Natural Mosquito Spray Tutorial

Last Spring I decided to try and make my own natural bug spray. The mosquitoes are pretty bad here in Virginia and we buy a lot of mosquito spray.  We always buy natural which can get expensive so I wanted to try and make it myself.

The process was very simple, I'm not sure I have ever completed an easier DIY project. I found the recipe in the March/April 2013 issue of Mother Earth Living.  The only thing I would do differently is find a better spray bottle. I initially used a water spray bottle which didn't work that well and after this photo was taken I found a better, smaller one at Target for $1.

I would say that they mosquito spray works as well as any other citronella spray.  It needs to be re-applied after about 2 hours and it needs to be rubbed in a little bit.

What you need:
2 oz. grapeseed oil or Almond oil ( I bought grapeseed oil)
combine with 1/2 teaspoon citronella or lemongrass essential oil ( I bought citronella).
spray bottle.


Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers eco-friendly products for your family. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and at her blog.

Tweet

Tutorial:: Teeny Tiny Preemie Clothes

By AnneMarie of Charleedee

My Brother and his wife recently had a little girl. Miss E was born early and very small! A Teeny Tiny 3.6lbs Not wanting her to be a Nakie Baby (because nothing fits) while in the NICU I set out to find an adorable pattern to make her some clothes.

There is not much out there for Tiny Preemie Clothing so after searching I found a site that had some Patterns (see link at the bottom of the post)

I altered the patterns to a side closure, because a bow is so much cuter then a front Velcro closure, and I lengthened the sleeves because Miss E has nice long arms.

There is Velcro that runs along the top of the sleeves so her Nurses can access all her cords, and the front Kimono style closure allows cords to easily feed out.

The other modification I made is I lined them. Preemies have SUCH delicate skin the idea of seams rubbing up against her little skin made me cringe. So my recommendation if you choose to make them is to cut double of everything. Assemble them and then sew right sides together along the entire outside edge, leaving a small spot along the bottom of the gown to turn it right side out, then top stitch. This makes it look so much more finished and so much softer! This also allows you to use a cotton on the exterior (if you want more variety of print) and line it with a flannel so it’s still softer inside for baby.



Hope you are inspired! Remember Altering patterns is easy! Don’t be afraid to try something different.

Pattern available Here!

Not a sewer?  AnneMarie's shop CharleeDee, offers custom made items for the littles in your life and features preemie gowns for boys and girls.  Follow AnneMarie on Facebook, Twitter and at her Blog.  

Tweet

Tutorial:: Onion Skin Dyed Eggs

I hope you’ll indulge me for a bit as I share an Easter activity of my childhood. This came from my father and I’m realizing now, that I’m not sure of it’s origin to him … meaning I don’t know if his mother did this technique or if he learned about it and started the tradition with us. But each year he dyes eggs with onion skins. My mother saves skins in a plastic bag all year long for this ritual. As teens we rolled our eyes at the bag of skins collecting in the back corner of the pantry, periodically trying to sneak the eye sore into the trash. Now I understand just how long it takes to collect a bag of onion skins AND how many it takes to dye just a few eggs.

Isn’t the result beautiful! Stunning and no two are a like. If you like, you can then drop these into traditional dyes and see what you come up with. My favorites were green and blue.

You start with a collection of onion skins … the dry crackly brown skins that surround regular onions, raw eggs, and a leg from old pantyhose, a trouser sock, or even the netting onions are sold in works.

Carefully and completely surround each egg in layers of onion skins. Place in the toe of your stocking/bottom of your net. Make sure the egg is completely surrounded by a couple of layers of skins, and tightly packed in the toe. Tie a knot in the stocking, or use a small rubber band to tightly tie off the net. The skins need to be held firmly to the egg while the water to saturates the skins and dyes the eggs. Repeat these steps until you run out of stocking/net, onion skins or eggs.

Place in a pan of cool water, submerge a few times to start to saturate the stocking and skins.  Set on stove and turn on the heat.  Bring to a boil and simmer 1 minute.  Rotate the link of eggs, turning them over part way through the process.

