diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

Shelly

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Making Creativity the Norm for Kids

With the new year came lots of talk of eating healthy, organizing, schedules and goals. I’ve been focusing on Less Stuff, More Fun and choosing experiences over things. With that comes activities that are free that we can do by exploring our city or experiencing at home. Sophia, our four year old, has been getting very interested in coloring. There are no less than six coloring sheets coming home each day from the Y or school. I want to help her by making creativity the norm around our home. Being DIY Mama, you know I have ALL the craft stuff and we pull them out often but I want to do it in a more guided educational way. Cue Encouraging Creative Kids (affiliate link) e-course by Elise. Elise shared a code with me to take this course for free because I was so passionate about the topic.

craft organization

Elise’s course helps parents by  having a guide to start making creativity a habit in their family’s lives. The piece that really resonated with me was saying ‘YES’ when our kids ask to do something creative. A lot of the time my thoughts automatically turn to ‘no, because it’s too messy, I’m making dinner, we’ll do it on the weekend when there’s more time etc.’ Always an excuse but no real reason for it. I want to be ‘YES Mom’ when it comes to encouraging creativity in my daughter. I will be doing a series on the blog with the different crafts we create as we go through the course.

Encouraging Creative Kids

If you want to join along with me, check out her course video and see what it’s all about. The course is laid out nicely with an introduction followed by getting the supplies organized (and easily accessible for kids), working art into daily life and continues to  go through several key topics like where to store all the art they create and educating along the way while you do art side by side.

Gen Con with Kids

Valentines_Heart_Garland_Cards (1 of 1)

Each day during the summer Sophia and I worked on a craft to teach her the alphabet and she loved it. I miss doing bigger crafts with her and am excited to making crafting a habit again. I loved crafting before she was born but had the feeling it was ‘too much’ while she was a baby. I’m ready to bring creativity back as a hobby! Follow along with #creativekidsecourse

Here are a few links to crafts I’ve done with Sophia so far:

Halloween Ghost Toddler Shirt

Tie Dye With Your Toddler

Valentines Day Heart Garland

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creativity in kids

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The Gift of Experiences

Today is my 33rd Birthday. For me, it’s a number. I’ve never been worried about my age or getting older, it’s just something that happens. I am a big fan of having others celebrate and make a big fuss over me on my birthday. This year I’m asking for the gift of experiences rather than things.

gift of experiences

On my 30th Birthday my friends and family orchestrated the most beautiful celebration of my life and goals. I’d written a post called 35 by 35 that outlined a bucket list of things I wanted to experience by 35. They pooled together to get me 30 separately wrapped gifts that were tools to help me achieve those items on my bucket list. It was special to me because I was in another state and unable to be with them on my big day.

I was also a heavy consumer at the time. It’s embarrassing to look back and see how frivolous my husband and I were at spending our money. To be honest, spending the money we didn’t physically have.

modern diy house tour
The home we built in Illinois

We built a home outside of our budget, bought all the top notch baby gear when Soph was born and ordered things on a whim daily on Amazon. If there was a want for something, we bought it. It became a habit over the years and took us until we moved to Indy to realize what a disease that consumption was on our lives.

And now, we’re paying for it.

The Grass is Always Greener

You wouldn’t be able to tell by the way we live. We still have our nice cars, our nice home filled with nice things, our daughter that goes to the best school and photos of our vacations up on Facebook.

We were living like 90% of Americans who thought they were entitled to wrack up debt for their high standard of living. When we lived in IL we were in the top 1% financially but spent that money like we were Millionaires.

We took a massive paycut when we moved to IN and it jolted us to reality of how selfish and inappropriately we had been spending.

Fall Fun at Piney Acres

The Gift of Experiences

As we try to chip away at our debt and feel like we have a slight glimmer at the end of the tunnel we decide to have another baby. We don’t want Sophia to be too far apart in age from her sibling. And THIS is where I realize there is no more light at the end of that tunnel. Thankfully, I also realize that there is NOTHING else that we need. Nothing.

We will obviously still be paying for diapers and consumables but all of the other baby necessities we already own. We own everything we need for our homes to cook, clean and be entertained. At this point, there’s nothing that I even want.

Our favorite local spot- Conner Prairie

Less stuff, more fun

That is why I’m asking for the gift of experiences for my Birthday from now on. Less stuff, more fun. Time spent with my loved ones or a chance to spend time somewhere fun with my family. Movie tickets, restaurant tickets, Disney World gift certificates or just a date on my calendar with someone special that I care about. The gift of their time is the greatest gift someone can give.

What are your thoughts on asking for experiences over physical objects? It’s a hard concept for a lot of people to understand.

