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

Saturday, November 19, 2016

25+ Christmas Crafts and Activities to get you through December!

Does your family start celebrating Christmas the moment Thanksgiving is over? My son insists that we put up our tree right after our Thanksgiving meal!  In case your family is like ours, I'm sharing this fun list of 25+ favorite Christmas activities and crafts.   So go ahead and peek around.  You can do an activity everyday in December- like a crafty advent of sorts!

over 25 family friendly and fun Christmas crafts and activities


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

Christmas crafts? Christmas crafts?  Ok, I haven't completely gone bonkers... it's just that the stores have started putting out their Christmas things... so I wanted to join in on the fun.  Last year I had a lot of fun Christmas crafting (remember the village made from Plaster of Paris?)  This year I fell in love with all of the beautiful colors of paint swatches from Home Depot... so I took a bunch home (shhhh, don't tell anyone) and made a bunch of cute paper Christmas trees with Chuck.

Then I wasn't sure what to do with our little army of trees.  At first I was going to turn them into a garland of some sort, but then realized that they would make for a really simple and modern take on a DIY Christmas Advent Calendar!

Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar!

easy DIY christmas tree advent calendar
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

DIY Earmuffs? (A craft flop)

A couple of weeks ago I couldn't sleep.

Did I drink too much coffee?  Nope.  Was I worried about Christmas shopping? Nope.

Don't laugh, ok?  *Big breath* I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about how I could crapt myself a pair of earmuffs using stuff in our apartment. 

Weird right?  I don't even wear earmuffs... but for some reason I kept wondering if I could make them.  So the next day I played around with some materials ... and I ended up with a pair of these:


I have kind of mixed feelings about them.  On the plus side, they look like earmuffs and they also block out some of the cold.  However, they feel a little too light and stiff around my ears. 

So, while I'm proud that I made a pair of semi-working earmuffs, I think this is probably a craft flop.  Now if for some reason you want to see how I crapted these earmuffs (or you wanna see Chuck wearing the earmuffs), keep on reading!


Monday, April 21, 2014

Make Easter Egg Weebles

This Easter we had a lot of fun hanging out with family and friends.  I kept meaning to take lots of photos.... but I was having too much fun doing activities with the kids.  I'll try to upload my one or two photos this week.  Today I just wanted to show you this really quick DIY Easter Egg Weeble Craft.  Yup, you read that right. I made Chuck a couple of cute little Easter Egg Weebles from plastic Easter Eggs.  They're weighted, so they don't fall down.  (Scroll down for a video of Chuck trying to run them over with a Jeep... yup... that's my kid.)

Cacti and Farm Animal Easter Egg Weebles

Make Plastic Easter Egg Weebles

If you still have your plastic eggs lying around, you might like making these little guys too.  Keep reading to find out more!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Make a Mosaic Bean Pendant

Hi everyone!

How was your weekend?   We had a pretty quiet Sunday, but our Saturday was full of fun activity.  I attended a bridal shower while hubby and Toddler Chuck visited family.  (I'll post up photos from the bridal shower later on this week.) I thought I'd start off the week with this crapty (and slightly crappy?) pendant that I made.

I think mosaics are lovely.  There's something quite special (and dare I say, possibly mathematical?) about laying pieces of varying shapes and/or colors together so that they fit a space and create a desired image or pattern.

Wanting to make a wearable mosaic of my own, I used some household materials to create this mosaic bean pendant:


Yeah.  I know what you're thinking.  Girl, that's a lot of look.  And my reply? Girl, I know.  But really, what does one wear with beans anyway?

Erm.... I'm not sure if I like the result, but I did have fun making it.  And who knows?  If you ever find yourself trapped at home with a couple of bored children, then perhaps you could whip these up for fun.

Materials:
- dried beans
- cereal box cardboard <--crap!
- craft paint
- paint brushes
- Tacky glue (I used Aleene's)
- String
- Felt
- Scissors


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Star Painting (using Contact Paper)

Lately the cooler temperatures and shortened daylight hours have me looking at the sky to find stars.  However, since we live in a well-lit, urban environment, star gazing isn't really a viable option.

