Crafts With Kids

Spring Fever

February 23, 2013 By teresak 1 Comment

I am so ready for Spring. This winter has been really wet or really cold but not at the same time. What does that mean…. no snow! We had one decent 1 inch snowfall on a Sunday morning that disappeared before we got home from church. I say, “Bring on spring!”

Bring on the colors, the warmth, the life! To get in the mood for spring I have been sewing and choosing some bright and lively colors!

This week I have been working on doodle packs! My kids are in love with them. Especially my daughter. She picked out her own Tinkerbell Fabric and has packed it around with her everywhere. They have a button closure and a pocket that holds a notebook and tiny pockets inside for all the crayons to slide. It has been great for packing in the van or to church.

The pictures here are some of the ones I am working on now. I just love the owls and the peace signs! They aren’t finished yet but I can’t wait to get back to them! I am in love with all the colors and so thankful that God graced us with them in our lives!

Live Brightly!!
Tiffany

Filed Under: Crafts With Kids, Featured, Guest Posts Tagged With: colors, doodle packs, spring

Almost Christmas!

December 22, 2012 By teresak Leave a Comment

It has been such a busy week around here preparing for Christmas, as I am sure it has been in so many other households. As I mentioned in other posts I love homemade gifts and this week’s post is no different. Now, I am going to let you in on a little secret, so ssssshhhhhh, please don’t tell. But what do you get when you combine lots of paint, blank wooden letters and pretty ribbon, a few tools, and a BIG Mess?

Give up? You get what a lot of our family is getting for Christmas this year (so don’t tell them!) Name plaques for their homes. I don’t know there is just something very personal about a gift you know was made just for you. There is something very special about looking around your home and seeing something hanging on the wall that represents your family and signifies this is YOUR house, your Home!

A while back I made a name “thing” to hang in our living room. I say thing because I really don’t know what else you would call it. And I wanted to do something similar for Christmas gifts. Making them has been a messy process but such a fun one to do, and very simple.

The first step was a very hard one! A trip to Hobby Lobby! Where I purchased the large, 13” wooden letters, and it happened they were one sale, how great is that! I also picked out some ribbon that I thought would look great with them. Next was the messy part, the painting. Trying to decide what colors to do for which family was fun. I used the little .97cent bottles of acrylic paint from Wal-Mart and they work great for projects like this.

I got the base coat down on my letters and let them get really dry. Then came the decorating. I used scrapbook stencils to draw my letters for the family names and then painted it up anyway I liked. I think they are turning out very cute! What do you think?

I also got some little letters to make my 2012 ornaments for my kids. They didn’t turn out exactly like the adorable ones I saw on Pinterest, but not much I try really does. I think they are still good enough to have ribbon added and hang them from the tree though!

I want to wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas. I hope it is full of family and home and happiness. It looks like (here at least) we won’t have a white Christmas, but that’s okay.

God Bless You All,
Tiffany from Faithfully Fun

Filed Under: Crafts With Kids, Faithfully Fun Fridays Tagged With: Christmas crafts, crafts, family names, wooden letters

Making Homemade Ornaments With the Grands

December 13, 2012 By teresak 6 Comments

Last night we made Christmas ornaments with the grandchildren and even though I am NOT a crafty nana, I so enjoyed watching them have fun.

My daughter was in charge and this is what she did.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
7 tbsp water
Round cookie cutter (I used a drinking glass instead)
1 drinking straw
Craft paint
Ribbon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix together flour, salt, and water. Knead for about 10 or 15 minutes. Roll out the dough to no more than 1/4-inch thick, then use the cookie cutter (we used a plastic bowl) to make rounds. Press child’s hand into dough. If you’re doing this with really little ones, you may have to go back and make deeper impressions of their hands with your fingers (we did).Use a straw to poke a hole in each ornament (this is where the ribbon will go later). Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden. Wait for ornaments to cool, then paint as desired and thread a ribbon through each straw hole to create ornament hangers.

Servings: 1 batch will yield approximately 6-8 ornaments.

As you can see we haven’t painted ours yet. We’re saving that for next week. The little ones were tired by the time we started and not interested in anything but a bottle and bed!

Filed Under: Crafts With Kids, Family, Featured, Fun Tagged With: Christmas ornaments, dough, handprint ornaments, homemade ornaments

Gift Ideas for Moms or Grandmothers

December 3, 2012 By teresak 1 Comment

My daughter is a young mother now and she’s finding out how hard (but fun) it is to juggle work, home and motherhood. She and her husband just bought a new house and every spare penny they can find will be going for those very expensive toys called appliances.

With little to no time for shopping I thought I would give her some gift ideas that are inexpensive, yet meaningful. Here are a few things I found in a just a few minutes on Pinterest.

I don’t know about you but I would love to have my own set of personalized oven mitts!

Or what about a family tree that reminds you of the precious people who made it for you!

Finally, wouldn’t it be fun to put your children’s or grand-children’s Christmas list inside an ornament and keep as a reminder of years gone by.

If you have some easy craft ideas that you do with your family we would love to hear about them! Have a great Monday!

Filed Under: Crafts With Kids, Pinterest Tagged With: children's crafts, easy, inexpensive gifts, Pinterest

A Craft You Can Make For Your Grandchildren…Or With Them!

November 30, 2012 By teresak Leave a Comment

Homemade Christmas

By Tiffany Secula

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love the lights, the decorations, the time with family! I love the overall warmth it brings. I love all the crafts you can make! Big elaborate decorations or small detailed ornaments! Crafts with the kids or creative homemade gifts! There is so much you can do!

This week I am making little button rosettes! This is so simple and with just a few materials and a little time you can make these and add them to so many other projects!

This project started the other day in Hobby Lobby (LOVE that place!!!) when I came across this cute pack of Christmas buttons! But what to do with them? I gathered up a few other supplies and decided to make ribbon rosettes to go behind them. Very easy!

I heat up the end of my ribbon with a lighter (or you can purchase a product called Fray Check) to keep the ends from fraying out. Get my needle and thread and start weaving it back and forth through the ribbon, pull through and tighten. After a few you will see the curve begin to form. Keep going until you have your desired amount to form the size circle you need. Since my buttons are small I knew I didn’t need much!

I stitched the ends together so form one complete circle and ran my thread back through to the center. From there just sew the button to the center of the rosette. They are so cute with just that simple little addition and you can use them for so many other projects. Add pin backs or hair clips with hot glue. Sew them to stockings or other holiday crafts as embellishments. Attach them to bookmarks, key chains, gift tags, where ever you want to use them, there are so many possibilities!

Have fun, get creative, see what you can make to make your Christmas a little more creative and add that homemade quality that makes everything a little more special!!

Tiffany

Filed Under: Crafts With Kids Tagged With: christmas craft with grandchildren, homemade Christmas

Melted Snowmen Ornaments and a Ho Ho Ho Sign

November 27, 2012 By teresak 20 Comments

My cousin Martha is one crafty Nana. Over Thanksgiving weekend she and her grandchildren spent an afternoon making Christmas gifts for the children’s teachers.

They took a piece of wood and painted it and decorated it with the words “Ho Ho Ho.” The children got to choose the color they painted the boards and the lettering.

Martha and granddaughter Madi working on her craft.

They also made melted snowmen ornaments using coarse sea salt, peppercorns for the eyes, buttons and an orange triangle cut out of construction paper for the nose. The ornament is cute but Madi is cuter!

Do you make Christmas crafts with your children or grandchildren? Tell me about them and don’t forget to sign up for the Hallmark Countdown to Christmas giveaway before you go. Winner chosen this weekend (click Hallmark card icon on right hand side of page to find out how to enter).