I’m hoping to take the pressure off of Valentine’s Day with this adorable free printable classroom valentine—no craftiness required! Your kids (and their friends!) will love them. Score one for mom.

Somewhere along the line, mothers of school-aged kids decided that cheapie paper valentines from the drugstore are not good enough for their babies. I’m not sure why or how, but it sort of ruined things for the rest of us.

Now I feel like I have to come up with something inventive and homemade or I’m a failure of a mother. Plus, I’ll have to listen to things like “Look what Emma’s mom made.” Can you hear the disappointment at my failures dripping from her little voice already?

So I took the bull by its stupid horns and came up with an idea of my own—and I turned it into something super easy for other moms to run with. All you need is a printer and maybe (maybe) some sort of bear-shaped treat. Take that, Emma’s mom.

I collected a bunch of super cute DIY kids valentines for school. These are fun and easy and can be personalized with a little creativity. There are also both candy and non-candy ideas—a little something for everyone!

Valentines have come a loooooong way since I was ripping perforated sheets and signing my name to them in the 90s. These days, it’s much more likely that glue guns and heavy parental input is involved. That’s ok, but I’m a firm believer in making sure the kids get their hands in there. It is, after all, their thing—even if momma has a vision.

I took to the interwebs and collected eighteen super cute DIY kids valentines that think outside the store-bought box and can be improved with a little bit of kiddie creativity. Whether it’s splattering the things in stickers, glitter glue, or drawing little pictures for their friends, kids can take these ideas and totally make them their own.

I also made sure to collect both candy and non-candy ideas (or valentines that can be customized to your needs) so that parents who don’t want all that sugar or who are making sure to keep kids with allergies safe are happy too.

I can feel my husband’s anxiety rise as the seashells clink into the bucket from their little sandy fingers. The girls’ faces are full of the bright-eyed joy that goes hand-in-hand with discovering treasures. My husband’s face is tight and thin lipped and definitely wondering where the hell are all of these seashells going to end up and how long do I have to wait to throw them out?!

Me? I fall somewhere in between. I’m one part embrace the magic and one part at what point will we tip the scales and become eligible for Hoarders?

My girls like collecting things. Gemstones. Birthday cards. Sticky candy wrappers that are still holding on to the scent of their favorite treat. While I totally understand the desire to hold on to things that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, I also understand not wanting to live in a house that looks like the local dump.

The attempt at balancing both sides had me scrambling for a way to deal with our current seashell collection ituation. Our house was littered with partially-filled Ziploc bags of seashells waiting to find a home. We could have thrown them all out, but I liked the idea of doing something special with them, in hopes of bringing back a little of that bright-eyed joy whenever my girls see them.

Tired of Father’s Day gift ideas that are all cuff links and grilling and alcohol? Me too, which is why I teamed up with Olivia of Atiliay (again) to come up with some super cute—super original—Father’s Day DIY gift ideas for kids to make for their dads.

I’ve been trying so hard to let go of the whole Pinterest-perfect mentality. You know what I mean, right? The idea that everything you do (or worse, everything your kids do) has to be flawless and worthy of all of the social media shares. It’s easy to get swept up in it, but I want to call bullshit. It’s way too much pressure. And for what?

When it comes to kids DIYs, they get pleasure out of the doing: getting their hands dirty and experimenting and putting their heart into something. But what fun is there in making something if mommy is hovering around trying to “fix” everything? Just take a deep breath and let them do their thing. It will mean more to everyone if you do.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to start off with an awesome base, which is what I did with each of these three ideas. Olivia was sweet enough to design a free printable for us based off of her sweet Father’s Day card.

Click here to have the files sent directly to your inbox!

I recently perfected the recipe for the best DIY body butter ever—the mother of all DIY body butters, if you will. Get your pinning finger ready, because you are definitely going to want to save this one for later!

I originally posted a recipe for a creamy, luxurious DIY body butter just in time for Mother’s Day back in 2013. It was pretty awesome, but it had one drawback: you had to refrigerate it in the warmer months to keep it from melting because it was coconut-oil based. Now, I love me some coconut oil so I was not about to eliminate it from the recipe. But I did find a way to make it hold on to its creaminess.

Today, I’m completely updating that post to give you an even better recipe that doesn’t require refrigeration and that makes the perfect budget-friendly gift for any lady in your life (yourself included) who might need a little pampering.

My daughters, who are experts in the art of papering, are obsessed with this stuff and have been slathering it all over themselves ever since I made it. Note to self: double the recipe next time and stash some where they can’t find it! 😉