7 Family-Friendly Ways to Celebrate the First Day of Summer!

I have been trying to get my soon-to-be first grader to do her summer school work for weeks...but she keeps insisting "It's not summer until June 21."  That means starting tomorrow she'll be on board, right?  I think we'll push it off until Monday since this year the first day of summer is a Saturday and I want to get everyone outdoors for a fun family day!

Katie is joining us today on behalf of Hefty with a guest post and some fun outdoor ideas for spending the first day of summer somewhere other than hunched over a desk doing work.  I'll let Katie take it from here...

June 21st is the first day of summer this year.  Since it is on a Saturday this year, it is the perfect day to fit in all sorts of outdoor activities!  The first day of summer is actually the longest day of the year (from sunrise to sunset), so that means you will have plenty of time to fit everything in. 

How to Hull Strawberries With a Straw

Over the Memorial Day Weekend we took the kids strawberry picking for the first time. They loved it and I'm pretty sure they picked their weight in strawberries.  

Since I've been busy passing out strawberry snacks for what is going on five days now...I thought I'd share a really easy and fast way I discovered to hull strawberries.

DIY End of the Year Teacher Gifts (Fingerprint Art)

It's that time of year again...the end of the school year. Yes...already!  For my son's pre-school teachers I organized a little craft to give each of them from all of the kids.  It's extra special because it includes each of the children's finger prints.

What you want to do is first print the sentiment out on a piece of cardstock.   I couldn't decide which phrase I liked better so decided I would make them a little different for each teacher so I could use both!

If you're going to make the flower pot picture, use some pretty scrapbook paper to cut out a flower pot.  If you're not the best free-hand cutter (no worries, I am not either!) find a  flower pot printable on google images, cut it out and then trace around it.

Then cut out long strips for the stems in different lengths so that you have enough for each child to make a fingerprint flower.  It's best to stagger the height of the stems if you have a lot of children so you can fit them all.  You can also cut out some leaves.   Another option is to paint these.  Again, I'm not the best painter...

I printed some little tags with info about the class and used a glue stick to mount them on top of the flower pot or on the clouds. Then we had each student dip their finger in craft paint and make 5 fingerprints around to make a flower.

I just used a black pen to label the flowers so the teachers remembered what a great class they had!  Once all the paint and glue was dry I picked up the white 8x10 frames at the craft store and framed them.  The teachers really seemed to like them.

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How to Make DIY Icing Decorations (When You Have No Cake Decorating Skills)

Last week my superhero-loving son had a birthday.   He wanted a batman cake.  After spending a month's blogging salary on his party, I wasn't about to dish out even more on a cake.  I searched and searched for a way to make him a DIY batman cake.

Ohhhh emmmm gee I found the answer at Brass Tacks and Basics!  If you have a printer or a coloring book page you can do this. I promise you - you can do it!   If I can do it, you can do definitely do it and you don't have to do Batman you can pick any design you want.   I may be able to make a mean burlap banner or flip a thrift store dresser, but decorating cakes isn't part of my wheelhouse, I assure you! (Just look at the white icing job...whatevs).

Are you ready to have your mind blown?  Start by making a box cake. Hahha...told you!  Then get out your store-bought icing to ice the cake like you normally would (told you, again!).   Now you're going work on making the DIY icing decorations.  In my case, I was making a big batman logo for the center of the cake.  You can make these any size and any color.  But first things first...

Make a batch of butter cream icing. The recipe I used was from Taste of Home and it froze nicely which is key.

DIY Personalized Superhero Cape Party Favor Tags

I am in full on Super hero birthday planning mode. My little guy turns three this week and he loves nothing more than super heroes!    We are have the party at a moon bounce house so there's not much I need to do in the way of decorations or food, but I did want to add a little DIY superhero flare where I could!

Personally, I prefer to give party favors other than candy and treats. Is that just me? This year I bought water bottles at the dollar store for a buck each.  I quickly personalized them with each child's initial in the Super Man logo style and then added the super hero cape tags.

I found a whole group of Super Hero cape tags on Pinterest originally posted on Cuor Home, although unfortunately I can't find the direct link to them now.  This made the project super easy although I did want to personalize them a little and PicMonkey made doing that super easy!

3 (Easy) Easter Treats for Kids

The countdown to Easter is on! If you're looking for some last minute Easter treats to make with the kids - you've come to the right spot.

I always like to cook with the kids when I can and they are always threw the roof when I ask them.  The rice crispy treat robin's nests and Easter cut outs are are super easy to make and the best part is they're a 2 for 1 deal: make one recipes get two desserts!

I started by following the directions on the back of the bag of marshmallows to make traditional rice crispy treats. 

I had the kids pouring in the marshmallows, stirring them up between meltings in the microwave, and then pouring in the rice crispies.  I poured the sticky mess onto a medium size cookie tray so they would be a little thinner and easier to work with.  Then I set them in the fridge to cool for about 30 minutes.

