My big munchkin is on winter vacation this week, so I’ve got my hands full. She’s used to days that are packed with fun activities and friends, so she pretty much constantly asks me what we’re doing next.

Luckily, Santa is a little bit of a genius and left her lots of crafty gifts under the tree. She also got a bunch of games that I’m sure I’ll be sick of by tomorrow! 😉

This morning, we decided to tackle the Creativity for Kids Make Your Own Lip Balm Kit that my sister got her. It’s perfect for her in so many ways (she’s a girly girl who loves to put on “sticky lips.” She also likes crafty things and science and this kind of combined all three).

Basically, it comes with some wax and flavoring. You soften the wax in hot water, add the flavor/color, put them into little canisters, and then decorate the canisters.

My girl loved it. The only issues I had with it was 1) I wish the container to mix and soften the wax was a little bigger and 2) it would be nice if the color/flavor was easier to squeeze out. It was made for ages 7 and up. Sam is 5 1/2, so it makes sense that it might be a little difficult for her to squeeze, but even I had an issue with it.

Minor difficulties aside, this kit was a lot of fun!

Here are some Instagram pics of my munchkin working hard:

stirring the wax to soften it

putting the lip balm into the container

smoothing it out

While she was busy being a mad scientist, my little one was busy tearing apart the kitchen. Here’s a picture of her in a calmer moment as she attacked a piece of banana as though she hadn’t been fed for days!

Even though it’s Tuesday, I’m linking up with a {little} dash of ash for Instagram Monday (I’m a day behind this week and I’m sure it will only get worse as the week progresses!).

Now we’re off to play Guess Who! What did you get for the holidays?

I have a problem when it comes to gift wrap. I’m completely obsessed.

I mean, seriously. If you run yourself ragged for the whole holiday season searching high and low for the perfect gifts for all of the people on your gift list, why phone it in and do a shitty wrapping job? And if you didn’t drive yourself mad in your hunt for gifts, well, that’s an even bigger reason why you should go the extra yard with your gift wrap.

Usually I’m a wrapping paper junkie. I love pretty prints and whimsical colors. But I’ve grown kind of annoyed by how little of it you get for your buck (did that last roll even wrap around the tube twice? Jeeez).

This year I’ve decided to turn to brown craft paper and other wrapping alternatives. You can be more creative and spend less–which sounds like a double win to me!

Check out some of the pretty inspiration I’ve collected:

{via Allora Handmade}

{via STC Craft | Melanie Falick Books}

{via decor8}

{via Tip Junkie}

{via Pinterest}

{via Songbird}

{via decor8}

{via babble}

What do you think? Are you planning on getting creative with your gift wrap or are you saying “Screw it, who has the time?”?

Usually I would be one of the latter (although I’d swear up and down until the very last second that I was going to be creative), but my bud and I have an eagerly anticipated gift wrapping party every year–and by party I mean she comes to my house and we stuff our faces with deliciously unhealthy foods while listening to Christmas music and wrapping our little hearts out. It’s amazing.

Do you have any wrapping traditions?

Yes. That’s right. I’m taking my WTF crushes to a whole new level. Today I’m loving on a fictional TV character from NBC’s Parks and Recreation (which, as I’ve mentioned before, is awesome sauce).

Now, don’t get me wrong. Adam Scott (the man behind the crush, if you will) is pretty darn loveable in his own right. He brings his boyish good looks and charm to the part and he always makes me laugh (he was in Step Brothers and also starred in Party Down, a short-lived comedy on Starz that my husband and I were kind of obsessed with). But while Adam Scott is adorable and everything, it’s Ben Wyatt, the geektastic assistant city manager of Pawnee, who has stolen my heart.

Here’s why:

He embraces his inner geek.

Don’t suppress the geek, fellas. Some of us ladies are into that sort of thing. And I am most definitely one of them.

Ben makes a lot of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings references. He’d rather crunch numbers than go out drinking and he’s very serious (unlike most of his coworkers).

Still, it doesn’t matter how much everyone makes fun of him. Ben is still Ben and you have to respect that.

He’s in love with a strong, opinionated, neurotic woman.

Leslie Knope (played by the hilarious Amy Poehler) is a lot to handle. She’s strong and motivated to a fault. If she gets an idea in her head, she will see it through to the end—no matter how ridiculous it may turn out to be and no matter who tries to talk her out of it. She’s very serious and tries to do everything by the book, but she’s also a wee bit nutso.

Ben finds her quirks adorable and stands by her side no matter what. How can you not love a guy who loves his lady for who she is (however high maintenance and crazy that may be)?

He dresses like a hot college professor.

We’re not talking coffee and tobacco stains. But we are talking about a rather large collection of plaid shirts and skinny ties (or is it the same skinny tie over and over again?).

His look is the male equivalent of the sexy librarian–or geek chic, as I like to call it.

He moved in with April and Andy.

April and Andy are the department’s young and clueless newly-married couple. They’re a little out there and like to do things spur of the moment (like taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon or say… getting married).

These two couldn’t be any more different from Ben. But when he decided to stay in Pawnee, he moved out of the motel room he had been living in and into the newlyweds’ house, where he could sort of take them under his wing. Swoon!

He dresses up as Batman.

Enough said.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0LQV_OQ_Sc&feature=related]

Halloween is less than a week away and while I’m not dressing up this year, I’ve got costumes on the brain.

More specifically: quick, easy costumes that you can throw together with help from some pieces you might already have in your wardrobe.

Ruche had some really cute ideas of how you can use some of this fall’s biggest trends to create cute costumes (that don’t look like you squeezed into them with the help of some Crisco):

Super cute, no? All you have to do is add a couple of fun props or accessories and you’re good to go.

Of course I had to hunt around for my own idea:

Old Navy plaid top, $25 :: Quiksilver boyfriend jeans, $62 :: Forever21 boots, $33
Cowboy hat, $50 :: Oasis belt, $35

If you’re looking for more ideas, the Queen of Halloween, Martha Stewart, has plenty on her website. I’m especially fond of this Medusa look, since all you really need are some dollar store toy snakes and a sheet you can tie around yourself like a toga!

Another really simple look is a cat,  like Denni from Chicmuse did in a recent post about Givenchy’s panther bag.

HelloGiggles did a post last week about some fun DIY Halloween costumes that don’t require the word “naughty” in front of their descriptions.

And if you’re on the hunt for something your bite-sized trick or treaters can hold their haul in, consider the FEED Trick-or-Treat Bag to Benefit UNICEF. For every bag sold, a donation will be made to UNICEF to provide a year’s worth of micronutrient powder to a child in the developing world.

What are you dressing up as this year?

So you all know at this point what a big repurposing nerd I am, right? Eco-friendly + cheap = perfection in my book. Well, I came across this video on Poppytalk this afternoon and I absolutely had to share.

As part of the Unconsumption Artist Series (where artists were selected to repurpose things using the Unconsumption logo), Yellow Owl Workshop created this super simple video tutorial that shows you how to make stationery out of all of that annoying junk mail that fills your mailbox everyday.

I don’t know about you, but I’m amazed at the amount of junk mail I get even though I request to get things digitally whenever I can. This is a great way to reuse it, save money, and have super cool personal stationery. Love it!!!

Junk Mail Stationery from Yellow Owl Workshop on Vimeo (via Poppytalk)

Check out Uncunsumption for some other amazing repurposing tutorials (I might have to make some glass bottle vases with all of those mason jars I have lying around…).