Decorating Play Room Wall

There was a big blank wall in the play room that really needed some love. We decided to fill it with framed numbers and letters and it really fills the wall nicely. To complete this project we bought 36 frames from Ikea ($1 each, we did a mix of 5x7 and 4x6), and a few 8x10s for “special letters”. Notice for these larger 8x10 frames we did the “special letters” M, A, C – each of the kids’ first initials.

We picked a few fonts and a few colors and printed 1 copy of each letter and number (random color/font). After framing, we arranged the frames randomly around the “special letters”.

My kids love to point out numbers and letters they spot on the wall, and it is a low cost way to add color to the room!

Canvas Handprint Tree

For father’s day we made this handprint tree on a canvas using all acrylic paints (brown, white, green, and blue) and a plain canvas.

Start with a blue background. Once it dries, sketch on the tree. I used a pencil to sketch it out first and then mixed brown and white paint to get a couple different shades of brown.

If you want to surprise your hubby, you can use a toothpick or skewer to carve your initials into the tree while the brown paint is still wet.

Once the tree trunk is dry make several shades of green (I used one shade of green per kid) and put their cute little paw prints on the branches.

You can use the same etching with a toothpick trick to label the handprints.

We used alphabet stickers to spell out “happy fathers day” and the kids names. Apply the stickers to the dried canvas, paint over them with a slighly darker shade of blue, and peel off to reveal your message.

The kids were so excited to show daddy what they had made. His reaction was priceless and totally worth our efforts!

Custom M&M Mason Jars

These were super simple, and make for a great teacher gift or a gift to give to families on Easter (or any holiday).

I ordered a 5 lb bag of custom M&Ms from mymms.com. Standard shipping and they arrived in 2 days, I love instant satisfaction!

I also ordered some 1/2 pint mason jars from Amazon and the 5 lb bag of M&Ms filled exactly 14.

Using some simple fabric, squish the fabric between the ring and the seal. One fat quarter was more than enough.

Next tie a tag around the top of each one using twine or ribbon. Customize for each recipient!

Valentine’s Day Cards

There are many pressures as a mom to get all of the “expected” tasks done. Even though Christmas Thank You Notes still haven’t happened, I was determined to get Valentine’s Day cards out to some of our loved ones that live far away. Just Because.

Each of my munchkins stamped their thumb in a different color paint and pressed it onto a folded piece of cardstock. Once the kids went to bed for the night I added little faces, bunny ears, a bushy tail, and some bunny feet to their thumb prints and our cards are complete!