Green Owl Art

Cornmeal Sensory Play

2013-05-25T07:49:00.001-07:00

Looking in my pantry is always the best way to create some fun sensory play in our house. New textures and smells are so engaging and fun to play with. On this day, Grayson had so much fun with some cornmeal and dino's!

I started out using a cake pan for this, but Grayson needed much more dinosaur digging room, so we switched to a baking sheet. It was the perfect size. Emma took over the cake pan and pretended to be a little chef mixing away on her batter.

This was the perfect solution for indoors with my sand loving boy and the cornmeal is a great new texture that he thoroughly enjoyed. When he was finished we saved the cornmeal for another day of play and vacuumed up the floor. It was pretty easy, but if a cornmeal mess scares you, you can easily take this activity outside.
Check out my full tutorial here, Cornmeal Play.

Pretend Play--Felt Sandwich Shop

2013-05-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pretend play is such an important part of a child's development. I know I have said this many times, but I will say it over and over again because I see the amazing power of simple pretend play in my home each and every day.
It never fails to turn a frown upside down, to get the kids playing together and to be resourceful and creative. Pretend play is magical and special and I love seeing these beautiful little imaginations in complete bliss.

Emma loves to take her real life experiences and turn them into pretend play. You never know who she is going to be. Some days it's her doctor or her teacher and some days she is the music performer we watched over the weekend or the librarian that helped us find our books. So, it's no surprise to me when she requests to create her own little sandwich shop. We grabbed a few things around the house and got to work setting up shop!

We cut felt into all our sandwich fixings. Emma loved helping with this. It was a little difficult for Grayson to cut, but he was happy to add our felt cuttings to some recycled berry containers to hold our supplies.

The kids were getting excited! We grabbed some tongs from the kitchen and they took turns being the customer and the sandwich maker.

Things got a little too real for this guy and I ended up making him a real sandwich for lunch! What a great way to work up an appetite.
We love playing pretend. It is always a great go to activity and can be set up so easily with anything that you have around the house. It teaches children to be creative, to work together and use the tools they have. Especially the best one of all, their imaginations.
I shared this full tutorial over on Kiwi Crate.

Pet Frog

2013-05-18T08:03:00.001-07:00

Since the weather has warmed up here we have been hearing a chorus of frog friends singing melodies each evening to us. It sounds as if there are a thousand frogs outside our home, but have still yet to see one frog. We decided to make our own!

My favorite crafts require a little nature walk. We took a nice long walk and collected things that the kids thought would make good frog building materials. Rocks and leaves seemed to be the best nature goods among the two!

With a little glue, googly eyes and felt feet our rock became a new pet for the kids to play with.

This guy got well taken care of since everything in our house gets a name, a bed and of course some frog food. Although, Emma made this one a vegetarian since she was not willing to collect bugs for her new pet.
My full pet frog tutorial is over on Kiwi Crate.

Easy Bird Feeder Crafts

2013-05-16T09:03:00.001-07:00

Making offerings to our sweet backyard birds is a great way to teach children about nature and compassion for all living creatures. It is something I have done with the kids since they could walk. Here is an easy one to start with. The Pine Cone Bird Feeder is the perfect bird feeder for little ones to make with confidence. All you need is a pine cone, string, nut butter (you can use sun butter if your child has allergies) and birdseed.

First, we used a small spoon to get the butter into all the crevices of the pine cone.

This was the fun part--into a bag of birdseed it goes! Shake, shake, shake! This went on for quite awhile.

Pretty proud of his little bird feeder. We tied it to a tree in the yard right near a window and it didn't take long before we saw sweet little birds stopping by for a snack. The kids loved watching their success! We first tried this feeder when Emma was given all the supplies as a gift from a good friend. Isn't that a sweet DIY gift? I thought so!

This started out as a salt container. With a few cuts (by me) and some pretty details (by Em) this little house came together very nicely.

We used a found branch for the perch, cute, right? Even cuter when we saw it being used by the sweetest little bird.

Windows and flowers are a must for any bird house!

We filled it with birdseed and hung it in a tree with some floral wire. For all details check out my full tutorial here, Salt Container Bird Feeder.