So once again I felt the urge to make some star-inspired artwork.  If I can't see stars in the sky, then I'll just have to make my own to enjoy.  Now, if you've been following this blog for some time, you'll recall that this isn't the first time I felt drawn towards the stars.  Last year I placed a galaxy of cardboard stars on our living room wall.  Then earlier this year I painted the inside of an umbrella to look like a galaxy.  This time I took a simpler approach and made myself some star artwork using contact paper.


Materials:
  • Canvas
  • Contact Paper
  • Pen
  • Scissors
  • Paint
  • Sponge brushes (or paint brushes)

Directions:

  1. Sketch out your stars onto the back of your contact paper.  Cut the stars out.
  2. Place the stars on your canvas.  Play around with their arrangement until you're satisfied.  Once you have a pleasing design, pull the backing off and stick the stars onto your canvas. (Make sure that they are stuck on well so that you get nice crisp lines.)
  3. Dab paint over your canvas.
  4. Once the paint dries, carefully peel off your contact paper stars.  You should see a bunch of white stars where your contact paper blocked the paint.

Quick and easy, right? Just remember to make sure that your contact paper stars are completely stuck on tight.  Eeek!  See that leftmost star below?  The paint bled through because the contact paper wasn't sticking to the canvas properly.

 Happy star crafting!

Friday, September 12, 2014

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


Paper Plate Toucan Craft:  (Just need 1 paper plate!)

(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!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Anti-acne Honey and Cinnamon mask



Dear Acne,

Consider this mask my anti-Valentine.
Please don't be mine.



No love,
Leslie




Once again, I was inspired by beauty guru Michelle Phan. (To watch her video, click here.)  She made a warm mask made from honey and cinnamon that I had to try.  Apparently honey has antibacterial properties and cinnamon stops bacterial growth... so I thought this mask would help get rid of my stubborn acne.  (Boo bad skin!)

Ingredients:
- 3 T honey
- 1 T cinnamon

Directions:
1.  Mix honey and cinnamon together.

2.  Place mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds.  When warmed, it resembles melted chocolate.

3.  Use a pastry brush to paint it on your face.  (Or, just dab it on with your fingers.)  Wait 10 minutes.  (Watch out!  The mixture will drip.)  Rinse it off.  (Note:  Don't rub your face too much while you rinse. Otherwise the cinnamon scratches you quite a bit.)

Does it work?  Well, it's now been a week since I've tried the mask and sadly I haven't seen much improvement.   Boo!  However, I did enjoy trying the mask out.  It felt lovely and warm on my face, so I felt like I was having a spa experience right at home.

Have a great Monday!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Valentine's Day Paper Heart Snowflakes Craft

Should snowflake crafts only be done during December?  No way!  Snowflake crafts are year round over here.  It's almost February and I am loving nights where I can just sit and cut out beautiful designs from paper.  Today I'm giving  Valentine's Day Crafts a snowflake twist.  Tada!  How about cutting some paper heart snowflakes?

Paper Heart Snowflakes



make paper heart snowflakes for Valentine's Day- such a fun kids craft idea!



Friday, January 18, 2013

Cocoa! Coffee! Face mask!

Thanks MB for suggesting this recipe!


Maybe you're wondering why I chose to put not one, but three exclamations in my title.  Have I finally jumped over the grammatical deep end and resorted to adding lots! of random!! exclamation marks to increase interest! in my posts?!?

Eep.  No.

I used a bunch of exclamation marks! to convey how tingly! and zingy! this mask felt on my face.  Once I applied the brown goop, my face felt like it was on fire.  (I guess that's the effect of the caffeine?)  But don't worry, the burning sensation lessened after the first five minutes.  By the time the mask dried I didn't feel a thing. (I also couldn't move a thing.)

The recipe claimed that the mask would "decrease puffiness in the face and the eye area, brighten skin and wake up a dull-ish complexion."   Erm.  My face looked the same post-mask as it did pre-mask... except that it was a lot redder after being scrubbed with coffee grit.

Interested in trying out a mask that smells like warm, dark, gooey chocolate cake?  If so, read on.

