Shark Binoculars

We are in LOVE with shark crafts over here.   Love, love, love them.

So when I was sent a bunch of free craft materials from Horizon Group awhile back, I knew what we had to use them to make.... Shark toilet roll binoculars!

Toilet Roll Shark Binoculars 

Aren't they adorable?  They are my favorite shark-themed craft so far!

St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold Craft

Looking for a fun St. Patrick's Day Craft?  How about making a rainbow and pot of gold with your little ones?

St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold Craft

You can check out how I made this cute  St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold Craft on MollyMoo!

Looking for other St. Patrick's Day crafts?

Then check out these links below!

• Clover sun catchers
• Lucky Charm Shirt
• Dig for Gold Activity
• CD Rainbows
• Grow Rainbow Flowers

Let's keep in Contact!

Like kids crafts and activities?  Then you'll definitely want to check out this awesome craft ebook!

   

And, you can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Build Your Own Collapsible Cardboard Tent

What happens with camping meets crafting?  I'd like to imagine something like this....

Collapsible Cardboard Tent  

Can you tell that I'm not a camper at all?  I've gone 3 times in my life.  It rained on us 2 times and our tent got soaked!  Blech.  Now I'm a bit leery of sleeping outside.  But, I still really love the idea of a tent for kids.  They can be secret forts, comfy book nooks, or special magical hideaways.  

To see how I made this lovely tent from recycled materials, check out my tutorial for a collapsible cardboard tent on Handmade Charlotte!

As a side note- Aren't giant cardboard boxes great? We still have a ton left from our move.  So far I've transformed them into  

• cardboard firetrucks
• galaxy boxes
• hedgehog ring toss games
• Easter bunny bean bag toss games 
• toy launchers! 

Let's keep in Contact!

Like kids crafts and activities?  Then you'll definitely want to check out this awesome craft ebook!
   
And, you can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy imagining, friends!

Piranha Plant Valentine Card box

Note: This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Recently Plaid Crafts sent samples of craft paint and Mod Podge to a couple of craft bloggers.  They challenged us to create funky, fun, and unique Valentine Card Boxes.  Paint?  Mod Podge?  Fun Card Boxes?  Oh yeah.  You can bet that I was all over this challenge to celebrate Valentine's Day with Plaid Crafts!

Ok.  So it's been a zillion years awhile since I've been in school.  I really wanted to make a box inspired by my own childhood, so I went old school and made a Piranha Plant Valentine Card Box.  (I think my younger self would have totally dug it.)

Piranha Plant Valentine Card Box

Special promotion code from Plaid:

Before I forget, Plaid Craft is offering a special coupon promo code.  If you use the discount code LOVE2015, you'll receive $10 off orders over $35, plus free shipping*.  You can save on tons of Plaid brands like Apple Barrel, Mod Podge, Martha Stewart Crafts, and more.  The code is valid through 3/31/2015 and can only be used once.  Just visit their site for more details!  *Free shipping is not available in areas where ground shipping is not offered. 

Super Easy Cardboard Biplanes

The plane obsession continues over here!  Just when you think we're done with transportation crafts... oh no... we've got another one up our sleeve.

Awhile back Chuck and I made this toilet roll biplane.  But sadly, that plane broke.  Chuck still loves biplanes, so I came up with this super easy practically unbreakable cardboard biplane craft for him to make and then fly.

Super Easy Cardboard Biplane Craft

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet

Chinese New Year is coming soon!  We've been so engrossed in Valentine's day crafts lately, that I almost forgot about the holiday.  But today we're rectifying that mistake.  Last year we made these 2 really easy dragon puppets.  (Definitely check them out because they were super cute and super easy.  Plus, I included free printable templates!)

This year we're keeping with the dragon theme and making this Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet from recycled cardboard!  It's an upgraded version of last year's craft because you can actually move this dragon around!

Recycled Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Shark Valentine Card Box

Sometimes I wish I could be a kid again just to experience the magic of different holidays.  Do you ever feel that way?  As a child New Years seemed cooler, Christmas seemed more magical, and Valentine's Day was way more romantic.  Now that Chuck's getting older, I see him getting excited about holidays too.... and I LOVE it.

Here's a fun Valentine Card Box that I recently designed with Chuck in mind.  (He loooooves sharks.) Isn't it hilarious that the shark "eats" the Valentines?

Shark Valentine Card Box

You can find out how I made this Shark Valentine Card Box at MollyMooo Crafts!

And if you're looking for 3 other cute Valentines day crafts, check out the links below!

• Super adorable Valentine glasses
• "High Five" Valentines
• Kiss-tastic wrapping paper

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)


Happy making friends!

