[for the most important people in your life]

Isn't this a fun idea? Hungry monster laundry bags for kids' room. Could use them for small toys as well.

Purchase the printed fabric for easy DIY here at Spoonflower.

Love this idea of a metal sheet on the wall so you can have fun with magnetic letters. I saw this on Pinterest. Couldn't find the source.

Easy to see. Cute on the wall.
[source]

Same thing - easy to see and cute on the wall.

[source]

Whether retro, modern or any other style - this is a cute idea for a doll house. Any shelf/dresser can be made into a doll house.

[source]

Such a creative idea for a bookshelf.

[Found on Pinterest.]

MORE KIDS' ROOM IDEAS

EVEN MORE KIDS' ROOM IDEAS

[stitchin' time!]

Check out this cute needle-craft kit gift I'm working on for our daughter. So far: embroidery hoop, fabric, embroidery needles, stitch ripper, cute buttons, pins and super cute dachshund embroidery floss holders.

The plain dachshund ones are from SMALL GOOD THINGS. The real looking ones I made myself using a photo I found via Google image search. I printed both on cardstock, then glued scrapbook paper on the back. I wrote the floss number at the back as sometimes you need a particular color for a certain pattern.

Still need to figure out a cute container for the kit. I might add more things to the kit too: cute sewing scissors, felt...

I hope she'll get excited about making things.

Here are some ideas what to make with this kind of kit:

A felt pincushion - pattern and instructions.

A felt owl - pattern from Typing With Tea/Etsy

More ideas: my E M B R O I D E R Y Pinterest board.

[almost DONE!]

This year, I'm determined to be done early with Christmas shopping. I want to enjoy Christmas time with family and friends instead of spending my time at the mall. I want to have time to do service as a family too. Teach our daughter the joy that comes from helping someone else or doing fun surprises for someone.

So far so good - I'm done shopping for our daughter. A task made easier this year as she has discovered Ever After High. We watched many episodes together last night and I must say that it was enjoyable even for me. :)

If we can get some of her friends excited about Ever After High as well, then maybe the girls can form a Club together. Take photos of their dolls doing stuff, drawing the various characters, etc. Something fun to do when it's too cold to go outside.

 Ever After High Pinterest Board

Stitched another polar bear card (pattern by Mr Printables). Making it reminded me how much I enjoy stitching. That gave me an idea for another Christmas gift for our daughter. I have been trying to come up with non-toy gift ideas. I'm making her a stitchery kit by putting together some fabric, needles, an embroidery hoop, patterns and these cute dachshund thread holders. I also printed actual photos of dachshunds and made them into thread holders too. I'll try to remember to post photos later.

Only 50 more sleeps until Christmas. :)

[fun with ice]

It's a bit late in the season to post this but I wanted to share this idea. Our daughter's school does this every year. They freeze colorful water (just add a bit of food coloring to water) in various containers and then make ice sculptures.

[Why wasn't my school this cool?]

[the things you can make with cardboard...]

Nights and mornings are getting cooler, tiny bit of color change in tree leafs, back to school merchandise in stores… Yep, summer is coming to an end. But there is still a bit of time to squeeze in some summer fun with your kiddos. I love these cardboard sea creatures and peg dolls by Mr. Printables. You could make the people out of cardboard too if you want to simplify the project even more.

Sea Creatures and Peg Dolls by Mr. Printables 

(instructions and templates)

[157]

Aren’t these flower mandalas by Kathy Klein beautiful?

Today is our daughter’s last day of school and I thought this would be a fun summer project for kids.

Kathy Klein's website

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Here in Canada, we are counting days for summer break. I look forward to spending some quality and quantity time with our daughter.

Isn’t this rain & rainbow game super cute?

It’s a free printable by Mr. Printables.

[153]

Love these zoo portraits by Yago Partal.

You can purchase them as prints or cards on his website:

Zoo Portraits by Yago Partal

[last day of school and then SPRING break!!]

How can such a small flower (hyacinth) give out so much scent?

Cute lion paper craft idea for kids.

About 20cm last week.

...and today’s weather forecast promises 10 more centimeters but I have a feeling it’ll be more than that.

Tomorrow: SPRING break!! J

As we were stuck in this morning’s traffic (due to snow, some people think that you can’t drive the speed limit when it snows), Sienna and I were laughing so hard about it being SPRING break. 

“Let’s go pick some spring flowers during the break.” 

“Look at the beautiful, green spring trees!” 

“Let’s go for a spring picnic at the park tomorrow.” J

Happy Spring Break tomorrow! Maybe some of you can actually enjoy spring. We tough Canadians can wait. J

ps. This is so cool!

[135]

Glo Boy Solar Nightlight, $25US.

Available here.

[new beginnings]

I love new beginnings! Each morning, each week, each month, each year… If you messed up somehow, you can start all over again and with better resolve to do better and to be better. Forgive yourself and others for misdeeds and thus give room for improvement.

One of my favorite things to do is to start a new day planner each year. This year I found the perfect one for me! So my style! Love it! J

I love to mark in the birthdays. The pages are clean, ready to be filled in with appointments or what happened that day.

This year’s wall calendar is Ireland themed. A gift from someone who knows Ireland is special to us.

Maybe if I’ll stare at this picture of Giant’s Causeway, I’ll magically get to finally visit the place. I lived so close to it, yet never had a chance to see this amazing piece of nature.

Look what a lovely thing is in my new day planner already! What a fun activity idea for kids. Print out the numbers of the new year and let children decorate them in some fun way.

If you want to see some ideas I’ve collected on Pinterest about New Year’s Eve, click here. I love the idea of interviewing your child each year and videotaping their answers.

Happiness to you all in the year 2013!

[ :) ]

A pot + a camera = J

Happy Friday everyone! J

[gingerbread men]

Sienna and I had fun making gingerbread men out of brown paper. I have a feeling we’ll be making many more of these.

Happy Monday everyone!

[tonttuillaan!]

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? Every morning in December kids wake up and see what the elf did that night.

You can order yours from Amazon. I found ours at a local bookstore.

There are ton of ideas online what to do with your elf and I've started collecting them here.

I'm looking forward to all the fun things our elf will do in December. J 

[nakkikoira siellä, nakkikoira täällä...]

This cuts a hot-dog into bite size pieces. Add ketchup in the dog food dish and voila! Fun snack for the little ones. J

Found it for only $5 at Walmart.

Saw this cute Daschund puppy picture and I had to do something with it. Made it even longer! J

Did a quick sketch last night after browsing the art book.

Time to paint some punkins! 
(That's how Sienna used to say pumpkin. ♥ )