The Blog — tutorials

If you woke up this morning thinking, "Man, I really want to make a beanbag shaped like an octopus, but all I have is this lousy pair of socks," then BOY HOWDY, do I have a project for you! It's a beanbag sock octopus made out of real socks and real beans.  For reals.  And it's not even that hard to make.  Here  I'll show you: (And I'll tell you the steps that go with each picture, because that would be super handy, wouldn't it?) 1- Get a pair of socks (they can be new or old, however they CANNOT...

My kids and chores are akin to gazelles and lions.  Because lions attack gazelles and eat them for breakfast.  except that my kids aren't the lions.  My kids are the gazelles, and the chores are what's eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's frustrating for all involved.  (Mostly for me.)  So I did something about it. I got all super organized on them and have a list of daily chores for each child, plus chore wheels for rotating tasks, plus I have listed the rules (which includes mostly stuff like "no whining"), and to top it all off I...

I am a cheapskate and do not pay for school yearbooks.  My kids are in elementary school - yearbooks are just a stupid idea. But on the last day of school I knew that kids would be passing those books around and wanting "signatures" (as if first graders have signatures- they scribble their name and are lucky to remember all the letters) and I didn't want my kids to feel left out.  So I made them these cute mini notebooks for their friends to sign and scribble in. They were super easy to make.  See: 1- Gather your supplies.  You'll...

Craft stick puzzles are one of my new favorite things.  My kids love them, and they're cheap to make, and they don't get destroyed like paper pieces. If you haven't made craft stick puzzles before, let me tell you how tremendously easy it is. First, download this printable (because they're cute and sized right and just all around better than other craft stick puzzles): Just click to download this free printable. Print the pages on cardstock and cut around the whole puzzle (don't cut each piece out yet). This next step is optional, but I highly recommend it.  Cover the...

I'm trying to teach my kids to be more responsible and organized, which has been a really huge struggle, because they are MY kids and we all seem to have immense aversions to all things responsible and organized.  But still, we can try. So, over the weekend, I made my kids these posters, because I'm tired of their homework and other school papers floating around the house. Basically they're couple of regular posterboards, some cheap file folders, 2 corkboard panels, some chalkboard paint, printed labels, and a whole lot of tape. I included the corkboard because they're always bringing notes...