Homemade Father's Day cards are always great...whether they're first scribbles, or done with crayon, marker, finger-painting...as long as they're not done on the living room walls, they're a masterpiece ;). This year I remembered a craft book from my childhood, and found the exact thing on Amazon, so that I could replicate it with my kiddos!

This book is a gem - it takes you through simple animals and people step-by-step, so that even toddlers can make fun creations. And I use washable stamp pads, since I know we can get a little carried away, but don't want to stop the fun to wash hands (a wipe works great for quick clean ups while switching colors on a finger)!

The options are limitless, but here are a few that we did:

...we might be sending them to every "dad" we know...it was hard to stop once we started! And of course, this was my favorite touch:

A little heart made by both girls on the backs of the cards :). Happy Father's Day to all of the fantastic dads out there! 

We've been spending more and more time outside lately - enough that I've been daydreaming about a little playhouse in the backyard to provide shade during the hottest part of the day. But I'd rather add more green to my yard than more toys...which made me remember the sunflower fort my grandpa made for us when we were little! It was more fun than any other playhouse we had growing up - and if these tutorials can be trusted, quite easy to make!

There are also cute bean pole teepees that grow very quickly:

And it can be done with any plant that likes to grow on a trellis!

I think this would be such a fun way to get children interested in gardening!

You all know that I love a good cactus at this point (see exhibit A and B!). And while the real things are so good, there are some super cute fake ones that I think would be great for projects/favors at a party for kids! 

Like these little felt ones - the dots are the perfect touch!

Or this amazing paper garden:

Or this adorable pom pom version:

Or for some that could actually "live" outside (with the right paint): a rock garden!

Our youngest, Livia, is currently in a teeny-tiny little nursery. She doesn't need anything bigger right now, but I do want it to look like a cozy little girl's room, instead of the office/huge closet it might have been before we moved in :). I've always loved the wallpapered ceiling in these two rooms:

via 

via

Like I said, her room is tiny, and the walls aren't exactly square, so I wasn't confident about tackling a wallpaper project on the ceiling. I had stenciled a wall with the same style star in her big sister's room in another house, but my shoulders were aching just thinking of painting at that angle! So...I cheated. Big time.

I just used wall decals! I found some that were the right size on Amazon, and once they arrived, all I had to do was measure and mark where they'd go on the ceiling. You want to create an even spacing between all of them, and I found it easiest to work in rows to stay on track (even with the odd angles in the room). 

They're metallic and catch the light in a lovely way - Liv is always talking and pointing at them when I get her up in the morning now!

It was such a quick and easy addition to her little room - my favorite kind of makeover!