Sugar Glitter Plastic Eggs

While I was making the Glittered Eggs I realized that the transparent glitters didn’t look as nice on white eggs as I’d hoped. Sitting at the same table where I was crafting on real egg shells, I noticed my little plastic eggs that we use for the Easter hunts. And I thought again about transparent glitter. “Hey these are already colored, I bet they’d look great covered in snow or SUGAR GLITTER!

You’ll Need:
PLASTIC EGGS (this was crafted on pastel colored eggs)
WHITE GLUE (or spray adhesive)
BAMBOO SKEWERS
HOLE MAKER: create holes top and bottom of egg. Use a sharp knife point, ice pick, little drill or Dremel.
CLEAR GLITTER (also called sugar or snow)
STYROFOAM STAND
FILE (nail or Dremel)



Check your plastic eggs for their hole at the top and bottom. Some do, some don’t and mine had holes in other places than desired. Since mine where so difficult, I used my Dremel drill top and bottom to have holes where I wanted them. I also filed off the little hinge on the side of the egg. Put them on the skewer as done with the “Glittered Eggs”. Paint or spray on the glue and cover with glitter. Stick the skewer in to the Styrofoam stand to dry.





I was going to string ribbon through the holes of the plastic eggs and use as a garland. My daughter, Rachel, gave me this great big table basket and I relocated the ceramic rabbit from years ago. I think it all comes together nicely. Happy Easter!

Foamies Glittered Butterfly Wand

During one of my many visits to The Dollar Tree, I saw packages of Butterfly and Star Foamie Wands. Many of the stores are still carrying these on their shelves.



I used:
FOAMIE WAND PACKAGE
WHITE GLUE
LOT’S OF GLITTER
RIBBON
WIRE (6 to 8 inches and something pointy like a ice pick)
PENCIL (use a light stroke when drawing on the foamie)
SMALL TIP PAINTBRUSH (for glue)
MEDIUM TIP PAINTBRUSH (stays dry to push away glitter)

Glitter Station:
1 box lid (larger than 8.5 x 11’s)
2 sheets of paper 8.5 x 11

Trace your foamie wand on a piece of scrap paper. Experiment with drawing some pattern’s till you like the one you will re-draw on the foamie with the light touch of pencil.





After your pattern is on the foamie, create a glitter work station. I use a 12 x 10 box lid. Take and 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and fold up three sides about an inch. This is your left over glitter pan. The glitter that didn’t make back in to the container after use is to be collected for your homemade mixed glitter jar. On top of the glitter pan paper, place the other 8.5 x 11 sheet folded in half. This piece works as your funnel to catch and pour back glitter to it’s container.



To glitter the wand, start from the middle and work your way out to the edges as you change colors. Dab some little dots of glue on the pattern area you’re working on. Use a small paintbrush to “color” in. Carefully cover with a light layer of one glitter color. Repeat for each color used. I still had a little trouble keeping colors where I wanted them. It’s easier to fix color run over with patience. Wait until the wand is completely dry and paint on new glue and glitter to repair areas. Always try to flip the wand over quickly and neatly with a little tapping to shake loose the extra glitter. And letting one side dry before starting the other is advised. Bend the wire in half and bend to taste for the antennae. Poke a hole in the top of the foamie butterfly head with something like a ice pick. Insert the wire with a touch of glue into that hole.



Now, if you still have some time before you give this wand to you princess you might want to think about sealing the glitter so it doesn’t end up all over your house. Easy to do with more white glue. When the item is totally dry, apply a coat of glue evenly over the whole surface of the wand top. Again let dry. But now it will be much more durable and kid safe.

Fairy Princess Crown

Every kid needs a crown! I’ve seen entire craft booths dedicated to fairy princess crowns. They’ll sell for anywhere between $3.00 to $8.00. Let’s make our own. Dig into your left over Christmas decoration box for our main supply needed, Shiny Star Wire Coils. If you don’t have any, go to a Dollar Tree Store. They ALWAYS have some sort of wire garland that will work for you.

