Posts Tagged ‘crafts’

Fill Your Own Ornament

Wednesday, December 10th, 2014

fill-your-own-ornament

Fill your own ornament, and make your Christmas tree unique! Here are some creative ideas to get you started:

#1 Confetti

ornament-one

First of all, you can simply fill a clear ornament with confetti. Easy and beautiful.

(Actually, the first thing my husband and I thought of to put into a clear ornament is water and a live fish swimming around. But the ornament would be too heavy and not have enough air for the fish to breathe…)

#2 Sand Scene

sand-ornament

Put sand and a lizard in it. You could also have sand and seashells that fit through the hole on the top.

#3 Patriotic Theme

patriotic-ornament

This is my patriotic one. It has gold star confetti on the bottom, and a spray of red and blue. It’s one of those fancy toothpick thingies, with the toothpick clipped off with a pair of big shears.

#4 Pom Poms

pom-pom-ornament

My daughter decided to fill hers with small pom poms.

#5 Rock Salt Snow Scene

snow-scene-ornament

If you put rock salt into it, it looks like snow. Then add a sprig of evergreen, and it would look lovely. Or throw in random objects like my son did, almost like an I Spy scene.

How to Fill Your Own Ornaments

Here we are, throwing the confetti into the clear ornament, just free hand. That’s because my other son was using the funnel to put dirt into his ornament. Yes, dirt.

confetti-ornament

Here is the son with the dirt. Then he threw a plastic centipede into the dirt, and it looked disgusting. We decided to grab the tweezers, pull the centipede out, and dump the dirt out. We washed it with warm water and let it dry before starting over.

dirt

This is what the clear ornaments look like in the store.

clear-ornaments

Here are the filled-up ornaments. They were easy and fun. Avert your eyes away from the one filled with dirt; it was nasty and disgusting. Oh, and of course, we cracked one. I thought they were plastic, but no. They were made of glass.

what-to-do-with-clear-ornaments

25 Christmas Gifts for Children to Make

Friday, November 28th, 2014

25-christmas-gifts-for-children-to-make

Here are 25 fun Christmas gifts for children to make. Twig frames, clocks, bottle cap magnets, and more! They look beautiful and can be custom-made for friends and family:

  1. Twig Frame: Hot glue twigs to a frame. Gorgeous and simple. Make sure to choose a picture to put into the frame.
  2. Clock: Make your own clock by getting the parts at a craft store. Stain or paint the wood, drill a hole for the clock parts to be mounted, and decorate.
  3. Bottle Cap Magnets: Cut circles of paper and decorate them with markers. Glue into bottle caps, and put magnet backing on them.
  4. Pottery: Get some self-hardening clay and a toy pottery wheel, and make some pottery.
  5. Basket: Purchase a basket-making kit and weave a basket.
  6. Decorated Candle: Glue tissue paper onto a jar with a candle inside.
  7. Box of Homemade Cards: Have children decorate homemade cards with card stock paper, cloth fragments, glue, and markers.
  8. Soap Shapes: Use a cookie cutter to make soap shapes.
  9. Shape Books: Create shape books for younger brothers and sisters with paper, a stapler, and construction paper.
  10. Dolls and Pillows: Cut out shapes of felt, stuff them, and sew them together. Add embellishments. (Here is another example)
  11. Pop Bottle Bird Feeder: Make this simple bird feeder with a pop bottle for the bird lovers in your family.
  12. Crazy Hat: Decorate a crazy hat for a younger sibling.
  13. Costume: Make a simple Bible costume, Egyptian costume, Greek costume, or Roman costume to give away as a gift to someone who enjoys theater.
  14. Embossed ornaments: Make some embossed ornaments with an embossing kit. Here are some tips for success in embossing.
  15. Roman Coins: Make Roman coins for someone who likes that time period.
  16. Clay Sculpture: Sculpt a shape out of clay that will delight the recipient. Sculpt a fish for a fisherman, an apple for a teacher, or a pie for a baker.
  17. Coat of Arms: This would be for older children to sew, or you can have younger children glue felt shapes onto a shield shape.
  18. Toy Trebuchet: Get a toy trebuchet kit and have your child put it together for a younger sibling.
  19. Framed Poem and Illustration: Write an original poem and illustrate it. Frame both the poem and the illustration. (These can be heartfelt and poignant or downright silly.)
  20. DVD of a Puppet Show: Have your child write and perform a puppet show, using the video camera on the computer. Burn the show onto a DVD and give it to a younger sibling or to Grandma.
  21. Cross Mosaic: Get an unfinished wooden cross from a craft store and glue tiles onto it. Great as a wall hanging.
  22. Canvas Bag: Decorate a plain canvas bag by sewing embellishments on it or making a design with fabric markers.
  23. Decorated Ornaments: Make faces on regular Christmas balls with any crafts supplies lying around your house. These look goofy!
  24. Box of Snowflake Cards: Make a box of snowflake cards by poking holes and sewing white yarn into black card stock paper.
  25. Framed Textured Art: Create textured art by gluing pieces of fabric together to form a pattern. Frame your masterpiece!

