DIY cookie cutter. I wanted to make camel-shaped cookies this week, but couldn't find a camel-shaped cookie cutter in time. So I made my own. If you're making a small batch of cookies, it is faster and easier to make a tape-covered/laminated template, and trace it with a knife. For larger batches, however, this method is very satisfying and worth the effort. On Monday, while waiting to use the school's photocopy machine, I noticed one of my daughter's teachers making copies of a simple camel graphic. It was meant to be! To measure the length of the outline's perimeter, I took a few pipe cleaners/chenille stems and outlined the shape. After completing the shape in pipe cleaners, I straightened them to get the measurements.
My camel needed 31" of cutter material. I used the bottom of a pair of half-size steam table pans for the template, and the sides as the cutter edge. . It's best to have at least one spare pan, to avoid the stress of limited materials. This is the top: Make the Second Foil Sandwich. Pinatas. DIY Honeycomb Pinata Favors by Michaela Egger Jordan is most definitely the queen of pinata crafting! I loved her mini pinata favors so much! I thought I’d come up with a slightly more simple pinata favor DIY.
Click through for materials & instructions! (more…) Mini Ghost Piñatas DIY By Kathleen Ballos When I look back at the Halloweens of my childhood, I’d have to admit that the candy was my favorite part. (more…) Pineapple Party Invitation by Kitiya Palaskas I love the idea of giving my guests something a little different at my next summer party. Click through for instructions… (more…) Huge Giveaway with Splendid! Have you heard about the Crafting Community event at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs? Here is the best part, Oh Happy Day is teaming up with our favorite striped clothing company, Splendid to give a reader the chance to win a trip for 4 to Crafting Community plus a $500 Splendid gift card!
Ps: We made these mini pinatas favors inspired by the Crafting Community event. (more…) (more…) Nature Sun Catcher Craft. Take your family for a walk and collect flat treasures and then bring them home and create a colorful sun catcher out of them. It is easy to do with wax paper, wax paper, and some crayon shavings.Age Guideline: 3 Years and Up Time Required: 30 minutes (Does not include drying time) The above age and time guidelines are estimates. This project can be modified to suit other ages and may take more or less time depending on your circumstances. Materials Needed: Instructions: Go for a family walk and gather small, 'flat' items such as leaves of different shapes and colors, grass, small flowers, and clovers. Make sure you do not pick flowers, leaves or grass from anyone's yard without their permission.
Cut out two matching pieces of wax paper for each sun catcher you and your child want to make. Lay down one piece of wax paper on your ironing board. Lay the second piece of wax paper on top so your child's nature finds are sandwiched between the two pieces of wax paper. Natural dye for homemade playdough. Raspberries Put a big handful of raspberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half).
Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below Rose petals Roughly tear up the petals from about six red roses and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below. Beetroot Chop up one medium sized beetroot and put in pan with a cup of water.
Blueberries Put a big handful of blueberries and a cup of water in a pan. Turmeric Put approx two teaspoons of turmeric in a pan with a cup of water. Oak tree bark Put a big handful of oak tree bark in a pan with a cup of water (its best not to take it directly from the tree – if you scout around you will find plenty on the ground). Celery Painting Tutorial. A couple years ago I got this idea for painting with celery. I was cutting up some celery & was about to throw the uneatable bits away when I stopped & said, "Oh my goodness! This looks like a rose!
" And so I painted a tablecloth the next day! This morning I went to the fabric store & picked up some natural muslin at 99cents a yard. Next I sewed up the edges to finish it off. Ok, here I am really sewing it. I used a bright pink thread for a fun little contrast. The only ingredients you need for this project are celery, acrylic paint & a foam brush thingie. Cut the base of the celery off. Here's a little hint. You'll also want to use the little celery bits in the center of the stalk.
If your celery rose "stamp" is damp at all, just dab it with a paper towel to remove the excess moisture. Before I painted, I laid down some garbage bags underneath the fabric. Use your foam brush thingie to dab paint onto the celery. Then, firmly push the celery onto your fabric. Here's my mess! Dollar Store Crafts & Blog Archive & Make an Alien Abduction Lamp. This is an entry in the Living With Lindsay Five Dollar Challenge! The challenge was to make a home decor item for $5 or less. My project is inspired by Lasse Klein's conceptual Alien Abduction Lamp. The lamps are still being developed and are not available for sale yet.* (update 2010: oh yes, the lamp is now available).
