DIY Projects to Make Life Happier Archives

Birthday/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Spider-Man Cake Toppers

June 18, 2022

For Liam’s fourth birthday, he wanted to be Spider-Man. Specifically calling out he wanted to be ‘Spin’ (aka Miles Morales) and that “daddy would be Spidey (aka Peter Parker). I told him that was a great idea, so we went all out. To theme the cake, I made these Spider-Man cake toppers. For his cake, I kept it basic. Liam wanted a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Boxed cake mix…

June 18, 2022 By Brian

DIY/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Pacifier Clips

February 23, 2022

Some of the most useful things for a parent with a baby are pacifier clips. With our first son, paci clips seemed to be everywhere. With our second kid, I can’t find them anywhere. A new season of our podcast, Millennial and Pregnant, just launched! That can only mean one thing…we had another baby! With the second kid, it’s not quite like riding a bike, but I was definitely mentally…

February 23, 2022 By Brian

Celebrations/ Christmas/ DIY

DIY Maui Map Ornament

December 24, 2021

It only took four years, but I finally got around to making a Maui map ornament! In 2017, my entire family flew out to Maui to celebrate my cousins’ wedding. It was the best two-week vacation we’ve had so far. Well, Cabo was also great… Around Christmas 2017, I started to work on the ornament. The original map I brought back with me was waterproof! It made sense for the…

December 24, 2021 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Millennial and Parents/ Our Home/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Play Kitchen Makeover

November 24, 2021

One of the bigger toys we gave to Liam is his play kitchen. It’s a cute model from Ikea; very Scandinavian and simple. He loves to make us food and especially loves to make me coffee in the morning. French vanilla, with milk and ice (although sometimes he surprises me with a dash of protein powder and corn). The setup is very simple and I love that the stove lights…

November 24, 2021 By Brian

DIY/ Side Dishes

DIY Kitchen Stool Helper

November 5, 2021

Our son has always been fascinated with how we make food. His favorite book, Stir Crack Whisk Bake, gets him involved in making cupcakes. From measuring to pouring to setting the timer, the book is very interactive. When he’s in the kitchen with us, Liam loves to help measure and then sets up the timer via Alexa. I love that he loves to participate, but he needed a more stable set…

November 5, 2021 By Brian

All Recipes/ Celebrations/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Halloween/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

Halloween 2021

October 31, 2021

I blinked and now it’s Halloween. This year’s Halloween costume goes underwater and focused on something that’s both mystical and haunting. The leaves are a little underwhelming this year, but there have been some great pockets of color in and around the city and the Hudson Valley. Last weekend, we hiked upstate to a farm we visted last year, DuBois Farms. They have THE BEST apple cider donuts. Yes, more…

October 31, 2021 By Brian

All Recipes/ Autumn/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Pumpkin Pillows

October 6, 2021

It would not be a proper fall on the blog unless there were two new posts: a fall dessert and a DIY project. The fall dessert is on the way, but here’s the DIY project. These DIY pumpkin pillows are inspired by Pottery Barn’s Halloween 2021 collection. Over the summer, Pottery Barn released their Halloween collection. Two pillows caught my eye: a ghost pillow and a jack-o-lantern pillow. I wavered…

October 6, 2021 By Brian

DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Corduroy: Halloween Costumes 2020

October 28, 2020

While Halloween this year will look a little different, we were not going to let it getaway. This year, we transformed our son into Corduroy and took some photos. Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the toy department of a big store. Day after day he waited with all the other animals and dolls for someone to come along and take him home. Corduroy, 1968 Fatima’s favorite book…

October 28, 2020 By Brian

Celebrations/ DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Family-Friendly Halloween activities to do this weekend

October 16, 2020

We’re halfway through October and Halloween is right around the corner! We’ve been getting into the spooky szn through some baking, crafting, and spontaneous Monster Mash dance parties. This weekend, we’re heading out for some leaf peeping and pumpkin picking. If you’re looking to get into the holiday spirit, here are some activities you can do right now! Pumpkin Picking for the ‘gram…or to carve Get in some fresh air,…

October 16, 2020 By Brian

DIY/ Family Fun/ Millennial and Pregnant/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

The One With The Baby Shower Car Parade

July 29, 2020

My baby sister had a baby! I still cannot believe it. In June, my mom and I threw her a Friends-themed baby shower car parade. We set up an outdoor Central Perk so she could lounge and watch her friends and family drive by. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. As we were planning, we knew we needed to be flexible. States were just about to reopen, but we…

July 29, 2020 By Brian

All Recipes/ Birthday/ Dad Bakes Cookies/ Dessert/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting

Liam’s Second Birthday: Two the Moon

May 28, 2020

Life under quarantine doesn’t have to suck. We stay home to save lives. As parents, we’ve found one of the hardest things to do is to make life seem normal for a two-year-old. He doesn’t know why we can’t go to the playground, why we get frustrated at him for not wanting to wear his mask outside, why we use the rain cover on the stroller on sunny days, why…

May 28, 2020 By Brian

Birthday/ DIY/ Family Fun/ Parenting/ Side Dishes

DIY Rocket Backpack: Two the Moon

May 26, 2020

I have decided that for every birthday, my kids will have a themed photoshoot. They’ll make great memories to look back on and this way we get family portraits out of it! This year’s birthday theme was Two the Moon. For our son’s portraits, I crafted this DIY rocket backpack so he could land on the moon! Because my wife and I are crazy planners, we ended with six of these backpacks…

May 26, 2020 By Brian

Celebrations/ Christmas/ DIY

Winter Wreath DIY

December 18, 2019

Nothing says the holidays like a house decked out in decorations and Christmas music on full blast. But then the holidays are over and it all abruptly goes back into hiding—unless you’re my family and it’s Valentine’s Day before the last Christmas decoration is put away. However, this DIY Winter Wreath is here for you until the first day of spring—or until Memorial Day. When I get inspired to do…

December 18, 2019 By Brian

DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Pumpkin Carving and Preserving

October 29, 2019

When we bought pumpkins a few weeks ago, I was too eager to wait to carve them. I had been looking up various ways to preserve pumpkins, so I thought I’d try a few pumpkin carving and preserving methods since we had a while before Halloween. Ideally, you should wait to carve pumpkins a few days before Halloween or when you want them to look their best; a day before…

October 29, 2019 By Brian

DIY/ Halloween/ Side Dishes

Family Halloween Costumes: The Wizard of Oz

October 23, 2019

This year, we did not know what to do for our Halloween costumes. We had a shortlist of ideas. However, when we were in Marshalls, we saw this lion costume and had to let Liam try it on. He just stood there, looking at us and then ran off. This tiny human was running around Marshalls in this lion costume. That’s when I was sold. He. Is. THE CUTEST. Lion.…

October 23, 2019 By Brian

Autumn/ DIY/ Side Dishes/ Sponsored

Falling into the Fall Mood

October 6, 2019

The first few weekends of fall are some of my favorite times of the season. No matter how hot or cold it is outside, we start decorating on the first weekend of Fall. I usually bake a loaf of pumpkin bread, apple pie, sweet potato pie, or pumpkin pie. However, the first thing we do is light up all the fall-scented candles. There’s nothing that gets us into the fall…

October 6, 2019 By Brian

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