To make 2 masks:

Ingredients:  (I modified this mask for my oily skin.  Check the original recipe for ways to modify the recipe for dry skin.)
- 1 T ground coffee
- 1 T cocoa
- 2 T milk
- 1/2 T lemon juice

Directions:
1.  Mix together all the ingredients until you have thick goop.
2.  Smear goop onto a clean face.
3.  Wait till goop hardens.
4.  Use a warm washcloth and slowly wipe everything away.  
(Word of caution:  The dried coffee grounds will definitely scratch your skin.  Does that count as exfoliation?  No idea....)


Bottom line, I enjoyed the new experience, but I'm not sure if I'll try this mask again.

(If you want to read about my previous attempts at making other skin care products, click the links below:
jello facial pore stripschocolate face maskGreen tea matcha face mask)

Have a great weekend!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Cowboy gear part 2: Cardboard tissue box cowboy hat

 Cardboard Tissue Box Cowboy Hat

And here's how you crapt a cowboy hat from cardboard...
(Directions modified from a video that I viewed here)

tissue box and cereal box cardboard cowboy hat

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

DIY: 5 Ways to update your old beanie

Hubby's away and Chuck and I are currently stuck at home, sick.  Boo.  We're watching the lovely fluffy flakes falling outside and I'm soooo tempted to bundle him up to play outside.  But, I'm holding myself back until he gets better. 

(Hrmm... but maybe I could bring some snow inside for us to play with.... thanks Lisa for that idea!)

Anyway, here's a short cold weather post in honor of the snow.

Do you have an old beanie just lying around? Maybe you never really wear it, but you just can't bring yourself to give it away just in case you need it one day?  Well, here are five super easy ways to update your drab head wear.   And bonus!  None of these are permanent changes, so you could potentially wear all five looks this winter! 

  1. Pom Pom Beanie

This update was my favorite.  Chuck is beginning to recognize Micky Mouse.  So when I saw Eugenia Kim's Pom pom beanie (for $185- holy empty wallet!), I knew that I had to make my own cheapie version.  I followed this pom pom tutorial  from Crafted.  Then, I sewed the two semi-identical (eek!) pom poms onto the corners of my beanie.  Bam.  Instant mousekateer cool.

And here I am modelling the four other updates....
2.  "Hi" Beanie:  I cut out the letters "H" and "i" from felt.  Then, I just sewed them onto the front of the beanie for some friendly headwear.  Make sure you sew the letters closer together because they will stretch apart when you wear the hat.

3.  Polka dot Pom Pom Beanie:  I bought a pack of mini pom poms from the craft store and then sewed them onto the hat.  To help with placement, I marked the hat with chalk first so I would know where to sew.

4.  Spiked Beanie:  I poked a couple of screwback cone spikes through the front of the beanie.  I thought the hat made me look like a punky Statue of Liberty. 

5.  Sparkly heart Beanie:  I cut out a heart shape from felt.  Then, I hot glued some rhinestones onto the heart.  Then, I sewed the heart back onto the hat.   Wouldn't this version be nice for Valentine's Day?  

 Alright that's it.  Time to take a nap. Stay warm and well, friends!

Friday, January 24, 2014

My Scarlet Letter and Taking hazy plastic bag photos



A couple of days ago, Chuck and I went to Target and I was super nervous. (Like armpit sweat nervous.) For the past week and a half, we had a breakthrough in potty training.  He was telling me when he needed to use the bathroom.  (Finally!  Yes!  Insert choir of angels.)  But, I was still putting him in pullups when we went out.  I was afraid that he would have an accident outside.  


But since we're on week 3 of Amy's #RiskRejection challenge (where bloggers embrace risk even if it involves getting rejected), I felt emboldened.  If other ladies could risk big and start businesses and non-profits, apply to become foster parents, write books, and move to other states and countries, then certainly Chuck could wear underwear outside.   

So Chuck and I both put on our big kid pants and went to Target sans pullups.  In the beginning, everything seemed was fine.  I kept reminding him to let me know when he needed to potty and he said that he would. 


But then we entered the toy section... that terrible black hole in the store where logic and reason escape and wails and tears (Mom's silent ones and children's vocal ones) are heard in every aisle.  We got to the Cars section and Chuck hopped out, super excited.

