This post is sponsored by Littlest Pet Shop and contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own.
Fill an Easter basket with Littlest Pet Shop Frosting Frenzy pets to surprise a Littlest Pet Shop fan!
We've been watching Littlest Pet Shop for years, and my daughter has an ever growing collection of the adorable pets. Instead of a traditional basket filled with candy, I am working on some fun themed Easter baskets with her favorite toys.
This Littlest Pet Shop Frosting Frenzy Easter Basket features some of the latest pets in the LPS collection! These pets are designed to resemble tasty treats. Fans can collect, mix and swirl chocolate, vanilla or strawberry pets adorned with sparkle and glitter. Perfect for a little extra cuteness in Easter baskets this year!
I found a large, metallic plastic Easter egg to hold all of the goodies instead of a basket. Open up the egg, and fill the bottom with some Easter grass. I also found some brightly colored metallic eggs to coordinate!
Each one covered in colorful frosting deco, the Littlest Pet Shop Frosting Frenzy Pack includes 13 teensie-scale pets (one is a multicolor mystery!), 4 habitats, and 4 clips with charms. This baker's dozen set of treat-themed pets represent vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors. These pets are a delicious start to any Littlest Pet Shop collection!
There are 4 different "habitats" with a base that you can put a pet on. The lids have a clip with charm so you can take your pets wherever you go! I enclosed a pet in each habitat, and put them into the basket. I split the rest of the pets into groups of 4 and put them in plastic eggs.
The Littlest Pet Shop Frosting Frenzy Friends and Littlest Pet Shop Frosting Frenzy BFFs are the perfect size for egg fillers! The Friends set features 8 pets, including a sheep, a swan, and a sloth. There's also one mystery pet that could possibly be part of a different flavor set! Colorful frosting deco covers the heads of these tasty looking figures. Just remember that they’re to play with, and not to eat!
The BFF set is a delectable duo of Wild Pets with shimmery pink frosting deco on their heads. An elephant (Macaron Elefen), and her monkey pal (Cocolina Monkley) get along like chocolate and vanilla!
These 4 mini and 4 teensie-scale pets are all the same color of the delicious yellow vanilla treats. I paired a mini and a teensie pet and put them in an egg together, and paired the mystery pet with the checklist. I left the BFF set in its packaging to be the star of the basket.
Once all of the eggs are filled with little pets, arrange all of the goodies in the large egg, and put the top back on. Easter morning will be like a matryoshka full of Littlest Pet Shop surprises! This is a great gift to spark more imaginative play and is also a "sweet" choice for other occasions like birthdays and Christmas.
Tell mom how much you love her with a handmade Foiled Mother's Day Card!
No matter what you decide to give for Mother's Day, you probably should include a card. This gorgeous, foiled Mother's Day card looks just as good as any card you can find in a store, but your mother will love it even more because you made it for her! With a little help from Deco Foil, this card is simple to make even if you are new to the art of foiling.
This post is sponsored by LEGO and contains affiliate links. As always all opinions are my own.
Make your own custom clock out of LEGO bricks!
It might be a little obvious by now, but we adoreLEGO in every style, shape and color at our house. March is National Craft Month, so we decided to celebrate by making something together as a family. My husband has been teaching time to 3rd graders at school, and that inspired me to make a custom clock out of LEGOs. It was so much fun to build, and I hope you feel inspired to get building, too!
You need to start with a LEGO baseplate. We used a green 10"x10" Classic LEGO Baseplate. These can be found on the LEGO website and at most retailers.
You'll also need to get a basic clock mechanism. These are easy to find at most retailers and come in a variety of styles. My recommendation is to find one that isn't too fancy, has long enough arms to fit the clock, and to not spend too much money.
Find the center of the baseplate and mark it with a permanent marker. Use a drill with a 5/16 bit to carefully cut a hole in the center of the board. Push the center of the clock mechanism through the hole in the back of the baseplate and attach the hardware to keep it in place. Put the clock hands on and test the mechanism to make sure it works before you go any further!
To make our clock hands coordinate with the LEGO theme, I created some custom LEGO hands to replace the ones included in the clock mechanism. I uploaded the image (see how) into Design Space and cut the LEGO hands out of yellow poster board with my Cricut Maker machine.
Because I'm so happy that you're here, I'm sharing my LEGO Clock Hands SVG file (for personal use only) for you to use to make your own clock!
