MAKE

I was recently interviewed for an article and one of the questions asked was, “How do you come up with your ideas?” It was hard for me to find the words to describe my creative process. It’s like all these ideas are streaming through my mind all day, every day and if one really catches my eye, so to speak, I pause and think on it for a bit. Then, I think on it some more. I will mull over an idea for weeks, before I actually begin any tangible work. WEEKS! I started thinking over this project two months ago and finally, here I am with a finished product. I think the extra thinking time I put into these paid off. They turned out better than I ever expected. My kids are having fun creating all sorts of prize ribbons. The possibilities for design are endless!

First, gather your supplies:

Cardboard
Small bowl or something circular
Plastic grocery bags
Paper towels
Masking tape
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Scissors
Newspaper
Flour and water for paper mache paste
Drawing paper
Pen
Fabric
Needle
Thread
Sewing pins
Low temp glue gun (if you are comfortable with your kids using it. if not, just use a regular glue gun)
Glue stick
Mod Podge (optional)

1. Trace 2 circles around your small bowl or other circular template onto a piece of cardboard, set aside.
2. Draw a picture that will fit within the cardboard circle. Keep it simple, you can add detail later. Cut out picture and set aside.
3. Form the plastic grocery bag into a ball shape and press flat over cardboard circle. Begin taping, until the plastic bag is covered. There is no need to cover the back.
4. Using the glue stick, glue your cut out picture in the center of the cardboard circle. Glue it to the plastic bag side.
5. With paper towels and masking tape, start to build up your design. The idea is to create a relief, so the picture can be distinguished from the plastic bag medallion. It helps to work in small sections. Keep doing this, until your entire design is covered.
6. Now, paper mache the front of the medallion with newspaper strips and paper mache paste. For the paste, I mix equal parts flour and water. When completely covered, allow to dry thoroughly.
7. After the medallion has dried, paint your design. Start with the background, this helps to see your design easily. Then, paint your design. Add second coats if necessary and allow to dry.
8. Add a clear coat of Mod Podge as an optional step. I thought of this after the fact and really prefer it to just left plain.
9. Using some of the newspaper or other paper, make paper patterns (size will vary, depending on size of medallion) for the fabric portions of the ribbon. You will need one for the loop, the ribbon tails (cut 2), and the ruffle.
10. For the loop, cover the wrong side of fabric with your glue stick, fold one side into center (lengthwise), then fold the remaining side on top of that one. Form into a loop and secure to the top of the remaining cardboard circle with glue gun.
11. For the ribbon tails, cover the wrong side of fabric with your glue stick on one of the tails. Lay remaining tail on top, press and smooth until attached. Trim up edges if necessary. Fold tails over each other at center and secure with glue. Attach tails to bottom center of cardboard circle.
12. For the ruffle, thread your needle, then run a basting stitch along the length of the ribbon. Pull end to create ruffle. Secure two ends with glue gun. Attach ruffle to cardboard circle with glue gun.
13. Finally, attach paper mache medallion to the cardboard prize ribbon, using your glue gun.

It feels good to finally get this project out of my brain and onto the blog!

There is always a never ending supply of cardboard around our house. Yes, I am a Prime junkie. I will order anything Prime, if it means I can avoid the fun that is, taking 4 kids shopping. My husband likes to call me, the Prime Minister. Whatever, he’s never shopped with 4 kids. When I’m not recycling cardboard, I’m dreaming up ways to use this glorious craft medium. It just so happens this craft combines three of my favorite craft supplies: fabric, thread, and cardboard!

Behind the scenes, I’ve been working on my own necklace project, which sort of inspired this kid made version. I’m not going to lie. Teaching basic embroidery to my 5 and 7 year old, requires a whole new level of patience. The kind that requires you to constantly re-thread the needle, even though you just explained to them how to hold the needle, so the thread doesn’t come off. After about 10 needle re-threads, we finally hit a groove. Whew.

First, gather your supplies:

Cardboard
Fabric
Embroidery thread
Embroidery needle
Batting/Stuffing
Art Pens
Sewing marker
Scissors
Craft glue
Hot glue
String/Twine

Before we started, I had them look through one of our favorite books for inspiration. Once they were settled on what they wanted on their necklace, I had them draw it onto fabric using a sewing marker. Next, I put their drawing in a small embroidery hoop, one that would be easy for little hands to handle. If you have a surplus of fabric hanging out, it’s a good idea to trim it up as closely to the hoop as possible. This helps to prevent getting the thread tangled up into the extra fabric.