And then he peed.  



Oof.

It was just a tiny accident, but I still felt so bad.  We cleaned up in the bathroom and then I told the workers.  I expected to see a smirk, a roll of the eyes, a shaking of the head, or the accusation of "Bad Mommy!  Now you have to wear the scarlet P!"  But none of this happened.

They were actually... nice about the whole thing.  Within a couple of minutes everything was cleaned up and no one was the wiser.

I was hesitant to share this risk as part of my #RiskRejection Challenge because I wasn't moving mountains.  My risk was small.  But maybe that's ok?  Maybe taking small risks like this one will still mold me to be a better, braver person and mom.


Psst- If you want to see how I took this hazy photo, keep on reading!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Cowboy gear part 1: Make your own sheriff star

Hi everyone!
Here's how I crapted Baby Chuck's Sheriff star:

Materials:
- cake tin <-- crap!
- cereal box <--- crap!
- scissors
- strong glue (I used Aleene's)
- thin permanent marker
- packing tape
- pen
- safety pin
- felt (optional)
- printout of a sheriff star


 Directions:
1.  Glue your cake tin to your cereal box.
2.  Print out an image of a sheriff star that you like.  Cut that star out.
3.  Trace the star onto the cake tin.  Trace and color over the "sheriff" lettering too.  Lift up your paper star and reveal your "sheriff" imprint.
 4.  Cut out the star from the cake tin.  Use your permanent marker and trace over your lettering and any decorative designs that you want to stand out.

5.  Use your packing tape to "laminate" your star.

 6.  Cut out a piece of felt (or cardboard), and tape it to the back of your sheriff star to secure a safety pin to your star.  (Make sure to orient your safety pin so that the star sits the right way when pinned.)

Enjoy!  Yee-haw!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Easy DIY Kids Spider Costume

We really love reading and it's always fun to create crafts and activities to go along with our favorite books.  Today I'm joining forces with other kid bloggers to present a Halloween Read and Play Blog hop!    This means that today, over 25 kid bloggers are posting great activities and crafts to go along with Halloween themed books.  (You can see links to all the great ideas at the bottom of the post!)  We made a DIY spider costume for our post.  It was inspired by a beloved book character, Splat the Cat!

Easy DIY Spider Costume

super easy DIY spider costume

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


Have you heard of the Splat the Cat Series?  We love these books. For Halloween, we read Scaredy-Cat, Splat!

I don't want to ruin the story for you, so here's just a snippet to explain today's craft.  Splat the Cat's initial costume gets ruined and his mom has to quickly whip up a homemade spider costume from socks and string.

I love the idea of making something from nothing, so we tried our hand at quickly whipping up a spider costume just like Splat the Cat's mom!

Let's get making!   


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!

Friday, April 17, 2015

Tape Resist Ant Art!

Are you going buggy over spring?  Well, then today the preschool collaborators and I have 5 preschool bug activities that you'll absolutely love.  We've been digging ants lately, so I thought it would be fun to combine art and science to make some tape resist ant art!  

(And if you're looking for even more bug crafts, check out these egg carton bugs and my
fluttering butterfly craft!)


Tape Resist Ant Art!


Tape Resist Ant Art- Great way to combine science and art by learning about ants and then making artwork about their tunnels!
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Kiwi Crate Review + GIVEAWAY-closed! (Yay! Free Stuff!)

Way back in April, a company called Kiwi Crate contacted me about trying out one of their crates and writing about our experience on the blog.  Of course,  I was super excited by the opportunity and jumped on it.  (Free kids' stuff?  Sure, send it my way!)  Within a couple of days, this box of goodies arrived in our mail:


Each Kiwi Crate box is filled with all the materials needed to complete 2-3 super fun, hands-on projects. The projects in each crate usually center around a certain theme (e.g., music, bugs, pirates, etc...)  Our box's theme was bugs.  It contained all the materials and detailed instructionos needed to make two bug related crafts.

