Good Morning! The last couple weeks we’ve had fun practicing storytelling with Sydney, all thanks to Elmer’s Early Learners Academy. As soon as our fun box filled with supplies arrived, Syd couldn’t wait to open it up and get crafting! Continue reading
Good morning! I hope everyone is set and ready for a great weekend! I am really excited to share a DIY feature I did for Delighted Magazine! Sydney and I had so much fun with it.
You can check out the full tutorial in the online publication by clicking here.
I did this project with Syd, but it can be done by anyone, big or small!
It just takes a few simple supplies:
– paper, pencil & scissors to make a pattern
– felt or other fabric and ribbon
– pins to hold things in place
– fabric glue, and/or hot glue (not for kiddos!)
– various sequins, jewels, etc. for embellishment
Then, just follow the simple steps pictured above.
Here are just a couple that we did on a rainy day. The pink one Sydney made to wear for Valentine’s Day!
Ever since Christmas, I have been working with Sydney to get rid of some old toys, and make room for the new ones. In doing so, I am also trying to make organizing her toys fun. She loves everything little, and has tons of tiny erasers, dolls, etc. So I took some old shoe boxes, paint, & markers, and made fun little homes for her favorite micro toys.
These cute little houses are fun & free to make, will help keep rooms clean, and can even be used to play! Doesn’t get better than that…
There’s less than a week left to vote, so please stop by and show your support. It just takes one little click!
Today I’m bringing back an old post from last spring. I originally posted this project on my old site Sunbutter & Jelly, and I wanted to get it back up on my blog to share with you! This is a super easy dollar store DIY. Using some spray paint and an x-acto, I turned these little plastic figures into photo / place card holders. I love the finished product, they add playfulness and humor to our decor!
Pick out the plastic animals of your choice.
Use an utility knife or x-acto to cut a slit in the top of the animal.
Be sure to cut deep enough to hold a card or pic, but don’t cut all the way through.
In a well ventilated and protected area, spray color of your choice.
Let dry, and then they’re ready to use!
You can even use them for place card holders. How cute would these be for a kids birthday party!?
And don’t forget to stop by and vote for me COM Top 25 Creative Moms of 2013!
These borax crystal snowballs are a fun and festive science experiment, plus they make for beautiful decorations and gift toppers. To make the snowballs you need white craft pom poms in various sizes. Tie one or two pom poms to a string. Continue reading
Last week Sydney and I got messy and had fun with shaving, cream, glitter, and construction paper. Shaving cream can be used for all sorts of fun learning and art with toddlers & preschoolers. We decided to be festive and make some snowmen and snowy scenes. Enjoy! Continue reading
After a very chilly night of tricks and treats, and a little too much candy, Sydney and I are feeling a under the weather today. As a result, we have decided to spend the entire afternoon relaxing indoors and getting healthy again. So, today I thought I would share some of my favorite rainy day craft ideas for kids. Enjoy!
1. Making Slime is always a fun time!
2. With $1 Birdhouses just break out some craft supplies and get creative!
3. Glow Jars are a reader favorite
4. Play pirates and Make your own telescope!
5. Stick People are a fun craft, and they promote imaginative play and story telling
6. With some oil and whole wheat flour, have an indoor beach day with Moon Sand fun.
7. And the classic homemade Playdoh is always a kid favorite!
8. Have some unmatched socks laying around? It’s Sock-topus time!
9. Make Pasta Necklaces with some dry pasta, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol.
10. Chances are you have all the ingredients for some homemade Puffy Paint art.
And, I will most likely be spending some quality time on Pinterest during nap time today, so be sure to follow me here!
Today I am sharing a costume tutorial I put together for the lovely people at ThredUp. This is a fun, no sew tutorial that will help you turn your little cutie into a garden flower with birds and butterflies buzzing around her head! You can start off with some basic pieces, like a bright colored shirt paired with some green leggings or skirt or what the heck why not both! Then get creative with it.
Here’s what else I used:
7 sheets of pink felt for the petals (or any color you like)
2 sheets of yellow felt
some ribbon or velcro
4 pink pipe cleaners
3 yellow pipe cleaners
3 yellow craft pompoms
hot glue
a headband
floral wire
needle point pliers
and various decorative butterflies, birds, and ladybugs
1. Start by creating a collar out of a sheet of pink felt and ribbon. I cut a 6” strip of felt, then folded it in half to make it more rigid. Make your collar long enough to loosely fit your child, leaving a good amount of wiggle room. Glue ribbon or velcro to the ends of your collar.