The original clock hands were a little too large/wide, so we used some scissors for cutting metal to trim them down. Be very careful not to bend the hands while you cut!
Add a bit of super glue to the tops of the clock hands and stick them to the back of the LEGO clock hands. Lay the hands flat to dry according to glue package directions.
Place the hands back on the clock mechanism to make sure they are laying flat and look good. You can also put the batteries into the mechanism to test it out if you'd like. Carefully remove the hands and set them aside.
Now, for the toughest part: decide on your clock design. The baseplate is your blank canvas. Dump out the LEGO bricks and come up with something amazing. The possibilities are endless, so get creative!
After talking through a few different ideas, we finally decided on this clever design. We used LEGO bricks in different colors, but the same amount of "studs" for each of the clock numbers! For example, a 1x1 brick for 1:00, a 2x2 brick for 4:00, a 2x4 brick for 8:00, and so on! We used other 1x1 and 1x2 bricks paired with the other bricks to get the other numbers.
Once the clock building is done, put the clock hands back on and add any additional clock hardware. Place batteries in the clock mechanism and set the time. Now you have your own custom LEGO clock that you can hang anywhere and change the design of anytime! My family is loving this new clock so much that we decided to hang it up in our living room where we can see it every day.
This post is sponsored by LEGO and contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own.
Surprise a LEGO fan with a unique DIY LEGO Easter Basket!
As much as I love Easter candy, I have been trying to lessen the sugar when it comes to the Easter basket. Themed Easter baskets are so much fun to make, like this LEGO Elves Easter Basket I made for my daughter a few years go. This year, I decided to put together a LEGO-themed basket full of amazing LEGO goodies that every LEGO fan is sure to love.
Thanks to Hasbro for sponsoring this post and contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own.
Surprise a My Little Pony fan with a My Little Pony Easter Basket overflowing with their favorite characters!
Instead of traditional baskets filled to the brim with sugary sweets, I have really enjoyed putting together themed Easter baskets for the past few years instead. My latest creation is this My Little Pony: The Movie-inspired Easter basket filled with all kinds of magical goodies! My daughter has adored My Little Pony her entire life, and that love only boomed after seeing the movie in theaters last year. I can't wait to see her face on Easter morning when she finally gets to see this basket!
To get started on a themed gift basket, you should first take a look at all of the fun My Little Pony products that are out there! We put together a few of our favorites and started from there (more details below!). You can find these My Little Pony products at most major retailers and HasbroToysShop.com.
Next, find something to hold all of your Easter goodies. I found the cutest square plastic container for $3 that will be perfect for organizing the toys later! Layer some tissue paper and iridescent Easter grass in the container. Now you're ready to assemble the basket!
I also found a few inexpensive My Little Pony items to go along with the toys. A coloring book, a notepad for writing down magical ideas, and an adorable Pinkie Pie plush clip to put on a backpack. Of course, we also tossed in the My Little Pony: The Movie on DVD!
The Sunset Shimmer Equestria Girls Classic doll brings the magic of friendship and adventures of Canterlot High to life! This Sunset Shimmer doll is dressed in a studded faux-leather vest and brightly colored outfit, complete with a bracelet and rockin' ankle boots. Her cutie mark is represented in the shiny pattern on her top. Each of the seven dolls in the collection stand 11″ tall and feature 7 points of articulation making it easy for kids to recreate their favorite scenes.
This Glitter and Glow Princess Celestia figure will brighten everypony's day! She looks glamorous with her glittery wings and royal tiara and necklace accessories. When you press her sun-shaped cutie mark, she magically lights up, twinkles, and changes colors. Imagine she is channeling her magic when the colors change while recreating adventures from the movie!
The My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle & Songbird Serenade Festival Friends Set will inspire stories, like how Twilight Sparkle is helping Songbird Serenade practice before the anticipated Friendship Festival, or how Twilight is getting ready to cheer in the front row as Songbird Serenade rocks out on stage with her signature pink bow and microphone accessory!
Along with some brightly colored and shimmery eggs filled with goodies, My Little Pony: The Movie Blind Bags are another fun surprise to add to an Easter basket. Inspired by the characters from the movie, these blind bags have a fun surprise inside. Each bag has an adorable pony figure and collector card. There are 24 in the collection for you to create exciting stories from Equestria!
This My Little Pony Easter Basket is a great gift to spark more imaginative play and is the perfect gift for the My Little Pony fan in your life! These toys are also a "magical" choice for other occasions like birthdays and Christmas.
