Hello Summer! Let's have a Tie Dye Party!

This post is sponsored by  I Love To Create and Blueprint Social.  However, all opinions are my own!

Ah, summer, sweet summer.  Nothing screams summer to me more than sunny weather, grill outs, fresh watermelon, and tie dye!   I recently received a free box of tie dye curtesy of  I Love to Create's Tie Dye Your Summer campaign... and I couldn't wait to try it out!

Easy DIY Tie-Dye T-shirt Macrame Plant Holders... with kids!

It's summer! Which means it's time for succulent crafts and tie dye crafts! Today's activity is perfect for this time of year. Everybody is tie-dyeing. Everybody is reminiscing about nostalgic summer camp crafts. And everybody is going bonkers planting. (And who doesn't love succulents?) So grab an old tie-dyed t-shirt, a cute potted plant, and let's make this adorable DIY macrame plant holder for yourself... or give it to a friend!

How to make Easy Tie-dyed T-shirt Macrame Plant holders

(A fun summer craft for kids, tweens, teens, and adults too!)

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Sharpie Tie Dye Shirt

It's Monday and we've finally started returning to our normal sleep schedules.  (Yes!)  And now that we're back and settled in, I realized that Easter is right around the corner.  Yikes.  Is it April already?  It totally snuck up on me this year. So here's my first semi-Easter related tutorial:   Sharpie Tie Dye Shirt

Wait, what does this shirt have to do with Easter?  Well, kids seem to wear cute, colorful outfits on Easter.  (See last year's DIY I heart Peeps Shirt.)   A friend graciously donated a bunch of clothes to us and one of the items was a blank white shirt.  It screamed "Paint me, paint me."  And so Chuck and I used it to make this year's Easter shirt together.  Keep reading to see how we made it!

How to Make Corn Husk Flowers

A couple of weeks ago I took a fun corn husk flower making class at La Calenda, a cute nearby store that sells beautiful, handmaid items from Mexico. I loved the resulting corn husk flowers so much that I promptly dyed my own at home and held a fun crafternoon with some moms and kiddos. The results from both crafting sessions were so lovely that I'm sharing the how-to's behind making these flowers with you today!

How To Make Corn Husk Flowers

(A Super easy and beautiful craft for kids and adults!)

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of money for any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for your support.  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

DIY-Sharpie dye your clothes

I've always wanted to learn how to tie dye properly.  I tried to do it once way back in elementary school, but ended up with a light grey stained shirt.  (We were going for bright purple.) 

Now that summer is showing off her vibrant hues, I once again felt inspired to try this colorful art form.  Some quick researching online showed that people were actually using Sharpie markers to dye their shirts!   The method was so simple and I had all the materials at home.  Score!  So, I decided to give this craft a try. 

Here are the materials that I used:

Here's what I did: 

1. I placed a piece of cardboard inside my shirt so the marker wouldn't seep through.  (I only wanted one side of my shirt dyed.) Note:  You could probably also use a plastic bag too. 
2. I channeled my inner artist and began doodling on my shirts.  Note:  I used old markers which didn't have much ink in them.  I recommend using juicy, new, fat markers.  Then you can put more ink on the shirt and get a better effect.      
3. I stretched my t-shirt over a baking pan to catch the alcohol.  Note:  Again, you could probably just do this part with a plastic bag.
4. I used my dropper to drip alcohol onto my design.  A couple of drops was all it took to make the marker bleed. 
5. I let my shirt dry.
6. I ironed my shirt to set the colors.  (Note:  This didn't work because the colors still bled when I hand washed the shirts.  Other people suggested placing your shirts briefly in the microwave or dryer.)
7. I hand washed my shirts.

 Want to see the results?
Here's my first attempt:

My inspiration came from beach waves and fourth of July fireworks.
The design reminded hubby of a dental x-ray.

Hmm... crafty or crappy?  Not sure if I'm digging my design...

And here's my second attempt:  (This time I tried something simpler.)  

All in all the method worked relatively well.  The colors were vibrant and reminded me of watercolors.  But, the markers bled during my hand washing, resulting in staining on the back of the shirts.  Also, the rubbing alcohol and markers smelled A LOT.  So just be sure to do this in a well ventilated room!

Have you tried using sharpies to dye your clothes?

Dip Dye Kids Art Project

If you're looking for the easiest, funnest, cheapest, and most colorful kids summer art project... you're at the right place.  We've been dying up a storm over here and turning plain old paper towels into lovely dip dye art!