This is not the first time I have exposed them to embroidery, but it is the first time that they primarily did it on their own. I still helped quite a bit, especially with Annie. I gave them a brief lesson on the directions the needle goes. For example, if the needle is under, you are going to go up through the fabric. If it is over, you go down through the fabric. If you’ve ever embroidered with kids, then you know they have a tendency to go the opposite way they need to, thus ending up with the thread wrapped around the side of the hoop. So, this quick reminder, repeated several times over, does help!

I did the knotting for them and did the first couple of stitches as an example. For the remainder of the project, I mainly verbally instructed or pointed to where the needle should go. After a while, I stopped pointing and asked them where they thought they should put their needle next. Once they got acclimated, I didn’t even need to ask them anymore, they had it down pretty well.

After their embroidery work is done, have them lay the embroidered fabric onto another piece of fabric, and cut out an oval shape. Or, any shape you wish really. Next, take the craft glue and put a small bead of glue around the edge of the fabric, leaving an opening for stuffing toward the bottom. Set aside to dry.

While the glue is drying, you can work on the necklace frame. Simply trace the shape of the necklace onto cardboard and add artwork along the frame, then cut out. If the glue is dried to a tacky touch, you can go ahead and stuff it. Don’t overdo it, just a little works fine. Then, add a bead of hot glue to the back of the frame and attach to the front of the necklace. If you are working with young children, please have an adult do the hot glue or use a low temp glue gun. Close up the stuffing opening with a bit of craft glue. Poke a hole near the top of the frame and thread with string. If they would like to make some for gifts, just cut out a piece of cardboard, and add two slits at the top to hold the necklace.

I do think these turned out really sweet. Even though we had a rocky start, it was fun and I very much enjoyed sharing embroidery with them. Savannah already has plans for a pillow. I will need to start building my patience reserve now, for that project!

I will find any excuse to make use of my yarn obsession. I can’t even knit or crochet (yet), and I have bundles of this stuff just waiting for the right project. I would love to take credit for this genius, but this was not my idea. I stumbled across a video in a homeschool group I follow, intrigued by the use of yarn, I had to check it out. I adapted it a little, so that it was something my kids could do on their own, with very little help from me. One of the best things I did years ago, was bring all of the craft supplies down to their reach. They have complete access to everything and I find this leads to wonderful art exploration or just doing projects we have done before.

For this project you’ll need:

Yarn in various colors (Black for eyes and orange for beaks)
Scissors
Craft glue
Scrap paper
Cardboard template (5 in L x 2 in W)

After you have your cardboard template cut out, start by wrapping one of the yarns around lengthwise, until you have reached 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. You don’t want it to thick, or it makes it difficult to manipulate into the bird shape. Cut the yarn at one end and set aside. Repeat this 2 more times with different color yarns.

Next, make sure the individual strands within each yarn grouping are lined up, so that they are even on the ends. Choose the color you want for the wings or side part of the bird, and tie a string that is equal or greater in length than the other strings, around the middle. Set that aside and grab your two remaining colors. Lay those, one on top of each other, so that they form a cross. Fold the yarn on bottom, over the yarn on top and tie of with a string. Once again, the string you use will need to be the same length or bigger than the other strings. If not, then when it’s time to form the bird, these strings will be exposed, instead of being tucked in with the others. Now, take the remaining yarn, fold it around, and tie off.

Then, take the two yarn sections that are connected, and lay them horizontal. Place your other yarn section on top vertically, forming a cross. Next, crumple up a small piece of scrap paper and place in the center. This will give the body more form. Finally, gather all of the yarn sections and form a bird shape. Tie off the tail with a another piece of yarn. Trim tail to your liking.

Now, form your eyes and beak. We did this by taking black yarn for the eyes and tying a single knot, then another right on top of that knot. Trim the ends and attach with glue to the bird. Do the same thing for the beak, except use orange yarn and tie 3 or 4 knots, forming a chain of sorts. Trim the ends and attach with glue. There is a little hole where the beak is attached, so we actually added glue in the hole and slightly tucked the beak in there. The last thing to do, is thread a piece of yarn through the top of the head and tie off. It’s optional, but I wanted to do this so we could attach them to gifts, cards, or hang them from whatever.

After I worked through a few of these with my kids, they ran with it. We have a bunch of these little birdies flying around. This is such a simple and fun craft, that can be done over and over again with different results. You can change the colors out, make them smaller or larger. One thing is for sure, they will have making them!

I’m really big on my kids making ornaments for our Christmas tree. It’s so funny, how having kids changes your perspective. Gone are the days of my perfectly decorated Christmas tree and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This year, I’m staying ahead of the game and getting all of our ornaments made in November. Well, I’m going to put forth a good effort anyway. First up, is our version of a faux taxidermy. These were so fun and so easy to make!

