These easy four leaf clovers are sure to bring a little extra good luck! To make your own, you will need, paper for the background, green paper, scissors, and green masking tape. Use the green masking tape to place the stems of your four leaf clovers on the background paper. Cut heart shapes from the […]
Crafting with Recyclables – Giant Sunflower
It was the sheer size of this giant sunflower that made us smile, and what a fun way to reuse those empty oatmeal canisters! We used a technique similar to the one here, but on a grand scale. We love crafting with recyclables because they are FREE art materials! To make your own giant flower, […]
Cheap Thrills — Tea Time Edition
For a fun time, take photos of your child (or yourself) jumping around. Print out the photos, cut them out, and attach to the end of the string of a tea bag. They make fabulous tea tags!! Lucky for us, we have plenty of aforementioned photos, since Emily is constantly in motion! In mind were […]
Psychedelic Snowman Sculpture
Who says you can only build a snowman outdoors? And while we’re at it… why can’t he be a bit more colorful? After gathering some snow from outside, we made our sculptures with it…. …and we brightened up our designs using some sheets of bleeding art tissue paper! [Note: This is different from regular tissue […]
Kid-Made Wooden Word Blocks
Ever since I first saw these blocks, I knew Emily would love to make a more kid-friendly version of them for her little sister. We had so much fun working on these while Clara was napping, and now both of the girls are enjoying this adorable new set of blocks! To make your own set […]
Spring is Here! (Sort of…)
Winter can be dark, dreary, and COLD here in Pennsylvania. This year, we thought it would be fun to trick that stupid groundhog into predicting an early Spring. We went outside armed with tons of tissue paper flowers…. ….and planted them all over the place! Soon, it was very colorful! Some flowers bloomed from bushes…. […]
DIY: Scratch N Sniff Valentine Treat Bags
These scratch ‘n sniff Valentine treat bags smell as SWEET as they look! Emily had so much fun making these, and the colors were quite vibrant! To make your own, you will need: white paper lunch bags (we found ours at Target), unsweetened powdered drink mix (ie. Kool Aid – very inexpensive), and a bit […]
Easy Reverse Resist Paintings
If your kids love to paint, but you would rather not deal with the mess, bleeding art tissue paper is for you. It’s very inexpensive and can be found at any art supply store — plus, a little bit goes a long way! We are never afraid to get messy with art, but at times […]
Will You Be My Paint Chip Valentine?
The girls and I were busy crafting up these handmade Valentine’s Day cards made from leftover paint chips (found free at any hardware or paint store). We had a bunch of different shades of red and pink, which made perfect Valentine cards! To make your own paint chip Valentine’s, place two paint chips back-to-back as […]
Kid-Made Stuffed Toys
I helped Emily make this cute stuffed robot toy this afternoon, and if you have some fabric scraps, stuffing, and a some fabric markers, you can make your own stuffed toy using this technique too! Emily was so proud to have made this toy, and plans are in the works for a home for our […]
Easy Super-Cute Penguin Prints
Emily thought these penguin prints were so much fun to make! She wants to make a girly penguin so this handsome guy can have some company. To make your own penguin prints, you will need some paint, construction paper, glue, and some googly eyes. You may want to have some baby wipes on-hand. Begin by […]
Low-Mess Mittens Painting
Clara and Emily loved painting these mitten pictures, and there was very little mess involved! The secret is to use bleeding art tissue, which is available at any art supply store and is very inexpensive. I cut out some mitten shapes from the bleeding art tissue paper and arranged them on top of some very […]
Peace Dove Handprints
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we made peace doves using hand prints! This was a quick and fun craft, and it introduced the dove as a symbol of peace. To make your own peace dove handprint, you will need: white paint, orange and blue construction paper, glue, and a paint brush. Oh […]
Snowflakes at Night
I cut out some paper snowflakes this afternoon, and Emily thought it would be fun to make snowflake rubbings with them! We used black construction paper, and put the paper snowflakes underneath. Then, she used the side of a white crayon to make the rubbing. She thought they looked like snowflakes at night! Clara gave […]
Fun Igloo Picture
Emily was so pleased with how this igloo picture turned out, and it was so much fun to do – especially if your child happens to love stickers as much as she does! To make your own igloo picture, you will need: a package of labels like the ones shown below (very inexpensive), construction paper, […]
3-D Paper Lantern Picture
It’s a bit early yet for Chinese New Year, but that didn’t stop us from creating these fun 3-D paper lantern pictures. They were so easy and so much fun to make! Plus, it uses recyclables. I love projects like these, don’t you? The highlight of this project…… Clara using glue for the first time! […]
Easy Snowflake Suncatchers
Both of the girls are so proud of how their beautiful stained glass snowflakes turned out, and they were so easy (and frugal) to make! Clara was delighted to have a go at this craft, and gave a huge smile when she saw her finished work on display in the window. Using a snowflake-shaped cookie […]
Penguin Playset Tutorial
We were going through the girls out-grown clothes and deciding which ones to donate to Goodwill, when Emily spotted these old microfiber tights. She declared we could make a penguin from them, and of course I had to agree! To make your own penguin playset, you will need: some felt, thread, old microfiber stockings, and […]