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Multiples and More: Valentine's Day Craft

 

 

Are you already crafting for Valentine's Day?  We are.  Today I'm sharing how to make this simple Valentine's Day necklace over at Multiples and More. 

As seen on:

Twin Life Magazine

Tutorial: Hair Clip Holder

Rummaging around in boxes looking for hair clips each morning was becoming time consuming and frustrating.  Little Miss is very particular, she knows what she wants to wear and if she cannot find what she is looking for, let's just say that our mornings don't run as smoothly as they should.

So over the past few days I made her this hair clip organizer:

She is thrilled with it.

It's very simple to make.  Here's how you do it.

Steps 1-3

Paint a canvas - you can see that I added a few colors to mine.  Tip: Need a canvas? Aaron Brothers currently has them 50% off.  The main color I used is called Sunbaked Orange (Glidden Tester).  I did two coats, then popped a few strokes of white and gray over the top, then added a final coat of the orange.

Using a staple gun, attach a variety of pretty ribbons around the canvas.

Steps 4-6

Use assorted brads across the front of the ribbon to stop it from sagging once clips are hung on it. I did a combination of beige circles, gold stars, and apricot flowers (it's what I had on hand).

Next use eye screws and pretty ribbon along the top for hanging.

Make a little sign to go up the top.  I used a small scrapbooking frame that came with gold brads.  I switched out the brads for small gold screws, printed the 'clips' sign from my computer onto patterned scrapbook paper, and used glue to attach it to the back of the frame before screwing it on.

And there you have it.  A hair clip organizer.

AS SEEN ON:

Blissfully Domestic ... Firefly Designs

This post linked to:

Wood Crafts For Kids (and a giveaway)

UPDATE:  This giveaway has ended.  The two winners chosen via random.org were Secret Mommy and Bridget.

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It's summer and we are all looking for ways to entertain our little ones over this long vacation time. I'll be bringing you lots of fabulous ideas over the coming weeks, that are not only practical but are sure to keep those little fingers and minds busy.

First up, I was asked to review and host a giveaway for the Creativity For Kids Classic Wood Crafts kit.  I'm sure you all know of my love for Creativity For Kids products, they are of great quality and each of the kits I've received from them has been put to great practical use, as opposed to some other craft kits, which are just that ... crafts.  You know the ones, you wonder what on earth you are going to do with them once the kids have made them. 

Anyway, I immediately agreed to do the review and giveaway because, well it's wood and I love wood crafts (my dad is a woodcarver by trade - did you know that?).   I knew that I had already received the kit from them previously though when I was working as a Creativity For Kids Ambassador, but with moving, it had been packed up into boxes and was already at the new house when they had contacted me, so I had them send another thinking it could take me weeks to find the first kit.  Well low and behold, whilst I was rummaging in boxes to find my box of clay to use for one of the ideas I'd had, I came across the original kit.  So then my ideas broadened and the kids and I set to work making a variety of projects.  I think that this has been one of their favorite kits so far as there are endless possibilities.

While I was working at my computer one morning, I found Flynn doing this:

Without any instruction or direction from me, my alphabet obsessed boy decided to turn the various popsicle sticks into letters of the alphabet.  Imagine using this as a learning tool.  Give your child words to spell, or even simple math problems.  What a great homeschooling tool.

I wanted my ideas for this kit to be 'out of the box', because when you look at the packaging there really are a ton of ideas on there already, so I wanted to come up with something a little different to show you how many more ideas are out there.

Marisol came up with the next craft project.  She saw the beads in the box and immediately wanted to make jewelry. So I set her up with the eco-friendly paints and a handful of beads and she got to work painting them.

Next, it was my turn to come up with a craft project.

When we moved into our house last week we discovered that AT&T U-Verse has a Barbie Channel.  Marisol was hooked.  They have a memory matching game on there where you have to turn over 2 matching game pieces and it eventually makes a puzzle.   So naturally I decided to make a matching game for the kids.  They are at the perfect age for games and puzzles and do them every day at home.  Marisol is the Bingo champion.  She really is.  Of course though I don't have my box of stamps here to stamp the little wooden discs I wanted to use (they are arriving on the next truck with more of my craft room supplies).  So I decided to make stamps first. 

