Spindle Snowmen!

Here is an easy simple craft you can do with your kids.  They will look real cute on your porch or beside the tree.

Materials Needed:

Porch Spindles (I got mine at Lowes for less than $2 each).
Rectangle Wooden Plaque (Walmart Craft Dept)
Strong Glue of your Choice (I used E6000)
Glue gun and glue sticks
White, Black, Orange, Light Pink Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Black small Pom Poms or Black Buttons
Red and Green Felt
Scissors
Medium sized Jingle Bells

I started this craft by glueing the rectangle of wood to the bottom of my spindle.  When I was purchasing my spindles, I was careful to find ones that were even on the bottom and stood straight.  Check them before purchasing, sometimes they are crooked and lean.  I glued mine at night and left them to cure overnight. 

Now you can either spray paint your spindles or hand paint them.  I found that hand painting them was easier for me.  It applied two coats of white acrylic paint. 

Once dry, you can put on their felt hats.  Cut off a thin strip (about 1/2-3/4 inch) from the long side of the felt (you will use this strip to tie on his hat.  Fold over a section on the shorter side of the felt to make the brim of his hat (about 2 inches) and wrap around the top of your spindle leaving enough at the top to tie it off and snip into strips for the pom pom effect.  I'm guessing I left about 4 inches from the top of the spindle and use your glue gun to secure the felt to the spindle.  Tie off the 4 inches remaining (overhanging the top of the spindle) with your strip you cut, then use scissors to cut strips (1/2-3/4 inch strips)  in the hat top to create the pom pom effect as you see in the photo above.

Once your hat is finished you can start on your snowman face.  Using the end of a paintbrush, dip in black paint and dot the eyes.  Also using the end of a paintbrush, dip into orange paint and make a orange dot under the eyes, use a small paintbrush to paint the orange out to a point off to one side to create a carrot like nose.  Next, again with the end of a paintbrush, make a dot mouth with the black paint.  I used various sizes of paintbrushes.  To create the rosy cheeks, either use a paint brush to paint pink circles or use a small round sponge brush.  Last, once the eyes have dried, take a smaller paint brush end and put white dots inside the black eye dots (I will add a close-up of the face soon).  Now your face is completed.

To make the scarf, cut a strip of the opposite color about an inch and a half from the long side of the felt.  Tie around the spindle and glue in place and glue on a jingle bell.

Lastly glue on your button or pom pom buttons.

You will be pleased with your creation I'm sure! 

Happy Holidays from Kids4Crafts!

Kemi Doran

Thanksgiving Turkey Magnet Clips

Since it's almost Thanksgiving I thought I would repost one of our Thanksgiving crafts.  These turkey clips are very easy to make and a fun craft to do with your child.  Click Here for full instructions and photos.

Painted Jars, Easy Peasy for Kids!

Fall is finally coming! I've seen some lovely painted mason jars, many at Pinterest. You can paint the inside or outside. Spray paint looks great on the outside, I've painted the inside of mine with craft paint. I like how the gloss of the glass is still there when you paint on the inside. This was a "no cost" project for me. I already owned some nice autumn paint colors and had a few jars and flowers too.

While shopping at Michaels, I saw a orange milk tin for sale with raffia ribbon, a label and fall toned flowers...$29.99.  I took that idea, went home and applied it to painted jars. I first painted the jars (they need to dry overnight), then created/printed some vegetable labels. I used a length of silver wire to attach the labels. I just twisted, and twisted and twisted the ends into a knot. Regular raffia tied to a knot at the jars neck. And now a little trick....paint can scrape off the inside with those sharp artificial flowers ends. Use a tissue or fabric to cover the part of the flowers you can't see. I used a baby sock.
Instead of flowers you can use sticks, grass, toys, lolly pops etc. for a more personalized look.

This is a REALLY EASY PROJECT! I hope you make some time to try this one too.

Easy Glitter Easter Egg Craft

(Easter Real Eggs Blown Glitter Craft)

I saw these at the Martha Stewart.com site. They are so pretty. I am a glitter nut and I couldn’t wait to start. Little did I know it would take me a week to prepare enough meals with eggs to get 12 shells. I suggest you make a big round of scrambled eggs or a quiche to get the shells faster than my politely asking everyone in the house to let me know when they are about to use an egg—so that I could blow it for the shell. Although, it was entertaining for the kids watching me blow my brains out blowing an egg.

Needed Items:
EGG SHELLS (cleaned & dried)
WHITE GLUE (or spray adhesive)
PAINT BRUSH
BAMBOO SKEWERS (every crafter needs these)
GLITTER (highly pigmented is best over Transparent)
GLITTER WORK AREA (a large box lid or bowl)
STYROFOAM HUNK (secure to a heavy base)



When your eggs are ready to work with, gently push a skewer into the larger egg hole. Carefully guide the tip through the top and smaller hole. Lightly make snug. (NOTE: One of my eggs had holes too big for the stick to be snug. Wrap a piece of cellophane tape on the stick just outside the egg holes.)





Pick your first glitter color and take the top off the container so it’s ready to use. Water down the glue a little bit and cover paint the whole egg. Don’t get too much on the stick (the glitter will pull off there later.) Start glittering the entire surface. I did the ends before the egg middle. Stick the skewer into your Styrofoam stand and let dry.



