Out for a walk yesterday evening, I came across this beautiful vintage hand-carved children’s bed frame that had been put out for garbage and I just had to bring it home! Isn’t it just so sweet with all the lovely little hand-carved details? I just couldn’t let such a wonderful piece like this end up in the landfill, so after…
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I love to decorate the house with handmade ornaments using natural materials as people used to do in olden-times. It reminds of a time before this season became so commercially focused and people made simple, handmade ornaments, decorations, and gifts. These simple little felted wool acorn ornaments make a great needle felting project for anyone who is a beginner or…
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This is a fun little craft you can do to make your house a little more festive this season! It’s quick and easy and great to make with kids who like to paint. I had the idea to do festive doors as you see so many lovely doors at Christmas-time all dressed up with wreaths and garlands and even the…
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A recent visit back home, here are some of our lovely vintage finds… Such a pretty embossed biscuit tin, reminding me of tea and cookies at my Grandma’s house ♥ I think this one is perhaps 1940s, but not certain of that. Made by Gray Dunn of Scotland. The design and colours are just gorgeous, such a lovely piece! I’d…
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Vintage inspired Birthday Cupcakes Little bit of a long overdue post, the lovely birthday girl in question celebrated in November and here I am posting about her birthday many months on! Ah well, ‘better late than never’ has always been my motto, along with ‘I’ll study tomorrow’ and um, ‘all in good time’… I think you can see the theme…
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Thought I would share a few of my recent thrift store finds! I just love thrift shopping – it feels quite good to find something you love at a great price, and more so when it’s a rare vintage item – those are certainly getting harder to find at regular thrift stores, but that’s another story for another day. These…
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Our littlest one recently celebrated his third birthday and as a Very Hungry Caterpillar‘s superfan, I thought I’d try my hand at making Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes for the occasion. Being not very adept at cake decorating, I knew I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, while still coming up with something that at least resembled the famous little…
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This paper heart mobile is just about the easiest mobile you could make and turns out so very pretty! If you’re looking for a sweet little gift to make for a new baby’s nursery, or decoration ideas for a Valentine’s party, this is the post for you! You can make this mobile in no time at all and since it…
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Valentine’s Day is soon upon us and it is such a fun holiday for kids to celebrate by giving out Valentine cards to friends and family as well as making yummy Valentine treats to share! I’ve been working away on a fun package of Valentine’s Day printables for my Etsy shop – Little Willow Press – 10 activities in all!…
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In Victorian England, giving a clove orange pomander expressed warmth of feeling. Clove orange pomanders are so fun to make and are a lovely way to make your home smell festive and fresh! I remember my mum making orange pomanders when I was little and loved having one sitting prettily in a glass dish on the piano at Christmastime, greeting…
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Drying oranges is a simple way to preserve the fruit for decorating your home naturally for the festive season. I love to use oranges to decorate the house around the holidays – their lovely vibrant colour and delicious scent make them perfect for making garlands, adding to wreaths or making ornaments to hang on the tree! It also makes a…
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I’ve spent the last few days making some fun little printable activity pages for little ones that are now listed in my Little Willow Press Etsy shop! Designed for kids to do at the end of the year to help them remember all of their most memorable moments, things they’ve enjoyed, their favourite things, thoughts and feelings – really just…
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Everyone in our house loves these soft and flavourful pumpkin gingerbread cookies! These healthier cookies are a great fall treat and since they have lots of nutritious and nourishing ingredients like oats, pumpkin and spices, I don’t even mind the kids having them at breakfast. Of course, the kids are even bigger fans of them when they’re covered in icing…
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October and early November are the perfect time to stock up on pumpkin so that you have access to this incredibly nutritious fruit all year round! Pumpkin can be hard to find in grocery stores at other times of the year and even the canned variety can be hard to find at times, outside of the Thanksgiving season when it…
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Gingerbread mummy cookies are so fun and easy to make for Hallowe’en and the kids just love them! These mummy cookies are easy to decorate and are a hit at Halloween parties or gatherings. I added some little candy hearts to give them a little extra colour, but either way they are cute and fun for kids to make… and…
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These candy eyeballs and bones are so easy to make and make a great addition to your Halloween baking! The best part of making your own candy decorations is is that you can make as many as you want and customize them to your needs. We wanted funny candy eyes for some mummy gingerbread cookies and these worked out perfectly…
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These DIY Halloween treat bags are so fun and easy to make and are great for filling with candies to give to friends and reuse again next year! I made my bags by cutting pieces of muslin and cheesecloth that were about 5 inches x 6 inches, sewing the top edge and then sewing around three sides to create a…
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ghgHave you ever wanted a stamp that you just couldn’t find in the store? Or love a more ‘rustic look’ than those precise store-bought stamps offer? If yes, then you should try making linocut stamps! If you’re not familiar with linocut printmaking, it is a type of printing in which you cut a relief into a piece of linoleum, apply…
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My 2 year-old son is completely enamoured with the NumberBlocks – an animated British TV series that has cute characters and songs to help kids learn about numbers and math. This show does wonders if you’d like your little one to be comfortable with math as it really is a wonderful approach to helping them learn in a fun way!…