My idea was to glue some clay to the top of the wooden blocks and imprint an image in each which when stamped would re-create it.  I couldn't find my box of clay though, but did have packets of Model Magic on hand, so willing to try anything out, I gave it a whirl.  Keep in mind that Model Magic takes 72 hours to air dry, but it makes for a fun little project.

To make these stamps, roll a small ball of Model Magic and attach it with a little of the glue provided in the Classic Wood Crafts kit onto the wood block.  Then very gently with your finger, flatten the ball out, the glue will spread across the block at the same time to ensure that it attaches evenly.   Next, imprint each one with an image, words or numbers.  I used a number of different items to make the imprints - small items from my daughters dolls house, lego pieces, buttons, fondant cutters and I even bought a little $1 stamp kit from Michaels to make a cute bird imprint on one.

I put these aside to harden and then purchased a few assorted $1 mini stamp pads from Michaels.  Once they were firm, I stamped each of the wooden discs to make matching game pieces.  You can keep building on this collection to make the game harder for the kids.  The Classic Wood Crafts kit also comes with a black marker, so I used this to add detail to a couple of the discs (a leaf for the apple and a eye for the bird).

And the game?  Was a big hit with the kids.  They even took it in turns to turn over and re-arrange the discs for the other one to play the game.

Again, in keeping with my theme of making practical crafts that we could use, and Marisol seeing that we could make flowers (there's a picture on the box), I suggested to her that we make a banner for her bedroom.  She loved this idea.  So I asked her to choose a few colors and then paint each of the petals and center circles.  Of course she decided that she wanted to paint some of her flowers orange, and there was no orange in the paint supplied, but that was easily fixed as I mixed a little red and white into the yellow tub.  She was thrilled.

Once the paint was dry, I glued the flowers together and again set them aside to dry.  Now I had to figure out how to turn these into a banner.  There was a lovely green cord in the box so I knew I wanted to use that (you know, as if it were a stem for the flowers), but after a couple of failed attempts, I finally realized I could re-use the corrugated cardboard from the box, so I cut circles out of it and then glued them to the back of each flower with the cord running through the center.  It worked perfectly.

Then once set completely, we hung her pretty banner onto her bed.  She loves it.

AND NOW I HAVE A GIVEAWAY TO SHARE

Would you like your own Classic Wood Crafts kit?  

• As you can see, from wood bits to glue, you will have everything you need for hours of creative crafting (contents may vary slightly) ... plus, there's a great storage bag to keep all of your small pieces secure 
• Go green! The lid becomes a mess free crafting solution and the box can be reused to display your creative creations.
• Eco-Paint...this special formula is earth-friendly and kid approved.
• Teacher’s Pick Award Winner
• Ages 5 and up
• $29.99

It's simple to enter.  Answer this question in the comments:

What would you like to make with this kit?

This giveaway is open to all residents of the US over the age of 18 and ends on Monday June 13th at 10pm PST.   TWO winners will be drawn via random.org.

Creativity For Kids are on Facebook and Twitter.  Follow them to keep up with all the latest news.

 

Disclosure: I received a Classic Wood Crafts kit to review.

Simple Hair Accessories

A little while ago I was wandering the aisles of Michaels looking for inspiration for future projects when I found some packets of Recollections floral embellishments on sale for $1.99 each.  I purchased 3 packets - the Mariposa Sheer Rosettes and two packets of the large floral embellishments, I then pulled some bobby pins and hair clips out of our seemingly endless stash, and with my trusty glue gun in hand set to work making more hair accessories for Miss M ... because apparently she doesn't have enough already.

Okay, and there is a chance I may have kept just a couple of these for myself too.

That's 20 pretty flower clips for $5.97.  This is a great way to bring new life to your old plain hair accessories.

These would also make a lovely party favor for a little girls birthday party, just pop a set of hair clips into a little pouch.  This makes a much nicer gift than a bag full of candy and little toys.

 

As seen on:

Modern Parents Messy Kids

TOMS Shoes: Painted and Personalized

Don't you just love TOMS shoes?

I recently purchased a pair for Marisol and took to them with some Elmer's Painters Markers.  You might remember I used these markers on the Invisible Nasties Felt Creations I made for the kids.

To say that she loves her new shoes is an understatement.

She wears this outfit all the time, it's by far her favorite, so to have a cool new pair of shoes to match, she was over the moon. 

