Chomp! Chomp! Tissue Box Eaters

Looking for a super simple craft to help preschoolers learn their letters or numbers?  This past week I battled a cold... and used (what felt like) hundreds of tissues.  Before I tossed out my empty tissue box, I transformed it into a fun letter eater to help youngest learn his alphabet!

Tissue Box Letter Eaters

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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. 

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

3 Totoro Crafts

Have you seen the movie Totoro?  We recently checked it out from the library and have already watched it a dozen times!  Totoro is a large, furry forest spirit who helps two sisters adjust to their new home.  My  preschool son loves it because there are no bad guys, the sisters have a really sweet relationship, and Totoro is extremely cute.  So today I'm  sharing 3 Totoro crafts in honor of this great Miyazaki anime!

3 Easy Totoro Kids Crafts  

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Recycled Tin Garden Marker Craft

Everything is blooming and we're still loving garden crafts!  Today I'm sharing a fun recycled craft that turns disposable baking pans into cute tin garden markers!  This is a great kid-friendly craft project!

How to Make Recycled Tin Garden Markers with Kids

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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

Ack!  Too cute....

Keep reading to see how these cute guys were made:

DIY Faux Stained glass

I love stained glass. There's something so beautiful about seeing sunlight shine through all those brightly colored panels.  I think my dream house would have a room filled with tons and tons of stained glass windows. (A girl can dream, right?)  

Since we're still living in a small apartment, I'm putting my dreams for that stained glass room on hold.  But what can I say?  The heart wants what it wants.  So this gal is going to craft some stained glass while she waits. 

Armed with this awesome faux stained glass tutorial, I brought forth my inner glass artisan.

Materials:
- full bottle of glue
- clear glue
- pencil and paper
- Sharpie marker
- thin, blunt paintbrushes
- craft paint in various colors
- mini muffin tin/ mini cups (to hold paint)
- craft knife
- picture frame
- skewer

Steps:
Step 1:  I took the glass panel out of my picture frame and cleaned it. 

Step 2:  I pulled out the white sheet of paper inside of my frame and used that to draw my stained glass design on.  (If you're missing that sheet, you could also just tape several pieces of paper together and draw on those.)

I really wanted a groovy and tasty pattern.

Step 3:  I created the "lead."  To do this, I emptied out a bit of glue from my bottle.  Then, I added several drops of black craft paint into the bottle.  I used my skewer to stir the paint and glue together.  (Note:  It didn't take very much black paint to turn the glue black.  I tried not to put too much paint into the glue bottle because I didn't want my  "lead" to get very watery and not dry nicely.)

Step 4:  I put the lid back onto my glue bottle and did some practice strokes.  When I had a good feeling for how quickly the glue flowed, I started tracing my design onto the glass panel.  (Note:  I still had some problems with the glue spreading.  But I took care of that in step 5...)

See how the seeds on the left ended up black?  It's ok... I fixed that in step 5.

Step 5:  I let the "lead" dry overnight.  Then, I used my craft knife to carve and peel away any the messy bits.

See? The seeds are fixed!

Step 6:  I poured clear glue into my mini muffin tin container.  Then, I put drops of craft paint into each of my containers to create different colored "glass paint." (Again it didn't take very much paint to color my clear glue.)  I used this paint to paint my glass.  (Note:  Make sure your paint fills in every nook and cranny.  Otherwise you'll end up with clear glass bits.)

Step 7:  After my paint dried overnight, I noticed that I had painted over my "lead."  No worries, I used my trusty Sharpie marker to re-color my "lead."   Then, I placed my glass back into my frame.   Tada!

 
Happy crafting!

Make Sugar Cube Sugar Skull Art with Kids!

Looking for a fun Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Craft to do with the kids?  How about this sugar skull process art activity?  Different, everyday materials are combined to create a piece of unique and lovely artwork!

