4 Easy Last Minute DIY Valentines

Little A and I have managed to do a Valentines project every year since he was just a couple of months old, but we are always out at the last minute. If you too have been procrastinating, but still want to DIY something, here are 4 easy last minute Valentines you can still do in time!

This year we made Easy Salt Dough Necklaces – pendants and beads and threaded them onto ribbon necklaces to send to Alec’s friends. Salt dough uses stuff you DEFINITELY have at home. Easy peasy!

Last year we had our first adventures in finger painting. Since Little A was only just past a year old, we made our own 100% edible finger paint out of yogurt. All you need is yogurt and food color.

Our first Valentine’s project was a cute cupid photo to email to Dad who was abroad at a congress. Click here to make your own!

Potato stamping is something you can do for any occasion. It’s easy and you can stamp all sorts of things for Valentines Day, like cards, envelopes, gift bags and wrapping paper.

Happy crafting!

Click here to visit Mini Piccolini - all the best stuff for Moms, Babies, Kids & Families!

And visit us on Facebook and Pinterest as well!

Mini Piccolini’s Easy Pregnancy Style for Autumn

I struggled so much with what to wear while I was pregnant, but of course, now that I’m not any more, I keep seeing great, easy, comfortable but chic pregnancy clothes!

I love this pregnancy outfit with a dressed down maxi skirt and layers. I think Hillary Duff’s look is super cute and looks so comfy and practical.

Here’s how I would do it:

• The Ultimate Cardigan by Hatch Collection. A wrap/shawl-style cardigan is the best thing to have around with a newborn (PERFECT as a cover for nursing on the go!) so why not invest in a pretty one while you’re pregnant. This one by Hatch Collection is cashmere and it looks gorgeous.
• Foldover Maxi Skirt by Asos. I think you could dress this skirt up or down throughout your pregnancy and really get a ton of use out of it. It’s on sale too!
• Maternity Scoop Neck Vest by TopShop. Some of my best maternity buys while I was pregnant with Louis were from TopShop (here are some of the pieces I loved the most) and this tank looks like it has a great shape
• Diane von Furstenberg Zebra Ballet Flats. Flats are a (pregnant) girl’s best friend and these ones from DvF would be super cute with jeans too!
• Quilted Shopper by Zara. You’re going to be lugging around a huge diaper bag everywhere you go for a looong time, so enjoy some funner bags while you still can! This one is big enough to carry the essentials even if you have a toddler to take of while you’re pregers.
• Rhinestone Bangles by Isharya. Bangles are cute but not very practical with a newborn – wear them now!

For more pregnancy style ideas, click here. And check out my Pinterest board Pregnant in Style!

Click here to visit Mini Piccolini - all the best stuff for Moms, Babies, Kids & Families!

And visit us on Facebook and Pinterest as well!

Mini Piccolini – DIY Potty Training Chart

We recently potty-trained Little A (using the 3-day method). One of the things we found helpful was having a potty chart as a reward system for Alec.

We definitely wanted to give Little A a ton of praise and really celebrate his little potty successes along the way, but I’m not crazy about using edible treats as a reward, and we didn’t feel like we could give him a present for every single success. It would end up being too much stuff and too much of a distraction.

So I made Alec a star chart.Alec was just shy of 23 months old when we potty-trained him, but he immediately “got” the potty chart and how it worked. We decided that he would earn one gold star for each potty success, and that four gold stars would equal a present. Alec likes the number four and it felt like four stars was achievable for him.

I made the chart using a piece of cardboard I ripped off an old moving box, some leftover black flannel, colorful felt scraps, a piece of ribbon, and my trusty glue gun. It’s really important that the background is made of flannel fabric because felt doesn’t stick to felt, felt sticks to flannel.

Here’s how you make it:

• Cover the cardboard with your flannel fabric using glue gun
• Cut out shapes and decorate using ribbon if you wish
• Glue the shapes to the background
• Cut out as many star shapes as you have decided to use (I used a star-shaped cookie cutter to get the shape right)

Mini Piccolini: In My Diaper Bag

Since I last shared the contents of my diaper bag (and stroller), we’ve added another mini (and with him, a ton of baby stuff) to our little family, and Little A has started nursery school and isn’t out and about with me in the same way as before. We’ve also switched from our old single stroller to our new double stroller. So our set-up has changed a little.

