Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 71

101 Days of Christmas: Bubble Wrap Printed Stocking Craft

The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:

source: Kristina Buskirk

My kids love to paint with a variety of materials. Last Spring we showed how we like to use blocks and bubble wrap to make lilies. This week we discovered another fun way to print with bubble wrap by painting cool patterns right on to the bubble wrap.

We don’t have that many holiday decorations so I love adding kid holiday crafts to our walls. Earlier this week we created some simple bubble wrap printed stockings. You could use this same technique and make a variety of other shapes- snowmen, candy canes, Christmas trees, etc. The kids totally got addicted!

source: Kristina Buskirk

Supplies:

washable paint
a few sheets of bubble wrap
scissors
cardstock (I like to use white.)
palette of some sort (plastic dish/paper plate)
paint brushes

Directions:

To get started we cut our cardstock into shocking shapes and then we mixed paint colors on our palette until we had all of the colors we wanted ready to use.

Next, we cut our bubble wrap into little sheets and started painting on the bumpy side! My toddler enjoyed this just as much as my kindergartener and I had fun too. It is a great multi-age activity.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Once we had the bubble wrap sheets sufficiently painted, we pressed our shapes onto them and had our fingers walk around them to help press the paint into the paper.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Once we got enough paint on the paper, we pulled it off and checked out the gorgeous stocking colors!

source: Kristina Buskirk

We ended this activity by adding little cardstock names to the tops of the stockings and hanging them up like a holiday banner. Assuming my one year old doesn’t rip them down they will be fun to have up for the holidays!

The kids enjoyed repeating this bubble wrap printing process again and again with different shapes. I think we will be making this activity a new holiday tradition.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Related Projects:

Cookie Cutter Painted Gift Tags
Spin Art Holiday Wreath

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Kristina is a mom of 3 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

101 Days of Christmas: Bubble Wrap Printed Stocking Craft

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

12 Green & Natural Living Goals for the New Year

The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed:

source: Emily at LiveRenewed.com

I know, I know, it’s not even Christmas yet and here I am about to talk about making New Year’s Goals!

But the thing is, I’ve already talked about how to have a simple Christmas this year, and as Katie recently pointed out, she’s already covered just about everything you could think of regarding having a green Christmas celebration.

Plus, chances are you’ve probably already made most of your plans, purchased and even wrapped most of your gifts, and there’s not much more I could say at this point that would change those plans.

The fact is, you have to start thinking about New Year’s goals before Christmas if you really want to have them nailed down when January 1st rolls around. There’s only a week between Christmas and New Year’s, you know, and that’s not a lot of time for goal setting; at least if you’re anything like me and need time to mull over, evaluate, and talk through your ideas before you make a decision!

Besides, I’d argue this is a pretty great time to start thinking about your plans and goals for the New Year. I mean you don’t have a lot going on, right? You’re having a simple Christmas, so of course you have an extra hour or two to devote to dreaming and planning for the upcoming year. Right?!

Okay, while that’s definitely not the case for me, and probably not for you either, I know there are some mindless tasks we all will have to do over the next few weeks (washing dishes anyone?) where we can start thinking and planning for our New Year’s goals and resolutions, and I want to take this chance to encourage you to add some green and natural living goals to your list!

source: Emily @ LiveRenewed.com

Green Food Goals

1. Cooking at home, from scratch is one of the best changes you can make both for your health and for the environment by avoiding pre-made, processed, and packaged foods.

2. Buying more of your foods in bulk is good for your wallet, decreased food packaging waste and helps you to have ingredients on hand that will allow you to easily cook from scratch.

3. Choose pastured meat and dairy, preferably organic or organically raised, when you can because they are better for the environment (less pesticides, antibiotics, and manure run-off) and much better for your health.

4. Pack a no waste lunch for your kids or yourself using your homemade items to help reduce the amount of waste your family creates.

Natural Health Goals

5. Begin using basic essential oils, such as lemon oil, lavender oil, peppermint oil, and tea tree oil for health purposes and cleaning around your home.