When it was time to cut the RCT cut outs, the kids took turns using an Easter egg shaped cookie cutters and two bunnies (my daughter came to call them bunny head and running bunny).

How to Make a Peeps Topiary for Easter

I'm not a huge fan of eating Peeps, but decorating with them...why, yes, I will do that!  I love how this little peeps topiary came out and it wasn't too difficult aside from a few minor top-heavy issues.

So what you'll need...four boxes of chick peeps, spray paint, a basket or pot for the base, a stick or dowel no less than .75" in diameter, a cross stitch hoop, floral foam and Easter grass.

Start by spray painting your dowel or stick.  You pick the color, I went with green because I had it on hand.    Put the floral foam into the basket or pot.  It's a good idea to add some newspaper to the sides if it's not snug against the side.

Now, the original project, in Women's Day Magazine, suggest hot gluing the dow to the hoop right at the screw first and then hot gluing the peeps (keep them in attached sections of five).  Well, I got news for you people, I'm impatient. I didn't want to wait for the stick to dry so I glued the peeps to the hoop, as it laid flat, before I attached the dowel (you will need a lot of hot glue!).

Construction & Work Zone Birthday Party Ideas

My little man is counting down the minutes until his third birthday. It's not for two months.  That must feel like a lifetime for a two year old.  He's been counting for months and months and months.  He's essentially been counting since his second birthday....which is where we're going to take a trip down memory lane to because way back then I wasn't such a great blogger.  Two It Yourself was just getting off the ground and I never thought to share all the amazing (I'm bias, yes) work zone party ideas I came up with for his party.

I spent weeks prepping for this party - everything from making each guest a Home Depot-style apron to ordering plastic construction hats and caution tape to figuring out the perfect construction birthday cake.  I have links to the majority of the tutorials so just click 'em as you see 'em!

Usually favors are handed out at the end of the party, but we did it a little bit differently.  Each guest joined Blake's Work Crew as they arrive -- with a construction hat and personalized tool belt.  I ordered the construction hats on Amazon and they can be found here.

I had left over drop cloth material from my upholstered headboard project so I made each of the 25 guests (What was I thinking with 25 1-5 year olds???) a tool belt complete with a personal Home Depot-inspired logo.  Aren't they just adorable!!

Paint Sample Easter Egg Wreath (Kid-Friendly)

If you can't find the paint sample cards at your local hardware store, don't blame me..the Easter Bunny made me do it!   Isn't this little Easter Egg Wreath just too cute?  On a side note..do not send bad vibes my way for posting Easter crafts too early...I do it for you, I tell you, I do it for you.  I want you to have time to be creative and enjoy your crafts before it's onto the next holiday/season.

It's a fun and easy activity for kids as young as preschool.  All you need are some paint sample cards, a paper plate (or card board), glue, and ribbon.  If you have an oval paper cutter that makes it easier, but if not you can just use scissors.

Easy Way to Digitally Save Kids' Art / School Projects

With kids come mounds of toys and piles of paper.  The art projects can stack up fast.  I don't like throwing my kiddos' precious masterpieces away, but the bins of arts and crafts and scribbles are out of control already and my oldest is only in kindergarten!  Yikes!

Last week I shared a fun way to display some of those kids art projects and today I wanted to share a little mommy hack that saves me tons of space without the guilt of tossing all.those.papers.

A few months ago I heard about this free app called ArtKive (don't you love the play on words?).  I've been using it recently and let me tell you it's a life (and counter) saver.

No longer do I have a pile of papers from my daughter's school folder stacked neatly on the edge of my counter.   Instead, I go through her school folder and snap digital photos of pictures she's drawn or handwriting practice with my camera phone.  You can do this directly through the Artkive app or you can take the pictures with the camera phone and then send them to Artkive later to file and add captions.

DIY Wood Baby Name Sign

My friend just welcomed her third child - her first boy.  She's in for it.  I tried to warn her, but she's used to quiet, calm, doll baby-playing girls.  Life's about to get a whole lot more crazy! I know this from first hand experience...I had the quiet and calm for two years, nine months and one day and now...this is my daily life.

Bless his little heart.  He's undies-on-the-outside-of-his-jammies-wearing superhero one minute and a selfie-taking princess the next.  Sometimes he wears underwear on his head and sometimes not at all. 

Anyway, she has her precious baby boy and I had a wonderful excuse to make a painted wood sign.  I wanted to do something a little different than the chunky wood baby frame I made for another friend, but I still wanted to include all the baby's birth info.

Pottery Barn Knockoff Chalkboard Frames

I was perusing the Pottery Barn Kids catalog last week when I spotted their adorable chalkboard frames.  Oh they're just so cute..and so expensive at $39 for just one!   I knew I could knock them off very easily and they'd be perfect in the playroom to display the kids artwork.