So, this Slinky Snacker started out as a little treat holder for our backyard squirrels, but we were surprised when it was emptied by another local friend.

Using a slinky and pipe cleaner we filled our snack holder with peanuts and used twine to hang it from a tree.

This beautiful bird spent all afternoon taking every single peanut out, shelling it and bring them to her nest only to return for more until every peanut was gone. Wow! What a great way to observe nature. I hope you are inspired to feed the birds today!

The Real Mr. Potato Head

2013-05-13T11:31:00.002-07:00

Play with your food? Yes, please! That's how my kids feel. I always thought how neat it would be to make a "real Mr. Potato Head"--and today we did! We built, laughed, ate, and got silly. (You can't help but to get pretty silly when you're adding mushroom ears onto a potato.)

To start this out I broke toothpicks in half and placed them into the potato. It takes a strong hand and since they are sharp I suggest this be a grown-up only step.

Next, Emma helped me cut up a ton of fruit and veggies. We have some great kid-safe knives and she's been practicing her cutting skills, so this was perfect.

Time to make some potato faces.....

and some silly kid faces, too!

Grayson got in on the fun.

Pretty cute potato heads if I do say so myself! The kale eyebrows gave me quite the laugh.

And then we ate! Being exposed to healthy foods in new ways is a great way to get kids trying new things. I don't think I ever had raw brussel sprouts until this day when the kids decided to try it out. Gotta love that!

I shared this yummy project over on Kiwi Crate. Join me there for the full tutorial.

3D Paint Mason Jar Vase

2013-05-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

We used recycled pickle jars and some puffy paint to make these great little vases for Mother's day.

Pretty easy to do, but I have a full tutorial on this over at Kiwi Crate. These would be great to make your own centerpieces for a party. We love DIY party decor!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing, hard-working, beautiful, loving, inspiring, brilliant and sleep lacking mama's out there! I wish you a day of rest, love and peace.
xo
green owl mama

Chocolate Bowl for Mother's Day

2013-05-09T14:14:00.003-07:00

Miss Fancy Pants was in absolute heaven when I announced we'd be making chocolate bowls! How perfect would these be for Mother's Day and you can fill them with all sorts of sweet treats. We did fresh berries, but you could even make a vanilla custard or ice cream to go inside! Yum!

We blew our balloon up to a small size and gave it a good washing.

Next I melted the chocolate and stirred it until it cooled a bit (not to pop the balloon.)

She dipped her balloon right into the chocolate and placed it on wax paper.

Into the freezer it goes. This was the hard part. I had to stand freezer guard while impatient wee ones tried to peek.

We popped our balloon and pulled it out to reveal our beautiful chocolate bowl. The kids thought this was pretty cool.

Are these fancy or what!? Yet, so easy to make. For more details check out my full tutorial over on Kiwi Crate.

Begin Again Lemonade Set GIVEAWAY and Review!!

2013-05-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to be able to test drive this ever so clever lemonade set by BeginAgain. Is it the most darling little set you have ever seen or what?! I think so and the best part is it is durable and made from 100% recycled plastic! Pretty great, right?

I have seen many tea sets, but this is the first lemonade set I've seen. Perfect for some summer fun! Since we received our set the kids have been playing all sorts of imaginative games with it. They had the usual lemonade stand of course, but their creative little minds have even served up lemonade at their "beach house" via our backyard. Look out for that wave!!

I got to join in on the fun this day. Lemonade and a beach house...I can't complain too much!

I love that BeginAgain makes high quality earth friendly toys, but, I love even more that my children love them just as much as I do. BeginAgain toys are available at Whole Foods and Amazon and there are so many creative ones to choose from.

And guess what? In honor of this beautiful weather we are having as we are getting closer and closer to summer, my innovative friends over at BeginAgain are giving one of my readers their very own Lemonade set!

To ENTER leave me a comment here and tell me where you'd like to drink your lemonade, and for a second entry like BeginAgain on facebook here and let me know you did so on this post in your comment.

Good luck! Contest ends Tuesday May 14th 2013 at 8am (strange fact May 14th is also Dance like a Chicken Day, I swear!)