Related Posts to The Gift of Experiences:

Less Stuff, More Fun

Less Stuff, More Fun

Keys to Motivation

Keys to Motivation

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Less Stuff, More Fun

Last year’s words were ‘minimal’ and ‘health’. I did much better at learning and applying the minimal lifestyle, although I am still a novice. This year’s word is ‘mindful‘ and with that comes being mindful of what footprint I am contributing to this Earth. In 2018 I will focus on 12 months of less stuff, more fun by being intentional with what I’m bringing into our home and what will be going out.

less stuff

Reasons why I’m choosing Less is More

  1. Budgeting for Baby- We’re expecting our second baby in July (yay!) Although we’ve saved a lot of the big purchases from when Sophia was born, there are still consumables and doctors bills that we will be adding to our budgeting sheet.
  2. My Values- I got hooked on The Minimalists when their documentary came out on Netflix and have been an avid listener to their podcast ever since. Their recipe for intentional living is one that I am applying more closely to my life.
  3. Organization- Did you know I do personal organizing as a side hustle? I have a car magnet and everything. I became passionate in helping others organize because I could see the benefits in my own life. There are tidiers and scrubbers (as Young House Love says) and I am a tidier. I have issues with anxiety when things are not clear from surfaces. I also realize that with less stuff there is less mess!
  4. My Impact- We recycle, leave the heat/AC at a reasonable temp, use smart appliances, use stainless steel straws, have one high efficiency vehicle yadda yadda yadda. There is SO MUCH more we could be doing. I will never live a zero waste lifestyle like my friend Polly but I can really get behind the movement and do what I can to come closer. It starts with less.

I know that once July hits my mind will be begging for nothing but sleep but that will pass and I’ll be feeling the itch to consume. I’ll be replacing that itch with travel. I’m doing a series on the blog this year of One Tank Trips from Indy and am excited to choose fun over things.

2017 adventures

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I want to be Mindful

It’s that magical time of year when you’re allowed to wipe the slate clean and start fresh with the new year. I’ve done monthly goals, yearly goals and words of the year. This past year I had two areas to focus on. Health and being more minimal. I was successful in the latter with being more conscious of the things coming into my home as well as the things going out. This year I’ve written 1-3 goals in each of the three areas of my life (family, self and work). Although I have goals, which I use more as guidelines, I’m going to focus on one word that will touch every aspect of my life.

Mindful

My word for 2018 is ‘Mindful’. I will be focusing my thoughts on being more mindful towards myself and others.

Self- We are expecting a baby in July and my biggest priority will be to be mindful of my body. To exercise, nourish the baby and pay attention when my body is telling me to slow down.

Family- I want to be more in tune with my daughter since we will be having an addition to the family making sure she feels helpful and heard.

Work- Two things I’ve had to learn and re-learn over the past 4 years of having this blog: 1. Have high standards but low expectations.
2. Consistency with valuable content is key.
I want to be mindful of these two main lessons and let the numbers fall where they will. I’ve lost passion for blogging because of the focus on numbers, algorithms and trying to keep up with the changes. This year I’m focusing on my two key lessons.

Others- be mindful of others in my community and around the world. Keep them in mind when things get too self-centered. When I’m active in the community with volunteering or being aware of how others think/feel I’m much more compassionate and thoughtful.

Will you be doing goals or using a word to keep your focus in 2018? Haven’t gotten on board yet because you’re too busy? Jan 1 is not a magical number. Do it whenever it feels right to you!

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Wood Growth Chart

Hi friends! I’m super excited to share this tutorial with you because it was inexpensive, easy and fun! I love learning new crafting techniques and I learned how to do wood burning for this diy wood growth chart project.

wood-growth-chartGrowing up we had a growth chart that I have fond memories of being measured on. My parents now have a growth chart for the grandkids that I think is super cute. I wanted to have a hardy growth chart that we’d be able to take with us when we move and that might last through our grandkids.

stainMaterials Needed:

  • 8x8x1 Wood Board (we used Poplar because we liked the grain)
  • Stain
  • T-shirt or Cloth
  • Foam Brush or Large Paint Brush
  • Measuring Tape
  • Cricut or Number Stencil
  • Cardstock
  • Wood Burning Tool
  • Metal Straight Edge

stainedStain your wood according to the directions on your stain. Here’s a sneak peak of the board I stained for Sophie’s latch board.

practiceYou’ll want to practice writing with the wood burning tool unless you’ve used one before. I read and watched a few tutorials before getting started and practiced on the excess wood we cut off the board (to make it 5 ft.)

measure1Depending on how precise you want your growth chart, mark out the numbers with a pencil as a guide for when you burn.

cricutI used my Cricut Explore to cut out my numbers stencil. I liked making my stencil with the Cricut because the font options were endless. I looked for a font that was somewhat modern and didn’t have any extra curves or flourishes. You could also print out numbers using Word or find a stencil at a craft store.

number-stencilI used our metal straight edge to mark out every half foot on the board. I eyeballed where I thought the numbers looked best and lightly traced them with a pencil.

mistake1As always, I made mistakes, which is why I use pencils! I wrote the number on the wrong dash but the pencil markings came off perfectly.

IMG_6200If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen this monstrosity. I wore it while I burned because I thought the burning of the stained wood would give me cancer. I think any chemicals will give me cancer so this mask isn’t necessary…just a precaution.

wood-burningThe thing I learned with the woodburning was to try to go as even paced as possible. I also figured out that the tip cools down as you have it on the wood surface. It starts out really hot and burns easily and as you drag along the wood, it looses heat, which causes a skinnier line. It was helpful to do the burning in small sections and letting the tool re-heat for a few seconds in between.

measure-sophI attached the board with industrial strength velcro. It may rip the paint off when we leave but we didn’t want to risk the board falling since it’s on a wall between two doors. Sophie liked feeling the grooves in the numbers and is 31 inches!

Do you have a special place to measure your kids or do you remember being measured growing up? Have you done a wood burning project before? Have any tips or techniques to share on being a master wood burner? I’m excited to do more projects with my new tool…perhaps as Christmas presents!

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