Edwards, an exclusive full colour, printable sea themed bingo game, 12 pages of active and outdoor play ideas, recipes, art, literacy, creativity, construction, imaginative play, books and more! Value $4
Spring Literacy and Math Activities and Games by Christine Lanyon of Scribble Doodle and Draw

Spring Literacy and Math Activities and Games includes 15 fun learning center ideas. Skills worked on include, addition to 8, patterns, counting to 20, measurement, number sequencing, abc order, writing 3 letter words, rhyming, syllables, compound words and more. Value $8

This special bundle of books is available for you to buy only between April 8th and April 14th.

So buy it now or you’ll miss the deal!

I’ve read the books (and written one of them!) and I’m so happy to recommend this offer to you. These ladies really know their stuff and the books and resources are packed full of fantastic creative and practical ideas that you can use with your children. There are sixteen different authors joining in, bringing you over $130 worth of resources. And, guess what – you can buy the lot for just $9.99!

IMPORTANT: You can buy the bundle on any device, including computer, Apple, Android and portable devices. You’ll get an instant download of the books and resources so you can start enjoying them straight away. The book will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your paypal account. The delivery system gives you 9 attempts at download within 120 hours, so you can buy now and do the download a little later if you prefer.

Depending on the apps you have installed and your operating system you might be able to go ahead and download each book on your mobile device but if you have any doubts or problems, we recommend you use a computer to download the books and then share them to your mobile devices.

Okay kids, go get yours today -- this offer is too good to last!

Warmly,
Pink and Green Mama
MaryLea

The Artful Parent Book Review and Blog Tour.

2013-04-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

My bloggy friend Jean Van't Hul, is an artist, mother, and crafty blogger.

Her blog, The Artful Parent, is one of those rare lovely places on the internet

where I actually relax and always look forward to visiting.

Her home is filled with beautiful projects created by her two adorable daughters.

Jean and I have joked that if we lived closer we could have some wonderful

coffee play dates with our girls and make some serious messes together!

I love her "stained glass window art projects" and homemade pennants and garlands.

If only we had a giant picture window like Jean's somewhere in our house to decorate for each season!

I was so excited for her when she announced that she would be writing her own book.

A dream of Jean's nurtured into a reality, her book,

The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity

is everything I hoped it would be and more. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview.

I was in bed for days with a nasty virus when her book arrived in the mail.

It was a wonderful distraction for me, an escape from the reality of my life filled with

dirty dishes, sick and bored kids, and piles of undone laundry.

It is all organized by the type of art material and filled with beautiful photographs.

She also has some guest chapters from some of my blogging colleagues

with a list of recommended art and craft blogs to visit

that I was only "slightly" hurt not to be included on.

Her book is full of so many easy and creative ideas - 60 different projects for you

to complete with your children and fill your home or classroom with beauty.

The best part is that they are all focused on the "process" not the final "product"

(a mantra a repeated daily in my classroom as an art teacher)

and her children's work reflects it through out the book.

Jean's book is a wonderful and rare departure from the usual craft books filled with

beautifully styled projects for children that were obviously created by an adult.

The artwork in her book is child made and genuine.

The book comes out April 9, 2013.

If you pre-order from Amazon you'll save off the cover price

and if the price decreases again between your order time and the end of the day

of the release date, you will receive the lowest price - score!

Want more sneak peeks into Jean's book - or a chance to win a copy?

Follow along on the book tour:

March 18 - Tinkerlab - activity demonstration and giveaway

March 22 - Handmade Charlotte - blog post

March 26 - Playful Learning - activity demonstration

March 28 - Nurture Store - feature post and giveaway

March 30 - Make and Takes - Feature

April 1 - Red Ted Art - book review and giveaway

April 2 - Kids Activity Blog - interview and giveaway

April 3 - Pink and Green Mama - blog post

April 8 - Not Just Cute - blog post

April 9 - Creative With Kids - interview

April 10 - Imagination Tree - book review

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

* Disclosure: I received an early copy of The Artful Parent book to read for this review.

