DIY ABC Magnets

This is a cute DIY gift idea for the little ones in our life. We are starting letters with my 2 year old and I hate the cheap looking ones we had with our 5 year old...I'm still finding random missing ones around the house.

I used the idea from my previous post of turning your kids art work into magnets for this gift idea.

I love this idea because if you can use pretty scrapbook paper and make it more personalized. My son loves football so I used football skin paper.

What will need:

• 12×12 scrapbook paper
• Clear gems (I used the bigger ones)
• Sharpie
• Mod podge
• Magnets

What to do:
1. Cut circles to the size of the stone. I had a circle cutter that I had in my craft stuff. If you don't have one trace the stone and cut them out.
2. Write a letter on each circle with the sharpie.

3. Place small layer of mod podge on the stone and then add the paper.

4. Once dry add your magnet.

For more great DIY gifts check out my Pinterest board!  Follow Kristina Morud's board Gift Ideas on Pinterest.

Brownies in a cup

Today I'm going to share a great DIY gift that I will be making more for my teen nieces and nephews this Christmas.

First you will start with a mug. I picked mine up at the dollar tree.
Write on your cup with the recipe with a sharpie.

• 4 tbs Flour
• 4 tbs Sugar
• 2 tbs Cocoa
• 2 tbs oil
• 2 tbs water
• 1/2 tps vanilla
• Cook for 1 min in microwave

Place mug in oven at 350 for 30 min to bake the sharpie on the cup.

To make this gift complete I will be adding a couple bags of all the dry ingredients into the gift.

For more great DIY gifts check out my Pinterest page Follow Kristina Morud's board Gift Ideas on Pinterest. and make sure to check back next week for a new DIY gift from now till Christmas!

Would love to see your cups on Instagram!

DIY Microdermabrasion

This is a great mommy time because all of us mom's would love to find the time to go to the spa and get facials. This is a great easy DIY for that to happen with out leaving the comfort of your home. All you will need is: 3 parts baking soda 1 part water to form a paste. Apply the paste in a circular motion and rinse. You don't want to do this everyday because it will dry out your skin but once in a while is always great. It gets the dead skin off your face and leaves it with a natural glow. I will be using this DIY again. For more tips like this check out the tab above (Pinterest Tips)

DIY Detox Bath

With school season here and kids bring home germs this is a mommy time you will want to keep in mind. When I start feeling sick or even if my kids have been sick I do this. (I don't give my kids this bath I take one myself so I don't get sick)
This pin that I found on Pinterest is a great read on why and how detox baths work by Healthy Living check it out its very interesting.

DIY Detox Bath
What you will need
Bath tub
Hot water
2 cups Epsom salt
5-10 dropsLavender essential oil (I didn't have any so I used my lavender Epsom salt)

Before starting make sure you don't eat before or after this bath.

What to do:
1. You want to make the water hot you want to build up a sweat to get those nasty toxins out of your body.
2. Put the salt and oil into the water
3. You want to get most of your body into the water and sit and relax for 20 minutes.
4. When you stand up please go slowly because you might be light headed so use caution.
5. You want to rinse  off in a cool shower. Be careful of soaps and shampoos because your pores are open. I just rinse off with the cool water.

Hope you enjoy this mommy time helpful like have.

DIY foot soak

It Wednesday which means it's Mommy Time time.
With summer here we are all probably wearing our sandals and have noticed the dry cracked feet happening. Don't worry I have found a Pinterest tip that work amazing to get those soft feet back.

Warning! This mixture does work but if you would like you can keep the Apple Cider vinegar out and just use Mouth wash. I have done both ways and they work about the same. When I use the Apple cider vinegar my husband always says it smells like Easter in here...and it does a minty Easter. And it doesn't look pretty. The picture above is just mouth was. The one below here is with vinegar not so pretty.

Not so pretty and smells like a minty Easter egg!

What you will need:

1/4 cup Listerine
1/4 cup Apple cider
1/2 cup Warm Water

Mix all together and soak your feet for 10 minutes. When you pull you feet out you will see the dead skin peeling off. If you have really dry feet you can do longer. And use a foot stone to help rub away those dry spots.

To add another touch I added lotion to my feet to lock in that moister to keep them softer for longer.

Hope you enjoy this mommy time tip

For more check out my Pinterest board.  Follow Kristina Morud's board Health and Beauty on Pinterest.

DIY Deep Conditioning Hair Treatment

Today's Pinterest tip is a perfect Mommy time. As mom's we know your needs always put on the back burner or at least for the most part. I know it's this way at my house. When I found this pin from Discount Queens I was excited to give it a try. My hair has been so dry this summer so I decided to give it a try this week. And I'm so glad that I did my hair is so soft still 3 days later and I keep catching myself running my fingers through it. I will be doing this more often and it was so simple and your guaranteed at least an hour to yourself!

