Posts Tagged ‘crafts’

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #11: Garlands

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

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Another creative way to use cookie cutters is to make garlands for your loved ones to feel special. These are the items you will need for this 15-minute project:

  • colorful papers
  • needle and thread
  • thick black marker
  • scissors

Use the cookie cutter as a stencil, and draw around it with a pencil. Cut out the shapes. I cut several shapes at a time so that the process goes faster. Or your children could cut them out to practice hand-eye coordination. Grab your thick marker. I used a marker that had an outer diameter of one inch, so it was super thick. Write one letter on each shape. Then string the shapes together with a needle and thread, sewing up and down, one stitch on each shape. Leave a gap between words. Hang it up.

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Ideas for garlands:

  • Happy Birthday!
  • Welcome Home, Daddy
  • Get Well Soon
  • Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
  • Aloha
  • Happy Fourth of July
  • Congratulations on Your Graduation
  • Happy New Year
  • Merry Christmas
  • Happy Valentines Day
  • Happy Easter
  • Happy Mother’s Day
  • Happy Father’s Day
  • You Did It!
  • Baby Shower
  • Happy Anniversary

As you can see, there are many occasions where you might want to make someone feel special. Why not take 15 minutes to make a garland?

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Posted in Fun Spring Activities | 8 Comments »

Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #4: Tissue Paper Art

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

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Have you thought of other creative ways to use cookie cutters? Today we will look at how to make tissue paper art using cookie cutters. A flower cookie cutter lends itself well to being shaped into a flower. I just cut out a stack of 4 hot pink flower shapes, stabbed a pipe cleaner through it, and fluffed the petals. That’s it. The daffodil was formed out of two pieces of yellow tissue paper, one flat and the other one pointing outwards. I got a lid of a coke bottle and put it into the middle of the daffodil, folding the tissue paper into a cup. Super easy.

If you have other shapes of cookie cutters, you can make a tissue paper stained glass window. Start with a light color of tissue paper, like light pink, peach, or yellow. Cut the large sheet of tissue paper into a vertical rectangle with a pointed top, like a cathedral window. Tape the tissue paper to the window. Then use your cookie cutter as a stencil to make colorful shapes to glue onto the larger piece of tissue paper. This is especially beautiful with a maple leaf cookie cutter with orange, red, and brown tissue paper leaves against a yellow background. Enjoy your stained glass window.

Next up in our blog series: Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #5. Hint: This was my son’s idea. We tried it one way, failed, then modified the wonderful breakfast idea until it worked!

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Posted in Fun Spring Activities | 4 Comments »

Cross Mosaic

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

cross-mosaic

This beautiful cross mosaic is easy and fun to make. You will need the following supplies:

  • wooden cross (buy at craft supply store)
  • mosaic tiles
  • black paint
  • school glue
  • paintbrush
  • newspaper

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First you will want to paint the cross black. Place newspaper under your cross to avoid getting paint on your table. Let the paint dry.

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Next you will spill out your tiles. You might want to sort them by color. Get your school glue and make a line with the glue around the edge of the cross. Choose one color to outline the entire edge of the cross. Set the tile into the glue.

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Without waiting for it to dry, make a second row of tiles inside the first row. Decide how you want to arrange your tiles based on how big your cross is. At this point I started gluing down the black cross in the center, since I realized that there was not enough space to put the green tiles all the way around the two arms of the cross. The black line of tiles was more important to me, so I glued that down at the same time I was gluing down the green tiles.

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It took me less than half an hour to glue all the tiles, so the glue was wet enough to push the red tiles over slightly to fit in the green and black tiles. After a few hours, the glue dries clear. The cross mosaic is now finished and ready to hang on the wall.

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Posted in Art | 12 Comments »

Grain Art

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

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Grain art is a fun activity to do in the autumn. It has an interesting texture and reminds us of harvest time. I bought dry grains in as many colors as I could find at the grocery store in cheap sealed bags:

  • green dried peas
  • black beans
  • red kidney beans
  • white beans
  • yellow lentils

We started with black card stock paper as the backdrop. If you want, you can sketch a design in pencil first, filling in one area at a time with glue. Then you glue down each grain. It goes faster if you dump the grain on top of the paper, then lift the paper up. It looks neater and more orderly if you place each grain one by one, but this might be tedious for younger children. It depends what kind of look you want.

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You can do symmetrical patterns or a design representing an actual object. My daughter made a star in the center of her paper, spiraling outwards with alternate grains. One of my children chose to make a tree. Another son titled his grain art, “Green Blob with Asteroids.” My oldest son made a spiral ladder leading to nowhere. As you can see, everyone has freedom for their personalities to shine through this art activity!

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Posted in Art, Fun Autumn Activities | 6 Comments »

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