I was so excited when Michaels asked me to guest post on their blog to talk about why and how I craft with kids. Check out the full post over on The Glue String!
Here is one of the projects I made specifically for this post!
BOHO DREAM CATCHER
How do you wish away your four-year-old’s bad dreams? While there’s no guarantee this will work, it at least gets them to sleep at night (and looks good on the wall)!
In the meantime, lay a 12-inch piece of embroidery floss on cardstock and apply strips of washi tape over it. Cut out a feather shape, about 4-inches long, making sure not to cut the string. Fringe the edges to look like a feather.
Thread beads over the string. Set aside.
Stretch cotton loops over the inner ring of the painted embroidery hoop to create the dream catcher’s web.
Cut the strings of your feathers to the desired length and use a little piece of washi tape to secure them to the inside of the larger embroidery hoop.
Slip the larger hoop around the inner hoop and tighten the screw.
Hang on your wall with a cotton loop and have sweet dreams!
Wreaths have a reputation for being all about holidays: Spooky styles greet Halloween’s trick-or-treaters, harvest motifs welcome Thanksgiving dinner guests, and come Christmas, decking the door with boughs of holly is the order of the day. But despite their undeniable holiday appeal, wreaths can add a lot of life, love and creativity to your door during the spring and summer months, too. No official holiday needed!
For further proof, check out this bright, botanical DIY wreath. It’s made with spring and summer seasonality in mind; floral spray paint and silk leaves mean it stays fresh from year to year. I used neon colors and high-impact stripes to create a tropical vibe for this project, but you can use the same technique with your choice of colors and patterns – from polka dots and zig-zags to color blocking and Memphis-inspired shapes. Get creative!
Step 1: Cut about ten 8×4-inch pieces of fabric and hot glue them around the wreath form tightly, overlapping to cover it completely.
Step 2: Starting with the largest leaves, tape 20-24 leaves onto the scrap paper, creating a striped pattern on each one.
Step 3: Smooth the tape down over the surface of the leaves and spray with paint. Let dry.
Step 4: Hot glue the leaves around the covered wreath, positioning each one on a slight diagonal. Continue all the way around, overlapping them until you have covered the form.
Step 5: Repeat the same technique with the smaller leaves and a second color of paint (I used yellow). Once they are dry, hot glue them on top of the first layer, working all the way around. Next, paint 6 to 10 leaves with a third color (I used orange) and intersperse them among the layer of small leaves.
My son Oliver is SO into Star Wars these days, so this year, May the Fourth finally has some weight in this household! Tonight, I’m planning on surprising him and Sommer with some cupcakes topped with Star Wars figures and their candle light sabers. Photo by Wonderthreads on Instagram.
Here are a few more ideas, perfect for any Star Wars-obsessed kid (or grown-up)!
Throwing a Star Wars party anytime soon? Check out these adorable ideas, like a Star Wars photo booth, from Pottery Barn Kids!
How genius are these cookies from Sweet Sugar Belle? Just pull out your Christmas cookie cutters and repurpose them as Star Wars characters and objects.
I’m a huge fan of the paper lantern turned into (blank) and this BB8 latern idea from Desert Chica is fabulous!
It’s about a month late, but spring has finally sprung in New York, and we have taken to the park as though it were our backyard. It’s truly my one sadness of living in such an urban environment…that I have to travel to nature. But on the flip side, our local park is so grand and expansive that we really get to hike through trails, pathways, and across meadows.
And when we go to the park, we really GO to the park…I try to do all I can to prevent my kids from saying “Mommy, I wish we had brought _____!” We pack multiple snacks, blankets, games, extra clothes, sunscreens (we are in love with the new Babo Botanicals line), and sunglasses for all.
Since this was really our first campout day in the park, I decided to make it extra special. I’m always trying to find a way to get my kids to look up, down, and all around them, so I designed this nature scavenger hunt to encourage the 360 degree view. It’s designed for preschool-aged kids and older, both readers and pre-readers.
Print out the template and cut the full rectangle.
Tape the rectangle to the top of the egg carton.
Give each kid or team of kids a carton for the scavenger hunt. Send the kids out to find objects that match the pictures on the carton, having them collect objects from nature that match the pictures, words, or descriptions on the carton top. Encourage the kids to pick things off the ground that have fallen or that are weeds. And if your little one finds a red gum wrapper for the red category, then great! It teaches a good less in litter clean-up.
Oliver was very studious about matching his loot to the photos, while Sommer just filled her carton with yellow dandelions.
After running around collecting sticks, dandelions, and leaves, we enjoyed our picnic, reapplied our sunscreen, and relaxed on this beautiful day.
This post was sponsored by Babo Botanicals, and ProjectKid.com received the products compliments of BaboBotanicals as part of the PreenMeVIP program.