How to make a DIY Computer Wrist Rest (Kid made gift idea!)

Do you use a computer a lot? Do your wrists feel sore?  Lately hubby's been working long hours on his laptop.  Chuck and I were worried because he started noticing that his wrists hurt.  Yikes.  So we whipped up this computer wrist rest for him for FREE!  Yup!  We didn't need to buy anything super fancy because we already owned all the materials.

DIY Computer Wrist Rest 

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Wouldn't this make such a cute and useful DIY gift for kids to make?

4 Eggshell Crafts

Ah Easter.  It's the holiday where everyone makes crafts featuring eggs and small fluffy animals.  Over the years, I've made Easter egg weebles, Egg carton Wreath,  Confetti eggs, and even this Cardboard bunny tissue holder .   While looking through old posts, I saw that I have also done quite a few eggshell crafts too!

Eggshells are a great craft material because they're cheap  AND you can easily change their colors. So today let's take a stroll down memory lane and review these 4 pretty awesome eggshell crafts.

4 Crafts to Make with Eggshells

Super Easy Cardboard Biplanes

The plane obsession continues over here!  Just when you think we're done with transportation crafts... oh no... we've got another one up our sleeve.

Awhile back Chuck and I made this toilet roll biplane.  But sadly, that plane broke.  Chuck still loves biplanes, so I came up with this super easy practically unbreakable cardboard biplane craft for him to make and then fly.

Super Easy Cardboard Biplane Craft

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18 Transportation Crafts that "Go!"

Do you have a plane, train, helicopter, truck, boat, car, or spaceship loving kid?  While looking through the archives, I realized that we've done quite a few transportation-related crafts here.  18 to be specific!  (Whoa.  Kinda cray-cray and kinda cool...)  So I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane and share this compilation of all 18 crafts that "go" here!

18 Awesome Transportation Related Crafts!

Ok.  I gotta admit something to you.  I was originally going to call this post, "Crafts for Boys" (that's why it's in the permalink) but then totally decided against that name.  Girls can like cars, trains, planes, boats, trucks, and bikes too! Right?  Right.  Ack!  Sometimes it's so easy to fall into gender stereotyping.  (Do you ever feel the same way?)   So anyway, that's why I changed the name to Transportation crafts.

Valentine, you set my heart aflutter

Last week I shared about our new fascination with butterflies.  (You can read about it and see our fluttering butterfly kid craft here.)  My mind was still on butterflies when I came up with this idea for a DIY butterfly notebook.  

You can easily make this butterfly notebook from items lying around your home.  Plus, it would be a nice handmade gift to give someone for Valentine's Day too.  (It even fits into our 10 funny pun-y Valentine's Day craft series!)

Funny Pun-y Valentine's Day Craft 2:  "You set my Heart aflutter" Butterfly Notebooks!

You can see my first funny, pun-y craft here (Craft 1: "You Rock My World" Rocks).

 

Snake puppets!

Looking for a fun snake craft?   Yup.  Chuck still digs snakes.  Now, we've made our fair share of snake crafts around here...  (Check out our twisty snake sculpture, moveable cardboard snake, and bubble snakes!)  But today I thought I'd just share a really easy snake puppet that I recently made for him!

Snake Puppets! 

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Make a set of Shark Teeth!

Lately Chuck's wanted to make cardboard toys that move and do things!  That's fine with me, because I really enjoyed making moveable snakes, rocket launchers, paper slingshots, and climbing cardboard circus men with him.  Currently he's OBSESSED with sharks.  So I came up with this quick and easy egg carton shark craft.

  Make a set of Sharp Shark* Teeth!

(*or alligator... or crocodile... or dinosaur... etc.. etc..)

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Angel Craft- Paper Cup Angel Luminaries

Ah, paper cups.  They're such a great crafting material because they're versatile and cheap.  We've used them to make DIY Animal Nose Paper Cups and popsicle stick ice-skating dolls.   Today I'm over at MollyMoo sharing how I turned a couple of plain old clear plastic cups into cozy, glowing  Paper Cup Angel Luminaries!

Wouldn't these be such a magical craft to make with the kids?

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  Or, just sign up for the weekly newsletter in the pink bar at the top of the site.

Happy making, friends!

Toilet Roll Biplane Airplanes Craft

Although Chuck isn't always so keen to craft with me (sad, I know,) he fortunately loves making cardboard toys with me.  (Yay!)  Currently he loves planes.  But since we've already crafted toilet roll planes, toilet roll helicopters, and cardboard roll space shuttles... I was at a loss as to what we could make together next.  One day he suggested that we make a biplane together.  So we went with his suggestion and did this toilet roll biplane craft!

Toilet Roll Biplane Craft

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I think he looks a little like Leadbottom from the movie Planes, don't you?

Check out how we made this simple plane from recycled materials below!

Black Cat Duck Tape Containers

Last Friday we hosted a grill out for some of hubby's work colleagues.  To make our place a bit more Halloween-y I turned some old cans into these cute black cat containers using duct tape!

Black Cat Duck Tape Containers

Aren't they cute?  If you want to decorate containers of your own, head on over to DIY Candy for the full tutorial!

Here are some other fun Halloween Crafts!

• DIY No Sew Lightening McQueen Costume
• DIY Fake Sleeve Tattoo
• DIY Tulle Halloween Mask

Let's Keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!


Have a wonderful weekend!

Glow in the dark Kids Jellyfish Costume

Recently I received several containers of Tulip Glow Paint to try out.  As you know, I LOVE making costumes for Chuck. (Remember the spider costume, Lightening McQueen Costume, and Mr. Potato head costume?  Yup.  Good times.)  So I was excited to somehow incorporate the glow in the dark paint into a costume idea.  Chuck really loves sea creatures right now, so I made him this easy, NO SEW jellyfish costume.

