No Candy Easter Egg Stuffers

Okay, so I can't pretend I'm one of those super moms that completely omits sugar from their child's diet. It would be pretty hypocritical when I'm a sugar fiend myself. Saying, "NO" as I shove my face with chocolate seems a bit cruel, doesn't it? Especially, depriving them of those Cadbury Mini-Eggs. Those are quite hard to resist!

Though I don't omit sugary goodness completely, I do realize my son is only 2 years old, and I keep it to a small treat here and there. He really doesn't need a basket full of candy in addition to every Easter Egg overflowing. For this, I set out to find creative egg stuffers that would be just as exciting as receiving candy! Below you'll find some great items to fill those eggs and save your kid a cavity or two. What other non-sugary ideas can you come up with to fill those eggs?

1. Finger Puppets

I did a set of finger puppets in my son's Easter eggs last year when he was just 1 years old. He loved opening the eggs to discover which new "animal," in his case, it was going to be. I plan on putting more in his eggs this year! So many options!

These colorful finger puppets (found above) would be fun to discover during an Easter egg hunt. These are sold by MiracleInspiration on Etsy and run $18.50 + $6 shipping.

How cute are these Spring inspired finger puppets from Floral Blossom on Etsy? Please, note that this purchase is only for the pattern, so you'll have to whip up these cuties in time so they make it into those Easter eggs. This pattern is only $5!

These Fairy Finger puppets are too stinkin' cute for a little girl. Now, I do have to warn you that the product description does say they are 5" big. So they might not exactly stuff into a standard Easter egg, but they were too cute not to include...and they would still be perfect for the basket! You can purchase these on Amazon: HERE They are selling for $17.98 + $7.99 shipping.

Love this set made by Manhattan Toys too! They have it for $24 on their website. This is the "A Day at the Castle Set." Can buy it HERE

2. Stamps

This Melissa & Doug Farm Animal stamp set comes with small stamps that should easily fit into an Easter Egg. Also great to have the ink pad for a matching basket treat. You can find this on Amazon HERE for $6.99.

This is the girly-girl version of the stamp set above. You can find it on Amazon: HERE for $7.81

3. Stickers

Hit the dollar store and grab a couple of sheets of stickers, cut them into groups of 3 or four stickers and pop 'em in those eggs!

4. Hair Pins & Earrings

How adorable and original are these Pinwheel Bobby pins from Sweet Honeybunch on Etsy? These little guys are $12.50 + $3 shipping.

Just perfect for Spring and those Easter Eggs! Love the colors and floral design of these stud earrings from Paige and Penelope on Etsy. They sell lots of fun Spring-inspired earrings and accessories in their shop! This set of earrings is $13.50 + $2 shipping.

5. Imagination-Provoking Figurines

There are lots of options here from Dinosaurs to GI Joes. The trick is making sure they'll fit in the eggs! Michael's sells lots of these in all shapes and forms. Bring an egg in and see what works! 

Just found these Dinosaurs at Amazon for $3.95. The product details say they're 2 in which seems like they might work in an egg....wonder if that includes the tail? Hmmm.

Bring Outdoor Lighting Inside: Sconces Under $40

We are wrapping up our half bath makeover where we used outdoor sconces to flank the mirror. As I was trying to track down the lights we bought (which are no longer available by-the-way), I was inspired to do a quick post with a collection of reasonably priced sconce options. Indoor sconces are actually quite pricey, and on top of that, you need two! We preferred the more rustic look of the outdoor sconces for this particular project, and lucky for us, ours were only  $20 each! All of the below lanterns are from Home Depot, and these images are product shots from their website: HomeDepot.com. These lights would truly be beautiful in bathrooms, living rooms, kids' rooms and hallways! I hope these spark some design inspiration for your next project!

Hampton Bay Zinc Wall Lantern 

$24.97

 

Hampton Bay Cottage Lantern  

$32.97

 

Progress Lighting Roman Coach Collection 

On Sale $34.02 (till 7/4/13) Reg. $68.04

 

Hampton Bay Essen Antique Copper Lantern 

$19.97

 

Newport Coastal Marina 

$39.97

I think this one would be beautiful spray painted out in a bright color like yellow or emerald green!

Painting Stripes

I enjoy painting. Love the instant results. 
But, the thought of painting stripes terrified me!