Yeah, I was all set to shoot a lovely photo showing all the materials neatly lined up... but Chuck dove right in and wanted to start crafting



Wow.  Let's just say that I was super impressed by the quality and quantity of the materials.  They really do provide everything you need. (Our box even came with scissors for cutting!)  All of the materials felt really high end and nice. (No crapt here!)  Once we completed both projects, we even had plenty of leftover materials. (Cha-ching!  I've stashed those leftovers away into my craft hoard to use for other projects later... tee hee...)

They say that the crates are designed for 3-7 year olds.  Since, Chuck's not yet 2, we took things slow.  He only did one project at a time.  That was just fine by me because they were a great way to help pass long and rainy days (you know the ones I'm talking about... when you're cooped up in the house and both of you are bouncing off the walls.)

Here we are completing our first project in April (hence the hair):
He did not want to let this little bottle go...

Sticking a mini glow-stick into our bottle to make a firefly













And here we are finishing up our second project a couple of days ago: (Is it me, or does he look bigger?)
The crate provided us with everything- plate, paint, sponges, paper, and brush

Such concentration!


As you can see, we enjoyed all the pasting and painting.

You can sign up to get a buy one crate, or you can sign up to get a month-to-month subscription (where they'll send you a different crate every month, for $19.95 per month.)  If you're not too keen on spending the money, you should still peek at their website because they have a great DIY, kid crafts, and activities section, showcasing lots of great (and free!) ideas for projects.  I thumbed through the pages and definitely picked up a couple of good ideas there....

I'm amazed that there are companies like this out there for kids.  When I was young, I got a couple of mail magazine subscriptions and I remember being super excited whenever a new magazine would come in.  Can you imagine what a kid would feel like if a whole box of  goodies came for them every month?  Pretty neat, right?  So neat that I thought that this would be a great giveaway for you readers!

Yay!  My first craft giveaway!

**This giveaway is closed** GIVEAWAY GOODY and RULES:
I'm going to gift one reader a single Kiwi Crate box. To enter, simply visit Kiwi Crate's Single Crate page and leave a comment below telling me which Kiwi Crate you'd like to receive.  That's it.  The contest will close by midnight Friday, EST.  I'll announce the winner on Monday's blog post.

Sorry, this giveaway is open to US and Canadian readers only (since they don't provide shipping elsewhere.)



Good luck!  :) I'm excited that one of you will receive a lovely package of goodies.

(Don't have children?  Try out for the giveaway anyway.  You can always send it to a lovely, crafty kid that you know.)

Friday, August 9, 2019

4 Kits to create your own DIY Summer STEM + Robotics Camp

Love the idea of sending kids to summer STEM and Robotics camps... but not the prices? I get you! We love doing easy science and STEM activities at home. This past summer, we considered sending my eldest to some robotics camps, but then realized that they just weren't in our budget. So, instead, we set up our own STEM and Robotics camps... at home by purchasing a couple of STEM/ Robotics kits and building them together. Here's a quick review of the 4 kits that we tried out!

A Review of 4 STEM and Robotics Kits 


How to create your own Summer STEM and Robotics Camp at home- here's a review of 4 kits

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


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Making a bouncy ball

Sometimes when Chuck naps (and the dishes are washed, and dinner is cooking on the stove), I get the urge to make stuff.  Yesterday I pulled out a whole bunch of strange ingredients and made this blue bouncy ball.


In case you didn't know, Chuck has now moved on from bubbles. Bubbles are  out.  Bouncy balls are in.  It's so cute, he sometimes even requests to sleep with a ball (or two) at night.  Hrmm.. I wonder what he dreams about.

To make this homemade bouncy ball, I simply combined glue, food coloring, Borax, corn starch, and warm water according to these directions.  Then, voila, a bouncy ball emerged within minutes.  (With my unkempt hair and nails, I felt very much like a mad-scientist while stirring the ingredients together... muah ha ha ha)

It wasn't quite as bouncy as the store bought ones and tended to lose its shape over time.  (But no problem, we just remolded it back into a sphere.)  Here's a video proving that it did indeed bounce:


P6125854.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.


Chuck bounced it around for a couple minutes, until... uh-oh, he went all Hulk on it and tore the poor thing it two.


P6125863 from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

RIP bouncy ball.  (Have you tried making your own bouncy ball?  It seems like a fun activity for older kids to do.)