There was a time, and it wasn’t too long ago, that we only associated Barbie dolls with beauty, fashion, shopping, and let’s not forget Ken. Barbie has pivoted in a big way to teach little girls that they truly can be anything they want to be.
When my friends at Barbie asked me to create DIY costumes based on these new career dolls, I was excited to help promote this positive shift. Check out this intelligent and respectable scientist, with not just matching necklaces, but matching lab flasks, too!
What you need:
White costume lab coat
Lavender t-shirt dress
White felt dot stickers
Ruler
Pink pom-poms
Pink string
Needle
Scissors
Science goggles
Plastic lab flask
Adhere white felt circle stickers to dress. Use a ruler to line them up.
Thread pink pom-poms onto string to make Barbie’s necklace. Knot in back.
Fill plastic flask with water and add food coloring to match.
At some point in our lives, we all dream of being an astronaut…of floating around in the space and sticking a flag on the moon. Barbie is now turning those dreams into dolls in their new line of career dolls.
For Halloween, they asked me to design DIY costumes based on these awesome dolls. Super easy, this costume will thrill any girl to match her mini-me.
What you need:
White helmet
White pullover sweatshirt
White sweatpants
White neck gaiter
White gloves
Blue tape
Silver tape
Red, blue, gray, white, green felt
Blue rhinestones
Scissors
Hot-glue gun
2” white dot stickers
Apply blue and silver tape to the legs, following the pattern on Barbie’s suit.
Cut off bottom cuffs of sweatpants.
Cut out dials and patches from felt to match Barbie’s suit and apply with hot-glue. Glue on blue rhinestones to add details.
Cover holes in the bike helmet with 2” white dot stickers.
Halloween is a holiday with multiple personalities—It can be silly, gory, spooky, sexy, or—especially this year—mystical and elegant. That’s the aesthetic that inspired this DIY, which taps into the current divination-centric decor trend.
Step 1: Scoop alginate compound into a large bucket or bowl. To cast an adult hand, you’ll need 6 cups.
Step 2: Add an equal amount of room temperature water to the alginate powder.
Step 3: Stir the ingredients together with a wood stick. Then eliminate any remaining lumps with one hand, making sure to keep the other hand clean for casting.
Step 4: Quickly pour the paste into the 2-liter bottle.
Step 5: Insert a clean hand, held in the pose that you want to cast, into the mixture. Keep your hand submerged and in position, remaining as still as possible, for 3 to 5 minutes.
Step 6: Tap the top of the alginate with your free hand to make sure it’s fully set. Once the alginate has hardened, gently wiggle your submerged hand and fingers to get them loose. Carefully remove your hand. Congratulations—you’ve just made a mold!
Step 7: Set your mold to the side and mix up some plaster according to package instructions, stirring thoroughly until smooth.
Step 8: Pour the plaster into the mold you created. Depending on the humidity, it can take 30 minutes or longer for the plaster to set.
Step 9: Once the plaster has set, tap the top to loosen, then begin cutting away the plastic bottle using a craft or utility knife. Continue cutting carefully, now through the alginate, being mindful not to cut into the plaster fingers you’ve made. Keep removing alginate until your plaster hand is revealed. If there are any air bubbles or mistakes, use extra plaster to fill in the holes.
Step 10: Let the hand dry for at least 12 hours before painting, and sand off any rough spots before you begin. You can also sand the bottom of the hand into a flat base so that it can stand upright.
Step 11: Paint the plaster with an opaque acrylic paint and let dry.
Step 12: Using a fine-tip paint pen in a contrasting color, follow a palmistry diagram to draw markings on the painted hand.
Step 13: If you want to make a flat plaster hand into a candle holder, use a small chisel or a flat clay sculpting tool to carve out a hole in the plaster to fit the candle. Work slowly, carving just a little at a time, until you’ve made a shallow well that matches the candle’s diameter.
After many failed attempts at making cake pops (how are there so many bad instructions out there?), I finally watched Kris Galicia Brown’s Cake Pop Decorating Class on Bluprint. It was not only super informative, but it had debunked so many false “rules” of cake pops that I had been using…the biggest being that candy melts should only be melted in silicone or plastic (that’s the true statement).
When Bluprint asked me to make these Jack-O-Lantern cake poppers for an article on their site, I used all of her genius tips!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BackToSchoolGoals18 #CollectiveBias
All summer long I worry about brain drain. I mean, it doesn’t keep me up at night or anything, but I think a lot about how their every-day habits of learning 9 months of the year halt during the summer months.
Our school sends us homework packets to do over the summer (not to turn in, but just as practice—which is really what homework is, after all), but it’s always just math and literacy. One of my favorite things about my kids’ school is that they start them on Spanish in Kindergarten. Oliver and Sommer have come away from these classes with the cutest little accents! Because they learn in a totally immersive way from teachers whose first language is Spanish (they don’t think their teachers even speak English!), they have adopted the best pronunciation when speaking.