How to Make Dip Dye Art With Kids

DIY Kids' Cardboard Art Easel

I love making and creating things with Chuck.  But sometimes I'm surprised by how much arts and crafts supplies cost.   Whenever I go to Michaels or Target I always do a double-take when the bill comes up.   What?  How did we spend so much?  Is this glitter made of 14K gold?  To stretch our pennies (and my own creativity) I love making our own art supplies on the cheap.  We've made our own Paint-With-Water Pages,  2 Ingredient Body Paint, sun prints with construction paper, and even used tortillas as canvases for art!  With dozens of cardboard boxes lying around, I thought it would be fun to DIY Chuck an art easel.

DIY Kids' Cardboard Art Easel

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support.)  

This DIY easel is so neat because it only took a couple of minutes to make (score!), is made entirely out of cardboard (cheap!) , and can accommodate 1, 2, or even 3 children simultaneously painting.  Whoa! Intrigued?  Well let's get crafting!

Poppable Wrapping Paper (DIY Gift Wrapping Rockin' Art Mom Style!)

Are you looking for creative ways to wrap your holiday gifts?  Well, today I've joined forces with fellow Rockin' Art Moms to share several imaginative and unique ways to wrap your holiday gifts!  (So be sure to check out all the rockin' holiday ideas below!)

Because we always seem to have an abundance of bubble wrap lying around, I put our excess to good use and made this modern, poppable holiday wrapping paper! 

Popping Holiday Wrapping Paper!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you so much for your support!

I'm all about easy holiday crafts- like these paint chip Christmas Trees,  easy DIY Reindeer Headbands, and mini pipe cleaner and cardboard Christmas trees.  Today's wrapping paper idea is  super simple, colorful, and fun!   The recipient of your gift will get a kick out of popping the bubbles!

DIY Colorful Shoelaces!

Lately I've been thinking about super simple Christmas gifts that kids could make for their friends.  Last year Chuck used Sharpies to make his own Sharpie Tie-Dye Shirt.  This time I thought I'd have a turn using Sharpies to turn plain white shoelaces into cute and colorful shoelaces!

DIY Colorful Shoe laces

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

This was a super fun project with colorful and unique results!

Let's get started!

40+ Projects that combine STEM with Art!

Seems like everyone's talking about the importance of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) these days. And hey, I get it.  We live in a highly technological world that's rapidly advancing in all sorts of new ways.   We want our kids to be be creative and adaptive problem solvers.

But maybe you're like me and you deeply love arts and crafts.  They're your jam.  And maybe you're unsure how to dive into all this STEAM goodness.  Hey, I get that too.  Hopefully today's post will help.  In this post I sharing over 40 ideas for arts and craft projects that also happen to incorporate STEM ideas.  Yup.  Here are some of my favorite artsy crafty posts...which also happen to have a little STEAM-y oomph to them!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for the support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Easy Sharpie Tile Art

Did you know that you can use Sharpie markers to decorate tiles?

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

DIY Clay Mushroom Houseplant Stakes Decor

Does anyone LOVE houseplants? Somehow during COVID, I became obsessed with plants. And because I also adore making things from polymer clay, I made these adorable clay mushroom houseplant stakes to decorate my plants. Here's how to make your own clay mushrooms to keep or give to another houseplant-loving friend.

DIY Clay Mushroom Houseplant Stakes 
(For the plant lover in your life.)

 

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

How to Build an Epic Cardboard City With Kids (And our 15+ Favorite Books to Inspire Building)

Looking for an easy and affordable group craft idea?  I recently hosted a cardboard craft event to celebrate the launch of my new cardboard craft book Epic Cardboard Adventures (aff link).  Kids and parents were invited to help me build a cardboard city.  If you're looking for an easy group crafting activity, I really recommend this one.  It's super easy to set up and both adults and kids had a lovely morning of crafty fun!

How to Build an Epic Cardboard City with Kids

 Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Easy Pom Pom Shooter (Made in less than 10 minutes!)

Lately my son has been obsessed with this DIY pom pom shooter.  Not that I blame him.  It's got a pretty sweet trigger.  Simply press down on the clothes pin.  The rubber band then releases, flinging pom poms into the air.

And you wanna know the best part about today's craft?  You can make one yourself in less than 10 minutes.  Cool right?  Wanna know how?  Keep reading to find out!

This post contains affiliate links.   Thank you for the grocery money! Feeding 2 growing kids is no small feat.  To read my full disclosure policy, click here.