Heart and Country

Glow in the dark Easter Eggs

admin — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:33:46 +0000

The ThreeYearOld asked me if we could decorate some eggs yesterday – I told her to go grab some craft supplies and I’d get the eggs, interested to see what she’d come up with. She handed me her glow sticks. Brilliant. It only took a few minutes to make these glow in the dark eggs. We made them only an hour before bedtime so she got to take them into her room as a little fun nightlight action.

They were so simple! We just snapped some glow sticks (we used the ones that you get in the dollar bins at Target) and cut them open. We shook them and flicked them and Jackson Pollocked them until they were completely covered with glowing radioactive liquid. Fun!

Be aware that these glow sticks have a rod of glass inside them – I was very cautious with them and made sure my daughter was wearing her gardening gloves and not playing around with the liquid. I know people use glow stick contents for all kinds of crafts, but the natural mama in me makes me cringe when I think about this stuff touching our skin!! Once we had our gloves on and covered the counter in paper towels, it was easy, fun, and pretty freaking cool.

Can you believe Easter is a week away? Where’s the spring?!

An Easter Playdate

admin — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:00:07 +0000

A couple of years ago, I hosted a casual Easter playdate for the little ones at my house. There was one simple rule printed on the invitation: bring something (anything – think dollar stores and Target bins) for each child that would be attending. After all the RSVPs came back, I texted everyone that planned on attending the total number of children that would be there. I purchased some Easter baskets and grass and stamped kids’ names on ribbons that were hung from the basket handles. Each parent came with 8 of the same thing.

Eggs were hidden around the house, and finger food was served. The kids had so much fun, I’ve decided to host another this year. This party was such a stress-free way to get everyone together without too much planning.

There were coloring books, cups of play doh, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and even fun little tie-on bunny tails made by Paige from Paiges of Style - so cute!

Oh how I miss these precious days!

Guinness Beer Float – St. Patty’s Day Dessert!

admin — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:14:03 +0000

Word on the street is these things are pretty tasty. I wanted to test it out before I surprised the husband with this little treat on St. Patrick’s Day. Drinking beer with ice cream in it is pretty much awesome on a Monday morning. For science.

Ingredients:

Guinness beer

Vanilla Ice cream (or some sort of Irish Creme would be delicious)

Ground sugar/chocolate/coffee bean – Get this grinder at Trader Joe’s (and Amazon? apparently?)!

Garnish with clovers.

I have to admit, I’m not a giant Guinness fan, but this was actually pretty delicious. I’m feeling great for a Monday afternoon! Wheeeee!

Countdown to Easter Eggs

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:37:43 +0000

I am LOVING this little project we did for Victoria at A Subtle Revelry – how fun is this? Advent-style Easter eggs! We hollowed out each egg, filled them with goodies, sealed them up with washi tape, and painted them pretty. To see how it’s done and to get some great stuffer ideas, check out this tutorial.

Spring is right around the corner, I swear.

Clementine + Pomegranate.

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:25:24 +0000

This time of year is tricky. We desperately want winter to be over. The suggestion that spring is near is popping up inside every store, Easter baskets are everywhere. All the clothing stores are filled with shorts and swimwear. But I’m pretty sure IT’S STILL SNOWING.

I hosted a little dinner last night and was trying to come up with an appropriate beverage, something not too heavy and wintery (I’ve had one or seven too many spiked coffee/cocoa/ciders). I figured citrus is always promising, so threw this together and instantly felt the spring cheer. It could have been the vodka.

Ingredients: Sparkling soda, citrus infused vodka, squeezed clementine, pomegranate seeds. Isn’t this drink so pretty?

It may be 37 degrees outside, but I’m wearing flip flops today!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:27:34 +0000

Last week for her birthday, Elle got a package of Wikki Stix and I have to say, these might be my favorite things ever! Since then, we’ve discovered they also make fun dessert toppers and pretty bubble wands.

We hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!! xoxo

Make your own stamps – DIY Valentines.

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:11:17 +0000

Fun fact: You can make stamps out of foam stickers. Cheap, easy, and life changing (OK for me it was…)! Elle really wanted to play with stamps this week, and I’ve been meaning to get started on the family Valentines that we’ll be sending in the mail… but I didn’t have any Valentines-y stamps. I did, however, have Valentines-y foam stickers. A little improvising and we solved our problem.

Simply put a foam sticker on a bottle cap/ milk top/ anything flat really…. and stamp away! These make a great tool for DIY valentines… SO MUCH COOLER than the CVS boxed cards

We took things a step further and painted some slightly watered down glue on the stamps and added glitter, because everything is better with glitter, obviously. This includes my counters, my dog, and the entire kitchen floor.

You know Valentine’s Day is only two weeks away, right?

Natural and Safe Beet Juice Tattoos

admin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:21:00 +0000

Over the last couple of years, I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job keeping my two (almost three!!) year old away from a lot of the high-fructose-corn-syrup, hormone injected, corn infused, sulfate/paraben loaded foods and products. I will admit, when we go out to eat or if we hit up a birthday party, Elle can have all the food colored sugary drinks she wants. But when we are home, my pantry and our bellies are full of all natural products, local produce and meat, organic milks, and our bodies and house are cleaned with (mostly) worry-free products.

I recently came across an article about ANOTHER food color (blue #1) being added to the growing list of dangerous dyes. Read this, too. Scary stuff!

With Valentines day approaching and a little baker who enjoys kitchen time as much as I do, I wanted to find some natural alternatives, because quite honestly – colored frosting is FUN! Turns out beets are perfect for dying things pink, which is Elle’s favorite color (sigh) and exactly what we need for Valentine’s Day.

While food processing the beets, we found a fun and safe way to “tattoo”. We just strained the juice into a little bowl and used a paintbrush to create a tiny heart on her hand. Mommy has one too, so thats great.

If you decide to try this out – make sure you keep your juice away from anything stainable. We had to do a couple of layers to get the heart dark enough for Her Majesty. Most of this will come off after a good bath, but it will stain the skin for a day or two, which was the goal. Try making a stencil out of painters tape, or painting a streak in lighter colored hair!

Also for my fellow chemical free mamas and papas – Piggy Paint is a GREAT non-toxic nail polish that we love! They even have heart Nail Art for Valentine’s Day

Time to frost the pink cupcakes!

Valentine Tea, Kid Approved.

admin — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:47:10 +0000

After 38297483 tea parties with my 2 year old, I thought it would be fun to make “real tea” that was kid friendly and easy to make. Check out this handmade valentine I created for A Subtle Revelry, all you need is dehydrated fruit, coffee filters, thread, and water -you can even “brew” it in cold water. Free printable included!

Glittered Antlers – a gift topping.

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:00:13 +0000

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be A Subtle Revelry contributor from time to time. Victoria is so talented and creative and I always turn to her for inspiration. When she asked me to join her crew I was flattered! I’m looking forward to working with her once again. My first DIY that will be featured is this fun antler gift topper. Let’s face it – antlers are SO HOT right now. I love this trend! I really want to incorporate them into our Christmas this year, so I came up with these cute little toppers. They don’t take much time to make and they’re perfect little “extras” to give as a gift.

Check out the tutorial here: A Subtle Revelry.