DIY Projects to Make Life Happier Archives

How to Dehydrate Fruit

November 20, 2024

Today I’m going to share how to dehydrate fruit. Whether you are need cocktail garnish or are crafting a holiday wreath, dehydrated fruit is easy to make. And you DON'T NEED a fancy dehydrator--just your oven (and 4-6 hours)!…

November 20, 2024 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Halloween/ Liam's Train Time/ Parenting

Halloween 2024 Recap

October 31, 2024

Another spooky season is wrapping up. This Halloween season was a good one. We made some new DIY, scrambled for last-minute costumes, and whipped up a bunch of new cocktails. Here’s our Halloween 2024 recap…but first, pumpkin picking and apple cider donuts! Cocktails We mixed up a ton of new cocktails this month, including some blackberry margaritas, blackberry whisky cocktails, and these apple cider cocktails. DIY Projects I crafted these…

October 31, 2024 By Brian

Celebrations/ Christmas/ DIY

DIY Map Christmas Ornaments

July 24, 2024

Don’t throw away your maps from all the traveling you’ve done. Do this instead. This DIY project will take you 20 minutes. It’s perfect for a special gift throughout the year or for Christmas because these DIY Map Ornaments can be personalized for anyone and any adventure. 10 years ago, I made our first map Christmas ornament reflecting our honeymoon to Martha’s Vineyard. Over the last decade, our map ornament…

July 24, 2024 By Brian

DIY

DIY Minions Card Craft for Dads

June 26, 2024

In this house, we love the Minions. Despicable Me 1-3, Minions spinoffs, and I’m sure Despicable Me 4 will be another favorite. However, the only person I can think of is a bigger fan than my kids is their Papa (my dad). So when we were thinking about a gift for Father’s Day, my kids wanted to make something. So we made this hand/footprint Minions card craft. Liam recently said…

June 26, 2024 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Gift Guides/ Parenting

Summer Fun Bucket Gift Guide

May 22, 2024

I love celebrating the everyday moments. I think I inherited that from my parents. Whether it was our 6th birthday or 21st, we always had a party. At the end of the school year, we’d celebrate with a trip to the toy store (I’d usually pick out something from LEGO). Aced an exam? Let’s celebrate. Got that lead role in a school play? A trip to Dairy Queen! Now, I’m…

May 22, 2024 By Brian

Birthday/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Blair’s Second Birthday: Disney Pixar Cars

January 24, 2024

Our youngest is now two years old and we are still recovering. We asked Blair how he wanted to celebrate his birthday, and he replied, “cars.” And that’s how we ended up with a 2 Fast 2 Furious Pixar Cars theme. Blair loves cars. Hot Wheels, Jeeps, Hess trucks, pretty much any vehicle. But above all else, he loves Pixar’s Cars. He loves the movies, he loves the merch, he…

January 24, 2024 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Christmas Crafts for Kids

December 8, 2023

It’s tiiiiiimmmeee! We are well into the Christmas season and I am here for all the holiday vibes. Like the elves in Santa’s workshop, we’re hard at work on Christmas crafts. When the weather outside gets frightful, stay inside and craft! These crafts are perfect for the whole family, even your younger kids. They can work on motor skills, exercise their creativity, and bring joy to others as these make…

December 8, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

December First Box

November 29, 2023

A December First is akin to an Easter or Boo basket. It’s another take on a Christmas Eve box. It’s a box of fun gifts for someone to enjoy ahead of Christmas. In our house, we love to do December First boxes to kick off the season. A December First box is exactly what it sounds like. One would receive this box of goodies on…December First! It’s like an advent…

November 29, 2023 By Brian

Birthday/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Liam’s Subway Themed Birthday

November 25, 2023

We have a five year old. When Liam was born, I couldn’t imagine him at a year old, let alone five years old. It’s bonkers, but here we are. When talking to Liam about what he wanted to do for his birthday, the first thing that came to mind was the subway: he wanted a subway themed birthday. So how do we pull this off? He also wanted to go…

November 25, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Side Dishes

Autumn Handprint Craft Two Ways! (aka handprint turkey)

November 15, 2023

What do I love more than a quick craft? A craft that uses all the same supplies I already have. And these next two crafts use the same exact supplies, but we reimagined our process to create two beautiful works of art. First, the handprint turkey. We have a lot of family, and this year, I am feeling more crafty. You get a handmade Halloween card, and you get a…

November 15, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

LEGO Binder

November 8, 2023

Where do you put all of those LEGO manuals? Sometimes your creations fall apart and you need to figure out how to put them back together. For the most part, I can do it from memory or figure out how it should go back together. However, sometimes, I need to check that manual. But where are all the manuals?! More often than not it’s in the trash or misplaced. Growing…

November 8, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Halloween/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Super Mario Costumes: Halloween 2023

October 27, 2023

Another Halloween is upon us! When brainstorming for our Halloween costumes this year, Fatima and I looked to our kids. What did they do this year, what did they watch, what were they obsessed with? We had short list: Cars, Paw Patrol, Super Mario. Spoiler alert, we went with Super Mario costumes. Cars was easy to remove from the list. Too involved. We seriously considered Paw Patrol. We looked at…

October 27, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Paper Plate Spiders

October 26, 2023

Oh so spooky! I had two predictions for the Halloween and Christmas seasons: 1. Bats and Spiders would be trendy for Halloween and 2. Gingerbread would be trendy for Christmas. I see bat and spider decorations and pajamas everywhere! Even Dunkin Donuts made a blowup of their spider donut. Let’s see where Christmas takes us. I already see Pottery Barn’s collection filled with all things gingerbread. In an effort to…

October 26, 2023 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Halloween

Frankenstein Handprints Halloween Cards

October 25, 2023

Last year, we did a lot of pumpkin crafts for Halloween. This year, I am trying to diversify with monsters, bats, and other creepy things. The ghost handprints were a huge hit with the kids, so we made these Frankenstein handprints in more Halloween cards. We had another rainy weekend, so we spent the day building LEGOs, reading, and crafting. Liam and I were doing some Halloween crafts while Blair…

October 25, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Halloween/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Puffy Ghosts and Puffy Bats

October 24, 2023

We’ve done a lot of crafting this season, and here’s another one for you to do with the kids in your life. Liam and I had a ton of fun making these puffy ghosts and puffy bats. We used a lot of craft supplies we already had in stock. There were a ton of cotton balls and black pompoms left over from our summer of crafts. Making the Puffy Ghosts…

October 24, 2023 By Brian

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