Thrift Store table to American Girl Picnic Table

A few weeks back when my kids actually had a day of school (gasp) rather than a(nother) snow day I actually made it to the thrift store! Woo hoo...it was a very successful trip.  Perhaps you remember me sharing these three identical large vintage glass jars that I turned into canisters? Well along with them, I also scored this mini wood picnic table.  Here's something similar on eBay for $75.  WHAT in the hickety hack (my kids love it when I say that) is going on with that!?

Anyway, mine set me back five whole dollars... which is nothing to say 'hickety hack' about in my humble opinion.  I immediately knew I was going to give the picnic table to my daughter for Valentine's Day...but not in the state it was in.  I needed to 'girl' it up a bit and of course that meant PINK!

I gave her two coats of pink spray paint and then used some white craft paint to add the polka dots.  I just used my round foam pouncers to add the circles.

DIY Chunky Wood Frame (Makes a Great Personalized Baby Gift)

After I had both of my children I received some really beautiful gifts.  I loved every one of them, but those I cherish the most are the ones that are personalized.  This sign for instance is one of my favorite.  A friend of mine had casually asked about my son's nursery theme during a conversation and then ordered a sign on Etsy with an airplane tugging a sign with his name on it.  I just love it.

So when a friend had a baby recently I thought - ya know, I wanna be the one that gives that gift.  Of course, I had to make it.  Honestly the basic chunky wood sign was easy to make.  All that text did make the project a little hairy at times, but I have a few tips to make it easier.

Last Minute DIY Valentines for Classmates

I'm feeling a little last minute this year with the Valentines for my kids' classmates.  Last year, I was so last minute I literally printed out some sheets on my way out the door, bought a box of munkins, and called it a day.

DIY American Girl Doll Hangers (On the Cheap)

Trying to control and organize the growing American Girl wardrobe my daughter is collecting is  more work than organizing her own clothes.  For Christmas she got a doll dresser, but with just a few hangers all the clothes were ending up balled up on top of it, instead of hung neatly inside which was my vision.  Yeah right....insert reality check here!  At least I tried...I decided, instead of continuing to buy packs of hangers that I knew would eventually get lost and/or broken, I would make some.

Dresser Drawer to Storage Box {Easy DIY Project}

Oh boy I am so excited to share this one with you...it turned out way better than I could have anticipated and had I known what the end result would look like I wouldn't have dragged my feet on this project for so long.  It was literally months in the making...but really it took me all of about 2 (kid-free) hours to complete.

DIY Valentine's Day Twig Centerpiece

Looking to make a cute DIY Valentine's Day centerpiece for your kitchen or dining room table?  You've come to the right spot.  I created this easy and very budget-friendly centerpiece in just a few minutes and - or should I say 'even' - with the help of my 2 and 5 year olds.  The great thing about this piece is you can shop your house (and your yard) and spend no money at all.   I love projects like that!

What you'll need:  
-Small flower pot, vase (not clear glass) or bowl.
-A few Branches
-Floral foam or styrofoam (or balled up newspaper)
-Covering such as tissue paper, burlap, greenery, or shredded paper
-Valentine's Day-colored or themed scrapbook paper
-Ribbon, twine, or string

I collected twigs from the yard with my two year old son.  We looked for small branches that had some 'Ys' formed on them so we could use them to hang our decorations.   I used about four of the branches selecting twigs that were generally the same size.

Put the floral foam or styrofoam into the pot or vase.  If you are using  the newspaper method ball it up really tight and press the sticks as far into the paper as possible so they stay standing. 

Valentine's Day Handprint Crafts for Kids (Door Hanger or Wall Art)

I'm always a sucker for handprint crafts so I thought I'd share one I made with the kids two years ago.   At the time, my now-squirmy two year old was just an infant so he didn't have much say in me putting paint all over his piggy toes.  My daughter was three at the time and she couldn't get enough paint on her hands and feet - she loved it so much we actually made three of these Valentine's Day Hand and Footprint crafts to give to each of the grandparents.

What you'll need: 

• 3 pieces of cardboard cut
• 3 pieces of cardstock paper 
• Scrapbook paper in two coordinating patterns
• Hole punch
• Ribbon
• Acrylic craft paint 
• Paper plates (for the paint)
• Tape

To get started put a glob of paint on a paper plate. 

Dip you child's hands in the paint and, if necessary, use a paint brush to fill in any spots on their fingers and palms. 

How to Remove Nail Polish from Clothes (and Carpet)

I was at the point this morning when I was this close to throwing my hands up and giving one - or possibly, both - of my kids back.  I kid...I kid (well, kinda, sorta, maybe).  I should have known something was seriously wrong when my 5 year old was suspiciously quiet in her room for a good 10 minutes.  I didn't think much of it until she asked if I wanted my nails painted.  We were trying to get out the door so I said "no...but did you paint yours because it smells like nail polish." She innocently said "No, but I spilled a little and I cleaned it up."

I turned around to little drips of what was now smeared blue nail polish all over the hardwood floor in her room - oh and a half-used roll of toilet paper with the other half crumbled up in little wads with some blue here and there.