Quick Personalised Wrapping Paper

Looking for a quick finishing touch to grandma's mother's day present. Easy - just grab some brown craft paper, some of your childs artwork and some bakers twine and voila. Or if your paper is large enough, or present small enough, you can skip the craft paper and just wrap in the artwork. And why not make a matching card while you are at it.

Chalk Play

With 15 minutes to kill the other day while we waited for our play date to arrive and finally some sunny weather - I whipped out the chalk, spray bottle and paint brush for some quick chalk play. I originally got the idea from Play Create Explore. Too easy and super easy to clean up as well.

Chalk + spray bottle + paint brush

Ollie was here

And then of course we had to spray the house. Why? Because he is a boy and that's what they do.

World in a Box Update - Construction Land

A quick round up of the dinosaurs from Dino World in a Box and a quick drop in of some trucks has created Construction World in a Box. Too easy - and more minutes of fun!
Anyone else tried this one yet?

Dino World in a Box

Now that I am a full time SAHM, I am trying to make more of an effort to organise some activities for my son for the 2 days during the week he is not at little school. As much as I try and get him out of the house as much as possible (at the moment we are going to the park twice a day) - there are of course times when you just can't leave the house and the toddler needs entertaining (particularly when breastfeeding!). So of course i turned to the multitude of ideas I have pinned on Pinterest for inspiration. The idea of a sensory bin is in no ways new - but it was the dinosaurs which caught my eye (not least because we have exactly the same dino's) in this one created by Play Create Explore

Image via Play Create Explore

So a quick scan of the house had me come up with an old fruit box, some old fish tank stones, landscaping stones and toilet rolls and here is the end result. I probably could do with some more stones but it was the best I could come up with at 10pm the night before.

Come the 3.00pm feed, I pulled it from it's hiding place in the laundry and set it down on the living room floor - and the smile (which of course i didn't catch on camera) went from ear to ear on my son, and best of all kept him entertained during the feed.
The next morning he pulled it out again, removed all the dino's and made it an undersea world with all his fish and sea creatures. I have visions of creating a whole bunch of worlds including farms, towns, under the sea, and train world for future feeding times. Will let you all know how i go. In the meantime i have a huge assortment of ideas pinned on my Pinterst board DIY - Kids Stuff and Activities to keep me going for the next 50 years. Feel free to check it out and try some out yourself. Be sure to come back and let me know how you went.

Activities for Kids Round Up

Sorry for missing my regular Activities for kids round up post last Friday - can I blame baby brain now that the secret it out? Anyway - a round up of some great kiddie activities I have found around the web this week:

Marshmellow shooter via Come Together Kids

Obstacle Course for Kids via Under the Sycamore - check out this link for more beautiful photos of this great Mud Run Party

DIY Display Spy Books via Delia Creates

A quiet toy via Peaceful Parenting

Cardboard town / baby in a box via The Imagination Tree

Our plans for the weekend? A council / community meeting about a proposed development we are all very anti (!), finishing a quilt cover for my little mans big boy room (i am being positive and saying I will finish it and not just work on it!), a trip to the toy store to trial run a bike we are looking at for my little man's Xmas present (gotta love when they are still at an age where he won't be disappointed if he doesn't get it!) and hopefully a few naps for me. Oh and sawing down the legs on a bed I bought on ebay that is just way to tall even for me, let alone my little man.  

What are your plans for the weekend? 

My Creative Space - Baby Shoes and ABC's

If you checked out my "My Creative Space" last week (if you missed it you can catch it here) you will remember the sneak peak of the baby shoe framing I was doing for a friend. Well - believe it or not, I actually finished a project and as promised here is the result - fresh from Captain Morgan's room:

(Images coutesy of Sarah Allen (Captain Morg's mum))

In other Creative stuff this week - I made an ABC print for the play room wall. After much searching on Etsy and Pinterest (yes I have a whole board dedicated to ABC prints) - I finally found this great DIY by The Crafting Chicks - and totally copied it (not sure if that means it is not creative!). The best part - the total job (not including the frame which i had already at home) cost under $6. Bargain. And it was the perfect mix of pictures and text and not too cutesy.

In case you were wondering why I hung it so low - it was so it was the right height for my son to be able to see and touch and point to the pictures.

PS - the spray painting of the tin tool kit did not turn out so well- hence no photos of the finished product as promised. I think it had something to do with the fact that I was spray painting in the backyard in the dark!

For more creative spaces - head over to Our Creative Spaces

Weekend Activities for Kids

Looking for something to do with the kids this weekend? Why not give one or all of these a try:
 

1. Quick town map on some craft paper - via Holamama Blog 

2. Recycled cardboard castle -  via Chantal Vincent Art

3. Muffin tin colour sorting - via hart and sew

4. A dozen animal sewing cards via Chez Beeper Bebe

Us - we are hoping to make it to the newly opened Wild Life Sydney if the weather holds out.

Would love to hear what you have planned for your little ones this weekend....

PS - I am thinking of making this "Weekend Activities for Kids" a regular Friday blog post - what do you think?

Marbles and Cars - quick and easy ideas

Couple of quick ideas (also easy and cheap!) to whip up when you little ones are getting under foot:

Marble Race Track by via Home Spun Threads

Marble Circus via Paris Bourke

DIY File Folder Parking Garages via Quirky Momma

And I just had to include this too cute one for when your little one is on the go and of course the cars must come too!

Via Whip Stick Fabrics