Melted Crayon and Watercolor Frames (Kid made gift)

Do you ever feel like life is moving at a super fast speed and you are just being pulled along for a ride?  That's what I've felt these past two weeks.  We battled an illness, hosted a good friend for a couple of days, and celebrated my sister's graduation.  Oh yeah.  We've also been preparing for our move to California later this summer.  Ahhh!  (More on that later.)  So today's kid-made crayon and watercolor frame was actually made quite a few weeks ago.  I'm excited to finally be posting it today.  I love how easy the it was to make and how lovely it turned out.  (This would definitely be a great kid-made Father's Day gift!)  But, I can't take full credit for the idea.  I originally spotted the idea on fellow Rockin' Art Mom Twodaloo's Crayon Resist Photo Display post.  And she was originally inspired by Artful Parent's Melted Crayon on Wooden Blocks post.  (These two ladies are super creative, so definitely check their blogs out!)

Kid Made Gifts- Melted Crayon and Watercolor Frames

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Bucket List: Meijer gardens

Since we're leaving Holland this Summer, hubby and I created a bucket list of things we wanted to do before returning back East.  One of Hubby's wishes was to visit the Meijer Gardens and see the butterflies.  We went this past weekend and really enjoyed seeing the butterflies and flowers.  By the end of the day we were all tuckered out.

Although Baby Chuck enjoyed seeing those butterflies, he really enjoyed seeing these lovely gals.

Meijer gardens- check!       

Easy DIY Boho Yarn Wall Hangings

Looking for a super easy and fun summer craft for the kids? Today I'm sharing a fabulous yarn craft that's perfect for artsy playdates, ladies craft nights, or family craft time. We're making pretty and simple boho wall hangings on the blog today. All you need is a stick, different color + texture yarns, scissors, and masking tape! So go on a walk with the kids, find some sticks, and let's get crafting!

Pretty DIY Boho Yarn Wall Hangings

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Living room

Guess what?
We're moving back East this Summer. 

I've started selling our furniture on Craigslist. 

And that's why our living room currently looks like this: 

 

Does anybody want to buy two beach chairs or a striped rug?  No reasonable offer refused!

Make Popsicle Bracelets

When I saw Mama Miss's Washi tape Popsicle bracelets, I was completely smitten.  Bracelets... made out of Popsicle sticks?  Super neat-o.  Count me in.

So today I present my version of Popsicle bracelets.  They were really fun to make and brought me back to my summer camp days.

Materials:
- Popsicle sticks
- Craft paint
- Paint brush
- Glasses
- Tupperware
- Water
- Painter's tape
- Drill
- String
- Scissors
- Fine sand paper
- Mod Podge
- Foam Brush

I be jammin'

It's blueberry season here and we are enjoying nature's bounty.  Tonight I attempted to save these summer berries by making blueberry freezer jam.    

Right now we have three jars resting on our kitchen counter.  They're supposed to sit out for 24 hours to set.  Hubby and I are crossing our fingers that they taste alright.  

Sparkly, Colorful Peel and Stick Window Mosaics

Sparkly and colorful- this removable window cling craft was one of our favorites this summer!  We love doing mosaic crafts over here with kiddos.  There's something super neat about putting tiny pieces together to create a lovely design or picture. And this craft takes mosaics to the next level.  Kids can make their own mosaic pieces AND create beautiful stick and peel mosaics on windows!

How to Make Peel and Stick Window Mosaics! 

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How to do Easy DIY Hair Wraps with Kids

Looking for a fun way to keep the summer vibes going? Have you ever tried hair wrapping? It's a colorful and temporary way to add some pizazz to your hair. Hair wraps are basically like friendship bracelets... for your hair. The wrapping process is so easy and fun that older kids can even do it too. So grab your stash of embroidery floss and let's DIY some hair wraps! Directions below.

How to do DIY Hair Wraps with kids

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30+ Awesomely Unique and Fun Paper Plate Crafts for Kids!

It's no secret that I LOVE paper plate crafts!   Wanna make my heart sing?  Hand me a bunch of blank paper plates.  Seriously.  No joke. (Ok- Crafter confessional here- I've even snuck interesting paper plates out of parties before to craft with... shhhh... )

If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I'm this week's #kidscrafts101 judge! Yup!  Every week there's a fun challenge to craft with a different material.  This week's theme is... drum roll please... paper plates! I know all of you and your kids have such creative ideas, so I'd love to see your ideas on IG!  (Just use the #kidscrafts101 so I can see your great ideas!)