Oh yeah.  And it glows!

DIY Kids Jellyfish Costume (that glows!)

Adorable right? Just wait till you see it glowing.  It really looks like a jellyfish is sitting on top of his head!

Here's how I made it!

DIY Hedgehog Ring Toss

Do you love hedgehogs?   I do!  They're such adorable animals.  So I'm super excited that my first contribution for MollyMoo will be this super cute DIY Hedgehog Ring Toss Game!  

It's made from an old moving box and didn't take very long to make at all.  (My kind of craft!)  So if you want to make one, I'm sharing directions over here!

Love forest-themed crafts?

Then you might also like these...

• Super Easy Toilet Roll Flowers
• Bunny bean bag toss game 
• Toadstool Stools (a cute Ikea hack)
• Build a bird's nest with kids
• Egg Carton Bugs
• DIY Flower Crown

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!


Happy Thursday!

DIY Pizza Gift Box

Ha ha!  I bet you saw the words pizza and gift box and thought... what is Leslie up to this time?  Is she wrapping things in used pizza boxes?  Eeeeh no.  (Although, I would probably wrap things in new boxes.... ooh, good idea... wait.. focus, focus!)  Here's what today's post is going to be about:

DIY Pizza Gift Box

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Isn't it cute?  Chuck took an extra long nap this weekend so I had time to try out a cool craft inspired by one found in this book.  It's a small gift box that looks like a pizza!  Now you can make your very own unique packaging to match your cool gift.  And bonus- it's made from a used envelope. Yessirree my crafty friend,  this craft has it all. It's cute and good for the environment too.

Let's get started!

Recycled Pumpkin Sun Catcher Craft

Tis the season for Halloween crafting, fa-la-la-... Oh wait.  Wrong song.  Well, you get the point. The season for Halloween crafting has begun!  Last year we made of ton of Halloween crafts (see bottom of post for links).  This year we've folded an origami black cat and made a cardboard pumpkin with a changeable face.   Today we're going to make another recycled Halloween craft.  This time we made these milk jug pumpkin sun catchers!

DIY Milk Jug Pumpkin Sun Catchers

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I really liked this craft because the pumpkins were SO easy to make with my 3 year old.  And we didn't have to spend a ton of time on prep or a ton of money for materials.  (That's a definite win win in my book.)  Ok!  Let's get making!

Make Egg Carton Bugs

I love a good egg carton craft.  We don't eat eggs too often here, so whenever we finish a carton, I'm always super stoked to make something with it.  Today's Egg Carton Insect Craft came about because ants have been on our minds a lot lately.  For some reason there seem to be ants EVERYWHERE in our new home.  Eeek.  Plus, we recently watched "Honey I shrunk the kids" and Chuck loved Anty the giant ant.   So that's why we had to make ourselves some egg carton bugs!

Let's Make Egg Carton Insects!

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Building Cardboard Bridges (Kid Engineering!)

Ever wonder why corrugated boxes are so strong?  Since we've started unpacking, I'm surprised by how well our boxes held up.  Even after being shipped across the country, our stuff is intact and our boxes still look good.  Wow!  Those folded bits really make corrugated cardboard strong!  This thought inspired me to try building some simple cardboard bridges with Chuck.  This way we could see for ourselves how folds made cardboard stronger.

Easy Kid Engineering:  Let's Cardboard Build bridges!

(Does folding paper make it stronger?)

DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Game

Our epic move still looms overhead.  The movers are coming next week and then we fly off to California a week after that.  I keep trying to explain what's happening to Chuck, but I'm not sure he gets it yet.  So I came up with this easy craft and activity to help him out.  It's a DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Activity where you move different types of transportation across county using magnets!

DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Game

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Chuck really enjoyed helping me to color in the map and different types of transportation using watercolors.  He also REALLY enjoyed moving everything around using magnets.  It was a bit of trial and error to put this toy together, but at the end we came up with a craft that's easy to make, fun to use, and *hopefully* helpful for Chuck.

Let's get making!

Shaving Cream and Water Balloon Play

Since becoming involved with the Kid Blogger Network earlier this year, I've been introduced to a ton of wonderful new blogs and this new idea called "an invitation to play."  Basically, you provide the child with several objects and inviting him/her to explore the materials.  I love this idea because there isn't a pressure for kids to perform.  They get the opportunity to be curious, explore, play, and have fun.  So, after seeing this shaving cream activity on the Hands on as we grow blog, Chuck and I tried our own shaving cream play... but with an added twist... water balloons!  

Let's Play with Shaving Cream and Water Balloons!

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If your kid likes messy play, baked goods, and facial hair, then this is the activity for you!  Let's get playing!

Let's Build Boats! (Engineering with Kids)

Lately we've been reading books on pirates around here.  Arrrrgh maties!  So I thought it would be fun if we tried our hands at building some boats from everyday materials.  (I saw a similar idea from i2camp's Instagram feed and really wanted to try it out.)  This was a fun engineering activity that required very little prep and just used random items from our crafting and recycling bins.

Kids' Engineering:  Let's Build Boats!

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Make a Record Player! (Inspired by Travels with Charlie) #bookingusa

Today I'm going to share with you how I made a record player using materials found around our apartment.  *pauses*  Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking, "What are you doing Leslie?  A DIY record player?  Why would you even try to build one in the first place?" Well, friends, before I answer those questions, let me first show you the finished product:

Kid Science:  How to Make a Record Player

Yes.  This baby plays.  Yes.  I have a video of it playing a record down below.  And yes, I will share the inspiration behind this fun project!