DIY Memory Board

Welcome Back!

It's a Momma Craft day!

I'm always looking for ways to use the odds and ends around my house, so I'm delighted that this turned out as well as it did. I didn't have to purchase a single thing to make this, and it's going to look great in Hannah's room! This picture really does not do it justice.

What you need:

Cardboard (or any sturdy solid lightweight piece - I used foam core, I've also heard of people using styrofoam)

Fabric large enough to cover the entire surface of the board and wrap to the back (I used one of Hannah's old baby blankets)

Various ribbons

Scissors

Glue Gun

1) Cut your board down to desired size (you can make these small for inside of lockers and attach magnetic tape to the back)

2) Using the hot glue gun, glue one entire side and let set. Pull the fabric taught, and glue the opposite end, repeat with the other sides so that the fabric is pulled and there are no wrinkles or bumps.

3) Glue on the ribbon strips in whatever fashion you'd like. I did one entire angled row, and then did the opposite angles so I could see where everything was going to intersect.

4) Find a few intersecting points, and glue them down, but don't do all of them, that way you can slip in different sized photos and momentos. I glued on iron on appliques to these spots to cover the glue and give it more personality.

That's it! If you used styrofoam, you can put nails in the wall, and then push the board into it. If it's a small locker board, attach some magnetic tape to the back. I don't plan on mounting mine to the wall, but instead resting it against the wall on top of her short but long dresser.

If you have any questions on this project or any others, just let me know by using the comment boxes.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit often!

-Lisa

DIY Straw Toppers

Welcome Back!

This is a fun, easy and inexpensive project that your children will love!

What you need:
Straws
Scissors
Small Printed images - (we did an image search on Google for one of Austin's favorite character's)
Hole punch

1. Find and print out your images - square and rectangle shapes seem to be easy, but get creative here

2. Cut out your images, leaving enough room along the top and bottome to put holes

3. Put a hole at the top and the bottom of each piece, and then insert the straw threw each hole starting at the bottom of the straw (you will probably have to squeeze the straw at the bottom to make it fit), and then push to the top.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this project!

-Lisa

Why Children Need Art Education

Welcome Back!

Everyone in our house is sick right now, and no one wants to do much but sleep :)

That being said, I thought it would be a good time to cover the art education topic. This is under a lot of debate right now, as more and more schools across the country are eliminating the arts in school in order to save money. This is a topic I feel very strongly about for a number of reasons, and was shocked when it sparked a debate between my husband and myself. He didn't feel it was an important part of the educational system "at least for little kids" to use his words exactly. So I started looking up information on the topic (becuase for some reason he can't take what I have to say about the subject as truth because I'm "too emotionally involved with it" to use his exact words again, lol).

Well, I came across this article and I think it does a great job of explaining exactly why children thrive from art education in grade school.

Here's a small portion from the National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign talking about some of the benefits of art education in grade school:

(your child is) "4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement


3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools

4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair

3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance"
 
Please visit the site for a more compelling list of reasons your child needs an art education: http://www.artsusa.org/public_awareness/

This is what my site is all about, and part of the reason I upload a new project each day. I hope that this can be used as a resource for many.

Would you like to share something on this topic? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

-Lisa

ABC Valentine

Welcome Back!

This is a great way to practice begining reading skills with younger children. Just write someone's name vertically, and then horizontally next to each letter, find an adjective that describes that person. Austin and I had a great time coming up with words that describe his "Nana".

What you need:

Construction paper
Scissors
Marker
Any extras you'd like to use to decorate the heart

1. Fold the sheet of construction paper in half, and cut out half of a heart along the fold so that when you open it up, you'll have a symetrical heart.

2. Write the person's name vertically, then you and your child can think of adjectives for that person that start with the begining letter.

3. Decorate!

That's it, and I'm sure the recipient of this Valentine will absolutely love it :)

Thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to come back soon, I publish a new craft or art project every day.

-Lisa

DIY Wooden Bookmark

Welcome Back!

Sometimes when I'm flipping threw a magazine, I come across something that catches my eye because I have one of those "I could do that!" moments. That's where this project came from, and I thought it was a cute idea - the real ones sell for about $6 I think. This one set me back about $.82 with tax because I had everything else on hand. This project is definetly for older children, and would make for a really cute gift too.

