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Tissue Paper Vase: A Quick and Easy Kids Craft!

May 16, 2013 By Brandy 31 Comments

This tissue paper vase is such a fun project for kids!Â Just brush mod podge over the glass, add the tissue paper circles, then add another coat of mod podge to make it water resistant!

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Kaylee has an unhealthy obsession with flowers, so I decided to enable the obsession a bit more and help her make her own little vase.

bottle of Mod Podge, tissue circles and a foam brush

Tissue Paper Vase: A Quick and Easy Kids Craft!

Supplies Needed:

Vase or glass jar

mod podge

sponge brush

tissue paper cut or tornÂ into any shape

She brushed the vase with a light coat of mod podge and began applying small circles of tissue paper to it. You could use ANY shape of tissue paper or even just tear the tissue into small squares or pieces. Mod podge dries quickly, so just work in small sections as you go.

We let the edges overhang so that every edge was covered and just trimmed them later when they were dry.

vase covered with Mod Podge and tissue paper circles

Every last inch was covered in tissue dots. Layered all over each other, making sure to press them down as we went for a smooth finish.

After it had dried, we added a layer of mod podge on top to seal the vase and water-proof it.

After it dried she had a beautiful little confetti vase. She kept telling me how awesome it was and how fun it was to make. I think we will be making more.

Even though we sealed it to protect it from water dripping on it, it is not dishwasher safe.Â She added a Â sweet smelling flower from the front yard, and it was immediately the center of attention on our kitchen table.

We used this same technique to make our tissue paper jewelry holders too!

Here are more fun tissue paper crafts for kids!

Make Your Own Yogurt Drinks

May 13, 2013 By Brandy 4 Comments

I buy yogurt almost every time I go to the grocery store. Fridge packs for school lunches, larger tubs to scoop out and add to smoothies, and whole milk babyÂ yogurts for Ruby. I eat it every day too. My kids love the drinkable yogurts that come in a 6-pack, but I rarely buy them because I think they areÂ over-priced. ThenÂ I got to thinking that all it isÂ is yogurt diluted down. How easy is that? It would sureÂ taste better if we used our favorite yogurts instead of the crazy flavors that they sell for kids like blue raspberry, etc.

To make your own yogurt drinks, just mix yogurt with milk until it is the consistency to go though a straw. Pour some in a small drink container for school lunches (be sure to add a little ice pack to keep it chilled) or just sip out of a cup. Ruby, who is about 18 months old, loves yogurt and is too independent to let me feed it to her. She usually makes a HUGE mess every morning and yogurt ends up being wasted as it hits the floor. After I started adding a tablespoon of milk to it and putting it in a small cup with a lid and straw, the mess and waste has been completely eliminated and she still has her independence.

child drinking yogurt smoothie with straw

Mmm!

Spaghetti with Brown Butter and Mizithra Cheese {a lighter version}

May 10, 2013 By Brandy 2 Comments

My all time favorite pasta dish has always been the Spaghetti with Brown Butter and Mizithra Cheese that is made at the Spaghetti factory. Until I had it there, I hadn't ever heard of Mizithra (or Myzithra) cheese. The flavor is amazing! I splurged and bought a package of cheese when we went there last time, but IÂ have also purchased it from the specialty cheese section at the grocery store. If you are local here to Sacramento you can find it at Sprouts.

My kids absolutely love it and I love that it only requires 3 ingredients to make a quick dinner that everyone is excited to eat. Here is my lighter version of the dish (much less butter left on the plate this way). The Mizithra Cheese blend at the Spaghetti Factory has Parmesan cheese mixed in with it. Mizithra is very pungent and I prefer it mixed with the Parmesan. It's the perfect blend. So when I make it on my own I grate up both hard cheeses and blend them together in a 3 to 1 ratio (Mizithra being the smaller amount).

1 box spaghetti, cooked according to directions

¼. c butter

MizithraÂ & Parmesan cheeses, grated

While pasta is boiling, melt butter on med heat. Once all butter has melted, kick the heat up to med-high until it begins to brown and then immediately remove from heat and set aside.

