diy Archives - Mommy Kat and Kids

Show Off Your Love of Your Favourite Show with Netflix-Inspired DIY Halloween Costumes #StreamTeam

October 19, 2016 by Kathryn 3 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of all the different holidays, and Halloween is a special favourite. I love creating fun homemade decorations, dressing up and handing out candy to the neighbourhood kids. And my boys love the fun of trick-or-treating and dressing up in fun costumes just as much! Last year, we took our costume inspiration from Avengers Assemble on Netflix Canada for our costumes and dressed as Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow.

This year, both my boys have taken their costume inspiration from video games rather than television but personally, I’m thinking dressing up as Eleven from Stranger Things would be a fun and easy DIY costume choice! A pink dress, an oversized jean jacket, a white-blonde wig and sports socks would be all I needed to showcase this character from my new favourite Netflix exclusive series. Looking for a little inspiration for your own child’s look? Check out these three fun and easy DIY Netflix-inspired costume ideas! [Read more…]

Decorate for Halloween with Two Easy DIY Crafts and Earn Double RBC Reward Points at Home Depot

October 14, 2016 by Kathryn 15 Comments

Halloween has always been one of my favourite holidays. I love the costumes, the decorations and the fun spooky spirit of the season. So I also love creating DIY décor for the yard to get everyone into the Halloween spirit! This year, we don’t have a whole lot of space to decorate since the front yard of our townhouse is fairly small. So with my RBC Rewards Credit Card in hand, I headed to The Home Depot Canada to stock up on supplies for a few easy decorations for small spaces…giant garbage bag spiders and glowing chicken wire ghosts!

With two times reward points for RBC Rewards Credit Card holders in Saskatchewan and Alberta on all purchases from The Home Depot Canada until the end of October, the timing was perfect for grabbing my supplies. I bought PVC pipe, elbow connecters, black spray paint, glow-in-the-dark spray paint and both one and two-inch chicken fencing. Then I added a cute plastic jack-o-lantern that plugged into the wall as a fun finishing touch! With my supplies in hand, it was time to get creative. [Read more…]

Kid’s DIY Toy Closet Makeover Made Easy with RBC Rewards Credit Card and The Home Depot Canada

September 14, 2016 by Kathryn 27 Comments

With the boys back in school for six hours a day, I finally have extra time to tackle some of the jobs that have been piling up around the house. For me, autumn is a season of organizing for the upcoming cold weather months and this year, I’ve got a lot of organizing to do! Luckily for me, RBC has found a way to make that organizing more rewarding with a very special offer! Now until October 31, RBC Rewards credit card holders in Alberta and Saskatchewan will earn 2X RBC Rewards points for purchases made at The Home Depot Canada! With all the great organizational supplies the store has to offer, I knew the timing was right to tackle Benjamin’s disastrous closet.

The problem with my youngest son’s closet is that he can’t reach the top bar, so using it for clothing storage doesn’t make sense. I’d put some boxes for books and toys on the floor instead, but the system didn’t maximize the space available and was awkward to keep organized. So I headed to my local Home Depot store and grabbed the Closet Maid Closet Maximizer system. Featuring hard shelves for durability and easy no-tool installation, it looked like an easy way to make the most of Benjamin’s closet area.

A quick tap of my RBC Rewards credit card at the self checkout and I was ready to head home and get to work. Assembling the unit was a breeze and in less than twenty minutes it was in place and ready to be used. Then it was time for me to get to work and organize Benjamin’s toys in a way that was functional for him and attractive to me! [Read more…]

DIY Step-by-Step FRAM Engine Air Filter and Cabin Air Filter Replacement

August 31, 2016 by Kathryn 1 Comment

Disclaimer: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FRAMFresh #CollectiveBias

With fall just around the corner, it’s a great time to tune up the car so that it’s ready for the busy back-to-school season. And even though I don’t have a whole lot of experience with car maintenance, I know that there are a lot of little things I can do myself rather than paying a mechanic. Last year, I taught myself to change my car’s oil. This year, I knew that my car’s air filter and cabin air filter were both due to be changed. So I decided to change them myself in preparation for winter…with a little help from FRAM!