All opinions expressed are my own. *

Favorite Rainbow Themed Activities, Crafts, Snacks, and Art Projects and Linky Party!

2013-03-27T05:00:00.000-04:00

As we've been trudging through these dreary, gray days of winter,

my mind keeps wandering to spring and beautiful rainbows!

Today I'm sharing some of my favorite Rainbow themed posts from the blog

to brighten your days and kick off the start of Spring.

I hope they bring you some colorful ideas!

You can start by filling your window sills with rainbows -

make a dyed noodle Rainbow Sun Catcher Craft (2009) to brighten your days.

Make a Waldorf Window Star with kite paper in Rainbow Colors!

Some fun bath time or water table play always keeps my girls entertained.

Try making some tub toys of your own by cutting shapes out of colored Craft Foam.

DIY Craft Foam Tub Toys (2009)

If it's cold and wintery outside,

go make some Rainbow Ice (just add food coloring to water)

and freeze it in ice cube trays, bowls, cups, or balloons!

Or Paint the Snow with Rainbows (2009)

add some food coloring or kool-aid to spray bottles.

(look how little "E" was in this picture -- that sure is an old post!)

Why not EAT a rainbow?

Make a colorful snack for your kids.

You could make fruit salad, fruit kabobs, or

a veggie plate with all of the colors of the rainbow.

Set up a color mixing drink station.

We set this one up at my daughter's Rainbow themed birthday party a few years ago.

I colored Sprite with food coloring - Red, Blue, and Yellow

so the kids could pour it into cups and mix their own favorite colors (Green, Orange, and Purple)!

Fun for grown-ups too.

Better yet, throw a Rainbow Themed Party.

Make some Rainbow Jello! (2010)

Wear a Rainbow!

Add some rainbows to your sneakers (2010)

or...

Make your own Rainbow Necklace with Rainbow Cereal.

Invite a friend over and have your own mini Rainbow Fun Camp! (2009)

Get Crafty With Rainbows!

If it's warm enough outside, whip up a batch of

Rainbow Sidewalk Paint (2009)

with cornstarch, food coloring, and water.

Make one of my Painted Rainbow Doilies.

They are a beautiful addition to

tote bags, grocery bags, and backpacks!

Make some Rainbow Colored Glue! (2011)

Make a Yarn Wrapped Color Wheel. (2012)

Whip up a batch of my

Kool-Aid Rainbow Play Dough

Make a Rainbow Rice Sensory Box (2009)

and then use some Rainbow Colored Rice to make your own

Rainbow Rice Eye Spy Bottles! (2009)

You can also check out my E-book Rainbow Fun

for these ideas and even more Crafts, Games, and Songs

in an easy to read downloadable PDF format - perfect for your iPad or home computer!

Happy Rainbow Making!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama, MaryLea

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I would love to see YOUR favorite Rainbow
Crafts, Snacks, Parties, and Activities!
Link up here and share your great posts.

Favorite Watercolor Projects For Kids

2013-03-24T05:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm sharing my favorite Watercolor Projects from the Blog.

Hope you find something to inspire a crafty play date with your favorite little artist!

Watercolors are kid friendly, easy to set up and clean up, inexpensive, and fun!

Tips:

* Change your water frequently.

* Keep Paper towels handy to mop up puddles and to wipe your brush.

* Always rinse your brush between colors and wipe it gently on the edge of the water glass.

* Protect your work surface from water (use newspapers, plastic placemats, or a vinyl tablecloth)

* Store your clean paint brushes bristles up (don't leave them on their heads!)

Experiment with:

Water spray bottle, Salt, Coffee Filters, Tape Resist, Glue Resist.

Watercolor Basket,

Making Art Supplies Accessible for Children

Permanent Marker Line Drawing with Watercolors

Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers

Solar System Star Book with Watercolors

Wooden Peg Doll Family

Summer Fun To Do List!

