If you caught my Halloween costume post for babies and toddlers that I published a few days ago, you know how much I love making homemade Halloween costumes. I’ve rounded up some great ones that are not only darling, creative, and cute but are also inexpensive (and a few of them quite easy). Enjoy! 1. DIY…
DIY's & Crafts
19 Darling Homemade Baby/Toddler Halloween Costumes
I love dressing my kids up for Halloween. It is so much fun for me. I admit I begin thinking about ideas of what they should be months before Halloween. I also love Trick-or-Treating and seeing the creativity of other parents and kids. This next week or two on my blog I’m having a Halloween…
11 Inexpensive Quality Home Decor DIY Projects
You don’t have to spend a fortune decorating your home beautifully. Below is proof of this! Check out these amazing ideas of how you can create quality home decor items inexpensively. 1. Frame Fabric– This is such a gorgeous idea. I have a bunch of frames I picked up at a yard sale. Now I…
11 Inexpensive Fall Decorations
Fall is one of my favorite seasons (I love them all actually). The crisp fresh air, the colorful leaves, and the wearing of boots all make me very happy! I also love Autumn/Fall decor and decided to round up some amazing inexpensive crafts that you can make and decorate with—if desired. Enjoy! 1. Dining Table…
Custom Baby Mobile
A great idea for decorating a nursery it to make your own baby mobile. They are often less expensive, match the decor better, and are fun to customize. I made this baby mobile for my son’s changing table a few years ago. This would be a great gift for a baby shower as well! My…
DIY Custom Curtains (Easy Sew)
I love making my own custom curtains. They are very easy and can be customized to fit the window size and the decor of the room. Further, I’ve found they are most often much less expensive than buying pre-made curtains (I purchased the fabric for $10.00 on sale with a coupon from JoAnns-couponing tips here). Here…
17 Fun, Creative, and Useful Teacher Gift Ideas
When I taught English in Taiwan, I loved it when I was given a gift. It showed me that the parents appreciated my teaching and working with their children. It also reminded the children that their parents respected me and treated me well (and they realized they should too). I’m a big fan of giving…
Date Stamp Teacher Gift
This is a fun and useful gift for a teacher that can be put together in 3 minutes and costs about $7.00. I just got a Distress ink pad (here), the roller date stamp (here), and threw in a few rolls of washi tape in a cute dish I bought for .50 cents at a garage…
11 Inexpensive DIY Projects
There are a lot of great DIY projects that are inexpensive. Below you will find eleven awesome ones. 1. Rope Wrapped Candle Holder DIY – Easy and inexpensive and very beach chic DIY. 2. DIY Paper Lanterns – No matter what color scheme or theme you’ve chosen for your special day there is nothing quite like…
17 Darling, Practical, & Custom Handmade Baby Gifts
There are so many fun ways to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a baby. Making custom gifts is one of them. Here are 17 great homemade baby items/gifts to show your excitement for a new baby. Further, many of these are less expensive than buying store bought presents (which saves you money). I know quite a…
How to Keep Your Baby Cool in Their Rear-Facing Car Seat
UPDATE- I have received both criticism and praise for this project on social media. I just have to say that the vent is made of a tin foil type substance that is very thin and light weight. I truly believe it poses no threat to my baby—even if we were to get in an accident…
How to Install an Inground Trampoline
Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved inground trampolines. We had them at my grandparent’s house and at their cabin. They were so easy to run on and off of, take turns on, and were super convenient for us as kids. When I was a teenager, we had an above-ground trampoline at our house. I…
How to Spray Paint a Mailbox
In my book that I co-wrote, Living a Rich Life as a Stay-at-Home Mom, I mention our mailbox that was falling apart. Instead of buying a new sturdy one at $130+ I decided to ‘Jimmy Rig’ it. Then last summer, while garage selling I found a perfect mailbox that I could fix up and paint…
How to Give a Frame a Metallic Look
I found a beautiful matted image of Jesus Christ helping a child overcome an obstacle in her path one day while garage selling. The artist is Greg Olsen and it’s entitled, “Be Not Afraid” (found here). The print was brand new and fit perfectly in a frame I already had. The only problem was the inner…
The Tale of Three Trees as a Center or Mantlepiece
The Tale of Three Trees Christmas Centerpiece was inspired by this book. If you haven’t read it, I highly highly recommend it. This is my all time favorite Christmas folktale so I wanted something around my house to remind me of it. The center or mantelpiece is fairly easy to put together and should…
How To Make a Small Wood Manger