Drain pasta and toss with butter. Serve with a handful of the Mizithra cheese blend.

pasta with cheese and butter on white plate

Serve with a nice big green salad. So simple, yet SO good.

DIY Dress-Up Box | Organize Your Kids Dress Up Clothes

May 7, 2013 By Brandy 20 Comments

This DIY dress-up box is like a mini closet that can be moved anywhere. It's sturdy and when they grow up you can use it in your mudroom for coats and shoes! Every kid loves the fun of dressing up in play clothes to go on an adventure.

A place for everything and everything in its place. Finally!

I posted a question to my facebook readers a couple of months ago, asking them how they organize the dress up clothes in their home. Clearly, our system was NOT working! The over-flowing pink bucket made it hard to find anything without dumping it all on the floor. Needless to say, it was always a mess in their room.

unorganized dress up tote and clothing all over the floor

I received many wonderful suggestions and links! It was fun to go through them, but one definitely stood out.

When I saw this dress up box from Craftiness is Not Optional, angels sang.

I have ZERO power tool ability. Staple guns make me nervous and mine isn't even electric, but that's ok because I am married to a handyman. Lucky us! He glanced at the plans and said he could make us a dress up box, no problem. Being the perfectionist and carpenter that he is, he added his own spin and finishing touches to create a beautiful piece of furniture for our little girls.

WeÂ looked over the dress up boxÂ plans as a basic guide and drew up our ownÂ specs with modifications to meet our needs.

Here are the modifications thatÂ we made to our dress-up box:

With 2 little girls and lots of costumes, we decided to make it 12" taller and 12" wider.

We also added a shelf, trimmed it outÂ to hide theÂ hanger rod, and added a shallowÂ shelf backing.

The rod is held in place with brackets and theÂ entire box was put together with wood biscuits, glue, and a couple of nails.

To create a beautiful finish, he routered around all of the edgings.

When the dress-up box was done he handed it over to me for the finishing touches. I sanded it down, applied 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of the lightest shade of pink that I could find. Then I sprayed it with 2 coats of clear spray paint.

Here is our finished dress-up box. I am so in love with it and the girls and I had a great time sorting through costumes, shoes, and accessories to fill it up! It has made playing dress up so much easier for them. Even Ruby, who isn't quite 18 months old yet, loves sorting through the dresses and choosing what to wear. It is all so easily accessible and looks so darling in their bedroom. Kaylee calls it her dress up closet.

Many thanks to a sweet husband to take the time to create this for our little gals!

Homemade Pinata Party Favors

May 5, 2013 By Brandy 2 Comments

I have the fun opportunity to teach preschool in my home twice a month! Some friends and I do a co-op and we are each teaching about a different country during the month of May. I chose Mexico.

We had a great time learning about our neighboring country, the food, music, customs...and pinatas!

When I was coming up with me lesson plan, I had the ridiculous idea to help the 6 children (3 and 4 years old) paper mache a small balloon and each make a pinata. Yeah, that idea lasted about 2 secondsÂ until I decided to do a more realistic project for children that age.

The kids each made one of these little pinatas to take home and here is how we did it!

brown bag piñata, candy and tissue paper

Supplies

brown paper

stapler/staples

tissue paper, cut into small squares

school glue

hole punch

ribbon

candy

Cut out 2 pieces of brown paper in any shape you'd like. I went with a circle, but it would be fun to make one in any shape!

Staple the edges, all the way around, leaving a space to add candy.

Punch a hold in the top section and string with a ribbon.

Fill with candy and staple closed.

Drizzle glue across and let the children decorate with tissue paper. Crumpled, or simple glued flat. Eiteher way looks cute.

Flip over and decorate the other side.

Ruby, who is 18 months old, made one too. She wasn't sure why we were putting the candy inside and was more interested in just eating it as she went.

When they are ready to break it open, they simply have to rip it in half and all of the candy falls out!

