Ever go on a beach vacation and want to send something fun back home to loved ones? Well today we have an easy and whimsical DIY for you. Painted coconuts! Did you know you could send a coconut through the US mail? How fun would it be for a child to open their mailbox and be surprised with a beautiful coconut? 

All you have to do is paint a cute picture on one side of the coconut. We obviously chose an outline of the state of florida, but you could do something similar for any country you are visiting. You could also do an easy ombre sunset if you are less artistically inclined. On the other side of the coconut, you simply write a quick message and the address of your recipient, similar to a post card. Drop your coconut off at the post office and they will affix postage to it. What a fun, affordable, and adorable gift! 

Who will you surprise with this unexpected and creative idea? 

Christmas has always been a big deal around the Nelson household. There is always great food, a wonderful smelling Christmas tree, and special holiday decorations to make the spirit bright. In addition to sharing wonderful holiday recipes with you this month, we are also going to be sharing with you some fun Christmas traditions, and easy and fun ways to make the holidays special. 

Our first fun Christmas craft we'd like to share with you, is making a nativity set out of rocks. This is the perfect craft for those of you with toddlers who don't want to see your heirloom nativity sets get broken. Just make sure you get rocks that are large enough they can't be swallowed, but small enough they won't smash any little toes. 

There are so many expenses that accompany the holiday season, so creating a fun family heirloom that is free and fun is a wonderful treat. Simply pick out the number of characters you would like to create and then paint the rocks accordingly. I found it was easiest to draw the characters out with a sharpie, then just paint inside the lines. Get creative! This is also a wonderful craft to get older children involved in helping as well. 

We'd like to thank all of our friends who supported the Lavender Apple Farm during Small Business Saturday. Don't forget to order your Christmas gifts early this year so they ship in time for the holiday! www.lavenderapple.com 

Peggy recently made an "I SPY" quilt for her 2 year old grandson. I personally had never heard of these before and thought it was such a darling idea! The basic gist is that you round up squares with different fun kid themed patterns on them. You sew them all together into a quilt and then play "I spy" with your toddler. It was such a hit with Peggy's grandson! He was giggling and hopping around so excited to find the next image we would "spy" for him. He loves sleeping with his new blankie from grandma and I expect this will be a family heirloom for years to come! 

You can choose any size of fabric squares to use. You can also decide to make your blanket as big or small as you'd like. Our squares were about 6 inches by 6 inches and we made our blanket about 10 squares across. But like I said, you can make your squares and your length/width of your blanket whatever size you want just depending on the number of squares you use and how large they are. Finding this many different fun fabrics was a lot of work, but it was really enjoyable! 

Step 1: lay out your squares in whatever patter you'd like. Then start sowing the rows together

You basically are sowing them with the right sides of the fabrics facing each other so the seam isn't shown when you fold it open.

Once the rows are each sew together individually in long strips, then you sow each row together using the same method. 

You will want to have picked out a backing fabric for the opposite side. You will lay out your batting, then cover it with your fabric on each side and pin it in place. 

You will want your backing and fabric to be slightly larger than your squares because you will be folding your backing fabric over and sewing it down to create a clean edge. 

This was the first quilt Peggy had ever made and it turned out so adorable and only took a few hours! Well worth the effort for how much it has been loved already! 

Let us know if you have any questions about how to execute this easy and fun project. We are happy to help!