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Join the Hellmann’s Real Food Movement and Help Teach Your Kids Where Their Food Comes From!

August 15, 2016 by Kathryn 12 Comments

This post was brought to you by Hellmann’s® and JONES Voice.

When it comes to the food I feed my family, I’m passionate about fresh, real and wholesome ingredients. Jeremy and I both love cooking and we know that no matter what type of new dish we’re trying, using products made with high-quality ingredients makes good food even better. That’s why Hellmann’s Real mayonnaise is a must in our house. And living in Saskatchewan means that we know quite a bit about the work that goes into putting good food onto the table.

But not everyone has that same insider knowledge about the food we eat each day, and that’s why Hellmann’s created the Real Food Movement®! Designed to help families learn more about how the food we eat goes from the farm to the table, this campaign encourages everyone to think about the work that goes into the food we love.

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First Ever DIY Quaker State #OilChange in 3 Simple Steps

October 30, 2015 by Kathryn 28 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OilChange #CollectiveBias

I come from a family of handy people, and that’s something I’m pretty proud of. My father can fix almost anything on a car, my brother can perform all kinds of basic car and house maintenance and my mother and sisters all have a DIY attitude that inspires them to tackle all kinds of different jobs. In many ways I’ve inherited the same handiness, especially when it comes to household repairs. But my car maintenance skills are seriously lacking and this year, I decided it was time to change that.

My boyfriend has a bit more experience with cars than me, but his car repair skills are also pretty minimal, so the two of us made plans to learn one of the most basic and necessary vehicle jobs there is…the oil change. I headed to Walmart to buy the necessary equipment: Quaker State motor oil, a new oil filter, an oil pan and a funnel. Finding the oil I wanted was quick and easy, and having investigated the recommended amount for my car online, I knew a 5L bottle was the perfect amount. [Read more…]

Blast Off to Adventure with an Outer Space Kid’s Birthday Party

June 3, 2015 by Kathryn 45 Comments

I’ve always had a tendency to go a bit overboard when it comes to my boys’ birthday parties. It’s partly because I like choosing a theme and seeing what kind of creative ideas I can tie to it. It’s partly because I love seeing how impressed kids are with the food, games and decorations. But mostly it’s because when the party is over and everyone has gone home, I get to see the look of utter contentment on the face of my children.

This year, my oldest son turned nine and we decided to have an outer space birthday party. I started with the Space Blast Ultimate Kit from Costume SuperCentre to take the pressure off of decorating. With themed plates, napkins, cutlery, streamers and a fun balloon cluster, it had the outer space look I wanted at a great price.

Simple hot dog rockets made with puff pastry, muffin cups and cheese!

planet sugar cookies — Themed sugar cookies have become a bit of a birthday tradition. I love how these planet cookies turned out!

After that it was time to move on to the food. I turned hot dogs into rockets with a simple swirl of puff pastry, a triangle cheese top and a cupcake liner bottom. I also made fruit rockets with pineapple, watermelon and strawberries. Chips, vegetables and dip rounded out the table. And for extra fun, I couldn’t resist making a batch of sugar cookies decorated to look like planets! [Read more…]

Easy DIY Home Office Organization Makeover with HP-Giveaway #SpringCleaning

May 5, 2015 by Kathryn 402 Comments

Last week I shared an easy and fun kitchen organization project I created using nothing but my HP Stream 11 laptop, labels printed on my HP Envy 5530 printer and some cute mason jars. I loved the way these simple labels not only helped me organize my kitchen but also added some personality to my décor! That’s why I decided to turn on my laptop once more and do a little more spring cleaning…this time in my home office!

My office has a tendency to get pretty disorganized, especially with all the papers and calendars I use, so my goal was to tidy it up while also making it a pretty and inspiring space. I decided the first thing I would do is make my own file boxes by cutting old cereal boxes and covering them with fun printed paper. To keep with my spring theme, I found some flower images I liked, printed them out and then glued the pictures onto the boxes. A quick coat of spray varnish for durability and my file organizers were ready!

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