Front of "Grouchy Ladybug" apron

Back of "Grouchy Ladybug" apron

Some time ago, Desiree wrote about purchasing a “messy dress” for her young daughter.  I have seen that little “messy dress” in use, and, because it is so cute and practical, I decided to make one for each of my small granddaughters.  The original is a little more practical than the ones I have made, as it is lined with a water-resistant fabric, so that really messy spills will be unlikely to seep through the two layers.  I have chosen to line mine with co-ordinating cotton fabrics.  The aprons are completely reversible, but a little less spill-proof.

What I did was to trace Desiree’s dress out on a large piece of brown paper, and then I marked where to put the hook and the loop pieces of velcro.  If you aren’t lucky enough to have a friend with the original “messy dress”, and you want to sew, rather than buy one,  you could look for a pattern that is similar.  I have an old Simplicity Pattern 8047, that has an open back, for instance.

Front of "Bon Vivant" apron

To make one of these, for your child, you will need:

For size 2:

.6 meter of 2 co-ordinating fabrics

about 20 cm hook and loop velcro

1 pkg of co-ordinating double wide bias tape

matching thread

Back of "Bon Vivant" apron

Have you ever thought about joining a book club? I have been thinking about it for years as I am an avid reader. But I wasn’t really sure what it was all about and how you go about getting in a club. Turns out I had to start one myself, and I am so glad I did.

I first went to my local library to see if there was any information or postings there. There wasn’t, so I spoke with a librarian who informed me that it is really tricky to find a book club—you have to be invited to join. My mother in law has been in one for years that started with her University program. I am not as intellectual as she, so I had no University group to look up. What I did have however, was a large group of moms that I knew, from school, play dates etc., so I started there.

I emailed a large number of them to see if anyone would be interested in joining a book club. I got back a huge response. Once I actually whittled it down to the people who would commit, about 12 of us, we chose a date and our first book.

At our first meeting we set the parameters for the group based on everyone’s suggestions. We meet four times a year, everyone takes turn at hosting and also at mediating. The mediating is really easy, all you have to do is either take the questions from the back of the book, or simply Google the book as most authors post questions for book clubs.

At the first meeting I asked that everyone bring a few suggestions as to what books they would like to read as a group. Then we voted by writing out top picks on a piece of paper and having a blind vote. We established who wanted to host the consecutive meetings, and who would mediate as someone does have to keep track of this information and email it out everyone once in awhile.

We have been together as a group for almost two years now and I really love it. We have really had some fun evenings with a theme for decoration and food that is inspired by the book. My friend Nancy, turned her house into a circus for “Water for Elephants’ we had candy apples, popcorn etc… I hosted “The Red Tent” and hung scarves, burned candles and we ate pomegranate’s and olives and of course plenty of wine (that seems to be a theme as well at our book clubs). We have also incorporated a few books that have a movie coming out, after we have discussed the book we see the movie as well. Its great to hear everyone opinion on a book, I am always surprised when people don’t love a book that I do, but I enjoy hearing their g reasons why.

So if you have ever wanted to join a book club simply start one. I have attached a few of our top books that we have enjoyed discussing. Have fun and enjoy reading.

The Red Tent
Water for Elephants
Three Cups of Tea
Left Neglected
Still Alice
The Secret Life of Bees
Book Of Negroes

Last spring my (then 3 1/2-year-old) daughter and I donated our hair through the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program to make wigs for women living with cancer. We waited patiently for months until her hair reached the 8 inch minimum (and still left enough for a bob). It was her first haircut beyond a trim and I’m very proud of her decision to donate her ponytail to such a worthy cause.

There are a variety of places that will accept hair donations. I chose to send ours to Beautiful Lengths because they distribute wigs for free to female cancer patients across Canada. Hair needs to be a minimum of 8 inches long, unprocessed and have less than 5% grey to be eligible for donation. It takes at least six ponytails to make just one wig.

It is estimated that 40% of women will battle some form of cancer in their lifetime, an unfortunate statistic that we should all be aware of. Hair donations for cancer wigs are a simple way that we can all help to brighten the day of a person living with cancer.

Click here for more information on how you, or your child, can donate locks of hair.

Strategic stacking.

A mommy sent us this photo after realizing her plans for a big grocery shop had gone astray. Her two-week-old slept snug-as-a-bug in his car seat, unfortunately he took up all the space in the shopping cart!

