DIY Life

Are your preschoolers tired of all the games they have played over and over 20 million times and you've nothing new to do with them? I know how long the winter can be with toddlers in the house. All I hear all day is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy"!

Paper and markers keep my littlest one occupied for a short time, as well as her other toys, but she gets bored easily. Craft gives all parents and caregivers some relief by pointing us to try making homemade fingerpaint. All you need is 3 cups water, 1 cup cornflour or cornstarch, and some food coloring.

Make sure the paint isn't too warm when you give it to the kids. We sure don't want to end up with burnt fingers. Making your own fingerpaint is a great winter project that should keep your kids occupied, at least for a few minutes.

Have you ever gotten your baby up in the morning only to find that her butt looks as red as Santa's nose? This often happened with my oldest child. She would sleep right through a bowel movement, but scream bloody murder in the morning. Many of the baby rash ointments just wouldn't do the job of making her little butt happy again. I decided to try some things and make my own butt paste and see if this would help ease her (and my) agony.

Ingredients:

• Vaseline
• Cornstarch
• Non creamy Desitin
• Maalox

Mix 1/2 cup Vaseline and half of the tube of Desitin. Add about 2 tablespoon cornstarch. Mix again. Add about 2 tablespoons of Maalox. Add more cornstarch or the other ingredients if necessary to bring the mixture to a more pasty consistency.

The result will be a white greasy paste that should be used at every diaper change until the rash is 90 % gone. Then switch to pure cornstarch. Cornstarch absorbs the moisture and will effectively eliminate the diaper rash.

Using Maalox in the mix will eliminate the red bleeding diaper rash and neutralize the acid that is causing that sensitive little baby butt to burn. The cornstarch will also do the same. This mix cuts a nasty diaper rash healing time.

Store in an airtight container so that the mix lasts a long time and will not dry out before your little one gets another bad rash. Don't forget to label the container so that it doesn't end up as a cracker spread by someone who thinks it might be a tasty treat.

I love laundry starch. It makes ironing so much easier. However, store-bought starch often can damage old linens or have a synthetic that does not decompose. Good news: it's super easy to make homemade ironing starch with natural ingredients that easily decomposes.

1 pint cool water
1 tablespoon corn starch

Dissolve corn starch into water and put into spray bottle. You can use other starches as well, but corn starch is most convenient. Also, the best kind of corn starch is organic starch since it doesn't have the extra chemicals that come with generic corn starch.

Regardless of what starch you use, make sure to shake before each use to redissolve the starch. If you don't plan on using it often, make small amounts or refrigerate the unused portion; however, make sure to let the mixture return to room temperature before you use it. See? I told you it was easy.