Steampunk Bubble Gun: How to Make Plastic Look Like Tarnished Brass
Our family loves the Pixar movie "Inside Out". so we dressed up as the emotion characters for Halloween, but with a twist. We made them steampunk: our favorit...
Celebrate
Avatar the Last Airbender Family Cosplay
Avatar the Last Airbender family costume for Halloween, including character costume ideas for Aang, Katara, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph.
DIY Fingerless Leather Gloves
How to make fingerless gloves for a women’s steampunk outfit or any DIY costume with leather wrist guards.
Make a Pattern with Plastic Wrap and Tape
You’v...
Paper Lanterns Inspired by Aladdin
Make simple paper lanterns with construction paper for party decorations or fun room decor inspired by Disney’s Aladdin.
My teenage daughter and I just saw...
How to Make a Captain America Shield
Make Captain America’s shield from Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame movie using floor mat and spray paint.
We just saw Avengers: Endgame, and it was the perfec...
How to Steampunk a Costume
What is steampunk? How to make a steampunk costume inspired by your favorite character. In other words, how to steampunk something.
How to Take a Character and...
Tardis and Dalek Costume: Simplicity Pattern 1095 Review
Use Simplicity’s 1095 pattern to make a TARDIS or Dalek costume for Halloween or your next cosplay, but alter it a little by adding your own details and touch...
How to Make Foam Armor for Arms and Legs
How to Make Foam Armor that looks like hammered metal for a Roman Centurion costume, including the forearm armor called bracers and the leg armor.
As part of...
Doctor Who Family Costume
Cosplay as Doctor Who this Halloween with costumes for the 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, the Last Centurion, a Dalek, and the Tardis.
We are a family of geeks. I wa...
A Christopher Robin Tea Party
Celebrate like Winnie the Pooh with a Christopher Robin tea party and invite all your friends and their favorite stuffed animals. Just don't forget the honey.
...
25 Gifts for Girls that Encourage Creativity
Gifts ideas for girls that will promote creativity and ingenuity for girls that are ages 8-12, including art gifts, science gifts, building gifts, and fairy gar...
Ringwraith or Nazgul Costume
Create a Nazgul costume so you can become one of Sauron’s Ringwraiths this Halloween or at your next cosplay, including the distressed cloak, large sword, and...
How to Make a Sword from Wood
How to build a sword out of wood, then make it look metal and battle-worn. This sword was made for a Nazgul costume for a Lord of the Rings Halloween.
My hus...
The Lord of the Rings Costumes
How to make costumes for The Lord of the Rings characters, including Frodo the hobbit, Galadriel the elf queen, Arwen the elf warrior, Eowyn of Rohan, and a Naz...
It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Make a Charlie Brown shirt out of yellow polo shirt with easy instructions for how to make the zig zag pattern.
This post contains links to some of the produ...
How to Make Galadriel’s Crown
Make an elegant DIY crown for your Galadriel costume using a glue gun and a few simple craft supplies. Easy to make and great for any elf costume or cosplay.
...
Toddler Frodo Costume for Halloween
How to make a Frodo costume, including Frodo’s sword and magic ring. A toddler hobbit Halloween costume from The Lord of the Rings.
Our family all dressed as...
How to Make Foam Gauntlets
Make costume gauntlets out of foam and paint them to look like solid metal, including a free pattern for these Lord of the Rings Nazgul or Ring Wraith gauntlets...
Percy Jackson Party
Celebrate your birthday Percy Jackson style at a Camp Half-Blood party right in your own backyard. Invite all your demigod friends and go on a quest.
My daug...
Monster Truck Birthday Party
Host a monster truck party that any truck-loving boy or girls will love. With monster truck fun and games, it’s easy to keep your guests happy and having a go...
A Star Gazing Birthday Party
Throw a star gazing birthday party with fun constellation activities and exploring the night sky. Star gazing is a fun party idea for teens and tweens and older...
How to Make a LEGO Batman Helmet
Make a DIY LEGO Batman helmet out of foam from The LEGO Batman Movie. This detailed tutorial includes a printable template.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my ...
Love Bug Recycle Craft for Cub Scouts
This love bug is an easy recycle craft for Cub Scouts to make for Valentine’s Day or for the Blue and Gold Dinner. It’s also a fun craft for any kid to make...
Family Costumes for Halloween
Make Halloween a family holiday by dressing up together with themed family costumes. Here’s some ideas that our family has used.
Our family loves to have a...
Mary Poppins Family Costume
A Mary Poppins family costume is practically perfect in every way. Learn how to make a costume for each of these fun characters.
I’m so excited to share ou...
Simple Practical Beautiful: Year 1
Last July I started Simple Practical Beautiful as a way share all of my homemaking projects and all the improvements my husband and I make to our 1950s ranch-st...
A Romantic Outdoor Dinner Tablescape
A fun, romantic outdoor dinner inspired by The Legend of Tarzan is easy to make with some lace, plants, candles, mosquito netting, and any other odds and ends ...
The Liebster Award
I was recently nominated for the Liebster Award, which is an internet award given to bloggers to help create a sense of community and connection in the blogosph...
A Fairy Garden Birthday Party
Fairy gardens are really popular right, so my daughter wanted a fairy garden party for her birthday this year. The guests each made their own personal fairy gar...
Love Note in a Bottle
A subtle love note disguised as a message in a bottle adds a little bit of fun to a romantic gesture.
Today’s post is going to be short because it’s my a...
Easter Magic
The Easter Bunny adds a little fun to our family’s holiday every year by sending us magic powder that brings toys to life.
We don’t have an elf on the sh...
A Simple Valentine Card
Here's a short video showing how to make a simple Valentine card because Valentine's Day should be more about the person you love than stressing over a complica...
Simple Practical Beautiful in 2015
For my final post of 2015, I would like to share the best posts on Simple Practical Beautiful from this year. Technically, all of the posts are from the last si...
Merry Christmas
For my Christmas gift to you, I want to share this beautiful video depicting the birth, life, and purpose of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope you and your famil...
Project Linus Service Party
I’ve always tried to encourage my children to serve others, so when my daughter came up with the idea of having a service party and inviting a bunch of fri...
A Service & Activity Advent Calendar
The countdown to Christmas starts in a few days, so I’m sharing the advent calendar my family uses to make December more about service and giving to others wi...
Gentleman’s DIY Steampunk Costume
In sharing our steampunk monster-hunters and monsters costumes, I’ve saved the best for last. Today, the man, the myth, the legend: a Victorian boy scout who ...
Women’s Steampunk Costume
If you’ve been following me at all since my blog started, you’ve probably seen this old profile picture, which looks like I’m sitting in a very awkward p...
Kids’ Handmade Monster Costumes
Make some scary fun monster costumes for kids this Halloween with a DIY werewolf, a vampire princess, and a baby mummy in his own sarcophagus stroller.
Our fami...
How to Make a Sorting Hat
I made a Sorting Hat out of a thrift store leather jacket for my daughter's Harry Potter party after searching the internet to find a decent one. I wasn't veryÂ...
DIY Harry Potter Wands
For my daughter’s Harry Potter party, I wanted to give each kid something that seemed really magical, not just cheesy party favors. Something they could use a...
A Harry Potter Party at Hogwarts
We had an amazing Harry Potter party for my daughter. These classes were the main activities of that party. Each class had a different teacher, thanks to some...
A Harry Potter Party Experience
My 10-year-old loves Harry Potter. She devoured all seven books. So, for her birthday we threw a Harry Potter party and went all out. It was a ton of work, but ...