I have always been intrigued by dreamcatchers. I grew up in the Southwest so I saw tons of them over the years and always thought they were astoundingly beautiful. They are essentially a hoop or web adorned with sacred items such as feathers and beads and are believed to filter bad dreams away. This video from the folks at Mode shares a DIY dreamcatcher with some added Glam. I love that most of the items could easily be found second hand at yard sales. I’ve seen embroidery hoops, lace, feathers on cheapy decor, beads, costume jewelry ect. at yard sales and estate sales that would all work well for a crafty project with the kids making dreamcatchers. Enjoy!

I adore mason jars. We use them for drink glasses. We use them for pantry storage. We use them for home decor. They are high quality, they last, and they take me back to my farm girl roots. The fact that you can buy them for cheap at thrift stores is another big bonus! If you are into mason jar crafting and mason jar gifting then you will love these three ideas in the video below. I love the idea of using cheapy plastic toys you can pick up at garage sales for pennies and using them as jar toppers. I also love the frosted bunny design for Easter. Enjoy!

The following is a guest post from Nikki at Green Moxie. She is sharing with us a DIY, upcycle project that is worthy of a million Pinterest pins. I adore the finished product and no doubt I will be looking for lovely teacups and saucers at estate sales and flea markets for making of my own teacups lights. Enjoy!!

I grew up in a tea-drinking family and I have always loved the delicacy of teacups. If you have some you particularly like, turn them into these gorgeous teacup lights. It’s not as difficult as you may think and it should only take you about an hour to create these cute little lamps which are just my cup of tea. They also make really great gifts.

What you need

• Cup and saucer
• Pencil
• 1/2-inch diamond hole saw drill bit Upcycling ideas teacup lamp
• Drill
• Chandelier light fitting
• 1/2-inch steel threaded lamp nipple with matching nut
• Wire
• Plug
• Screw driver
• Wire cutters
• Gloves and safety glasses

Turn your cup and saucer over and mark the center with a pencil. Put on the gloves and safety glasses before using the drill. Pour a little water over the bottom of the cup and place the drill bit on your pencil mark at a 45 degree angle. Slowly start to drill into the bottom. Drill slowly and don’t apply too much pressure until you have a hole in the bottom of your cup. Now do the same with the saucer.

This is the kind of 1/2-inch diamond hole saw drill bit I use:

Put the cup and saucer together and slide the steel threaded lamp nipple through them. Use the wire cutters to cut a length of wire and feed it through the steel threaded lamp nipple. Split the wire and strip 1/2 inch of plastic coating off the ends of the wire that are on the inside of the cup. Use the screw driver to loosen the screws on both sides of the chandelier fitting. Wind one wire around each screw and tighten. You can put either wire on either screw. Try to find a light socket that will accept the same thread size and pitch as the threaded lamp nipple, and screw the lamp socket on to one end, the end inside the tea cup.

This is the kind of steel threaded lamp nipple I use:

This is the kind of chandelier fitting I use:

Pass the nut over the other end of the wire and screw it down onto the exposed threaded pipe at the bottom of the saucer. Tighten until the whole lamp fitting is secured. Strip 1/2 inch of rubber shielding off the two loose ends of the wire. Use the screwdriver to loosen the screws on the plug and open it up. Loosen the screws inside the plug. Wrap one wire (either one) around each screw and then tighten. Put the plastic cover back on the plug and tighten the screws.

Screw a bulb into the chandelier light fixture, plug in your light and voila! Great idea!

Like this DIY? Buy the book! Greenmoxie’s Guide to Green Living contains over 80 DIYs, recipes and tips on how to live greener and leaner. Learn to make fun upcycling crafts and furniture, make your own cleaning products, grow your own food and make all your own beauty products from face creams to mascara.

School starts back up in just a couple weeks. This means that bed times need to come back down to a reasonable hour… aka no more Lego building until 1:00 in the morning. You hear that dear daughter????