With a little bit of paint, you can turn inexpensive terra cotta pots into trendy DIY Gold Ombre Planters!
Terra cotta/clay pots can be found almost anywhere and are very inexpensive. They are also a lot of fun to customize. These DIY Gold Ombre Planters will look chic in any environment, and are easy to make. They will also make great gifts. Our Marbled Flower Pots were a hit a few years ago, and I am sure we will whip up some of the ombre ones this year to give as Mother's Day gifts!
Free Printable Outer Space Jokes for kids that are out of this world!
We are a bunch of jokesters at our house, and I can't resist a good pun. My daughter just had a fun field trip to the planetarium, which inspired me to make some Free Printable Outer Space Jokes to share with all of you. You can print them out and share them with your kids on a road trip, at the dinner table, or toss them in their lunch box to make them smile at school. These also worked well in my husband's classroom to keep the kids entertained while learning about space.
Print out these Free Printable Star Wars Bookmarks to save your spot in your favorite book!
To all of my fellow Star Wars fans, this one is for you! I originally created these bookmarks as incentives for my husband's 3rd grade class, but I knew that you would love them, too. It's no secret that reading can take you to galaxies far, far away. Reading is our only hope, so use these bookmarks to encourage young Jedis to use the Force and keep reading!!
Thanks to eOne for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.
This post contains affiliate links.
Throw a magical Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Party with these simple tips and free printables!
My daughter and I just discovered the new Nick Jr. series, Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom and decided to invite some friends over to have a little Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Party! From the makers of Peppa Pig, Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom is an adorable show that shares adventures about the friendship between the fairy princess Holly and Ben Elf in the magical Kingdom of elves and fairies. Each episode shares tales of perseverance, friendship, and magical fun that kids of all ages are sure to love!
While "Pinterest-perfect" parties are the goal most of us strive to achieve, our budgets don't always agree with our party plans. I know I'm not the only one in this predicament, so I wanted to share some simple tips, FREE printables, and more about how we were able to throw a magical party on a budget should you feel inspired to have your own Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Party!
Entertainment for party guests is one of the most important parts of the party. Not to worry, though. I've got you covered! The fairy princess Holly always has her trusty wand in hand, and now your guests can have one, too. This is a simple craft for kids with minimal mess.
Step 1: Color both the wand "star" and the face with markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
Step 2: Cut the pieces out with scissors. Smaller children will need help with this step!
Step 3: Use glue or tape (I love using a tape runner) to attach the face piece to the center of the "star" piece.
Step 4: Peel and stick adhesive-backed acrylic gems to the wand face. You could also embellish with glitter glue, stickers, or sequins!
Step 5: Add some tape or glue to the top end of a craft stick. Press it on the back of the wand face.
Step 6: Embellish the wand "handle" with more gems.
Now your guests can have fun creating magic like Holly!! We whipped up some wands to start the party, then watched a few episodes of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom. The kids loved mimicking Holly and the silly magic spells with their own wands.
Don't forget to download and print out Free Printable Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Bingo to play with friends. It's a fun way to add some Ben & Holly magic to your party! The bingo printable comes with 10 cards in a set, or a blank set so you can create your own. Kids of all ages will have a great time playing this game!
When it comes to party prep, I like to keep things simple. We found some applesauce cups on sale, and decided to dress them up to look like Gaston, the ladybird from the show. All you have to do is print out the Gaston Printable Labels and cut them out with a 3" circle punch or scissors.
Add some tape to the back of the labels and attach them to the top of the applesauce cups. Now you've got some snacks that fit your party theme with minimal work!
Place the Gaston applesauces on the table to be easily accessible to your guests. We also added a glass cup as a place to hold the magic wands while they weren't being used. This helped to keep wands from getting stepped on, spilled on, or lost throughout the party.
To keep our guests hydrated, we served Fairy Juice (pink lemonade) in blue cups that resemble Ben's hat. To make the hats, I simply cut some leaf shapes out of green paper and attached them to blue paper cups with tape. We also placed some Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom figures on our table for more magical fairy fun!
Our table centerpiece was some vanilla cupcakes with yellow frosting and blue sprinkles on a DIY cake stand. I embellished the cupcakes with some Free Printable Cupcake Toppers cut out with a 2" circle punch with a paper straw (cut into 1/4) taped to the back. I also added the adorable twin fairy figures, Daisy and Poppy, to the plate as well. Such a colorful and fun addition to our party table!