So this summer I decided to do a little exercise in keeping the language recognition going by making labels for common household objects. So when we refer to these objects, my husband and I say them in Spanish and that reminds the kids to do the same. Since we are spending the last part of our summer in Scandinavia, I made the labels double-sided to introduce them to a little Swedish. I wanted to make them “flippable” so I used this amazing product from 3M— Scotch® Wall-Safe Tape—from Walmart so I could (A) attach a string securely to the wall and (B) not damage the paint in the process!
Thanks to Brotherfor sponsoring this post and providing crafters with a cool tool for our trade!
I grew up with a mom that really knew how to do birthday parties. She could carry a theme from the invite (back when we sent paper invitations), to the activity, to the cake, to the favor. And this was well before Martha Stewart and Pinterest came along.
So regardless of my crafty career, there is no doubt that my kids’ parties would always be cohesive since that is what I knew to be normal. When I asked my almost six-year-old daughter, Sommer, what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she wanted an animal party. But not one single animal…she didn’t want to hurt any species’ feelings by being left out. (Can you even stand it?)
When my friends at Brother asked me to design a party using their P-touch Embellish Ribbon & Tape Printer, I was giddy with the endless possibilities. I laid all of my ribbons and tapes in front of me and realized that I literally had the entire rainbow at my fingertips, so I dove in and used the full spectrum, creating an animal party full of whimsy and joy with animal faces that all kids will fall in love with!
Here’s how we celebrated and what we made…
PAPER PAW-TY HATS
To carry the animal theme, we used the adorable paw print symbol to make ribbon tassels for the tops of basic party hats. Here is a free printable that you can use to print out these cute, animal hat medallions.
ANIMAL TRIVIA GAME
This is the third time I’ve made a punch game for my kids’ birthday parties. They love the action of punching and the surprise of what’s inside!
What you’ll need:
Clear cups
Tissue paper
Hot glue gun
Craft glue
Pencil
Sponge brush
Small toys
Foam core
P-touch Embellish Ribbon & Tape Printer
P-touch TZe ribbons and patterned tapes
Craft sticks (we used the big wavy type!)
Make it:
Count out the number of cups you need and arrange them on your board in an interesting shape.
Wrap small toys in colored tissue and put them in the cups.
Trace cup onto the tissue paper and cut out as many circles (just outside of your pencil line) as you have cups, matching the color of the circles to the paper inside.
Print the answers to your trivia questions on TZe tape and adhere one to each circle.
Use the sponge brush to apply a thin layer of glue on the edge of the cup and gently pat the tissue circle on the edges.
Hot glue the bottoms of the cup to the board.
Print the trivia questions on TZe tape and adhere them to wooden craft sticks.
To play, each guest picks a stick, reads the questions, and has to find the answer. They use the stick to punch through the tissue paper to get their prize!
Print out a message on each bag. We customized ours for each guest. They read “Thanks for coming to my party, Evie! Love, Sommer” (That extra special touch is what makes this tool so unique!)
Hot-glue the ends of the ribbon to either side of the opening of the bag.
Cut out the iron-on animal heads and iron to the bags, according to the product’s package instructions.
Stuff with small toys and treats. (We even labeled pencils with the P-touch TZe tape with goofy messages like “Write on, Oliver!”)
If you want to decorate with the adorable animal-face garland that we made, you can print out these, cut out the circles, and string them onto a thin string. Just punch two holes at the top of each circle to thread the string through.
Thanks to Brother for sponsoring this post and providing crafters with a new tool for our trade!
Illustrations and animal paintings by Clare Yaghjian
The shift from summer to school can be a tricky one – especially when it’s still swimming weather! But one of our favorite ways to smooth any transition is to spruce up your space. Setting up a homework area with your kids that’s as fun as it is functional will help them ease back into school mode. To keep them organized, turn a standard office supply into something a little more special. We’ve pinpointed the best prickly patterns for cork boards, so follow our 3 how-tos below—or if you’ve got another sharp shape idea, let us know in the comments!
Size the template to fit your cork, then print, and cut out. Trace template onto two pieces of cork or freehand draw a simple cactus shape onto cork placemat using chalk. (Chalk can easily be wiped off if you make any mistakes! ) Cut out the shapes.
Glue the two pieces together, pressing to avoid gaps.
Paint the top layer dark green and once dry add lighter green vertical stripes.
Glue pom poms to the top of thumb tacks to create functional flowers.
Add sewing pins along stripes and secure to the wall using command strips.
Size the template to fit your cork, then print, cut out and trace the template onto two pieces of cork. Cut out the shapes.
Glue the two pieces together with hot glue and press to secure.
Cut out small black circles of felt for the eye, and a half circle for the nose then glue to the cork. For the ear, cut a larger circle from the tan felt, cut a small slice then overlap the edges and secure with glue. Glue to the cork.
Add pins along the hedgehog’s back to give him his spikes.
Print out template and cut out each circle of the target individually. Trace each circle on the trivet one at a time, making sure your pencil lines are visible.
Starting at the center (so you can hold the edge) paint each layer in its regulation color—gold, red, blue, black, white. Let dry and add a second coat if necessary.
To craft arrow pins, cut two inch long strips of duck tape and fold each piece over the top of the pin, evenly sandwiching the “T”. Cut out an upside down teardrop shape to make “feathers.”
