Easy Holiday Decoration: Make it with your kids

I love slow weekend mornings.  After rushing around every morning getting ready for work, trying to feed the girls breakfast, and remember everything for my day, a mellow morning is a welcome reprieve. Listening to music, having a second cup of coffee, and doing a craft with my daughters is the beginning to a fine, fine day.

This Saturday with a few inches of snow on the ground, we started making a holiday decoration.  For me, crafts have to be simple, natural looking, and doable for and with kids.  It has to be something I actually would hang up, too.  

This decoration features doves, hearts and stars-- showcasing nondenominational and universal themes (peace, love, inspiration)  for the holiday season.  

All you need is some felt, some ribbon, a sewing kit, and some sequins or other small detail decorations.  Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to hang loosely across the top of a window, two windows or over a pass through in your house. 

Trace a dove with pencil on felt.  You can use any color, but white looks lovely.

Then your kids' can decorate them with sequins, glitter, ribbons, or anything you like.

You can make any shapes you want:  snowmen, ginger bread boys and girls, wreaths, or Santas.  We made doves, hearts, and stars.

Next you attach the decorated shapes equidistant from each other on the ribbon.  You can use a hot glue gun to do this, or a few stitches. I stitched these shapes on.  Be sure to keep the shapes attached to the same side of the ribbon-- double check every so often that it did not twist.

Then you can hang it up anywhere you want to feature it and bring a little homemade holiday cheer.

Let me know if you try it and how it comes out-- I'd love to hear.

President Obama: Don't Weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards!

(Here is an important guest post from our friend Dominique Browning, co-founder and lead blogger for the Moms Clean Air Force.)

The polluter lobby is now pressuring the White House to fundamentally weaken–or add gaping loopholes to–the urgently needed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards—just as this rule is about to be posted.

I urge moms–and dads–to rally: Please tell President Obama that you support this important clean air rule.

This is so urgent that we will hand-deliver your petitions to the White House ourselves.

Mercury is a terrible neurotoxin. Fetuses, infants and toddlers are especially vulnerable to mercury poisoning, which harms hearts, lungs, and brains. The rule to eliminate this poison has been in the making 21 years. Coal plants have had plenty of time to adjust–and many have. Our children have waited long enough for EPA action. If we don’t fight for our children, who will?

It is time to put our children’s health above politics and polluter lobbyists.

Coal-fired power plants emit half of all toxic mercury pollution in the U.S. and over 386,000 tons of other hazardous air pollution every year.

The 1990 Clean Air Act—signed into law by Republican President George H. W. Bush—explicitly called for the EPA to address mercury and other dangerous air pollutants.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule is one of the most important clean air regulations to ever come out of the EPA. It would reduce mercury, arsenic, acid gases, and other hazardous air pollution from America’s oldest and most polluting coal-fired power plants.

Many utility executives have already brought their electricity plants up to standards—and they have written in public support of this rule! We know it can be done—using American engineering, and creating jobs—without harming the economy.

But now a handful of coal utility companies, armed with powerful polluter lobbyists, is urging that clean-up be delayed—and is fighting to weaken clean air standards for the most toxic pollutants.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards would prevent 17,000 premature deaths every year. We must make sure President Obama hears from us!

Please act now: Please tell President Obama that you support the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Vermont Governor Shumlin supports Eat More Kale (local eating, small businesses, and jobs)!

Yeah, that's my governor.  Telling Chik-fil-A, don't mess with Vermont, don't mess with Kale, and don't mess with small businesses and local farms.

In his words to Chik-fil-A today, "Don't interfere with buy local, don't interfere with our agricultural renaissance, because more and more Vermonters care about where their food comes from, what's in it, and who grew it.  And don't mess with our effort to grow jobs one job at a time."

Hooray!  Oh how I love to hear a politician speak this way-- about local eating, caring where and how our food is produced-- if only more leaders would talk about these critically fundamental and important issues so broken in the industrial and corporate run food supply.

I am proud that Governor Shumlin is taking a stand on the ridiculousness of this effort of Chik-fil-A to close down Bo's Eat More Kale business.

You can support the Bo's legal defense fund against Chik-fil-A here, and get that sweet Team Kale shirt, in addition to some groovy stickers.

The Consolidation of American Food in Pictures

One can only write about local foods and the dangers of our factory farmed, mega corporate food production system for so long. Sometimes you have to actually see the information. Prepare yourself-- you'll be motivated to find your nearest CSA and nab your share of local food to fight consolidation, corporate excess and control, waste (and the often terrible quality) of Big Food. Also, get ready to see astronomical amounts of meat (thank goodness it's a cartoon!).

We know they have money. And power. Just look at last week's declaration of pizza as a vegetable and the lessening of school lunch standards. See this-- visual learners-- and pledge to find locally grown, humanely raised food from your neighbors instead this holiday. Thanks to the Frugal Dad for this amazing infographic. What do you think of it?


 

Source: Frugal dad

Holiday Cards from Tiny Prints

I stayed up late last night going through the lovely holiday card designs at Tiny Prints. They have so many cute designs I had to rein myself in and pick one quickly before heading to bed.

You can browse through a variety of unique cards, including Laura’s Picks. Tiny Prints is perfect for families on a budget (like mine) because you can find adorable and personal Holiday Cards with the Studio Basic Line starting at $.79.  That's the collection I usually pick from, and I did this year too.

Do you already know exactly what you want your holiday card to look? You can use Tiny Prints’ new DIY Holiday Card tool to build your card and customize to your heart’s content. Want something unique, but not quite DIY? You can pick Rounded Corner Cards, Cards with Back Designs and Cards with Unique Formats for a custom look without starting from scratch.

Tiny Prints reviews (with an actual human being!) each order for any issues, so you’re guaranteed to receive high-quality cards. There are lots of great deals happening at Tiny Prints too, make sure to check out all of the latest coupons from Tiny Prints before ordering your holiday cards. 

Good luck.  Now if the cards would only fill themselves out!  Truly, this is such a great time to re-connect with family and friends and to share a piece of your family with them. 

*I'm an affiliate of Tiny Prints and do shop with them.  This post is based on my experience.  I know there is an environmental impact to these cards, but I do feel it is an important way for me to stay in touch with my friends and family.