Thursday, December 4, 2014

Handmade Tree Topper for Christmas Tree




I made this Christmas tree topper with my 4 year old son last year. It was the first year we were decorating our Christmas tree with handmade ornaments made by  him ( of course with a little help from me). We used red card stock but you can use any color you like. We used 4 inch squares for the cones and 3 inch circle for base. 

You can choose the size of the square card stock for the cone based on the size of tree topper you want to make.

Supplies : 
- 4 inch square card-stock ( 20 nos.)
- 3 inch circle for base ( 2 nos.)
- Glue 


 Follow the following steps for making the  tree topper :














Here is our Christmas Tree topper on our tree.  We added a punched snowflake in the center. You can also use buttons or rhinestones. You can also add a loop in the back and use it as a decoration  in kids room.



My son was very happy after making this and kept telling everyone he made this amazing  tree topper. He still remembers the tree topper and told me yesterday we need to get our Christmas tree out and decorate it with all the ornaments and topper we made last year.  

Time to make some more holiday crafts  and wonderful memories to be cherished for years to come. Happy Holiday Crafting to all of you !

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Handmade Fall Silk Flowers Arrangement perfect for Fall Decor


I made this beautiful fall color theme Silk flowers arrangement specially for my Mom. Usually, I am not a big fan of silk flowers as I prefer to make them myself (paper or clay). For a change I thought when I know I am short of time, and still want to splash some newness and color I decided to use silk flowers this time.
I wanted to make something for my Mom during her visit to US, so that she can take it back home to India and have something to decorate.
So this is what I came up with. I loved the way it turned out. In the process I bought one vase and some flowers for myself too.

It was fun making this. I could not take the pictures of the steps as it was a last minute thing I was putting together.
But just to give you some idea.
Material needed:

-Floral Stems in co-ordinating colors. Big flowers and small flowers and some fillers.
-Green and brown floral tape
-pliers
-Floral Foam
-Craft knife
-Vase

Basic Rules of Flower Arrangements
------------------------------------

Basic steps of flower arrangements are to decide how do you want the final arrangement to look like.
I had similar things in mind. Best is to sketch it, but I didn't.

You need to decide how tall will be the arrangement and then cut the floral stems accordingly.
Start with big flowers. Give a basic structure of the arrangement with that.
The floral foam goes in the vase and secures all the stems that you will insert.

Rest you need to fill with fillers. Just make sure there are no gaps and the foam is not visible.
Use your imagination and remember you might need more flowers than you think.

Give it a try. Its fun.


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Fun Plastic Egg Crafts by kids on Playdate


Easter is around the corner, everyone is getting ready with Easter preparation.As far as we are concerned, we have always associated Easter with lots of fun and egg hunts and egg crafts.
Sometimes the Easter crafts or Spring crafts start a week before and sometimes on the day of Easter and at our home it usually continues till a week after at least.

This year my daughter wanted to do something with her friends who were coming on a play date.
From past years experience I realized this craft needs to be quicker than what I am used to. I hope you agree that patience usually runs out pretty quickly when 5-6 year old kids get together and do crafts.

I think this will be the easiest and probably the best DIY Easter Egg Craft I ever blogged about.

Supplies you will need :

-Plastic eggs
-Sharpies permanent markers various colors
-Pipe cleaner
-Scissors (optional)

To make it interesting I let kids do a little egg hunt in the basket filled with some eggs. Only few had something
inside it. Once a child finds a filled egg (took shaking a few to get a filled one),then that is the egg he or she works with. First part was to see what's inside- A little trinket for little hands.

Once they have the egg, its their imagination that took over. They could do anything they wished for. I kept couple of samples for them to know the possibilities.


This is what these crafty kids came up with.
So proud of you kids. Way to go.
They all had so much fun doing this. It was an evening to remember.