You’ll need just a few supplies:

Plastic shopping bags
Masking tape
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Scissors
Glue
Pipecleaners (optional)
Cereal box (or any thin cardboard material)
Wood slices (I found mine at Michaels)
Yarn

Originally, I had planned to paper mache the ornaments. But, Savannah had recently made a puppet and instead of adding a layer of paper mache, she just painted right over the masking tape. I’m all for keeping things simple!

First, determine what kind of animal you are going to make. Start by forming a head shape with your plastic bag. You want to use a good bit of the bag, to give it substance. So make sure to cut off a good bit of the bag. Then, start rolling and tweaking it, until you have something that looks similar to your desired animal. Once you have your shape, wrap it in masking tape. Don’t wrap too tightly or it will decrease the size of your animal head. Keep wrapping, until the entire head is covered in tape.

Next, add the eyes and ears. You can choose just to paint the eyes on, but if you want to add some dimension, then just ball up a little piece of tape and attach with a layer of masking tape. For the ears, we used a cereal box. We drew out simple ear shapes, cut them out, then covered them in tape, and attached to the head with more tape. For the elephant trunk and ostrich neck, I formed the shape I wanted with a pipecleaner, then wrapped a piece of the plastic bag around it and secured it with masking tape. Also, because the shape has some give, you can manipulate it and add indentations for eyes, nostrils, etc.

Once you have your head completed and covered in tape, you can start painting. This is where they really start to come to life. Depending on the paint color, you might need two coats. Set aside to dry. The wood slices do not come with a hole, so you’ll need to drill them out. After the paint has dried, glue the head to the wood slice, and thread a piece of yarn through the hole.

My kids loved making these! We made a pig, a horse, a bunny, a screech owl, a chipmunk, a T-Rex, an elephant, a tiger, and an ostrich. They are still making them! I think they turned out really cute and I can’t wait to get them on our tree. I love them so much, I think we are going to work on a bigger version for the wall.

My kids love mail!  They especially love cards! My parents, have sent them cards for every birthday and every single holiday since they were born. If it were up to me, they’d be um, purged. However, they are sentimental ones and insist on keeping them. Knowing how much they love getting cards in the mail, I thought we should put together a handmade stationary kit and send off to my parents. They are already excited about receiving their cards back in the mail.

On a recent trip to the library, Savannah stumbled onto this book about handprinting animal art for kids. It provides detailed, step by step instructions on which part of your hand to paint to make the animal come to life. The beginning of the book gives you pointers on handprinting techniques, if you are not sure by just looking at the picture. Also, after each animal, there is a lesson of sorts about that animal. Unfortunately, it’s no longer in print, but I was able to pick up a used copy in great condition. I know this book will get a lot of use in our house!

After playing around making some of the animals, we got serious and started handprinting onto blank stationary cards. The book lists poster paint as the type of paint to use, but I just used acrylic. You will need to work faster if using acrylic, as it does dry quicker than poster paint. I found being slightly generous when applying the paint, helped extend the drying time. After all the cards have dried, then go back and add details with an ink pen.

We did a total of 9 cards. After they were finished, we stacked the cards and envelopes on a piece of cardboard. Then, we tied them all together with some yarn, handmade pom poms, and a “write me” tag. These stationary kits make fun gifts for grandparents, teachers, friends, or pen pals. Ours is headed to Texas, where Papa and Gigi will fill each one with words that will be treasured for many years.

It’s back to school season and I like to do something fun every year to celebrate it. We homeschool, but we take our summer break, too. It’s nice to have those lazy days of summer for me and for them.

I had some unused party blowers, so I thought now would be the perfect time to make some use of them. You can get them just about anywhere, I think I picked mine up from Target.

Gather your supplies:
Party blowers
Ink pens
Scissors
Glue stick
Cardstock
Confetti
Party napkins or tissue paper

First, carefully separate the paper part of the blower from the horn. Try to remove it in intact, as you will use this for your template. Next, trace an outline of the blower onto cardstock. With ink pens, have your kids draw within the template. We do a lot of ink drawings and these pens are a staple in our house. They don’t smudge and are waterproof. After they have completed their drawings, cut out the template.

Next, add a little glue down one long side of your template. Roll and press into place. You’ll need to hold this for a minute, until the glue takes. After the form is set, add a little more glue near the top, then slide the plastic horn piece into position.

Start stuffing your blower with confetti, careful not to pack it in or it will become jammed in the horn and won’t blow properly. We used some of our handmade confetti leftover from the confetti ghosts we made last year. Add a little handwritten message and tuck into the confetti. Finally, seal off your party blower. We cut some small circles from party napkins, but tissue paper would work the same.

Hand them out to friends or have fun with them yourselves. When you’re ready to get your celebration on, just punch trough the seal and blow! They had the best time blowing confetti all over each other.