May Day Flower Cake

May 1, 2013 By Brandy 4 Comments

We are preparing a fun little tea party for Kaylee andÂ her closest 4 and 5 year oldÂ girlfriends. It just happened that the day we scheduled it happened to be May 1st. May day!Â She is soÂ excited. We are expecting 6 little girls to show up at noon for sandwiches, yogurt, fruit and this sweet daisy cake that Kaylee made.Here is how she did it!

I baked 10 cupcakes and a small round cake. Kaylee made sure that 10 cupcakes would fit around and they did, perfectly. Then she frosted the center in yellow and I piped swirls of white frosting on the cupcakes. She added sprinkles (notice Ruby is "helping") and the cake was finished.

We ended up only being able to put 9 around the cake because SOMEONE stole a cupcake, unwrapped it, and began eating it while I was putting frosting in the piping bag! Little stinker 😉

I just love this little girl. I hope she has has a wonderful afternoon with her friends.We have another fun cake for kids to make that we are going to share tomorrow. So be sure to check back for that one!

For our other kids cake ideas, visit this post!

Game Changing Laundry Hack! Filing Laundry Instead of Stacking

April 12, 2013 By Brandy 27 Comments

Laundry hack

for organized dresser drawers! File your kid's laundry into their drawers instead of stacking it. No mess on the floor when they grab clothes!

It's a never ending struggle to keep up with the hampers, but that's just the way it is so there's no use complaining about it. HOWEVER, there is one thing that I will complain about. One thing that drives me INSANE. How many times have you gone to empty the hamper only to find CLEAN clothes in it? Clothes that the kids were too lazy to put away or ended up on the floor so they just assumed they were dirty tossed them in the hamper.

#1 Laundry Hack for Moms: File Laundry Instead of Stacking it Into Drawers

This used to happen all the time in our house! Then I realized that a lot of the clothes ended up on the floor because my kids were looking for a specific shirt and pulled out the others to find it. That's when I started filing their clothes into their drawers instead of stacking and I have continued to file ever since. A friend shared this tip with me years ago and we've been putting our laundry away like this ever since. When clothing is arranged vertically you can see everything in the drawer without moving the other items to get to it. Everything is in view, everything is easily accessible.

It is also really easy to put clothes away like this too. I noticed a huge difference in how much space was available in the drawers by vertically filing everything and also noticed a dramatic difference in how many clothes ended up on the floor.

What do you do to organize your kids' clothes or ease the burden of doing laundry? Comment below with your favorite laundry hack!

Cleaning House: An Overview {Clover Lane}

April 5, 2013 By Brandy 9 Comments

Cleaning House: An Overview

1. Declutter

Once every couple months, I do a "black garbage bag" clean-out. This is the best way to start with the "program" and just about my favorite thing on earth to do. I use black garbage bags because I don't want the kids or Jeff to see what I'm throwing away/giving to Goodwill, OR they might all of a sudden decide they just LOVE something they haven't seen for years and/or never touched before in their lives. Once you do this once or twice you will start to see a difference and love your house again. (I do sometimes ask the older kids to do this with me in their rooms...esp. with clothes or if I'm not sure if the "use" something...but this is mostly done when no one is aware.)

The reason I do this: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING - THE LESS STUFF YOU HAVE THE EASIER IT IS TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE CLEANED AND STRAIGHTENED. The kids won't miss it I swear. And if I think they might, Â I put a "KEEP FOR AWHILE" garbage bag in my attic/basement (hidden) and see if a whole 6 months go by without them asking for it. I don't really buy the kids a lot, but birthday parties and Christmas and with 5 kids...you know how that adds up. So, we don't have a ton of clothes, toys, crap, because it's just too much work to keep it all organized.