Ugly fake brass now a little girl's dream

My daughter decided she would like an “Olivia” room for her new daughter, and enlisted  my help to create it.  She didn’t want lots of Olivia characters all over the room, but wanted the personality of the independent, and somewhat flamboyant, little pig to shine, and definitely wanted Olivia’s preferred colours of black, red and white to be present.  We’ve had fun painting, making drapes, quilts and bedding, gathering furniture and a rug, but really wanted that perfect lighting fixture, preferably a chandelier, as Olivia loves chandeliers.  My granddaughter’s room is quite small, and I began to despair about finding a small chandelier that would be suitable; they all seemed rather huge, and quite a lot too opulent.  A few years ago there were lots of cute tiny chandeliers around, but now they seemed to have disappeared.  One day, my daughter was out visiting her sister-in-law.  Lo and behold, as she entered their newly renovated town home, she saw a rather ugly fake brass chandelier going out to the recycling bin.  Could she have it?  Of course.  It arrived at my home covered in plaster dust, dry wall mud and with several lights broken.  Could I do anything with it?  You bet!

I took it all apart, washed its crystals (which were miraculously all there), and sprayed all the “brass” parts a flat black.  I painted a little red centre on each of the flowers, and put it all back together again.  It looks terrific!  My daughter calls it up-cycled.  Try it!

Your kids will love this little guy!

Courtesy of Michelle Pontini of MishMash children’s activity centre in Squamish.

You will need:
- White balloon
- 2 pieces white cardstock
- Felt pens
- Glue stick

How to:
- Download, print and cut out the templates; colour the inside of the bunny ears pink.
- Blow up balloon and draw on a bunny face.
- Fold each ear 1/2″ from the bottom. Fold both ear tabs in half and glue to the bottom (backside) of each ear to form a flat base. Glue to top of balloon.
- Fold the arms and legs in an “accordion” style.
- Glue the feet and hands onto each arm and leg and attach to the balloon.

To display:
Tie a string to the knotted end of the balloon (top of bunny’s head) and hang from the ceiling or place bunny on a small plastic lid so it can “sit”.

When my kids were really small, egg dyeing was a risky endeavor. I found that the easiest “less messy” way to let them help, was to have the dye in bowls. They could help turn the eggs and then once they were dried, they put stickers on them.

As they got older, we used clear crayons to draw on the eggs before dying them, this way the dye goes on every part of the egg except where the crayon was. You can also use elastic bands in the same fashion. The kids now love painting the eggs.

For helpful tips on decorating eggs, visit www.eggs.ca

Decorate each egg with your choice of accessories—glitter, sparkles, stickers etc.

Or simply add colour to each egg.

Lately crafting with both of my young children can be….well, a bit chaotic. However I was pleasantly surprised at how well they both responded to creating this simple “egg banner” for Easter.

My normally very busy two-year-old son took a keen interest in sitting still and colouring the paper eggs (and eventually himself). My four-year-old daughter stepped into the roll of project manager, suggesting that she colour in the letters with felts and that I should be responsible for crayon art and any gluing—something she really couldn’t delegate to her younger brother since he eats glue (insert smiley face here).

It was a nice way to spend some, albeit rare, quiet moments with my kids and it helped to get us all excited about Easter.

How to:
- Download and print templates on plain card paper (3 sheets), cut out the egg shapes and decorate them with felts, crayons, glitter, sequins and stickers.
- When eggs are decorated, display the banner any way you wish; glued to a giant piece of paper, taped to a window or tied together with ribbons and hung up.

My Mother in law introduced me to these amazing dishes she called “wife-savers,” Its a great time saving dish. She makes them for Christmas morning brunch and I have since been copying them and using them when I host Easter brunch. They are so good and most of the work gets done the night before so you are not stuck in the kitchen the whole day. She makes an awesome sweet blueberry one and a fantastic sausage one too. Serve with some sliced ham and fruit salad and you have yourself an awesome brunch.

Sweet Brunch dish recipe

Savory Brunch dish recipe

Don’t forget the mimosa’s. They are such a nice compliment—and come on, who doesn’t like drinking champagne in the morning?

Traditional Mimosa

The Mama Mimosa

The Morning Glory Mimosa

Prosecco Mimosa

I like to bake, and at Easter I love to make these sweet little cupcake baskets. They work great for bake sales as well. They are so easy and the kids can help make them.

1.Simply prepare your favorite cupcake mix, any flavour will work, this is my favorite recipe for chocolate.

2.Fill the cupcake liners less than half way full, bake till done.

3.Allow them to cool, then make you favorite icing, this is my favorite recipe. I like to colour the icing green.

4.Take some sweetened shredded coconut and dye it green as well. Just place a small amount on a large plate, squeeze a few drops of food colouring on it and use a fork to stir it up. I let it dry for a couple of hours before handling it to avoid staining my fingers.

5.Ice the cupcakes with the green icing, sprinkle the coconut on top and then add some jelly beans or chocolate eggs.

6. Cut string licorice then bend and insert it in the cupcake to resemble a handle.