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3 Little Things To Make With The Cricut Joy

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have been stuck at home with my 4 kids weeks, and thankfully from the beginning we have been using our Cricut Joy machine to keep the kids engaged (and myself sane). I love using the Cricut Joy because it’s a quick and easy, I can personalize anything in 15 minutes or less!

I still am obsessed with the Cricut Explore Air 2, but this Cricut Joy is a fast way to make mat-free projects. It’s compact and portable! The perfect combination when making projects with the kids.

Plus, the Cricut Joy cleans up effortlessly – no craft room required! You probably saw my Instagram stories in the Michael’s store beforehand, when I was gushing about Cricut Joy tote bag. You can see it below – the tote bag makes it extremely easy to pack and protect the machine when it’s not in use. It fits the cords and machine, so they are always together!

Cricut Joy is the perfect companion to quickly and easily personalize anything with one cut and one color, in 15 minutes or less. It is fun, functional, and simple to use.

Hannah, from the popular Canadian lifestyle blog Honey & Betts, shares the best Cricut Joy projects for kids to do at home during social distancing. From constellation activities to elegant bookmarks.

Between reading mysteries, creating art, playing new sports, and learning how to play video games – my kids are also crafting with the Cricut Joy and me!

Here are 3 little things you can make with the Cricut Joy are:

Whimsical Bookmarks: Love classic books? Cricut has a bookmark for that! I love these Secret Garden bookmarks for my daughter and I. We used the Cricut Joy Adhesive-Backed Deluxe Paper and the Cardstock Sampler to create these bookmarks.
Personalized Birthday Cards: I am terrible at keeping track of extended families birthdays – I aspire to be just like my Aunt Lorraine who sends everyone cards that arrives before the day of the birthday. But for now, we have been creating personalized birthday cards for loved ones. And I don’t even need to create one from scratch – Cricut Access has so many designs to choose from and make.
Constellation Project: This is the ideal fine motor and science project for kids 4-7 years old, my children loved this activity! There are different constellations available – the Little Dipper and Big Dipper, Leo, and Orion. The only extra supplies you need for this Cricut Joy project is string or yarn to weave through the star holes.

Read more about the Cricut Joy at Cricut.com. The Cricut Joy machine is now available online and in store in Canada and the United States.

Have you checked out all the Cricut Joy projects on Cricut Access? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!

If you like this post, check out my How To Use The Cricut Explore Air 2 For Beginners post before you go!

Make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Hannah is a Canadian Mom Blogger from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who shares her life around motherhood to 4 kids, on-the-go beauty for moms, healthy and delicious recipes, bohemian home decor, family travel, and local Edmonton businesses.

Easy Cookie Ideas For Kids – Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

The days have been long leading up to Spring this year, it feels like Winter lasted forever, but I am so excited for the warm weather! While we’re staying at home a lot more, and we’ve been baking a lot. Bread, cookies, muffins, cinnamon rolls, banana breads, and lots more! And my girls are loving these sweet treats – that look just like the little birds nest in our backyard – and this chocolate coconut macaroon recipe is so easy to make with them!

Are you looking for cute mini egg cookie recipes? Hannah, from the popular Canadian blogger at Honey & Betts, shares the most delicious easy Spring cookies made from coconut chocolate and mini eggs. They're easy fro making with kids and are a quick treat!

Over the past few months, we consumed 2 Costco sized bags of mini eggs and are now in need of more mini eggs (all the best cookie recipes involve mini eggs), and this Spring cookie recipe is no exception!

What goes into this easy Spring chocolate coconut macaroons?

Easy Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cookie Recipe

Enjoy this delicious dessert with your kids! Made with mini eggs, nutella and coconut – it's the perfect treat for the whole family.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups Sweetened Coconut
1 cup Nutella
2/3 cups Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Egg
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Salt
Chocolate Mini Eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325.
In a bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, egg white, vanilla extract, and salt.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop 2 tbsp of dough and place ball of dough on baking sheet. Press thumb into centre of each cookie to create a nest shape.
Bake cookies for 17-20 minutes, or until cookies are a golden brown.
Place on cooling rack for 10 minutes.
Place tbsp of nutella in the centre of each cookie and place 3 chocolate egg candies in each cookie.
And serve!

Keyword Cookies

I quickly found out after making these cookies which of my kids do not like coconut – GASP! I love coconut and found it very funny that one could not stand the taste. So, if you are curious to weed out which family or friends do not like coconut – this is the recipe for you!

