The Creative Salad – Page 35 – Crafty fun and homeschool adventures in Sonoma County, California.

DIY Plant Marker Tutorial Round-Up

Even though I know the names of most (okay, many!) of the plants in our garden, I try to label all of our plants and vegetables. I find plant labels are important in refreshing my memory each season, as well as being an invaluable learning tool for our daughter as she grows and learns the plant names herself.

I tend to reusue the labels from our local garden center, strictly out of laziness and economy. I love the idea of making more durable and attractive plant markers that we can reuse year after year.

Here are some inspired handmade plant marker tutorials that I’m eager to try:

Featured above:
1. Antique Spoon Plant Marker Tutorial (pin/source)
2. Wine Cork Herb Labels (pin/source)
3. DIY Stamped Plant Marker (pin/source)
4. Make your own garden markers with jar lids and dowels (pin/source)
5. DIY Twig Plant Markers (pin/source)
6. Simple herb marker — permanent pen on pots! (pin/source)

(In writing this post, I noticed a multitude of chalkboard garden marker tutorials out there. Who wants a label that washes off when you water the garden?! Talk about impractical. I just don’t get it.)

Which plant marker is your favorite?

View these and many garden related projects, including several other garden marker tutorials, on my Garden Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

The State of the Dollhouse

There’s no doubt about it: ours is a lived in dollhouse.

After several months of inactivity (recovering from my three day marathon painting session to get it ready for Christmas morning!), we’re back to working on the dollhouse.

When your dollhouse family insists that they need a pink sofa, you happily oblige:

What house is complete without books strewn throughout the house and tucked safely away in cupboards?!

Cleaning and laundry is so much more fun when there are small sized mops and laundry facilities available:

Next up: hang wallpaper in the living and sew curtains for the house. We also have plans to sew a black and white rug to go under the sofa.

We’re loving the process as much as the play. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?!

Easter Crafting

I know that buried under all that craft mess there’s a kitchen table somewhere. We haven’t seen it in a few days, but it’s there waiting for us to finish our Easter crafting. I don’t actually miss it all that much. We’re having too much fun sewing, cutting, dying, filling… and we’re in the homestretch!

May you all have a wonderful weekend!

Passover Matzah Treats

While our family may avoid unleavened bread and thereby celebrate Passover essentially every day of the year (being gluten-free and all), I do appreciate the deliciousness of matzah during Passover and miss eating it.

(Yes, I know that you can now buy gluten-free matzah! Unfortunately it contains potato starch, a big no-no for this family thanks to my husband and daughter’s pesky nightshade allergies.)

If I could eat matzah, here’s what I would be making for our family this week:

Featured above:
1. Apple-Matzah Kugel (pin/source)
2. Matzah S’mores (pin/source)
3. Matzah Almond Brittle (pin/source)
4. Chocolate-Covered Matzah Two Ways: with Candied Kumquats and Toasted Coconut (pin/source)
5. Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzah Crunch (as David Lebovitz says, “Whatever holiday you celebrate, you need to make this recipe – it’s amazing.”) (pin/source)
6. Chocolate, Nut, and Dried Fruit Covered Matzah (pin/source)

Please indulge in at least one of these treats for me, okay?

View these and more Passover recipes on my Spring Holiday Inspiration and Sweet Treats Recipes to Try Pinterest boards.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

More Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs

There are so many creative ways to decorate eggs for Spring. First I want to show you some Easter projects from our house, then I’ll share some of my favorite egg decorating ideas from Pinterest.

This year we’ve dyed eggs with natural ingredients:

(Above, the deep red eggs on the left were dyed with red onion skins and cabbage; the egg on the right is immersed in a saffron dye bath.)

We’ve also decoupaged small tissue paper circles to our eggs for a fun color-mixing lesson:

(Using skewers laid across shallow slits made in a toddler-sized shoe box worked perfectly for securing the eggs and allowing us to decorate the entire egg at once without get our fingers dirty or having to wait for the egg to dry while we worked!)

Last year we decorated oversized paper mache eggs with brightly colored tissue paper:

Here are some other fun ideas from my Spring Holiday Inspiration board on Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. Eggs decorated with edible ink pens (pin/source)
2. No dye Easter eggs (pin/source)
3. Decoupage flowered Easter eggs (pin/source)
4. Dip dyed eggs (pin/source)
5. Silhouette Easter Eggs (pin/source)
6. Washi tape Easter eggs (pin/source)
7. Melted crayon Easter eggs (pin/source)

I am blown away by the creativity out there on the web!

View these and many more Spring holiday crafts and activities on my Spring Holiday Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)