November 2018 archive

DIY Elf Ornaments

| Activities, Age, Christmas, Decor, DIY Home, Early Elementary, Family Bonding, Holidays, Older Elementary, Tween to Teen, Unplugged Time, Upcycled

Pin this project as you start to plan out the DIY Christmas ornaments you are going to make with the kids this year. Here’s what you’ll need:

 

  • 1″ wood bead
  • Wine cork
  • Felt
  • Tacky glue
  • Craft wire
  • Small beads
  • Paint markers

 

  1. Glue a 1” bead on top of a wine cork wrapped in felt.
  2. Tie a ½” by 3 strip of felt where the bead meets the cork as a scarf.
  3. To make the hat, roll and glue a 2½” by 1” triangle of felt into a cone; glue to the top of the bead.
  4. Cut small slits in the sides of the body felt and press two 1½” pieces of craft wire into the cork as the arms.
  5. Slip small bead over the ends and twist to make hands.
  6. Insert 3” pieces of wire into the bottom of the cork as the legs and slip 2 barrel beads over the ends and fold as feet.
  7. Draw on face with paint markers.

 

From Parents magazine; photo by Aaron Dyer.

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Make a Menorah Headband

| ad, Early Elementary, Everyday Crafts, Hanukkah, Holidays, Jewelry and Fashion, Older Elementary, Preschool, Tween to Teen, Yarn & Fabric

This post was sponsored by Kid Made Modern.

Hanukkah is a holiday that suffers from a lack of cute, wearable gear— antlers, santa hats, and elf ears do not coordinate with the dreidel-playing spirit. But as a holiday that’s super festive and magical in its message, it’s about time we change that. Enter, the menorah headband…a quick little craft that you can “light” as the eight days progress.

menorah diy headband

Start with a simple, drugstore headband, and grab your Arts & Crafts Library for the rest. This project will take you less than 15 minutes, but the adorableness will last forever!

What you’ll need from the Arts & Crafts Library:

  • 9 felt strips
  • 9 gold paillettes

Other tools and materials:

  • Scissors
  • Hot-glue gun
  • Thin headband

 

Let’s make it!

  1. Choose a felt strip to be your center candle, or your shamash. Fold it over the headband and hot glue each side together. Trim the top into a point.
  2. Fold 4 felt strips on either side of the center candle and hot-glue securely on.
  3. Trim the 8 “candles” about a ½-inch and then into a point.
  4. Glue the paillettes in between the two layers of felt or behind the felt to make the flame.

diy menorah headband project kid

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DIY Rainbow Jeans

| Activities, Age, Everyday Crafts, Grown-Up, Jewelry and Fashion, Older Elementary, Tween to Teen, Yarn & Fabric


Need a super fun, super relaxing weekend project? Here ya go!

What you need:

  • Embroidery floss
  • Needle
  • White colored pencil

1. Mark your curve

Using your white colored pencil, make small marks where you want your rainbow to begin and end on your pocket. Then connect these two spots by drawing a curve. To perfect the curve of your rainbow, you can trace a frisbee, embroidery hoop or something else with a smooth curved edge.

2. Thread up

Thread your needle, knot your embroidery floss and stitch along the curve. Instead of the basic running stitch, you’re going to sew split stitches so your rainbow is a solid line. (Find the split stitch tutorial here .) Once you’ve completed your first row, stitch two more rows of the same color right alongside it for a nice, heavy line.

3. Keep stitchin’!

When you’ve finished your three rows, tie off the embroidery floss and snip off any excess. Repeat this process with all of your colors, until your pockets are bright and colorful!

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