What you need:

Stamp
Ink pad
Thin rectangular sheet of wood (I didn't do a thing to this piece execpt sand the edges)
Ultra-fine sand paper
Ultra-thin tip black pen/marker (I used Micron at 0.2 cm)
Markers

1. Sand away any rough edges.

2. Choose your stamp, and then stamp the image onto the wood lightly. Take your thin tip marker and outline anything you want to show up black.

3. Color in any areas you want to have color in with marker.

That's it! You can also free-form draw your image - I did that with the heart in mine. Don't be afraid to improvise, and be creative. If you're going to give one away as a gift, you could also write a poem or note on the other side.

Don't forget to sign up for a free daily email subscription to this blog so you don't miss a thing!

Let me know how yours turns out, leave me a comment :)

Have a great day everyone!
-Lisa

Primary Color Mixing

Welcome Back!

This is a great project for learning about color mixing, and how combining colors creates new colors. My son loved it, and kept singing that he was a "fantastic artist", lol.

What you need:
Acrylic Paint in Red, Blue and Yellow (the primary colors)
Paintbrush
Dixi cups or plate
Paper sheets
Water to clean the brush

1. Put each color of paint in a seperate cup or in seperate piles on a plate

2. Allow your child to mix and experiment with colors on the paper - explain what different colors are made by mixing.

Did you try this one? Let me know, I love to hear that our projects are being done! Don't forget to subscribe to my free daily emails so you don't miss a thing.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Lisa

Valentine Cones

Welcome Back!

Happy Monday everyone! This afternoon we put together these Valentine's Day cones to hold candy or treats. They are super simple to assemble.

What you need:

1 sheet of construction paper

2 pipe cleaners

Hole punch

Tape

Stickers, markers, paint, and/or glitter

1. Make a cone shape out of the construction paper by rolling it up at a diangle and taping it down to secure.

2. Trim any jagged edges at the top with the scissors, and puch two holes directly across from each other.

3. Twist together the pipe cleaners and then attach each end to each hole in the cone by looping and twisting it threw.

4. Have your child decorate however they please.

That's it!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Don't forget to subscribe to daily emails so you don't miss a thing!

Have a great day,

Lisa :)

DIY Baby Pants

Welcome Back Everyone!

It's Sunday, which means it's a Momma Craft day! I love this one, but can not claim it as mine :) Not too long ago I stumbled upon a great site called makebabystuff.com that's filled with lots of fun ideas. One of them is a super simple, free project to make baby pants. I tried it out and was done in 30 minutes start to finish. You can try it out for yourself here.

I'm putting this up here for two reasons, one because I think it's a great find, and two, because I put my own spin on it. Instead of buying new fabric, I used an old pair of my husband's jeans and added my own details to make it girly for my daughter. For this example, I used one of Hannah's baby blankets (she never grew attached to them, but did fall in love with her raggy pig). I love some of the blankets she has, and I just can't bear to get rid of them. I had left over fabric from her blanket that I'll be turning into a heat/ice pack. Come back again for that project!

The picture at the top was one of Hannah's old blankets, I just finished this tonight and love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Have a great night!
-Lisa

About Me

Welcome!
My name is Lisa. I am a wife, mother of 2, designer, personal trainer and waitress - whew! I have a B.F.A. in Design, and once my youngest starts school, I will be pursuing a Master's in Art Education for K-12.

When I first started this blog, my intentions were to provide other parents with art projects for their children. And while this is still true, it has also evolved into all sorts of art projects, green living, recipes, and much more.

Lately, I have found myself completely wrapped around creating something new with something old, worn out, or about to get thrown away. A lot of times, these are things around my house, and many times, these are thrifted items. I love thrift stores, garage sales, and craigslist - and a lot of my projects and inspiration come from these.

At some point (hopefully soon), I will be opening an etsy store to sell some of my projects, as well as patterns that I have designed.

Please look around, and ask questions if you have any. You can reach me directly at lisa_palubicki(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Thank you for visiting, and please come back soon!

Art Board

Welcome Back!

Today we made an art board for Austin to hang is favorite piece of the week on. We needed to find a way to clear out some of the overload of projects and papers we have, so he and I decided on this. He gets to pick one piece he wants displayed, and once he decides to put a different one up, the old one gets stored away. You can attach a piece of magnetic tape to the back to have it hang on the refridgerator.

