UPDATE: 100 Things in 2013

6. Visit Astoria. - Done!

Last week I drove down to Astoria, Oregon and spent two nights. It was a quick visit that included going to the beach and checking out the Peter Iredale shipwreck, walking around Fort Stevens State Park, tromping through the woods to see a beautiful waterfall, and viewing The Astoria Column.

63.  Eat an avocado. - Done!

I ate an avocado! My manfriend made a delcious guacamole that I devoured.

74.  Submit art & writing to compilation projects. - Made progress!

I contributed a short essay to a Self-care compilation zine called, The Worth of Water.

To view my list of 100 Things in 2013, go HERE.

DIY: Nest Depots

My daughter’s second grade class spent their last few weeks of school learning about habitats. A representative from Olympia's Hands On Children’s Museum came to her school to talk about different animal homes and gave each child two Nest Depots.

Nest Depots are similar to birdhouses, but instead of being full of bird food they contain supplies birds can use to build their nests. The Nest Depots my daughter received look almost like square canvas frames for cross stitching. They included scraps of yarn, ribbon, and colorful craft feathers.

We have many neighborhood birds who hang out near our home so we hung up the Nest Depots on our back patio. We are keeping a list of the materials we used in the depots so we can track what the birds are taking and finding useful. We love helping out our local birds!

Bella watching the birds outside.

DIY Kids: Mini Fairy Garden

Day 2 of What’s the Word June

Word of the day: mushroom

Creating a miniature fairy garden is a fun, and creative activity you can do with your kids. Most of the materials for this craft can be found in your yard!

Materials

• Bottom of a planter (plastic, decorative or terracotta) 

• Potting soil
• Rocks/Gemstones 

• Acorns 

• Glass beads 

• Garden fairy *tutorial below
• Mini animals or bird eggs

Directions

Fill the bottom of the planter with potting soil. The bottoms of planters are shallow, so you don't need to add too much potting soil. Leave a tiny space between the trim and the potting soil. Next, your child can arrange all the items that they collected from their nature hunt in the planter. Along with nature items, you may also want to add a small flowering plant in the fairy garden.

Extra tips:

- Using acrylic paints, choose vibrant colors and paint the rocks prior to adding them to the fairy garden.

- You can create a pond by pushing a small plastic lid, like the top of a yogurt container, into the soil, and adding a little bit of water.

- Make a fairy house out of bark and other pieces of scrap wood! Simply collect small pieces of wood and build a mini house formation, securing the sections into place with your glue gun.

- Fairies need a colorful mushroom to hang out on! Mold a mushroom out of clay and add it to the garden.

Don’t Forget the Fairy

Materials

• Circular wooden bead 

• Oval shaped wooden bead 

• 3 craft pipe cleaners 

• Glue gun  

• Scissors 

• Colorful yarn 

• Sharpie

Directions

Start off by gluing the circular wooden bead (the fairy's head) onto the larger wooden bead, which will be the fairy's body. While you are waiting for them to dry firmly together, cut off small sections of the yarn for the fairy's hair. You may also begin bending and shaping two of the pipe cleaners for the fairy's wings. The third pipe cleaner is for the fairy's arms. You'll only need to clip two small sections from the pipe cleaner for the fairy's arms. Adhere the yarn and pipe cleaners to the body with the glue gun. You can also draw a face onto the circular bead with a sharpie. Be sure to lightly draw the face on, if pressed too hard, the lines from the sharpie will be thick and could run into each other. Your child can "dress up" their fairy with any other crafty items they have.

When the fairy garden is complete, it can be displayed outdoors or near a window indoors!