Colored Glue and Watercolors

Liquid Watercolors Spin Art

Salt and Glue with Liquid Watercolor Paintings

Watercolor and Contact Paper Resist

Black Glue and Watercolor Painting

Outer Space Planets Watercolor and Splatter Stars

Coffee Filters and Watercolors

Watercolor on Wood

Shaving Cream and Liquid Watercolor Marbling

Tape Resist with Watercolors

Newspaper and Watercolor Valentines

DIY Watercolor Mobile

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Favorite Felt Projects, Crafts, and Felt Board Ideas For Kids

2013-03-22T13:51:00.002-04:00

Here's a round up of my most popular Felt Themed activities and crafts from the blog!

Hope this gives you some fun and easy ways to use up your craft felt stash!

I buy all of my Eco-Felt from Michaels and JoAnnes craft store.

Feel Better Felt Bandaids for Pretend Play

Rainbow and Cloud Hair Barrette

Felt Heart Garland

Easy Cotton Ball Sushi Craft!

Felt and TP Roll Trees

Felt Three Little Pigs Finger Puppets

Felt Penguin Masks

Felt Bad Guy Pretend Play Set

Felt Cookies for play kitchen

Felt Pretend Pizza

Felt Play Food: Eggs

Felt Play Food: Pretend Sugar Cookie Baking Set

Roll a Pumpkin Felt Game

Color Matching Easter Egg Felt Game

How to Sew a Felt Igloo Tutorial

Outer Space Themed Felt Board

Spring Garden Themed Felt Board

Farm Themed Felt Board

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Easter Basket Non-Candy Filler Ideas To Make For Your Kids

2013-03-18T05:00:00.000-04:00

Last year, we made the switch from individual Easter baskets to one big family basket

for the girls. It is easier for me to fill one basket with goodies for both girls

to share and doesn't break the budget buying multiples of everything.

I try to balance out the sugar rush of Easter morning with some non-candy goodies.

Of course in this photo from last year, you can only see the candy...

the cute recycled sweater bunnies I found on Etsy,

the bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and coloring books are all buried!

Today, I want to share a round-up of inexpensive ideas from past blog posts

that would be easy to make for your children's baskets this year

during nap time, while they're at school, etc.

Click on each link for full details and to visit the old post.

1. DIY Wooden Peg Dolls

I pick up these little wooden peg dolls at the craft store

(Michaels or JoAnnes) and paint them with watercolors.

I use permanent marker to draw on the little faces

and glue felt flower hats on top with Aleene's tacky glue.

This year, I'm planning to make some wooden peg doll animals for the girls.

Wooden animals can be made at home with a scroll saw and wood burning tool

or you can order from an Etsy shop.

Mama Kopp is our favorite, go-to Etsy shop.

The frog in the photo below came from her shop!

2. Rainbow Hair Barrette

If you have little girls in your house like I do,

new barrettes and hair accessories always go over well!

or Old-School Style Woven Ribbon Barrettes

3. Tiny Acorn Cap Nests

These are easy to make and so cute!

Wonderful to hide in plants and fairy gardens.

These would make magical tooth fairy gifts as well!

4. Color Matching Egg Game

Put some plastic easter eggs and craft felt to good use

with a DIY color matching game for any toddlers in your life!

5. DIY Bean Bags

Bean bags are easy to make and SEW fun for kids!

You just need some scrap fabric or felt, and filler like dry beans

(I use dry Split Peas) and a quick zip through the sewing machine.

Click HERE to see my Outer Space Bean Bags.

6. DIY Craft Foam Bath Toys

These can be quickly cut out with a pair of scissors.

You can make basic shapes, animals, or stick people.

My girls love to create murals and collages on the tile walls around

our bathtub and shower with these craft foam shapes!

7. Kool Aid Play Dough

Play dough is always popular in our house.

Why not make a fresh batch of homemade play dough?

You could even add some cute new cookie cutters or paper cupcake holders to play with!

8. Colored RAINBOW Glue

New art supplies are always a welcome addition to our Easter Baskets.

Make a batch of my colored Rainbow Glue and your kids will have a blast

making pictures and getting creative with it!