The water will go from clear to yellow, to orange and then red … it’s working!!

Once you’re pretty sure the eggs are cooked, remove your link of eggs from the pot and place on paper toweling to cool. Once they are cool enough to touch you can cut apart the stocking (unless you have the patience of Job to undo each knot) or undo your rubber bands to remove each onion skin egg bundle.




  And this is what you’ll find inside:

So beautiful and unique!  They catch everyone’s eye and make a lovey addition to an Easter or Spring centerpiece given their rich, earthy colors.   So start saving your onion skins and pin this for next year!

By the way, an old homemaking tip from our grandmothers … my mother-in-law said they would add a couple onion skins to the water when they hard boiling eggs to dye.  Apparently, it helps the color dye adhere to the eggs.

Kathleen is a regular contributor to the EtsyKids blog and can be found on Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, at her blog TinyStitches. 

Tweet

Tutorial:: Swaddling Blanket

By Grace, of Fun Little Things

Grace of Fun Little Things, shares her tutorial for making swaddling blankets.  For our non-sewers, Grace offers similar blankets for sale in her Etsy Shop.

These blankets are one square yard, flannel on one side, cotton on the other, bias tape around the outside.  Each one is different depending on which fabric (or fabrics, let's be serious) I'm loving at the time, but I love them all.  I will be honest here.  I realize I'm in the business to actually sell the things I make, but when anyone at the farmers market actually picks up one of these blankets, my excitement at the prospect of a sale is tempered a little by my love of the blanket and not wanting to see it go.  I am aware that this is totally ridiculous, but it is the truth.  

They are prefect for wrapping up a new little baby to keep them warm, putting over them in the stroller on a breezy day, or as my wonderful friend Liz recently posted on FLT's facebook page, lying out on the ground outside or at other people's houses for your baby to lie on and not have to touch the dirty, germy floor.  

Materials: 

• 1 yard beautiful flannel fabric of your choosing
• 1 yard beautiful cotton or voile fabric of your choosing 
• 2 packages of Dritz double-fold bias tape in a matching or coordinating color or 4 yards bias tape if you are buying it by the yard.  
• Matching or coordinating thread
• Pins
• Sewing machine or needle

Easy Step-by-Step:

Step 1: For those who may be new to this, step 1 is to always wash and dry the fabric.  This way any pre-shrinking and machine washing weirdness will happen before you painstakingly measure, cut and sew; making your end product machine washable too!  A must for baby items. 

Step 2:  Put flannel and cotton wrong sides together (so the good side of the pattern, or right sides, are showing on the outside for both of them.  A big table helps, but it isn't a necessity.  You can always use your bed, or a clean section of the floor.  

Step 3:  To make it into a perfect square, instead of an imperfect rectangle, all you have to do is take one of the straight edges and fold it into a triangle - like towards one of the side edges.  Cut off the long skinny strip on one end and straighten up the other edge if the lady at the fabric store did a less than stellar cutting job on your fabric.  

Step 4:  Start at any corner and put the bias tape along the edges.  When you open the bias tape, if you haven't used it before you will realize how easy this is, even if it seems mysterious.  Just put the two layers of flannel and cotton between the two sides of the bias tape, right up to the fold.  Pin the tape in place at least 5 places along each edge - more if it will make you feel safe when sewing.  

  

Step 5:  You have two options at the corner.  The best, and most professional looking option is to fold the bias tape so it overlaps and has a diagonal like right at the corner.   

The other option and what you will have to do at the 2nd and 4th corners between the two packages of bias tape, is to cut the bias tape off at the edge of the fabric and start it again going down the other side.  

Step 6: Put your pinned blanket next to your sewing machine, take a little break, grab a beverage, maybe check your facebook.

Step 7:  Sew straight around all 4 edges.  Take out the pins!  Cut off the little strings left at the beginning and end (if all went well, these should be on the same corner). 

Step 8:  You are done!  Snuggle with it!  Wrap up your baby in it.  Text pictures of it to your family and friends so they can reply with things like, "omg!" and "so cute!".  Post a picture of your completed blanket to FLT facebook page.

