A while ago Lucy and I did some old school crafting: Potato prints!

We made some beautiful cards and pictues. This is a great way to use up potatoes, and I love that you can compost the materials when you’re done. We used simple craft paint. Lucy chose the shapes, and I carved them as best I could.

I have to admit these are often just as fun for her as they are for me! I totally felt like I was back in grade school, and loved it.

After eating candy and anything princess, Lucy loves to make crafts. Stickering, painting, gluing, sparkling, colouring. We have so much fun creating together. While we sometimes get Alice involved in our projects (we made hand-print tulips in the spring), crafting is usually a Mumma-Lucy activity when Alice is napping, which makes the process extra special. It’s our Thing.

Here are some of our favourite fall and Halloween crafts we’ve done at home and daycare. They’re fun and easy for all ages — the cat is actually decorated by Alice!

(We have a wire strung across a wall in Lucy’s bedroom, and hang a lot of her artwork here with clothespins. The rest goes on the fridge, front door and in keepsake binders.)

Lucy is a craft-a-holic, created that way by her daycare provider’s love of art and my and my Mom’s creative sides.

This morning she wanted to do “a Dora craft” (when asked for elaboration, she replied, “pink and purple.” Thanks for clarifying that, you middle manager you), so we hopped on the computer for ideas.

And we found colouring pages! Tons of free, printable ones! And had to share our favourites:

• Dora colouring activites (here’s an Easter one)
• Yo Gabba Gabba (I *heart* DJ Lance, and am sad there isn’t one of him to colour and thumbtack to my bedroom wall)
• Funky Easter drawings (Lucy and I fell in love with the bunny)
• Strawberry Shortcake (my childhood hero)
• Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony

Punch any favourite cartoon into google with “colouring pages” and see what you can find. I feel like I’ve discovered a neverending world of fun…for Lucy, of course.

• Spooky Halloween food for kids: Some really cool ideas here, including a skeleton veggie n’ dip tray and jack-o-lantern layered dip 
• Best of Parent Hacks — Halloween: Tons of fabulous stuff for both before (new-sew costumes, how-to remove face paint, toddler-friendly jack-o-lantern decorating) and after (discounted costumes great for dress-up, candy in cookies, store Halloween books with decorations) the holiday
• Decorating and carving pumpkins: Oh, Martha, you and your fabulous jack-o-lantern ideas…
• Pumpkin desserts: Oh, Martha, you and your fabulous baking ideas…
• Pet costumes: Maybe spending more time doing Google image searches for these will send me into labour, because I’m killing myself laughing (especially because most of the animal faces read: “I am going to kill you in your sleep for making me do this”)
• Costco chocolate coins melamine tainted: Yep, some of the toxic milk products from China made it out through a big distributor. See details on Snopes and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

One of my new favourite sites is Simple Mom — I was drawn in by her tag line: Live simply, stay sane. Life hacks for home managers.

I love that term home manager. I think every mom needs business cards with that moniker…

Anyways, Tsh recently published a great list of cheap and free toys for the younger kid set, which I thought was awesome and really relevant with Christmas coming up. Has anyone else noticed the increase in toy commercials on television? *sigh*

I’ve modified her list below, and added our favourites from Chez McDougall-Foster. Got any to share from your house?

Read the rest of this entry »

Free safety booklet: Health Canada recently updated their informative pamphlet Is Your Child Safe, and it’s free for download here. It contains tips about products (cribs, gates, strollers), in-house safety and beyond (playgrounds, the car)

Priti: Lucy always notices my painted toe nails, but so far has yet to ask for the same. I can only imagine the time is near, and if had enough expendable income, I’d so pick up some of these — get this — toluene-, DBP- and formaldehyde-free nail polishes called Priti. The set also includes a soy nail polish remover that is 100% biodegradable and free of petroleum ingredients

Is it any less creepy if you only eat the torso?: Another great post from Cake Wrecks. “Someone’s having a baby! Let’s celebrate by eating one!”