Winner will be randomly chosen using random.org

**Open to U.S. residents only

Anthropologie Style Snack Jars for Teacher Appreciation

2013-05-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

We made some sweet snack jars for our teachers this week. Just a small way to say thank you. I can imagine teachers barely have a moment to grab a snack in a day filled with 20+ children. So, we decided to avoid the chocolate and go for some healthy bars and fruit leather that would be a nice pick-me-up in a long day. Bonus--we (handy husband) added these knobs to the top of each jar making a very Anthropolgie style canister for them to keep.

The kids helped me fill the jars (and you don't need to buy jars, just recycle them from tomato sauce, pickles or whatever comes in your glass jars.) My husband drilled a hole in the top of each lid and did some other stuff that I really can't explain well, to get the knob to stay in place (sorry!)
I planned on having Emma write those little notes to attach, but her 5-year-old time limit was up, but her heart was there! We chatted about what teacher appreciation was and why teachers are so important.
Remember to thank all those teachers this week. They are truly angels on earth!

School Replica Fairy Garden for Teacher Appreciation

2013-05-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to Fairy Garden's from the fabulous (blog crush of mine) Pink and Green Mama. That's one of hers above, isn't it sweet? And guess what that beauty is planted in, a salad bowl! Genius! Since being inspired over on MaryLea's happy blog space I have been really enjoying (OK, more like addicted...alright, alright a little obsessed) with my fairy garden building. I mean really who doesn't love all things fairy, miniature and sweet as can be?

I hosted a fairy garden workshop party to benefit Emma's school and well, of course I needed a sample garden for the kids to see. I decided a little replica fairy version of their school would be fun. And who better to give our fairy school garden to than Emma's wonderful teacher...oh and teacher appreciation week is around the corner...perfect!

I drilled holes in a large salad bowl (thanks Pink and Green Mama!) and we got to work making all the details of Emma's school very very small. Our school is pretty awesome, it has chickens and a climbing rock, but what I love most about this fairy school is the tether-ball, holy cuteness! We used one of those paddle ball party favors for that gem.

Grayson has some pretty great teachers, too! He loved helping me place the rocks on the little tiny path to his school house.

It's amazing all the miniature findings you can find at the craft store now. Who knew? This new hobby can get a little dangerous!

And here is one that stayed in my yard.

Teacher appreciation week is this week! Be sure to tell your teachers how amazing they are. Be sure to thank them for teaching, guiding, watching and loving your children.

Thank you to the special teachers in my children's lives. These are the teachers that are setting the bar high for years to come.

Thank you to my amazing brother and sister-in-law(s) who teach with all they got each and every day.

Thank you to all who teach with love each day. I admire you all so very much.

Papel Picado for Cinco De Mayo

2013-05-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

Have I told you I love celebrating....everything?! Not only is it fun for the kids, makes wonderful family memories, but it is also an opportunity to teach the kids about different places and cultures. Cinco De Mayo is this Sunday! Start the celebration by crafting some Papel Picado's to decorate for the occasion.

There are many ways to make these beautiful paper banners, but we kept it very simple so that both kids could be included in the process and we could all craft together. We used Tissue paper and scissors and used the "snowflake" technique to create our banner.

Some twine and tape put all our tissue flags in place.

Simple, but beautiful. Check out my full tutorial at Kiwi Crate.

Mother's Day Homemade Gifts

2013-05-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is just around the corner. Here are a few simple ideas to get the kids making some sweet gifts for Grandmas, Aunts and YOU, of course! Maybe this is a good one to send to Dad!

Our Lavender Heart Wreath came out so beautiful and was very simple and easy for Emma to make on her own. We started out with some floral wire and used pipe cleaner snippets to hold the lavender in place. It really is a work of art and smells so good.

Our Flower Pins are a great way to recycle old buttons and come out really sweet. Emma loves to see me actually wearing the things she has made for me.

These came together with felt, buttons and tacky glue right on top of some advertisement buttons we got at a recent fair.

Last year Emma decided to create some Homemade Perfume for me. It was really sweet and her idea actually worked, although we left the alcohol portion out which let it go bad after awhile, but we actually did use this for a couple weeks, kind of cool!