What you will need

- Hydrating Conditioner (Any kind will work I used 97 cent one and it was perfect)

-Plastic bag or shower cap (I used a plastic Walmart bag which worked perfect)

- Heated towel fresh out of the dryer

Before you start anything you want to make sure to place your towel into the dryer. The hotter the towel is the better this will work.

1.) Take a shower and wash your hair like normal. Once finished  you want to add the conditioner to your saturated hair. Apply all over but you want to make sure that you add a lot to the bottoms because that is where you hair will be have more dry spots.

2.) Once you have the conditioner all over your head you want to place your hair into the plastic bag and tie around your head. The tighter the better.

3.) Remove towel from dryer and wrap around the bag. Again tighter the better. Let sit for 15 minutes this is where I grabbed my book and didn't feel guilty about my alone time!

4.) After 15 min rinse out (I re-washed my hair because of the oils). And that's it you have saved a couple of bucks and your hair is soft and silky!

For more great Beauty tips make sure to check back next week or until then check out my Pinterest board

Follow Kristina Morud's board Health and Beauty on Pinterest.

DIY chalk paint

Hi everyone today's kids activity is a 2 in 1! You get to make it and then use it to get up and moving!
Today I'm going to share chalk paint with you thank you for this great pin. It's simple to make and you probably already have every thing in your kitchen. And make sure to make your self a color :)

Chalk Paint
2 tablespoons of corn starch
2 tablespoons of water
4-6 drops of food coloring

Mix everything into a little plastic bowl. Simple as that you are ready to go outside and enjoy some time with your kids!

Now you are probably wondering how is this getting up and moving playing with chalk. There are so many ways one way that I did with my kids is hopscotch. I made the board while the kids were drawing what they wanted and then started playing once it was dried alittle. When my kids saw me up and playing they decided to join in. We had a blast and with out thinking about it I got a good 30 min workout in the middle of the day!

Bye Bye Armpit Stains

I'm embarrass to say that this is my shirt

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today's Pinterest tip comes from One good thing by Jillee. Do you hate how your white shirts get those nasty arm pit stains? I know I do. I think I have found a pin that might get rid of those nasty stains.

All you need is:
Peroxide
Dawn dish soap (plain blue kind)
Baking soda

In a bowl or spray bottle mix 1 part dawn with 2 part peroxide. Once mix pour or spray on your stains. Shake on some baking soda on top and rub in. Let sit for an hour so. Then wash normal.

Don't worry about your shirt turning blue it won't stain. When I saw this that was my biggest worry. But I was so happy to see nothing happened!

After the first wash I noticed there was still some stain so I decided to wash it again. The shirt I picked was stained for over a year so who knows how well it will come out. But this new trick now sits in a spray bottle in my laundry room so I can add some whenever I notice stains on my clothes. This might come in good hands having two small kids who love to get dirty! Best Pinterest tip so far.

After the first wash. Trying this again I have high hope it will work this time. This was only after 1 hour of soaking

I will keep you updated to see how the second wash goes because as I type this it is sitting with the solution on it.

For more Pinterest tips check out the tab above or check out my Pinterest board.Follow Kristina Morud's board DIY cleaners on Pinterest.

DIY indoor ball game

Today's kids activity came just in time. We have been in the house alot for a couple of days due to rain. My kids have been going crazy!!! So I went on to find indoor activities on Pinterest. I had a bunch of toilet paper rolls so I wanted to find something to do with them.

Thank you Meaniful mama for this awesome game idea.

My 5 year old liked this game the most. She was coming up with new games using it. It's now part of game closet. My 2 year old was in love with chasing the balls around the living room.

What you will need:

• Toliet paper rolls (we had 6)
• Marbles or bouncing balls
• A small piece of paper to help hold the tubes together. (We recycled a popcorn box you can use what ever)
• Tape (of course the only tape I could find in my house was medical tape...hey it works!)

What to do:

1.) If you would like decorate the Toliet paper rolls before we start. We made the mistake of doing this after and it was hard.
2.) Place a tube on the paper. Place a piece tape on each end of the Toliet paper rolls. And repeat till you are finished. 

3.) Now you are ready to play. You can play with points or by color. Your choice.

We would love to see your games on Instagram don't forget to share them!

For more kid activities check out the tab above or my Pinterest Follow Kristina Morud's board Things to do with the Kids on Pinterest. board.

DIY Kitchen Disposal Cleaner

Happy Wednesday

Todays tip has become very helpful for me. Living on the bottom floor of an condo building it seems like we get the smell of everyones garbage disposal in ours... gross! After finding this tip from Fun Home Things I have made sure we do this once a week.  It works great and smells great . When I was looking for a disposal cleaner on Pinterest I saw a lot with vinager my husband hates when I clean with it so I was happy to find one using lemon juice.

