If I had a penny for every empty food container that I’ve saved for a craft project, I’d be a very rich woman. Here at Projectkid.com, we are serial (and cereal) upcyclers…both for the ecological impact on our planet and for the convenience factor (use what you have!). More than ever during this quarantined time, we’ve hoarded all the boxes, caps, lids, tubes and containers that have passed through our household. When you have a bin of these things in your house, it invites kids to inventively build three-dimensionally; they can innovate with their hands and don’t need to rely on craft kits.

When Stonyfield asked me what I could make with their quart-sized yogurt containers, my creative juices went on overdrive. Hats! Pencil cups! Drums! The tubs are sturdy and waterproof…so yes, a vase or planter would be perfect! I wanted to make vases that felt sculptural—something where you could recognize that the base is a simple quart size container but the boundaries of the basic cylinder were broken. Since duct tape is also waterproof, it was the perfect, colorful option to use on the outside.

These duct tape vases were so much fun to make. You can create people, animals, or just various abstract patterns. They make a great DIY gift idea this holiday season to make with your kids!

What you’ll need:

–Stonyfield quart size containers

-Duct tape

-Scissors

-Cotton balls

-Parchment or wax paper

-Sharpie

-Thin cardboard (from a cracker or cereal box)

-Pipe cleaners

-Single-serve yogurt containers

Make it:

1. Cover the container with strips of duct tape, working from the top down. 
   
2. Cut another strip of tape and stick a cotton ball to the back. Adhere the strip to the container, making sure that the cotton ball lands where the eye would be. Repeat for a second eye. Smooth the tape down around the eyes.
3. To make the eye lids, attach a piece of tape to parchment or wax paper and cut out crescent shapes. Attach to the top of the eyes.
4. Use a sharpie to draw the outlines, lashes, and pupils of eyes.
5. Cut a triangle from thin cardboard, about 2-by-2 inches and cover with duct tape. Fold in half and tape to the container as a nose, right in between the eyes. Draw on nostrils with sharpie.
6. To make the mouth, fold a piece of red duct tape to the center, and then to the center again from the opposite side. Cut out a top and bottom lip and use folded-over duct tape to attach just under the nose. 

Now that you have the face, it’s time to add the features:

7. Ears: Cut two matching ears out of cardboard and cover with duct tape. Tape to either side of the head.
8. Short hair: Cut swoops of duct tape out and attach them along the top of the yogurt container.
9. Ringlets: Tear off a piece of duct tape, about 10 inches long. Lay a pipe cleaner down the center horizontally and fold tape over towards the center. Twirl the pipe cleaner/tape around a thick marker to make the ringlet and use a small piece of duct tape to tape the curl to the yogurt container. 
10. Straight hair: To make bangs, adhere two 4-inch pieces of tape to each other. Fringe the ends and trim to the correct length. To make the hair, cut three pieces of duct tape: 6, 8 and 10 inches long. Fold each in half lengthwise. Make a loop with the shortest piece and tape ends together. Loop medium piece over the smallest loop, and the longest over the medium one. Use matching duct tape to secure to side of yogurt container. Repeat for the opposite side.

Make the body:

11. Peel the wrapper off of a single-serve Stonyfield Farms yogurt container and cover with duct tape.
12. Add details like collars, stripes or buttons to make the body.
13. Use a piece of folded duct tape to attach the body under the head.

This project is sponsored by Stonyfield. 

There are few craft supplies I love more than a yarn pom-pom, but to make them en masse can get a little time-consuming…wrapping, trimming, shaping. When I saw that Oriental Trading had this mega pack of yarn pom-poms in great colors, I knew I just needed them near me. (You can also buy them in individual colors if you want to pick and choose.)

The DIY ornament possibilities are endless I tell you! Here are 5 different yarn pom-pom DIY Christmas ornaments that I made for Oriental Trading’s Fun 365 site. Head over there for the full how-to!

