Tag Archives: DIY

Rainy Day, DIY Hair Clips for Halloween

28 Oct

IMG_7759Last Halloween, I didn’t have anything festive to wear for the school’s Halloween bake sale and dance.  We had foam Halloween themed stickers everywhere from various art projects.  I also had a couple of sectioning clips laying around.  I quickly grabbed some glue and put something together.  It turned out much better than I anticipated and my girls were fighting over who was going to wear it.

IMG_7753

When I was going through my Halloween stickers to pull out for crafts, I stumbled upon the clip I made last year.  My girls saw it and immediately asked to have a clip making play date with friends.  I went to the local hair supply store and purchased more clips.  I found an 80 pack, because we can make clips for all the other upcoming Holidays with the leftovers.  You can also make a bunch to give to friends or hand out as an allergy friendly treat alternative.  My older daughter had a clip making play date yesterday.  Today we continued the fun and made more- the perfect activity for the cold and rainy day we had.

IMG_7747

IMG_7757

Here is how to make them (you can find most of the supplies at Michaels if you don’t already have them).

Supplies needed:

  • Glue gun (for adult use, I used this for our clips this year).  You can also use heavy duty craft glue
  • Double prong clips
  • Creatology foam stickers and any other halloween stickers you may have.
  • Glitter Glue
  • Paint Brush

Directions:

  1. Glue your starting shape or sticker onto the clip (Shapes aren’t necessary but we used scraps from our Creatology Haunted House we put together earlier on in the week as a base to add more than one sticker)
  2. Glue on any additional stickers or designs you would like.
  3. Use a paint brush and add some glitter glue for some extra shine.
  4. Let dry then show off your Halloween Hair.
  5. For a little extra, we hung our clip designs on the Creatology Halloween Boo sign we made (pictured above).

IMG_7762 IMG_7764 IMG_7760Have a Happy Halloween! 🎃👻

Tags: , , , , , ,

Valentine’s Day Is Almost Here…

4 Feb

Valentine’s Day is a little over a week away, are you ready? My girls have been ready since we took down the Christmas tree, adding hearts around the apartment, hanging Valentine signs, and making Valentine’s for their friends.  I however, always wait to the last minute to get the girls and their teachers a little something. Every year our Valentine favorites include flowers, something sweet, a good read, and/or a little piece of jewelry.  This year, I’ve come across these sweet ideas for friends, family and/or your little Valenitne(s).

Teleflora’s Sweet Embrace Bouquet: Flowers are one of our favorite gifts for any occasion.  They brighten a room and put a smile on a face.  The Sweet Embrace is a 3-in-1 gift that includes a pink and red bouquet of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums in hand-blown red glass vase wrapped with an adjustable bracelet made of golden wire and shimmering red hearts.  Once the flowers come to an end you can reuse the vase for many more occasions.  The bracelet can be used as a great accessory. The perfect gift for friends, family or a teacher.

Image from Teleflora

Image from Teleflora

From the Heart, Homemade Raspberry Jam:  Ever since the girls made homemade jam for jam cookies, it’s the only jam they want to eat.  We use the Driscoll’s recipe and it is delicious.  They decided they want to make more and give it as a gift to their teachers, friends and family.  Add a special touch to the jar(s) by letting them write a special saying and decorating their jar.  To make a cute saying on the top of your jar, trace the inside of the lid to create a template you can glue or tape on when you jam is complete. Make your own gift tags with this printable.  Use red paint to create thumb print hearts.  Tie your tag to the jar. photo 2-6 photo 1-6 An Awesome Book Of Love by Dallas Clayton: We stumbled across this book at Barnes & Noble and loved it.  It’s an adorable book about the many faces of love.  Recommended for kids ages 4-8.  A great read to snuggle up on the couch to or a great gift for a teacher, to add to their classroom library.

Picture 6

Image from Barnes and Noble

Vintage Stamp Jewels Rose Gold Heart Bracelet on Etsy:  I love this delicate bracelet.  I came across it on Etsy when I was trying to find Valentine’s ideas.  You can choose any chain length.  My girls have a hard time separating.  This would make a wonderful gift so they could have a reminder of how much I love them and that I will always be there.