PS:
-Recently figured that these plastic eggs come with no holes, single holes or two holes. Most of the eggs we had were without the holes. I ended up buying the ones with holes as didn't have the time to make them. I think you can actually make them using pointed heated metal.I found buying was easier option as I was running out of time.
-Two holes are needed for the bunny Easter egg craft.
-Single hole is useful if you want to make a garland.
-Once the ears are made it is hard to make the eggs stand even on those little egg stands. You might want to keep them in baskets or hot glue a small piece of cardboard at the base. It should do the trick.
-It is a good idea to let the kids do whatever they want, you might help them here and there if they ask for it.


Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Spring flower sketch- Birthday Card inspired from Book illustration


I am very proud in sharing this beautiful card made by my 6 year old daughter.

This was inspired by an illustration in the book "The Owl and the Pussy Cat" by Edward Lear and Jan Brett.
Recently, she did an author study on Jan Brett. She came across a lot of Jan Brett's books and was particularly impressed by the illustrations.

Inspired from Jan Brett, she wishes to write books and do the illustrations herself too.

In order to make this lovely card- her first attempt to make something similar from a book,she used

Supplies-
Blank Card
Pencil colors
Pencil
Eraser
Book as mentioned above

Personally I thought she will save this card in her treasure box,as she was so excited she could do it so good. In her words- "Almost like the one in the book".She found a better use. She gifted it to one of her best friends.

Always, encourage and inspire your kids to do crafts or sketching or painting. You never know where their imagination takes them.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Handmade Valentine's Day Favor for Preschool Kids, Caterpillar Valentine's Day Craft Tutorial



" You Make My Heart Wiggle"
 
I made these adorable Caterpillar Pencil Favors  yesterday for my son's preschool classmates.  They will be celebrating Valentine's Day today in their class and exchanging little treasures with each other. He loves Eric Carle's Book - The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I decided to make this Caterpillar. I also added Finger LED lights as pencil toppers though that is totally optional.  The earlier post with butterflies is similar but my son was more excited about this one.

Here are supplies I used for this making the Caterpillar :

- Green , Red and White card stock

Martha Stewart Scoring Board ( Its not necessary. You can do simple accordion fold but since I had to make multiples (25) it came in real handy.

- 3/8 inch circle punch I used one from Recollections. You can use file or hand hole punch but I found the hole little small to insert pencils easily. If you find a  hand hole punch like this one ( 5/16 inch) it might work or you may have to punch twice to make the hole little bigger.

- Martha Stewart Heart Confetti Punch  I used it for eyes and mouth. You can simply draw them using markers if you do not have this or similar punch.

- Paper Trimmer

- Red and Black markers


- Glue

- Scissors



Steps for making the Caterpillar for pencil favor : 

- Put the green cardstock on the scoring board and score it at one inch intervals as shown in the picture. ( I scored along the longer side of 8.5 x 11 inches card stock). You can totally do accordion fold by hand if you are not making  a lot of these. I had to make 25 nos. and hence it was quicker to use scoring board.


- Cut 1inch x 8 inch strips from the scored card-stock ( cut perpendicular to the scored line not along the score)



 - Punch red and white mini hearts for eyes and heart and glue them to make the face. Use black marker to make the eyeballs.



- Round one end of the strip for the caterpillar face.

- Using the hole punch , punch out circles from the strip for inserting pencil.



- For the antennae of caterpillar use the punched out circles from above and glue them to 1 inch x 1/8inch strips from green cardstock. Color the center of the circles red. Fold the antennae at bottom ( around 1/8 inch) and glue as shown in the picture.


- ( Optional ) Write " You make my heart wiggle "  and from ( child's name) on the top and bottom edge, Older kids can write themselves or you can print and glue thin  strips instead of writing by hand.

- Add the pencil to the wiggly Caterpillar.

Here is another picture of Caterpillar Pencil Favors for Valentine's Day. As I mentioned above I added LED mini lights to the back of the pencil for added interest but its totally optional.