Last, but certainly not least are our Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom party favors. We filled up some colorful paper treat sacks with gummy butterflies and pretzels as a thank you to our guests for coming to our party. Then, I printed out some more cupcake toppers and taped them to the sacks to keep them closed.
This party was a ton of fun to put together, and the kids had a wonderful time. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Nick Jr.'s Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom! You can also follow the fun on Facebook, Twitter, and watch their videos on YouTube!
Who is your favorite Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom character?
Download and print Free Printable Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Bingo to play with friends!
Have you watched the Nick Jr. series, Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom yet? My daughter loves it! From the makers of Peppa Pig, this is an adorable show about the friendship between fairy princess Holly and Ben Elf in the magical Kingdom of elves and fairies. Each episode promotes perseverance, friendship, and magical fun that kids of all ages will love. This Free Printable Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Bingo will be fun to play as you watch the show or at a party with friends!
This Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Bingo includes all of your favorite characters, including Ben and Holly (of course), Gaston, the Ladybird, as well as a few new ones you might not recognize yet if you haven't seen the show! The bingo set includes different ten bingo cards, so it's easy to print and use for parties. Plus, it's fun for every age to play. The calling cards also include the names of the characters in case you don't know who they are.
(Set includes 10 bingo cards and calling cards in a single PDF file)
The blank set works a little differently. You get one bingo card with empty spaces (except for the "free" spot). Then print and cut out the bingo pieces so you can assemble the bingo cards yourself. Just glue the pieces in place and you're ready to play!
This is a great option for little hands that want to be creative, or if you have a larger group of people and don't want multiple cards that are the same. The blank bingo set includes all the same characters as the full set, but you can create your own bingo card setup.
(Set includes one blank bingo card, bingo pieces, and calling cards in a single PDF file)
Game Instructions
1. Pick some kind of object to mark your squares (popcorn, candy, glass gems, buttons, etc)
2. Give each player a bingo card and markers (or put your own card together with the blank set).
3. Have each player put a marker over the free space.
4. Have one person choose a calling card and say it out loud. Each player will cover that item on their card with a marker.
5. Once a player has 5 squares covered in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), call out "BINGO!" and win the game!
Some things you should know before downloading:
*Artsy-Fartsy Mama printables are for PERSONAL USE ONLY (classroom, home, libraries, etc).
*You may NOT modify, re-sell, redistribute, or claim the design as your own.
*Please do not remove the credits/watermarks.
*If you'd like to share this printable, credit must be given to Artsy-Fartsy Mama & linked back to this post.
To lengthen the life of the prints, I would recommend printing the bingo cards and calling cards on cardstock. All sets are 8.5x11 inches and combined in a single PDF format.
Who is your favorite Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom character?
This post is sponsored in partnership with Paramount Pictures. As always, all opinions are my own.
When my daughter first got interested in acting, she learned all about the Shakespeare classics. One of her favorite plays was Romeo and Juliet and loves the movie Gnomeo & Juliet. It is now one of our favorite movies that we watch together as a family. A sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet has been announced, and we can't wait! Sherlock Gnomes is sure to be another family favorite, and it's in theaters March 23rd.
To celebrate our excitement for the movie, I wanted to make some handmade wooden peg dolls inspired by the Sherlock Gnomes characters. While it can take some time and effort, peg dolls are one of my favorite things to make. When I see how my daughter loves playing with every set I've made over the years, it makes every moment of work worth it.
After a string of garden gnome disappearances in London, Gnomeo & Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case of their missing friends and family. This action-packed sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet features the voices of returning cast James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Stephen Merchant and Ozzy Osbourne, plus Johnny Depp as Sherlock Gnomes, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Watson, and Mary J. Blige as Irene.
To make your own set of Sherlock Gnomes Peg Dolls, you'll need to start with these supplies:
• Wooden peg dolls: 4 large, 3 medium, 3 small
• Wooden box with hinges - mine measures about 6x4x2
Have some images of the characters you want to make on hand to refer to. Since the dolls are so small, I simplify the characters by taking out the smaller details (nose, mouth, etc), but keep the main details (clothing, hair color, etc). Use a sharp pencil (I prefer a mechanical pencil) and lightly draw the simplified characters on the wooden peg dolls.