She glowed with happiness while doing this. That girl loves a good concoction mix up!

Hand-Print Key Chain's are super sweet and fun for the kids to make.

With shrink form sheets and permanent markers kids can create anything they imagine and then laugh as they watch it shrink down to "fairy size!" Or at least that's how it went down in our house.

I really, really appreciated this gift of Homemade Chip Clips! They actually serve the purpose and made so thoughtfully by my kids. I love that! The kids made these by decorating close-pins with buttons and markers.

One of my favorite wearable art pieces that Emma has made are these beautiful Domino Necklaces. Yes, they started with a domino!

Little glass beads, tacky glue and yarn complete this pretty craft. Something about working with tiny details that is very relaxing.

While I am talking about domino's, here is another nifty necklace that you can make with a domino, The Chalkboard Necklace. This was a wooden domino that we painted with chalkboard paint and added some yarn to the back with a small piece of masking tape. I love that they can be personalized each day with chalk!

We made this Stained Glass Sun-catcher last year and it is still one of my most popular posts. I started this using black puffy paint. Love when I get to create as well!

The next day Emma filled it in with colored glue and glitter glue. It still looks beautiful in our window. Love seeing our home fill with little pieces of art from the kids. It just makes me happy!

Pond Themed Playdough

2013-04-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

Emma's class has just started a pond study (I know, pretty cool, right?) To go along with this fun theme I made some pond inspired playdough for her to explore with after school today. She was thrilled and had so much fun building little ponds and showing me all the things she has been learning.

What does pond playdough smell like you wonder? That was my dilemma at first and then...of course! Tea tree oil! Perfect to give the dough an earthy sort of smell. Tea tree oil is also anti-viral and a natural lice repellent...oh yea, tea tree dough is looking good for a kindergarten classroom!

Recipe for Pond Playdough

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

3 tbs oil

4 drops of tea tree oil

1 cup boiling water

liquid watercolors

1. Add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, tea tree oil and oil to a large bowl.

2. Add the boiling water and quickly mix everything together. The dough will be sticky and seem too wet at this point.

3. Dump the dough to a flat surface and slowly add a little bit of the remainder flour at a time while kneading. Once the dough is a nice soft texture and no longer sticky stop adding flour.

4. Divide dough into 3 balls and knead watercolors into each ball. We did brown, green and blue to keep with our pond theme.

Flowers, flowers and more flowers!

2013-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day at the Tulip Festival. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It's one of those places you wish you could take everyone you know because a picture can never do such beauty justice. It was a wonderful day, even at the moment Grayson completely lost it over Emma asking if he needed help picking the one and only yellow tulip that he wanted to bring home. Yep, he threw himself down in the middle of the yellow and orange tulip rows and screamed and kicked and screamed some more, but I gotta say a two-year old melt down is much more tolerable when spent in the middle of this.

He recuperated pretty well and decided on a purple tulip to take home. Good choice, Grayson! They were my favorite. With his new favorite tulip in hand and a ride on the cow train we were back to blissful peace out at the Tulip Festival.

With flowers on the mind I thought I would share some wonderful flower crafts we have been enjoying this spring.

Starting with Egg Carton Tulips seems appropriate! Isn't it amazing what you can do with an egg carton. They must be one of our most used recycled art good. I can never bare to toss them into the recycling bin.

With a pipe cleaner stem and a button center these sweet flowers came together pretty nicely.

We used watercolor to add some color, but tempura paints would probably give you a better "pop" of color on your tulips.

Speaking of egg carton awesomeness, check out our Egg Carton Spring Wreath!

We started out with a cardboard ring and added egg carton flowers all around it. I just love the way it came out.

Last summer when I brought home these beautiful white hydrangeas from the store Emma asked if the flower fairies had missed this batch when out adding color to flowers everywhere. I told her they must have and this sparked a new craft in our house and a very important job for her.

Eager to help the fairies out Emma painted each petal of our white hydrangeas with watercolors. Painted Hydrangeas is a new favorite in our house.

Paper Towel Flowers are pretty fun to make by painting with watercolors right on a paper towel. The colors spread and blend to make a really beautiful creation.

