Check out my latest project over at Playful Learning. I've always wanted to make my own sidewalk chalk, and I think I may have found the perfect combination of recipes to do it. Summer is coming, check it out!
Read MoreWow. This was a crazy week for me. I had 2 tests, a paper due and a ton of homework, plus a bunch of paperwork to deal with, and you know, some posts to get out, and some kids with stomachaches. I thought maybe I'd cheat a little and share my DIY for Playful Learning. It's a simple project that you can do with your kids, using my old stand by, a rice paper lantern, and a paper grocery bag. Check out the full tutorial on their site. Have you ever visited Playful Learning? In addition to arts+crafts, they have inspiring educational content, e-courses, and an e-book. I'm really quite proud that I get to be a contributor for them...
Read MoreI think a lot of parents worry about the eating habits of their children. It's one of the things in a long list of things we worry about. I recently attended a presentation about nutrition for school aged children. The Registered Dietitian offered strategies to build healthy eating habits, and she also told us something that kind of blew my mind: They don't have to eat everything on their plate. In fact they don't have to try everything on their plate. I'm an "eat your dinner" kind of lady, and I've been known to insist on finishing certain vegetables- who doesn't love roasted Brussels sprouts? The theory is that you put one "favorite" food on their plate (for Wylie this is pasta), one lean protein, and two small vegetable options. You say what's on their plate, they say what they'll eat. This is giving up a lot of power right? It helps them develop healthy attitudes towards eating, and keeps your relationship with them and food non-adversarial. Sounds good.
Read MoreA few years ago I took a trip to IKEA and bought a lot of neutral,basic serving pieces that I could pull out when we had a party, and over time they made it into our everyday rotation. Some of the salad bowls are starting to wear down a little so I decided to give them a new life, and hammer out a project that has been on the back-burner for months now, finishing the bathroom. For those of you that have followed Poppy Haus for a while, you know that we are renting our home and got approval to spruce up the master bathroom, which had very dated wallpaper, and a challenging tile color. After finishing removing the wallpaper, sanding the walls, priming and painting, and installing new fixtures, I got burned out/the holidays happened. It's been a white box ever since. One of the great things about the space is the skylight and the natural wood color on the vaulted ceiling. I like having plants in bathrooms, I feel like they clean the air, and this bathroom in particular needs something with dimension to fill to draw the eye up.
Read MoreMake + Haus is the new name and online home for the blog Poppy Haus. Established in 2011, the blog archive now contains hundreds of original design projects and whole food recipes, many featured on the likes of Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart, Design*Sponge, Curbly, and Epicurious.