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This mummy costume is made in two pieces – top and pants – incredibly important for a toddler costume where you need fast on/off for toilet breaks/diaper changes! I made this DIY mummy costume for Arthur’s second Hallowe’en – it was really fun and quite easy to make! I wanted to do something a little more special for his second…
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Due to the popularity of the Best Friends Quiz digital printable I posted on here a few months ago, I thought I would expand on that to create a little packet of fun things for young friends to do together. I loved this type of thing when I was young and my friends and I could do some of these…
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I’m back with another quick back-to-school printable sticker sheet – this time I thought I’d make available some ‘Epi-pen Inside’ and ‘Inhaler Inside’ stickers for those who need to stick these on bags or purses. When my daughter got to about Grade 4, she no longer wanted to carry her Epi-pen and inhaler in the Epi-pen pouch she’d been wearing…
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As a mama of a child with food allergies, I know how important it is to make those allergies known to everyone who your child interacts with in the school setting. Parents of children with food allergies have the added anxiety of worrying if your child will encounter their allergen while at school at meal or snack times. When my…
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Hello again! I just wanted to share a couple of little needle-felted friends that I recently spruced up – meet bear and fox! I made these little guys quite a few years ago for my daughter and son and they have been happily played with and well-loved over the years. My littlest one, Arthur, just came across them as we…
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My daughter graduated from grade 8 this past week (sniff!) and I just thought I’d share the lovely bouquet we gave her after the ceremony – courtesy of Pictus Goods here in Toronto. I love Pictus as they are an environmentally-conscious flower shop sourcing local flowers as much as possible, using eco-friendly wrappings and avoiding the use of single-use plastics….
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I like to think that the best gifts are the homemade kind, and this is especially true when they are gifts given to you by children – kids make some of the sweetest (and sometimes really quite funny) things! A few years ago I had come across a gift that I had made for my mum for Mother’s Day –…
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The perfect Door Decor for every Season I had the idea to make a welcome sign that could change with the seasons and decided that one with a little vase attached would work quite well as you can change out the flowers as the seasons change! Fresh flowers in the spring and summer that could be changed out more often,…
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Hello again! I’m finally back to posting after some time away – the whole family came down with Covid and just after recovering from that the kids have all been suffering from colds, so it’s been non-stop illness around here. Thankfully, everyone is feeling well again! Which means that I can resume putting together some more crafty posts to share…
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Here in Toronto we woke to another beautiful snowfall yesterday morning! I just love snow and hiking through Taylor Creek Park after such a snowfall feels just like Lucy walking into Narnia, with the canopy of trees heavy and sparkling with fresh snow and quiet all around – you half expect Tumnus to come trotting up! The morning was nice…
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I created this free St. Patrick’s Day printable activity sheet for teachers and homeschoolers to use as a fun way for kids to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! This activity page is designed to get kids thinking and writing about things that they feel most fortunate about in their lives, while getting in the spirit of this fun Irish holiday that…
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A sweet DIY photocard makes the perfect gift to send to grandparents on Valentine’s Day! Above are two of my favourite little Valentines – my daughter and son when they were about six and almost 3. This is one of my favourite photos! I remember how much fun they had that day playing around with their heart-shaped glasses and jumping…
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Just a quick little birthday post! This is the cake that I made for my alphabet-mad little boy who just turned two. He wasn’t too bothered with the rest of the cake but there was a lot of excitement for those letters! If you have a little one who just loves letters, this is the simplest cake to decorate if…
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These little heart-shaped lavender sachets are so simple to sew and would make the perfect handmade Valentine’s Day gift for anyone who appreciates the lovely, peaceful scent of lavender on their clothes! I made these sachets using cheesecloth, though you could use muslin or some other not too tightly-woven fabric that will enable to scent to permeate more easily. If…
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The Jasper Diamond Hoodie from the book Vintage Baby Knits is one I’ve been meaning to knit for ages…really ages – since my daughter (now 13!) was a baby. Back then I was very new to knitting and I started this little sweater in the 9 month size and quickly realised that there was no way that I could knit…
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I thought it would be fun to make a Baby Name Advent to feature a new winter themed baby name for each day in December for 24 days. If you’re looking forward to welcoming a new little one in the winter season, perhaps you’ll find a name here to inspire you! I had quite a few jotted down, but narrowed…
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I thought it would be fun to make a little snowman to add to our decorations this year and ended up making a whole family! Here is a simple tutorial for making toilet roll snowmen – a really simple and fun holiday craft for kids, or for anyone really! When making crafts I always like to try and use materials…
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I’ve recently been trying to teach myself digital art/graphic design and slowly making progress with a program called Affinity Designer. I’ve been so happy with this program, even though it’s been a bit of a steep learning curve for me since I don’t have any experience at all with digital art programs and am generally not a tech person at…
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Just a quick little post to show some of the woolens that little Arthur is wearing this winter! Petite knit – Albert’s Pilot Hat – found here When I came across the pattern for Albert’s Pilot Hat, I really wanted to make one for Arthur and I finally got around to it last month! I love Petite Knit patterns and…