If you don't LOVE it and use it, and it's just taking up space, I get rid of it. ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. In the kitchen most especially...every appliance I don't use, bowl, tupperware, etc...how many spatulas does anyone need?...and I don't use the "I might use it one day" excuse...if I don't use it OFTEN, get rid of it. If I miss it terribly, and I regret getting rid of it so bad and mourn for it's loss, then I buy another one but I think that has only happened once.

wooden drawer with the name Andrew on front

2. Toys The older kids keep all their special 'no share' toys/games etc in their rooms in designated spots. I have a toy cupboard (linen closet) upstairs for all the games, stuffed animals (only a few), and "extra" stuff. In the kids rooms, they each have a little trunk where they keep their little gadgets and gizmos that are important to them. I have a cabinet in my living room with a few toys and baskets for blocks, Legos, etc for Andrew and the baby. I don't keep toys any place else, because that's just more cleaning up. So I guess "there is a place for everything, everything in it's place."

3.Â Catch-All I have a dresser with baskets in my kitchen, labeled with each kid's name, for all the kid's crap I find lying around that has to go up to their rooms. Papers, drawings, Game Boy games, sticks, stones...you name it...if they leave it lying around, I throw it in their baskets and they know if they left it somewhere around the house that's where it will be. I've seen people do this with those baskets that fit on the stairs too, or in their cubbies if you are so lucky to have a great mudroom. That way I don't have to be running up and down to "straighten".

4.Â Maintain With that said, I do constantly pick up, put away, etc....I don't realize how much I do, until I get sick or pregnant or both, because then, in a day or two there is STUFF everywhere! No one else does it but me. Or if I ask someone to.

5. Fast and Efficient If I need to do a BIG straighten, I always start in our bedroom, because it's just a habit, and it's the farthest corner of the house. As I go I throw everything that's NOT supposed to be there into the next room and so forth and so forth, working my way through the house. I try to go super fast and spazzy and act like I have a timer set and I will explode when it goes off, and/or the Queen of England just called and said she'll be stopping over in 10 minutes. Yes, that sounds really immature but I swear it works. The key is to not get side tracked and not to leave the room you are supposed to be straightening until it's done.

Cleaning is really about how you set up your house:

1. In every bathroom I have have windex, paper towels and a toilet brush. That's all you really need. Maybe some powder cleanser for the bathtub once in a while with a green scrubbie thing. I keep all that in each bathroom in a little basket under the sink. That way the kids can get to it easy for chores and so can I. Keep it really simple. You can use the windex for the toliet and for the floor too!

2. Whenever I get a chance, and I see something needs it, I can just whip out my supplies and it takes minutes.

3.Â A good vacuum. I use a Dyson but there are other good brands too. I tell people it's the best thing I ever bought in my life. Which is pretty sad, but it's the truth. That thing saves me so much time. First, it sucks the living hell out of everything. Vacuuming makes everything look and feel cleaner, if that's all you get a chance to do. It's really easy to use the attachments too, so I put on the brush attachement and use that for the molding and corners, and even furniture! when I notice they need it. I use in the bathrooms and kitchen too...easier than a broom and dustpan.

4. I make my kids to Saturday jobs. I had to "teach" them how to do a lot of stuff and yes, usually the boys do it less-than-best, but at least it's help. When I don't make them do their Sat. job, I find I'm a lot more crabby during the week because I feel like I'm just a servant in my own house, and I am resentful of everyone. So EVEN if I think the house is pretty clean and the jobs aren't really necessary I still hang that list on the fridge. For God's sake, it takes them maybe 20 minutes AT THE MOST, where it would take me hours! They can work for 20 minutes! Every little bit helps.

5. Every night, before I go to bed, I usually straighten up the downstairs real quick.

Laundry: I put a photo on my blog a long time ago of my laundry room and how I have it set up. This saves me TONS of time. I do a little laundry almost every single day. That way I'm never spending HOURS on it. I bought a big basket for Jeff and I and little ones for each kid, labeled with their names. I fold the clothes right out of the dryer and throw them in each basket depending on whose is whose. Every Friday or Saturday I will make the kids go down and get their baskets and hang up and put away all their clothes.

Simplicity is the key and once you have it set up, you will find it makes your life so much easier.

And with all that said, my house is not always perfectly cleaned and straightened but this system seems to make my life easier and my house cleaner.

For more great ideas on maintaining a clean home be sure to click on over toÂ Clover Lane!