St. Patrick's Day Word Search

Happy March y'all! The third month of the year seems to always roar in like a lion, sometimes bringing bitter cold temps and other years, sweet tiny flower buds. Whatever weather you're having I hope your March is a lucky one!

If you are looking for an activity to do with your kiddos, you've hit the jackpot! Good luck abounds as your kids work to find new words with this St. Patrick's day worksheet. 

For more entertaining spelling activities, go to Education.com!

Gold Dipped Painted Letters - Teacher Gift

Looking for a golden way to thank your teachers this Christmas? These gold dipped painted letters are a great craft that your kids can paint in a jiffy!

I picked up the letters from a craft store, they are lightweight and made of hollow cardboard. The paint, I had on hand..just pulled out the colors and let my kids pick the ones they'd like to use. Paper plates made a great spot for paint, easy clean up and you only have brushes to clean.

The gold dipping is actually just a touch of spray paint, I waited a day to make sure the letters were completely dry before taping off the ends with green painter's tape and used a magazine to protect the rest of the letter from the gold spray. 

I thought they turned out super cute and my kids were very proud of their painting skills. 

You can't start thinking about Christmas gifts too early and if you start now, you won't be as frantic in December - happy painting!!

"anatomy of a gold dipped painted letter"

Golden Handprints

Better late than never is the motto in our busy house with four kiddos running around. I've had these canvases for over a year now so instead of one year old hand prints, we now have two year old hand prints. Which may be easier to accomplish since you can explain to a two year old how to hold out their hands.

I started off putting tacks under the back side of the canvases, this way, you can paint the sides without sticking to the surface underneath. A paper plate for easy clean up and it makes a great spot to squeeze your paint. I painted two coats of Martha Stewart Surf in Satin onto the canvases with a foam brush. Then waited a day before pulling out the gold.

I started by letting my two year old rub her hand around in the gold (Martha Stewart Metallic Green Gold) paint and then flipped it over to paint the missing spots and take off the excess paint, so it wouldn't smear, with a clean foam brush.

 

Talking her through the steps and showing her with my hand what she needed to do, I helped push down on the back of her hand gently and then helped her pull it off of the canvas. We washed in between hand prints to keep the mess at bay. I think they turned out great and I'm glad we did both of them so we can remember her sweet little handprints for years to come! 

The gold was a fun touch and would make great gifts for family members with the holidays coming up. If you need to make more than one, trim up a piece of watercolor paper and you've got the perfect gift for Grandparents!

DIY Felt Valentine Decor

I usually stick to paper projects, because, well...

I know paper. Sewing. Not so much. But I do

always have felt lying around, not sure why. 

I seriously should've been a school teacher with 

all the variety of craft supplies we have holed up

in our home.

More Valentine Decor was in order, so I whipped 

out my stash of felt, cut a few hearts and started 

stitching them together with bakers twine. Don't 

look too closely, there are a TON of mistakes but at

least the stuffing isn't coming out! 

My 7 year old son was quite interested in the new

little heart pillows on our coffee table and wanted

to try his hand at sewing too. 4 tiny handsewn pillows

later, I think I've found a new 'busy' project for him.

I hot glued the white center hearts on first before

sewing the red pieces together, leaving a little slot

to poke the stuffing into and then finished up the

hearts...with wine, of course!

Valentine Heart Banner - Kid Craft

Got all four of my chickens involved in decorating this

year for February. I die cut out these hearts in white cardstock,

and let them go to town with craft paint and Q-Tips. 

Love those sweet little hands...

After the hearts were dry, a simple hole punch for

ease of threading bakers twine (or you can use yarn)

and then die cut letters to spell your desired phrase.

You can also use stickers or draw directly onto 

the dry painted hearts with a sharpie marker, 

if you don't have die cuts for lettering.

Happy Decorating!!

Stamping with Acorn Squash

 I cooked some yummy stuffed acorn squash for dinner

the other night as when I cut off the tops of the squash,

I thought they looked just like a flower stamp,

handle included! So I had my four year old help

with a 'project' while I was finishing up dinner.

I pulled out a few paint bottles, squirted them onto

a paper plate and stood him at the counter so I could

help, if needed. 

We found that spinning the tops in the paint

got the most coverage and then gently placing them

onto the paper, pushing down each petal from the

unpainted top of the squash,

to disperse the paint evenly. The result, a perfectly

imperfect flower! One of the stems fell off of another

squash when I cut off the top and it was the perfect

center to the flowers! 

A beautiful bouquet indeed...and then my little man 

had fun using up the rest of the paint on a separate

sheet of paper, lol!

Kids Christmas Ornament Craft

This was a fun and simple craft to prep for my kids

and their friends. The little houses I picked up at a craft

store for 29 cents each and I already had the glitter, paint

and paint brushes on hand.

I always keep a few plastic table cloths on hand from

the $1 Dollar Store, so I can quickly cover the table

and it makes for easy clean up too. 

I poked a hole (so the finished houses could be easily

hung with ribbon or twine) with a Crop A Dile in the 

tops of each of the wooden roofs.

The kids drew on their houses to give 

themselves some guide lines and then had fun with

the paint. The black lines are glitter glue (left over

from Halloween) and I pulled out some 

Martha Stewart glitter from my crafty stash

which I sprinkled on the wet painted rooftops, 

no glue needed. Now for some string and they are 

ready for the tree!

