Pledge to Hide and Seek!

Today I pledge to play hide and seek. When life gets too serious, when I have a million things to get done, when my kids are cranky, bored, restless and just need me - I pledge to stop what I am doing and play hide and seek.
It is amazing what it does for a cranky child...and mama too! It brings laughs, fun, love, ends sibling bickering (for a moment at least,) and reminds me that dishes and emails can wait because at this very moment I am connected with my children; making memories and being just happy. 

Pledge with me!

xoxo
green owl mama

Nature Fairy Wand

With Halloween just around the corner I thought this sweet wand would be a fun craft to get into the costume mood!

We love Flower Fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker. They are so sweet and magical. We read them for inspiration just before going on a walk to collect sticks for our wands.

Start by wrapping the stick in pretty ribbon. You can start it off with a little bit of glue to help keep it in place while you wrap. At the top of the ribbon we tied a small bow with an additional peice of ribbon to hold it in place.

Layer the top with glue and tissue squares.

We tied on a couple bells to give it an authentic "tinker."

With a set of wings this costume is perfect for an afternoon to enjoy the beautiful imagination of a five year old.

Perfect & Plump Garden Pumpkin

My very inspiring, crafty and oh so awesome mom-in-law told me about this Halloween gem. Isn't it cute? Emma and I had an absolute blast making this plump pumpkin and it looks pretty darn sweet in our garden next to a........very large spider web! What? I seriously had no idea that was there until now! How perfectly chilling for this Halloween craft. Thanks Miss Spider.

Stuff you need:

• dryer vent
• duct tape
• paper bag
• paint + brush

 First form your piece of dryer vent into a hoop and duct tape the ends together. You can get all sorts of dryer vent size. We wanted a big pumpkin!

Next paint (as best as you can) the pumpkin. It doesn't have to be perfect - it's definitely more of a rustic pumpkin.

Paint the paper bag for the pumpkin stem. Once dry put that stem in place and you got a perfect pumpkin to spread some Halloween cheer to your yard.

Happy October! Eyes All Over!

Today is the first of October. I am so excited for what this month brings and to celebrate and kick start the fun I did what any mother would and put eyeballs on EVERYTHING! It's amazing what joy this brought my children to be surprised by eyes! Love these silly kiddos!

 

Calm down jar has a mind of it's own. 

Happy October! 

Painting (and washing) Animals!

 It's the unexpected surprises that keep life exciting. Which is why on a mellow Sunday afternoon I told my children they could paint their (indoor) toy animals. Of course there was one condition - They must give those animals a bath afterwards (I knew this would be exciting for them as well, but I acted like it was a condition.)

They all lined up, even the Mr. Furry the cow, who to put it nicely is a little OCD and lives in our bath. Talk about germaphobe!

Some became pretty abstract.

 Some made tracks.

 Some lost their patches.

They all got nice and clean afterwards.

 Only to start all over again.

Here's to many unexpected surprises in your future. Thanks for reading.
xo,
green owl mama

Create

 

Spooky Glue Ghost Necklace

 I love Halloween crafts. Not because I love scary spooky creatures and things that come out at night, but because I love turning those creatures and things into the most adorable creatures and things you could imagine. Like these cute as can be glue ghost! I heart them.

And all you need is glue, a plastic bag, eyes, yarn and a hole punch.

First, make your ghost shape and fill it in with glue.

Next, add some eyes.

 

This was the point I wished I had remembered the book under the bag to transport, so here is your reminder - do this on a book to transport!

 They take a good day or two to dry. I just hid them from the kids while they dried - out of sight out of mind and no impatience! Once they are dry the kids are so excited to see the friendly ghost they made. Time to peel off and punch a hole in the top (if you want to make a necklace.)

Add some yarn and you got a pretty adorable spooky necklace for Halloween that any kid can make! Yippee!
Happy October ( in two days!!)