DIY Lemon cleaner
By Fun Home Things

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup baking soda

Directions:
1. Heat up lemon juice in a small mircowave safe bowl for 30 seconds
2. Add baking soda slowly this will cause it to bubble and mix well
3. Turn on your disposal and pour your mix down the drain.
4. Turn on hot water for a few seconds to rinse away any mix in the sink and bowl

If your drain still has a bad odor repeat. To keep odors away make sure to use this tip weekly.

Hope you find this tip useful like I did. For other tips like this one make sure to check out/follow my Pinterest board

http://www.pinterest.com/kristina_drews/diy-cleaners/

Banana Ice Cube Dog Treat

With the summer heat settling in here is a great treat for your fur babies! This is a genius idea from Just Little Things. Seeing this pin I just thought how happy these would make our two dogs. I'm always making treats for the kids so I thought we should make them something for once.

I had Landon help me with this one or I thought, he ended up eating the bananas instead of putting them in the ice trays.  But after he was done snacking he was a great helper. 

All you need is:

• 1 Banana
• Ice cube tray ( I didn't have a regular one so our puppies got some fun shape ones)
• Water

1. Slice the banana to the size you want
2. Place into the ice tray and fill with water
   
3. Freeze
   

And that's it once they are ready you will have a cheap treat for them and a very happy dog!

Do forget to share your pictures on instagram we would love to see your fur babies enjoying their treat!

Looking for other treats for your fur baby check out and follow my pinterest board

Follow Kristina Morud's board Treats for the doggies on Pinterest.

Window Paint

This activity came from Raining Hot coupons Pinterest page. If you are looking for some great deals or couponing tips check her out. I love everything she post.

This activity is so easy the prep work is done in a minute, there is only two ingredients.  With two kids who can be impatient sometimes this is perfect!

Once it's made it keeps them busy for a while. And I'm not going to lie it's fun for adults too. It's great art time with your kids. With my oldest she thinks it so fun to paint on the windows because before finding this paint was for paper or finger paint in the bathroom. She has told all her friends about painting on the windows.

Ready let's get your family window painting today!

What you will need:

• Dish soap
• Washable Paint
• Paint brushes
• Little plates to hold paint or small bowls

1. Pour the amount of dish soap you want on the plate/bowl. I like to do a little because a small amount goes a long way and I really never have tried to save it. (If you guys try it let me know how it goes!)
2. Next add your paint. The more paint you use the more vibrant it is.
   
3. That's it your ready to paint your windows. Because my kids are still messy I keep this activity outside on the sliding glass door.
   

Clean up: simple Windex takes it right away and your windows get clean. Always a plus for this mommy!

Hope you guys enjoy this as much as we have. And as always we would love to see your art creations on Instagram!

DIY Suncatchers

Are you ever looking for a sit down craft to do with older kids? This is a great one, my 5 year old enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it was the Mommy and me time or the craft she enjoyed more. I know for myself it was the one on one time with her. Because with two little ones I definitely don't get this a lot.

When looking on Pinterest you can find many different ideas for these melted bead sun catchers. Some people were using the muffin tins, circle cake pans or even flat cookie sheets. I decided to make it easier and not so frustrating for Ireland we would stick with something small like the muffin pan. However, when looking on Pinterest with so many ideas you find that there are different times and temperatures for the project as well. In this post I will share with you what we did to make this craft work for us.

Now you are probably thinking won't melted beads ruin my pan why would I want to do this. I was thinking the same thing when I was reading the different post but everyone was saying it was simple and no mess. And now I'm going to be another person saying it don't worry you wont be messing up your pan there will be no evidence of melted beads in your pan :)

What you will need:

• Muffin tin pan
• Translucent Pony Beads
• Oven
• Ribbon or string
• Drill
  
  

Steps:

• Arrange the beads however you want. You want to make sure that they are flat so when they're in the oven they melt all the way with no bubbles. This step can take some time it took about 30 minutes for each of us to finish a pan.
  
• When you are ready to melt the beads preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Once preheated melt your beads for 25 minutes. *Warning with this step you might want to make sure that you have windows open because it will fill your house with the smell of melted plastic.

• After they are melted let cool for 10 minutes. As they are cooling you will hear a little cracking sound don't worry they are not breaking they loosening up from the pan to make removal easy.

• Once they are cool turn over and tap and the sun catchers should just pop out with no mess on the pan. 

• Then when ready drill a small hole into the top to place the ribbon or sting into the hole.
  

We hope you guys enjoy this fun craft and don't forget to share your photos on Instagram can't wait to see all the different sun catchers.

For more great ideas to do with the kids check out my pinterest board

Follow Kristina Morud's board Things to do with the Kids on Pinterest.