Kid Craft! Thanksgiving Turkeys!

This Thanksgiving myself and Delaney took it upon ourselves to make a few super cool TURKEYS!

No we didn't make the dinner and serve it up for our family and friends but we made a few decorations for the dinner table to show just how happy we were that it was turkey day and what we were thankful for!

Now I'm not gonna lie I got inspired by many posts on Pinterest and I am sure that I am not the only Momma to think this up and post it on her blog so I will preface this craft by saying that I am in no way saying this was my own idea... lets face it I'm just not that smart!

So here is how we got our turkeys started...

For our Thankful turkey I cut out feather shapes from cardboard that I felt were Fall colored and I asked Delaney and all of our family members what they were thankful for.... notice that even little Max got in on the action... (Delaney insisted that we include some from Max and then said what she felt he was thankful for)

Then with double sided tape I added them to the back of a toilet paper roll but you could very easily replace that with glue....

For our other turkey I had Delaney trace her hand on more Fall colored cardboard and then I cut them out and we stuck them to the back of another roll... (sorry I was kinda busy watching a 4 year old eye the scissors to take any photos but its pretty self explanatory anyway...)

Finally we added googly eyes and a beak and then drew on the feet!

Presto two adorable centerpieces for our Thanksgiving table!

Mothers Day Kid Craft! Hand Print Garden!

Excuse me for a moment....

HEY! Mom and Mom in-law, yes you...
Avert your eyes, look away, stop reading!
Seriously STOP NOW!

Now on to the post!

Have you ever played around with those fingerprint art kits with your kids??

Delaney got this super cute one as a gift from my sister when she returned from vacation. We had lots of fun with it and it inspired me to make something similar with Delaney for her Mothers Day cards for her Nanny and her Nana!

It was super simple and you can make one too!
All you need is paint, paper, a pen or sharpie and your kid!

EASY!

To start I wrote our greeting on the bottom of our paper and got Delaney (who is getting better and better at tracing her name all of the time) to trace it over for her Nanny and her Nana but this is optional of course if your kids can do that them selves or if they are too young for that just yet.

Then use a paint brush and paint green color paint on your child's hands (yes you do need to paint it on with a brush, it keeps the paint from blobing up and becoming a mess plus you can still see the ridges of their little finger prints and all the lines in their hands!) then get them to place their hand or hands on the paper. Then clean their hands... and paint just one finger any color they like for flowers... Delaney loves PINK so thats what we went with and then put a few finger prints above and on each finger of the hand, clean the fingers again and paint just one with yellow, clean again and paint one finger purple and make two finger prints right next to each other. then with a sharpie or other pen draw wings and lines on your bumble bees! Then add a body and antenna to your butterfly!

AND there you have a hand print garden!

Do you like to make homemade cards for your family for holidays? I love it and I know that these beauties will be cherished by Delaney's Nana and Nanny!

Happy Early Mother's Day!


Sharing over at The shaddy Porch and at It's just called Spicy

Weekend Kid Craft! Crayon Resist Water Color!

A few weeks ago we tried a new project...
Crayon Resist Water Color!

It's super fun and its actually what we turned into our Easter Cards!

If you are not familiar with the method here is how you do it!

Step One: Write or draw on the paper with crayon. You can use white crayon or colors... (try telling a three year old not to use color...)

Step Two: Paint over the crayon with watercolor paints in a thin even coat. Or in a mess of colors and thickness...

Step Three: Sit back and admire your art!

So this is what Delaney and I did for Easter, and then I turned them into cards which you could do for any event or holiday really...

I just folded a piece of paper in half, had Delaney trace her name on the inside with the greeting and on the other half I traced an egg shape, cut it out, and glued her painting along the edges to the front of the card but if you were doing it for a birthday or even just a thinking about you card for a family member you could cut out a flower shape hole or even just a rectangle.... either way your showing off your child's art and when looking at that what family member is going to care about the shape on the front???

Total this project took up maybe 2 hours of our time (including waiting for paint to dry and me cutting out the hole in the cards but if you have older kids they could do that themselves too!) We of course had the paper and crayons on hand (not sure there is a toddler house out there without crayons in it...) and while we did have the kids water colors on hand you can usually get them for fairly cheap at the dollar store or the craft store! (note: It has to be Water Color Paint regular craft paint is too thick and will just cover your crayon drawing.)

Give it a try and let me know how yours turned out! Id love to hear about your adventures in Water Color Painting with your kids!

Easy Christmas Ornaments...

Since this week is leading up to Christmas in July (not that I am participating in any particular Christmas in July celebrations) I figured that I would post a few of my favorite easy Christmas crafts... 

and one of my favorite things to make for Christmas is ornaments.

I love them because they are small, they are usually thoughtful and evoke a memory or will in later years, and they are something that people are usually happy to receive.

One of our Christmas traditions is to give a decoration of some sort that has the current year on it (we kinda commemorate each year... and I fantasize about a day when my whole tree is covered in ornaments that will remind me of the year it came from... you know someday when I'm old and grey, and I can say to the grand-kids your mom made this when she was your age or this is from the year me and your poppy got married... ). We started this tradition back in 2004 when Robyn and I celebrated our first Christmas, and we have continued every year since. 