Sugar Cube Sugar Skull Art

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Shiny Art Necklaces

These shiny aluminum art necklaces contain everything that I love about kids craft all rolled into a single craft.  They allow kids to freely create art without worrying about making things "right" or "perfect."  They're super easy to make. (My preschooler didn't need help at all!) And they use everyday materials.  (Fancy-shmancy materials aren't needed!)  Annnd... the resulting craft looks pretty smashing, wouldn't you say?

Shiny Aluminum Art Necklaces

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Are you ready to make yourself some shiny aluminum necklaces? (Hmm.. now that I'm thinking of it, they kind of look like cloisonne beads, don't you think?)  Let's create!

Make a Corn Husk Doll

Today we're going to be making a corn husk doll!  I love Summer time because it means that two of my favorite  foods (watermelon and corn) are stocked in stores and super cheap.  Yum, yum!  Lately we've been eating a lot of corn.  Too lazy to stand over a boiling pot of water, I just throw them in the oven (husks, and all) and roast them for about an hour.  Deee-licious.

Even though I really enjoy eating corn, I'm always slightly disturbed at the end of the meal.  Have you ever noticed just how much we toss out once we're done with the corn?  Those corn cobs and husks are quite heavy and take up a lot of space  in comparison to the tiny yellow kernels 

So, I thought I'd try making something from the castaway bits.  Here's my little corn husk doll.

Corn Husk Doll

Materials to Make Corn Husk Doll:

- Corn husks (I used corn husks from about 5 ears of corn.  But note-  since I roast my corn, I was only able to get a couple leaves from ear.  You could probably do it with fewer ears if you use up all the leaves.)

- Yarn

- Scissors

- Paper towels

- Baking pan 

- Shallow Pan

- Sharpie marker

- Water

Directions to Make Corn Husk Doll:

1.  Rip off the leaves from your corn.  Set them out to dry.  (We live in an apartment, so I just placed them on a baking dish near a sunny window.  After a couple of days they just shriveled up.)  Note:  If you make the dolls with the green leaves, all your bindings will come loose once the leaves start shriveling up and drying.

2.  Once your leaves dry, re-hydrate them in a  bit of water.  (It took my leaves about half an hour to plump out.)

3.  Now you're going to make the head and the body.  Pick out 4-5 nice large leaves.  Tie them tightly together with a bit of yarn.  

4.  Flip the leaves over your yarn.  

5.  Straighten out the leaves and then tightly tie a piece of yarn to make your head.  (Make sure that the leaves are smoothed out and  cover each other.  Try not to have any gaps where the yarn is visible.  I wasn't too careful and my poor doll's head had a bit of gap once the leaves started drying again.)

6.  Now you're going to make the arms.  Find another nice large leaf.  Cut two slits on one side of the leaf.  Then, cut two slits on the other side of the leaf.  Braid both sides and secure the braids with bits of yarn.   Trim off the ends.

7.  Open up your doll's body and slide the braided arms in.  Tie another piece of yarn to create the waist and hold the arms in.  

8.  Now you're going to make a skirt.  Take a bunch of nice big leaves and wrap them around your doll's waist.  Tie these leaves to the waist with another piece of yarn.  Then, trim off the the ends of the leaves to create the skirt.  (If you wanted to give your doll pants, you could also just split your leaves up into two piles and tie those off to create trousers.)

9.  Now you'll create a shawl for the doll (which will help cover the ugly waist bit.)  Take two nice leaves and criss-cross them over and behind the dolls body.  Tie off your leaves with yarn.  Trim any excess bits.  

10.  Now you've got yourself a doll.  Once the doll dries, use a Sharpie marker to draw a face on it.  Voila.  Now you've got your very own corn husk doll.

Not sure if Chuck was a big fan of the doll, but I enjoyed the experience of taking something destined for the garbage and giving it a second life.

For more information on making corn husk dolls, check out these three great resources: GardenMama blog, Acorn Pies blog or this YouTube video  They really helped me to figure everything out. 

Happy crapting!

The Artful Year and Melted Crayon Friendship Rocks

Chuck doesn't always enjoy making things with me.  (What? Yup.)  A lot of days he would just rather that we read books or race airplanes together.   And I'm really trying harder to let go and follow his lead.  But I love crafting.  So I keep putting out those invitations in hopes that he'll join me.  And on those special occasions when he's interested and involved in a craft... boy oh boy... those days are really magic.