What you need:

Foam core - any size (or a large piece of cardboard)

Glitter glue or paint

Crafting glue

Cloths pin

1. Cut down the foam core or cardboard to your desired size and shape, then have your child decorate it however they like.

2. Glue the clothes pin to the bottom of the board and allow to dry.

3. Attach magnetic tape to the back, and you're done!

Did you try this? Do you have another idea you would like to share? Leave a comment and let us know.

Be sure to sign up for our daily emails so you don't miss a thing!

Have a great night!

-Lisa

Valentine's Day Napkin Holder

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone! We finished another Valentine's Day project today - it's quick, simple and inexpensive. This will add a festive touch to any table.

What you need:
Pipe cleaners in red, white and pink
A thick dowel rod (or something similar to wrap the braided pipe cleaners around)

1. Take three pipe cleaners (pink, white and red), and hold them together in your hand so that they are all even with each other, and twist one end tightly to hold them in place.

2. Braid the pipe cleaners together and then twist tightly at the end to secure the braid.

3. Wrap this around the dowel rod to get a good shape, and you're done!

That's it!

Did you enjoy this project? Let me know, leave a comment.

Don't forget to subscribe to the daily emails so that you won't miss a project - we do a new one every day.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!
-Lisa :)

Felt Finger Puppets

Welcome Back!

Austin has been on a huge reptile kick lately, so I wanted to try and incorporate that into a project. We decided to make him a snake felt puppet, and a monster with a mohawk for Hannah. I stuck to just felt for my daughter because she is only one - Austin's had a little more add ons.

What You Need:
Felt squares - any color depending on what you want to make
Needles and thread (or craft glue - I didn't want to wait for it to dry)
Scissors
Any add-ons you'd like - we used blue glitter glue for the snakes eyes
Black permanent marker - for details

1. Cut out a piece of felt for the body of the puppet (3.5 x2.5) and fold in half to sew two of the three edges together. If you want to give your puppet hair like hannah's, cut out a small piece of felt the same width as the folded felt, and as tall as you want for the length of hair. place inside of the folded felt and line up the edges so that it's tucked inside and you can not see it (this way when you turn it inside out, the hair will pop up. To make a mohawk, stitch along both the length (top) and one side of the height - the hair needs to be put in place before you sew the puppet together.

2. Turn inside out and you should have the body. Now decorate however your child pleases, and trim the hair half way down to give it a spiky look.

That's it! It took us about 10 minutes to make the puppets, and the kids had a great time with them.

Did you like this project? Be sure to subscribe to daily emails so you don't miss out on anything.

Please come back often, I'm always adding new projects.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

Valentine Cupcake Flower Card

Welcome Back!

I saw a picture of this project in the February edition of Better Homes and Gardens for this year and wanted to try it. I think it turned out pretty cute, and these can double for both a Valentine card, or a decoration.

What You Need:

2 Sheets of 8.5 x 11 Card Stock in any colors you wish

Paper cupcake liners (I used Valentine themed liners)

Scissors

Decorative edge scissors

Photographs of your children

Green felt

Craft Glue

1. Cut both sheets of card stock in half, then take the two sheets you want to use for the top layer and cut a decorative edge around it. You can do this by hand, or using specialized scissors. Glue together

2. Cut out a stem and leaf shapes and glue to the top sheet of paper.

3. Glue the back of a cupcake liner to the paper at the top of the felt stem to create the flower.

4. Cut out the pictures of your children in a circle shape and glue to the inside of the cupcake liner.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this craft - there will be more tomorrow.

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Thank you for stopping by!

Have craft ideas you'd like to see here? Let me know!

-Lisa :)

MLK Hand Wreath

Happy MLK Day Everyone!

Today we did a quick but fun MLK project. In our hand wreath, we chose three different colors and outlined both Austin and Hannah's hands. Austin glued everything together.

What you need:
Construction paper
Pencil
Paper plate
Glue stick
Scissors

1. Stack sheets of construction paper directly on top of each other (however many colors you wish to use), and then trace your child's hand.

