Easter egg ideas

Random ideas:

• use rubber bands to create "voids" when dying the eggs
• use crayons or wax candles to draw designs that reveal themselves when the egg is dyed
• dye half an egg at a time
• use paint brushes or cotton swabs to apply dye in lieu of soaking the egg in the dye

[Cross-posted at Craft Day.]

Easter basket

This was created at our local Ontario Early Years Centre.

Instructions for creating this Easter basket can be found at Craft Day.

MLF&H: What else can I do with Tag-Mates™?

Mabel's Labels Tag-Mates™ (stick-in clothing labels):

• are ideal for quick labeling – no iron necessary!
• resist the wear and tear of laundry and children beautifully!

But that's not all! Here are some ideas I've heard about (but haven't tried)*:

• Tag-Mates™ are the perfect size for Leapster / GameBoy cartridges. (I've heard that Skinny-Minis™ work well for this too.)
  
• Used by the elderly residing in assisted living centers. (Name and room number on the label.)
• Identifying baby soothers.
• Use on fabric sandals (beachy ones) with clothing tags in them.
• Hockey gear.
  

An additional note, if you order the labels without an icon, the text tends to be larger and easier to read.

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*Your mileage may vary!

If you could read my mind

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

MLF&H: Larger size text for Tag-Mates™?

Mabel's Labels Tag-Mates™(stick-in clothing labels):

• are ideal for quick labeling – no iron necessary!
• resist the wear and tear of laundry and children beautifully!

But what's a person to do if you find the text too small to read?


Solution:

Order the Tag-Mates™ without an icon!

The image to the left shows the approximate sizes* of text if you order the label with an icon or without an icon.





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*Text size will vary with name length. For example in the image without an icon (bottom) the text size for "Nicole Lee" would be smaller than is shown for "N. Lee."

The image is not an actual photograph of the Tag-Mate product. (It is an approximation of the actual product.) The actual product has rounded corners.



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Disclosure: I'm a Mabel's Labels Buzzmama and I receive free products for my involvement in the program. I'm also a Mabel's Labels web affiliate and I earn a commission if you use the following link to purchase your Mabel’s Labels – Labels for the stuff kids lose!®




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Lights out

I try to be supportive of things that ask us to be "less harmful to the Earth we typically are." It's not surprising that the idea of "Earth Hour" caught my attention.

From EarthHour.org's "about" page:

"On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year."

In 2008, this is a global initiative.

When I first heard about the idea a month or so ago, my mind raced with questions:

• Were the power companies brought in the loop in the planning stages of this idea?
  
  
• What would be the impact to the power company / power distribution grid if power consumption dropped abruptly by 20%? 50%? 70%? What magnitude of an abrupt reduction could create a damaging power surge on the transmission grid?
  
  
• If there were a hypothetical 70% drop in demand, what impact would there be to the power companies in managing the decline and then the resumption in consumption? Would there be an environmental impact to taking generators offline and then bringing them online again in an hour's time?
  
  
• What magnitude of increased demand (following the Earth Hour event) could a power company handle without people experiencing brown-outs?
  
  From the EarthHour.org FAQ page:
  

  "If everyone turns their lights back on at the same time – will there be a power surge?"
  
  "No. We’ve checked with energy companies and authorities and turning all the lights back on won’t cause any issues."

• While there could be significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in cities that consume fossil fuels to product electricity, what is the environmental impact (if any) to decreased energy consumption in areas where electricity production is primarily hydro-electric?

I haven't found answers to all of my questions. But I like that it got me thinking.

For more information about EarthHour, visit EarthHour.org

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Brilliant Artist & Thinker Extraordinaire

Well, I'm not sure about that. But thank you to Julie, Tricia and the other amazing moms at Mabel's Labels for linking to me from their blog!

(And a special tip of the hat to whomever was responsible for the nice meta data in the link to me!)

Stegosaurus hat

(This idea came home from school.)

Instructions for creating a Stegosaurus Hat can be found at Craft Day.

What do you mean, snow day?

This one's for Julie, Marla, Andrea, mryonker and all the other moms out there growing rapidly weary of the never ending snow day.

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

MLF&H: laminating allergy alert labels

Many parents use Mabel's Labels allergy alert labels on their food containers and travel gear to help remind other caretakers of their child's food allergy or another serious allergy.

Pig in the Kitchen came up with this clever hack using the allergy alerts, a laminator, a hole punch and some ribbon to make allergy alert tags for bags or zippers or what have you!

(Photo below and hack idea used with permission of Pig In The Kitchen.)

Snow removal

Wishing you safe travels on snowy roads.

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Exploring patterns with paint (and toy cars)

(Theise ideas came home from school.)

Instructions for Exploring Patterns With Paint (and toy cars) can be found at Craft Day.

MLF&H: Can you take off shoe labels?

It's well known that Mabel's Labels shoe labels are:

• extra tough
• extra sticky
  
• do not rub off on socks
  
• fit nicely into the insole of shoes, boots, skates and rollerblades and are
  
• shipped with protective overlays to ensure durability.

But what happens if you want to take the labels OFF the shoes?

From Lady M's post "More on Mabel's Labels":

"My son outgrew his his nicely labeled shoes this week, and I wanted to return them to anonymity before giving them away to Goodwill. With only a little bit of tugging effort, I was able to remove the Mabel's Labels from each shoe, with barely a trace of stickiness left in the shoe.

The labels stayed on when they were supposed to stay on. And they came off when they were supposed to come off. I'm a fan."

Paper towel roll bird feeder

(This idea came home from school.)

Instructions for creating a Paper Towel Roll Bird Feeder can be found at Craft Day.

l33t speak colours

To see what happens when you spell your colours in Photoshop using l33t speak, have a look at Hex silliness.

[h/t: Neatorama]