Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: In Honor of Earth Day

In honor of yesterday's beautiful holiday, I thought I'd share a few crafts that I found on Instagram and elsewhere that have inspired me to extend the holiday just one more day.

The ever resourceful Dear Pomegranates, of Resolve House, made leaf art and killer toilet paper roll bracelets with her littles. (seen above) And while browsing Resolve House (because until now I've only known her thru IG), I found her amazing stick advent from Christmas. This got me thinking about stick mobiles... which led me to Playful Learning and some gorgeous painted stick mobiles with beads and tassels. Love. And this post on how to bring nature into your littles' craft boxes is so good.

It's officially official. My youngest and I are going on a long nature walk in the morning, with tote bags in hand. Happy nature crafting. xo

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Easter Jars

From salsa jars to Easter jars, I had no idea this project would be so easy... I know, you've seen it a million times on Pinterest, Martha Stewart and everything in between, but man is this project easy and cute. All you need is some empty jars, a few plastic animals from the dollar store and spray paint. Oh, and the ever faithful hot glue gun. How could I forget that?

Simply wash out your jars (remove any labels), hot glue the animals onto your lids and spray paint. I chose 2 sheep and a donkey for Easter...  in honor of The Good Shepherd.

You could fill these jars with anything! My little jars will be in lieu of baskets this year, hence the candy. For the bunny on my bigger jar, I took some left over balsa wood pieces and made a bunny. Once I hot-glued the ears, I wrapped it in yarn. I think it would also be fun to paint it white and turn it into Miffy. (Maybe I'll make that tomorrow, making the ears stand a bit more upright.)

Y'all this project was so fun and easy. I did it in less than an hour - drying time and all.  And when my boys saw them they went nuts! Even the hubs commented. Whoa! That is serious stuff right there and all of it cost me less than $2.00, candy excluded. Hoppy Easter. xo

Easter Hoppenings

When it comes to Easter, I am so behind the 8 ball this year. I have exactly ZERO decorations up. We are preparing for this glorious holiday at church and my bible study, but I want to prepare our hearts through crafting and talking about the reason we celebrate Easter with the boys.  I hope to do a little of that this weekend.

I'm not quite sure how Easter became a holiday of bunnies and chicks when it's really all about the cross and it's saving grace. However, I'll use any cutesy craft, baby bunny and sweet treat necessary to find fun ways to talk with my boys about the new life we have because of Easter and how sweet that gift truly is and always will be.

bunny ears via the house that lars built

 egg hunt signs from world market

bunny basket via mer mag

miffy bunny diy via everything emily | basket in a jar via target

I love so many of these ideas. We'll be doing the basket in a jar for sure and a few washi tape eggs as well. As much as I love finding clever new ways to share truth with my boys, nothing beats a good old fashioned bible and resurrection eggs. How do you share the real meaning of Easter with your littles? 

Hoppy Easter Crafting Weekend - xo

beautiful colorful eggs via handmade charlotte

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Coat Hanger Valentine Banner

Lately, it seems as though I have been losing hair by the handful. This would have zero significance to this post if it weren't for a necessary drain unclogging event that recently took place. After said event, I was left with a brown paper "stick" for lack of a better term. Perhaps rod would be better. Anyway, I decided to use the "rod/stick" to create a Valentine Countdown Banner for the littles.

Materials: 

pant hanger

gold paint

brown craft paper

valentine stamp (found ours at Joann's in the $1.00 bin)

stamp pad

paint

twine

drinking glass

ruler

pencil

hot glue gun

step 1 - remove wire from rod and paint rod gold

step 2 - cut your craft paper down to size for banner (ours is 12" wide and about 16" long)
step 3 - using drinking glass, draw a circle onto your paper (centered towards the top)
step 4 - using your ruler measure spaces around the circle that allows for 14 stamp prints

step 5 - stamp your valentine stamp around the circle 14 times
step 6 - erase pencil markings

step 7 - using your hot glue gun, glue the banner to the "rod"
step 8 - cut your twine to hang your banner and attach to "rod"

step 9 - embellish your twine and banner with washi tape or other decorations (I added a painted heart to the center of our circle and outlined it in gold sharpie)

Starting February 1st, we will tick off the days leading up to Valentine's by coloring in the open hearts on each of the black "Feb 14" stamps. There you have it... an easy peasy Valentine Countdown banner for less than $5.00.

I used to loath Valentine's Day, but now that I have littles to dote all over, I love it. How 'bout you? Fan or Foe? xo

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Cardboard Box to Bunting

Y'all, I've got cardboard floating all over my house right now. I mean, ALL OVER. I went a little crazy, but when making cute decor is this easy and inexpensive, it's kinda hard to stop at just one craft. You know what I'm sayin'? When I showed you guys the diamonds yesterday I promised I would show you the rest of my corrugated follies throughout the remainder of the week. Staying true to my word, I thought I'd show you guys what I did with all those triangles I cut off my diamonds to make my blingy diamonds...

After cutting the triangles red and white, I grabbed my trusty glue gun and twine. Within minutes, I had bunting for my fireplace.