Makes the perfect gift for a Grandparent too..

Thanksgiving Perler Beads

I printed out a few bead ideas the other day 

to keep my busy kids 'busy' and my creative

nine year old switched up the designs a bit

and whipped up this fancy set. She made 

the little papoose without anything visual

to look at, so cute!

An easy kid project that can keep kids busy for

minutes or hours. Depending on how well they do

with tiny things! I heat set them and will be

attaching magnets to the back for fun functional

fridge decorations.

Teal Pumpkin Project - Free Printable

I LOVE the idea of a teal pumpkin so that all kids can

enjoy such a fun holiday, today!!

I whipped up this quick printable that you can place

near your blue pumpkin and special bowl full

of non-sugary sweets, enjoy!

and here's our teal pumpkin, complete with

baby ghost feet, isn't it sweet?!

my other kiddos enjoyed painting and carving their 

pumpkins, now for some trick or treaters!

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Mummy - Kid Craft

If your kids are itching for a Halloween craft to make,

this is the easiest one out there, truth!

Just snag a empty TP roll

(we used a roll that used to have tulle on it, so it's a little sturdier)

A hot glue gun (parental supervision needed here), a roll

of toilet paper and a pair of googly eyes (you can find them

at your local craft store or wally world)

I added one drop of glue and pressed the end of the 

toilet paper onto it before handing over to my four 

year old. He wrapped and rolled till all the brown was

covered and then I added one more drop of hot glue

to finish off the other end, so

the toilet paper wouldn't unravel from the roll. 

Two more drops of hot glue that your little one can 

press the googly eyes into and tada....

The easiest Halloween Craft Ever!

I think he's pretty cute too.

Washi Tape Eggs

I picked up these papered eggs from Hobby Lobby last

year after Easter, so they were on sale, woohoo!

This year I had my daughter help me wrap them in Washi

Tape and we displayed them in this little Easter Basket.

Next year I might wrap them in twine, who knows. The

sky's the limit when it comes to crafting and repurposing!

Happy Easter Y'all!!

Easter Egg Wreath with Washi Tape

My kids have been chomping at the bit with our recent

snow fall and lack of outdoor play, so I asked them to help

me with this project. They sorted out fun colored plastic eggs

and wrapped Washi Tape around the openings, while I

wrapped and hot glued everything onto the wreath. 

I didn't have enough of the blue organza to wrap the 

entire wreath, so I pulled out some green paper grass to

fill in the gap. A chevron ribbon left over from a diaper

cake was added before I finished up with the grass. 

I had to put my OCD aside with the washi tape on the 

eggs but the kids did a fantastic job and kept their

creative hands busy for a few minutes, hooray!

A bit of hot glue strategically placed on the eggs and 

taadaa...a finished wreath. I love the fun pops of color

throughout and that we had everything on hand, 

so no trips to the craft store were needed.

Hoppy Easter Footprint Card

If you're looking for a quick and cute way to impress

the Grand or Great GrandParents this Easter

and you happen to have a little one to use as a human stamp,

then try your hand at this cute Hoppy Easter handmade card!

I used my 9-1/2 month old's wee little bunny foot and inked

it up with a bit of craft ink (it washed right off with soap and

water, as soon as we were finished stamping) and then sprinkled

white embossing powder on the image. After heat embossing her

sweet little foot, I used a brayer to roll the blue background onto 

my white cardstock. I guess I could've just used a blue cardstock

instead but I was trying to go for a different look...

I then took a piece of dry swiffer, to buff the blue ink off of her

footprint and then started on the rest of my card. I wanted the card

to say Hoppy Easter, so I just combined two stamps and voila, 

a new saying! The 'from your little bunny' I printed off of my

computer and stuck everything down with doubled sided sticky

tape & snail adhesive.

I hope our Greats and Grands love it as much as I do!

DIY Letter Tile Ornaments

I picked up a bag of scrabble tiles from our local thrift shop for just 25 cents and knew exactly what I wanted to use them for! My two older 'littles' helped me spell out all sorts of Christmas words and their names one night and the next day we glued, stuck and made each one unique! The perfect project for their winter break from school and they loved picking out items for each ornament.

An easy DIY project that even little ones can help with!

What you'll need:

wooden scrabble tiles

popsicle sticks

twine, ribbon or pipe cleaners (for hanging)

hot glue gun, glue sticks

jingle bells, felt, pom poms, buttons

(pretty much anything in your craft stash)

Have fun being creative!!

DIY Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies

Happy Easter!!!

kidding...it is April Fools after all

and my kiddos did these yesterday, so I didn't have time to post till today.

 The toilet paper rolls with bits of paper stuck on them, I cut designer 

paper and adhered them to the rolls with the double sided sticky tape. 

The bottoms and feet were created with a 1-3/4" Circle and Medium Oval Punches.

The bunny ears were made with the Stampin' Up! Layered Flower Punch. 

I had picked up a bag of candy hearts after Valentines day and thought 

they'd made cute noses. The whiskers are just cut strips of plastic lacing, 

which I usually keep on hand for kid crafts. Of course a cotton ball added 

a bit of fluffy fun to our bunnies backsides! 

Everything was hot glued on and then my daughter had fun drawing 

the mouths onto our finished bunnies. 

 Here the toilet paper rolls were painted white and after they dried, 

round foam brushes made perfect little spots for little hands!

You can fill these with treats or use as Easter decor.