When the eggs are dry, use them to decorate around the house. Use a basket or beautiful glasswear. That’s the way they showed the eggs at Martha Stewart. Kids can easily do the glittering (and they love it). But after they dry, the eggs really aren’t a toy to play with and touch a lot. Still they are lovely to display and enjoy. And it’s a lot of fun to say “I made these myself!”.

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!

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 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.

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

Jingle Bell Doorknob Hangers

This was an extremely easy craft that just hit me as I was walking around Wal-Mart and caused me to immediately leave and head to the Dollar Tree. I thought of how I could make jingle bell doorknob hangers with bangle bracelets, curling ribbon and large jingle bells. Each jingle bell hanger cost me approximately $1 and I made them myself, I like that.


Materials Used:
Sparkly Bangle Bracelets (3 in a pack for $1)
Sparkly Curling Ribbon (3 colors for $1)
Large Jingle Bells (Pack of 9 for $1)
Scissors


Start by pulling a length of ribbon off the roll and tie the end to a large jingle bell leaving about 6 inches for curling. Use your scissors for curling your ribbon by pulling the ribbon between your thumb and the blade of the scissors. Hold your bell by the ribbon and tie onto the bangle braclet allowing it to hang approximately 6 inches from the braclet bottom, cut off about a foot length for curling. Do this to 3 bells, each one hanging 2 inches below the other until you have what you see in the photo below.


Curl each length of cut off ribbon and you are finished. I did add an additional 2 foot of ribbon tied and curled in the center to make the curls look fuller. You can add as many lengths of ribbon and curl as you want.


This craft takes about 10-15 minutes from start to finish and will look quite nice hanging from your doorkknob this Christmas season. Happy Holidays!

Kemi Doran

Licorice Wreaths

I was watching Modern Marvels, an episode on candy making, and watched how they make Red Vines Licorice. My mind was on our website and suddenly I "saw" a craft made with the licorice. This is so easy a three year old could do most of it. If they can tie a bow, they could finish the project.

Red Vines Licorice
Ribbon, red looks very good!
Pipe Cleaners to match the ribbon
Thin matching ribbon or thread
1 Bell

Optional: Spray Glitter


Take a piece of licorice and eat it. Now for the next one, cut off the tips and round out the opening. Match up 2 pipe cleaners and push through the opening all the way through the other side. End up the ends again. Twist then all together into a fat 2 inch stick, bend it over to form the eyelet area for a Christmas hook.


30 inches of ribbon (doubled makes 15") makes a nice bow. Tie on the bell with thread or thin matching ribbon with the little knot on the backside of your wreath. Optionally if you have some spray glitter, give it the once over.


You can't eat these, and I wouldn't let the kids eat the ones without glitter either. They'll dry out and crack after the season so feel free to toss these after the tree comers down. But oh so cute! Little ones will enjoy this project and feel proud of their work, they can make a gift of it to grandma too.

Victoria Swanson

Reindeer Pencil Toppers

These little reindeer are darling, even if I do say myself. Last month I made a few pencil toppers and the spiral ones gave me the idea to create these odd fellows. Really fun at school and make nice gifts from kid to kid. I borrowed my niece Holly for these step by step photos. Holly is 10 and did a wonderful job as my assistant. These are the now famous “Reindeer Pencil Toppers” that we will be doing in our demonstration on Dec. 13th at Bookman's on Speedway in Tucson. Children of all ages are welcome at the show and please try these at home and send us a note and photo.

We love our little reindeer so much that we are making them available as craft sets (See the left column for details).

Items Used:
2 Pipe Cleaners
1 New Pencil
Spare Pencil
5 Shiny Pony Beads
1 Red Pony Bead
2 Googly Eyes

Tacky Glue or Heavy Duty Glue Dots or Hot Glue
(depending on child’s age group)


Directions for Righties: Pick up 2 pipe cleaners. Even up their ends (see photo above) and hold in your right hand. Using your left thumb press pipe cleaners against a pencil about 2 inches below the eraser at the ends and start wrapping tightly about 3 times around the top of the pencil with your right hand. Try to keep the pipe cleaners flat as you wrap upward toward the eraser, this will form your reindeer face area (see photos below).


Your thumb is very important to spiraling the pipe cleaners around pencils so hold it firmly while you wrap. Twist the 2 pipe cleaners together where you stop just behind the eraser, and separate them a little (like giant rabbit ears).


Take the spare pencil and repeat the spiral wrapping on each pipe cleaner antler. Holly took a short cut here by taking the spare pencil and placing it midway atop the reindeer pencil on the eraser end and wrapped both sides of the spare pencil. It looked like a big letter “T” her way. And I've found it to work great for me too. Gently slide the spare pencil out of the wrap you just created. Now your have 2 antlers and a plain face.


Through trial and error we have found that you should glue the face on last and slide the 5 colored beads down the antlers now, 3 on one side and 2 on the other. Glue on googly eyes and little red bead nose (I glued the nose vertically and the hole is seen from the side). On a few pencils at my house I tied a little bell on a thin red ribbon around the bottom of the reindeer’s neck, though this might not be a good idea for pencils to be used in school.


You have a cute reindeer pencil! Make some for your school chums and teachers as gifts.



Victoria Swanson