If you ask ten people what their favorite moment of the The Sound of Music is, you’ll get ten different answers, full of hundreds of details and childhood memories. For some it’s the clever choreography of “So Long, Farewell,” or Julie Andrews twirling on a mountaintop, or perhaps something as specific as the dress that Liesl was wearing when she rendezvoused with Rolfe in the gazebo. But everyone has a distinct memory of what it was like to watch these scenes as a child—wishing to be a part of a family with seven kids with a magical nanny who can make a wardrobe out of curtains.

If you ask me, I’m partial to the puppet show scene. There is something about the magic of crafting characters and putting on show that stays with me. So you can only imagine my excitement when I partnered with The Rogers & Hammerstein Organization to create a Sound of Music puppet craft video. Obviously we don’t see these marionettes being built in the movie, but I can only imagine Maria organizing the children in an assembly line of production, crafting clothes, ears, noses, and strings.

So here is a version that you can make with your kids, while drinking hot cocoa, watching The Sound of Music.

What you’ll need:

• Green felt
• Scissors
• Glue
• 2 tongue depressors
• White straw
• Paint pens: black, red, blue, white, yellow
• One 1″ wooden bead
• Two 1/2″ wooden beads
• Seven 3/8″ wooden beads
• String
• 1″ tall wooden spool
• Needle for threading

1. Cut a 2″ circle from the green felt, and cut out a wide pie slice.
2. Fold the two cut edges over one another and glue to form a small cone.
3. Use the paint pens to create a face on the 1″ bead, and a torso on the wooden spool.
4. Thread a double-strand of string up through the painted body, a 3/8″ bead, the head, and the hat, making sure the 2 strands are hanging out the bottom.
5. Paint about 2 inches of a straw yellow.
6. Cut the straw into two 1″ segments.
7. Thread the 2 yellow straw pieces onto the two strings, followed by a 3/8″ bead and another 1 1/4″ piece of white straw.
8. Flatten the ends of the white straw pieces and fold up to make feet.
9. Tie the strings into double-knots and trim off the excess.
10. Cut a 20″ long piece of string and knot just under the head/neck. On either end, string on a 1″ piece of white straw followed by a small bead, another 1″ piece of white straw, and then the 1/2″ bead.
11. Double-knot the strings at the hands to secure the arms.
12. Glue the tongue depressors in a “+” shape and tie the hands to either end of one stick and the head string to the center.
13. To make a stage for your goatherd, cut a 1.5″ slit in the top of a shoebox. Paint a mountain backdrop and add yellow curtains with fabric, felt or paper.

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.

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.

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.

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!

When it comes to Halloween, I literally can find a way to leave no stone un-spooked. It happens just once a year, so I say, go all out and craft the heck out of it!

This cute slash spooky black-cat candy bowl was inspired by these kitty cat containers that I made earlier this year…just on a grander scale!

You can find the templates on the link above (just resize them to fit your box), and I’ve edited the how-to below!

Here’s what you need:

• Round 10-inch diameter box
• Scissors
• 4 6-inch table legs
• Tacky glue or hot-glue gun
• Black felt
• Silver cardstock
• 2 metal washers
• Thin wire
• White pen

1. Paint table legs and round box black; let dry.
2. Poke 4 holes in the bottom of the box and hot-glue the table legs as cat legs.
3. Print out templates and resize to fit your box. Trace tail shape twice on felt and the eye/ear shape once. Cut felt pieces out.
4. Cut out 2 small cardstock triangles and glue onto the ears.
5. Glue washers to the cat’s face as eyes. Glue black felt slivers on top of washers as pupils.
6. Glue cat’s face to round box and draw nose and mouth onto the wood, between the eyes.
7. Cut a piece of wire, about the length of the tail shape. Glue the wire in between the two pieces of tail felt. Glue the tail to the back of the box.