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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query paper. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, April 1, 2013

Easter egg crafts

Hi everyone!

I hope you had an egg-cellent Easter.
We had a really nice time eating and celebrating with our egg-stended family.
I think I went a bit overboard with this Easter's egg-related crafts:

Inspired by Krokotak's egg carton hens, I made my own chicken and ladybug egg holders.

I also blew out a bunch of eggs, colored them, and then turned them into confetti eggs for our family Easter egg hunt.

Blowing out the eggs:  
I used a safety pin and pricked the top and bottom of the egg.  Then, I used the safety pin to enlarge the bottom hole.  Then, I placed my mouth over the smaller top hole and blew the egg out over a bowl.  Once the egg was emptied, I rinsed the shell out and left it to dry on a paper towel.

Marbleizing eggs with nail polish:
Once the eggs were hollowed out, my sister and I marbleized some of the eggs using Camille Styles' instructions.  (Note:  Her eggs came out beautifully!  As you can see, I had a lot of trouble getting even results. Maybe it's because my nail polish was the cheap 2 dollar kind... or too old?  Or, perhaps my water wasn't the right temperature?  Hrmm...  Did anyone else have trouble making these eggs?)






Designing with masking tape  and dying eggs:
I had much better luck dying the rest of my eggs.  Hubby and I used masking tape to first create designs and then we dyed them.  To create each color, we simply combined 1 cup of boiling water, 20 drops of food coloring, and 2 teaspoons of vinegar in a large mug.  Then, we held our eggs in the dye until they took on the hue that we liked.




Filling the confetti eggs:
Once all the dye dried (and the nail polish smell dissipated... yuck), I filled the hollowed out eggs with  rice krispy treats (poured through a simple funnel made from rolling a piece of paper) and sealed up the holes with masking tape.

The kids had fun finding these special eggs and stomping on them to reveal the rice krispies within.





Although these eggs were fun to make, it was even more fun to see the kids smile each time they found a special "stomping egg."

Happy Monday!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Crapty Fridays- Make a Halloween garland out of an egg carton

Before we talk about today's crapt, let me just begin with this short poem about crapting: 

Crap is destined for the garbage
and therefore it is free.
When I use crap to make my crafts,
a-crapting I will be.

Today's crapting project is a Halloween inspired one.  Our apartment desperately needs Halloween-y decorations.  (We currently only have a pair of Day of the Dead candle holders)  So, I whipped up a super easy Halloween garland out of an egg carton and string.      

Materials:
- egg carton
- string
- craft paint
- paint brushes
- craft knife
- scissors
- newspaper/scrap paper/paper bag
- Sharpie marker


Directions:
1. I cut out all the little egg holders in my egg carton.  (Is there a name for those things?)


2. I painted the little egg holders orange and green.  
This is probably as close as I'll ever get to growing pumpkins



3.   Once my paint dried, I drew faces on my tiny pumpkins.
Doesn't this look like a school photo?  Can you spot the naughty pumpkins in the back row?



4.  I cut two slits on the top of my pumpkins.  Then I strung my pumpkins together.



Right now they're just smiling and dangling away above our table. Seeing their cute faces when I eat cereal in the morning makes me happy.

Happy crapting!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Easy way to host a graham cracker house making party

For the past four years we've hosted a yearly graham cracker house making party.  This year I got most of the kinks of planning worked out.  Today I'm sharing all my tips so that you can easily host your own kids playdate / party too!  (And please note- I'm a super lazy and cheap party planner.  Even though this sounds like a big event, it was really affordable and easy to set up!)

How to Host a Graham Cracker House Making Party 


how to host a graham cracker house making party- super easy and affordable!



Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Snake puppets!

Looking for a fun snake craft?   Yup.  Chuck still digs snakes.  Now, we've made our fair share of snake crafts around here...  (Check out our twisty snake sculpturemoveable cardboard snake, and bubble snakes!)  But today I thought I'd just share a really easy snake puppet that I recently made for him!

Snake Puppets! 

make snake puppets- kids craft
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Friday, December 14, 2012

Crapty origami boat ornaments and Christmas crackers

This weekend we're hosting a gingerbread house party.  To prepare, I purchased a whole bunch of candy, graham crackers, and icing.   I also crapted a couple of origami boat ornaments.  They were folded from magazine paper.  My little boats were inspired by this origami boat necklace that I won in a recent blog giveaway.  (First time I won one of these giveaways, hooray!)


