Grasshopper New Media Presents...

After a brief hiatus, the Festival of Family Flair is back! We’ve modified the festival a bit so that from now on it will be published monthly. The description remains the same:

Flair can be artistry and it can be genius. Crafts, recipes, hacks - share with us all the ways you and your family members have been creative! We try to keep this carnival different than the Carnival of Family Life. We are particularly looking for submissions of crafty posts, and ways you as a parent have come up with a creative solution to everyday problems.

You can submit to our next Festival by following this link.

Our first bit of flairy goodness is a three pronger that comes to you from Stephanie, Stolen Moments. Any benefit to the monumental task that is laundry is definitely worth sharing! She also shares a related hack regarding clothes pin storage: here. Both posts can be found at Stop the Ride.

Since we’ve been on hiatus for awhile, I’ll also include Stephanie’s trick for curling her daughter’s hair. It’s called Rag Rolling to Curl Hair and guess where it’s posted? Yup,Stop the Ride!. I have to share that my mom is in her 70’s now, but she still complains about the rag rolling she endured as a child. She definitely doesn’t remember it as having an extra pillow! Thanks for sharing, Stephanie!

Another Stephanie shares how she is doing her part to save the Earth in her post, How Much Can a Stay at Home Mom Really Do For the Environment? Stephanie’s post really reminded me of the “A Little Greener” column here at GNM Parents. Clearly, there are lots of things that we can improve upon. Stephanie shares some of her efforts at Green SAHM. Go Green! Go Stephanie!

Pictures, pictures, pictures….ok it’s confession time (2 tiered). I took so many photos pre-digital that I literally have tubs of photos in the basement. Post digital, I have a gazillion photos on my computer that I haven’t printed out… bad Mom, bad, bad! It’s been my unresolved resolution to fix my photo issues for as long as I can remember. Kevin offers some top notch tips for how to get really memorable photos in his article, Tips For Taking Family Photos posted at More4kids. Really great hints for getting some great snaps. Thanks Kevin… now, any tips for the tubs of photos in my basement??

Again, due to the hiatus, Kevin’s sharing a couple more bits of flair. Check out Teaching Fine Arts To Homeschoolers Part II posted at More4kids Education and Homeschooling. I really was inspired by the collage idea here. When we’ve done collages with the kids they’ve mostly been with old magazines and newspaper. I love the idea of increasing the materials and really taking a basic concept to the next level. Part one of this article can be found here.

Additionally, with Easter fast approaching Kevin also shares his post, Looking For Inexpensive Easter Gift Ideas? It’s also posted at More4kids Parenting and Family Life. Jellybean bracelets? That my friends, is pure gold. Thanks, for the great submissions, Kevin.

Robinson Go shares a couple of chuckles in the post entitled The World’s Funniest Joke posted at Robinson Go dot Com. Personally, I am a big fan of knock knock jokes, but I thought these were good, too!

Julee Huy presents A Dream Come True. Julie describes her dream of… well… go read it! I think it’s a wonderful thing to do while little ones are ready to go and Mom and Dad are scooting around packing diaper bags and searching for car keys. Julee’s post can be found at Homeschool Daze. Congratulations on fulfilling your dream, Julee!

Dr. Hal shares a very creative way to explain why kids don’t get all that they ask for. His analogy and how he used it is called Baseball and Anger Management posted at North Star Mental Fitness Blog. Thanks, Doc.

My own submission is a creative approach to meal planning and preparation It’s called Reclaim Dinner, Three Meals at a Time. and it’s right here at GNMParents. Be sure to read the comments!

Thanks so much to all of our contributors! If you’re interested in hosting a future festival, please leave a comment.

[tags]activities, crativity, arts and crafts, family crafts, recipes, humor[/tags]