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I had the idea to make a Remembrance Day poppy pin for my daughter back when she was in Kindergarten. I thought this would have a better chance of staying on her coat and not getting lost since I made it with a closeable pin clasp. That is the original poppy pin you see in the main image – still…
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This is a very simple craft to do with kids to teach about Remembrance Day. Using just an egg carton, some pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and a little paint, you can make a lovely poppy to display for Remembrance Day or make a few to put in a vase if you just love poppies (as I do!). Teachers – if…
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At our house, we love making homemade Hallowe’en decorations! Who needs store-bought plastic stuff when you can easily make your own haunting decorations that look great and are so fun to make? The wonderful thing about Hallowe’en decorations in particular is that they don’t need to look perfect – they can be as messy as you like and it doesn’t…
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Continuing with the Little Ones Learn-to-Sew pattern series, now that it’s October (my favourite month!) I thought I would make some fall and Hallowe’en patterns for little ones to get into the spirit of the autumn season! I have some ideas for a few more to put up on here, so I’m hoping I can get them done in time…
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These little crochet earrings are quite simple to make and make a great last-minute gift idea! If you have never crocheted before, just get a hook and some yarn and familiarise yourself with a few basic stitches and you’ll be able to make these earrings with no problem. There are lots of great videos on Youtube that are really helpful…
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My 19-month-old is suddenly just enthralled with letters and spots them everywhere we go, even in the shapes of the playground equipment at the park! So when I came across a silicone alphabet mold, I just knew I had to get it and make him some alphabet biscuits. Luckily the biscuits turned out quite well using the mold. The font…
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I came across fence board Hallowe’en decorations when searching on Pinterest (of course!) for inexpensive Hallowe’en decorations to make with kids. I loved the idea of these as you can repurpose boards that are in rough shape and might otherwise be throw out. We had a bunch of varying sized boards lying around from when the kids had tried to…
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These little letter tiles are so much fun to make! They have so many great uses in teaching your little ones their alphabet, about vowels and consonants, and eventually to practice their spelling. It’s great to involve them in the making of the tiles too. Since they are made from simple homemade dough, they are completely safe for kids. I…
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At that start of the pandemic I started making cloth face masks, initially to donate to the hospital, but as word got out I started getting requests from family and friends for masks as well. At first I used a free pattern that our local hospital had put out but then thought I’d try making my own pattern as the…
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Last year my daughter’s online class needed to complete a simple sewing project for their Family Studies class. Since everyone was learning from home, the kids could come up with their own project to complete on their own time. My daughter loves frogs and was keen to make something to do with them, so she asked if we could come…
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These DIY clay letter tiles are so easy to make and have many great uses from cards and gift tags, to scrapbooking, and even as a nice little tool to help your kids with spelling practice! Check out the rest of this post for some ideas for using clay letters and also some tips for using the letter mold to…
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Printmaking with Solarfast dye is so fun and easy and the possibilities are endless! I’ve made a few t-shirts with this method – it’s wonderful if you want to make a custom shirt for yourself or a unique gift for someone else! So far I’ve made an Albert Einstein shirt for my son, a Christopher Walken shirt for my partner…
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I created the Pumpkin & Fig Baby Biscuit recipe for my baby son as I was looking for a cookie with a mixture of good ingredients to give him and hadn’t come across anything in the store. I also prefer to make my own, when possible, to avoid all the packaging that comes with store-bought items. I wanted to include…
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When my daughter was around three years old, I had the idea to start a memory book with her as a way to keep together all the little bits and pieces she collects along the way through childhood – little notes and cards from friends and family, her drawings and stickers, dried leaves and flowers, and of course, photos! When…
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Quite a few years ago now, knowing how much I loved to sew, my aunt and uncle gave me a gift of a little pin cushion they had made – it had a lovely blue felt fabric and had a black ribbon tied in a cross through the centre and the base was made from a painted mason jar lid….
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This is a little printable quiz that is fun for friends to do together. Reminiscent of those magazine quizzes that most 80s kids will remember fondly! Just print out the page and cut it down the middle – each friend then takes a side to fill out about each other – then share answers and see how much you know…
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When I have an idea for a new craft, I always look around my house to see if there is anything I can reuse or repurpose to avoid having to buy something new. It’s always great to find that I can use something that might otherwise have just gone in the garbage., no matter how small. I figure that every…
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This is quite a simple little wreath you can make up very quickly and easily! It’s great if you’d like to add a little freshness to your home or to make up as a quick and easy housewarming gift. My son (who loves making Lego stop-motion videos) inspired me to make a little stop-motion video of my own (above) to…
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I always find first posts a bit tricky… but first of all, welcome and thank you for stopping by! I’m hoping to make the Kindred + Willow blog into a place to share my creative projects and hopefully connect with like minded people like you! I’ve enjoyed doing creative things most of my life – from drawing and painting to…
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