To decorate them I simply sketched a rough draft of what I wanted to paint on the shoes, then I painted one section of the shoes plain black.  I know that sounds strange seeing as the shoes are black, but it gave the shoes a two-toned look.  Then I painted the image of the butterfly onto one shoe, and a motion swirl onto the other shoe so it appeared that the butterfly was flying across the shoes.  Then I added a little bling to the butterfly wings and put them out in the sun to dry.

Today I had to go back to the same store and purchase my teen a pair of exactly the same shoes.  He thinks their cool.  I've put them aside for Easter.  Shhhh.   Thankfully he doesn't read my blog.

Did you know that TOMS give a pair of new shoes to a child in need for every pair of TOMS shoes purchased? 

Also on April 5 is TOMS One Day Without Shoes campaign.  Go barefoot for the day and support children in need.

 

AS SEEN ON:

World of Handmade

 

Disclosure:  I was compensated for this TOMS and Elmer's Painters Markers project for Collective Bias

Laptop Bag Makeover

Amongst my many purchases this past week at Marshalls (because honestly how can you not purchase a closet-full of clothing at their prices), were a dress and a laptop bag.  I spent $34 on both of these items combined.

This is the dress:

Cute.  But not my style and really did nothing for my body type.  I didn't purchase it to wear it though.

Instead I set to work pulling it apart:

First, I removed the lovely flower arrangement.  Then ...

stitched a bead inside each flower.

A little hot glue and hand stitching (for reinforcement) and we have:

a funky new laptop bag, just for me.

Handmade Yarn Bangle

A while ago I purchased a lovely spring scarf.  The scarf came on a plastic ring and being the hoarder that I am I knew I could make something with it.

It turned out to be the perfect size for a bangle for me.  Yes, that's right Marisol, mummy is making jewelry for herself ... can you see her pouting.

This was super easy to make and I was able to get it finished while supervising Marisol's bath time.  All you need is a plastic ring and yarn.  I used Lion Brand Homespun Windsor which I found in my yarn stash.  This is also a fantastic project for using up those bits and pieces of yarn you have leftover from projects.

To make: put a little glue, I used Elmer's Craft Bond Fabric & Paper Glue, on the inside of the ring, attach the end of the yarn and then very tightly wind the yarn around.  You will need to stop every now and then and push the yarn toward the beginning, this will keep it nice and tight and prevent gaps from appearing.  Put a little glue at the end and wrap the final piece of yarn around.

Beaded Bracelets

The twins and I made these beaded bracelets for the girls in their preschool class for their upcoming Friendship Tea on Valentine's Day.

Want to make some too?  Head on over to Multiples and More (where I'm the new monthly craft contributor) for the detailed tutorial.

Now to start crafting a little something for the boys in the class too.

 

This post linked to:

 

5 Minute Halloween Hair Accessories

All you need:

• Embellishments - generally found in the scrapbook area of a craft store.   The ones I purchased were a 3 pack of Michael's Recollections for $3.99.
• Hair clips
• Headbands
• Hot glue gun

The steps are simple.

Take your hot glue gun and attach the embellishment to your hair clip or headband.  That's it!

This post linked to:

 

As seen on:

Tip Junkie

Jewelry Organizer for Kids

Marisol has a lot of trinket boxes.  Trinket boxes that are continually knocked over, empty, broken or aren't used to serve their purpose, which was to keep her jewelery organized.  So I decided to make her a hanging organizer, which so far she loves and her jewelery remains on it ... for the time being.

 
This was very simple to make and I had nearly all of the materials required on hand in my stash, which I had picked up on clearance at some time.  The only item I needed was the beautiful rose ribbon to hang the organizer - it was also the most expensive item used at $3.99 for this small piece at Beverly's.

Here is how I made it.

The above frame and pegs I had purchased on clearance at (I think) Michaels a long time ago for $1 each.

I glued the pegs to the frame using Elmer's wood glue and then painted the entire item white.

Then using an old loom (which I haven't used since I was in elementary school), I made a piece to fill the center of the frame so that her brooches (pins) would have somewhere to call home.

Then I cut some images from scrapbook paper and using mod podge adhered them to the frame.  I then added some hooks to use for bangles, bracelets and rings.  Added the ribbon on top.  And viola.