With a clothespin these colorful towels become a sweet little flower perfect for adding on top of a gift.

More hydrangeas! These Coffee Filter Hydrangeas are so beautiful and easy to make.

OK, a pattern is happening here. I guess when flower crafting we tend to pull the watercolors out. Interesting. A pipe cleaner stem was added to these to make a sweet little bouquet.

We started our Newspaper Flowers out by painting sheets of newspaper with colored glue. When the sheets dried they were easy to cut into petals and put together to create these fun flowers.

I love that you can still read them! Very cool looking flower.

This was an Emma idea inspired by her love of creating with q-tips. What I loved about it is that it became a really great fine motor skills activity for Grayson and they could enjoy this one together.

For these Q-tip Flowers I helped by cutting the q-tips in half and they stuck them into different sized styro balls. With a little paint (yes, watercolors!) and a pipe cleaner they became flowers. Very unique flowers, if I do say so.

Magical Dandelions sprouted up in our yard recently and what a pleasant surprise they were! You can't go wrong with wishes and glitter!

Rose Print Napkins--for Mother's Day

2013-04-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

As summer is approaching I will be slowing down on my little happy place I like to call Green Owl Art. We will still be creating art and memories and I will try and share as much as I can, but sometimes you need to just un-plug!
With that said I am beginning the first Mother's day homemade gift today. I have quite a few to share, maybe I will do one big post if I don't get a chance to share them all.

We made these super simple and super sweet, rose print cloth napkins with...celery! Very cool through the eyes of a five and two-year-old. They also snacked on (you guessed it) celery, while we created. Healthy snack and fun art...yippee!!

We used fabric paint to stamp right on some basic cloth napkins. So easy!

A few additions with some green puffy paint and we had a pretty great gift...for me! Yes, she gave them to her dear mama, what a sweetie! Maybe we will make a few more for the dear Grandma's in our life, too.
I shared this over at Kiwi Crate, you check out more details there.

12 Recycled Crafts for Kids

2013-04-19T13:36:00.001-07:00

Earth Day is April 22! Perfect time to spend the weekend creating with recycled goods. Several years ago Emma and I created a box to add to our recycling center. We call it the ART BOX and use it to recycle anything we may want to use for art one day. This has been a wonderful addition to our home. It gets the kids thinking in creative ways and always looking at trash as treasure!

I made this Stamp Set for Emma last year. She loved stamping her name and I loved how easy it was to make with some wine corks and foam stickers.

Got shoulder pads? Here is a much better use for them. You can make a fun Jelly Fish or any creature your little one can dream up.

I have to say....Emma and I had a little too much fun with these adorable empty mint tins turned Tin Box Monsters! They are great for holding the kids found treasures now.

Yes, I purposely made a bell with my children. This Homemade Bell is a recycled yogurt container and has been a kick start to several fun games of imaginative play. It is surprising what a child can dream up with just a bell.

While you're saving those yogurt containers, here's another one, these Recycled Party Hats are made from various recycled goods including small yogurt cups and berry baskets.

We made some fun Bottle Top Magnets by just adding paint and googly eyes to a bottle top. It's fun to see them dry and transform into silly little creatures.

Got five minutes? Then you can make a super cute no-sew DIY Apron from an old pillowcase!

Emma thought of this one on her own! I loved the idea and she loved pretending to be working hard at her Egg Carton Computer!

These very cool and stylish bracelets were made from a plastic water bottle! Make your own Water Bottle Bracelet with just a few simple materials.

Who needs to buy pretend food? Just dig through those recycling bins! My kids always prefer the real stuff over the toys, so to make these packages kid durable I cover them in clear heavy duty packing tape. Check out my Pretend Play post for more details.

Are these cute or what? Oh the things you can do with a paper roll. The mini pom-poms on our Paper Roll Octopus were definitely the perfect finishing touch.

Hope you enjoyed a few of our favorite recycled crafts. It is a wonderful thing to give new life to something that would have just been tossed out. I love that my children can look at an old milk carton and see so much more.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Snack

2013-04-17T18:39:00.003-07:00

I surprised the kids with this simple and healthy Earth Day snack this afternoon. I placed it at the table for them and Emma looked for a minute. I didn't say anything and let her figure it out. She did! Happily she screamed "love earth!"
Happy Earth Day!