18 Transportation Crafts that "Go!"

Do you have a plane, train, helicopter, truck, boat, car, or spaceship loving kid?  While looking through the archives, I realized that we've done quite a few transportation-related crafts here.  18 to be specific!  (Whoa.  Kinda cray-cray and kinda cool...)  So I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane and share this compilation of all 18 crafts that "go" here!

18 Awesome Transportation Related Crafts!

Ok.  I gotta admit something to you.  I was originally going to call this post, "Crafts for Boys" (that's why it's in the permalink) but then totally decided against that name.  Girls can like cars, trains, planes, boats, trucks, and bikes too! Right?  Right.  Ack!  Sometimes it's so easy to fall into gender stereotyping.  (Do you ever feel the same way?)   So anyway, that's why I changed the name to Transportation crafts.

Fluttering Butterfly Craft!

Hello friends!  Today I wanted to share this really neat fluttering butterfly craft that I recently did with Chuck.  We cut out, painted, and folded butterflies that flutter when you move them!  (We also made some lovely butterfly notebooks too!)  The whole process entertained Chuck for quite awhile, so I thought other kids might like it too!

                                             Fluttering Butterfly Craft

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I know it's winter, and most people are doing winter crafts with their kids, but honestly, I just haven't had the heart to do so.  Our weather is right now in the 60s which is totally bizarre to me.  I'm used to cold, wet, or snowy winters.... not cool, sunny ones.  It's very weird ... but I'm thankful for the sun and warmth!

This butterfly craft was inspired by our local butterfly grove.  Nearby our home is a plot of land where monarch butterflies migrate to during the winter.   How neat is that?  Last week we hiked up to the butterfly grove and saw thousands of butterflies, clumped together in tree branches.  It was a pretty amazing sight.  (And I WISH I could have taken photos of them, but they were just too high up to get a decent shot.)  One of the other children at the park found a dead butterfly on the ground and showed everyone.  Chuck really wanted to find one of his own, but we never did.  So I came up with this craft so that he could have his very own fluttering butterfly.

Looking for kids' butterfly books?

This would definitely be a great craft to go along with any of these great butterfly books!

• Hungry Catterpillar
• My Oh My- A butterfly
• Butterfly and Moth 
• Gideon's Dream 
• From Caterpillar to Butterfly  

Moveable Cardboard Snake Craft

Let the snake crafts continue!  Yesterday I shared this easy twisty snake sculpture.  Today I wanted to show how we made this cardboard toilet roll snake... that actually moves!

Moveable Toilet Roll Snake!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.

(By the way, according to Chuck this snake is very poisonous.  I can vouch for that.  It's bitten me and I've "died" quite a few times!)

Star Finding Game

Recently Chuck started getting the concept of hide-and-seek.  I'm so stoked about that and love playing it with him at the park.  But we've had to cut our park time down with the days getting shorter.  Boo!  To help pass the time at home, we've tried doing activities that embrace the dark.  So far we've made our bike wheels glow in the dark and even given ourselves glowing temporary tattoos.  Here's another way that we've entertained ourselves- we've played some Star Hide-And-Seek.

Star Hide-and-Seek Game

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Glow in the Dark Moon Shirt

My son loves pointing out the moon at night.  Today I'm over at DIY Candy sharing how I made him this adorable glow in the dark moon shirt.

DIY Glow in the Dark Moon Shirt

(By the way, did you see the solar eclipse yesterday?  We totally missed it. Ack!)

And if you really like glow in the dark crafts, here are some more from the archives!

Other glow in the dark crafts:

• Glow in the Dark Jellyfish Costumes
• How to draw glowing designs on your skin!
• Easy Glow in the Dark Bicycle Wheels

Have a great weekend, friends!

(Remember, you can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!)

Toilet Roll Biplane Airplanes Craft

Although Chuck isn't always so keen to craft with me (sad, I know,) he fortunately loves making cardboard toys with me.  (Yay!)  Currently he loves planes.  But since we've already crafted toilet roll planes, toilet roll helicopters, and cardboard roll space shuttles... I was at a loss as to what we could make together next.  One day he suggested that we make a biplane together.  So we went with his suggestion and did this toilet roll biplane craft!

Toilet Roll Biplane Craft

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support!

I think he looks a little like Leadbottom from the movie Planes, don't you?

Check out how we made this simple plane from recycled materials below!

Toilet Roll Pumpkins and Skulls

It's no secret that I LOVE toilet paper roll crafts.  I think I probably have about a dozen toilet roll crafts on the blog.  Yurp.  One of my friends recently commented, "Wow. You go through a lot of toilet paper."  Double yup.  We do.  We do.  (TMI?)  So anyway... eh hem... the toilet roll craft list is about to going to grow again!  Tada!  Here are my Halloween inspired toilet roll crafts!  