What kind of cookies are your favourite? My second oldest kid’s favourite is this chocolate coconut macaroon recipe! Do you like anything with chocolate in it or like more unique cookies? Let me know in a comment below!

If you like this post, check out Matt’s (my husband) Best Chewy Ginger Snap Cookie Recipe post before you go!

And make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Mom Hacks: Fun Activities For 4-6 Year Olds At Home

Being a stay at home mom or work at home mom or general caregiver to your kids whether they are sick and need to stay home from daycare or school can be exhausting, especially if they are high energy or needy (wondering what my schedule with kids at home looks like? Check it out here). But I find being prepared with fun activities for 4-6 year olds at home can lessen the in-the-moment stress when your child comes to you whining that they are “bored”.

Please share this post! You’re the best!

Looking for fun activities for 4-6 year olds at home? Hannah, the creative Canadian mom blogger at Honey & Betts, is sharing her cheap dollar store hacks!

I know this too well from having a 6 year old, 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old at home on sick days or Spring break or Summer vacation!

I also know the pressure of feeling not prepared on how to entertain your own kids when school is not an option for when you are at work – the weight of financial strain and entertaining your kids can be overwhelming. And then on top of it you factor into world events of Coronavirus or Covid-19. If you need to unplug as an adult and take care of your mental health, do it! Make sure you are getting your information from reliable sources, and make the best decisions for your family.

A lot of people have been asking me my opinion of current events, I don’t have a lot to say – I have been slowly watching the news of the new Coronavirus from December to now from Twitter (don’t go on Twitter if you need a mental break from the media). But never in my wildest dreams did I think it would make it to Canada, alas here we are taking precautious measures to give our healthcare system a leg up.

So I pulled our eldest from school and excused her from the last week of school before Spring break – some provinces are extending Spring break another 2 weeks afterwards. If that happens in Alberta it can be up to 4 weeks that kids can end up being home if parents decide to pull their children a week prior to Spring break.

I know a lot of parents may be pulling their hair out by the end of the first week so I want to share my favourite indoor activities for kids with you!

Here are 6 fun activities for 4-6 year old kids at home:

Rainbow Rice Sensory Box – It takes an hour to let the dye settle and dry, and then countless hours of quiet play and measuring! Click the link for a full tutorial on this awesome activity!
Popsicle Bath – it is literally what it sounds like! Give your kids a popsicle and let them take a bath – this usually can guarantee me 20-30 minutes. And if you have multiple children I like to let them have individual baths so they can have some quiet time to themselves. It can be overwhelming to be with your siblings 24/7 for 4 weeks straight.
Counting Snacks – It can be big numbers or little numbers, with any kind of dry snack. My kids adore counting Cheerios or raisins. This one takes a tiny bit of preparing for big kids, but I have a downloadable printables here to make your lives easier (Page 1, Page 2, Page 3). Count by 5’s, 10’s, or 20’s! Math can be delicious!
Cup Stacking – Remember gym in junior high? At least I do! One of the best games we ended up playing was cup stacking, and it’s relatively cheap! All you need are a bunch of red solo cups from Amazon or you can make a quick run to the dollar store. Older kids enjoy timing themselves and improving their speed, younger kids enjoy making a tower and punching or kicking it down. It’s a win win for 4-6 year olds!
Popsicle Stick Sorting – While you’re making an Amazon order or making a list for your dollar store run, make sure you add coloured popsicle sticks to your list and I’ll tell you why! My kids are pretty good at independent play, they truly only come to me if they’re ready for a mentally stimulating activity. And sorting by colours is a great math activity that appears easy! Again this one takes some preparation but it’s 2 minutes of colouring, you could even draw the outline and then let your kids fill in the colour. Essentially you are going to create this image on a piece of paper – for older kids you can encourage their reading skills by switching the colours and the words for their brains (similar to this image or this image). Once the activity is ready, they simple organize a bag of coloured popsicle sticks (again the dollar store has these!), then they count how many sticks are in each colour and write it down. It’s simple but can provide a little break from the usual Disney+ or Netflix binge.
Plant And Grow An Indoor Herb Garden – Plants are science, right? Right! Teaching your kids the responsibility and patience of gardening is a great skill to develop. And if they are at home for long periods of time during Spring break or Summer vacation they will truly be able to watch their plants progress!

If you are feeling the solidarity of home life with your kids or are self isolating or quarantining yourself, come check out what I’m up to on Instagram Stories!