Creating a wood manger is a fun yet meaningful craft for Christmas. You can hang it on the tree, display one anywhere you want, in a nativity scene, or use it for a larger item like the Tale of Three Trees centerpiece/mantelpiece I did here (tutorial here). They are easy to make (children can help), are…
DIY Christmas Headband for a Baby Girl
Hi everyone, I’m Alex from AlexHaralson.com. I’m really excited to be guest posting here on Anita’s blog! Anita wanted me to share a Christmas craft with you and since she just had a baby girl, I figured what better than an adorable headband for that baby girl or yours! So what you’ll need is some…
How to Make a Nacho Libre Costume
My son is such an active little dude. He doesn’t stop moving, jumping, running around, etc. That said he is not even two years old so some of his ‘moves’ are a little funny to watch. One day I got the idea to dress up him as Nacho on “Nacho Libre“on Halloween. If you haven’t…
How to Paint a Lamp Post
Our house is mainly white with blueish-grey siding and brown shingles. But our mailbox and lamp post are black and I really dislike the clash. So instead of buying a new lamp post, I decided to spray paint it. Below you will find steps to how to paint a lamp post. Please ignore our grass/weeds…
Nursery Closet Organization and Decor
The nursery that I have spent a long time painting and the decorating was finally complete… except the closet was one ugly mess. It was so disorganized and cluttered that I didn’t even want to include a photo of it before its makeover. I wanted to do something cute with it that matched my nursery’s…
How to Make a Styrofoam Traffic Cone
Recently, I threw a transportation shower. I bought these traffic sign suckers on Amazon. I was looking for a way to display them and came up with this super easy, very quick (3-5 minutes), and inexpensive Styrofoam traffic cone as the solution. You can use these cones for suckers, for decor, for playtime, etc. First you…
Cars, Planes, Trains, Boats, Bicycles, and Trucks… Transportation Baby Shower
Recently my friend and I threw a shower for our good friend Bonnie. I did the decorations, invitations, favors, and food tags. She made the all of the delicious food. We had a great time planning it and it was a very relaxed and enjoyable shower. I’m going to apologize in advance that the photography isn’t…
How to Make a Crib or Toddler Blanket
For both my son’s and daughter’s nurseries I’ve wanted to make custom crib blankets to match the color scheme, theme, and decor. I’ve been very happy with the crib/toddler blanket I made for my son so I wanted to make a very similar one for my daughter. It doesn’t take very much skill to make…
How to Make a Reusable Party Banner
My neighbor Kim is super crafty and taught me how to make a reusable party banner so I want to share it with you. First, cut out the shape of the banner pendants in the fabric using scissors. Make sure to leave about 1 inch at the top for a fold over that the rope…
How to Make a Russell Costume from the Movie UP
I have had multiple requests to post a tutorial on how to make a Russell costume from the movie UP. So here it is… Russell from UP is one of the cutest kid characters out there and it was so much fun to dress my son up like him. There are quite a few props…
How to Customize, Recover, and/or Reupholster a Crib Bumper Pad
With both my son’s and daughter’s nurseries I’ve wanted custom crib bumper pads… and I didn’t want to pay hundreds for them either! My mom helped me with my son’s and I felt comfortable enough to make my daughter’s. It really isn’t that hard to do. If you can sew a straight line you can…
How to Make a Ballerina Tulle Crib Skirt
When decorating my soon-to-be daughter’s nursery (see nursery here). I wanted to add a feminine touch to the otherwise somewhat-gender-neutral space. Thus, I decided to add a Ballerina skirt made out of tulle. It was much easier and went faster than I thought. All you need is tulle and scissors. You will need 1/2 yard…
How to Make a Crib Canopy out of Tulle
Making a crib canopy out of tulle is very simple, inexpensive, and quick. First, gather an embroidery hoop (mine was 8″ in diameter) and can be found here. Next, buy the tulle. I bought 54″ x 12 yards of it. I bought 12 yards to create a double layer. If you want to have a…
Native American Nursery- How to Save Thousands on a Nursery
Our daughter will be born end of November/early December and I have always wanted to do a Navajo/Native American style nursery for one of my children. With my son it wouldn’t have really worked out because of the carpet. I used the brown diamond Berber carpet as inspiration and came up with this blue, brown,…
How to Paint and Stencil an Entire Room
There are a lot of things you can do to make painting and stenciling more convenient, efficient, and not as messy. But before you start reading please know that the biggest part in painting is prepping the room right. If you fully prepare the room you are painting in, the project will go much more…