2. Fold the remaining pink felt sheets in half, and cut out your petal shapes. Trim pink pipe cleaners to size, and use hot glue to adhere them to the center of 6 petals. Set the other petal aside for now.
3. Gather the felt at the base of each of the 6 petal to create dimension, and secure with hot glue.
4. Glue these petals around the outside of your collar, about halfway up. Shape the petals as you glue, and be sure to also adhere the petals near the top of the collar. This will give them extra support.
5. Glue the remaining 6 petals to the bottom of your collar, positioning them below and in between the top 6 petals.
6. Fold over and glue, or trim, and extra petal felt.
7. Now, Cut a 6” strip of yellow felt, fringing it on one end. Glue this strip to the inside of your collar to give the illusion of the flower’s center.
8. Time to make the stamens! Glue the three pompoms onto the ends of the yellow pipe cleaners.
9. Tightly wrap the three pipe cleaners around the center of the headband, while also twisting them together.
10. And now onto my daughter’s favorite part. Add springy wire to your headband and attach all sorts of garden friends to the wires. We used butterflies, a humming bird, and ladybugs. Be creative and have fun with it!
(last image courtesy of thredup.com)
I will also be doing a DIY costume giveaway next week. Check back for the exciting details!!! UPDATE: Click here to enter the giveaway!
Before leaving for vacation Sydney and I had fun coloring flowers. I thought it would help me teach her about plants, and how they need water to stay alive…. Well it didn’t quite turn out as expected, but she still got the point! Continue reading
Today we are having fun learning about bugs! Sydney has been very interested in insects lately, so I picked up a bunch of little critters at the store. I thought the toys could help cure her fear of bugs, and teach her how to identify some different kinds insects. Drawing pictures of each insect is a little advanced for her age, so I created a bug painting activity instead!
Good morning! If you’re having a raining day like we are, then I have just the craft for you. I saw the idea on pinterest and had to give it a try. It’s perfect for those lonely socks that just hangout in the laundry basket without a match!
This afternoon we are breaking out our paints and other goodies from the craft cabinet, and decorating birdhouses! This is a fun activity for kids of all ages, and can help with dexterity, learning colors, and promoting creativity. Plus, these cute little wooden houses can be found for just a buck each at either the dollar store or local craft store. Continue reading
Sticking with the BabbaBox theme from earlier this week (Sun, Moon, & Stars), we decided to explore and play with moon sand. I found several recipes for cloud dough online which include mixing flour with baby oil. Our moon sand is actually just a slight modification to cloud dough. Instead of baby oil we used Continue reading
As promised this morning, here are our ribbon dancers along with a tutorial! They are quick and easy to make, and a fun, safe alternative to sparklers. I’m hoping the ribbon dancers and dollar store glow sticks I picked up will keep Syd busy Continue reading
Today we are working on some Fourth of July crafts as we get excited for fireworks tomorrow night! This morning Sydney was hard at work making firework paintings. I saw the idea over at Rust & Sunshine and loved it. So cute and easy for little ones! Continue reading
For the last week Sydney and I have been eager to receive our first box from BabbaCo…. and it finally came in yesterday! BabbaCo is a monthly subscription activity box, and we are excited to dig in and give our first craft a try today. While we get busy I want to share some play-doh fun we had last week. It’s amazing how entertaining a little doh and a few googly eyes can be! Continue reading
Happy Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. We had a blast celebrating Sydney’s third birthday with friends and family in Wonderland! Sydney and I worked on decorations all last week, and everything came together nicely. To set up the party we brought an old dining set out onto the patio. Surrounded by paper lanterns and tons of flowers, this became the perfect setting for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. And, she is super lucky her daddy braved the heat and dressed up so she could have Mad Hatter himself at her party! Continue reading
There is so much to do these next couple days, I wish my sister could be here again. She helped us out with Sydney this past weekend, and my husband and I were able to get caught up on a bunch of work. Syd had lots of fun playing with her auntie, and when they broke into the craft cabinet, these cute craft stick people were the outcome. Continue reading
Yesterday Sydney and I had a major art and craft day, and also experimented with making glow jars. They have been floating around Pinterest for awhile now and look like so much fun! However, there is one tutorial that frustrates me. The image is clearly Photoshopped, and I think it’s very misleading. So, I decided to make a couple of our own jars so we can share our experience and method with you. I must admit, frustration aside, I was intrigued with the photoshopped glow jar image, it’s actually called fairies in a jar, and I wanted to try and replicate the glowing ‘fairies’ that appear to be suspended in mid-air. To do this, Continue reading