6. Use home remedies such as homemade elderberry syrup, echinacea tintures, and cough and cold remedies before relying on over-the-counter or prescription medications.

7. Make sure the personal care products you and your family are using are safe by consulting the Cosmetic Safety Database.

8. Start making some of your own homemade personal care products like deodorant, face wash, lotion or body butter, and body wash.

source: Emily @ LiveRenewed.com

Around Your Home Goals

9. Work on decreasing the amount of waste your family generates next year.

10. Starting a compost pile is one way you can reduce your families waste by turning food scraps into rich organic matter for your yard or garden.

11. Use water and electricity efficiently by being mindful and conserving your energy and water use around your home whenever possible.

12. Chose one area to reduce toxins in your home, researching harmful products removing them from your home and replacing them with safer alternatives.

If you’re relatively new to green and natural living, or you’d like to have all the information you need to move forward on your green journey in one place, then my new ebook Green Your Life: A Guide to Natural, Eco-Friendly Living is perfect for you! It’s a 250+ page guide that walks you through taking simple steps and making small changes in 5 main areas of your lifestyle to lead you on the road to a more eco-friendly life.

As an added bonus, when you purchase Green Your Life this month, I’ll offering a free membership to my upcoming Green Your Life Challenge that will be held in January. You can find out more details about the eBook and the Challenge here! I would love to have you join me!

When do you start planning your New Year’s Goals? What green and natural living goals will be on your list for 2014?

Emily McClements is passionate about caring for God’s creation while saving money at the same time. She is a blessed wife and mama to two young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed.

12 Green & Natural Living Goals for the New Year

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: Flat Gingerbread Houses

We actually saved this activity for after Christmas last year so that we could buy a kit on clearance (because I’m frugal cheap like that), but we ended up having so much more fun than our previous attempts at gingerbread houses that I had to share this tip.

I’m pretty sure we’re not the only people who have trouble getting gingerbread houses — at least those from a kit — to stay together, especially while you’re poking and prodding them to add decorations. Maybe it’s the ages of our children or my own lack of coordination, but they always end up messy and falling apart. It’s still a fun activity, so it’s one we repeat each year anyway.

However, last year — after several attempts to get our gingerbread train to stay together — we decided to just decorate the pieces on a flat surface, and it was so much more fun! Without the worry about it falling apart, everybody was able to decorate their piece exactly as they wanted, and then we lined them all up in a row for a longer train when we were done.

Because it worked so well, this year we’re planning to do a flat gingerbread house and lay out the pieces to make a little village. It’ll take up a little more space, but that’s okay!

Does your family decorate gingerbread houses each year? What’s your best tip?

Related Projects:

Gingerbread Star Christmas Tree
Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree
Santa’s Cookie Kit

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: Flat Gingerbread Houses

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Make a Free Personalized LEGO Minifigure Family Holiday Card

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LEGO for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Our girls have developed a healthy LEGO obsession over the past year, asking for LEGO Friends sets for their birthdays and, of course, Christmas, and we have a growing collection of sets and pieces, which they play with for hours almost every day.

For them, the best part is the people and animals that come with each set, which is why we were pretty excited to see the LEGO Minifigure Family site, where you can create a personalized holiday card featuring your Minifigure family.

These holiday cards are fun and easy to make. You can customize up to 13 different members of your family, selecting skin tone, choosing an outfit, etc:

I let our 7-year-old make a card first, and she played around with it for a half hour or so, picking out facial expressions, hair styles and outfits for each member of our family until it was just right. She added the furry members of our family  (our cat, Winter, and our dog, Bella), and then set the scene. Once she was done, we shared her card with our friends and family on Facebook. (She’s already asked to make another one, but the other three girls are waiting for their turns first!)

Head here to make a LEGO Minifigure Family. Be sure to share the link to your card in the comments!