Grace's Etsy Shop funlittlethings carries sweet and simple handsewn and embroidered items to make you or someone you love smile.  You can get to know her and see her creative process by following her blog, Fun Little Things.  

Tweet

Tutorial:: Holiday Felt Garland

Article by RaisingGreenKids, blog - RaisingGreenRichmondKids

Felt Garlands are a quick, easy and affordable craft that anyone can do. I have recently gone a little felt garland crazy and I wanted to share this project with all of you so that you can make your own and enjoy them too!


What you'll need:

• A few 12x9 sheets of felt (I usually choose 3 colors but that's up to you)
• A cut out of the size or sizes you would like your circles to be for tracing. You can make all your circles the same size or vary the sizes.
• scissors
• A sewing machine
• Thread- I use heavy duty thread

Directions:

Trace your stencil onto the felt

Cut out the circles

Sew them together one by one making sure that the circles are close together in a pattern. Make sure you secure the start and end by stitching back and forth several times.

If you would like to hang your garland you can add ribbon to each side. Or you can leave it as is and decorate your tree, mantle, hallway or any other place!

Experiment with different color combinations for different occasions.  Raising Green Kids offers finished garlands in a variety of color combinations for sale in her Etsy shop if you would rather buy one than make it yourself.

Tweet

50 Thanksgiving crafts, recipes and printables for kids

Here is a great list of Thanksgiving crafts, recipes and printables, lots of great things to keep the kids busy.

Crafts & Activities
1. Fingerprint Turkey Napkin Rings - Crafts by Amanda
2. Indian Corn Craft using Dyed Pumpkin Seeds - I {heart} crafty things
3. Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards - I {heart} crafty things
4. Thankful Turkey Box Tutorial - I {heart} crafty things
5. Pinecone Turkey - We Made That
6. Fall Leaf Embroidery Hoop Stained Glass - a childhood list
7. Pumpkin Seed Mosaic - Green Owl Art
8. Corn Dough - Green Owl Art
9. Little Paper Wreath - Michelle Made Me
10. Fall Leaf Turkey Magnet - Crafty Journal
11. Autumn Angel - Crafty Journal
12. Finger Paint A Turkey - Art for Kids
13. Leaf Turkey - Six in the Suburbs
14. Turkey Treats - The Crafty Blog Stalker
15. Leaf Mask - Imagine Childhood
16. Turkey treats in a glove - Hoopla Palooza
17. Popcicle stick scarecrow - Projects for Preschoolers
18. Turkey Craft - The Golden Gleam
19. Coffee Filter Tie-Dye Turkeys Tutorial - Busy Kids = Happy Mom
20. 3 Simple, Fun Fall Sensory Bins - The Good Long Road
21. Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Play Dough - 2 Big, 2 Little
22. Spin Art Turkey - 2 Big, 2 Little
23. Autumn fingerprint tree - The Fairy & The Frog
24. Autumn Mobile - Red Ted Art
25. Handprint Family Portrait - Blog Me Mom

26. Making Indian Corn - Boy Mama, Teacher Mama

27. Autumn corn necklace - Goose and Binky

28. Make and wear mini Pilgrim hat - Make it Easy Crafts

29. Pilgrim Hat Crayon Holder - The Moody Fashionista

Printables
30. Thanksgiving Activity Book for Kids - Red Fly Creations
31. Pumpkin Pie Spinner - Parents
32. Thanksgiving Place Settings - Fiskars
33. Fall Leaves Matching Game - Mama Miss
34. Thanksgiving Printable - Homeschool Creations
35. Preschool Thanksgiving Printable Pack - 2 Teaching Mommies