After everything has been drawn onto the peg dolls, the next step is to paint them. When it comes to paint, I recommend using Americana acrylic paints. Good quality acrylic paints like these will have brighter colors, and you'll only need 1 or 2 coats, which matters when you're working on a project like this. You'll also need a few small paint brushes in different sizes and styles to paint details on the peg dolls.
Getting started is the hardest part of making peg dolls. To make it a little easier, I choose one color and paint all of the parts on different dolls. This will also save you on time since you won't need to wash your brushes in between and get the paint out again later!
A few tips:
* If the color seems a little dull or you can see the wood grain through it, add another coat. Just make sure that the first coat of paint is dry before you add another.
* For the eyes, dip the non-brush end of a small brush into some paint and dab once or twice on a piece of scrap paper. Then carefully dab the brush on the eye pencil marks on the peg doll.
* You can use a thin Sharpie marker to add on thin details that a brush wouldn't be able to do (glasses, eyebrows, clothing details).
* After you're done painting, use an eraser over the peg dolls to remove any pencil left behind.
After all of the dolls have been painted, spray a coat of clear spray paint over the peg dolls to give them a glossy finish and to protect the paint. I painted a few coats - but make sure each coat is completely dry before adding another.
While going through my stash, I found some small wooden knobs. I painted the tops red and blue, the bottoms white and added spots to make them look like mushrooms. Gnomes and mushrooms are perfect together! Be sure to paint a coat or two of glossy spray paint over the mushrooms as well.
In the movie, Watson wears a bowler hat. I painted a small wooden cap to match his hat brim and suit. I finished it off with spray paint, then glued it to the top of his head with a strong craft glue.
The hats for the gnomes are a little more complex, so I decided to mold them by hand with clay. These were both a success and a fail, and I'll tell you why...
I used a polymer clay that was the perfect red color to match the gnomes. After warming a small ball of clay in my hands, I was able to mold the clay to the shape I wanted and they fit the gnomes perfectly. This is the success!!
A thing to know about polymer clay is that it has to be baked to permanently set the shape. I thought that since the peg dolls had a glossy finish, that the clay would come right off. Not so much. I carefully used a fingernail to loosen the hats around the heads and I completely ruined one of them. I remade the hat and put the peg dolls in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This stiffened the clay and made it a little easier to work with, but they put up a fight. I was finally able to remove the hats after using a fingernail and slowly working them off. I baked them according to package directions, and everything turned out okay in the end.
What I would have done different is tried an air dry clay instead. That way, I could have made the hats and let the clay set on the peg dolls. Then you can just paint them and be done! I'll try it next time and keep you updated.
After being baked, I let the clay hats cool completely. I added a drop of strong craft glue to the inside of the hats and attached them to each of the peg dolls. I repeated the same process for the characters with blue hats.
After the glue dried, I sprayed one last coat of clear spray paint to the hats to give them a glossy finish. The final step is to line up all the peg dolls and admire your work. They make me smile every time I look at them!
The wooden box will serve a few purposes - it's a great way to keep your peg dolls in one place and stay in great condition. It's also going to be a fun play space for the peg dolls!
Measure the inside of the box and cut a piece of green felt to fit. Use a glue gun to attach the felt to the bottom. Cut more green pieces of felt to cover the other four sides of the box and attach them with glue.
I wanted to make the box look like the gnome garden, so I cut out some little flowers and a cute pond out of felt. I also cut a rectangle of blue felt to add to the top of the box for the sky. Get creative and add as much or as little as you want!
You can also paint the outside of the box to look however you want. My daughter wanted to keep the wood look, so we just painted a thin coat of sealant on the outside to keep it looking nice.
Now that the box is complete, it's time to play! Take the gnomes in and out of the box to re-enact scenes from the movie - like this one from the trailer where one of the goons gets stepped on in the garden!
After the kids are done playing, lay all of the peg dolls inside the box. The felt will keep them from getting scratched up, and you can easily find all of the dolls again the next time you want to play.
This project has made us even more excited to see Sherlock Gnomes on March 23rd. Until then, we are going to be having a ton of adventures of our own, and probably re-enacting some of the scenes from Gnomeo & Juliet!
For all of the Sherlock Gnomes news and fun, visit the Official Website, Like on Facebook, and follow on Twitter and Instagram. You can also share and follow along with #SherlockGnomes!
Here at Artsy-Fartsy Mama, you'll find a little bit of everything: crafts (even ones for the kids), FREE printables and SVG cut files, easy recipes, educational ideas, travel tips, sewing tutorials, and so much more to add creativity to your life!
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