I hope you find some comfort in the fact that we are all in this together – we are are trying to do the best for our kids and keep them mildly entertained over the next few weeks.

What are your fun activities for 4-6 year old at home? Tell me in a comment below!

If you like this post, check out my 10 Best Gift Ideas For 3 Year Olds post before you go!

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The Best All Natural Sunscreen in Canada

Are you searching for the best all natural sunscreen in Canada that is chemical free and good for acne prone skin? As someone with acne prone skin, I avoided applying sunscreen daily for years because I was afraid that it would make me break out! But if I look at the pros and cons of sun damage or acne, one is a worse than the other.

I was irresponsible as a teen in the sun and sun protection, I used to lay out at the lake without any sunscreen or with tanning oil. One summer I had such a bad sunburn on my chest that it peeled and became scaly, it was like this for weeks while healing. It was so gross! That was a turning point for me – I never wanted to have another extreme sunscreen like that again.

So with summer or sunny vacations around corner, preparing for fun in the sun is so important for yourself and your loved ones!

Hannah, the popular Canadian mom blogger at Honey & Betts, is sharing the best natural sunscreen in Canada! If you are looking for safer beauty products for yourself, your family, and your children - from being the best mineral sunscreen for face. Check it out!

I also love using this safer sunscreen on my kids too – because my sensitive, dry skin has flourished with The Green Beaver sunscreen! The Green Beaver has a kid sunscreen that is SPF 40 and a baby sunscreen that is 35 SPF.

The Green Beaver Company natural sunscreens do not contain:

UV chemical sunscreen filters (like Avobenzone, Oxybenzone, etc)
Nano-sized ingredients
Dimethicone
Artificial fragrances
Phtalates
Parabens.

These best all natural sunscreens in Canada at Green Beaver Company are also amazing for acne-prone skin! Because I know that I am not the only one who has issues with blemishes.

Over the years I noticed that drugstore sunscreens make me breakout in acne, which conflicted me because I know the benefits of wearing sunscreen year round but value flawless skin.

Where can you buy The Green Beaver Company natural sunscreen for face?

The Green Beaver Company
Well.ca
Rexall
London Drugs
Amazon.ca

What is your favourite all natural sunscreen? Have you made the switch from your old sunscreen to natural sunscreen with Zinc Oxide?

If you like this post, check out my The Best Beauty Products To Save Your Skin After A Sun Burn post before you go!

Make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Looking for the best all natural sunscreen in Canada? Hannah, from the popular Canadian beauty blogger at Honey & Betts, shares her favourite natural safer beauty sunscreen that doesn't cause breakouts! The Zinc Oxide is the key natural ingredient in this kids sunscreen. Check it out!

Easy Toddler Sensory Bin Activity: Rainbow Rice

This is simply one of my favourite easy toddler sensory bin activities for my 2 year old and 4 year old that requires very little prep time, and it the clean up is easy too! It all starts with regular rice, some food colouring, vinegar, and a few paper plates – you can find the original rainbow rice recipe here. Keep reading below for popular questions about rainbow rice!

The prep time for the rainbow rice is 10 minutes (I made a double batch of the original recipe), and then the wait time for the final product is 1 hour.

Hannah, from the popular Canadian mom blog Honey & Betts, shares her easy toddler sensory bin activity with rainbow rice! For the stay at home mom who doesn’t send her children to preschool this is a must have! It’s cheap and easy to set up. Check it out

This bin is amazing and I can’t wait for warmer weather where I can put it into our sensory table outside (click here for our transformed deck with kids sensory bin table)!

We go by Susie’s rice sensory bin rules A) don’t eat the rice, and B) don’t throw the rice. And even for my 2 year old, these simple rules make having a sensory bin easier.

I received a couple questions about the rainbow rice when I showed it on Instagram, so I wanted to answer them here where you can pin or save this post if you need to refer to them in the future!

Is the rainbow rice sensory bin quick to set up?

Yes! Aside from the actual making of the rainbow rice (Approximately an hour), setting up and putting the sensory bin away is simple pouring it out and pouring it back into a giant ziplock! There are usually some random rainbow rice on the ground around the bin but it’s simply vacuumed up.

What bin are you using to hold the rainbow rice?

This bin is from IKEA, it was included with our Farmer Daughter Workshop sensory table! But you can find it at IKEA. This size is awesome if you have two or more kids, they can sit at opposite ends of the bin and not bother each other.