2. Depending on their age, have you child cut out the hands (for younger children, you should do the cutting).

3. Cut out a large hole in the middle of the paper plate.

4. Glue the hands on the plate in whatever fashion you and your child choose.

That's it!

I hope you found this post useful today.

Please come back again tomorrow for another project - we're doing another Valentine.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

DIY Easy Knit Tulip Skirt

Welcome Back!

It's Sunday, which means it's a Momma Craft day.

You will need to know how to knit, but it is a beginner project. If you don't know how to knit, check out this website. I taught myself how to knit in a day following their video demonstrations. And I'm sure with a bit of practice, you'll be able to do this project in no time at all!

What you need:
12 inch circular needle, U.S. size 6
1 skein of yarn (I had just enough with 100g/3.5 oz)
1/4" width piece of elastic for the waistband
Large plastic needle for finishing
Ruler or measuring tape


1. First, you need to decide how large in inches you want the bottom of the skirt to be. The larger it is, the more dramatic it will be. Cast on about 8 to 10 stitches and then measure to see how many stitches are in an inch. Take the number of stitches in an inch and multiply that by how many inches you want the bottom to be, and that's how many stitches you need to cast on total. I think I started at 186 stitches and my daughter is in 18-24 month clothing.


2. Do three rows, knitting in the round, before you start to decrease. After the third row, decreasing by 5 stitches for each row - keeping them spaced out. Do this until your skirt is about 3 to 4 inches in length.


3. Decrease by 10 stitches for the next three rows.


4. Now you will have the flared part finished and you need to start making the body of the skirt. To do this, knit one, then knit two together and repeat until the body of the skirt is narrow enough to fit loosely over the hip and thigh area.


5. Continue to knit in the round (do not decrease anymore stitches) until the skirt has reached your desired length, and then knit about 4 to 5 more rounds to accommodate the waistband.


6. Take the elastic and measure the width of your child's waist and trim to size. Thread the elastic threw the large plastic needle and weave it in between stitches a half an inch from the top. You can either tie the two ends together when they meet, or sew them together.


7. Finally, sew closed the waist band using your yarn and the the plastic needle, and weave in loose ends.


There you have it! A quick and easy skirt that's cute and warm in the winter when paired with leggings. You can get creative with this and add embellishments like ribbons or flowers - anything you want.


I hope you found this helpful!
Let me know what you think, and don't forget, you can subscribe to this daily blog for free by clicking on the link to the right.


Have a great night everyone!
-Lisa

DIY Art Deco Canvas Bag

Hi Everyone!

I'm really excited to share this project with all of you. This is something I used to do with my mom when I was younger. She has TONS of artsy tricks up her sleeve that I'll be sharing with all of you over the next few weeks - I'm sure she won't mind.

To do this project, all you need to do is decide on an image you like (you can draw it yourself directly onto the freezer paper, or you can cut the freezer paper down to 8.5 x 11" and print out a design).

This project is much easier than it looks, so let's get started!

What you need:

Art work - design your own or find some online and print it out

Freezer paper

Exacto knife

Iron & Ironing board

Cutting board, mat or thick magazine

Fabric paint or Acrylic paint

Canvas Bag

1. Decide on your design. For the bag above, I had my son sit down at the computer with me and come up with what he wanted. I used my design software, but you could very easily find a .jpeg image and copy and past it into a word document.

2. Once you have your design ready, cut down a piece of freezer paper to 8.5 x 11 and then you'll be able to print you image directly to the paper (just make sure the side getting printed on is the paper side and not the wax side, or you'll have an inky mess).

3. Using an exacto knife, cut out all of the areas where you want to have color filled in - I cut out all of the shadow sections to make the image above.

4. Turn your iron on it's highest cotton setting, and place the freezer paper design wax side down on the canvas bag so that the paper side is what will be coming in contact with your iron. You don't want the wax side touching the hot iron, you'll ruin your iron.

5. Press firmly with the iron until the paper is set to the fabric.

6. Paint over the image in any color you like. The wax paper is sealed to the fabric, so the paint will not bleed.

7. Allow to dry completely - probably overnight. I made the mistake of taking the paper off too soon with this bag, so some of my edges are not perfectly formed.

That's it! Now you have a completely customized canvas bag that you can use for shopping, to carry books, for the gym, to hold toys and much more. Get creative with this one, you don't have to stop with just one color. You can layer colors and designs, just be sure to allow each color to dry completely before adding the next.