Thank you Amazon shipping department and husband for your purchase. Without you my Christmas decor would have a lot less spice this year. What have you been making this holiday season? xo

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Rainbow Loom DIY

Two words... Rainbow Loom. At our elementary school they are all the rage. When I was little it was shrinky-dinks and friendship pins along with a whole host of others that I'm quite sure killed my parents each time a new fad rolled through. My oldest is all of 8 years old and we've gone through a ton of fads. But as far as crafty fads go, this is new. My son loves, I mean loves, these bracelets. The colors, patterns and limitless creations. Oh my. It's almost too much to bear - without a loom that is. But these precious (plastic) loom kits cost $17.00. And I know that as most toys go, that's pretty cheap, but we are on a tight budget and I have zero idea how long he will actually like these things. Once the trend is over or if the loom breaks, do I just toss it? No thanks.

So after much begging, pleading and a few tears, I thought - "we can make this." We did and it works! If you'd like to try your hand at making your own loom and saving a few dollars, here are the materials you will need...

Materials:

1 wood board/scrap 15" x 4"

ruler

marker

nails (we used carpet tacks)

hammer

Step 1 - mark three lines of dots 1" apart each (dots 1" apart and lines 1" apart)

Step 2 - hammer nails (tacks) in board on each dot

That's it. You're done. You've just made a loom. So easy right? (the "J" and "L" markings are for the different sizes for each of my boys)

Materials needed to make bracelets:
1 crochet hook
1 pack of rubber bands (buy the bands made specifically for the bracelets - it matters, plus they'll want all the colors. we got ours at Joann craft store with a 40% off coupon.)
1 pack of "O" rings - (we used chain mail links because they're thicker than most jump rings)
1 pair of needle nose pliers

We watched videos on youtube to learn how to make them. And to be honest, it was a little rough going at first. But once he got the hang of working with a crochet hook he made over 12 bracelets in 1.5 hours. Uh-huh, it kept his attention that long. I love it! He even learned little tricks to make it easier for him to loom the rubber bands.

You guys, I've gotta say it - I love this craft. He's using his imagination, creativity, math, hand coordination/dexterity. And, he's making them for his friends at school that love them but don't have a loom. Come on! What's not to love here?

What crafty fad did you fall in love with when you were little? xo

Arrgh...

Shiver me timbers! It's National Talk Like A Pirate Day. In honor of this great holiday I will be forced to wear stripes (possibly a patch), say things like "walk the plank" and "swab the deck Matey" and possibly make some piratey crafts with my boys while munching on Pirate's Booty. Possibly.

pirate hat craft via handmade charlotte

bath time might be a repeat of this...

and we might make little pirate drawings like these from MerMag

Quick joke I'll be forced to tell:  "Have you heard there's a new pirate movie coming out?..... Yeah, it's rated Arrrhh." Tell me Matey - arggh you going to celebrate? xo

ohoy ship wallpaper via fine little day

Seeing Stars

As the littles grow, I make daily discoveries about them. My latest? If a craft involves glow-in-the-dark and stickers... they're in. In my box of goodies from Craft Project Ideas, I received glow-in-the-dark foam stickers and some neon fuzzy pom-poms. I thought little banners of glowing stars above the boys beds would be cute and once I shared my idea the boys were stoked. My oldest even added the neon pom-poms. The banner making got so out of control that they each made three banners for above their beds...

 (please excuse the extremely blurry and poor quality images - something was up with my camera's settings.)

I'm pretty sure I've found a winning combination for crafting with my boys: easy, quick, bright colors, neon and tape. Later that night, after our bedtime stories, we turned off all the lights for a little glow fun. Honestly, the stars didn't have a super bright glow but they were glowing none the less and they continue to shine, bringing joy to my boys each night. Success. Thank you Craft Project Ideas! This one was a win! xo

*craft project ideas provided the stickers and pom-poms for this craft.

Glitter Art DIY

Sparkles make me happy. Guess it's the girlie-girl in me. I recently got some wonderful craft items from Craft Project Ideas and got excited over the glitter, because let's face it... as a boy mom I'm usually not buying or crafting with glitter. But I knew right away that I wanted to create some easy art for the new half bath.

Materials needed for this sparkly DIY:

paper (I used watercolor for the texture and the weight)

glue

bowl

glitter

paintbrush

Step 1: pour glue into bowl

My idea was to make brush strokes with glue and then add glitter, but I didn't know if it would work so I did a test run...

(it worked! wish i hadn't added the pink because i like the look of the gold, white and black strokes)

Step 2: dip brush into glue and create desired stroke on paper

Step 3: Add glitter - completely cover glue area, in other words go glitter crazy

 Step 4: Repeat until desired look is achieved

Step 5: Allow glue to dry, shake access glitter off onto paper and place back back into glitter tube
Step 6: frame, if you so desire

I absolutely love how it turned out. A bit of caution for us impatient crafters - allow glue to fully dry and shake access glitter off vigorously. I am going to have to open the frame back up and do some touch-ups. (Patience isn't always my strong suit.) This project turned out so well, I can't wait to make more glitter art. Might make some great gifts too.

*craft project ideas provided the glitter for this DIY project