My 2 year old can get very possessive of the amount of rice or amount of measuring tools she has, so I find it best to keep them at opposite ends of the sensory bin.

What measuring tools do you put in the sensory bin?

It seems wild but I give them glass canning jars, old coffee containers, plastic measuring cups, funnels, and measuring spoons. The funnels are both my 2 year olds and 4 year olds favourites! Click each link to find the exact products we use with the rainbow rice sensory bin.

What age is the best for playing independently with rainbow rice?

It depends on your kid! I was finally able to leave Adeline, my 2 year old, alone with the rainbow rice when she reached 2 1/2 years old (but she’s a bit of a firecracker). Though you will not know if your child is ready until you try! The worst thing that can happen is that you need to put it away and wait for a bit – eventually your child will be ready!

Rainbow rice is amazing! I like to add animals, Duplo LEGO blocks, mini figurines, and more – anything to encourage them to learn through play and feel different textures with the rainbow rice sensory bin.

What’s stopping you from making your own easy toddler sensory bin? What other ways do you use rainbow rice at home?

If you like this post, check out my 10 Things Every Parent Needs When Flying With A Toddler post before you go!

Make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Evenflo Pivot Xpand Travel System Review

I love reviewing strollers! Strollers get better and better each year – smoother, more features, more compact. I love see the changes throughout the years. And my enthusiasm for strollers extends into this Evenflo Xpand Modular Travel System review!

This is a good city-living stroller but takes “off roading” smoothly too!

The only thing I regret with my first stroller (the Mountain Buggy Terrain) is that I didn’t take into consideration that we planned to have more children – it was a beautiful, single, all-terrain stroller. I wish in retrospect, I would have chosen a stroller that could convert to a double like this one!

So, if you’re a first time parent I highly recommend this stroller if you are planning on have a second baby at some point!

A few features I love about the Evenflo Xpand Modular Travel System are:

Extra-Large Storage Basket | This is the best under-stroller storage basket I have seen in a stroller! There is so much space – up to 2 feet in length, and it’s accessible from the front and back.

Self-Standing Fold | This stroller is big, but thankfully it stands upright by itself and I love that because it makes it so much easier to fit in the trunk of a van (sorry to those who don’t own vans, I’m not sure how it fits in other vehicles). It’s ability to stand upright and be compact makes it so that there is still a lot of room for other things in your trunk besides your stroller.

Large Cruise Tires | These bad boys are responsible for smooth maneuvering and cushion any bumps that your baby may feel.

Single To Double | There are 22 configurations that accommodate one or two kids – at varying heights, forward-facing or parent-facing, upright or reclined. The toddler seat can hold a child up to 55 lbs or converts to a bassinet. My favourite is to have the baby facing me in the car seat, and then the toddler seat facing forward – it keeps both my girls happy!

Light Weight | As a pregnant mom with 3 girls running circles around me, I love that the frame of the stroller is light weight and easy for me to unload and load into the trunk. I’ve tested out some really heavy strollers, and the lighter the better!

What is your favourite single to double stroller? Let me know in the comments below!

If you like this post check out my Valco Baby Tri-Mode X Duo Stroller review post before you go!

Make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Hannah, from the popular Edmonton mom blog Honey & Betts, shares the best 2019 baby stroller that converts from single to double for growing families and busy moms of two. Read more about the Evenflo Pivot Xpand Travel System review!

Hannah from the Canadian blog Honey & Betts shares her life.

List Of Uncommon Biblical Baby Boy Names And Meanings

Whether you are eagerly anticipating a baby boy or you are preparing for the greatest surprise in life of finding out your baby’s gender at birth (you need to check out my hospital bag essential post), creating a list of baby boy names is part of preparing for your baby’s arrival! Some parents find baby boy names hard to narrow down, and some find it easy. I hope this list of uncommon biblical baby boy names and meanings help inspire you for naming your little one.

There are affiliate links in this post that I make a small commission from, please support my blog by clicking them!

Want a strong name for your baby boy? Hannah, the popular mom blogger at Honey & Betts, shares a list of uncommon biblical baby boy names and meanings. From strong, masculine to modern, unique baby boy names!

As a mom of 4 (3 girls and 1 boy), my husband and I would create our own lists of names we liked by researching online or going through Pinterest baby name boards and then we would pitch our names to one another. There were no hard feelings when my husband nixed one of my baby boy names or I his. Though if there is one you absolutely love and your spouse does not, hold on to it. You might be surprised that their name preference changes the closer you get to the due date!

