Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.  I've got a black, black thumb.  And this saddens me because deep down, my heart is really green.  I love looking at plants, I love eating plants, and goodness one year I was even a tree for Halloween!  But I'm a plant killer.  So this makes today's toilet paper roll craft perfect for me.  These cardboard roll plants are pretty to look at, and impossible to kill.

Make Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

Yup.  Aren't they pretty?  If you're interested in making yourself some everlasting recyclable plants, keep on reading!

Make Pretend Play "Dirt"

Does your child love playing with construction toys too?  If so, today's post is just for you.  It's all about dirt, glorious dirt.  Since it's freezing cold outside (and we live in an urban environment), playing in real dirt just isn't an option for us.  But no worries, I whipped up a batch of Pretend Play "Dirt" and we had a blast playing with it inside. 

Make Pretend Play "Dirt"  

The coolest thing about this recipe is that you only need three common household ingredients to make play "dirt."  (It was inspired by MollyMoo's Leprechaun slime recipe.)  So keep reading to see how you can whip up some play dirt at home too

DIY Magnetic Fishing Game

Currently, one of Chuck's favorite books is 10 Little Fish by Audrey and Bruce Wood.  It's a cute book about subtraction.  Kids count colorful fish on each page as they leave one by one.  And (my favorite part), it has a fishy romance at the end (What can I say?  I'm a closet romantic... tee heee hee.)  To accompany his love for fish, we recently made this DIY Magnetic Fishing Game. 

DIY Magnetic Fishing Game

It's cute and colorful and really fun to make and easy to play.  Want to make your own fishing game?  Keep reading to see how we made ours! 

Make a simple paper kite

Spring is here!  Let's go outside!  Let's go fly a kite!  What?  You don't own a kite?  No worries, we can  make one!  Today I'll share with you this really simple DIY paper kite.   It's easy to make, fun to play with, and my young son loved decorating his very own kite.  

Spring, spring, la la la!  (Can you tell that I have a bad case of spring fever?  *Twirls around and leaps*)

Make a Simple Paper Kite

Now the only warning I have about this craft is that you have to make more than one paper kite.    Seriously.  Each kid should get have his own.  And, be prepared for kites to break or float away.  (One of our floated away.) 

Alright, let's make some paper kites!

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy

Lately Chuck and I have been infatuated with things that fly. That's why we made our cardboard space shuttle a couple of days ago.  So today I took things one step further to create a handmade toy that actually did fly.  Modeled  after a plastic toy that hubby brought back from one of his trips, here's our version of a DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy.

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy

It's pretty neat that the toy actually does fly.  You simply spin it between both hands and the copter flies out and floats to the ground.  Keep reading to see how we made it (and a video of it flying!)

Oil and Colored Ice Cube Science

When you were a kid, did you enjoy seeing how oil and water would not mix?  I always thought that was so neat.  (I'll even admit, sometimes even now as an adult, I shake salad dressing bottles at the store just to watch that happen.  Is that weird?)  Eh hem... anyway... a couple of days ago, Chuck and I played around with this phenomenon.  We placed some colored ice cubes into cooking oil and watched them melt.  The results were just really, really beautiful.

Observing colored ice cubes melting in oil

Can science be dreamy?  I hope so, because that's the best word that I can think of to describe what I saw.  Now Chuck didn't appreciate how the colorful bubbles looked like jewels, but he did enjoy swishing and moving the liquids around.  

Keep reading to see how we played with oil and water!

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft (template included)

A couple of weeks ago we visited our nearby Science Center and Chuck fell in love with a small space shuttle toy.  Of course, the wheels in my head began whirring and I knew that we could easily transform a  paper towel roll into our very own rocket ship.  So after a couple days of planning, cutting, and painting, we are now the proud owners of two cardboard roll space shuttles:

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft

Want a ride to the moon on your very own cardboard roll space shuttle?  Then keep reading to see how we made them (template included)!

Ed Roth Stencil1 Stenciled Shirts

Note:  This post is sponsored by Plaid, but the opinions are 100% mine.
 
One of my favorite things to do is turn Chuck's plain shirts, pants, and shoes into unique and fun pieces.  For example, I painted him a pair of Lightening McQueen shoes and stenciled him an  "I heart peeps" Easter shirt. So you could see why I was super excited when Plaid sent me some Ed Roth Stencil1 stencils and FolkArt Multi-Surface Paints to try out.  I loved the stencils' bold and graphic look so much that I used them to update one of Chuck's plain shirts.

Ed Roth Stencil1 Stenciled Shirt 

Keep reading to see how I stenciled Chuck's shirt!