Recipes
36. Reese's Peanut Butter Turkey - Kitchen fun with my three sons
37. Thanksgiving S'mores Pops - Kitchen fun with my three sons
38. Nutter Butter Acorns - Sweet Simple Stuff
39. No Bake Thanksgiving Cookies - The Chirping Mom
40. Cake Mix Sprinkle Cookies - {Semi} Homemade Mom
41. Mini Apple Pies - The Mandatory Mooch
42. Pumpkin Pie Bites - Dollhouse Bake Shoppe
43. A Turkey Snack - The Chirping Mom
44. No Bake Turkey Cookies - Six in the Suburbs
45. Handprint Turkey Cookies Recipe - Taste of Home
46. Turkey Cake Pops! - Candiquik
47. Thanksgiving Snack for Kids - B-Inspired Mama
48. Thanksgiving Pilgrim & Indian Cupcake Toppers - Bird on a Cake
49. Waffle Cone Cornucopia - Blissfully Domestic

50. Turkey Muffins - Parenting

You can also view all these links via our teams Thanksgiving 2012 Pinterest board, and many more!

Tweet

Get Crafty with The Sewing Lofts Halloween Treat Holders

Looking for a way to dress-up the treats you give the special kids in your life ... the nieces and nephews, the neighbor kids, your best friends kids or your kids best friends?  EK team member Heather from TheSewingLoft shares two quick and super cute ways to dress-up suckers for Halloween.  Kids will love it and you'll love being able to whip out a bunch in no time flat!  

Visit TheSewingLoft blog to download the pattern and get the instructions.

Tweet

Sensory Activity:: Puffy Paint ABC Cards

Bug is starting to learn her letters. She knows a good amount already and she can write an H {the first letter of her name}. I love having some hands on ways to learn so I came up with this for letter learning. Bug seems to like them and we have been working on one letter at a time each week. I have all the letters she knows in one pile and the ones to learn in another so she can play games with the letters she learned. I am thinking about gluing a photo of the letter sign on the back to help her with signing her letters when I'm not there to show her the sign.


What you will need:
-microwave puffy paint recipe {found here}
-microwave
-writing utensil {I used a Sharpie}
-cardboard {we used an old box}
-food coloring
-scissors/razor blade
-a squeeze bottle or a spoon
-patience


What to do:
-cut 26 small-ish squares out of your cardboard {big enough to write a letter on}
-draw in marker a letter on each square
-make the microwave puffy paint {I doubled the recipe and had a little more than enough}
-using your squeeze bottle {I used a spoon} trace the letter with your puffy paint
-microwave according to instructions below the recipe {I think we did it for about 25 seconds}

Here are some things you can use these for:

Have your children trace along the letters with their fingers.

Do crayon rubbings with the letters. {not sure how well these would work...but it would be worth a shot}

Make words with the letter squares.

Spread them all out, mix 'em up and have a letter search.

Glue a photo of something that begins with that letter or a photo of the ASL sign for that letter.

If you like this post and want to see more toddler activities please visit my blog, Tutus and Tea Parties. You can also follow me on: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest.

Tweet

Artwork Overload

By Cori of Peace, Baby! Batiks

Kids are prolific artists, and they want every creation hung in your home gallery, whether that’s the fridge, a wall, bulletin board, or, in our house, a door. Every so often I have to take my son’s art down and sort through it – mostly to make way for new art!

Not sure what to do with the creations you take down? Here are some ideas.

Save It
I save the projects I have fond memories of making or artwork that is particularly special or marked some kind of “first”: The first time he drew something I recognized, the first time he wrote letters, the first time he drew a face, etc. I keep these in a folder that is already stuffed full – and he doesn’t start kindergarten until 2013! Time to sort through that folder, I think …

Share It
Grandparents, aunts, and uncles love kid artwork, and chances are their fridges are empty. Share your little one’s creativity by sending artwork to them.

Repurpose It
There are a ton of ways to use your child’s artwork to make other pieces of art. Here are a few of my favorites (found, of course, on Pinterest!).

• Paint Cut Paste shared a great weaving project that would work great for those abstract pieces your kids have made! 
• Another great use for abstract art and early scribbles is to cut it into shapes (or use a punch) and mount it on canvas, as seen at Squash Bottom Babies. 
• I love this idea from Prudent Baby to use your kids’ artwork, tiles, and Mod Podge to make fun trivets or coasters. Great gift idea! 
• Or, cut the artwork into squares and piece it back together as a mosaic. More frameable art! 
• I’m a scrapbooker, so a couple of years ago, I took some of my son’s finger paintings and used them as a background for a scrapbook page about his artistic efforts. 

