July 27, 2020

Attracting bees to the garden with these DIY bee hotels

bee hotel
Over the years, we have made our garden pollinator friendly by adding a variety of features! It is exciting to watch these homes and places being utilized by benefiting creatures. We have also seen the benefits of these features as they have encouraged different types of bees to come into the garden and help pollinate flowers - especially in our vegetable garden. 
The bee hotels we placed in our garden were made in a post or block style, and painted with acrylic paint for aesthetics. We leave these homes all year round in the garden. 

July 24, 2020

Learning the history of inventions and giveaway

dk books
Summer learning continues with these awesome titles from DK publishers; Smithsonian History!, 1000 Inventions and Discoveries, and Inventors. It is fun to read educational books accompanied with illustrations, as it makes the content interesting and inspiring.

July 8, 2020

National Geographic STEM kits and Giveaway

national geographic STEM kit educational
We have always chosen to entertain our children with STEAM toys that not only provide fun entertainment, but also teach a variety of different skills such as creativity and logical thinking. These toys related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics help children grow in educational and productive ways.

June 30, 2020

For the love of animals and Giveaway

animal antics book
We love watching different types of birds come to our garden. Over the years, we invested in adding features to attract birds and other pollinators from bird feeders, pond, water features, bee hotels, bird houses, and more. We find it exciting to observe the birds, and have been reading books such as DK Canada's fully updated 2nd edition Pocket Birds of Canada to identify the types of birds that visit our garden.

June 29, 2020

Watercolour Technique for Backgrounds

watercolour technique for backgrounds
This watercolour technique inspired by the paint lab book is a fun way to create beautiful backgrounds on watercolour paper. Once the paper dries we can add drawings or calligraphy that will stand out. 

June 19, 2020

Garage door styles to spice up the look of a home

free stock image garage door
Every homeowner would want both the interior and the exterior of the home to not only be functional but also to look presentable. One factor that adds to the curb appeal of any home is the garage door! Choosing one that fits the whole look of the house would be great. According to Garage Door Repair Langley, problems with garage doors can easily be resolved, so we don't encounter repairs and look for people to do the job. 

June 18, 2020

Learning about the wars of the past will teach us to be careful of our actions

dk books warfare
It is sad when parts of our history keeps repeating itself, it is as though humanity hasn't learned anything from its past actions. We know many people have sacrificed their lives for justice, and we are still seeing a world of injustice around us, it is probably because of peoples' ignorance. I think it is important for us, as parents, to teach ourselves and our children about past events, hoping they will be kind and not repeat the past that has led to many problems we face today. The consequences of colonization, slavery, greed for land and power from generations past are still haunting us in the injustices and wars we see happening all over the world. When humans haven't created life, they don't have the right to take it or judge it.  We can all do our part by learning, becoming more empathetic, and always remembering to treat others better than the way you want to be treated.

June 16, 2020

Rolling into summer with this 3 wheeled scooter

The Primo Foldable Scooter is a fantastic starter scooter for children ages 3+. This lightweight 3-wheel scooter has a patented push button folding system allowing us to put it into trolley mode, so it can be conveniently stored on coat racks or in the garage. This also makes it easy to take with us when we go to parks. This stylish, functional scooter is guaranteed to deliver a lot of fun. 

June 9, 2020

How to build a simple, inexpensive wooden compost bin

On our recent post about the changes we have made over the years to live more sustainably, we mentioned that we made our own DIY compost bin which has tremendously reduced the amount of material we throw in our green bin. 

June 5, 2020

Gardening 101

bleeding heart flower
Despite taking up the most considerable portion of most properties, yards go criminally underused. Although a sprawling green yard can be nice, mixing it up with plants can be both beautiful and functional. Here are a few gardening tips that every home gardener should know.