It also means that I am getting antsy about sending my youngest to Kindergarten. I want the transition to be as easy as possible and that is a tall order for a child who doesn’t do well with change. He will be leaving his previous school (preschool) and going to the same school as his older sister. He will be riding the bus and will be expected to find his way to his classroom each day. He will also be in a classroom with “typical” children and I am petrified that his autism will make him the odd one out. We have been down that road already with our oldest and it is no fun. I am seriously tempted to go to his school the first day and grab someone by the shirt collar and demand they do right by this child since they so royally messed the job up last time. Sigh…

Anyway, to get him ready for school I have been doing some schoolish activities with him so that we can discuss what is coming. One of those activities has been a daily painting time. Since he loves to paint he is more receptive to all this talk about a new school. We have been using, and thoroughly enjoying, Earth Paint.

When I go to a craft store to buy paint I usually stick with ones that I know are safe bets, like Tempura. I just don’t know what is inside some of the other paints and I don’t want to risk bringing something toxic into the house. And yet even the “safe” paints are big fats failures on the sustainability front. This is why I have deferred to ordering plant based paints online. We have a brand that we have used for years and have been quite happy with it. Even so I was equally happy to try Earth Paint and give it a thorough test run.

What I like most about Earth Paint: The colors are rich and true to nature. They are not glossy, overly bright colors that scream “came from a bottle.” The red is not the screaming red you would see on finger nail polish but rather the darker, deeper red you would find in berries. It just bothers me to see paintings of trees where the green used to do the leaves looks like it is a shade away from neon. These are the real colors of nature because they actually come from nature.

The kit you see in the photos is comprised of organic, eco-friendly paint made from natural earth pigments (pure clay). The naturally colored clay is collected from the ground, dried, crushed and sifted into pure pigment. When you mix a bit of water with the six powdered colors you get a super creamy paint that is similar to tempera. Or you can thin it out with even more water to create watercolor like effects. We found it super easy to mix and use. Mixing was half the fun in fact.

You can use it on paper of course but also things like wood, rocks, fabric, etc. The other plant based paints we have used could not boast this because their paints were/are significantly thinner and more like watercolors. We may end painting some rocks and sticks again this week, using Earth Paints. That was lots of fun but the techno colors of that project bothered me. These natural colors would look gorgeous I think.

This Made in the USA kit contains:

• Six colors of hand-crafted earth paints – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown (makes 120 oz. of paint when mixed!)
• Six biodegradable mixing cups (bio-plastic)
• An Earth Paints booklet with mixing instructions, nature-based art activities, information about the use of earth paints in ancient times, and more

*All reusable packaging that is 100% Post Consumer Recycled and biodegradable

Our family was grateful to stumble upon what is likely our new favorite natural paint. We give Earth Paints an A++. The oil paint kit is next on our list of products we need to try…a Christmas gift perhaps?

Many thanks to Earth Paint for sending us the kit to review!

Painting rocks? How fun can that be and why would you want to do it?

Well, today kicks off Screen Free Week. This week is dedicated to turning off various forms of media and turning on real life activities. Every year this event rolls around and many families either turn off their electronics for the week or they reduce the time spent pursuing those activities. We generally do the latter because we don’t actually spend that much time watching TV…though computers are a different story. At an rate I would have a mutiny on my hands if I just flat out said no electronics, but coming up with fun, TV free activities that get them away from these devices without them even noticing is much easier.

One of those activities we did recently was to paint sticks and rocks. It is a completely simple project that gets them outside and handling nature. It is also unique enough and fun enough to keep them interested. We spent about 1-2 hours painting (and allowing to dry) and then the kid splayed outside with their new wares for the remainder of the day. I sat on my fave Adirondack chair and read a book. We now have the prettiest rocks and stray sticks of anyone on the block. What more could you ask for?

We actually did this project a few weeks back but they still play with these rocks and sticks…as do neighborhood kids. What I liked most about it is that we already had the paints in all sorts of bright colors (from when we painted our ice cream truck) and we had all the brushes on hand as well. All we had to do was go looking for rocks and sticks, which are easy enough to find for free. We will definitely do this cheap and fun little project again.