kiddo crafts

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.

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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.

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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.

Photo from Blue Cricket Design

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! 

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Pinecone crafts are so fun and easy, and just perfect for this time of year. Take a walk outside with the kids and gather a basket full, then come inside, make some hot chocolate and sit down for some crafting.

Click on the photos to go to their tutorials. Thanks to Tara for the craft link!

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Familyfun.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

To go with our Thanksgiving placemats, I found some very festive turkey napkin ring craft ideas on several websites. And, surprise! They are made with toilet paper rolls! Gotta love it.

Anyway, you can go here for the instructions for the cutie one in the picture, found on the Babycenter.com website.

The Familyfun.com site has a tutorial on how to make a turkey napkin ring using small craft spoons and…you guessed it…a toilet paper roll.

And if you don’t feel like painting and coloring, go here to print off a template you can cut out of some turkey napkin rings from Familycrafts.about.com.

photo from Parents.com

Ran across this super-cute placemat on Parents.com website. What a great and EASY craft to whip up with your kids for the big T-day!

I can also see some seriously cute handprint turkeys on these….

Photo from the Craftzine.com blog

Marie LeBaron with the Craftzine.com blog posted a super easy and kid friendly tutorial for cute little paper bag luminariesfor you to use to line your sidewalk and driveway on Halloween night! You don’t have to use scissors, just have your kids decorate the bags with clear stickers for a ghoulish glow.

Marie is a mama herself and also has her own blog called Make and Takes, with great tips and projects for you and your kids.

I have been slowly decorating for Halloween over the past few weeks, and I had an idea the other day as I was digging through our storage shed. I caught sight of my mini Christmas trees and thought…”wouldn’t they look so cute decorated for Halloween?”

I have a white feather tree, and thought it would look adorable covered in little ghosts. So what did I have around the house to use for little ghosts…ah ha! Kleenex, cotton balls, yarn and a marker. Easy little kleenex ghosts!

Made in 3 steps:

Step 1

Place the cotton ball in the center of the kleenex.

Step 2

Gather the kleenex around the cotton ball and tie off with a piece of yarn, about 12″.

Step 3

Using a marker, color eyes on the ghost’s head.

Optional step 3a

Fly the ghost around the room while making spooky noises.

Little ghosts!

Here they are hanging on my mini Christmas tree! I had some Halloween fabric hanging around so I wrapped it around the bottom of the tree to add some color.

The kiddo's ghost has a belly button.

I kept the strings long because I thought they would be cute tied together and hung as a garland if I changed my mind about the tree. But I like the tree, so it is here they will fly!

Have a spooky day-

Leigh