A good idea for public toilets...

This is a good idea for little kids that want to go in public toilets. Keep one roll of socks in your bag and when the little one wants to go slip them on the seat. Just make sure to wash them after you go home for next time use..and keep a plastic bag to put them in so the germs just stay in the bag..

Toilet tube lanterns.

I ran across this toilet tube project on an other blog and i wanted to share, I will make these for sure. Such a good idea and how lovely would these look on a tree in a kids room or palyroom .http://www.justcraftyenough.com/2013/05/project-polka-dot-paper-lanterns/
Just click on the link for the tutorial and for more photos ..
Thanks for looking have a great weekend.

Build a play fort...

Tents, playhouses and forts are always fun ways to keep children's imaginations alive. My kids love to make secret hide outs and pretend to be pirates or knights. So today we build a play fort.
We build it from sheets, blankets and boxes . What's you need is a big space in your home put together couches, tables and chairs to drape your sheets and blankets over, you could use paper tape or cloth pins to keep it in place. Make a tunnel from cardboard boxes and use flash lights to make it more exciting in there forts.
Put some pillows and toys in for them and let the games begging:-) kids can spend a long time playing ,pretending  and having fun.. You could drape sheets over bunk beds to If you have them and dinning room tables  make good play houses and hide outs also..
This was a short post but I hope you enjoyed it.. Have a great day..

Back to school lunch box ideas..

School time is almost here and I always like to make kids lunch boxes interesting and fun, always on the healthy side thought .
So today I will be sharing a few ideas with you how to make the kiddos lunch boxes fun and healthy.
I will share some recipes and photos , it doesn't take too long to skip the ready snacks witch are packed with too much salt,sugar ,color and additives. It's super easy to keep kids happy. And healthy.
Veggie stick with a dip in a jar:

You could add grilled chicken strips too in there .

Fruit kabobs :

Kids love anything on a stick add some cheese to to make it more nutritious .

Celery sticks with cream cheese topped with olives,chicken pieces or ham.

Sandwiches made from home made bread made with nutritious whole wheat flour or a gluten free mix, packed with grains and nuts.

This would be nice for lunch boxes, refrigerator Oatmeal.

http://www.theyummylife.com/8_muesli_flavors

Go to this link for recipes..

This is also a yummy lunch box treat my kids love these cookies.

http://watching-what-i-eat.blogspot.com/2012/04/banana-oat-breakfast-cookies.html

These are super yummy and super easy to make ,you can store them in an air tight container. I substitute the white flour with whole grain or a mix of gluten free flour.

Find recipe here:

http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/09/homemade-goldfish-crackers/

 Mix! 1 C each of white rice flour, coconut flour, oat flour, and tapioca flour/starch, 1/4 C cornstarch, and 3.5 tsp xantham gum. Mix well and store in airtight container. Use cup for cup in any recipe that calls for flour. 

Chalk board DIY

Changes are going on in our playroom and one thing I always wanted to make is a chalk board on the wall . So I went out and found chalk spay paint , got home moved some furniture around and found the perfect wall for it. So I wiped the wall sown well measured the square and paper taped a border ,make sure you put double tape around and make the border thick if using spray paint because it will splat on your wall. And always put a mask on to cover your nose and mouth. Open all your windows and start spraying:-)
I did 2 coats on this one and let it dry for a couple of hours, then take chalk and cover the whole board and wipe it down with a dry coat. I got some colored paper tape and put it around the board as a border to make it look nice and to complete the board.
That is it.. Thank you for reading :-)..

Ikea MAMMUT kids table painted..

I am painting and changing things around in our play room , painting the desk and walls and kids table and moving photos and art around. This will be on another post when I am done will all the details. For now I wanted to share the kids table that I've finished and it looks nice and fresh. The table is the round MAMMUT table from ikea  it was passed down to us when my brother moved to another country and we've had for 2 years now.
Kids have painted ,glued and played on it so it was looking rather used and messy. The table is solid so I didn't want to get rid of it and buy a new one, why waste money if there is paint..
So here is what I did.:
I washed the table down and scrubbed it as much possible, I let it dry and them used a primer and painted it on. After it dried I used a glossy spray paint and sprayed it, let it dry for a couple of hours and then sprayed it again.
Make sure you do this outside and put a mask over your nose and mouth, I got mild toxic poisoning once trying to spray my bamboo chairs once and it wasn't pleasant to say the least:-)
So that was it a short post  I hope you enjoyed it , I wish you all a happy positive healthy day!!!!

