Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect—I’d love to hear from you!
The Best Scented Playdough Recipe (Gluten Free!)
Holiday scented playdough? Beautiful consistency and long-lasting? Yes, please! We can’t make Christmas cookies every day (can we?!?), and many little hands don’t always make light work, as the proverb says. What do we do when it’s not cookie-making time, or littles are quite ready for the real thing?
Be Inspired with the Poetry Journal Project: A Printable Journal of Writing Prompts
Anyone can use this journal, even if you don’t normally write poetry. The Poetry Journal Project began to inspire everyone to explore and enjoy poetry.
6 Adorable and Easy DIY Halloween Costumes for Kids
Find six of the absolute cutest and easiest DIY Halloween costumes for kids. All no-sew and take less than an hour to make. Plus they’re literary, based on the picture book, Halloween Good Night.
10 Best Halloween Monster Crafts! Perfect to Go With New Book, Halloween Good Night
What's more fun than dressing up on October 31st and filling a bag with treats? Slime! Piñatas! Crafts! Fun! From all around the web, I've curated my favorite Halloween crafts for preschoolers to early elementary, each to go along with the picture book, Halloween Good Night. Without further introduction, let's get some BOO! on!
Cutest Halloween Finger Puppets Craft: Free Patterns and Tutorial
I could almost die from the cuteness of these finger puppets! To think, an adorable zombie? A cute-as-a-button vampire? All the creatures in my book, Halloween Good Night, in finger-puppet form. Perfect craft and plaything for preschoolers!
Halloween DIY: Globster Plush Stuffed Toy!
What, you may ask, is a Globster? Well, one might say it's a mythical sea monster, a relative of the classic horror beast, The Blob. Or, if you're familiar with the amazing picture book Halloween Good Night, you'll learn that a Globster is: epically cute, squishably cuddly, not the slightest big frightening, and every preschooler's new must-have bedtime friend!
How Not to Build a Farm Table: A Craigslist Story
We have a gorgeous, absolutely beautiful custom made farm table in our dining area. Beautiful at first glance. Sit down at it however, and try to eat and you’ll discover a few not so lovable details. Like glasses will tip over if placed in just the wrong spot. Your clothing will catch on splinters in the chairs or the edge of the table. Some of the plugs look suspiciously like wood filler. And if you look closely, the gaps between boards just might be packed with yesterday’s (last week’s?) noodles, rice, etc.
It's That Time of Year Again... Inside the Victoria's Farmhouse Dollhouse
Another year, another huge leap forward on Victoria's Dollhouse! Um. Not really. Maggie and I joke that since the box said, "Ages 13 and up" we shouldn't finish it until she's thirteen. She's eleven. We're right on track!
Why I'm Not going to Write Dollhouse Tutorials (and Links to all the Best on the Web)
For the past year and a bit Mud Pie and I have been working on the Epic Victoria's Farmhouse dollhouse. At the outset I thought, "Oooh, fun I can write up tutorials! Like how to run electricity, how to ..." I don't know, build a dollhouse.
And I could write those tutorials. Because we're building the dollhouse inch by inch and learning a heap. But I'm not going to write tutorials. Why? Well, take a look and see...
Victoria's Farmhouse Dollhouse Construction: A Year of Progress
Okay, so maybe assembling a dollhouse is a little more complicated than I thought.