Happy Valentine's Day to all of you and your loved ones!




Monday, February 10, 2014

Handmade Valentine's Day Favors for Preschool Kids


One of my friends wanted to make handmade Valentine’s Day favors for her daughter's preschool classmates and asked me for ideas.  It had to be something her daughter could make with her.  I had seen many decorated pencil favors on Pinterest and had been meaning to try one of my own. Here is a picture of the adorable  butterfly pencil favors we (me , my friend and her sweet soon to be 5 year old daughter) made.


List of Supplies used:

 - Scalloped Circle punch (3.5 inches)
-  Small Hearts Punch
- Red, white and yellow card-stock
- Scissors
- Glue
- Double Sided Tape
- Pencils



Steps for making the project:
 - Punch red scalloped circles (depending on how many favors you plan to make) from the card stock using the scalloped circle punch.

-  Punch lots of red hearts using heart punch. You need four for each favor.

-  Cut out 1.5" x 0.5 " strips from yellow card stock.

-  Fold 3" x 11" white card-stock in half and draw butterfly wings as shown in the picture below. I cut one butterfly first and used it as a template to draw others for uniformity. Cut out the required numbers of butterflies.

-  Attach the butterfly cut out to the scalloped circle using double sided tape.

-  Now take the pencil and place it at the center of the butterfly. Attach the yellow strip to the butterflies over the pencil using double sided tape.



- Glue the hearts to the four corners of the yellow strip. And your adorable butterfly pencil favors are ready. Here is another picture of  bunch of  butterfly pencil favors we made.


You can easily add a lollipop, pen, pack of mints etc.  to customize this for favor of your choice. As an added touch my friend’s daughter wrote her name on a smaller scalloped circle with handmade from heart stamped on it and we attached it to the back of the butterfly favors.  I forgot to take pictures of that :( .


Kids can do most of the steps in this craft project with little help. Just use blunt scissors and help them with cutting the double sided tape.

I loved how these turned out and may end up making something similar for my son’s preschool classmates too. Let us know what you think about this project. We love to hear from our readers.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Basket full of love- Paper hearts in a paper basket , Valentine's day Craft for kids


Whenever my niece visits me , she makes it a point that she has some craft time with me and my daughter. I absolutely love that one on one time. I am amazed by how quickly kids learn things and how fast their fine motor skills develop.

These lovely little hearts were made by my sweet niece and my lovely daughter. Initially we decided we will make lot of hearts. Eventually we made a paper basket to hold them too.

After they finished their project they were super proud. My niece came to me and gave me a heart from her basket and said , " This is specially for you Mami ( Aunt). Thank you for all you do". It really touched my heart.

My daughter brought one and said, " This is for you Mommy for teaching me to make a heart - a symbol of love". And then I got a warm heart felt hug from her.

I guess this is why I love doing craft projects with kids so much..these priceless moments are my reward. I got so involved in teaching them that I took less pictures than usual. Apologies for that.

 Here are some of the best pictures I have. Hope they are of help along with the instructions of  the project.


Instructions for making the Paper Hearts:
- For making the hearts we used paper strips of multiple colors and varying widths ranging from 1/2 inch to 1 inch. Its better to use a light weight paper like print paper.


-  Hold the corner of the strip and fold it into a triangle along the width. Refer the first picture.
-  Crease the fold and the keep on folding the triangle till you reach the end where you snip a little and tuck the remaining strip in the flap.
-  Pinch the resulting triangle at the center and puff it a little to make it look like a heart shape.
-  To get rounded corners cut them a little with scissors ( refer picture )

Tips:
- Wider paper will result in a bigger heart.
- Adults should help kids for rounding the heart as it really needs muscle power and sharp scissors.
-  This is a very popular way of making heart. You can get video tutorial on you tube if you need further instructions. I did not use any particular video for this tutorial. I shared this project as I tried making it with kids for the first time.