You’ll need:

WIRE GARLAND COIL
LOT’S O RIBBON (paper and fabric)
TOUGH SCISSORS

Size a loop around your little one’s head and use it to measure 2 or 3 more loops. Cut and tie off by tightly winding the end piece’s around all 3 or 4 loops. That should keep it tight and strong enough to stay together. For the long flowing ribbon in the veil, I cut 12 four feet lengths of curling ribbon I tied them on using half hitch knots with 2 strands per knot. I also used some scrap ribbon and some left over long gold icicles from Christmas. Please alter to you little princess’s crafty desire.

Glittered Butterfly Wand

Glitter Butterfly Wand

This should be a no cost project. We’ve put together a PDF for you to print with a lovely yellow butterfly. You’ll need a few things:

PDF PRINTOUT Click here to download printout
CARDSTOCK
STRAW (Strong, like a 12” Convenience Store Soda Straw)
WHITE GLUE
DOUBLE SIDED TAPE (But it’s not necessary)
SCISSORS
GLITTERS
PIPE CLEANER
RIBBON

Carefully cut out and trim the two butterfly images.





Mount them back to back on the end of your heavy duty straw. I choose to use double sided tape to secure the butterflies to the straw. I painted white glue between the wings. Let dry. Check to make sure the wings don’t come apart while they are drying.



Glitter your Butterfly any way you want. It may help to let the front dry before starting the back.



Bend the pipe cleaner in half. Twist each end to make the antennae. With a drop of glue, stick the antenna into the top of the soda straw. Tie a pretty ribbon just under the butterfly. In most of the photos you may have notice a fancier straw. I had glued on a thread and glitter, but it crumbled under my touch. It wouldn't have worked for a child, so I removed it.

And there, we have a cute and easy enough wand for your little princess fairy.

Fingerprint Bug Bookmarks at Bookmans

We are doing demonstration's at BOOKMANS again. These events are so much fun for us as well as the children who attend and craft along with us. We made bookmarks, here some we did.

Fingerprint Bugs

Create your own little insect garden with your inked fingerprint and a fine point marker. Easy and fun to do with your kids. You'll need a few things to get started.

Paper (we used vellum bristol to make bookmarks)
Baby Wipes (or an old wet towel, maybe some windex)
Colored Ink Pads (or markers and waterpaint)
Black Fine Point Marker (or black pen)
Imagination



Put your finger into the ink pad (or color source) and press out a nice print. Oh heck, do a lot of nice prints in many colors. Remember to wipe your finger before changing colors. The more you wipe your finger tips the better chance you have at getting the ink off before you become "dyed" for two days. Go back with the black marker and draw faces, bumps, legs and arms - don't forget the "feelers". Make them up as you go. Some will look great, some might look goofy. After you get the hang of "seeing" a bug in a fingerprint, move on to creating a garden for them to live in.

Here's a few ideas.

Breadstick Wreath

You'll need:
Any Brand Breadstick Dough
Confectioners Sugar
Red Cinnamon Dots or Red Food Coloring
Toothpick
Ribbon for a Bow


Open your dough. Take three pieces apart and lay out flat, pull and stretch the dough till about 12 or 14 inches long.


Braid them together. I pushed my thumb into the starting pieces to secure a bit to the cookie board. Finish the braid.


Curl into a wreath shape. Shape the ends together neatly.


Cook according to package directions.


After it has cooled, drizzle confection sugar glaze over the wreath.


If you have cinnamon dots, place three together like holly berries. I didn't have any, so I colored a little bit of the confection glaze with red bark and dabbed out my little berries. I made a red ribbon bow and with a toothpick I stuck the bow to the wreath where the ends had met. This are still dinner rolls. You've barely used much glaze and they haven't magically become sweet either, just pretty.


A few of these in a basket on a set table would look very festive, and your little cook will feel a great deal of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Victoria Swanson

Merry Christmas!

We would like to extend a very Merry Christmas to all our subscribers and readers.

Kemi Doran and Victoria Swanson

Reindeer Magnet Clips

I thought up these cute little reindeer since my turkey magnet clips were so popular, so here are the Reindeer Magnet Clips.


Materials Needed:
Foam sheets in Brown or Tan Shades or Black
Clothespin
Sheet of Paper and a Pencil or Pen
Googly Eyes
Small Red Pom Pom
Small Jingle Bell
Scissors
Glue Gun or Tacky Glue
Magnet Strips


Using your sheet of paper and pen or pencil draw your pattern, the face is a large circle with a smaller circle for the mouth area of your reindeer, it is approximately 2-1/2 inches tall and 2 inches wide. You can use a compass if you like or a jar lid it it's small enough or maybe you have a good eye. For the antler pattern I drew what looked like a cactus, probably because I used green paper. It is approximately 2-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inches wide. Cut out your patterns and trace with a pen onto your foam sheets as you see below.