What do you think? Did you try this one? Let me know how it turned out...

Thanks again everyone and have a great night!

-Lisa

Hungry Valentine Monster

Welcome Back!

Our project today is this Hungry Valentine Monster. This a great place for your child to put all of his or her valentine's from school and friends - he'll gobble them up :)

I found this project at familyfun.com

I improvised a bit because we didn't have all of the supplies they called for.

To make our monster you need:

An empty tissue box (square or rectangle would work - one would just have a wider grin)

Construction paper

Tape

Scissors

A pen

Pipe cleaners

White felt

1. Tear out the plastic in the top of the tissue box so that it's just the cardboard oval.

2. Cut out two larger white circles (about 1.5 inches in diameter), and then two black circles much smaller to make the pupils of the monster's eyes. Tape the pupil to the white eye.

3. Take the two pipe cleaners and wrap them around the pen to make a spiral springy pattern and tape each eye to the end of each pipe cleaner.

4. Use the pen to put two small holes in the box for the springy eyes and insert each pipe cleaner and tape inside to secure.

5. Cut out a shape for the nose - we chose a heart because of Valentine's day - and glue to the box, and then cut out jagged white teeth from the felt and glue inside of the oval.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this project. Let me know...

Thanks so much for visiting and be sure to come back soon - a new project is uploaded each day.

-Lisa

Snowflake Hearts

This turned out really cute, and was so simple!

I've seen ornaments hung like this around the holidays, so why not hearts for Valentine's day. To make it a little more crafty, and to add some small motor skills to the project, we made snowflakes from the cut out hearts.

What you need:
Construction paper (we used pink and red)
Scissors
Yarn or ribbon

1. Cut out squares from the construction paper - 1 square for each heart, we did 4

2. Stack the squares on top of each other and fold the pile in half, then cut out the heart shape (making half a heart so that when it's unfolded, it will be uniform) - now all of your hearts should be the same size and shape.

3. Fold each heart in half and then edge to edge to form a cone like shape.

4. Cut out small pieces from the edges in any pattern.

5. Open it up and there's your heart snowflake!

6. Measure out a piece of yarn for each heart that you have - all the same length. Thread a piece of yarn threw one of the holes in the heart, and then tie around the top of your window treatment - or where ever you'd like, and that's it.

We did 2 pink and 2 red hearts, alternating in our windows. It's a nice and subtle Valentine decoration that's fun to make :)

Did you try this one out? Let me know, I love to hear back from everyone!

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back again tomorrow for another project.

-Lisa

Homemade Picture Bookmark

Good Afternoon!

So this was one of those "woops!" projects, lol. It didn't turn out as nicely as I had hoped it would. Austin still had fun making it, and that's what's important.

What you need:

Cardboard
Scissors

Hole punch

Yarn

Pictures and/or cut outs

Glitter Glue or Paint

Markers

1. Cut out the bookmark base from the cardboard and then put a hole using the hole punch at the top center.

2. Have your child draw pictures or designs on the cardboard.

3. Glue on the pictures or cut outs your child chose.

4. Paint on the glitter glue so that it will create a nice gloss over the entire bookmark and let dry

5. Pull and then loop threw the yarn to create the tassells at the top.

That's it!

Please be sure to come back often, a new project is uploaded daily.

You can also subscribe to this blog and get the posts as soon as they're published.

Thanks so much for visiting!

-Lisa :)

Egg Carton Monsters

Welcome Back!

We had a great time making these, and my daughter, who's too young to put one together, had fun putting the sparkly puffs in the egg carton and then dumping them out.

What you need:

Egg carton

Googly eyes

Markers

Pipe cleaners

Glue dots (you can use regular glue, but the dots keep it pretty mess free)

Any extra embellishments your child wants - let them get creative

1. Cut apart the egg carton so that you have individual bowls.

2. Let your child decorate them however they want. To make the antennas for our monsters, I made small holes at the tops, bent a pipe cleaner in half and inserted each end in a hole.

That's it!

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Thanks for reading, and come back again soon!

-Lisa :)

Magnetic Picture Frame

I've decided to start a little early on Valentine's this year so I'm not caught in a mad dash once February rolls around. My son had a great time putting this together, and he already picked out a picture to put in it for my husband.

