DIY Projects to Make Life Happier Archives

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

DIY/ Side Dishes

DIY Halloween Suncatchers

October 10, 2023

I love that my kids love the fun and cooky crafts I give them. We try to do crafts all year, but spooky season gives us a special opportunity to get crafty. This weekend, we made these Halloween suncatchers. Growing up, I lived for the holiday window stickers. When Autumn began, I loved going to the store to pick out a new Halloween-themed sticker sheet. When we would take out…

October 10, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Ghost Handprint Halloween Cards

October 4, 2023

Growing up, I made so many crafts for the holidays. Tissue ghosts for Halloween, cards for Valentine’s Day, and ornaments for Christmas. And thirty-something years later, I’m still crafting! Parents love handmade gifts. And you know what? Grandparents absolutely love handmade gifts from their grandkids. I will shower my parents with handmade gifts from my kids for as long as they’ll agree to make them. The first thing we’re making…

October 4, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Side Dishes

DIY Floating Candles like in Hogwarts Great Hall

October 3, 2023

The last time we had floating candles in our house, we were throwing a Harry Potter-themed Halloween party. That was one of my favorite parties to-date. For spooky season, we’re trying some out of the box floating candles and having a lot of fun along the way. This year, we bought this set of floating candles on Amazon. Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small…

October 3, 2023 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Paper Bats: Halloween DIY

October 1, 2023

A previous version of this post for Paper Bats: DIY Halloween was published in October 2013. We took new photos and updated some of the written content. Bats are everywhere! Need a quick idea to set up your Halloween entertainment space? Make some paper bats to adorn your walls and ceilings. I can’t take the credit on this one. Our friend, and Lilies and Loafers blogger, Ashley, did this last…

October 1, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting

Disney Vacation Goody Bag

July 19, 2023

We went on our first family vacation via a plane! We were anxious, excited, and we’re mentally prepared to parent in a different city. We were excited mostly for the destination: Disney World! As the family trip planner, I set up everything, including a special surprise for everyone. I gave everyone a Disney vacation goody bag. This trip was to celebrate Liam’s 5th birthday. A big milestone. Huge! So part…

July 19, 2023 By Brian

DIY/ Side Dishes

DIY Food Photography Boards

March 29, 2023

As we grew the blog, I needed to elevate our photography mis en scene. Since you eat with all your other senses before you taste food, our photos needed to look good. Eventually, we bought some backgrounds. I love them, but I could not justify their cost when I wanted to change them out. So I made these DIY food photography boards; some with wallpaper and some with paint. I…

March 29, 2023 By Brian

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