Make a Bird's Nest for Spring
Published 03.18.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)
By Ellen Luckett Baker
Welcome spring by making a bird's nest with your kids. This simple project can be made with recycled paper bags for a natural look or you could try colored pastel paper for an Easter decoration. The kids will love working with the shredded bags and glue to make a grand mess.
Supplies:
Shredded paper bags (about one per nest)
Clear school glue
Plastic wrap
Bowl for the nest mold
Bowl for glue mixture
Tarp or outside surface for getting messy
1. Gather your materials and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
2. Mix the glue with equal parts water.
3. Dip the shredded paper bags into the glue mixture and pat them onto the bowl mold, completely covering it. Then add some dry shredded paper on top to make it have the messy nest look.
4. Allow to dry for 24-48 hours.
I was not able to get any photos of the kids actually working with the shredded paper and glue because my hands were covered in it! Messy stuff. We also painted some wooden eggs to go inside the nest. The kids enjoyed this project and it was a great way to welcome spring!
After we made these bowls, I searched the internet to see if there were other bird's nest projects out there and saw that Patricia Zapata has a similar project in her book Home, Paper, Scissors: Decorative Paper Accessories for the Home. It looks like a great book and she also has a very nice blog and shop.
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Happy Pi Day: let's celebrate with some PIE!
Published 03.12.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (0)
Yes, Sunday is Pi Day and celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. For those of you slow on the uptake, Pi = 3.141592653... and is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Before you disappear from here thinking we're going to give you math quiz or something, rest assured we can think of no better way to celebrate this mathtastic day but to recommend PIE! And, your very own single-serving of pie.
I found a couple of different recipes of single serving pies made in tiny jars. So cute!
From Not Martha:
Megan from Not Martha made adorable cherry pies in tiny jars an imparts her been-there-done-that wisdom when working with the petite sizes.
From Our Best Bites:
The gals at Our Best Bites also have fun making Pies in a Jar with different pie tops like lattice and crumble. Check out their tutorial as well.
I could not think of a better way to celebrate a weekend Pi Day.
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Special Advertising Offer: Our friends at Zulily, the sales event site, are giving our readers a $10 discount to be used on a first purchase. Sign up as a new member through this special link and use the promo code ALPHAMOM10.
St. Patrick's Day & Spring Bling
Published 03.11.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (15)
By Cindy Hopper
To make these special beads mix up some flour, salt, oil and water.
Salt Dough Recipe
* 3 Cups flour
* 1 Cup salt
* 1 tablespoon oil
* 3/4 to 1 cup water
* Mix well and knead with hands.
Instructions:
Begin making beads by rolling small pieces of dough between hands.
Use a skewer to make a hole in the middle of the bead. Make the holes really large. The dough will shrink during baking.
Cookie Cutters can be used to make pendants for the necklaces. To make the shamrock cut out three small hearts, press together and then add a piece of dough for the stem.
Once all the beads are made they need to be baked. Bake beads and pendants at 300 degrees for about an hour (turning once).
After the beads have been baked and cooled they are ready to paint. (We used acrylic paint.)
Once the paint has dried, give the beads a coat of clear spray paint.
Use a yarn needle to thread the beads onto crochet thread (what we used), embroidery floss or yarn. Placing a clip on the end will keep the beads from slipping off the end while stringing.
Carefully thread the beads onto the thread. We used this opportunity to talk about pattern and symmetry.
Place necklace around neck and tie in the back. Now you have some bling for spring too!
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St. Patrick's Day Craft: Rainbow Friendship Bracelets
Published 03.04.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)
By Marie LeBaron
We're celebrating St. Patrick's Day by making Rainbow Friendship Bracelets. These are easy to make and fun to give out to friends on this Spring holiday!
Supplies for Rainbow Bracelets:
- yarn in all rainbow colors (yarn is great for smaller fingers, but if you're child is older, you can make these with embroidery floss)
- scissors
- safety pin, one per person
- large colored beads
Roll out your yarn and cut each color to 18 inches long. Then tie a knot at the top with all 6 colors of yarn.
Attach a safety pin to the top of the knotted yarn. Then you'll need to attach this same safety pin to something firm as you braid your yarn. I like to attach it to the seam in my jeans. Or you could attach it to your sock. I've even attached it to the seam in my couch and sat on the floor as I've braided.
Now start to braid. I did this first one in a simple braid, putting 2 colors together, for 3 groups of yarn to braid.
Here's a bracelet I made with knots all down the length of yarn, alternating each color after 5 knots.
