July 6, 2020
Activities, Early Elementary, Everyday Crafts, Older Elementary, Preschool, Summer, Tween to Teen, Unplugged Time
Summer 2020 is shaping up to look a lot different than any summer we have ever seen. Kids all over the country are mourning the loss of their beloved weeks at summer camp. (And let’s not kid ourselves, parents are pretty bummed too!)
Each lovingly assembled kit includes:
May 26, 2020
Decor, DIY Home, Early Elementary, Everyday Crafts, Nature, Older Elementary, Tween to Teen
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word cactus? Ouch, is right. Cacti are not the type of plants you want to cuddle up with at night…unless of course they are made from soft and friendly pom-poms!
These mini cacti make for a great craft that your kids can make on their own…no tools that would hurt them (hi hot-glue guns!) and the instructions are so easy.
Head over to Oriental Trading’s Fun 365 and get all the steps to this cute craft that will have your windowsill lined with a cactus collection in no time!
May 8, 2020
Early Elementary, Grown-Up, Holidays, Mother's Day, Older Elementary, Tween to Teen
Mother’s Day 2020 is for sure a totally different Mother’s Day than any that we’ve ever had…and hopefully any that we’ll ever see in the future! I typically recommend all sorts of DIY projects that require materials from Michaels, Joann, or Amazon, but with people feeling less anxious to spend money these days, it’s harder to say “hey, go buy this and this and this!”
So this year we have to be a little more frugal and resourceful, so I wanted to offer you, dear readers old and new, this FREE funny printable phrenology chart of MOM! (Choose the skin tone that suits your superwoman best!) If you want to type your answers in before printing, use download this fill-in PDF version.
What’s phrenology you ask? Well, if you had to guess what’s on someone’s mind, how would you break it into seven categories? That’s what the 19th century study of Phrenology was—the belief that different areas of the brain controlled different character traits, thoughts, and emotions. Over the years, this belief has been debunked, but you may recognize famous posters like this one that hold a certain kitschy appeal.
For a fun celebration of your mom, grandmother, best friend, or neighbor, show them that you pay attention to what they love, how they think, and what their mind is made up of! Print out the illustration that best matches your mom, and treat each color as a different category and fill in words that apply to the mom-hero. The categories that I used were food/drink, TV, virtues, family members, craft supplies (haha!), and favorite places I’ve traveled.
May 4, 2020
Early Elementary, Everyday Crafts, Grown-Up, Holidays, Jewelry and Fashion, Mother's Day, Older Elementary, Paper, Preschool, Tween to Teen, Upcycled
Cardboard has always been one of my favorite craft supplies…it’s like the workhorse of all materials. It’s sturdy enough to build rocket ships, and its availability and abundance makes it un-precious.
At an influencer conference earlier this year (Alt Summit), my craft-sisters Rachel Faucett of Handmade Charlotte and Jodi Levine of Super Make It and I led a crafting session that we called Upcycled Cardboard Jewelry that even SJP Would Wear! Basically we covered tables with painted cardboard and cereal/cracker boxes, Colorshot paint pens, and various string and let the collective creativity happen! We made some examples, but we were blown away with what was produced in the 90 minute craft sesh!
If you are looking to make some fun homemade Mother’s Day gifts this year, this is easy and practically free!
Here are the materials that we used and LOVED!
Of all the paint markers I’ve ever used (and I’ve used a lot), Colorshot is by far my fave!
Yarn, paracord, twine and nylon knotting cord are all great for stringing and decorating!
We arranged the cardboard by color. We painted it with Colorshot acrylic paint and the vibrancy was amazing!
These are all made from cardboard!
Metallic paint on simple rectangles of cardboard mixed with a paracord chain can look super elegant!
Attach small shapes of cardboard to hair clips and look what you can make! Crafted and modeled by the talented Sara Walk of Tell Love and Party!
I was blown away by the creativity of Sarah Chambers’ earrings! She really look this assignment to the next level!
Nicole Choules of Salt & Honey Market in Salt Lake City made this gorgeous statement piece to match the clothes on her back. Three simple shapes glued together and she even let a little of the cardboard show!
Kristen, co-owner of Treehouse Kid & Craft in Atlanta and Athens GA took a different approach to collaging shapes. Color, shape, and balance are all working together here!
And one of my favorite people on the planet, Jodi Levine of Super Make It, rolled her cardboard to make these chunky beads.
Heather Donohue created a cool pattern adding Colorshot paint pen designs on top of a painted piece of cardboard to start her jewelry project.
April 28, 2020
Animals, Decor, Early Elementary, Everyday Crafts, Grown-Up, Jewelry and Fashion, Older Elementary, Preschool, Toddler, Tween to Teen, Upcycled, Yarn & Fabric
Embroidery feels so calming to me these days and I’ve wanted to get my kids involved in the craft. Now I’m certainly not an expert embroiderer, but I find it very easy to pick up and to improvise.
Here are 10 of my favorite embroidery crafts for kids out there! If you want to buy some basic materials like yarn, embroidery floss, and kid-safe needles for embroidery projects, visit this page on my Amazon Influencer profile to find some great supplies!
Pretty Life Girls made these cool, abstract patterned wood stitching boards. While it may seem like a lot of effort, just think how much your kids could create and recreate using these wood boards!
These cross-stitched initial pins from Handmade Charlotte have been one of my favorite projects for years! I love how they used the holes that naturally appear in perler beads to stitch initials.
I love the reuse of the styrofoam food tray for this embroidery project from Creative Jewish Mom. If you feel icked out by using trays that held meats, you can use trays that held veggies or even buy some fresh ones on Amazon.
I made these projects for Family Fun magazine years ago and I still love them! I used burlap as a base so that it would be easy for a kid to push the needle through the holes. Also, the grid mimicked a needlepoint canvas very well and offered nice even lines to work within.
These simple sewing cards by Say Yes are made from cereal boxes. Literally this project could not be simpler!
Use spice jar shaker inserts as needlepoint canvases to make these cute award ribbons!
This project was featured in my first book, Project Kid: 100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Fun and it’s one of the few crafts that I STILL have from that book! It was an ode to my mom, who is a genius needlepointer!
I love this more process-art embroidery project that I spotted on Tinkerlab’s Instagram feed! I love the mix of beads and buttons in the design!
How cute are these printable sewing cards by Molly Moo Crafts for the Kids Activities Blog!
Another printable project, this one from Mr. Printables just sends me! Using the cross-stitch technique to create a sweater is so darn cute!