Make a Free Personalized LEGO Minifigure Family Holiday Card

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: “Fancy” Cookie Tins

source: Mandi Ehman

I’m a fan of simple packaging ideas that make a big difference, so today I thought I’d share my two favorite ways for taking a plain ol’ cookie tin and dressing it up a bit — without spray paint, glue or anything else sticky. My dad’s wife taught me the first trick a couple years ago, and I love the simplicity of both of these.

source: Mandi Ehman

For the fancy “lace” cookie tin, simply use a doily that extends 1/2-2″ past the edges of the cookie tin. Lay it on top of the cookies, making sure it’s centered, and secure the lid. So simple!

For the ribbon tin, cut 8 long strips of ribbon and divide them into two sets. Cross them at the bottom and then tie them together at the top. Use scissors to curl the ribbon. Easy peasy!

How do you dress up your cookie tins?

Related Projects:

Printable Treat Bags
Fancy Paper Cookie Plates
Cookie Cutter Wrapping Paper

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: “Fancy” Cookie Tins

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: Hair Chalk Stocking Stuffer {and Printable!}

source: Mandi Ehman

A couple of months ago, Tsh mentioned on Instagram that she’d gotten some hair chalk for her daughter. Because I live under a rock, I wasn’t sure what hair chalk was until then, but I was immediately intrigued by the idea of temporary hair color that was so easy to apply.

You see, we’ve tried temporary hair dye and kool-aid before for letting our girls play with some fun colors in their hair, but neither worked especially well. Based on the things I’ve since read about hair chalk, though, I knew I wanted to include it in their stockings this year.

The only problem? The price adds up when you need to buy four sets for stockings! Thankfully, my sister — who is an Aveda stylist — said that all we needed were regular soft chalk pastels (important: not regular chalk or oil pastels; you want soft chalk pastels). I bought this set from Amazon so that I could give them each 4-5 colors and still save some for arts & crafts. (About 25% of them came broken, though, so I’d buy them in a craft store if you can!)

The only problem, of course, was they’d have no idea what to do with random chalk in their stockings!

So I created a cute tag that I can add to the bags of chalk (just as soon as I get more printer ink — ha!). These would also make fun party favors, don’t you think?

Click here to download or print the hair chalk tags.

Related Projects:

Felt Star Wand
Stocking Letters
Holiday Sewing Cards

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: Hair Chalk Stocking Stuffer {and Printable!}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: More Holiday Cookies {Roundup}

source: Mandi Ehman

As part of this year’s 101 Days of Christmas series, I’m sharing a roundup each Sunday with more ideas from around the blogosphere!

Because you can never have too many cookie recipes in your collection, I’m sharing even more holiday cookie ideas for any last-minute baking you have planned. Whether you like to stick to the classics or try new things, there’s sure to be something here that makes your mouth water!

Here are 10 more delicious ideas:

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Tiramisu Cookies

Chocolate-Walnut Thumbprints

Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

Rosettes

Spicy Orange Crescents

Jam-Filled Cream Cheese Cookies

White Chocolate Cherry Almond Shortbread Cookies

Wreath Cookies

Minty Holiday Cookies

Do you like to try new cookies, or do you make the same cookies every year?

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: More Holiday Cookies {Roundup}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Weekend Reading: December 14, 2013

source: Mandi Ehman

We had our first real snowfall of the season this week (followed by freezing rain and then more snow!), and the girls are loving the snow and their new sleds from Sean’s mom. It’s crazy to me that the same girls who whined about it being too cold several weeks ago are now happy to spend hours outside in the cold, wet hair and all!

We’re actually expecting even more snow today, so the snow should stick around for a little bit longer. Would two white Christmases in a row be too much to hope for?!

Here are some of my favorite posts from the past few weeks. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

Christmas {For Your Sanity}

To The Mamas of Littles During the Holidays | Vita Familiae


Dear Well-Meaning Relatives: Please respect our request of fewer gifts for our kids. | Andrea Dekker


The Amazingly Awesome Pre-Holiday Declutter Guide: 2.0 | Slow Your Home

Motherhood {It Matters}

The Bully Too Close to Home | Hands Free Mama


The Worst Thing People Say to Us Moms. by Jenny Acuff | Jon Acuff


For the Ordinary Mom | Sarah Mae

Life {Truth & Justice}

A Girl on Fire | Amy J. Bennett


How to Shop Ethically | The Art of Simple


Don’t Just Do Something: 4 Ways To Research A Charity Before Giving | Shaun Groves

And because it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time, If The Friends Were Homeschooled…!