Just a few pieces shy of a plastic bubble: Moving up the scale of germaphobia, we have “disposable sanitary hand covers” for kids. I’m not joking. “gLovies used to protect children in a variety of places and circumstances, including public restrooms, malls and supermarkets, zoos and amusement parks, medical facilities, public transportation, or wherever children may come into contact with germs.” You could save yourself $4.99 and just duct tape some plastic bags on your baby’s hands…

Printable games for the car: Free here, for any long-ish car ride

Local fair listings: Some of these have past, but this great list of Ontario Fairs is a neat weekend planning tool for summer and fall (Durham is district 4)

• One of my new favourite sites is called Cake Wrecks, “when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.” You are not going to believe the baby bum and redneck pregnancy cakes in this post
• California — the birth place of drive-throughs — is trying to ban fast food
• Closer to home, London, Ont., has banned the sale of bottled water in many government buildings including arenas and golf courses (yippee!)
• How to buy green gifts
• Totally, absolutely, insanely cool new crayons from old ones. You MUST check these out!
• The U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has declared Bisphenol A, or BPA — the chemical used in various plastic bottles and can linings that Health Canada recently banned, consumers in Arkansas, California, and Ohio have filed lawsuits over, and Playtex and Nalgene have stopped using — as safe

I’ve stumbled across a plethora of cool links the past few days that beg to be shared:

Homemade bubble recipe: I dunno about your kid, but Lucy, well, stinks at blowing bubbles. I always thought it was her (lack of) technique, but when our latest bottle wasn’t working for me, either, I came to realize the commercial stuff is crap. In the karma-tastic way the world works, this Mom Advice column landed in my inbox with a cheap (like, cheaper than $ store bubbles cheap) and super easy recipe for homemade bubbles that apparently rocked the socks of parents, kids and neighbours alike. This morning we finished up a jug of milk, and rinsed it out to mix this up later next week. Can’t wait — look for pics and a review soon!

Cupcake cups save the day (or at least the mess): Via Parent Hacks, a smart reader suggests poking a whole in paper cupcake liners, and sliding a Popsicle through — instant drip catcher! Brilliant. And they can be composted.

How to get dinner on the table after work, with kids under foot: Via Ask Moxie, tons of parents offer tips on how they feed the fam in those rushed hours after getting home.

Gearhead Mom: It’s Big Sibling week, and author Missy is reviewing all sorts of neat stuff for soon-to-be and current big sisters and brothers. We definitely want to have a special gift for Lucy when the Parasite2 arrives, so I’m loving reading these. Check out all Gearhead Mom’s down-to-Earth reviews, too.

• The top 10 things kids stick up their noses, including how to get them out

• Saving at the supermarket: 15 great grocery store tips

• Managing clutter with baby toy alternatives from around the house, part 1 and part 2 — love the paintbrush idea!

I’ve spent an eye-crossing amount of time updating and adding to the links section the past week or so. They desperately needed to be done to preserve my sanity, and also in response to what Mr. Google says people are looking for (namely: stuff to do, places to go, and birthday party centres — all for Durham).

Things are now split into what I hope are easier-to-navigate categories for y’all:

Durham links: The main entrance, also found on the right-hand toolbar over there, and directly above, under the logo

Places to play: Municipal recreation programs, indoor gyms, dance, birthday party centres

Stuff to do: Get out of the house with grown-ups (including, of course, Durham Mom’s Night Out!), Early Years Centres, public libraries, event listings, travel/tourism links

Durham daycare/nannies: Places to find childcare, resources

Safety and support: Recalls, breastfeeding, car seat safety checks, postpartum depression, parenting etc.

Local businesses and mompreneurs: List of consignment stores, baby gear, online sales, local entrepreneurs

Health: Labour, fitness, beauty

Fave Canadian retailers: The Eh! online stores we love the best

Coming soon: Baby shows, crafts and photography. Got any to add?

Have a site you love you want listed? A category to suggest? Business to add? Leave a comment or drop me an email. These are ever-expanding.

Enjoy!