I’m sure I’ve said this before, but my 5-year-old son Oliver is of the wheel-loving variety. Cars, trucks, trains…he loves it all. This project is so easy and is an automatic winner. It’s basically 2 materials—felt and duct tape— and no drying time. Gotta love crafts that simple.
What you’ll need:
Cereal or cracker box
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
Black felt
Yellow duct tape
Parchment paper
So the first thing to do is to measure and draw a 5″ by 5″ square onto the cardboard and cut it out.
Then, take this square and lay it on your felt to trace. You can make straight lines by just moving that cardboard piece or you can make an intersection like this one. Basically, I kept tracing and cutting until I ran out of black felt. Flip the felt over before the next step so any pencil lines are on the back.
The last step is to put the street lines on. Have you ever tried cutting duct tape? It’s a total pain in the rear—it sticks to the scissors, curls up, sticks to itself; basically, it’s a nightmare. So I came up with this quick technique. Ready? Rip off a piece of duct tape and stick it to parchment paper. Then, cut 1/4″ to 1/2″ wide strips. They peel right off and stick to the felt really well. Now it’s time to play!
Oliver and his friend Elias loved driving his cars around the streets! (Then Sommer came home from ballet, and joined in. Why not?) Bonus: It’s a great (read: lightweight), portable toy to take on trips.
Just as one extra added step, I made this little handy storage bag. I’m on a constant toy-organization rampage, and I figured it would be the easiest way to get Oliver and Sommer to put these pieces away. (It’s totally worth having a stash of these cotton bags to store small toy parts and pieces in!)
Trash to treasure…a phrase we’ve all be hearing for decades. Now we can just paraphrase that sentiment into one glorious word: upcycling!
As a mom and a crafter, you are a natural upcycler. Your kid says he wants to make an airplane, so you grab for that paper towel tube. She wants to make an owl? Dig through the recycling bin for an empty juice box.
These are two of my very favorite projects from my book, Project Kid! Watch how to make them in this video from Craftfoxes!
What’s better than handing your kid a copy of Project Kid to keep them busy and device-free this summer? Handing them this Darby Smart deluxe Project Kid Craft Kit, complete with over $50 worth of creative possibility!
Just click this link to enter…easy as that. Five lucky winners will take home this boredom-buster kit!
Now that literally EVERYONE is allowed to marry the love of their life (or of the moment), here’s hoping crafty weddings will get more colorful and even more popular!
As a brand ambassador for Michaels, I got to do some fun wedding crafts on CBS 2 over the weekend.
People have been asking me lately why I think that crafting for July 4th has become so popular. I think there are a few things working here…
All kids are out of school, so there’s a collective need for something to do!
It’s the ultimate celebration of summer since the season officially begins just about 2 weeks before.
There’s no decision-making about the color scheme. Its red, white, and blue or bust. There something nice about crafting with a universal color palette.
We made this last year for my FamilyFun magazine blog, Everyday Fun, and I love it so much that I had to repost it! (Plus I’m so nostalgic over my daughter Sommer’s mini-cuteness!)
1. Print out the adorable template from Parents.com.
2. Trace the template onto regular cardboard twice, and cut out both circles.
3. Make several rings of tacky glue on one cardboard circle and lay the straws in the glue. You can alternate red and blue or let it be random. Make sure to leave about a 2″ circle in the center.
4. Cut a 1-inch piece of straw and thread a long length of fishing line through that piece and knot the ends. Glue that small straw piece into the center of the cardboard circle with tacky glue.
5. Apply a generous amount of glue on top of the straws and then cover with the second cardboard circle.
6. With a glue stick, attach the card stock center.
7. Trim the straws to different lengths (I chose to trim my red ones only).
It’s holidays like July 4th for which I am grateful when it comes to crafts. Out of every holiday…I’m talking Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Halloween…it’s the only one whose color scheme NEVER wavers. EVER! Maybe you mix up a few shades of azul every now and then, but you never veer from the trust red, white and blue.
And I must say, sometimes, that’s quite comforting. No color palettes, no mood boards…just good ole’ Americana.
This craft is a riff off of one of my faves from my book, Project Kid, and it’s a great one for both novice and seasoned crafter. Also, you can leave off the tape leaves and they just look like fireworks on a stick (then boys don’t get all anti-flower craft).
When it comes to craft materials, everything is fair game in my house: cardboard tubes, catalogs, single-use coffee pod cups (K-cups), and even the little tabs that you pull out of the spout of a carton of milk. I just can’t bring myself to throw any of those away! And then there’s cardboard…the workhorse material of the upcycled craft world. Cardboard can be anything, and thus, your pizza box can be too! Here are 4 knock-outs that are made from (preferably clean) pizza boxes.
I mean come on! How cute is this and how much would any kid love to have a little hippy tent for her stuffed animals? I love how this one is styled in the harlequin look, but you could also go rustic and pull in a nature vibe. (This is actually sized for an actual kid, made from a moving box, but when I saw it I immediately transformed it miniature as a pizza box.) Once again, Handmade Charlotte gets it right.
Those smarty-pants over at Makedo have really figured out how to turn cardboard into just about anything! And here’s the crazy thing…this record player actually works! (A little vinyl education might be in order before embarking on this craft with your kiddos.)
One of my fave parts about this pizza box turned parking garage is that Mommo Design kept the two flaps in tact when building it. Play value here is enormous!
With minimal effort, this project is totally doable for any level crafter. Use the underneath area to store extra supplies. And then once the easel gets a little too messy, just order a large pie for dinner! Your kids will thank you, no doubt there! Via Scholastic Instructor.
No matter if my shades cost $5 or $500 (in my dreams), I always want a place to put them. There is nothing worse than having to squint through sunglasses that are all scratched up and scuffed.
Here’s a super-easy project that I made for HGTV magazine that you can whip up before the sun rises! (You can buy a bunch of blank canvas cases here…stock up for a great DIY gift!)