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: December 14, 2013

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Using an All-in-One Computer in the Kitchen

source: Mandi Ehman

I’ve talked about using an Intel-powered all-in-one computer as a work computer in place of my laptop and for family entertainment already.

But there’s one other place where I’m really enjoying this computer: the kitchen.

If you’ve been a Life Your Way reader for very long, you probably already know how much I love Plan to Eat. Yes, I’ve worked with them before and they’ve been advertisers on the site in the past, but I’ve also used the program faithfully for close to four years now.

What does that have to do with the all-in-one? Let me show you…

You see, all of my recipes are stored in Plan to Eat, which means I need a device in the kitchen when I’m cooking.

I’ve used my laptop…and ended up with crumbs in the keyboard.

I’ve used the iPad, but it’s mostly the girls’ iPad at this point, which means it’s often in use…or has a dead battery.

And I’ve used my phone the most…squinting at the screen and getting frustrated when it turns off mid-recipe.

While the all-in-one has a wireless keyboard and mouse, it’s also a touch screen with an on-screen keyboard, which means I can stand it up in the kitchen without worrying about crumbs or liquids getting down between the letters of the keyboard.

I also changed my high performance power settings so that the screen doesn’t turn off for 15 minutes and the computer doesn’t actually go to sleep for 30, which means I don’t have to worry about trying to get it turned back on in the middle of a recipe with my hands covered in flour or garlic juice or whatever it may be.

Because the all-in-one is so thin, it takes up very little counter space but still gives me a large screen to look at, which I love!

So, back to Plan to Eat. The best part is that Plan to Eat’s new “cooking view” offers a full-screen view of your recipe, one step at a time. This is perfect for keeping your place in the recipe, and I love using it for the girls, because it simplifies the instructions for them.

On the Dell XPS 18, the instructions are big and uncluttered and clear. It’s the perfect combination!

(And that recipe? It’s my favorite: Caramel Corn Chex Mix.)

I am working with Intel AIO PC and received a Dell XPS 18 in exchange for agreeing to share my experience, but all opinions are 100% mine!

Do you use electronic recipes?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Using an All-in-One Computer in the Kitchen

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: Cookie Cutter Painted Gift Tags

The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:

source: Kristina Buskirk

During the holidays we like to do at least one simple Christmas craft or activity every day. One of my favorite open-ended activities for kids is painting with cookie cutters. Last year we shared how we used cookie cutters to make gift wrap.

This year I am sharing how we use cookie cutters and paint to make simple gift tags or cards to accompany neighbor and friend gifts.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Supplies:

cardstock (white and colored)
washable paint
palette (paper plates)
holiday cookie cutters
markers
embellishments (stickers, sequins, glitter, etc)
glue/tape

Directions:

Start by covering each plate with a single color of paint and then cut the cardstock into smaller tag sized pieces. If I want my kids to do the writing on the tags, then I make them bigger than if I were going to do the writing.

Have each child choose a cookie cutter and paint color to start with, give them a few tags, and let them get started painting. Some kids enjoy covering the entire paper with cookie cutter prints while others will just want to do one cookie cutter print per tag.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Once the prints are done, let them dry and then you can make them into tags.

We sometimes also like to mount each print onto a different colored paper using glue or tape and then add embellishments and designs with marker and crayon onto the tags to finish them off.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Once the tags are decorated, we write names and/or notes on them, add them to a plate of treats or a small gift and drop them off for friends or neighbors!

source: Kristina Buskirk

Not only is this a fun Christmas activity, but it also gets the kids in the spirit of giving as they brainstorm gifts to bring to neighbors and friends along with their cute homemade gift tags.

Have you made homemade gift tags before? What are some other techniques you have used to make them?

Related Projects:

Cookie Cutter Wrapping Paper

DIY Gift Tags

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Kristina is a mom of 3 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

101 Days of Christmas: Cookie Cutter Painted Gift Tags

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved