We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please see policies for more information.Today we have Janel from Hating Martha with an awesome step by step. I have seen this project before but I think it’s one of those that gets passed down through generations and who knows where it

As I promised earlier, I scanned some of the best of the paper dolls to visually show the styles of the nobility/middle class from around 1200-1450 in Western Europe, especially England and France.…

In this collection, we'll delve into six main categories of pierogi fillings: Absolute classics, savoury delights, fruit-filled temptations, seasonal treats, hidden regional gems, and inspired twists from the Polish diaspora. Keep in mind; this list is but a glimpse into the diverse universe of pierogi fillings. Countless local variations and…

More proof that prime time is where the party is: photographer Norman Jean Roy captures the scene as the stars of Revenge, Modern Family, The Good Wife, House of Lies, Homeland, and other addictive pleasures do some unscripted celebrating.

A set of printable storytelling prompts for kids. Prompt your child's imagination with this set of creative storytelling & writing prompts.

If a tropical oasis is your idea of heaven, then boy are you in for a treat. Because Nili Steven's home tour is all that and more. Tucked amongst palm leaves and lush gardens galore, this incredible home is truly

Think throwing a great party means spending a fortune? These seven secrets to throwing a fabulous party on a budget will save you time, money, & sanity!

Luka Sabbat and Noah Dillon take us through Tokyo.

Shakespeare Sword - Cardboard Prop: Need a sword prop for your Shakespeare production? No brooding Hamlet nor gentlemen of the court should be without one. Goths and emos could probably use one. Caitlin's English class is taking part in doing a reading of "Midsummer's Nig…

An original recipe for wonton wrappers — handmade from scratch. Use these to create tasty little dumplings stuffed with your favorite fillings.

My sweet middle son D turned six a couple weeks ago and requested a Magic Party. Most of the party ideas online mentioned hiring a magician. I thought, “Score!” My father-in-law was a Rodeo Clown…

I decided to make some wooden swords for my boys for Christmas, and am writing how I did it just in case someone else wants some ideas. Here is how they turned out. This post is part of the three …

I've reserved an eternal place in my heart for this glorious Carmel Valley affair - and I suggest you do the same. That is, if you're the kind of person that falls madly in love with gorgeous inspir...

It was difficult for Maya to think of what kind of party she wanted this year, since the Harry Potter Party last year was such a success. About two weeks prior, she thought perhaps a Percy Jackson party might be fun. This summer she devoured the Percy Jackson and the Olympian books by Rick Riordan, reading one each day and finishing the series within a week. I wasn't so sure -- I've read the books (and loved them), but didn't quite think that I could adapt the theme into much of a girls only party. But, I did my best and this is the result... THE INVITATION Percy is dyslexic, so it was fun to mix greek letters into the invitation to make it a bit harder to read. I then taped the papers onto dowels and hot glued some wooden knobs that I painted gold. Then I rolled them up into scrolls and sealed them with wax. Maya stamped the seal into them. I used black heat transfer and my Silhouette Portrait to cut and make the shirt. We delivered the invitation scrolls along with a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt for the girls to wear to the party. This was good because there was painting involved at the party. THE DECORATIONS Percy Jackson likes to eat blue food. His mom works in a candy shop and brings him blue candy. So that is why all the blue. Percy likes Blue Cherry Coke, but I opted for blue gatorade and was glad I did, because it was HOT outside. I found these mini Coca-Cola glasses and they were perfect. The book also talks about him loving blue jelly beans, blue taffy, and blue sour strings. Ambrosia was butterscotch pudding. The book says it tasted like popcorn pudding, but this worked! I got this horn from Target. I added a label to make it look like Percy donated it to Camp Half-Blood. I put some golden drachmas (chocolate coins) by the iris message (water). THE GAMES I posted a camp schedule and followed it pretty closely to keep the party on track. I also drew a map of Camp Half-Blood. Upon arrival the kids got divided into cabins. I had three cabins with three girls each (Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite). Ethen was the only boy and in cabin Poseidon by himself. I made banners for each cabin and hung them on the back fence. They were made from foam sheets I got at Michaels. I cut symbols out of vinyl and when I put them on the fence, the heat of the sun melted the vinyl. I quickly took them down (it took only minutes before they were warped) and put some clear tape over them and that did the trick. I was dressed as Hera (GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, MOTHERS & FAMILY) Distinguishing Features: Usually prefers classic Greek dresses and a simple crown, though she can blend in as needed. She usually appears as a beautiful older woman, and enjoys turning into birds when she needs to hide or spy. She hangs out where family life is strongest: the car pool line at school, weekend soccer games, and birthday parties. As the goddess of family, Hera will be happy to pack your lunch or comb your hair or give you a ride to school, but don’t talk back to her. When Hera is mad, she doesn’t just ground you. She’s likely to smash you into the ground. I put descriptions like this of the Greek gods into a little booklet. I made golden drachmas that had the name of the cabin they were sorted into. They drew the coin out of a golden seashell. ARTS & CRAFTS (Forging a shield with Hephastus) They painted cake rounds. Most chose to decorate like their cabins. ARCHERY (with Apollo) Dave took 3 girls at a time and taught them to shoot arrows. They loved this part! I love this shot of Maya. The look on her face. Pink arrow flying free. FREEZE TAG (with Medusa) I picked up this mask at Target. LUNCH IN THE MESS HALL: I served fruit and veggie platters and the food of the gods: barbeque (pulled pork sandwiches). SWORD AND SHIELD TECHNIQUE (with Clarisse) I bought this crazy pinata and modified it into a minotaur with white underwear. I laughed at how funny it turned out but the kids LOVED it. They battled it with Riptide. I made a pen and sword with Anaklysmos written on it in gold foil. They really got into this. Maya hacked off a horn and I thought it was fitting. I didn't fill it with candy. But they didn't care. They ripped it to shreds. Somehow my camera got switched to the wrong setting in all the mayhem. I am bummed, because this part was hilarious as they all tackled the poor thing to the ground. They each took a piece as a spoil of war. THE CAKE: They came inside for some healing nectar and some cake. I put Zeus' lightning bolt into a blue cake topped with white cloud whipped cream. It was yummy. CLOSING CEREMONY: I donned each girl with a golden laurel (a gold headband I got at Forever21) and they each got a camp bead symbolizing their first year at Camp Half-Blood with a Poseidon symbol on it. CHARIOT RACES: They raced Razor Rip Riders until their parents came to pick them up. A place to leave their burnt offerings.

This DIY old fashioned kite is not only a great craft to do with your kids, young and old, it also turns into a memorable activity.

When my daughter requested a Percy Jackson themed party for her birthday I got a little giddy about combining a birthday party with awesome literature!

This super fun kids' science experiment uses borax to grow crystal names. All kiddos will love seeing their name shimmer and sparkle in the sunlight!

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be sharing this post today for my Maja Design Team! (I have an awesome MAJA DESIGN GIVEAWAY today....further down the post!) and It's the first Tuesday of the month so that means it's time for the Maja Mood Board Challenge! I made the above page using the September Mood Board as my inspiration. The mood board colors are based on the 'Walking in the Forest' collection, and are just perfect for those autumn photos! The photo I scrapped above is of my daughters best friend, I took this photo when they were are the Maple Syrup festival, they were eating some of those huge smoked turkey legs, and her friend was hamming it up with the turkey bone :) As I mentioned I used the 'Walking in the Forest" collection for this page, here are the individual papers I used from this collection to make up the page... I used a bunch of Recollection blooms to decorate the page, and I found this clay bloom I made a little while back using Fimo and some Pearlex powder and a glass bead, I thought the colors went well with page so I just added it into my bloom cluster. The blue flower is from Petaloo and the chipboard is a border flourish from Dusty Attic that I cut in half and used in a couple of places on the page. I also used another Dusty Attic chipboard piece Berrie Branches to frame the photo. The mask I used around the photo is the Prima mask by Finnabiar. I used the Clearsnap Distress Ink in Denim and Honey. Have I mentioned how much I love the My Little Yellow Bicycle word stamps?! I just adore the swirly font they use, and the words are really the sort I can use for my everyday layouts! MAJA DESIGN GIVE-AWAY!!! Okay now for the fun part! Maja Design is bringing out their NEW Autumn collection called Vintage Autumn Basics! Here is a little peek at the collection.... All the beautiful vintage elements we've come to love about Maja Design papers (Ohhh, lovin' the clock design sheet!) I know I can't wait to get my happy little hands on this collection! But I can go one better than that! I have a full collection pack to give away to someone I will chose from the comments at this blog post! Just leave a comment letting us know which papers have caught your eye in this collection. (We would love for you to 'like' our new FaceBook page as well, if you have not done so already....you can find the Maja Design FaceBook page HERE). You have from now until midnight September 30th to leave a comment, I will announce the winner at my blog on October 1st! We'd love to hear what you think of the new collection, so leave a comment and you might be one of the first happy ladies to get your hands on this stunning new collection! xo

Over the holidays my 3 year old turned 4. Yes. A VERY busy time of year for us! I have really had to make a point of acknowledging this kid's birthday where it lands itself in the middle of the BiGGesT holiday of the year (4 days before Christmas). And although it feels hectic and crazy getting it all together, I don't want to ignore his special day. It's not his fault his parents are stupid and didn't plan ahead! This year the little man decided on a PiRAtE PaRrrtY. So we invited our friends...sent them a message in a bottle (found at Oriental Trading). Loved these because they came with the lables and sand. They also came with the invitation, but I decided to make my own...just so they'd match everything else I was doing. I even burned the edges of the paper for the full effect...it was a pain, but worth it. Can I say, there is a ridculous amount of pirate stuff out there to take advantage of. The kid did make it easy on me in that reguard. Decorations were easy to find, and I actually had a lot on hand and didn't need to go out and buy a ton of stuff. I was able to use the fabric banners from our last shindig. I found somewhere online (can't remember exactly where) where they had a table set up as you walked in the door with all sorts of pirate garb to get dressed for the occation...so I copied. Found these printable hats free online...but I can't remember where. I tried to go back and find them, but couldn't. I hate it when I do that. But I loved the girl skullies with the bows! I found the boys bandanas at Oriental Trading and just used polka dot fabric for the girls. I also made a few felt mustaches on sticks. Which, I was surprised, the girls loved just as well as the boys For the table I used a bit of burlap down the middle with shredded brown paper and coins and jewels sprinkled everywhere. The balloons tied to the chairs added a lot to the decor and the kids loved them. I also used regular old mason jars, filled them with shredded paper and stuck two Jolly Roger flags (Oriental Trading) in them. I also found the treasure map place mats and cute little treasure boxes at OT. The boxes had cute pearl candies inside. Borrowed the big PirAte ship from our toy room. I wanted a little back drop for the serving table, so I used a bunch of scrap fabric I had lying around and pinned it to a bulletin board (we had this party at the church...needed the extra room...dang winter birthdays!). I tried to billow it up so that it looked something like sails on our "ship". I strung a little rope and hung my piRate prints from them with clothes pins. I never did get a picture of the serving table all finished but we had the bucket filled with ice and had Squeeze-Its (or Deadman's Punch) to drink. I made the ship cupcakes and found the awesome sails and cupcake wrappers here. I think these were my favorite part of the party! Something about a cute cupcake. I used this yummy recipe for the chocolate frosting. Mmmm. And the favor bags and favors... The bags were just brown gift bags that I tied a little scrap fabric and burlap onto. I also tied a name tag and a wooden pirate cutout that I found at Joanns. Some of the 'TreASuRes' they found along the way. And finally...the paRrrtY. We started with a relay game where the kids lined up at opposite ends of the room. They had to race to 'walk the plank' then 'swab the deck' and push the 'cannon balls' across the deck to their teammate. We had 12 kids ages 2-5 and most of them were able to handle the game...although pushing those ballons did get a little tricky for some of them. Next we had a TreASuRe HuNt. We started with our maps and our favor bags, then set off to find our loot. My birthday guy showing me his map. Our hunt lead us around the church to different rooms where we found all sorts of treasures. I put a 'clue' (picture of each stop on their map) on each door so they would be able to find their way on thier own. Here they are dashing through the halls... The map lead them right back to where they started...at the BiG treasure box filled with pirate beach balls and ring pops. For our last game we had a TreasuRe DiG. We filled up our big tin buckets with sand (100 lbs each...don't ask me how we got them there!) and buried all kinds of jewels, coins, necklaces and rings. Then I gave each kid a card with the number of jewels, etc. they had to find in the buckets and had them dig for their buried treasure... The FavOriTe game by far. The boys loved digging in the sand, and the girls lOved the jewles! The crazy bunch having their cake and ice cream... The Captain of this ship. The Capt'n...and everyone else opening presents. And a little game of PiRate, PirAte, SkuLLy (or duck, duck, goose) 'til the mom's came to pick up thier little mates. All the mateys and their mustaches. ArrG. It was a fun one to put together, and I dare say the kids had a gOod time.

An amazing collection of crafts, recipes and activities for celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee with Kids with themes based on Union jacks, castles and ...

Hi folks! It's my turn as hostess over at the Color Throwdown Challenge this week and I've chosen some colors based on a pretty bird ph...

After two decades of cult worship, we thought we knew all there was to know about Withnail And I - until the on-set photographer dug out these images from the back of the sofa...

Today we are posting a craft idea for dance and play that has been inspired by a little boy fighting a big battle that no child should EVER have to go through. Finlay is his name and you can read more about him at the end of the post. The dancing ribbons we have made in his honour are very quick and easy – you can literally put one together in less than five

For a few short hours, we ate like medieval kings. We lifted our glasses and leaned into the past. We learned through living. Here's a list of the books and recipes we used.

View the Best of Awkward Family Photos in our Hall of Fame!. These are the most hilarious & most cringe-worthy pictures! Check them out today!

Kids love to build things. Kids love to fling things. Make this simple craft stick catapult and it is sure to be an instant hit with any child!