Usually, closets are pretty boring spaces. Rarely organized. And well, just an afterthought of design. My son's closet is the source of pretty much every toy in his room so the doors rarely shut. With this in mind, I set out to turn the neglected closet into the design star of the room. This post is just for advice on painting stripes, but I'll soon have one up of the entire interior closet makeover. You know, once I finish all the details that satisfy my self-diagnosed O.C.D!

The magic trick, at least for me, for those flawless stripes required four key ingredients:

1. Frog Painter's Tape 
2. A 4 ft Level 
3. Two People
4. Getting the Tape Off Fast!

As with most of my projects, I am the "dreamer" and my husband is the "doer."  I marked out the first couple of lines with a pencil measuring down the appropriate lengths from the ceiling all the way around using a ruler. I next attempted to connect my measured out lines by using the ruler as a straight edge till we realized the stripes were totally at an angle! Scratch that idea. My appalled husband now has to step in and take over as I am completely frustrated and darn impatient the stripes aren't painted on the wall already!

First, let me mention that the closet is painted entirely in the light color stripe-white. So, all we will be sketching out and painting are the dark gray stripes. Be sure once you have painted the entire closet with your lighter stripe color to give it about a week to dry before taping out and painting the darker stripes. You do this because the paint is still "soft" and putting the painters tape on soft paint will most likely result in a chunk of that beautiful paint being taken off.

Drawing Lines

The biggest pain-in-the-bum side of this project is getting those lines sketched on the wall. About half-way through, we learned better. GET A LEVEL!!!!!! We measured the appropriate length marks down from the ceiling just at the middle of the closet this time. From there we took the 4ft level and drew out the line using it's perfectly straight edge. This is where the two people really come in handy. It is hard to keep the level, well level, and draw a perfect line. One holds the level. One draws the line. Clearly the level is not the entire length of the stripe you need, but it's a lot better than the 12" ruler I first opted to use, and you know at all times your line is level and not skewing down like my first ones. Just a little FYI in case you were wondering, my stripes in this project are 12" wide.

Taping

Once all the lines are sketched, you next apply the Frog Painter's Tape. I personally find this brand a lot more reliable when it comes to the paint not bleeding through. You are going to place the body of the tape on the interior of the "white stripes" in this case. You want the pencil line to fall in the area of the stripe you are painting, so be sure to be cognoscente of that when placing the tape. You will need to press the tape down extra firmly. I even ran my fingernail  across the edge that the new paint would be touching for an extra seal.

Painting

Now that your tape is on nice and tight, it's time to paint! I'd recommend two people for this part also for fast progress. Work one stripe at a time and complete it, removing tape and all, before moving on. Our stripes in this project wrapped around the sides of the closet, so there were corners and edges. Take a brush and paint the corners if any and the ending edges of the stripe. When I say ending edges, I don't mean the edges along the tape. I mean where it ends on the left and right if you are doing horizontal strips. Next, use a roller to paint the rest of the stripe. You want to put the paint on as light as possible in order to lessen the chance of the extra paint bleeding through the tape. You will be doing a second coat....but without the tape so attempt to get a good coverage on the taped edges but without being too heavy handed. Once the stripe has one full coat, take the tape off immediately for this stripe before moving on. Continue this process till your feature wall is complete. The next, day take your roller and carefully apply a second coat staying away from the edges. This second coat is to just polish that speckled look you sometimes get with just a first coat. Your stripes' edges should be crisp enough from the first coat and shouldn't require needing to paint too close to them.

This process might not be the "easiest" or "best" method out there. But, I can vouch that it worked for us! Stripes just might be appearing elsewhere in our home as my fear of painting them has now subsided, and I love the look!

DIY Chalkboard Closet Doors

Transform boring, ugly doors into Graffiti fun for your kids! My son's room is still under transformation, but I felt the need to get this DIY project posted ASAP so you can get on transforming your own doors! My son has basically a wall of closet doors in his new room. They were the hollow core, faux wood grain, bi-fold doors with no handles might I add! So, ugly and impractical.