DIY Dishwasher Detergent Pods

2013-04-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

I know this is not the typical children's craft you see on my blog, but I started making these dishwasher detergent pods and Emma was all over it and wanted to be apart of each step. So, I thought, well, why not? This is a great opportunity to teach her about being resourceful and sustainable.

To get the full instructions, join me at Family Sponge today. It's basic and simple and apparently kids love to make dishwasher detergent!

Our new sensory play. It was like a new form of playdough.

Wouldn't these jars make great Mother's Day gifts? I just used chalkboard paint on a mason jar and stamped my letters on with white ink. Some twine around the top and you would have a pretty unique gift that smells wonderful.

DIY Crazy Hair Wig

2013-04-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

It all started two Christmas's ago when my niece opened up a gift and inside it was the most beautiful Rapunzel wig. I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I saw her pull the hair out and place it on her head. I jumped up from my seat in hopes to distract Emma, but it was just too late. She was staring right at my adorable niece with golden hair down to her toes. And...ever since then I have not heard the end of it. Yes, I could have just got her a darn Rapunzel wig at some point, I suppose, but kids plastic fake wigs that tangle constantly and smell kind of funny--drive me nuts! So I made this adorable yarn wig instead and called it magical hair!

We started with a pipe cleaner tiara and a whole lot of yarn scraps.

I tied and tied and tied........

And WALLA! A magical hair wig. She loved it and played with it forever pretending to be all sorts of characters. It was wonderful.

And then she asked for a Rapunzel wig for her birthday.

For more details I shared this project over at Kiwi Crate.

Earth Day Crafts

2013-04-10T08:38:00.001-07:00

Earth day is April 22 and the perfect time to talk with kids about caring for our earth. Using recycled items to make a few fun earth themed crafts is a great way start. This one started out with a large yogurt lid and some leftover dried rice.

Colored rice is a great addition to your art supplies and easy to make. Check out my full instructions here, Mosaic Earth Lid.

A few months back a friend of mine shared a wonderful video with me about making hot rocks. Of course, I can't seem to find it now to share with you, but it was a beautiful tutorial that started with children collecting stones by the beach. They brought them home and warmed them in the oven to then use crayons on them to create beautiful colored stones.

When the rocks are warm the crayons melt as you color them. This is one of our new favorite crafts to do. We decided using green and blue crayons would make the perfect earth rock. Check out more here, Earth Rock.

Glass paints are a wonderful way to dress up old jars and votive holders for any occasion. I love how our earth glows!

This will be lighting our table come Earth Day. Here are the details to making your own, Earth Luminary.

Got a lot of paper scraps? We do! We turned them into an Earth Collage! Paper punches are a lot of fun for kids and gives them crafting confidence!

Checkout out our Earth Collage and see how simple and fun this can be for young kids to do.

This is one of my favorites from last year. Recycled Earth Day necklace!

Daddy helped out with a little bit of drilling, but Emma did the rest and wore her necklace very proudly for Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!
xo
green owl mama

Walnut Strawberries

2013-04-08T08:18:00.004-07:00

We love to make our own play food out of simple things around the house. We've made felt cookies and pom-pom blueberries--and now, today, strawberry walnuts. These might be the sweetest addition to our little play kitchen ever!

With some red paint and green felt it was very easy to make these little berries. Grayson even helped out!

For full instructions check out my tutorial here,Walnut Strawberries.

Milk Cap Rings

2013-04-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

Meet Penelope. She's very fancy, very colorful and wears lots of rings. Yes, this is Emma's alter ego when she covers herself in accessories and becomes a grown-up. It's sweet and funny and I kind of love it.

We have this box that we call our "art" recycle box. The kids can freely add or take from it whenever they feel the need to do so. One day Emma grabbed all of our milk tabs (you know the cork like plastic thing in the quarts of milk, I don't know why we were saving these) and she placed them on all of her fingers like rings. It was cute and fun....and brilliant!