What you need:

2 Sheets of felt

Scissors

Craft Glue

3 Index cards

Tape

Magnetic Tape

Pen for labeling cut marks

Embellishments (we used glow-in-the-dark self adhesive hearts and swirls)

1.Decide what size you want your frame to be, and cut both pieces to the same size.

2. With your pen, put cut marks where you want the "window" for the picture to be (make sure there will be enough of a ledge so that the picture will remain inside of the frame.

3. Cut out the "window", and put glue on along the outer edges except for the top (see the photo above for an example).

4. Place together and let set.

5. Take the 3 index cards together to form a stable backing for your frame, and then glue a piece of the magnetic tape to the back of these cards. You may have to use a heavy objects to flatten it completely and to help it set. There is an example of this above.

6. Let your child embellish the front of the frame however they want.

7. Once the embellishments are set, glue the non-magnet side of the index cards to the back of the frame and allow to dry.

There you have it! A cute little frame that your child can give as gifts. The colors and themes can change to any season and any design - get creative with it.

Did you enjoy this project?

Let your friends know about it by clicking on the little mail icon at the bottom of this post.

Come back again tomorrow for another project!

Have a great afternoon!

-Lisa

Cloth Napkins

Welcome back!

I'm so excited to say that I have gone three months so far with out needing paper napkins or paper towels. This is not only good for my wallet, but it's also good for the planet, and they look nice - you just can't beat that.

My kids love these too. They are soft enough to clean their faces as well as their hands, and when the meal is over, I just toss them into the washing machine - easy clean up :)

This is such a simple thing to do too. I actually used an old sheet, but you could use any linen fabric that you want. The instructions I'll be posting are for the sheet. One sheet makes about 16 napkins.

What you need:
1 linen flat sheet

Sewing pins

Scissors

Iron

Sewing machine (you could try hemming tape, but I'm not sure how it will hold up in the wash)

Before I go on, I should mention that I did not do any measuring for these, and fortunately they turned out pretty uniform - lucky for me! Maybe it's my artistic nature, or my ADD, but I didn't have any desire to pre-measure, mark, and cut perfectly. Feel free to measure if you have the patience ;)

1. Fold the sheet in half, and then in half again, and so on until you reach a size that you like.

2. Take your scissors and cut each fold (I have heavy duty scissors and was able to do the whole stack at once).

3. Iron each piece flat, then fold over about 1/4 to 1/2 inch to create a hem line for each side, and insert pins to hold in place. Continue until the set is pinned.

4. Sew along the edges (don't forget to pull those pins out) and you're done!

This took me a few hours, but wow was it worth it! I did something similar with a couple old bathroom towels, and replaced those with paper towels - the bath ones actually work better and have reduced my overall cleaning time.

Please be sure to come back again soon!

We add a new art or craft project every day.

Thanks and good night! :)
-Lisa

2D Perspective Drawing

Most of my posts so far have been directed toward younger children, so I'm going to try and include at least one project a week for the 12 and older crowd.

The pictures above show a mid point for the object and an almost finished point for the object.

Perspective drawing really is not that complicated once you have a firm grasp of the basics. I think this exercise is one of the best beginner's projects you can do to get the hang of it.

What you need:

Paper

Pencil (I used a charcoal pencil for this example so it would be dark enough to see)

Ruler

1. Using your ruler, draw a straight horizontal line across the paper anywhere above the midpoint. An inch or two above the midpoint is usually a good height. This is your horizon line.

2. Draw your object below the horizon line. I would suggest either a square or a rectangle to keep it simple.

3. Choose an area on your horizon line either to the right or the left of your object and make a dot. An inch or two from the edge of the paper works really well for your first try. This is going to be your starting point for all of your connecting lines.

4. Put your pencil on the dot, and use your ruler to draw a straight line from the dot to one of the top corners of your object. Do the same for the other top corner, and again for either the lower right or left corner depending on where your dot is (ex. if the dot it to the right of the object, connect to the lower right corner).

5. Now, take your ruler and draw a straight horizontal line across the top of your object, but higher than the original line. The edge of this line will be the starting point for your vertical line, make sure it's straight and connect.