How do you handle the artwork overload at your house?

Tweet

Urban Farming: Involving the Children

Sarah, of ThatsAWrapBaby, has been sharing a short series of posts on her blog Three Little Monkey's on Urban Farming.  Today she shares of one of the projects in her series.  You can visit her blog (see her May 2012 posts) for other projects in the series.  

The kids and I set about creating a tiered herb garden yesterday afternoon. This project was inspired by one in the book The Ultimate Step-by-Step Kid's First Gardening Book. The book is fabulous and brimming with wonderful, kid friendly gardening ideas.

This project is perfect for kids of all ages. I had an 8 year old, 5 year old, and 4 year old helping, plus a 2 year old watching on. We modified the plans a bit to accomidate our meager budget! Instead of pretty terra cotta pots of varying sizes, I found some plastic and metal pots in the dollar bins at Target (small, medium, and large. Make sure they'll nest). They aren't as pretty, but they'll serve our purpose well. I am also banking on the herbs growing large and hiding the pots a bit.

First things first, make sure you have the right tools gathered. We had our three nesting pots, a bag of soil, a trowel, some seeds, and a few small herbs. We chose basil, thyme, lemon balm, chamomile, and curly parsley. There is a bit room for more, but that's what we had. Steer clear of mint, as it grows rampant and will take over your pots! Have fun choosing your favorite herbs or try new varieties. There are so many to choose from.

After we gathered our tools, we set the medium sized pot inside the largest pot and filled in all around with potting soil. We had a few herbs that were already a bit large, but mostly we had seeds (trying to be economical!!). We planted a couple types of seeds and a couple larger plants in this bottom tier. 

We filled in a bit more and then set the smallest pot into the middle one and filled in around it. We planted a few more herbs in our middle pot.

We then filled the top pot with soil and planted a lovely bit of curly parsley to crown our herb garden.

This fun project was quick and easy! It was perfect for including all of the children and gave them a real sense of ownership in our garden. 

 Try this project with your own little ones! Keep it in a sunny place and let them water it each day. Very soon, their own herbs will be gracing the kitchen!

We would LOVE to have you join in the conversation with comments or links to your own adventures in Urban Farming!

Sarah can be found on Facebook, at her Blog, and on Etsy at her shop ThatsAWrapBaby:

Tweet

Tutorial:: Faux Frosted Glass

From Kayce of WorldofWhimm and On a Whimm.  

It's hard to tell that it's Spring here in the Northwest. The sun is finally out, but the wind whipping through makes it feel like it's still below freezing. So I need to do things to bring Spring indoors. I need something that would make me smile and help me hold on to hope that warmer weather is just around the corner. So I decided to do a little spring version of a mirror decal that I came up with for my daughter's birthday party. Her party was Alice in Wonderland so I made the decal to go with the theme. It was so much fun that I've decided keep one up in the bathroom for special occasions and holidays.

Here's how to do it:

Materials:

• Contact paper (also called shelf paper - I used white)
• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• Cutting Mat
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Clip art, printed and cut around edges (optional)

Step 1: Plan your design. I did this on a separate piece of paper. Just a quick sketch of what I wanted.

Step 2: Measure your mirror and cut the contact paper to fit (for the Alice in Wonderland piece, I used two vertical pieces).

Step 3: Turn it over and on the back draw your design (in reverse). I recommend pencil for this step... I used pen so that you could see what I was doing. Either way, it won't show since the back piece of paper will be removed. I also drew my design freehand. If you aren't this confident, you can print some clip art on your printer, cut around the outside of them and trace the silhouette onto the back of the contact paper (I did this for some of the Alice in Wonderland design).