DIY Melted Crayon Artwork

Have you ever seen those cool examples of melted crayon artwork?  You know, the ones where people glue crayons to canvases and then melt them with hair dryers?  Well, I thought they were really neat, but wondered if there was another way to do it.  After some experimenting, I found out that you can directly melt crayons with a hair dryer as you draw on canvas. Pretty neat, right? The melted crayon just glides over the canvas, giving your artwork a different look and feel.  Now instead of making drippy crayon artwork, you can draw any image you like!

I chose to make some spring inspired artwork (because once again, I'm feeling optimistic that warmer weather is coming!)

To see how I made this neat artwork, check out my DIY Melted Crayon Wall Art Tutorial at Handmade Charlotte!  Have a great weekend.

Pi Day Activity- Make Pi Art!

Happy Pi Day everyone!  I remember thinking this holiday was really cool when I was younger.  We let out our inner nerds, drank soda, and ate a pizza pie in class.  Earlier this week I whetted your mathy appetite when I shared how I turned Pi into wearable art.  My super easy and colorful Pi Day Bracelets were made by stringing different colored beads according to the digits in Pi.  Today I'm celebrating Pi Day with two colorful and geometric pieces of Pi Day Inspired Artwork.

 "Easy As Pi" Artwork!

And if you have younger preschool aged children, check out my 5 easy ways to celebrate Pi Day with Preschoolers!


Now let's celebrate your inner nerd and create some fun artwork to brighten up your wall.  Let's get started!

DIY Tin Wall Art

The weather last weekend was glorious and I'm mentally already in Spring mode.  Doesn't matter that today was freezing cold... nope, no siree.  The sun is shining, it's March, so yes, Spring is here (in my mind at least.)  And to celebrate the sunnier, warmer weather, I'm over at Handmade Charlotte today sharing how I made this lovely spring themed DIY Tin Wall Art.

Tin Wall Art sounds pretty fancy-shmancy.  I actually made it using materials that I already had at home!  Adults and kids can easily turn a simple disposable aluminum baking pan into a piece of lovely and personalized artwork.  So grab your Sharpies and baking pan, and head on over to Handmade Charlotte to see how to make yourself some lovely DIY Tin Wall Art!

Digging for St. Patrick's Day Gold Activity

Looking for a fun and easy kids' St. Patrick's Day science activity?  Well, lucky you!  You're at the right place!  I  originally saw this Fun at Home with Kids' St. Patrick's Day Ice Play activity and thought, "Wow!  I gotta try it!"  Basically you freeze Leprechaun's "gold" inside of ice, and then ask your child to help you break them out using salt.  (Because the salt lowers the freezing point of water, essentially melting your ice.)  Genius right?  So we tried it out.  Success!  Chuck had a ton of fun and we've already done the activity twice!  

Let's go digging for some Leprechaun gold!

Keep reading to see how we did this St. Patrick's Day Activity!

Stained Glass Craft with Aluminum foil and Cellophane

Are you looking for another take on kids' stained glass window crafts?  Instead of using contact paper, why not use aluminum foil!  Glue pieces of cellophane on top of aluminum foil to create a lovely stained glass effect.  The colorful cellophane really stands out against the shiny aluminum foil background. 

Oooh!  And it's spring themed! Spring.... glorious spring....

Not sure if you can tell, but the black outlined tulip stands up against the aluminum foil.  Yup, it's my faux leading.  Nice, right?  Keep reading to see how we made these aluminum foil and cellophane stained glass panels.

DIY Cardboard iPod Projector

I've been on a crapty DIY technology kick lately.  A couple of weeks ago, I made this set of  DIY Cardboard roll iPod Speakers.  After making those speakers, I wondered if I could take the idea one step further.  Could I somehow make an iPod projector out of everyday materials?

After searching online, I saw that others had some success with a creating a DIY iPod projector out of a cardboard box and magnifying glass.   So, of course, I had to try it for myself. 

Tada!  Here's today's craft- a DIY Cardboard and Magnifying Glass iPod Projector  

Wanna see how this projector works?  Keep reading for more!

Pi Day Activity- Make Pi Day Bracelets!

This Friday (3/14) is Pi Day!  Pi is a mathematical constant referring to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  It's an irrational number, which means that it goes on forever and never shows a repeating pattern.  Every year it's celebrated on 3/14 because the first three digits of Pi are 3,1, and 4.  Now if you're looking for an easy way to celebrate Pi day, we've got a great collection of Pi Day Inspired Activities.  Today I'm sharing these nifty Pi Day Bracelets!  What makes this a great Pi Day Activity?  Well, the beads are strung according to Pi's digits. (Cool, right?)   It's a great way to combine math, art, and crafting!