Squash Creatures

Monday, November 11th, 2013

squash-creatures

Make some fun squash creatures with your kids instead of eating the squash. (Who actually wants to eat squash anyway, especially ornamental squash that looks like it’s been grown by aliens?)

Plug in your hot glue gun, take out your craft supplies, and decorate a squash to look like a creature. You can use google eyes, feathers, buttons, and bits of cloth. It takes less than 5 minutes to make this craft, so you can do this, even if you feel foggy and in need of sleep. As soon as you’ve made your squash creature, shout for your children to come running.

Listen to their squeals of joy as you show them your creature. Then let them get to work. One of my sons wanted the squash to have only one eye. Yes, since it’s all lumpy and looks like an alien anyway, why not go with it? You can turn the squash in any direction to make your creature.

I told my kids to use at least one feather, since I wanted to use these as Thanksgiving decorations, you know, to represent the Native American generosity to the Pilgrims. Enjoy your cute and easy-to-make squash creatures.

Fun Art Supply Ideas (Free PDF)

Monday, September 9th, 2013

fun-art-supply-ideasHere is a list of fun art supply ideas for making art projects with your children:

  1. Colored pencils
  2. Stapler
  3. School glue
  4. Scissors
  5. Construction paper
  6. Crayons
  7. Markers
  8. Glitter
  9. Tempera paint
  10. Watercolors
  11. Wooden sculpture base
  12. Clay
  13. Chalk
  14. Rubber stamps and ink
  15. Large roll of paper
  16. Yarn
  17. Twine
  18. String
  19. Hole punch
  20. Computer paper
  21. Fake jewels
  22. Buttons
  23. Glass jars
  24. Foil
  25. Pipe cleaners
  26. Hot glue gun
  27. Fabric scraps
  28. Tape
  29. Paper fasteners
  30. Juice lids
  31. Checkbook boxes
  32. Large cardboard boxes
  33. Plaster of Paris
  34. Needle and thread
  35. Sewing Machine
  36. Felt
  37. Gold rope
  38. Velcro
  39. Easel
  40. Card stock paper
  41. Newspaper
  42. Clear contact paper
  43. Fabric glue
  44. Cookie cutters
  45. Stencils
  46. Nature journal
  47. Acrylic paint
  48. Paintbrushes
  49. Tracing paper
  50. Popsicle sticks
  51. Paper bags
  52. Safety pins
  53. Leather scraps
  54. Wood scraps
  55. Drawing pencils
  56. Art eraser
  57. Small seashells
  58. Sand
  59. Scrapbook paper
  60. Small pom poms
  61. Ribbon
  62. Colorful tissue paper
  63. Toothpicks
  64. Hammer and nails
  65. Shoe boxes
  66. Magnetic tape
  67. Small fake ivy
  68. Feathers
  69. Rubber bands
  70. Fabric markers
  71. Florist wire
  72. Oil pastels
  73. Skickers
  74. Mosaic tiles
  75. Art books

Here is a free PDF download of this list:

How do you organize these fun art supplies? I show you one way to organize your art supplies in this 2-minute video. You will see a lot of the art supplies listed above inside this organized contraption:

Why not get a fresh homeschool room makeover? Check it out here.