Press two skewers into the bottom edge of the trivet an to create legs; add a dot of hot-glue to secure. Add a third skewer perpendicularly on the back to create a tripod stand.
If you attended summer camp at any point in the last 50 years, chances are you learned to make a god’s eye. Whether you used twigs, dowels, or popsicle sticks, the classic craft was the right blend of simple yet time consuming – perfect for keeping kids occupied and giving counselors a breather. Kids this summer are just as likely to be weaving a god’s eye as you were at their age. There’s definitely something to be said for a craft with such staying power!
Time travel isn’t the only magic that’s been attributed to god’s eyes. The objects were first made in Mexico during the 15th century by the Huichol people who used them for prayer and protection. Though today the craft’s wooden cross is sometimes associated with Christianity, the Huichol focused their worship on nature and the earth. The four points represented the elements and the hole left at the center of the weaving served as a portal to the spirit world (Sol Mexico News). Often the charms were made when a child was born and added to each year to help ensure a life of health and happiness. In a mysterious world full of uncertainty, they provided knowledge and understanding.
In the late 1960’s, god’s eyes were adopted by the counter culture movement on the West Coast. Gigantic versions of the weavings showed up at rallies and gatherings during the Summer of Love such as the Be-In in 1967 pictured below. (Refinery29)
Though it’s hard to find any information about the craft first being adopted in summer camps, it fits right in with the era’s other woven wall hanging trends such as macrame. It’s still possible to purchase tutorials from the time, like this book found on Etsy, ‘The Advanced Creative Ojo Book’.
Though they may be groovy, god’s eyes are also super graphic, which stops them from feeling stuck in the 70s. Crafters and artists have continued to reinvent them in all different sizes, starting small and working up to wall worthy. Below are some examples of our favorites.
Toothpicks and embroidery floss are the tools needed to make the craft charm sized. A bracelet full of these would be so fun! (via Concien cia Concentrica )
These layered beauties from blogger Honestly WTF are used as present toppers but are gift worthy all by themselves.
Aunt Peaches adds pom poms to cover one of the most colorful Christmas trees we’ve ever seen – she calls it granny chic.
Trading pom poms for tassels is another way to up the trendiness! (via Pinterest)
Mixing a variety of sizes and colors makes a show stopping wall collection. (via ClaireabelleMakes)
Hobby Craft blog moves off the wall and into the air allowing for a 360 degree view of a craft that truly looks good from all angles.
Pae White‘s installations aren’t made of god’s eyes but are certainly inspired by them. Her silkscreened versions float like falling leaves. Wouldn’t you love to walk through them?
There are some projects that are immediate wins, and others that make you, or the people around you, scratch your head a bit.
When I was writing Project Kid: Crafts that Go! I named the chapters after where transportation takes place…City, Country, Water, Space, Sky, etc. And for many of the chapters I crafted projects that related to these locations rather than the vehicles themselves. So for Sky, I thought…okay, clouds, sun, rainbow. Sure. Makes sense to include.
But once the book was laid out, my editor didn’t think this project really fit. I didn’t argue because I knew it would appear here one day. I still love the idea…so I’m sharing it with you today!
1.To make the sun, stretch the fabric tautly in the embroidery hoop. Trim excess fabric and glue-dot the edges to the inside of the hoop.
2. To create the cloud, you first need to make five large pom-poms. To make each pom-pom, wrap yarn approximately fifty times around an object about 3 inches wide (like a smartphone). Cut the bundle from the skein, slip it off of the object, then cut and tie a 6-inch piece of yarn tightly around the bundle. Snip through all loops until a pom-pom is formed. Give it a haircut to trim up the messy yarn. Repeat to make four more pom-poms.
3. Cut a 20-inch piece of yarn and thread it in a zigzag fashion through the center of all five pom-poms, stacking two pom-poms on top of the other three. Use safety pins to attach the cloud to the sun, making sure to grab the joining yarn in the pin.
4. To make the rainbow strands, cut three 12-to-18-inch pieces of fishing line. Cut about sixty 3/4-by-2-inch rectangles from all colors of felt—cut an even number of each color. Lay a row of felt rectangles, spaced 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart, on your work surface in rainbow order and add a glue dot in the center of each rectangle. Lay fishing line over the glue dots and sandwich it with another rectangle of the same color. Tie the ends of the rainbow strands to the joining yarn stitched within the cloud pom-poms.
Barbecues, popsicles, fireworks…yes, July 4th is nearly here! Whether you are marching in a parade or just running through the sprinklers in your backyard, it’s a day to hang out with friends and family and celebrate summer.
Here’s a quick little noisemaker craft that will get the kids in the spirit! This project is easy enough that kids’ can make it on their own or with little supervision. You can also use these noisemakers for other holidays…think green for St. Patrick’s day, red and pink for Valentine’s day, or multi-colored for a DIY Purim grogger!
Adhere white felt circle stickers to dress. Use a ruler to line them up.
Thread pink pom-poms onto string to make Barbie’s necklace. Knot in back.