And in honor of this week's theme, I thought I'd also share my absolute favorite paper plate crafts!

30+ Super Fun and Unique Paper Plate Crafts for Kids!

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FREE Fairy Writing and Drawing Prompt Printables

Does your child love fairies and drawing? I created these fun and free writing and drawing prompts for all fairy lovers. Hopefully, they'll encourage creativity and writing this summer!

FREE Fairy Drawing and Writing Printables

Let's Make Easy Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

How has your summer been going so far?  We've been spending a ton of time outdoors, running around, playing in the water, and digging in the sand.  For what?  Treasures!  So far we've found lovely bits of blue and green sea glass, shells, and funny shaped rocks.  We've placed some of our treasures on display at home and turned others into these easy-to-make, wire wrapped nature pendants. 

Let's Make Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

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Aren't they lovely?  We love doing nature crafts, like making melted crayon friendship rocks, weaving with flowers, building birds nests, and constructing play dough and rock houses.  Today's wire wrapped pendants are a too difficult for the preschool crowd, but adults and older children can easily wrap pendants for younger ones!  

We like to party

During the Summer, our town hosts small Sunday get-togethers in the park.  They serve free food and drinks.  Plus, they hire a dj to play music.  Week after week I kept meaning to go but something always came up.  This past Sunday Kim, Baby Chuck, and I finally joined the festivities.  It was  a lot of fun.  We ate delicious food, people-watched to our heart's content, and even got roped into a little dancing.

Boy oh boy, West New Yorkers sure know how to party!

Love em and leave em from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Gorgeous Accordion Fold Fall Paper Leaf Banner

Today we're continuing with the theme of easy fall crafts.  Couple of days ago I shared this really beautiful Sewn Leaf Art project that I made with my preschooler.  Today I just wanted to share this gorgeous folded paper leaf banner.

I came up with the idea after reading some fall-themed books with my son.   Seeing all the beautiful colored leaves in the books made me miss the fall leaves back on the East coast.  And then it hit me- why not make our own?  Bring a bit of fall to our forever-summer state.   And so, my son and I got to making and painting together.  The results came out so beautiful that he insisted we hang the banner up in his room to spruce it up.

Twirly Whirly Paper Snowflake Mobile (And our favorite snow books)

Is it a good time to make snowflake crafts with the kids?  The answer to that question is always, "YES!"  Snowflake crafts in summer, snowflake crafts in spring, snowflake crafts all time of the year is my personal crafting mantra.

Well, now that we've removed all the Halloween decorations (sob, sob) my son and I are starting to decorate our home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  While I've yet to find a good kids' Turkey craft that I like, I can always count on snowflakes to tide us creatively over while I keep looking.

Today's twirly whirly paper snowflake mobile is just such an easy and fun craft.  We made ours ona whim one night together before bed.  Don't you just adore it?  You get to make snowflakes AND watch them "fall" from a cute cloud.

(Hmm, I bet you could easily incorporate some STEAM lessons with this art activity as well!)

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Make Fun and Colorful Number Chart Sticker Math Art

When I was a kid, I loved learning about patterns.  There was something super thrilling about being able to predict what came next.  Today I'm sharing a colorful STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Activity that combines my love of patterns, color, and math!  We're making some groovy Number Chart Art!  This activity is the perfect way for kids to practice number recognition, pattern-making, multiplication, addition, and subtraction... while making some beautiful artwork too!

Let's make Number Chart Art! 

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DIY-Sharpie dye your clothes

I've always wanted to learn how to tie dye properly.  I tried to do it once way back in elementary school, but ended up with a light grey stained shirt.  (We were going for bright purple.) 

Now that summer is showing off her vibrant hues, I once again felt inspired to try this colorful art form.  Some quick researching online showed that people were actually using Sharpie markers to dye their shirts!   The method was so simple and I had all the materials at home.  Score!  So, I decided to give this craft a try. 