Using your scissors, cut out your foam pieces. I also cut out small football shapes of the same color as your reindeer face for ears. You will see them in the photo below.


Glue your reindeer face onto your clothespin leaving about 1/2 inch at the bottom to glue on a jingle bell. I found that googly eyes look best when placed right next to each other. My first attempt at these reindeer clips I spaced them apart and he looked like an angry reindeer, LOL. So glue your googly eyes next to each other and glue on your pom pom nose. Glue your ears behind the top of the reindeer face as shown above.


Next glue your reindeer antlers behind and between your clothespin and the ears you glued on already. You may need to trim them at the bottom some if you like to make them easier to glue and not overlap the clothespin. You want them glued to the back of the foam face, not the clothespin.

All you need to add now is a jingle bell, glue it just below the face onto the clothespin. If you have self-sticking magnet strips just cut off about an inch or so and stick to the back of your clothespin or glue on if it's not self-stick. These were fun to make and they look cute on my refrigerator.


Kemi Doran

Reed Oil Diffuser

A Dollar Store Craft

This is a nice house warming and holiday gift that we mommies and school age kids can easily make and have several done for those last minute gifts. Be creative in packaging for that extra special personal touch.


The Dollar Tree carries these items:
Bamboo Skewers (cut down to 7 to8 inches and file smooth)
Or Corn (Elote) Sticks, these are already the best length
Liquid Potpourri (at my store these are huge, 33 oz.)
As a gift - look for small oil containers
Small Glass Globe
Small Glass Pebbles


For Your House:

Clean the container well. When dry place about 1 to 2 inches of glass pebbles into the glass. Place in as many sticks that looks right to you and arrange. Now is the last time you can adjust the length without making a mess. Take the sticks out again before adding the oil. Pour in the oil in to about 1 and a half inch. Replace and arrange the sticks. Place in a nice location that isn’t in a high traffic zone. As the scent fades after a couple weeks you may refresh simply by turning over the sticks. I gave my sister one last year and it lasted a long while. Sometimes she would pour in more oil, I think she got a year out of her diffuser and the oils I sent with the gift.


Oil Diffuser as a Gift:

Michaels, Jo Ann and craft stores carry oil fragrances in the flower department. They are small, about 1.5 fl oz. and very good. At the dollar stores you might consider the little auto spray fragrances, these are very strong too. Creatively wrap the items and include instructions for use. I made these for my siblings last Christmas.

Reeds or bamboo skewers will sometime have sharp points. Use a nail file to make blunt. If your sticks are too long to look nice, cut and then file to smooth.

Victoria Swanson

Dollar Store Christmas Wreath

All the materials used to create this lovely Christmas wreath were purchased at the Dollar Tree, you can find most of this at any local .99 cent store or dollar store. There is no end to the possibilities you can create here by purchasing different material combinations. I purchased a wreath base that needed alot of molding and bending but looks pretty decent, small red poinsettias bunch, white snow frosted holly leaves and berries, red snow frosted holly leaves and berries, gold wired garland with red and gold glass ball clusters and gold berries. I already had in my crafts stash the large jingle bells, left-over from the jingle bell doorknob hangers, and the wire edged christmas ribbon from a project last year. Total cost of this wreath would be approximately $5.00.


I started my wreath with the pointsettias. Clip the flowers off the stems individually or in clusters, I used clusters of three. Using a glue gun, glue them as you wish onto your wreath base or as I have shown below.


Next I added some of the wired gold garland and the gold berries stemming out from my poinsettias, but you can do what you want, it's your creation. You may be working with completely different materials, so just go crazy.


I added the white snow frosted berries and some of the red glittered holly leaves and the red and gold glass ball clusters.


Last I added the red snow frosted berries and the white snow frosted holly leaves. You could say you are finished at this point, but we can do a little better by adding a bow and a jingle bell.


I have this wreath hanging on my fireplace right now among the stockings and garland, it adds a great touch and was extremely easy to make! Hope you have a great Holiday!


Kemi Doran