Before

And after:-)

The recycled happy boy:-)

We were looking through the recycling box looking for ideas about our next project and we decided to make a happy little boy.
So we got our items and started put them together like a puzzle:-) when we figured out witch piece goes we're i taped him all up with paper tape. This will make the end project strong and easy to paint. When working with plastic or tin the paint won't stay on ,it kind of slides of when the material is shiny,or when there is writing on the container. So for maximum coverage tape is needed.
Things that you will need:

1.Coffee tin

2.Mod podge or plain white glue will do just fine. You could use a hot glue gun for the eyes and hair.

toilet tubes..

3.Yarn pon pons 

4.Scraps of fabric. I used old tee shirts 

5. Cd top

Assemble everything together ,tape all together with paper tape then glue the pieces of fabric were you want them

. Cut long strips of fabric for the hair and glue them on. Use goggle eyes and buttons for his nose. Insert the pon pons in the toilet tubes for his hands and cut another long strip of fabric for a scarf . That is it. Hope it's all clear i tried to make as clear as possible. You could make little girls just make the hair longer or make peek tales.

How to make yarn pon pons:

Gardening with kids..

I will be posting a couple of links about gardening with kids and the benefits of it, some gardening activities and ideas..
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Gardening_for_children
This is a good article about the benefits of gardening with kids..

These are fun to do with kids to, we made bug rocks with my boys and we are always looking for good shaped rocks that we can paint.

http://spoonful.com/crafts/painted-rock-gnome-homes

I have a tutorial on the blog with photos of our rock bug friends

This a good way to reuse your old boots we made a pair and lasted for 2 years ,would have lasted longer if the dog didn't destroy them.. They looked great outside our front door.

You just need to put small stones at the bottom first for drainage and them some good soil

http://spoonful.com/crafts/plant-pals

These are fun to with the kids, we did these little fellows with lentils and beans..

This is a good link with some stuff to do for the garden.

http://www.empressofdirt.net/2012-best-garden-art-projects/

This is a good way reusing your bottles ..and easy for kids to water the plants.they can personalize there watering jugs by painting on them and sticking stuff on them.

http://www.funinthemaking.net/2011/05/01/thumb-controlled-watering-pot/

Look at this lovely magical photo ,want lovely lay out and love the lights hanging on the tree.

http://pinterest.com/pin/290974825895433634/

This is one project that I've been meaning to do with the boys, a good way to personalize  your garden with stepping stones made by you and the kids. Something that you would look at after many years and remember ..http://m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Seed-Bomb

Another good activity to do with the kids.. To save seeds for next season or to give as party favors.

Paper plate Noah's ark..

We make this craft with my eldest baby boy and it turned out so good. It's on our wall in the play room and it looks so nice.. No one would believe this was made from cheap paper plates and milk cartons.. This craft is from the Creative Jewish Mom.
What you need:

1. 2 milk cartons
2. 2 dinner sized paper plates
3. Acrylic paints
4. Craft knife
5. Strong clue ( hot clue gun) or double sided sticky tape.

What you do :

1. Fold paper plate in half and cut along the fold. Either staple or glue the two halves together. Join the two drink cartons together with glue or double-stick tape.
2. Paint your plates and cartons. Apply details such as port-holes and windows with paint or stickers or adhesive backed patterned paper. If you would like to make a base for your Ark, paint and decorate the back side of a whole paper plate as well.
3. Once paint has dried, join the carton portion to the plate portion with double stick tape or glue. The base plate becomes a base by cutting a slit in the middle of the plate with a craft knife. Cut the slit in the shape of an elongated capital letter I.
4. Insert your ark into the base, and cut a small portion off the bottom of the ark if necessary to help it stand up.
5. If you prefer, omit the base, and hang your ark by attaching string or ribbon to the top of the drink cartons. One way would be to use a hole punch to make two holes, one in the center of  each carton, and then attach a cute coordinating ribbon.   