Here’s what I’m carrying around these days (two children, 23 and 3,5 months old):

(more…)

DIY Playdough Gift Box

The holidays are coming up and it’s time to start thinking about gifts! It’s always extra fun to give something you’ve made yourself. Here is a play dough gift set we recently put together for Little A’s friend Rebecka when she turned two:

We filled our gift box with homemade playdough (see recipe below), the mat, some plastic cookie cutters and molds, a little rolling pin and a butter knife (which is Alec’s tool of choice when he is “working” with playdough).

This is a really doable project with a fun end result.

Alec was proud to hand over our homemade play dough gift set to Rebecka and we hope she has had a great time playing with it!

DIY PLAYDOUGH

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• gel food coloring

1. Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add your wet ingredients and mix well.
3. Divide into as many bowls as you have colors. We made four colors out of this recipe and actually gave away half of the playdough, so you will definitely have enough for 6-8 colors or more. Now add your food coloring. The end color will be pretty much the same as what you see now, so add as much color as you want to get really bright, saturated hues of playdough. Or use less color for soft pastels.
4. Place a small sauce pan your pan on the stove top over medium heat. Start with your lightest color (so you won’t have to clean out the sauce pan between colors). Pour the mixture into the pan and stir continuously until it starts to get chunky. Keep stirring until it forms a big dough ball. 
5. When all the wetness is gone, remove the dough from the pan and leave it to cool. Once cool, knead it a bit until it is soft and smooth.
6. Repeat for each color. I just did yellow first, then green, then blue then purple, without cleaning out the pan in between.
7. Store play dough in an airtight container at room temperature. We’ve been playing with the same batch for a few weeks now.

DIY Colored Pasta

The last few days have been mostly grey and chilly and wet and fall is in the air. After his first three days of “schooling in” at nursery school, Little A came home with his first nursery school cold and had to be kept home. So we had to think of a new indoor activity to keep us a bit busy.

I made these colored pasta pieces several weeks ago and since we were stuck inside, we brought them out to play.

(more…)

Mini Piccolini’s DIY Personalized Stroller Bunting

Our new Little Baby L is such an awake and aware little boy. When he’s not sleeping he always seems to be intently focused on something or smiling and laughing and trying to get our attention and he’s especially into his mobile at home.

During our long walk the other day, Louis was quite awake for awhile and I felt bad that he was just staring into the roof of the black sun shade. So I decided to make him something to look at. We ended up with a personalized stroller bunting – little flags with his name.

As I’ve said before, I’m obsessed with bunting right now. So I got some felt scraps, ribbon and fabric glue out and made some bunting for the stroller. Here’s how it turned out!

For more fun DIYs, click here.

Click here to visit Mini Piccolini - all the best stuff for Moms, Babies, Kids & Families!

Mini Piccolini’s DIY Playdough Recipe

Little A is crazy about playdough right now. Cannot get enough. He asks to play with it several times a day and it keeps him busy for ages.

DIY PLAYDOUGH

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• gel food coloring

1. Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add your wet ingredients and mix well.
3. Divide into as many bowls as you have colors. We made four colors out of this recipe and actually gave away half of the playdough, so you will definitely have enough for 6-8 colors or more. Now add your food coloring. The end color will be pretty much the same as what you see now, so add as much color as you want to get really bright, saturated hues of playdough. Or use less color for soft pastels.
4. Place a small sauce pan your pan on the stove top over medium heat. Start with your lightest color (so you won’t have to clean out the sauce pan between colors). Pour the mixture into the pan and stir continuously until it starts to get chunky. Keep stirring until it forms a big dough ball. 
5. When all the wetness is gone, remove the dough from the pan and leave it to cool. Once cool, knead it a bit until it is soft and smooth.
6. Repeat for each color. I just did yellow first, then green, then blue then purple, without cleaning out the pan in between.
7. Store play dough in an airtight container at room temperature. We’ve been playing with the same batch for a few weeks now.

The set we are using right now is a batch I made a few weeks ago.

Making your own playdough is super easy – it literally just takes minutes. And it’s nice to know you have a natural end product. The recipe that we use makes a soft, lovely, pliable dough with fantastic colors and it keeps quite well too in a sealed container.

visit Mini Piccolini - all the best stuff for Moms, Babies, Kids & Families!