I also made a bunch of psuedo Christmas crackers out of my ever growing pile of paper towel rolls.  Each guest is going to take one home as a gift.  Inside the cracker they'll find a balloon, a corny Christmas joke, a snowflake, cute band-aids  and a couple of candies.  I think traditional crackers are supposed to pop, but I couldn't find the cracker snaps, so mine will just look cute.  

Hope you have a great weekend.  See you on Monday!




Monday, January 23, 2012

Happy Chinese New Year!


Happy Chinese New Year! Hubby, Chuck, and I celebrated last night by eating dumplings and drinking a fake-pho (faux-pho?) that hubby made.  I really wanted Baby Chuck to wear something Chinesey, but didn't have time to do any shopping.  (Plus, I was feeling cheap.)  So, I made this hat (modeled after this one) out of some materials that I had lying around the house:  a paper plate, used ribbon, construction paper, and some Christmas tinfoil.  

Hope you have a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family.    

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Simple Heart Decal Wall

Last weekend I kinda went bonkers and made myself a heart accent wall.  

DIY Valentine's heart decal wall
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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

"Hello" stamped pants

Since I've been making tons and tons of stamps, I thought I'd take a short break from card stamping and decorate a pair of pants for Chuck.

They were really easy to make, but I'm just going to include the tutorial down below in case anyone feels the urge to stamp "hello" on a bunch of clothing.

Materials:
- pants
- fabric paint
- pencil
- paper
- scissors
- craft knife
- glue
- cardboard
- paint brush
- craft foam

Directions:

1.  Create your stamp.  I just wrote out the word "hello" on a piece of paper in a font that I liked.  Then, I cut out my word, traced it onto a piece of foam, and used my craft knife to cut it out  Then, I glued the word backwards (mirror-image!) onto a piece of cardboard.  Then, I just trimmed my cardboard. After letting the glue dry overnight, I had a lovely "hello" stamp.

2. I followed directions on the fabric paint bottle to properly prepare my pants for painting.  (Ooh!  Alliteration.)

3.  I slipped in a piece of cardboard into my pants leg to make sure that my fabric paint didn't go through to the other side.  Then, I painted fabric paint onto my stamp, and pressed down onto my pants.

4.  Hmm. The initial results weren't quite as bright and vibrant as I had hoped.  So, I took out my paintbrush and carefully painted over my word.

5.  Then, I just followed the directions on the bottle and laid the pants flat to dry.

We've already worn the pants once and put them through the wash.  The paint stayed put  and still looks good.  Phew!  Now Chuck has some happy and friendly pants to wear around town.  Easie-peasie.   I'd like to decorate some other clothes.... once I emerge from my card-making dungeon.  (Ack! Is anyone even going to buy my cards?  Freak out time!)

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Good Night, Bonne Nuit freezer paper stenciled pillowcases

Knowing that our cousin was a big fan of beautiful, handmade things (as clearly evidenced by her lovely wedding), I thought I'd continue the pillowcase decorating tradition and make her a set of "Good Night, Bonne Nuit" pillowcases:


These pillowcases were inspired by the ones that I saw on Skunkboy Blog.  The originals looked so airy and whimsical that I had to try making similar looking ones using the freezer paper stencil technique.  Here's a photo of me stenciling the "good night" pillow:




These were my most difficult stenciling project yet because the branches and leaves were so narrow and took a lot of time to carefully cut out.  Although my pillows don't have quite as much quirky detail as the originals, they still look pretty darn cute.

Here are some closeup shots:  (Sorry for the wrinkles.  I hate ironing and didn't even think to iron them first.)




Hopefully they'll bring sweet dreams and rest  to the bride and groom.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

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:

Monday, December 28, 2015

Free Printable New Year's Crown

If you're looking for the EASIEST New Years Craft ever, then today's post is for you.  Why not make your very own New Years Crowns with the kiddos?  I've got two great ideas for you- one that's a little more artsy and one that's a print out and color in (for free!)

Make (or Print out)  New Year's Crowns


Easy New Years Art Project and Craft- Make 2016 Crowns! (Printable included)

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


Thursday, May 15, 2014

Corn Syrup Paint

Are you looking for a paint that's super pigmented and remains glossy looking when it's dry?  Well then this corn syrup paint is for you.  Chuck and I whipped up a batch of this glossy paint the other day in our kitchen.  Then we had loads of fun trying it out.  The paint is edible (although you probably don't want to eat it), has a consistency  thicker than regular paint, and looks like shiny enamel when it dries.  Intrigued?  Check out the results!