Interested in making your own set of Pi Day Inspired bracelets?  Keep reading!

#2redfruitloops (and why social media stresses me out)

What should I give up for Lent?

This year for Lent I thought long and hard about what to give up.  Midnight snacking?  *Jiggles belly fat*  Yeah... that would probably be good.  Television?  Yeah, that would probably be a good choice too. 
But then I heard a bloggy friend saying that she was giving up social media and I thought... oooh, now we're onto something.

On wanting to be a kid blogger... and that pesky thief named Comparison

Last January I participated in something called #riskrejection, where a couple of bloggers and I shared how we were daring to take scary risks even if it meant getting rejected by others. That weekly challenge has now become a monthly one.  (If you'd like to participate in this month's, you can link your risks here.)

For my first risk, I shared my (now not-so-secret) desire to somehow make a career as a kids' craft blogger.  Since then, I dove into the huge social media ocean and

• reorganized the kid craft section of my Pinterest page
• pumped up my Instagram feed
• uploaded more posts onto Facebook
• started reading up on SEO.... (blech)
• joined two blogging support groups (Kid Blogger Network and Rockin' Art Moms.)  

Yurp.  It's been great and I've learned a lot... but it's also been pretty overwhelming.

Both groups are made up of super talented, super hardworking, super social media saavy moms and I am  in awe of them...and honestly, supremely intimidated by them. 

I know I shouldn't compare, but it's hard not to.  Every time I look at my newsfeed or check my email I see how hard they've been working, how much they've created, and how many shares or likes their posts received... and  I get stressed out.

Blogging definitely becomes less fun when those pesky "What ifs" "Maybe I shoulds" or "Why am I nots" pop into my head.

Stepping back from Facebook and Page views

So for this month, I'm stepping back from social media, specifically Facebook.  I'm trying not to check every feed, comment, like, or update... and I'm also really trying hard to not worry about stats or pageviews.

It's going to be a battle till Easter, but boundaries are good right? 

#2redfruitloops

Instead of obsessing, I'm going to try trusting that God somehow has a plan and a place for all of us... and I'm going to do something that makes me happy.... draw red fruit loop doodles!  I love seeing all the artists on Instagram who doodle scenes around real objects.  So I've challenged myself to draw doodles that include 2 red fruit loops in them. (Why red fruit loops?  Because they're yummy and they make me happy.)  So if you want to follow my red fruit loop journey, you can just find it on Instagram using #2redfruitloops.

 Here's my first doodle:

(I feel like that's me... always trying to see what the future holds...)

Whoa.  I've been reading for an hour... just how long is this post anyway?

Way too long, apparently.  Wow.  You're still here? High five.  I'm sorry for this long, long personal post, but I needed to take this risk, share what was on my heart, and let everything out.

Let's be brave and hopeful together friends, shall we?

4 Easy Kids' Crafts

Today Chuck's sick and we're stuck at home.  Boo!  I was going to skip posting today and instead just upload our everyday craft photos onto my Instagram account.  But the photos were so cute... so I gave in and I'm uploading a collage here too, just in case you're looking for some crafty inspiration.

4 Really Easy (Practically no prep) Kids' crafts

Keep reading to see how we made each craft:

Make Coffee Filter Flowers

Today we're continuing our spring flower theme with these easy to make coffee filter flowers.  Now I'm not a coffee drinker, but I bought a pack of filters anyway because I really wanted to try making these with Chuck.  He had a lot of fun helping me to dye the coffee filters different colors with food coloring.  Then, I had a lot of fun cutting them up and turning them into a lovely and everlasting bouquet of colorful flowers.

Do you need a colorful boost today?  Or do you need a quick and fun activity to do with your kids?  Why not try your hand at making a lovely bouquet of coffee filter flowers too?

Make Rainbow flowers

Rainbows and bright colors are currently on my mind.  Chuck and I are impatient for spring to come.  So when I stared at our white flowers (leftovers from Valentine's Day- can you believe they lived that long?) I knew the perfect "almost-spring-but-not-yet" craft.  Painting rainbow flowers!  
 

Heh heh.  We couldn't wait for Mother Nature to give us colorful blooms, so we painted our own.  Keep reading to see a super easy way to make your own rainbow flowers!

Leprechaun Hat Headband DIY

I'm not Irish. (Surprise!)  But I appreciate St. Patrick's Day because it gives me the opportunity to wear green and cute Leprechaun gear.  So today's craft is a DIY Leprechaun hat headband that was made from... wait for it.... toilet paper rolls and cereal boxes!   

Yup!  Today we're making our very own Leprechaun hat!

Keep reading to see how we made this little Leprechaun hat headband!