Ask Holly: Nest Pendant for Mother’s Day

BY  |  Wednesday, May 08, 2013 11:30am  |  COMMENTS (1)

nest pendant

Nest: A place in which young are reared; a lair.

Our nest is the first place we bring our babies to, the haven our children seek refuge after a tough day at school, a resting place when returning home after college finals or simply our voice or arms when our children, no matter how old they are, need us.  A perfect symbol summing up the beauty of motherhood.

These nest pendants are an easy lovely gift to make for any mother. You can personalize it by putting the amount of eggs (beads) for each child your mother has. Eggs can represent grandchildren, nieces, nephews, step-children or godchildren. You could also represent each child by using a bead in the color of their birthstone.

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Ask Holly: Silly Meals for April Fools’ Day

BY  |  Monday, Apr 01, 2013 12:30pm  |  COMMENTS (1)

april fool open

Need a quick and easy April Fools’ Day gag to play on your kids tonight? These pranks will have your kids singing, “Mom is great. She makes us meat cake!” Seriously my six year old stopped between bites of his “cake” and said, “Mommy this is so good you should put it on Badeestanet!”

Here are a few  quick ideas that  you can throw together in no time and although they may look nasty my kids went cuckoo for loco puffs over them. Looking for more gags to play on your family? Click here to see how I Pity the April Fool.

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Ask Holly: Everything Carrots for Easter

BY  |  Wednesday, Mar 27, 2013 12:00pm  |  COMMENTS (1)

carrot open 3

When I was a kid, you didn’t eat a carrot without putting the end in the side of your mouth and saying, “Ehhhh—What’s up doc?” It’s tragic that kids today don’t even know who Bugs Bunny is. For Easter this year, in a nod to my favorite bunny—Bugs—I decided to go carrot crazy!

Here are three simple projects that would be cute as part of any Easter celebration or would also work for a bunny themed party. So here we go ,”Yoiks!, and Away!”

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Easter Round-Up 2013

BY  |  Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 9:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Chocolate Nutella Cake

Easter is this Sunday, March 31. We’ve put together a round-up of our Easter stories through the years. We also have a great Everything Easter board on Pinterest that has great food, crafts and decor ideas. Be sure to check it out!

Here is our Easter Round up of events, crafts, recipes, and more:

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Ask Holly: Fun New Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs

BY  |  Thursday, Mar 21, 2013 12:30pm  |  COMMENTS (3)

Fun New Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs

This week the long-eared-cotton-tail-gods have smiled upon me and have shown me a better way to decorate Easter eggs without dyeing them using those Alka Seltzer-like tablets. You know, the ones the kids fight about, the pink one that turns out to be the red one, and the blue one is cracked in the package and is now all over your fingers.

No more! All you need is a little $4 package of food color and vinegar, but that’s not even the best part. Not only do you not have to buy that egg dye kit every year, but if you buy the set of McCormick food color (we love the NEON!) they give you mixing color recipes right on the back of the box. You can make green apple, apricot, dusty rose etc. and they kids love making their own colors. Don’t put those dyes too far out of reach as I have a doozy of a fun project for them next week!

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Ask Holly: Woven Duct Tape Valentine

BY  |  Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013 4:00pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

dtape vday open

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so if your kids only have time to make one special valentine for their teacher, special friend etc. this Woven Duct Tape Valentine is an excellent choice. Tested and highly approved by the 3rd-5th graders in my after school Duct Tape Madness class. The kids loved learning to weave as well as adding as many special creative touches on and in the back pocket. Continue Reading

Ask Holly: A Valentine’s Day Party

BY  |  Thursday, Feb 07, 2013 9:00am  |  COMMENTS (1)

vdayopen 2

Need to warm your child’s heart this weekend? A simple Valentine’s Day party might be the quickest easiest at home party you can throw. It’s as easy as inviting over a handful of children, asking them to dress in red or pink and having them make Valentines for their parents or teachers. Grab some pink and red table clothes, napkins and plates at the party store, serve some cup cakes and tea and ask the other parents to bring a festive snack.

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Barista Kids Valentine’s Day Round-Up 2013

BY  |  Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 2:15pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

Valentine’s Day is in less than a month away, so in order to give you a head start on class cards, crafts, tips, recipes and more, we’ve rounded up our past V-day posts:

 

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Ask Holly: A Snowman Kit

BY  |  Wednesday, Jan 09, 2013 8:00am  |  COMMENTS (7)

We have all been there—the first big snow of the season comes and the kids want to make a snowman/woman/creation. There you are digging though your refrigerator crisper wondering if this snow-person is worth of using up your organic carrots and edamame. “Would arugula make nice snow hair?” you think out loud. “How about a semi-ripe banana for a nose?” Next you start to dig through the hats and gloves wondering if you might have a top hat. Then you remember it’s not 1912, so of course you don’t. The kids are buggin’ to get rollin’ and you break down and shout, “IF ONLY I HAD A PRE-MADE SNOWMAN KIT!”

One pre-made Snowman Kit coming up!

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Ask Holly: Holiday Card Wreath

BY  |  Friday, Jan 04, 2013 10:00am  |  COMMENTS (3)

LOVE: Getting loads of cute holiday cards and pictures
HATE: Throwing them away
SOLUTION: Make a holiday card wreath!

The best part of this project is you can hang these wreaths up all winter. Then hang them up again next year. Make one with all pictures or group cards for a winter theme in January or a Christmas theme for next year. Add more pictures every year or start  new one:

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