I ran across these creative and super cute hand-drawn bookmarks on We Wilsons, home of fabulously crafty folks who make wonderful stuffed animals. Love the stuffies, LOVE the bookmarks also! Click here to go to the post where you can download the templates yourself! Wouldn’t this be great for your kids, given that they’re back in school and probably have a ton of books to read? Get off the boob tube, guys! Wow, I wonder if your kids know what a boob tube is. I feel old.
I blogged about Knock Off Wood back in March (read the post here,) a really wonderfully empowering make-it-yourself site where Ana White creates building plans with supply lists for furniture inspired by retailers like Pottery Barn for your home and yard. Yes, even YOU can build a Farmhouse Bed, Apothecary Cabinet , a changing table, or even the very bed my son sleeps in every night, a fort bed…although his really is from IKEA.
The first thing I made inspired by Ana’s site was the clip art rails, a really easy project that you can do in a couple of hours, and get your child in on the action. My version of the rail was a bit simpler than hers, mostly because I’m just lazy.
Materials needed:
Inexpensive pine craft boards, 1.25” by 4”, from any home improvement store
Clothes pins, about 8 per board
Hot glue gun
Paint for the boards and clothespins
First things first, paint the boards with at least 2 coats of paint and let dry.
My little artist
I set up a painting station for Nate with a couple of dozen clips and several washable paint colors, and let him paint the whole clip instead of taking them apart. You know I’m all about easy and fun haphazard art! I let them dry over night, then took my favorite ones and evenly spaced 8 of them along each board and glued them down on each board with the hot glue, alternating the clip’s directions.
Finished and hung
Aaron screwed the two rails onto the wall in Nate’s room one afternoon while he and I were out, and put up a bunch of Nate’s artwork from school and friends. Nate walked in the room and just LOVED it! I love how even the way we display his artwork is touched by his sweet hands.
Pretty blue, painted by my sugar pie
I’m telling you guys, this is so easy…go out to the store this weekend to get the supplies and by Sunday you’ll have a great way to display your little Picasso’s works of art not only in their rooms, but in the hallway or dining room of your home. It makes kids so proud to see their handiwork displayed with love by you!
Nate’s first day of Pre-K was just wonderful, and he is no doubt enjoying the second day as we speak. I only teared up for about 5 seconds before we told him goodbye…I was talking so much that I didn’t have time to cry! We love his teacher Mrs. Brown, and we can’t wait to see what the year has in store for him. Here’s his picture from yesterday morning, all ready to go:
My sugar pie, all grown up.
And of course, I had a ball making his lunch….I’ll post it all on Monday for my Bento Monday series! He actually ate the majority of it, which was very surprising. I wasn’t sure he’d have enough time to eat/talk. He is my child, you know…we can talk all day long! But Ms. Ashley, the student intern from UALR who will be in his class this year, told me that he was asking for lunch at 10:00 yesterday, so he must have been hungry!
Last Friday I showed you guys the Zuckertute I made for his first day of school and gave you easy steps on how to make one. We let him open the Wednesday night, and let’s just say he loved it!
Happy, happy, happy!
When as old you are, look at cool you will not.
All the captain's spoils
Zuckertute head!
It was such fun! Keep a Zuckertute in mind for your child’s first day of school, or for any other very special occasion.
Now your marching orders for the weekend….something new to eat, and a craft for you and the kids.
Mmmmm...breakfast!
From one of my fave food blogs, Framed, here’s something new to add to your weekend breakfast repertoire….Bacon and Egg Muffins! Delish! Click on the photo for the yummy instructions.
Wearable artsy goodness
And from another fav, Filth Wizardry, here’s an artsy craft for the painter child in the family. She made this skirt from 2 flour sack dishtowels from the Dollar Tree, using Sharpie markers and watered down acrylic paint. For those of you who don’t have an immediate need for a skirt, sew 3 sides of the towels together, stuff and handstich the top closed to make a pillow! Click on the photo for the tutorial.
That’s it guys! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Here’s another outdoor craft for your kids as we begin the long days of summer…aluminium foil toadstools! Share with them the folklore of a fairy ring and then go to Filth Wizardry for the step by step instructions on how your kids can make their own lawn fairy rings with these hand painted foil toadstools. Maybe you will have some fairies come out to play!
Ah ha! Another super cute and NO SEW project! Thanks to Nikki at Salty Pinapple, you can create this super cute portable tic-tac-toe game for your kids or for a birthday present in no time flat. And you probably have all the supplies you need at home, right now, to make this.
So why are you still sitting there? GO CREATE!
Photo from Happy Together
After the ice and snow we’ve had over the past few days, I’ve been in the mood for a springy-fresh craft or two. And look what I found! A precious little petal covered backpack, made with items you could probably find at a dollar store! No sewing required, just a inexpensive child’s backpack, a package of silk rose petals, and a glue gun.
Go to Happy Together for the tutorial. Can’t you imagine your sweetie sporting this oh-so precious number? Oh, the cuteness of it all!
Well, my heart was in the right place when I wrote my post last week about MLK Day, but my planning skills…another story.
I had intended to volunteer at the Arkansas Foodbank Network for a few hours this afternoon to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I had also spoken to my son’s teacher about a little service project the kids could do at school for MLK Day.
Well, it goes to show that when you have more than one adult helping to plan, things usually will work out.
My Pollock-in-training's handiwork
I don’t know about you, but I get REALLY excited about my kiddo’s artwork. I study the washable-paint swirls, looking for the makings of an artsistic genius lurking in those messy masterpieces.
I hate to part with anything he’s colored/painted/drawn, so when the pile was so high that the husband began to drop hints like, “Is that really necessary?” I had to come up with a new idea.
He does the majority of his painting on an art easel with a roll of paper, so most of his art ends up measuring 18 by 20 inches. That is just enough paper to wrap a box!
So I took all of his loose artwork and rolled them together, and put them with my rolls of wrapping paper. When I use one for a gift, I try to center the top of the box on a colorful part of the paper for maximum impact. I don’t add any ribbons or bows, and either write the child’s name on the box or attach a gift tag.
I love this idea threefold: it goes along with my 3 R’s obsession, it showcases my budding Signac at work, and allows me to continue to hoard. What more could I want?
Getting started in the money game
We decided to start giving the kiddo a few chores to do around the house on a daily/weekly basis, just to get him into the swing of responsibility. In return, we started to give him a very small weekly allowance.
I wanted to be sure he got the concept of saving, giving and spending. About a year ago, he and I made a giving jar, so I grabbed two more glass jars from my stash for a saving and spending jar. Note that the spending jar is the smallest one…I did that on purpose. I just slapped some white labels on the new ones and BOOM, you’ve got allowance jars.
I have a friend whose family has made a pact to create at least one homemade gift for each other this Christmas. Inspired, I decided to go out on the search for some very easy and inexpensive gift ideas, using items you might already have on hand.
I have told you of my love of Blue Cricket Designs (remember the Halloween Ornaments? FABULOUS!) so I was not surprised to find this fun little item on her site: Holiday Clothes Pins! It is a very easy project and can be done with a few supplies, by you or your kids. As she mentions, you can use them to make a garland of Christmas Cards, or put magnets on the back to use on the fridge. If you do not have scrapbook paper at home, tear out colorful magazine pages instead…Reuse, one of the 3 R’s!
Leigh Austin believes crafting in the home should be encouraged as a way to bond with your kids and feed your creative side as well. She hopes to provide imaginative and simple ideas for you to yourself or with your family. Enjoy! Read more.