Here are the materials that I used:

Here's what I did: 

1. I placed a piece of cardboard inside my shirt so the marker wouldn't seep through.  (I only wanted one side of my shirt dyed.) Note:  You could probably also use a plastic bag too. 
2. I channeled my inner artist and began doodling on my shirts.  Note:  I used old markers which didn't have much ink in them.  I recommend using juicy, new, fat markers.  Then you can put more ink on the shirt and get a better effect.      
3. I stretched my t-shirt over a baking pan to catch the alcohol.  Note:  Again, you could probably just do this part with a plastic bag.
4. I used my dropper to drip alcohol onto my design.  A couple of drops was all it took to make the marker bleed. 
5. I let my shirt dry.
6. I ironed my shirt to set the colors.  (Note:  This didn't work because the colors still bled when I hand washed the shirts.  Other people suggested placing your shirts briefly in the microwave or dryer.)
7. I hand washed my shirts.

 Want to see the results?
Here's my first attempt:

My inspiration came from beach waves and fourth of July fireworks.
The design reminded hubby of a dental x-ray.

Hmm... crafty or crappy?  Not sure if I'm digging my design...

And here's my second attempt:  (This time I tried something simpler.)  

All in all the method worked relatively well.  The colors were vibrant and reminded me of watercolors.  But, the markers bled during my hand washing, resulting in staining on the back of the shirts.  Also, the rubbing alcohol and markers smelled A LOT.  So just be sure to do this in a well ventilated room!

Have you tried using sharpies to dye your clothes?

Toilet Roll Mermaid and Hula Girl

We've done dozens of toilet paper roll crafts over here, but this one seriously takes the cake for cutest yet.  Tada!

Toilet Roll Mermaid and her best gal pal, Hula Girl

You can check out the full tutorial for these two super cute toilet roll crafts over at MollyMoo Crafts!

Let's Keep In Contact!

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.)

Our 15+ Favorite Wordless Picture Books

Hi everyone! Happy belated July 4th! How are you all doing? Are your libraries open yet? Ours is open for pick-up service only and I'm super thankful for that! (We missed the library!!!!)

I do find it hard, however, to find and reserve books for my boys online because usually we just browse the kids' section and choose books that speak to us. And now that's just not possible during the pandemic.

In case you're like that too, I thought I'd share today some of our favorite wordless picture books. Why wordless books? Well, I've found these types of books are great for encouraging kids and parents to create stories together.

Our 15+ Favorite Wordless Picture Books

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String art thread and milk jug necklace

Spring is here!

I love feeling the warmer temperatures and seeing the trees bursting with delicate pink and white blooms.  And I don't know about you, but I can't wait to exchange my dark, winter wardrobe for a lighter, more colorful one.

Inspired by the warmer weather and this gorgeous necklace from Modcloth, I welcomed the new season by crapting a wearable, string art necklace out of two materials:  a milk jug and embroidery thread. 

Materials:
- empty milk jug, cleaned and dried
- scissors
- hole puncher
- 2 colors of embroidery thread
- Sharpie marker

Hungry Caterpillar party prep: DIY Number Pinata

I just realized this week that September is right around the corner.  Eek!  Summer is slipping through my fingers.  Nooo!

Baby Chuck's birthday party is almost here.  I have all these marvelous DIY plans dancing in my head, but I have yet to fully complete one.  Fortunately, Kim is super crafty and creative.  I'm mucho thankful that she was able to help out.  

Here's our first birthday party project:  The pinata! Ole!  (Note:  I've never hit a pinata before, but the whole idea seems very fun.  What? You get to hit something with a big stick?  And it's ok?  And it spits out candy?  Sign my kid up!)  After looking through pages and pages of pinatas, I skipped the paper mache route in favor of cardboard (using this awesome set of directions).  I'm not sure how sturdy the structure will be since we used flimsy cereal boxes.  Luckily, only a couple of young kids will attend our party, so I think it'll be ok.  *Crosses fingers*

I'm not going to lie.  It was loads of fun to make, but it took a looooong time.  We could only work at night when Baby Chuck was sleeping.  (Unfortunately, that meant that we were both also exhausted too.)  Having Kim as my slave helper really helped.   If you were to try this project, I recommend that you get yourself a Kim too.

Here are some photos from our efforts:

I added thicker cardboard to reinforce my flimsy ones.

This was all we were able to accomplish the first night.

Note the ice-cream in the background.  We needed to keep our energy up.

We started from the bottom and then slowly worked our way up.

Delirium sets in.

This is all we accomplished the second night.

And then when I work up the next morning , our pinata was magically completed!  Just kidding, we finished it after another night of work.

Now I just have to fill this baby up and then we can see it in action.