Enjoying the Small Things

Enjoying the Small Things

Summer Fairy Houses

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This post is sponsored by Stonyfield.

Hello from Northern Michigan! We made it to my dad’s cabin after a 5-day road trip here and are now safely tucked into the woods with our family, stashing away summer memories in our favorite place. We brought books and crafts and twinkle lights–the Holy Trinity for summers up north.

A few years ago, we started a tradition making fairy houses, an idea born from a little box I found by the lake several years ago. “Fairies” was written in fat black marker, and the box had been left next to the dock steps by an unknown kindred spirit who believes in the kind of summer magic I love. In previous years, I’ve ordered milk cartons to make our fairy houses, but this year we were resourceful and reused the packaging from our favorite Stonyfield yogurt pouches, a treat we’ve been enjoying for years. I always have them in the refrigerator for lunches (especially when I was packing lunches), but they’ve been such a great on-the-go treat for summer as well (the pontoon cooler is full of them :).

My favorite is the Pear Spinach Mango pouches. They’re perfect for making fairy houses because A: Recycle, Reuse!, and B: they’re waterproof, so you can leave the outside. We went ahead and used the Stonyfield box the pouches came in for an added building in our fairy village, but the box won’t last as long as the pouches.

My kids LOVE this tradition, especially because our fairy house creation day always ends with a special surprise. Once we set up the houses in the garden, the kids sprinkle glitter around the fairy houses to lure the fairies in (they fly so fast, you need something sparkly to catch their eyes!). When we aren’t looking, they swoop in to the houses and leave candy treats.

Here’s how we made our fairy village:

After we enjoyed our yogurt, I rinsed out all the pouches (you’ll want to get all the yogurt residue out if you’re going to leave them outside so they don’t bring in critters), dried them and then spread them out (along with the box they came in) on a tarp. We spray painted them with a base color. I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the caps on or not, so I left them at first but ended up cutting them off when they dried. To keep the pouches sturdy and weight them down so they stand up well on the ground, you can funnel a little sand or dirt in them after the paint dries.

Then the fun part begins. We used craft paint, some silk flowers, Sharpie markers, a package of moss I picked up at a craft store, a few little butterflies and dragonflies, and this amazing kit of fairy decorations that has plenty of enough supplies for a large group of kids to make their fairy houses (we had lots left over).

And then the kids went to town with the glue gun.

They turned out so cute!

The best part…glitter magic.

The fairies came later in the evening, leaving lollipops and chocolates.

The fairies now have their own little village in the garden, and we have lots more Stonyfield yogurt to carry us through our summer adventures. The pouches are great for road trips too because no mess! We’re also big fans of their smoothie pouches. And, as always, all Stonyfield products are made without the use of toxic persistent pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics or GMOs. You can find Stonyfield products at most supermarkets and natural food stories.

Want to Join Nella’s Wand Club? A Simple Ribbon Wand D.I.Y. that Promises Delight

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It’s been three years now since Nella fell in love with a ribbon wand that became her signature accessory. Rarely is she seen without it at home. We are immune to its presence now, an extension of her we hardly notice anymore. In fact, I laughed looking through photos the other day as it shows up in every picture–even our family Christmas card photo, and I didn’t even realize it was there. I still get asked lots of questions about her wand from new people on social media. Here is the story of the wand if you didn’t know. She has an innate sense of when holding it is appropriate and, on her own, throws it in the car as she steps out at carline to go to school every morning. She hands it to me if I drop her off at play dates and can go without it when needed. She usually makes that call on her own.

But it’s clear that the wand brings her joy, and we love that.

We’ve bought so many wands over the past few years, have received them as gifts from friends, and yes–she has favorites and rotates them for different feelings and occasions. It makes us as happy to give her a new wand as it does for her to receive it, so we are always looking for ways to create new designs that will delight her.

Want to join the Wand Club? Nella’s the president, of course, but I’m a certified recruiter; and I have a whole spiel I can breathlessly deliver about the beauty of ribbon wands to sell you on them and lure you into our club. These wands promote delight and imagination and movement and creative expression and rhythm and color and childhood happiness, and it’s all contained in a sweet little stick you can make with a few things you probably have at home. These are also really fun to give away for sweet personalized birthday gifts (or Valentine’s Day!).

What you need:

Dowel Rods (we like the 3/8 inch ones and find 10-packs of them at Walmart)
Screw Eyes
Ribbon (we’ve also used lace, yarn, pom pom ribbon, etc.)