I know mine did – I went from disliking the name Abigail for my first baby girl to loving it for our second baby girl!

Here is my list of uncommon biblical baby boy names and meanings:

Thaddeus – brave, heart, courageous

Boaz – strength is within him

Jericho – fragrant

Linus – flax

Ananias – favoured of the Lord

Hiram – exalted brother

Tiras – desire

Silvanus – forest, wood

Gideon – harvester, wood cutter

For my last baby, our first boy, we were stuck between naming him our absolute favourite biblical baby boy name – Gideon – or going with a childhood friend’s name that I was inspired by – Thaddeus. It wasn’t until our baby was born and we were looking at him for 10 minutes in the delivery room, that my husband made the decision for us. I was torn right up until that very moment!

Now that I look back, he is our Thaddeus. He looks like a Thaddeus! His big sisters have many variations of nicknames for him apart from his full name – Thaddy, Thaddy-boy, Mister Spit-Up.

If you are looking for an adorable, modern custom baby name sign for your baby boy, check out this one! It would be the perfect baby shower present, or push present!

Like I said, I hope this inspires you to know that uncommon biblical names are becoming more popular and less radical for kids!

What are your favourite uncommon biblical baby boy names? Let me know in the comments below!

If you like this post, check out my Unique German Baby Boy & Girls Names post before you go!

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3 Reasons Why Your Fiddle Leaf Fig Is Growing Tiny Wrinkled Leaves

Before I had a family of fiddle leaf figs in my home, I was always warned at how particular and sensitive they are compared to other indoor plants. They can droop at the slightest change of location within a home, or start growing tiny wrinkled leaves if you forget about them. But after I spotted a sad looking fiddle leaf fig at IKEA for $28 I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try my luck at this trendy plant for such a cheap price.

Popular Edmonton lifestyle blog Honey & Betts, shares 3 reason why your fiddle leaf fig is growing tiny wrinkled leaves instead of big healthy leaves. From not fertilizing to underwatering to a change in it's environment - there are many different things that could cause small leaves to grow.

Before you continue reading, read my Advanced Guide To Caring For Indoor Fiddle Leaf Figs!

Each time I have bought a real fiddle leaf fig, from IKEA or the local greenhouse, it came as two in one pot. So I this past winter I decided to finally separate the two fiddle leaf figs into their own pots – the end goal is to have them grow 6 feet and then start pruning and notching my fiddle leafs to appear like traditional indoor fiddle leaf fig trees.

But after I separated my fiddle leafs they were telling me through their symptoms that something was not right, and they told me this through their new leaves. From brown spots, to tiny wrinkled leaves, to lack of growth, to small red blotchy leaves. Every fiddle leaf fig symptom had a few different causes to be examined!

For the new growth of tiny wrinkled leaves it can mean 3 things:

Fertilizer: I took a couple weeks off of fertilizer, and after that period many of my fiddle leaf figs produced shrivelled leaves that I eventually pruned. I use a liquid fertilizer once a week with watering, this helps my plants get the nutrients they are lacking from being in the cold, dry climate here in Canada.

Lack of sunlight or water: For fiddle leaf figs to grow consistent large, healthy leaves they need to store up a decent amount of energy through photosynthesis. If you’ve moved your fiddle leaf, noticed a change in the weather/amount of sunlight in your home, or noticed your fiddle leaf figs leaves are dusty – this may be your cause! Every couple of weeks I will wipe down all the leaves on my plants, my home is older and gets dusty.

Did you forget to water your fiddle leaf for a couple extra days when it was parched? Or maybe you need to slightly increase the amount you are watering your fiddle leaf fig each week? Either or can be the cause of your new warped leaves. In my opinion, it’s better to have an under watered plant than an overwatered plant… root rot and soil that’s not draining well can be a hard problem to fix!

Trauma: When I repotted my large fiddle leaf fig because I was concerned with root rot, I noticed the new leaves that grew in the following month were warped and curly. And with some research I learned that sometimes your plant can have a bit of trauma in their roots from the repotting – and it can produce leaves like the ones in the photos above. If you wait for the next batch of new leaves to grow, they should return to their original healthy state. Be aware it can take a little longer than normal for your fiddle leaf fig to get back into it’s old leave growing pattern.

I hope this helped you if you are curious or worried about the state of your fiddle leaf figs tiny wrinkled leaves! Try some different things with consistently, and see what it responds to.