Recycled Holiday Ornament Craft for Kids

Use a clean plastic lid from a jar, glue, glitter, pom poms, chenille stem or ribbon.

Back of ornament. We used one of Emme's old paintings (that happened to be covered in glitter.) We used it on the inside of the lid and on the back.  We just cut it out and glued it on.

Glue your scene on the inside.  We chose to make a snowman. A Christmas Tree would be cute, too.

We received the Pom Poms and Glitter Sticks (Chenille Stems) from http://www.craftprojectideas.com/

Packaging Bath Bombs

Look how pretty the bath bombs look boxed. I used mini cup cake liners and a clear stationary box.

Homemade Holiday Gifts: Bath Bombs

I am already thinking of teachers gifts for the Holidays.  I have always wanted to try making bath bombs.  I finally wrangled up all the ingredients* and followed the instructions on Instructables.  

It couldn't have worked any better. I had no problems. It was very straight forward. The girls could do the measuring/pouring.

I tried two types of molds. Both worked beautifully. The bombs came out easily.

*Citric Acid was difficult to locate. I could not find it at my grocery store or pharmacy like recommended on line.  I ended up finding it at a health food store. It was a bit pricey. One 4 oz. bottle was almost $6.00. You use the entire 4 oz. in the recipe. If you were more patient you could order it online I am sure for less.

Overall, a fun project! I definitely recommend it. We used grapefruit essential oil for our scent (make sure you get the kind meant for use on the body.) The house smells wonderful!

Alphabet Nature Collages

We recently had a few days of gorgeous fall weather.  The girls and I took the opportunity to get outside and forage for collage materials. The girls had a blast. I always know when an activity is a success when they repeatedly ask to do it again!

We also added some beans, couscous and rice to the mix. We dyed the rice and couscous with food coloring and a squirt of hand sanitizer (in place of the rubbing alcohol.)

Have your child draw the letter of their choice with the glue bottle.  You can draw the letter and have them trace it with the glue. Make sure they use a lot of glue! Depending on how quickly your child works, you may need to add more glue in sections as they work.

The final step was adding glitter to fill in all the little nooks and crannies. Let dry then gently shake off excess. 

The girls preferred the "sprinkling on method" so I cut up the pine needles and rosemary.  

Both girls wanted to keep making letters for their friends.

Have fun crafting with your kids!

Holiday Headband in Minutes

I received a package of crafting goodies from Craftprojectideas.com to play with. The first item I was drawn to was the, what I used to call Pipe Cleaners, then Chenille Stems and now... Glitter Sticks. You all know what I am talking about! There was a cute project idea for a bracelet featured on the Glitter Stick packaging. I loved the idea and just tweaked it a bit.  

I took one of my girls cheap plastic headbands and started wrapping two glitter sticks around the headband at a time. I chose red and silver, you could choose any seasonal color combo. I left aproximately a half an inch free of Glitter Stick on each end.  This prevented tickling the backs of the ears. I would have your child try on the headband and mark with your thumb where you should start.

When you come to the end of the Glitter Stick overlap the next two sticks to create a seamless look.

I ended up using 9 Glitter Sticks in total.  Older kids will easily be able to do this craft.  A fun activity for a Girl Scout Troop or Slumber Party.

Have fun crafting with your kids!

Recycled Toadstool Craft

Check out this adoarable recycled Toadstool I made out of:

Danimals Smoothie bottle

Dole Fruit Bowl

Mod Podge

White Circles

Red Tissue Paper

Brush

Glue the circles inside the clean and dry fruit bowl. Next glue red tissue paper inside bowl with Mod Podge.

The white circles with show through the bowl when dried.

Let dry. Place on top of clean Danimals Smoothie bottle.  You can glue gun them together or keep separate. Makes for a cute hiding place for secret fairy notes!