Make Glossy Corn Syrup Paint


how to make glossy corn syrup paint
(This post contains affiliate links. )

Oooooh.  Pretty.  So far we've made homemade sidewalk paint, homemade watercolor paints, and cornstarch toddler paint ... but none of those stand up to the gorgeous results of this homemade corn syrup paint.  The bright colors and gloss are fabulous.   (Yes.  I used the f-word.)  And ready for the best thing?  You could probably whip up a batch of this stuff tonight with ingredients and materials already found at home.  Let's get painting!


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!


Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Easy Spinning Top Marker Art

Recently Chuck's been interested in making things with me again. (Phew.  I thought our dry spell would never be over!)  He seems to enjoy using materials in different ways (like this rainy day process art activity).  So I thought it would be fun to combine a toy with an art item to make it more fun for him.  Tada... here's our spinner marker top!

Easy Spinning Top Marker Art!

Mix science and art with this great activity!  Simply spin the markers and watch them go!  Great activity to do with the kids!
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!


This activity is just so cool because it combines science and art.  You can actually track the motion of the spinning "top."  (Just wait till you see the cool spirals it makes!  Wow.)


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Countdown to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow!  Eeek.  I know you're probably busy with plans and preparations.  But, on the off chance that you have some free moments to spare (or children to entertain), here are some last minute Thanksgiving themed crafts and recipes:

(1)  You could make a turkey paper plate hat
turkey paper plate hat kids' activity

(2)  Or, whip up a batch of cranberry mochi cakes  (I'm making some later tonight to bring to a party.)


(4)  Or, cut up an egg carton and put together this wreath to welcome guests


And, if you have even more moments to spare, would you mind voting for my reindeer head craft (number 4) in the Totally Green Crafts contest?  Their polls will be open until Sunday.

Hope your Thanksgiving Day preparations aren't too hectic!

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Dragon Wing Preschool Craft (And our 10+ Favorite Dragon books!)

Does your child love dragons? Want to make an easy dragon craft with your preschooler? Then today's cardboard dragon wings are the perfect craft for you! I made these with several young kids and they really enjoyed the process of decorating and designing their wings. 


How to Make Artsy Cardboard Dragon Wings with Preschoolers


Make artsy cardboard dragon wings craft with preschoolers


This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Recycled Pumpkin Sun Catcher Craft

Tis the season for Halloween crafting, fa-la-la-... Oh wait.  Wrong song.  Well, you get the point. The season for Halloween crafting has begun!  Last year we made of ton of Halloween crafts (see bottom of post for links).  This year we've folded an origami black cat and made a cardboard pumpkin with a changeable face.   Today we're going to make another recycled Halloween craft.  This time we made these milk jug pumpkin sun catchers!


DIY Milk Jug Pumpkin Sun Catchers


DIY Milk Jug Pumpkin Sun Catcher Craft!

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

I really liked this craft because the pumpkins were SO easy to make with my 3 year old.  And we didn't have to spend a ton of time on prep or a ton of money for materials.  (That's a definite win win in my book.)  Ok!  Let's get making!


Saturday, July 30, 2016

Easy Origami Yoda Tutorial

So... I folded this origami pikachu with my son.  And after folding it together, it suddenly dawned on me.  If I just tweaked the ears to my original directions, I could make a Yoda instead.  (What?  Love it when those "aha!" moments hit.)  If  you're a Star Wars lover (or raising some little Star Wars lovers), definitely check today's post out.  Tada!  I'm sharing my easy instructions for folding an origami Yoda!

How to Fold Origami Yoda (The Super Easy Way)

Instruction showing how to fold a super easy origami Yoda Tutorial- Great kids craft for all ages

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you so much for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, please click here.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Accordion Folded Flowers

Spring is definitely in our neck of the woods.  And that means two things:  flowers and parties. Yup!  The flowers have gone gangbusters and we've celebrated tons of friends' birthdays in the past two months.   I think that's why I felt inspired to make today's super nifty flower craft.  These accordion folded flowers are such a nice way to bring the loveliness of Spring indoors.  They'll look great adorning your home or as pretty party decorations too!

How To Fold Accordion Folded Flowers!

how to fold accordion folded paper flowers with origami paper


So head on over to DIY Candy today to see my super easy tutorial for these accordion folded flowers!

Happy making, friends!