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We recently received a copy of Jean Van't Hul's The Artful Year to review.  Jean is an artist, mom of 2, and author of the amazing kids' art blog Artful Parent.  (She's also the author of another great kids' art book The Artful Parent. ) 

In her newest book, Jean shares a whopping 175 family-friendly crafts, and recipes!  The photos are dreamy and beautiful; the crafts span through all the seasons and holidays of the year; and the recipes look really, really yummy.  I love this book.  But those things aren't what I love the most about her book.

What I love the most about the book is her voice.  In the beginning she shares this beautiful quote-

"We need to be more intentional than ever as we carve out quality time together, celebrate in meaningful ways, build traditions and memories and create stronger families.  It's not about doing more.  It's about making choices, fostering creativity, and building family connection."  

Wow.  That just hit so close to home.  I don't want to just make things with Chuck.  Things eventually break down, get lost, or tossed away.  I want to foster creativity.  I want to build our relationship.  I want to make lasting memories.

Ok.  This was a super long intro, I know. But I just had to get that all out there.  Because it really is a beautiful, beautiful book.

Here's the craft that we chose to try out first from the book:

Melted Crayon Friendship Rocks

Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads!

Do Halloween crafts rock your world?  Yes!?  Awesome.  They totally rock mine too.  Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year.  Costumes, magic, candy, gross things, spooky things—I love it all!

Tomorrow is the first day of October and I’m trying to squeeze in as many Halloween crafts as I can before the month is over.   Today I’m sharing a really neat Halloween activity that also doubles as a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activity too.  We’re making shrunken apple heads! 

Super Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads

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(Ha! My husband was weirded out my this little guy, but I think he’s just adorable.  Look at that toothy grin!)

Make a Woven CD Dream Catcher

While I love paper craft projects, lately I've been trying to branch out with new materials and new techniques.  I've posted a couple of weaving crafts on this site before and was itching to try some more.   Today I'm going to share a fun cd weaving project.  It took a little while to weave each cd, but I think it was worth it because the results are just so beautiful.  (Plus, isn't everyone always trying to figure out new ways to get rid of cds?)

Woven CD Dream Catcher Craft

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Lift-the-Flap Valentine Chocolates Card

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating with your loved ones.  Today I'm sharing a Valentines's Craft that my son and I made this year for my husband.  It's a lift-the-flap Valentine's Day Box of Chocolate Card.  You lift the flap to reveal secret messages from the ones you love.

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DIY Kids' Cardboard Art Easel

I love making and creating things with Chuck.  But sometimes I'm surprised by how much arts and crafts supplies cost.   Whenever I go to Michaels or Target I always do a double-take when the bill comes up.   What?  How did we spend so much?  Is this glitter made of 14K gold?  To stretch our pennies (and my own creativity) I love making our own art supplies on the cheap.  We've made our own Paint-With-Water Pages,  2 Ingredient Body Paint, sun prints with construction paper, and even used tortillas as canvases for art!  With dozens of cardboard boxes lying around, I thought it would be fun to DIY Chuck an art easel.

DIY Kids' Cardboard Art Easel

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This DIY easel is so neat because it only took a couple of minutes to make (score!), is made entirely out of cardboard (cheap!) , and can accommodate 1, 2, or even 3 children simultaneously painting.  Whoa! Intrigued?  Well let's get crafting!

Toilet Roll Father's Day Cards

Toilet paper roll crafts- you either love them or hate them.  We're on the love camp over here.   Since we go through tons of rolls of toilet paper (tmi?) they're practically a natural resource.  So with Father's Day coming up, I had to incorporate them into the holiday somehow.  And that's how these toilet paper roll Father's Day greeting cards came about.

Toilet Paper Roll Father's Day Greeting Cards

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I think these guys are so neat because they're 3D cards that stand up on their own.  Plus, they incorporate Chuck's artwork and cute looks. Hubby is a sucker for both, so he's going to love these guys!

