Friday, February 28, 2014

Plastic Bottle Sumo Wrestler Bowling Pins

About a year ago I had the great opportunity to be a guest craft poster at Sugar and Dots (Now Hello M{ess}).   My first craft on her blog was this set of cute and quirky sumo wrestler bowling pins.  It's still one of my most popular (and favorite) craft posts, so today I thought I'd re-share my sumo wrestler pins over here.

Plastic Bottle Sumo Wrestler Bowling Pins

Sumo Wrestler Plastic Bottle Bowling Pins
Ack!  Too cute....








Keep reading to see how these cute guys were made:

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Cellophane Stained Glass Windows

Who's up for a little color?  Anyone? Anyone? Everything's looking pretty grey here, so Chuck and I made some cellophane stained glass windows.  I cut up pieces of cellophane and then we stuck them to our windows using a mixture of dish soap and water.   

Ahh, don't these hearts just brighten your day?
Cellophane stained glass heart windows

Keep reading to see how we did this activity...


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Make a square and cube bubble

We are definite bubble lovers over here.  With the colder weather outside, we've just been blowing them at home over a beach towel.  Recently I learned that bubbles didn't have to just be spherical shaped.  They could also look like squares and cubes too. What? No way! 

Yes way!  Behold!  A cubic bubble!
Make a cube bubble

Whoa.  It's bubble play for us older folks! Keep reading to see how we made different shaped bubbles:

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DIY IPod Speakers from cardboard roll and cups

Ever notice that how your iPod or mp3 player just doesn't play music loud enough?  Well, if you have a cardboard roll and two cups lying around, you can fix that problem in a couple of minutes.  Yup.  Just make yourself a set of makeshift cardboard roll speakers!

diy ipod speakers from cardboard roll and cups



Keep reading to see how I made these bad boys...


Monday, February 24, 2014

Cereal Box Fireman's Hat (Template included)

Currently Chuck loves pretending to be a fireman.  He tells me that random things are on fire and then sprays them with an imaginary hose to put the fire out.  To help encourage his play, we recently made this fireman's hat out of an old cereal box.

(Of course, we had to make a fireman's hat for his best friend Piggy too!)

Make a cereal box fireman's hat for child and toy


Got a pretend firefighter in your family too? Curious to see how a cereal box turned into a fireman's hat? Keep reading to see how we did it!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Printing with Flowers

Do you have wilting flowers?  Before tossing them away, why not try making some flower prints with them?   Chuck and I dipped flower heads in paint and made some lovely prints.  Then, once the prints dried, I turned them into some personalized, springy stationary.

printing with flowers and turning it into stationary
So don't throw away your Valentine's Day flowers just yet.  Keep them and make some cards! 


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Make Rainbows using CDs

Did you know that you can make rainbows using CDs?  Yup!  It's true.  Check out this rainbow that Chuck and I made right in his room.  All we needed was a bright patch of sun, a CD, and a white surface.

Make rainbows using CDs

Keep reading to see how we made these lovely rainbows!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Jasper Johns Inspired Wall Art

When I saw this lovely artwork that an elementary student made in the style of Jasper Johns, I was utterly entranced.  I loved how the letters seemed to swirl in colors.  So armed with my trusty craft paints, I painted my own Jasper Johns inspired wall art. But, instead of writing out a series of letters or a random assortment of words, I included four words that had special meaning to me.  Here's what I came up with: 


If you'd like to see how I painted this artwork, keep reading!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Homemade Gluten free Puffy Paint Recipe and free Lincoln Coloring Page

Recently I found this great recipe for homemade puffy paint from  Happy Hooligans.  It was a simple recipe and called for only four ingredients, one of them being self-rising flour.  Since Chuck's allergic to wheat, we only have gluten free baking mix at home.  I was curious whether we could obtain the same results.  Well, after messing around in the kitchen we painted Mr. Lincoln's beard and hair with our very own homemade brown puffy paint.

Four score and seven years, our puffy haired fathers....
Homemade gluten free puffy paint and LIncoln coloring page

Would you like to see how we made our own homemade gluten free puffy paint?  Keep reading to find out!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Two George Washington Cotton Ball Wig Crafts

Happy Presidents Day!  In honor of the holiday, I'm posting kid-friendly president-themed crafts today and tomorrow on the blog.  Today I'm sharing two George Washington Cotton Ball Wig Crafts.  Here's the first craft-- a real cotton ball wig!

DIY George Washington Cotton Ball wig

Come on, you wanna see how I made this thing.... so keep reading to find out!

Friday, February 14, 2014

DIY Magazine Strip Silhouette Heart Art

Hrmm.. magazine strip silhouette art?  Sounds kind of naughty, but I promise you this recycled craft is anything but that.  Take a look!


DIY Magazine Strip Silhouette Heart Art
See?  Totally PG and totally cute.  I'm always on the lookout for easy and affordable DIY artwork.  This silhouette heart looks great and BONUS uses recycled materials. Keep reading to see how I made it!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

DIY Sprinkles and Hot Glue Cake Toppers

Sprinkles are the happiest decorations in the world.  They're super colorful and remind me of sweets and cake.  So I made these sprinkle cake toppers to turn boring rice krispies into something a bit more festive and Valentines-y for our toddler group. 

DIY Sprinkles cupcake toppers
They were super easy to make and added a happy touch to my snacks.  Keep reading to make them for yourself!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Cherry Blossom Tissue Paper Flower Craft (Tree printable included!)