You can see where I'm going with this. We layered them with fun buttons and made some great DIY costume jewelry. Check out my tutorial on our fun Milk Cap Rings at Kiwi Crate!

Mightee Kids is Pretty Darn Cool!

2013-04-03T20:12:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share with you again Mightee Kids. I was introduced to them a few months back and have been so impressed with this wonderful concept that I want to share it again and again. I am a huge supporter of Sevenly and I love that my kids now have their own charity t-shirts, too. Yes, these t-shirts are pretty cool and the quality is amazing, but it goes beyond that.....

Each t-shirt has a cause and comes along with these handy dandy tools to help teach children in a way that children can understand. It is teaching my children compassion in a entirely new way. It is not only making children aware, but giving them the confidence to make a change and that is what I love about this concept. I don't want to scare my children with the worries of the world at such a young age, but if I can give them the tools to feel like they are helping to change the world--I can definitly get on board with that!
Last month our t-shirt helped Kids on Bikes, an organization that helps kids in low income neighborhoods earn their own bikes. Emma loved hearing about this charity. After wearing her t-shirt to school last week, she told me she was sharing with her friends what the shirt was all about. I love hearing that!

This cutie has on a shirt from a couple months ago. This cause was to support Canines for Kids. Helping children with physical and emotional disabilities get assistance dogs. Pretty awesome!

April, is Autism awareness month and this t-shirt supports the Autism Society. I can't think of a more perfect way to start showing our support and teaching our children that we can make a change. Check out Mightee Kids, I think they are pretty darn cool, indeed!
Check them out and help spread the word...
Mightee Kids
Mightee Kids on Facebook
Mightee Kids on Twitter

Green Apple Supply is Awesome! And GIVEAWAY!!

2013-03-31T21:21:00.004-07:00

I have found my online shopping heaven and I am excited to not only share it with you, but also give you the opportunity to win a $25 gift card to join with me in my eco-savvy artful shopping bliss. The founders of Green Apple Supply strive to bring eco-friendly products to all families by keeping cost down and prices low.

"By utilizing economies of scale, wholesale purchasing power, and personal product experience, we endeavor to make it easier for anyone to purchase Earth-friendly products. We are keeping overhead low and this is a non-profit effort. Products are sold as close to cost as we can, while still keeping the lights on. Why? Because we think it’s the right thing to do."
-Stephanie and Robert Tobor, fonders of Green Apple Supply

Green Apple Supply was nice enough to send me a few eco-friendly art supplies to try and I have to say I am very excited to discover this wonderful paint kit by Glob. These natural paints are made from fruits and vegetables and smell delicious!

Look at those colors, so beautiful. Emma loved mixing the paints herself. This set came with 6 colors, 6 compo-stable jars and lids and 2 bamboo brushes all for $12.60 (msrp $18!)
The Faber-Castell watercolor pad was the perfect addition to our paints and they happen to be one of our favorite art supply companies. You can find the paper and more of their products for almost half off on Green Apple Supply.

Another Faber-Castell favorite of ours is their beeswax crayons. Such a joy to color with beeswax. Have you tried yet?

We also had the opportunity to try these great recycled crayons. Emma loved that they had no paper wrapper and she could use any side of the crayon she pleased. The "Recycle" Stick Crayons also come packed in a super sweet box. They would make a pretty great gift.

I am so impressed with the great trustworthy products Green Apple Supply not only offers, but offers at the lowest prices I have seen, ever!

Enter here for your chance to win a $25 gift card by visiting here, Green Apple Supply and telling me in the comments below what Eco-friendly art supply you can't wait to get your hands on!
*Contest ends April 8th 2013 at 7am.
*Open to U.S. residents only.

Easy Easter Crafts

2013-03-28T20:00:00.002-07:00


Wow, spring break is almost over and Easter is a couple days away. Where did the week go? I am doing a quick list of some easy Easter crafts we will be trying to squeeze in this weekend between birthday parties, egg hunts and visitors. Where did I place that magic wand again?

Oil Pastel Easter Egg Decorating

Egg Carton Egg Chimes

Washi Tape Eggs

Easter Egg Collage

Yarn Eggs