4 Easy Bell Crafts for Kids

Right now we're in the middle of packing.  Not going to lie, our apartment is looking like it's inhabited by crazy people.  So my posts for the next month will probably be fewer and the crafts will be much simpler.  This brings me to today's topic:  crafting with bells.   I love the sound of jingle bells.  They remind me of Christmas, the cold, and reindeer.  I know it's July and Christmas is miles away... but you can craft with jingle bells all year round?  Right? Right! Here's how we've crafted with jingle bells:

4 Super Easy Bell Crafts for Kids

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Origami Bears and Conversation Hearts

Origami bears? Origami conversation hearts? Honestly, I wasn't sure what to call today's Valentine's craft.  But I had to share this adorable origami project because it's such an easy and cute one that's perfect for elementary-aged kids!

How to Fold Origami Bears and Conversation Hearts

DIY Fake Sleeve Tattoo

So... what are your thoughts on tattoos?

I don't have any, but I really love them.  They're beautiful to look at and often times come with a touching or inspiring story.  Every year or so, I toy around with the idea of getting one.  But I never do because they're so permanent.  Even though I love the ways hearts and sparrow tattoos look today.... I'm not sure how I'll feel 10, 20, or 30 years from now.  (Although... sometimes I like to imagine myself as a crazy old grandma, rocking some really gnarly skull tattoos.)

With Halloween just around the corner, I lived out my tattoo fantasies with this DIY sleeve tattoo.

Interested in seeing how I made one?  Well, in the interest of full disclosure:

• This craft took much longer to complete than I initially thought.  It was really, really tough to color on hosiery.  So, if you aren't digging that... you can just buy yourself a sleeve from the store.  Or, you could just draw and color in one tattoo.  I love the way sleeve tattoos look, so I went in whole hog. 
• I found this sleeve tattoo tutorial from Urban Threads to be really helpful.

 
Materials:

• Cereal box
• Tattoos doodled with Sharpie on paper 
• Tape (Normal kind and packing tape)
• Scissors
• Old nude hosiery
• Fabric markers

Directions:

1.  Take a cereal box and roll it into a cylinder that's approximately the same size as your arm.  Tape the cylinder closed.

2.  Cut out your various doodled tattoos.  Tape them down onto your cardboard cylinder.

3.  Cut off one of the legs from your hosiery.  Cut off the toe portion.  Roll it over your cylinder.  (If you find that it's getting cut on some of your sharp cardboard edges, round them off so the hosiery slides on easily.)

4.  Color and outline your tattoos.
Notes:

• This was pretty tough to do.  If you color normally, your marker tip drags along the surface.  I found that dabbing worked best. 
• I first used lighter colors and then moved to darker ones (to prevent blurring and smearing). 
• I also looked at tattoos online for color inspiration. 

5.  Let your images dry according to directions.  (I waited overnight.)

Once your fabric paint dried, roll your sleeve right off.   Tada!

And that's it!  Slide the sleeve over your arm and you've got your very own DIY fake sleeve tattoo. 

Here's what a "tattoo" looks like up close:

Happy "tattooing!"  

How to Make Colorful and fun paper plate dragons! (And our 10+ Favorite Dragon Books)

Have you seen our paper plate dragons?    My preschooler is currently on a dragon kick and we've been reading dragon books, watching dragon movies, and making dragon crafts... of course!

If you have a dragon lover at home, then you'll love this craft too.  I've even included a template so that you can easily make these paper plate dragons with your little ones too!  

Let's get making!

Make these Colorful and fun paper plate dragons!

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Plastic Spoon New Year Crowns

What?  New Year's craft already?  Sorry to pull you out of your cozy Christmas hidey-hole... but if you're looking for a New Year's craft then I've got you covered.  New Year's crowns are really easy for kids of all ages to make!  Grab some pipe cleaners and whip up these sparkly pipe cleaner crowns.  Or, you can make these easy paper number New Year's Crowns.  Today I'm sharing something a bit more unexpected.... have you ever seen a crown made from plastic spoons?

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