Toilet Roll Halloween Crafts

So we have some toilet roll pumpkins.....

and ...

How did I make my skin glow?

Looking for an easy way to entertain the kids this weekend?  

How about making their skin glow? 

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Yurp.  It's 1:30 AM here and I should be sleeping.   But I'm not.  Why?  Well, I couldn't because all my craft juices were flowing after seeing this tutorial.

Did you know that you can make your skin glow... with only 2 materials?  I had to try it out for myself.  So I took a highlighter and black light and then got working.  And guess what?  It worked!  The highlighter glows under black light!

Can you guess what Chuck and I will be doing this weekend?

Hope you have a great weekend!

Halloween Ghost Splat Painting

I'm always looking for new and fun ways to paint with Chuck.  Thus far, we've painted with flowers, painted with cars, made homemade body paint, made tortilla art, scrape painted, and even made corn syrup paint.   So I was excited when a kids' art teacher recently introduced us to splat painting!  It was such a fun activity that Chuck and I tried a Halloween version at home.

Halloween Ghost Splat Painting!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

This week's Creative Preschool theme is Halloween.  So we splat painted these ghosts!  Keep reading to see how we painted the ghosts AND check out the bottom of the post to see 4 other really fun Halloween activities!

Cardboard "Bead" Necklaces

I recently saw this fabulous post on painted bead necklaces by fellow Rockin' Art Mom ArtBar Blog.  Her students painted such beautiful wooden bead and cardboard necklaces.  I was really intrigued by the idea of using corrugated cardboard to make "beads," so I thought I'd give it a try myself.  Last weekend our town held its annual Lemon Festival, so I painted myself a lemon necklace to wear there.  And since Halloween is always on my mind, I painted myself a skull and bones necklace too.  Here are the results!

Let's Make Some Cardboard Beaded Necklaces!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Aren't they cute?   Let's get making!

3D Paper Plate Lion Mask

One of the coolest things about having a 3 year old is that we've fully entered the wonderful world of imaginative play.  I love watching Chuck enact scenes with his toys or pretend to be something else.  So far we've made a couple of toys to help encourage his imaginary play like this toilet roll airplane, no sew super hero cape, or cardboard cash register.   Lately he's been really enjoying learning about animals, so I made him this lion mask!

3D Paper Plate Lion Mask

This mask was really easy to make AND it's 3D.  See how the whiskers, ears, and nose all stand up?  Cool, right?  If you'd like to see how I made this mask check out my tutorial on Handmade Charlotte over here!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

DIY Piggy Bike Basket

When Chuck turned 3 a couple of weeks ago we got him his first 2 wheeler bike.  I wasn't sure if he would know what to do with it, but he took to it like a fish to water.  He just loves riding it!  However, there was just one problem.  He couldn't figure out a way to ride the bike AND hold his favorite stuffed pig at the same time.  So I told him I would make him a small bike basket.  After showing him a couple of designs, he selected a basket that resembled a pig.  And that's the story behind this DIY piggy bike basket.

DIY Piggy Bike Basket

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Now I know there are tons of really affordable kid bike baskets out there.  But we have a TON of cardboard lying around from our move AND I enjoy making things.  So it was a win-win situation.  Plus, where else could we get a pig basket?

Ok, enough chatting.  Let's get making!

Paper Plate Toucan Craft

Have you ever felt like you were a circus performer trying to balance a whole bunch of plates at once?  That's how I've been feeling a bit lately.  These past two weeks have been quite crazy for us.  Chuck turned 3!  (Whoa.  Where did the time go?)  Hubby started work!  So we're trying to figure out how to share 1 car.  (Ack!)  Chuck and I are trying really hard to make friends, so we're now regulars at a weekly art class and library story time.  And I've been burning the late night oil completing some much-appreciated free-lance craft opportunities lately.  I love making things, but I just have to get more organized I think.  Oh yeah.  I'm also going to partner with a great company and do a giveaway next week!  *Fingers crossed that all the details work out.*  So definitely tune in for that.

Ok, onto today's craft.  Amidst all this excitement I wanted to share this super easy paper plate Toucan Craft that Chuck and I did at home one afternoon.   I know, I know, there are some awesome Toucan crafts out there (like this adorable one from I Heart Crafty Things.)  But I was just so pleased by this craft because we made the bird out of 1 paper plate.  Yup.  That's it.  So easy and simple, right?

Paper Plate Toucan Craft

(Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!)

I love easy and fun crafts.  This one was inspired by our repeated reading of this book.   (Actually, if you're going to check that book out, you might as well check out the the whole series.  We love that cat.)


Ok.  Here's how we made our toucan!