Posts

I love making bark because it is so easy and everyone loves it. This chocolate hazelnut bark has a secret ingredient-Nutella. After the chocolate is melted, I stir in hazelnut extract and a big scoop of Nutella. It melts right in with the chocolate and creates a dreamy bark after it hardens. I top the bark off with chopped hazelnuts and break it up into pieces. Place the bark in a cute little tin, holiday gift bag, or a festive plate and give the gift of chocolate hazelnut bark this year....

These are so fun to make – I bet your kids will want to paint a bunch like my girls did! I set-up two painting stations – a palette of acrylic paints and small containers of liquid watercolors. Near the acrylic paints, I had assorted paintbrushes, water for rinsing brushes, and a rag for drying. The acrylic paints cover the wood craft stick with nice, solid color. The paint dried fairly quickly, so we were able to paint a solid color, set it aside for a few minutes, then come back and add dots, stripes, and other designs....

Supplies for Colorful Puddle-Painted Hearts: Sturdy paper (watercolor paper or card stock) Liquid watercolors or washable tempera diluted with water Droppers, pipettes, or paint brushes Instructions: This is a really simple activity, with lots of room for your child’s own ideas about how to do it. Start by making puddles of paint on your paper heart. We only used 2 or 3 colors on each heart. Then, holding your paper over a pan, start tipping the paper from side to side to create your paint tracks....

These are fun friendly frames for your kids to make. You can give one to your grandma, grandpa, or anyone you want. Supplies for Paper Punch Picture Frame: any piece of paper paper puncher optional: glue, crayons, scissors First take the paper puncher. Next start punching the holes. After that, and you are done, you can draw a picture or glue on a photo. Now you are done. Have fun with your new picture frame!...

Supplies: plastic shower curtain rings, ribbon – I used 5/8 inch ribbon, scissors Cut a length of ribbon. We made some with 3 feet of ribbon, 2 feet, and small 6 inch ones. Find your half way point of the ribbon. Tie a knot at the top, so as you start to wrap, it doesn’t fall apart. Then wrap it around the ring one way. Then with the other half, wrap it around the other way....

Recently, I’ve found a bit of a solution and a great use for my “fancy” glasses: I turn them into votive holders! So, I experimented with glass painting and I played around with some techniques to give my “fancy” glasses a little colorful personality. I painted the glasses painterly style and then popped some candle votives inside. The result definitely channeled my inner-child-of the-80’s and made the room smile....

My craft tutorial is all about kids crafts, big surprise ;) We’re sharing how to create a kid crafty Washi Tape Flower Vase, using some of our pre-made paper tube stamped flowers and recycled cans and containers for the vase. Earth Day Washi Tape Flower Vase To get started, I needed a few embellishing supplies to make our craft complete. Since I don’t live very close to a craft store, it’s not very often when I can get there....

Easter Art Glittered with Crushed Egg Shells Supplies for Crushed Eggs Shell Craft: colored egg shells pencil glue heavy cardstock paper tray Instructions: First color dye some hard-boiled eggs. I did 15 eggs here. You’ll get about 6-7 good pictures out of that. You could even leave the egg shells white if you wanted to, for a bunny or a lamb. Let the eggs dry, then crack them open and save all the shell pieces....

Supplies for Acorn Magnets: acorns magnets – they now sell these strong neodymium magnets at Walmart or other craft stores, or you can get them online. You can use the regular black magnets too. hot glue gun – for the adult to use Collect your acorns. Hot glue them (an adult) to a magnet. Let dry and cool. Attach to the fridge! (If the tops fall off, or if a top doesn’t come with a bottom, just hot glue it back together....

As she’s just starting out, we go slow and easy. We play this little game that she loves. I write 5 letters at a time on a piece of paper. Sometimes it’s just the uppercase letters, sometimes lowercase, and sometimes both. I make sure she watches me write each letter, helping her see how I formed them. Then I put a large rectangular box under the written letters and tell her to try writing each letter in the box below....

When it comes to messy projects, I like to be prepared. I lined my table with a cheap plastic tablecloth, the kind from the party section. It’s easy to wipe off or discard if it gets too messy. And I put my kids in some of my old t-shirts. All set and ready to paint. Each child was armed with a paint brush, watercolors, and a piece of white cardstock paper....

Before, I have made these great hooded towels for my kids and their bath time. They are shivering when they get out of the tub and these towels cover them head to toe. I also attempted, as you can see, to sew fabric letters on the back to make them personalized. I need a better sewing machine if I were to make it look professional, but cute all the same....

Make a DIY Concrete and Wood Planter In full disclosure, this planter was a little trial and a whole lot of error before we got it right. In saying that, the first step-by-step photographs are taken from the first planter we tried. When the concrete fell apart shortly after removing the mold, we re-made it using different concrete. The process is still exactly the same, but I’ll go into a little more detail so you know what works and what doesn’t....

Holiday crafts are some of my favorite. They are a great way to bring sentimental items and traditions into your home that can be passed down. It’s the little things that the family will often remember. Sentimental ornaments, how the table was decorated, and traditional meals make holidays so meaningful. Handmade Christmas table runner This handmade table runner is festive and so easy to make. Have the kids draw and paint the Christmas trees; painting outside the lines is mandatory for this fun craft project....

Unless you are making your own air dry clay (try this 3 ingredient playdough recipe, it will dry like clay) there is no prep needed for this simple kids craft. Just remember that you want to make sure you do this craft with your children at least 4 or 5 days before Mother’s Day as it will take a couple of days for the clay to dry fully. Supplies: Air dry clay Sequins or beads Heart shaped cookie cutter (medium/large sized) Playdough rolling pin Small bowl or dish Toothpick...

And the best part is that the set up is half the fun! The kids can pretty much do it all on their own and then get ready to play pretend! Make a Giant Yarn Spider Web All you need is a ball of yarn! Nothing fancy needed. But I do love the variegated color yarn, making it easy to have fun rainbow colors with one ball of yarn....

My kids are always begging to have a bubble bath, begging! But every time we use commercial bubble bath from the store, it irritates their skin. Not good, especially with a child who has eczema. So I’ve been making our own homemade bubble bath and we haven’t had any skin irritation, yay! They go great with our handmade crochet bath scrubbies too! NOTE: this recipe will give you nice big bubbles to start, but they don’t last as long as store-bought....

As my son is starting Kindergarten this year, he’s ready and running for the door! I’ll be the one needing his kiss on my hand reassuring me he’ll be okay away from home! When I was teaching Kindergarten, it was fun to watch as parents took lots of pictures and gave lots of kisses to their child, lingering longer on the first day of school. Now that I’m a parent, I’m sure I’ll be doing the same thing....

If you want to spend some time making these with your family, start by downloading and printing the 2016 Word Art coloring page. I like to print ours on card stock. The card stock makes it more sturdy to hang on a wall for display. Gather an assortment of colorful pencils, crayons, and/or markers. Sometimes, it helps to brainstorm together to get the ideas flowing. You could also decorate it with glitters, puffy paint, or stickers....

Mix up art and outdoor play time by bringing the art outside with you (and leaving it there when you’re done!). Kids will get a kick out of applying paint to surfaces they don’t normally see as canvases. Painting out in the great wide world might inspire some young artists more than sitting at the kitchen table would. This project is versatile. Art can be temporary or permanent, depending on your desire....