Animal assembly :To Make The Animals You'll Need:

• colored card stock
• round colored stickers
• adhesive back metallic paper
• water color and/or gouche paint
• rubber eraser to use as printing tool
• hole punch

Part 1: Making Animal Patterned Paper

Making your own patterned paper is a project unto itself, that all ages from three and up canenjoy. The idea is to make 'animal skin" whether real or imagined. Create a kaleidascope of patterns, and ay extra paper can always be used for greeting cards, collage projects or bunting banner flags.

Young children can easily make polka-dot paper with round stickers, and you can help them by punching holes in stickers before peeling them off the sheet, or cutting sticker in half. Older children can try their hand at painting their interpretations of real animal skin patterns. Get out some books with photos of animals for inspiration.

Part 2: Cutting pairs or chains of animals from patterned paper

1. Print out animal silhouettes below, transfer image to paper by putting a piece of carbon paper between your print out and the back of your patterned paper, and using a ball point pen, trace around the edge of each animal. Or alternatively, glue or double stick tape animal to heavy weight paper or cereal box cardboard, cut out animal silhouette, and use as a template for tracing (I recommend this option.)
2. Before you transfer your animal silhouette to your patterned paper, fold paper at least once, and transfer image such that one side lies exactly on the fold to create joined animals.
3. Animal cut-outs like these also make great party invitations or greeting cards to make some extra ones for future use.

Home made shampoo.

I made my diy shampoo last week and I can say it was good:-) it was tested on the family and they liked it too.. I made a chamomile shampoo with bergamot  essential oils, next time I will use rose geranium I think it will smell better..

Store bought shampoo contains a lot of cancers chemicals that is not good for our bodies and our loved ones.. Shampoo is easy to make and cheaper  and I love the fact that I know exactly what is going in it and that I can help keep my self and my family safe and healthy, that goes for the food intake as well. So I would like to share what the store bought kind contains first and them move on on a few recipes

COMMERCIAL SHAMPOO WARNING:

Most commercial cosmetic companies want to sell you a product that’s falsely labelled as natural.’ In reality, the only natural ingredient in a bottle of the herbal’ shampoos you find in discount stores and supermarkets is the water. And it’s pretty much a given that they all contain one very unwholesome ingredient: sodium lauryl sulfate.

This is a synthetic foaming agent that admittedly does its job in the lathering department, but has also been known to cause cataract-forming protein, along with a host of skin allergies, dandruff, and hair loss! If you use a shampoo with this ingredient once or twice a year, it won’t harm you, but most people use it as often as everyday.

The perfumes’ and fragrances’ you see listed on the bottles of shampoo don’t give you a clue as to WHAT type they are. Is it an expensive perfume containing a host of inviting floral and woodsy ingredients? Probably not. Those fragrances–there can be over 100 of them–usually come from a lab, not an organically grown and dried herb.

And here’s one final consideration. Do you want to support companies that test chemicals on animals

This link states some dangers..

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5766632_dangers-shampoo-soap-products.html
This link shares a lot of good recipes too.

HAIR TYPES:

Normal – Lucky you! No excess oil or dryness means that you can use most products and your hair still looks good!

Recommended herbs: Horsetail, red clover, chamomile and marigold if you’re blonde. Crushed lavender flowers, rosemary for growth.

Dry - Well, at least you don’t have to wash your hair everyday!

Recommended herbs: Comfrey root or leaf, red clover, crushed orange flowers, crushed lavender flowers, elder flowers, chamomile flowers and marigold if you’re blonde and jojoba oil added to the shampoo base.

Oily - Often-times the oil is caused by environmental pollutants and/or poor diet. Sometimes it’s hereditary.

Recommended herbs: Nettle leaves, rosemary leaves, peppermint leaves, burdock leaves, tea tree leaves, orris root and lemongrass. You have a wide range of choices at least!

Black or Very Coarse/Curly: Special care for curly hair.

