Earth Day

As rain days begin to give way to warmer weather one can't help but feel that Spring is finally here to stay. And since the seasons are changing it's also time to switch up the decor. Out with the frosted glass votives, in with the daffodils in milk glass.

Shadow puppets can make anyone look cool. They maneuver easily and hey, shadows rock. Marionettes, on the other hand, are just a tad bit more tricky. My past experiences usually end up in a tangled mess of knotted yarn and puppet appendages and mommy accidentally dropping the "S" word a few times trying to undo the mess. I don't even like to attend puppet shows where marionettes are the featured stars.

Cassi from The Crafty Crow has been doing a bang-up job dedicating the month of April to kid-friendly trash to treasure projects in honor of Earth Day.

Earth Day 2010 is a little over a week away. To get the celebration going try one of these super-rad repurposing ideas for giving dried out markers a 2nd life from Beth of Mommy on a Shoestring. In her post she shares with us how to squeeze a little extra magic out of markers you'd normally toss by transforming them into a pen and pencil holder or, my personal favorite, a jumprope...Yes, you heard right, I said jumprope (Texaco anyone?).

As soon as Easter is over Earth Day will be here. And it's a big one this year...Earth Day number 40 to be exact. Why not impress the kids and get a jump start on the greening with this clever idea from Chronicle Books for turning your empty egg shells into seedling containers.

Chronicle Books:

Another year, another spring. Time to begin thinking how your garden will grow. Sharing this with your mini farmer couldn't be more rewarding. Think of all the goodness that comes from teaching kids to garden. From the care and attention paid to planting the seeds to the overwhelming excitement over the first sprouts there's so much to be experienced.

This carton wallet tutorial from Family Fun is one of those cool DIYs I've been meaning to craft with my 9 year old son for the longest time. First, we don't drink juice unless we're hosting a brunch for friends so we never see to have a spare carton and second when we do get one we never seem to carve up enough time to do it!

The time has come to accept defeat and face the fact that not matter how many times I cancel a catalog from being delivered to my home it always seems to work it's way back into my mailbox. Although most are tossed directly into the recycle bin out of sheer disgust at having my request ignored so many time, there are a few I still daydream over.

It's not often you'd allow your precious little one to play with a broken light bulb, or even a whole light bulb for that matter. However, when it's covered in layers of thick newspaper mache and colorful tissue paper and the sweet jingling-jangling sound forces you to rumba then perhaps, maybe let the kid have at it. Courtney from Babyccino has posted a magnificent tutorial for making homemade maracas. This project is as awesome as it is resourceful.

Despite my best efforts to bring enough reusable canvas bags with me when I go grocery shopping I always end up with a plastic bag or two either because I neglected to catch the bagger in time to tell him I really don't need a whole bag for three bananas or I spy some deal I can't pass up...I mean, who really needs 10 cans Hunt's Pasta Sauce? Apparently I think I do.