Optional: Acrylic paint, spray paint or wood stain for painting the sticks; felt and needle & thread for covering the screw eye and adding a little decoration on the end.

Instructions:

If you want to fancy up the stick part of your wand, you can paint or stain the dowel rod first. Last year, we made a batch of rich dark-stained wands which were beautiful. You can also spray paint them and then tape off stripes and add another color. You could even yarn-bomb the stick to get really fancy.

Push and twist the screw eye into the center of one end of the dowel rod until tight and secure. We used to drill a little hole first until I realized if you push hard enough, you can screw it in yourself without help. Loop as many ribbon strands as you wish into the eye and tie a knot to secure. If the knot is too bulky with multiple strands of ribbon, you can also fold over the edge of the ribbon and secure with hot glue instead.

That’s all you need for a basic ribbon wand, but we’ve gotten fancy with all these wands we’ve created and are always looking for ways to impress Nella with something new and interesting. Lately, we’ve sewn felt embellishments on the wand end which also disguises the screw eye. Cut two matching hearts (or any shape) out of felt. Add a little glue to secure one felt shape under the top of the wand and one over it so the end of the wand is sandwiched between them.

Stitch the two shapes together around the edge to secure.

Nella loves choosing her own ribbon combinations.

Now we’re just going to have to build a wand rack to store and display her collection.

Happy Twirling!

This Will Make Your Summer 2019 Unforgettable!

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The countdown has begun whether you know it or not. The days, the hours, the exact number of minutes left until summer begins is being counted by those who yearn for the magic and delight the summer months deliver–the scent of grill smoke wafting through neighborhoods; the night chorus of crickets; the thrill of catching the ice cream truck, landing the perfect cannonball in the pool, twirling a sparkler through the night sky to write your name.

Sparkler

No season stirs the magic and wonder of childhood bliss quite like summer and yet, for many, it can also elicit immediate stress–No school! No routine! Long days of entertaining kids, lining up camps and–Dear God–spending sixteen hours in the car trapped with your family on the way to the National Park visit that looked so dreamy when you booked it last November. And then there’s Pinterest Patty, your smiley neighbor whose World’s Best Summer Mom posts keep popping up in Facebook, stressing you out even more. Is it really necessary to build a market farm stand two months in advance in preparation to sell bakery goods in your driveway at the neighborhood garage sale? No, it’s not. Do you miss the feeling of your youth when you wanted summer to last forever, when scoring the last blue raspberry Otter Pop in the box was the pinnacle of summer happiness?

Regardless of how we’ve grown or how life has changed–more kids, full-time jobs, less energy, tighter budget, challenging circumstances, distinguished “spark”–the magic and possibility of summer still exists, buried in every square on the calendar that officially constitutes the season, there for us when we want to revisit Never Land. I’m here to tell you, “You can fly!”

Summer is my favorite, and I’ve been fortunate to enjoy so many summers adventuring with my kids. I feel like I’m 10 years old again come June, lost in a storybook of sensory experiences and potential for fun and meaningful memories. I completely understand the overwhelm of summer though and know that we all have our areas of inspiration. Summer memory making happens to be one of mine, and I want to share it in a way that can help bring magic to your summer. So I’ve been making something for you, and I’m thrilled to offer it to you today for presale, 25% off!.

Once Upon a Summer is something I’ve been dreaming about since last summer–a compilation of summer inspiration, easily accessed in a digital document, to help you find ideas, tips, crafts, activities, motivation, creative enthusiasm and pure happiness in the simple celebrations summer offers whether they be in the backseat of a car on a long road trip, in a living room fort at the end of a tiresome workday, or in a quiet moment in nature. We, of course, don’t owe our kids “magic” or “storybook” because they are equipped with their own imagination and creativity to make summer adventures on their own. So this isn’t about over-the-top effort or mom guilt for what we aren’t doing. On the contrary, this guide is just as much about you having fun and loving summer as it is about offering something to your kids. It’s meant to be an invitation, not an obligation. You don’t have to be a Pinterest Patty, you just have to love having fun.

You can print an ink budget-friendly version or scroll through the complete PDF, stitched with images that will evoke all your summer senses. I can’t wait to share this with you and consequently spend the summer with you, adventuring together through the magic these months hold.

Pre-order now for a 25% discount! (It’s only $9 right now!)