Recommended herbs: Nettle leaves, rosemary leaves, sage, crushed lavender flowers, indigo root, comfrey leaves, jojoba oil added to the shampoo base. Gray Sage, rosemary, nettle. Also, check with herbs suited for your recommended type.

Hair loss - Whether it’s environmental, hereditary, or illness-related, there’s a good chance that herbs will help. Of course you’ll consult with your physician or homoeopathic practitioner first!

Recommended herbs: Rosemary leaves, crushed lavender flowers, tea tree leaves, sage, nettle and basil.

Dandruff - It is a problem, but one that can hopefully be solved using herbs.

http://mypurepursuit.blogspot.com/p/shampoo-recipes_19.html
My recipe is..
1\4 of Castile liquid soap( organic)
1 cup of chamomile tea( use 2 tsp of  chamomile buds in hot water ,soak for 15 minutes and strain out)
 10 drops of essential oils I like rosé geranium
1/4 cup of organic goats milk
2 table spoons of olive oil or coconut( if you really dry hair and scalp use a bit more)
I doubled the recipe and used the same amount of olive oil as for 2 tbs .

Clay stamping!!! Wall art..

This is a great and fun craft to do with kids, and would look good on your wall too.
This involves air dry clay ,toys ,magnets and paints. I got the kids to roll out there clay on a container top ours were round and rectangle tops it took them a wile until it was perfectly rooled our and smooth, then they went to the toy box and chose what they wanted to stamp , the one chose cars and the other a Micky magnet from our trip to disney :-)
They stamped them on there and used there fingers to to make dots ,a fork to make lines and we put them on the window sill to dry. When they were done the next day I carefully took them of the tops and the kids painted them and my youngest wanted to put tissue paper shreds for the grass..Wich was blue and red:-) we sprinkled them with glitter and they were ready to dry off. Don't forget to make a hole if you intend to hang them up. This can be done witht the back of the paint brush.
We had loads of fun making these and they have a home in our play room on the wall along with some more we made a little wile after.
Have fun stamping ...

Diy baby wipes or make up removal wipes..

DIY baby wipes and make up removal ..
I found this recipe ages ago about home made baby wipes and there great , there home made and easy to make in fact super easy and you should have all the stuff in your pantry anyway..
I used the store bought on both my kids when they were babies in diapers and I never liked the feel of them and the fake smell. They always seem to leave the skin or hands sticky and never clean and fresh and the chemicals in them aren't good for the skin , and we tend to wipe there mouths to and hands that they put in there mouth a d all gets ingested ..Yuks..
This one leaves skin clean ,soft and moisturized.. All ingredients are natural and easy to find..
So you will need:

1. Castile liquid soap ( use mild baby shampoo if you don't have Castile)
2. Olive oil
3. Water
4. Bounty kitchen roll ( needs to be really strong stuff)
5. Container with a lid.
6. Essential oils( I use lavender and tea tree for there antiseptic qualities )

So you take 1 cup of warm water, 2 tbsp of olive oil , 2 tsp of Castile soap or baby shampoo  and 10 drops of essential oils mix all together and put aside.
Now you will need a strong bread knife to cut the kitchen roll in half  to fit in your container. I use the yogurt buckets with the lid . You could use any round container you have that fits the roll in it. If you want it to fit in your bag when you go out you could take some out from the container and store them in a zip log back to take with you.
So after you cut your toilet roll in half and fit it in the container ,take the water olive oil  mix and poor it in the kitchen roll container and close on top with a lid. Tip it upside down for 10 minutes and then tip it right side up for another 10. Now in the middle of your paper towel roll there's the cardboard paper that you should just pull out slowly that should make the start for you were you will pull the wipes out . That means when you take a wipe you will unwrap from the inside out. Cut the desired amount and put the lid on. 
That's it easy ..
These are also good for removing make up too and olive oil is good for your skin..
Good luck and enjoy.. 

PS : cheeper kind of kitchen paper towels will not work for this you need to get the good strong stuff. The ones I get are 3euros for 3and there super good. I tried this with good toilet paper and I did not work..And because you cut them in half you get 6 tubs of baby wipes way cheeper than any store bought wipes and much much better.