I know, it's a little early for cherry blossoms crafts.  But this mama is seriously over winter.  Buh-bye!  With yet another snow storm scheduled to come tomorrow, this tissue paper cherry blossom tree craft is my attempt to kick winter in the face.  Hiyah! 


Ahh, cherry blossoms... so beautiful... so springy...

Cherry blossom Tissue paper tree craft

Like the tree?  You can use it for your kids' crafts too!  I turned my painting into a pdf so you can just download it and print it out....

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Painting Valentine's Day and African Inspired Pasta Necklaces

Alright, this post's title is completely wackadoo, but hear me out.  Chuck and I painted pasta necklaces to wear on Valentine's Day.  But after painting a bunch of pasta pretty pastel colors, my eyes yearned for primary colors.  So while Chuck slept, I peeked online and found some really beautiful beaded African necklaces.  And then this mama went to town and painted her own pasta pieces with African inspired colors and designs.

painting pasta necklaces with kids

Keep reading to see how we painted them!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Make butter by Shaking up Heavy Cream

Did you know that if you shake heavy cream long enough, it will make butter?  *Pause for effect*  Yup.  It's true.  It takes about 20-25 minutes to turn 1/2 a pint of heavy cream into butter.  You don't even need special equipment to do it!  How do I know?  Because I roped hubby into making some homemade butter with me this past weekend!

Let's Make Homemade Butter from Heavy Cream!

 
Make easy homemade butter by shaking up heavy cream

Why this sudden interest in making homemade butter?  Don't worry, I'm not swearing off all processed foods.  I recently found out that February 7th was Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday.  She was one of my favorite authors as a young girl.  I loved reading Little House on the Prairie and thought this would be a great way to celebrate her (and try out some cool food science too.)

Keep reading to see how we made our own homemade butter from heavy cream!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Felt Heart Button Covers

Valentine's day is coming up this Friday.  Are you still looking for something kind of "Valentines-y" to wear?  Well, why not add temporary heart embellishments to the clothing you already own?  Try making these DIY felt heart button covers.  They're easy to make and add some festive Valentine's spirit.

Keep on reading!

Friday, February 7, 2014

DIY Metal Cap Toe Boots

Have you heard of Boo hoo?  They're an online clothing retailer that's popular in Europe and recently started branching out in the US.  A couple of months ago they sent me a pair of Mya Buckle Trim Biker Boots to use in a DIY craft.  At first I wanted to add a ton of studs to them... but the studs got lost in the mail. So I took an alternate route and gave them some spray painted metal cap toes! 


Keep reading to see what I did!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Home Depot Free Kids Workshop

Did you know that Home Depot and Lowe's offer free kids' DIY classes?  Yup!  Home depot offers kids classes every first Saturday and Lowe's offers free kid clinics.  (Btw- the Lowe's class is this week!)  All you have to do is go online and sign up.

I love the idea of growing a DIY spirit in Chuck, but I initially thought that he was too young to participate.  But then a mommy friend showed me the El Chu plane that they made in class last month... and I was convinced that we had to go.  So last Saturday hubby and Chuck built a race car together!  (I sat behind the scenes coughing and sneezing. Will my cold ever go away? Boo.)

First they hammered the parts together. (Yes, they used a real hammer! Whoa!).  Chuck was so cute because he told me that Daddy "helped him to hammer."  Then, they decorated it with stickers.

Click below to keep reading!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

DIY Splatter Painted Pants

Everything outside is grey, grey, grey.  Bah.  I've been longing for some color in my life.  So that's why I took a pair of pants and went crazy.  Yurrrp.  I splatter painted the whole thing bright happy colors.

DIY splatter painted pants

They look pretty crazy... and pretty cool.  (They were also inspired by by this awesome splatter pant tutorial from PS-I Made This.) So far I've worn these pants around the apartment but I have yet to wear them outside.  (What's the correction occasion for such colorful pants?  Hrmm...)Now if you'd like some color in your life too, keep reading!


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Make Shaving Cream Clouds and Paint the bathtub walls

With all the crazy weather that's been happening around these parts, I thought Chuck and I could try creating some of our own crazy weather... indoors!  So we made a shaving cream cloud and watched it rain rainbows...

Oooh.  Isn't it pretty?
Make shaving cream clouds and rainbow rain

Keep reading to find out how we made it rain rainbows!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Make Fake Snow from Diapers

Guess what Chuck and I played with today while it snowed outside? Fake snow!  We made some from a Pull up Diaper.

Make fake snow from diapers

Say what?

Oh yeah.  We visited our nearby science center last week and the kids loved playing with their fake snow.  I found out that the fake snow was made from the same material found inside of diapers!  Wow.  Mind blown.  So of course we had to make it at home. 

Keep reading to find out how we made our fake snow!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

DIY Inkblot Shirt

We received a bunch of hand-me-downs awhile back and one of the items was a plain black shirt.  I saw it and immediately knew that I wanted to try painting something on it.  But I wasn't sure what...   Now that I've been sick for the past couple of weeks, Chuck and I have pretty much stayed at home.... the whole time.

Now,  I love Chuck, but being locked indoors for long periods of time totally drives both of us CRAZY....   So that's what inspired me to make this DIY Inkblot shirt.

What do you see when you look at the design?
DIY Inkblot shirt for kids
Keep on reading to find out how I made this bad boy!