6. You should have what appears to be a 2 dimensional object with lines extending out of it (the top photo), just erase those stray marks and you're done!

Please let me know if this tutorial was helpful, or if you think a video clip may have been easier.

If you like what you see here, please forward this to your friends.

Come back tomorrow for another momma craft - we're making cloth napkins from things you probably already have around the house.

Fake Soda Bottle

My one year old, Hannah, loves to grab my husband's soda bottles and shake them like crazy. I guess doing this makes the soda go flat, so my husband usually won't let her play - which is how I came up with this idea. It looks just like the real thing, and my 5 year old got a kick out of it too :)

What you need:

Empty plastic bottle with lid
Water
Food coloring
Vegetable oil
Electrical tape (I bet duct tape would work too) - to secure the lid

1. Clean out the plastic bottle if necessary, then fill it 3/4 of the way with water.

2. Add 10 drops of food coloring - we chose green here - then mix.

3. Fill the remainder of the bottle with vegetable oil.

4. Close the lid as tightly as possible, and then wrap tightly with electrical tape to ensure none of the liquid can escape - it would be one nasty mess I'm sure.

Now let your little one shake away! I mimics what a soda bottle will do. Older children can shake it up and make tornadoes.

Did you try this one out? Let me know - I love hearing from all of you :)

Come back tomorrow for another project...

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Old Fashioned Scale

The kids absolutely loved this one! It only takes 5 minutes to make, and is super simple. I had each child choose two objects, and then everyone had to guess which one weighed more - they loved it.

What you need:

2 paper plates
Hole punch
Yarn or string
Plastic hanger
Objects around the house to weigh

1. Take the paper plates and stack them on top of each other.

2. Put three holes along the edge of the plates to form a triangle shape, then separate the plates.

3. Measure out 6 pieces of yarn - any length you want, as long as they're all the same and won't drag on the floor when your child is holding it.

4. Tie one piece of yarn to each hole in each plate, then gather the other end and tie to the plastic hanger (each group should have three pieces of yarn).

That's it! Now the fun begins - start weighing different objects, and make a game out of the guessing.

Please come back again tomorrow for another project!

Learn to tie shoe laces

My son recently started showing an interest in learning how to tie his own shoe laces (we've only used velcro shoes with him so far). It's going to take a while for him to learn completely, and my poor husband is tired of undoing knots in his tennis shoes, so I came up with this idea. It's really simple and can be taken anywhere to keep little hands busy (long car rides for example).

What you need:

3 sheets of felt in any size as long as 2 sheets are exactly the same
Craft Glue
Hole Punch
Scissors
1 shoelace
Glitter glue (optional - for adding details)

1. Take the 2 sheets of felt that are the same size, and fold one in half lengthwise, and cut along the center fold to produce two long rectangles that are the same size.

2. Place these on top of the other solid sheet, and glue along the outter edges of the sides and bottom (this sort of forms little pockets).

3. Cut the smaller piece to place on top of both sheets at the bottom, to create the toe of the shoe. I trimed down a piece of felt to match the size, and then rounded on of the longer sides. Glue to the desired area.

4. Once dry, use the hole punch to mimic that of the top of a shoe for the laces. I marked each area with a sharpie marker. The hole punch won't cut out a perfect circle, but it will be close, you'll probably have to pry it open each time to get it to open completly. Then trim the hole piece off with a pair of scissor.

5. Lace up the shoe and you're good to go!

Come back again tomorrow for another fun project! :)

Magic Paper

When your child is done painting their picture, they'll find another picture hidden within it!

What you need:

White printer paper
White crayon
Watercolor paints


1. Draw any sort of image on the paper with the white crayon. I drew pictures for my younger daughter, and I wrote my son a message - make whatever you think your child will get excited about.

2. Let your child paint all over the entire paper, and when they're done, they'll be able to see your secret drawing or message - just like magic!

Please come back again soon! We do a new project every day of the year.

Did you try a craft out?
Want to share it?

Let me know and I'll post your creation on the blog.

Napkin Holders

Let your child design their own napkin holders - this is super easy and fun.
These are drying downstairs, once dry I'll cut them down with an exacto knife and write Austin and Hannah's names on them for their place at the table. Don't have cloth napkins? Don't worry, that's this weeks Momma Craft!