My chalk drawing here is really symbolic of the design aesthetic I am going for in his room-- essentially a city-themed toddler room with lots of creative-provoking features. I loved the concept of having a "graffiti wall" so these doors were destined to become chalkboards. The catch with these, though, was the textured wood grain surface. We have been resurfacing walls throughout our entire house, so the first solution that came to mind was to use drywall compound and resurface them. As I didn't really have an alternative, I just went for it. I had nothing to loose but a set of terrible doors. Luckily, they turned out really, really well.

I began by cleaning the surfaces with Comet. Next, I lightly sanded them. I mean lightly. Just enough to buff the surface. For a joint compound, we use the Sheetrock brand Lightweight All Purpose Joint Compound picked up at our local Home Depot. I applied this very thinly. Have the notion of less is more so really make sure to scrap off the extra and get as smooth of finish as possible. Once the first layer was dry, I again lightly sanded and applied another thin coat. I want to note here that the doors actually had a cool look to them just with one skim coat. You'll see in the pic to the right that it almost gave it a whitewashed look still showing the wood grain. The one on the right has 1 skim coat. The left has none.

That look would have really worked in his old nursery! I believe it only took 2 coats to get a completely smooth surface on my doors, but use your judgement. If you still have grooves or divots; do another coat. You don't want your chalk skipping these dips and giving you a shaky line. After the last coat give the surface just a quick light sanding, and you're ready to prime! You need to then seal the compound with a drywall primer. One coat should do it. Once again just a light sand and you're ready for painting. I personally used the Rust-oleum brand black finish chalkboard paint 30 fl oz. from Home Depot. I didn't even use a whole can with this big surface. I applied two coats using a microfiber roller, and they were good to go!  Be sure to talk with a representative in the paint department to make sure you get the right roller. You want the one that is going to give you the smoothest finish. No orange peel texture. And, be sure to splurge and get the better roller here. It makes a difference!

 My original concept with the handles was to use galvanized steel pipes and run them vertically. But, what I thought was a creative, inexpensive hardware solution turned out to be over $50. Needless to say, that didn't fly. I ended up using galvanized steel garage door handles instead. They actually turned out really cool and still have the industrial feel I wanted. I did replace the screws that came with the kit with the ones you see above for aesthetic reasons but we actually had too as well because the original screws weren't long enough to go through the door completely and adhere them with a nut on the back. These handles were about $5 each, again from Home Depot.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Wispy House Now has a Shop on Etsy.com!

Hi Readers! Good News....I launched my shop on Etsy.com just a couple of days ago, and items are already flying out the door! The shop is a product extension of my blog and truly showcases my style for vintage home decor and fun accessories. My obsession with ships, horses and any sort of metal is pretty evident when you see my inventory. Check out the "My Etsy Shop" tab at the top toolbar of my blog to see a few of my items posted or just jump directly to my shop with this link: Wispy House on Etsy

Below you'll find a few of the items for sale right now. I have lots more inventory to get up, so keep checking back with my shop!      Enjoy!

Homemade Max Costume from Where The Wild Things Are

I wanted to do this costume for my son since he was born but wanted him to be walking so I could see that cute little wolf tail trotting behind him. At 19 months old, this was the perfect year to do it. I must admit that I was a bit ambitious with this one hence, not posting it 'til now as it has many components and well, I'm just an amateur sewer who procrastinates. I mocked the one-piece body suit after a pair of pajamas similar in structure to what I wanted. Everything is held closed by sew-on snaps. The wooden buttons are purely decorative. I picked them up at Jo-Ann's: La Mode style 3102 and cost $1.60 for two buttons. I just saw that these do say, "dry clean only" so I'll have to see how they hold up in the wash. Oh well, at least they're cheap to replace if they're totaled after.

The tail was made from a couple of inches taken from fur fabric (buying the fabric was actually cheaper than the trim by-the-way) I made the tail removable so that the one-piece could be washed easily. The tail has a strip of the ivory fabric sew to it so that it can be looped through the button hole I added to the back of the suit and tied on the inside of the one-piece.

The wolf headpiece was made by using a hood from my son's sweatshirt as a pattern for the shape. I then added a strip of fabric at the bottom of that which looped around the bottom of the hood's edge and velcroed under his chin. I didn't want to use yarn or pipe cleaners for whiskers. I wanted something that felt a bit more authentic. The "whiskers" I used are actually strands cut off from a household broom we already had. They are the exact texture I wanted, and the price was right! These were meticulously placed so that the ends would be in the seam allowance in order to not irritate my son's face. I poked the plastic pieces through the fabric, knotted them and then folded the seam allowance over the knotted ends, sewing the fabric shut over them. The ears here were just two triangles sewn together, stuffed with poly-fil and hand sewn to the top of the headpiece.