Imge from Ety

Imge from Esty

What are some of your favorite gifts you’ve received or given your kids for Valentine’s Day?   Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tags: , , , , ,

Spooky Snacks & Crafts For Halloween

21 Oct

20141021-104242-38562166.jpg

My girls couldn’t be more excited for Halloween.  This year we were unable to get our decorations from where we store them so we have been busy making our own to decorate the house.  While we decorate it’s always fun to have Halloween Themed snacks (these could also be a fun afternoon craft activity with food).  Below are some of the activities we have done together and snacks you can make for your halloween play dates, parties or bake sales:

Spider Hands with Web: A simple activity you can do with almost anything you have in your house.  Have your child trace both hands on black construction paper or use computer paper and have them color in their hands after traced.  Cut out hands and glue together.  Have your child make the eyes or you can use google eyes if you have any available.  On a piece of white paper, draw a web and then cut it out. Hang somewhere around the house.

20141021-193148-70308261.jpg

Creatology Foam Pumpkin Kit:  This kit is available at Michaels.  It’s perfect for making signs and Halloween pictures to hang around the house.  It comes with foam stickers for eyes, ears, nose, black cats, and spiders as well as google eyes to glue on.   We also made a Halloween mobile out of them by punching holes in the stems and hanging them from a hanger.  (use can also punch holes in the hand spiders mentioned above and hang them as well on the mobile).

20141021-193325-70405917.jpg

The Sparkly Pumpkin:  The easiest craft to keep busy.  All you need is miniture pumpkins and crayola glitter glue. To give it a little spooky touch, add rubber rats or spiders.  A great decoration for around the house.

20141021-194055-70855208.jpg

GoGoSqueez-enstein: I made these for a snack when my girls came home from school one day.  I made one on the computer and the other I made with construction paper, glitter glue and a black marker.  My oldest thought they were so cute, she went and made a bunch to bring to her friends Halloween party.

20141021-104240-38560152.jpg

There Was A Little Girl Who Swallowed A Spider:  My girls love the series There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed….A Fly, A Bat and so on.  The other day I made these snacks for a Halloween craft play date.  We started joking around about The Little Girls Who Swallowed a Spider.  These snacks are simple to make.  All you need are brownie bites from Whole Foods (note that they are made in a facility that also processes peanuts and tree nuts).  UTZ Halloween Pretzels, edible Eyes, and Wilton Gel Writers.  Break the wings off the pretzel bats and push them into the Brownie to make the legs,

20141021-104239-38559050.jpg

The Haunted House : We made this house last year and will continue making haunted houses with some of our favorite halloween candy.  See my previous post to see how you can make them.

20141021-104318-38598240.jpg

 

Happy Decorating and Crafting this Halloween!

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

SNOW ART

22 Jan

20140122-215831.jpg

I was a little disappointed when I saw that school was on for today!  I love heading out in the morning with them for fun in the snow!  Yesterday, I spent the day looking for activities a snow day.  I stumbled upon the Ideal Sno-Marker Sno-Man Kit with Snowman Top Hat!  I remember seeing snow markers in the past but I couldn’t remember where!  I knew the Sno-Marker Sno-Man Kit wouldn’t get here in time and since I didn’t buy the markers when I saw them, I tried to get creative with what I had at home!  I used a condiment container I bought a while ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  If you are almost finished with a yellow mustard container you can clean out and use that instead.  Initially, I planned to use food coloring but realized that wasn’t a good idea unless I wanted the girls to stain their clothes.  I decided to try crayola washable paint that we had in our art supply bin.  I added warm water and some paint to the container and shook it up to mix it together.  Since we only had one container, the girls could only choose one color (of course they chose purple).  I’ll be headed out for more containers so we can add a little more color to our SNOW ART!  It’s a quick and easy activity if you want a little time in the snow after school (while it’s still here) and you don’t have to hassle with all the gear if you don’t want to.  *The water comes out a little quick, so it takes some time to adjust and create but the girls had fun adding color to the snow.*

20140122-222422.jpg

20140122-215925.jpg

20140122-215855.jpg

20140122-215956.jpg

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are my own.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Shades For Every Day