So this year I decided that I would make my own. 

I have used Salt dough before for ornaments and I love using it, it's so easy to make it lasts forever in the fridge if you have left over dough, as well you can let it air dry or heat it in the oven, then just paint it and your done! Not to mention that it's cheap to make... if you have flour and salt your ready to go!

So this year my family is receiving salt dough ornaments as their item with the year on it... 

Here is the recipe I use.

2 c. Flour

1 c. Table Salt

1 c. Water

Mix in a large bowl, roll out and cut with cookie cutters then allow to air dry (which can take 24-48 hours) , or bake in the oven at about 100 degrees (which may take 3-4 hours)

These ornaments are great to make with kids of the appropriate ages of course.

Here is a sample of what I have completed so far...

The color is off a bit but it is pink with purple letters and some glitter on the edges...

That is my one tip for making ornaments... Make them sparkle a little, then when the tree lights are on they will catch your eye a little more...

What kind of ornaments do you like to make?? I'd love to have something new to add to my collection of crafts for gift giving... if you'd like to share that is...

Birthday Cards By Delaney!

I hate buying cards..... I like the sentiment, I like the cute sayings, I like the animals or cartoons or what have you on the front, I hate paying 4 dollars for one card.... and yes I am aware that the dollar store sells cards and that is usually where I get my cards but when you have 5 birthdays in one month (or more) plus the major holidays that's a lot of money on cards!

I like to make my own cards, I know that not everyone likes homemade gifts or cards but when your on a budget and trying to get your child involved in crafts or even the holiday/birthday I find it much more fun and much more frugal to make them at home, not to mention who wouldn't be happy with a handmade card from a 2 year old.

This month we have a whole pile of Birthdays, Robyn's just passed and in this week alone we have his sister, my mom and my dad. That's just this week.....  So we sat down at our kitchen table the other day and began the card making process. I gathered up some printer paper, some paint brushes and paint, markers and crayons. Then I let go of my need to making sure my child was clean, make sure my table and floor were clean and also trying to keep each paint color separated on her palette (a piece of extra paper). 

And away she went happy as a lark painting away.... 

She painted a lovely pile of Delaney Originals and I set them aside to dry... once dry I folded them either in half or in 4 and gave her full reign to color and mark them up and put stickers where she wanted and anything else she wanted to do.... then I added the Happy Birthday message and of course, Love Delaney! and they were finished! PS to save having to send a second card from Robyn and I, I write (and my mommy and daddy too!) below where I write her name... (you can call me cheap but when on a budget every dollar adds up) 

And of course as I said I had to let go of making sure my child was clean..... I never finish a craft project with Delaney without taking a few pictures of her all covered in her mess... so here you go! 

My Tiny Artist!

Have you done anything crafty with your kids this week? Have you been making your own Frugal Birthday cards? Let me know in the comments if you have any other frugal tips for celebrating Birthdays at your house!

First Valentines craft of the year!

This week we started our valentines decorating, during which I realized that I don't have a wreath for the occasion. So after looking for some inspiration I figured that I would try something that my daughter Delaney and I could do together! Which means it lacks a little in the presentation, its a bit on the messy side and it was super simple to do! What can I say when crafting with a 2 year old you sometimes have to go for quick, easy and fun rather than pretty, time consuming and perfect...

Here is the finished product!

Here is what we used:
A cardboard box
Two plates one large (a dinner plate) and one smaller (a lunch or side plate would do)
One sheet of white computer paper torn into strips length wise
Variety of craft foam sheets
Scissors
Glue stick
Stickers
Hot glue gun and glue
Ribbon to hang the wreath with

To get started I waited till nap time! I did all my prep work in the 2 hours that Delaney was asleep so that I would be able to do the main cutting and gluing without having to explain ten times why mommy needs to do the cutting. To begin the mommy work I cut a wreath shape out of the bottom of a cardboard box using two different size plates as a template (the larger one for the outside of the wreath and a smaller one for the center) once I had it traced out I cut it with a utility knife, then for ease and cover up of the cardboard I simply glued strips of white printer paper around the wreath. You could also use colored construction paper or scrap-booking paper if you have Valentines day themed paper on hand. Then I cut heart shapes out of pink purple and white craft foam.

Once Delaney was awake and ready to craft I had her "help me" glue the hearts around the wreath. Then it was all up to her I gave her some sparkly Valentines day stickers purchased at the dollarstore, and she went to town adding them where she wanted with a little help from mommy to get the stickers off the sheet as she choose them and to help her make sure they were straight... when it was OK with her. After it was all done I hot glued the ribbon to the back of the wreath so we could hang it, of course this was a mommy job too!

In  the end we made a beautiful wreath in about 2 hours, including the mommy time and the mommy and Delaney time, and we had a lot of fun doing it! the best part I know have a wreath that we made together and I can display it for years to come!

You could of course jazz it up more with other shapes or embellishments like glitter or gems but when working with a 2 year old I find it easier keeping things a little on the cleaner side... because our other craft projects have looked a little more like this when we were finished...

Happy crafting and Happy Valentines day!