Step 4: Cut out your design. If you have pieces that are islands, be sure to keep track of them when you cut them out, or don't completely cut them out - leaving it attached to the larger piece with a thin strip (see my letter "A" and "R"). I used scissors for the larger parts and an exact knife for the details and inside pieces. I also used a hole punch for the bird eyes.

Step 5: Clean your mirror. Then start on the straight edge of your contact paper, if you have one, and fold it back so that only an inch is exposed. This will make it easier for you to line it up and make sure it's straight before you peel it all off.

Step 6: (I recommend having two people for this step - one to peel, one to smooth) Slowly peel away the back as you press the sticky side of the paper against the mirror, doing your best to push out all bubbles. I found it difficult to get rid of all bubbles - but I didn't have a helper. Beware that if you pull the paper off, do it carefully as it will stretch slightly which will only add to the number of bubbles you have.

Step 7: Clean the mirror one more time if you have fingerprints all over - and your done!

The contact paper comes off fairly easily when you are ready to remove it. I did have to pull it off in several pieces and it left some glue in a few spots. However, the glue washed off easily with a mixture of vinegar, lemon, dish soap and water. I'm sure a glass cleaner would work as well.

Happy Spring!

Kayce can be found online on her blog On a Whimm, facebook, and her Etsy Shop: 

Tweet

Tutorial:: Bunny & Egg Garland

From Peggy at ComfyCozyKeepsakes.
[This craft makes an excellent after school activity for older children .]

Your crafty decorator is baaaaaaack….. with another fun project to replace those adorable Shamrocks that hung from your windows for St. Patrick’s Day. Today we’re making bunnies and eggs! The concept is the same as the Shamrocks, so go gather up a few simple items and we’ll be hopping down the bunny trail.


Materials needed:

• Bunny and Egg clip art or draw your own to suit your taste.
• 2 sheets of paper or cardstock. Cardstock works better.
• Scissors. For this project I used pinking shears because it looks cuter.
• Hole punch or awl. I have a punch with a very small hole, which is better than your average hole punch.
• Glue
• Fabric marker or permanent marker
• Yarn – white
• Felt or Craft Foam. I like the “natural” look of felt over foam. I chose pastels and ecru. Darker colors don’t show up as well from the street as pastels.
• Craft pompoms, large and small sizes. Coordinating colors for your bunny nose and tail.
• Tape

Now, let’s get started:

1) Copy or trace the Bunny & Egg shape onto the paper/card stock. Cut them out. I have 2 sizes of bunnies on mine.

2) Trace bunnies & egg onto Felt or Foam. If your bunny shape is symmetrical, you can fold the shape in half, fold the felt and place the shape on the fold before cutting it out – see picture on right, below. Don’t cut the fold. 

           

3) Cut them out. Pinking shears give a more festive look to these shapes instead of straight-edge scissors.

4) Glue a pompom on one side for the bunny tail. I used small pompoms for my little bunnies and large ones for the big bunnies.

5) Glue small pompom on the OPPOSITE side for bunny nose.

6) Cut TWO very SMALL holes with hole punch or awl, evenly
spaced about an inch from the top and bottom of shape. I chose
to make them right at the tail and nose of bunny shapes.

7) Cut yarn to desired length for windows or doors. I wrap a piece of tape on the end of the yarn so it doesn't fray and is easier to slip through the holes.

8) Slip yarn thru holes in bunnies & eggs. Tie a knot at the bottom so the bunny doesn’t slip off.

9) Hang with tape on windows or doors. TA DA!

If you are REALLY creative, add glitter or other adornments to your “egg” shapes. You can cut circles or other shapes from the felt and glue onto the eggs. I think I’ll be embellishing mine for next year!

So now you have these for St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. I’ll be back with another one soon. I’m considering creating a kit to sell and/or taking orders for completed decorations. Let me know what you think. Would you rather go the craft store to buy all the materials and make this yourself (with your kids), or open up a box with a set for your favorite holiday?

Now I’m going to break into the speckled eggs and celebrate a little early! Happy Easter!!

Keep up with ComfyCozyKeepsakes on facebook and at her Etsy Shop:

Tweet