Back in August, due to the pandemic, our cousins and closest friends, Jane, Micah, and their son Harvey, (we call them frousins) moved out west to Seattle—none of us are from Brooklyn, but we were the only family that each other had here. It was also a bonus that we adored one another, travelled well together, and loved the same cocktails. After quarantining upstate for the early part of Covid, they realized how much they loved having space and the outdoors, especially for their 3-year-old son, Harvey. It was a heartbreak for all four of us, to say the least. Just one more pill to swallow from this tough time.

We always used to talk about how one day my kids, Sommer and Oliver, would babysit Harvey, teach him how to build the best train set, and show him the choice playgrounds of Brooklyn. It was especially heartbreaking for Sommer, as she had really forged a beautiful companionship with him.

For the holidays, we wanted to give him something that marked this moment of time both for him and for us, and we knew we wanted to do it in the form of a custom photo something. When I scrolled the designs that Mixbook has to offer, the ABC book by Ampersand Design Studio had me at hello. We could make an alphabet book for Harvey all about New York and our sweet three years together.  

So Sommer and Oliver made lists of words…we knew that S would be for Sommer, O would be for Oliver, etc, but we had so much fun brainstorming all of the other letters of the alphabet. We finally settled on the 26 words and then went hunting through all of our photos to find the best pics (and for some we actually went on a literal walk down memory lane to shoot them). 

The Mixbook software was so easy to use that Sommer was able to upload the photos and drop them into the pages. I helped her move around the layouts and letters—she felt super proud to be able to say she designed her own ABC book! The designs and colors of our template were so delightful that there wasn’t anything major for us to change. And honestly, it was screen time spent with my daughter that I wasn’t mad about! (Moms, you know what I’m talking about, right?) We got to work together and laugh at memories and awwww over all of the sweet pics.

With Mixbook.com you don’t have to be a designer to produce a beautiful product. You can customize as much as you want, or just follow the huge variety of templates that they offer for books, calendars, cards, or wall art. Order for a someone that you haven’t been able to see for this holiday! Use code PKID50 for 50% off your first book now through December 30, 2020!

When Harvey was born, it was the closest I would come to having a third child. I jumped at every chance to hold him, feed him, even change a diaper in the early days. And nothing makes me happier than Harvey learning his ABCs from this special book we made. 

This post was sponsored by Mixbook.

Normally the range of the gifts that mom might want would be vast…maybe a new piece of jewelry, a purse, bath salts are always nice, or even an edible gift. But this year, there is only one category that matters—anything that can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home!

This year, moms in quarantine, which essentially is all moms, need any and all things that bring light, hope, comfort—basically any morsel of joy.

I put together this list with me in mind…and my best friend, and my sister, and our school principal. I’d say this mom gift guide is “one-size-fits-most.”

1| Pure Ritual Body Scrub: you can never go wrong with self-care

2| Glass Pendant: a warm glow overhead goes a long way

3| Nodpod Weighted Eye Mask: perfect for soothing migraines, calming anxiety, or easing into restful sleep. yes, please.

4| Mountain Mama Sweatshirt: even if she’s not from West Virginia

5| Elizabeth Benotti Everyday Mug: the perfect mug starts and ends your day right.

6| Art of Being Cards: if you don’t know what to do, let the cards tell you

7| Wine Simple: with all the time on your hands, at least learn how to to pair your food and drink

8| Kin Eurphorics – High Rhode: “a nonalcoholic spirit for the happiest of hours.” I’m all in.

9| Clear Margarita Glass: I only need one of these because that’s what cocktail hour looks like these days.

10| Loop Back Sweatpants from Entireworld: just take my word for it. you will live in these.

11| Pom pom knit slippers: handmade, cozy, and the right colors. trifecta.

12| Alexa Pulitzer F*ck Calling Cards: because sometimes you just need to say it.

13| Stak Planter Book End: let your plants cozy up with your books.

This post contains affiliate links! 

It always takes me a bit of time to transition between Halloween decor and the December holidays, and sadly that means Thanksgiving usually lives in my house for, oh, about a week. So, first, let me apologize that I have inflicted my procrastination on you!

But this beauty is one that you can make and hang from year to year. Send the kids out in the backyard to collect acorn caps and then order your wool felt pom-poms and wreath forms from Oriental Trading.

Head over to Oriental Trading’s Fun 365 for the full how-to!