9. Sew a Sock Bunny

Sew your own little sock friend from some old mismatched or outgrown socks.

10. Felt Animal Masks

Make your own felt animal masks with some felt and fabric glue or hot glue.

Just stitch on some elastic and you're good to go.

These are wonderful for imaginative play and can be customized to make

your child's favorite animal!

Other easy Easter (Non-Candy) Basket Filler Ideas:

Watercolors and Watercolor Paper

New Markers or Crayons

Coloring Books (store bought or homemade)

Journals and Gel Pens

Shrinky Dinks

Model Magic or other Modeling Clay like Sculpey

Stickers

Bubbles

New Sidewalk Chalk

Finger Puppets

Jump Rope

Stuffed Animals

Silk Scarves

Gardening Gloves, a Spade, and some Seeds

Small Watering Can

Happy Spring Crafting!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama MaryLea

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Kid Friendly Ways To Decorate Easter Eggs

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Today I wanted to share some easy and kid-friendly ways to decorate Easter Eggs.

Our very favorite, go-to method for decorating easter eggs

with food coloring is this technique with food coloring, vinegar, and a kitchen colander.

The colander keeps little fingers clean and keeps splashing and spills to a minimum!

All of these eggs were dyed with the colander technique last year.

We also add some sprinkles of kitchen salt to get a dappled watercolor effect.

You can also use shaving cream and liquid watercolors using

the same technique we highlighted here marbling notecards and paper.

You can make Poured Paint Easter Eggs by setting an egg in a plastic lid

and pouring acrylic craft paint over the egg (on a paper plate)

Let it dry before you pick it up!

You can also use school glue or a glue gun and glitter to make "fancy glitter eggs"

It's fun (and EASY) to just draw on plastic eggs with permanent markers too!

Alissa Burke has BEAUTIFUL eggs on her BEAUTIFUL blog that she decorated with Sharpies.

Go check her out, I'm in love with ALL of her creative ideas.

She's full of beauty and talent and makes the world a more beautiful place to live in!

More kid-friendly ways to decorate eggs include:

Stickers
Bleeding Tissue Paper
Office Labels (Circle stickers)
Do-A-Dot Markers
Draw With Permanent Markers
Paint with Watercolors or Craft Paint
Wrap in Washi Tape or Colored Masking Tape
Use Glitter Glue or Glitter and Elmer's Glue
Draw With Oil Pastels

You can also decoupage eggs with mod podge and tissue paper or decorative napkins.

Your imagination is your only limit!

If you don't want to use real eggs,

you can use papier mache eggs or wooden eggs from the craft store.

We bought some a few years ago for the girls to decorate.

They mod-podged ours with paper napkins and tissue paper.

Another kid-friendly NO EGG option is to paint pine cones like we did here.

Happy Decorating!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama MaryLea

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Poured Paint Easter Eggs!

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This project drew it's inspiration from the beautiful poured paint projects

that were all over blog world and Pinterest last year.

The Rainbow poured paint flower pots from Dily Daly art were my very favorites!

We also love the art work of Holton Rower and his poured paint creations.

So, I guess these are Holton Rower and Dily Daly inspired easter eggs!

We used cheap-o plastic easter eggs and set each one on a paper plate

balanced in a small plastic bottle cap.

Then we just poured craft paint in layers on top of each egg.

Watching the paint mix is the fun part!

I recommend adding some metallic silver or gold paint to the mix!

Had to make a girly pink and purple one for "C"

They look like our poured paint yard gazing balls.

Here's a link in case you missed that gem from the archives!

Then we decided to sprinkle some glitter onto the wet paint

to give them some more bling!

Project Notes:

* Because the paint is plastic and so are the eggs,

the paint will chip and peel off if you pick at them.

* To "finish" the unpainted end of the egg that was stuck inside the plastic cap, we just

picked up the eggs when they were (mostly) dry and dipped the bare ends into the

swirly paint puddle that was left behind on the paper plate.

Happy (Drippy) Easter Decorating!

Warmly,

Pink and Green Mama

MaryLea