I thought it would be fun to make one for my own personal use out of materials I found at the dollar store. When I was shopping for materials, I couldn't find any toy cows (a cow has to be the one being messed with by the aliens, right?) That had a cow in it at Target's dollar spot, so I had to get it to make the lamp perfect! Project Materials: Large-lipped bowl, $1Smaller bowl, $.25 (mine was marked down)Acrylic drinking glass, $1Touch light, $1Package of farm animals, $13 Aliens I happened to find in the coin-op machines on the way out, $.75 Total cost: $5 You will also need, from on hand: To make: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Here's the lamp in the daytime. 12 Fall Kids Crafts — my blessed life™ Playhouse closet | Sawdust & Paper Scraps. You might know that I was a finalist in “Not Just A Housewife’s” Best DIY Project of 2011 Contest last week.
There were some great projects in the finalists, including one submitted by BJ of Joy2Journey! The funny thing is that THIS post was set to publish before either of us knew that we were COMPETITORS! She won the prize, and I don’t hold a grudge, so I’ve decided NOT to kick her out of the guest post spot. Teehee. I would never! Anyhoo, BJ had a space under the stairs and wanted to create a playhouse, she didn’t have a recessed area like I did for my Closet Playhouse, and built her playhouse facade right on the wall. Now, without further ado, let me introduce you to BJ, and let her tell you about her amazing project! Hi, I am so excited to share my latest project with you! I am not afraid to tackle “new spaces” so I took the jigsaw to my wall and started cutting!
No worries, I know my limitations, trust me!) To this … I laid down carpeting with pad. “Joy” Thanks BJ! [/box] Crayon Nibbles & Crafty Daisies. Exploding Box. Fort building kit. I had one of those "where the heck have I been" moments last week, when my nephew brought his Build-A-Fort kit to Thanksgiving - complete with sheets, clips, rope, suction cups, and more. The kit was a handmade birthday gift from his friend Joli. When I emailed her, she sent me a link to this tutorial over at BLOOM - thanks Joli! ...How did I miss this? Fort building is a wonderful open-ended activity, because it can be played with in a variety of different ways.
I did make one adjustment to the tutorial to cut down on time, and added an accessory bag, but for the most part, my kit is the same. Oh yeah, and I made a custom tag to explain the gift, as well as a matching birthday card using this tutorial. This particular kit was made for a little girl in my son's preschool class. Now to the Thrifty part of the gift... Here is the breakdown: ... so if my math is correct, that comes to $10.00!
To check out the mini-tutorial click the button below: more kits & a great tip! Fort kit in action! Handmade Watercolors. By Michelle Vackar of Hi Mamma With all of the daily activities of running your business it can be difficult at times to relax, decompress and enjoy life. Some people will find their escape in cooking, walking, yoga, reading a good book …really the list can go on and on because we each enjoy different forms of relaxation. Back in my mid-to late twenties, I was working at an advertising/public relations agency and putting in an average of 50-60 hour work weeks. I was not married, no children and my career was my life, but one thing was missing: a time where I pampered myself, doing something that I enjoyed. As a birthday gift, my parents surprised me with a watercolor class at our local art center.
So I was rather quite excited to take the class, although I must admit, at first, it seemed a little odd to be leaving work at 6 p.m. to go take a watercolor class, when I was so much in the habit of working late or taking work home to do. Instructions. Rainbow Crayons. These handmade Rainbow Crayons are a fabulous and easy craft to make for your kids that they will absolutely love!
This is also a creative and fun way to reuse all your broken crayon pieces that collect at the bottom of the bin. This DIY is so easy—it only takes minutes—and the result is very beautiful. The clunky shape is perfect for toddler hands, making it easy for your little to draw and to stack the stubby crayons. Try this indoor activity with you little ones.
Materials: 4 clean tin cans 4 empty Rx pill bottles or film canisters (my local pharmacist gave me a few empty pill bottles for free) old and broken crayons in 4 different colors Instructions: Step 1: Choose one color to start. Step 2: Place the broken crayon pieces (making sure they are all the same color) in a clean tin can. Step 3: Boil some water in a medium saucepan. Step 4: Once the water is boiling, gently place the tin boiling water so the bottom part of the tin can is immersed. Felted Mobile. One of the last handmade touches for the baby's nursery that I finally finished this week was a felt mobile, and I love how it turned out! Felting is one of my favorite art forms, and over the years I've created many kinds of things by agitating, hot, wet wool (kinky, I know) and shaping it into different things.
This time, I used wool (which I buy pre-dyed and ready to work with from here) and felted around a wooden embroidery hoop. I got out a basin, added a bit of dish soap and some really hot water, then shaped the dry wool around the hoop. Using my hands, I gently wet the wool and agitated it, rubbing it around to make the fibers stick together. I also let Soren play too, though not with really hot water.
Kids love this! Once the fibers started to felt together, I wrapped some more wool around the hoop then I wrapped some mesh around it to hold it in place and continued to rub the hoop. Soren and I made some of the beads, but I also used some that I had bought for another project.