The crown is an independent piece that can be removed as I wanted my son to be able to play with it long after Halloween. I love the authentic feel of this piece from the fabric to the faux fur trim. My son now loves to play with it everyday. From being a king while he eats breakfast to a must-have-accessory every time we read "Where the Wild Things Are," this is now one of his favorite imaginary play toys.

UPDATE: This crown is now for sale in my Etsy shop! Here's the link to purchase: Kings & Queens of the Forest Crown

As I mentioned before, I am a beginning sewer. I blame this attribute for my one-piece being an inch or two too short (and too snug, for that matter) None-the-less it forced me to add "wolf feet." I made a shoe cover that would wrap around the shoe and up over the ankle of the one-piece. It just velcroed in the back so a fairly easy addition to add. Plus, it solved my faintly high-water problem.

 

I love this face! It's such a devilish "Max" look.

 This Trick-or-Treat basket was found at Michaels for $3.50. I love that it has a similar color scheme as the book's illustrations.

Halloween Crafty Fun with Your Toddler

I now have my 19-month-old son home with me full time and realize how important it is to keep up with the craft and sensory activities he was doing at daycare. Given that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I embraced it with several themed crafts and books. Hope this sparks some ideas to do with your little one!

Put A 'Stache On Your Pumpkin

We plan to carve our big pumpkin as a family tonight; however, obviously a toddler isn't going to be too hands on with this classic way of pumpkin decorating... other than perhaps squishing the oh-so-messy pumpkin guts between those cute little fingers! So, I thought a fun way to decorate our four little pumpkins on our fireplace mantle would be to give them each a foam paper mustache! My son assigned which mustache went with each pumpkin. I, then, pinned them in place with straight pins. The pins were silver so I just colored the heads with a black sharpie so they blend in. This was super easy....and no paint or pumpkin gut mess to clean up after!

 

 

 

Toilet Paper Ghosts

 Before deciding to make these toilet paper ghost, I "attempted" to make a game of a toilet paper mummy of mommy. Given that he's 19 months old, he didn't quite get the concept nor was too keen on me flipping the roles and trying to wrap him up with toilet paper as a mummy. We settled for running around the house with toilet paper streamers instead....still fun. Given that I now had a bunch of unraveled toilet paper I wanted to do a craft with it. I started by cutting out the shape of a ghost on white construction paper. Next, we took a glue stick and covered the ghost in glue. (This was my son's favorite part as he had to man the glue stick at all times.) I then had him tear up small pieces of toilet paper and stick them on the ghost. After the ghost was filled, we took a black sharpie and I helped him draw eyes and a mouth. We just taped our ghost to a piece of black construction paper so you could see it on our white fridge! My son now points to it as he walks passed it and says, "BOO!".....as we learned this week that ghosts say, "Boo!"

Foam Paper Bats

I hand drew a template of a bat silhouette out of newspaper and then cut the shape out of black foam paper. Using washable school glue, I helped my son dab a dot of glue for where the eyes should go. He next placed the googly eyes (bought from Michaels) tediously on the glue dots. (by himself) I was so surprised on his fine motor skills here...and the fact that the eyes were actually facing up. These turned out super cute...I'm just debating whether to hang them using clear string perhaps from a chandelier  or maybe place them in the windows! Who knows?!

My Favorite Halloween Books for Toddlers

In order to get into the Halloween Spirit, we have been incorporating themed books into our reading time. Here's some great one's to share this Halloween:

Where Is Baby's Pumpkin? By Karen Katz
One of my son's favorite books is Karen Katz's "Where is Baby's Belly Button." This book is a great holiday edition. It has the same great, sturdy flaps and simple language. My son loves lifting the flaps, counting the bats in the closet and pretending to munch on the candy apples behind the bowls!

Where The Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak
So, we all know this is a classic, and I'm sure you all either own or have heard of it. But, what a great adventure book with a kiddie-friendly spook. My son loves this book-- Halloween or not. In fact, it's the inspiration behind this year's Halloween costume. Bring this book off the shelf and share with your little one this Halloween!