What you need:

Toilet paper roll (empty)
Acrylic paint
Exacto Knife
Ultra fine sandpaper or an emery board
Black fine tip marker
Any extra embellishments your child wants to add or glue on

1. Have your child paint the roll however they want, and let the paint dry.

2. Add extra embellishments and let dry

3. Cut into half inch to 1 inch slices with the exacto knife (an adult should do this), and sand away rough or jagged edges.

4. Have your child write their name on the holder.

That's it! My son loved putting glitter glue all over his roll. As soon as ours are dry, I'll upload the finished project picture.

Come back tomorrow for another craft!

Did you try this one out? If so, let me know and leave a comment, I love getting feedback :)

Hairclip Holder

This is the very first "Momma Craft"!

As soon as my daughter had hair (literally just a few wisps), I started buying hair bows and clips. Most of them are so teensie that they keep getting lost or misplaced, so I came up with this idea and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's simple, but works great and also doubles as wall art :) The glue is still setting, but once it dries I will add a wall mount to the back of it and hang it up.

What you need:

Lightweight untreated wood piece in any shape
Ultra fine sand paper (or an emery board)
Acrylic paint
Ribbon
Craft Glue
Wall Mount

1. Buff away any rough edges on the wood piece with the ultra fine sandpaper until all of the ragged edges are gone.

2. Paint the wood in any way you desire. My daughter's room is pink and ivory white and the furniture has a brown wash over it, so I tried to mimic that. I painted the entire pieces ivory white, then mixed brown paint and water to create a wash (50/50 mix) and lightly brushed it over the top of the wood, then I took a dry sponge and went over it with the same stroke pattern to soak up most of the color. I painted the small rim around the edges the same pink as the ribbon I chose to attach, and then added a little dot pattern to the top that matched the edging on the ribbon. What's great about this is that you can do whatever you want - have fun with it.

3. After the paint is dry, cut a piece of ribbon the length that you desire, and attach to the back of the wood with the craft glue. I used Tacky craft glue and a good amount of it, so that the ribbon was completely saturated in that spot (about half an inch of ribbon). Make sure to position the ribbon so that it will hang straight down (I used a quarter to hold it in place - in a spot that was glue free), and allow to dry.

4. Once glue is dry, attach a wall mount and hang it up.

It's so easy and so cute, and hopefully I won't lose any more bows.

Striped Wooden Snake

This is a little hard to see, I'll upload another photo once it's dry.

We had to make a stop at the craft store today and Austin fell in love with this wooden snake and begged to paint it as his project for the day - how could I say no :) I'm actually pretty surprised at how much he's been enjoying this. It's only been a week and he's already asking me in the mornings what we'll be doing.

What you need:
Wooden snake - we found ours at Hobby Lobby
Paint
Paint brushes
Black Sharpie marker or a fine tipped paint bottle for the details

Let your child paint the snake however they want. Let the paint dry completely and then add the details. I'll be adding the eyes and stripes to this guy in about an hour or so and will post the finished picture.




Come back tomorrow for our first Momma craft!

Wraping Paper Tube Rain Stick

Happy New Year!

This project didn't turn out as well as I hoped it would, but Austin does like playing with it. Ideally, I would have liked him to decorate it more, but he was only willing to write his name on the side. This would be better for older children.

What you need:

An empty wrapping paper tube

A pen

1 Ziploc bag

Plastic straws

6 Rubber bands

Packaging tape

Dry rice

Scissors

Fabric

We started out by pushing a pen threw the tube near the ends and then inserting the straws into the holes (make sure each straw can go completley in and then out again - you don't want to have exposed holes in the tube). We did a lot, I think each end had about 10 to 15 straws inserted. Trim down the straw ends, fold each end down and secure with the packaging tape. Cut a baggie apart so you have a solid square of plastic and place over one end and secure with two rubber bands. Wrap that end up in packaging tape to make sure little pieces of rice can not escape. I put a picture of this at the top.

Fill the tube with 2 cups of rice and then cover the other end with another baggie square and secure with rubber bands and packaging tape. Cut out large squares of fabric and attach them with rubberband at each end of the stick to make it look a bit nicer. Then let your kids use their imagination and decorate it however they want - paint it, color it, wrap it in electrical tape, anything.

Come back tomorrow for more projects!