21 Aug

Screen shot 2013-08-20 at 11.41.23 PM

20130821-002323.jpg

My girls love to accessorize.   No matter the season, when the sun is shining they have their sunglasses on.   We recently received Jibbitz™ comber sunglasses and they have tossed their old pairs aside.  My girls are going wild over them, especially my oldest.  If your child owns a pair of Crocs, then you know about Jibbitz™ charms.  One reason my girls love Crocs is because they change the look of their shoes by changing out their charms.  They LOVE that they can create a new look every time they wear their new sunglasses.  Jibbitz™ charms come in over 400 designs from your childs favorite character to festive charms for the Holidays.  There are 3D charms, glitter charms, as well as light-up charms to make your childs glasses fun, fashionable, and unique while protecting your childs eyes from the sun.  My oldest, 5, said they are “the best sunglasses” and that they very are comfortable for her.

20130820-235729.jpg

Whether you are walking your child to school, starting a new sports season or spending what is left of summer days at the beach or pool, protecting your childs eyes from the sun is just as important as using sunscreen.  Click the link to find out why and what to look for when buying glasses?  Luckily, my girls like to accessorize with sunglasses but if your child fights to wear them you should try a pair of Jibbitz™ sunglasses and let your child design their own pair with Jibbitz™ charms.  Check out the new comber sunglasses and other super cool styles for boys and girls.

Image and Information from Crocs

Kids’ Jibbitz™ Comber Sunglasses details:
Jibbitz™ Joint — a place for their Jibbitz™ charms!
Cool, vintage style
Shatter-resistant polycarbonate lenses
100% protection from UVA, UVB and UVC rays
Available in Shiny Navy and Shiny Fuchsia (pictured)
Retails for $12.99 (charms not included)
Image and information from Crocs

Disclaimer: I received two pairs of Jibbitz Comber Sunglasses for the purpose of this review.  This did not alter my opinion of these awesome sunglasses.  All opinions, unless noted, are my own.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Not Ready to Part with Holiday Cards? Make A Flip Book

2 Jan

Aside from the snowflake lights that hang from our window, all the Christmas decorations are down. The hardest part for my daughter is taking the beautiful Holiday photo cards of friends and family off the wall. We like to keep them as long as possible but they always end up all over the apartment. This year I decided to make her a photo book with all the cards so that we can keep them for a while and they won’t be everywhere. It was easy to make. All you need is a hole puncher and a binder ring. Punch the corners of the cards and put them on the clip. At the end put your family card (if you have extras or made one) on the front for the cover of the book.  My daughter loves her book!

20130102-121246.jpg

Tags: , , , ,

Ring Holder For The Rings You Hold Close To Your Heart

27 Jan

When two of my closest friends got engaged I wanted to give them a little something special from the girls.  While, Pela was napping the other day, Maddie asked to do arts and crafts.  She wanted to play with her Crayola Model Magic, or the “polar bear arts and crafts” as she called it, so I started thinking of what she could make for gifts.  A ring holder came to mind because if they take their rings off as much as I do for cooking, cleaning, showering, and sleeping then they can always use more than one.  The ring holder was very easy to make and a perfect activity for a rainy day like today.  They tuned out great and would make a wonderful Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day gift.

What you need:

  • Crayola Model Magic (white)
  • Cookie Cutter (we did a heart but your child’s favorite shape will work)
  • Craft paint (Your child’s favorite colors, we used left over paint from a Melissa and Doug project)
  • Glitter Glue Pens
  • Crazy glue
  • Stickers, rhinestones, or anything else your child might like to use
  • SuPper Suit Bib (check out the giveaway) or any art smock. *We didn’t use it until it was too late, so make sure to put it on before you start.

How to make it:

  1. Flatten Crayola Model Magic, and work clay so there is a cylinder type pole in the center, this was hard so I had to do the molding. flatten area around the pole.  This was challenging for Maddie, so I did the molding.  Make sure it is not too thick so that rings for small fingers can fit.
  2. Once the area around the pole for the rings is flat and even, place cookie cutter centered over the pole and cut out the shape. Maddie did this but needed help getting the cookie cutter off from the clay.
  3. Let air dry, no baking required, and paint.  Maddie wanted to paint and add decorations immediately.  If your little one can’t wait it was ok that we did it all at once.
  4. We used a sharpie marker to write a special little note on the bottom for our friends to always remember who the special little gift was from.

Tags: , , , , , ,