Here's a bracelet we made by adding a bead into each thread as I braided.
Or here's a beaded bracelet with 10 beads on each color of yarn, then tied together. We left the yarn hanging down a bit off the bracelet to make a fun rainbow stream!
Once your bracelets are made, you can either remove the safety pin and tie them together in a knot, or attach the other end of the yarn to the safety pin, using it like a clasp.
With so many ways to design your bracelets, you can now give them to all your friends. It's even more fun as a play-date or party and make them together, swapping bracelets with friends.
Celebrate International Women's Day with a rocking Girl Power T-shirt!
Published 02.25.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)
By Brenda Ponnay
This month we decided to skip the glitter and glue and stay far away from any paint or cutting of cardboard. We felt like coloring! What's a better way to celebrate International Woman's Day on March 8th than sporting a hand-colored Girl Power t-shirt!
Everybody likes to color. We actually printed out the designs, colored them in with washable markers and then scanned them in again to be printed out on iron-on transfer paper but you could buy special iron-on transfer crayons and skip the scanning step if you don't have a scanner. For the iron-on directions just follow the directions on the package. You can find iron-on transfer paper at most office supply stores or craft stores in the paper section. (My best iron-on-transfer paper advice: make sure your iron is bone dry before you iron!)
Click HERE for a variety of downloads you can print out to customize your t-shirt in your own special way. If you don't see a design that works for you, feel free to email me and I'll customize if it's not too big of a change. Just remember these are for personal use only. So turn on your printer and get ready to rock your girl power!
We even made one for boys. Cause boys rock too!
Make a Book for Read Across America Day
Published 02.18.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (4)
By Ellen Luckett Baker
March 2nd is Read Across America Day, celebrated on the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Nurture your children's love of reading by helping them create their own storybook. Made from a cereal box, paper and yarn, these books are simple to make and offer many possibilities. An adult will need to do most of the cutting in the first steps, but then kids can sew the book together and make it their own with drawings and words.
Supplies:
-Cereal box
-Paper
-Scissors or paper cutter
-Rounded corner punch (optional)
-Hammer and nail or awl
-Paper clips
-Tapestry needle
-Twine
Instructions:
1. Cut the front and back rectangles from your cereal box. You can make two books from each box. Cut these in any size or shape you choose. You can round the corners with a paper punch if you'd like.
2. Cut the paper slightly smaller than the dimensions of your box. About five sheets of paper works well. Stagger the papers before you cut them so that the book will close nicely. Again, you can round the corners if you'd like.
3. Mark the center of your box cover on the inside and score down this line with a blunt tool. I used my closed scissors for this.
4. Arrange the paper in the center of the back side of your box cover and use paper clips to hold it in place.
5. Flip over the stack and make four marks for your holes on the front cover. With a hammer and nail or an awl, make your holes. Be sure to work on a surface that won't be damaged.
6. With the paper clips still holding the paper in place, thread the yarn onto the tapestry needle. Your child can now sew through the holes. This can be done however you'd like, but we used a backstitch like this: starting from the inside and holding the tail, come up through the second hole, down through the first hole, back up through the second hole, down through the third, up through the fourth and back down through the third again. Tie the two ends together in the center.
My plan was to read some Dr. Seuss books then make the cereal box book into a rhyming book so that my five-year-old can practice her rhyming skills, but creativity took over and she immediately started drawing in her new book.
Visit the NEA website for more information about Read Across America Day and links to resources, including the Dr. Seuss website.
Olympic Medal Cookies!
Published 02.11.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (14)
Go for the gold with these Olympic medal cookies!
By Cindy Hopper
Make your favorite cookies and gather some gold foil, patriotic ribbon and hot glue.
Wrap cookies in the gold foil.
Fasten with a drop of hot glue, making sure not to touch the cookie. Attach ribbon to back of wrapped cookie with hot glue.
Finish off back by gluing a circle of the gold foil on top of the ribbon. Kids might want to embellish the front with a picture of their favorite sport.
Get fired up with an Olympic torch!
Draw around the end of a toilet paper tube in the center of a small paper plate.
Pierce center of plate with scissors and cut slits to the edge all the way around the circle.
Cover toilet paper tube with gold foil and then glue plate to top of the tube by folding cuts into the center of the tube. (This takes a generous amount of glue stick)
Stuff red and orange tissue paper into the center of the tube.
Let the games begin!
Best FREE Valentine Cards for Kids (more!)
Published 02.09.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (1)
We were overwhelmed by your enthusiasm for our first round up of the Best Free Printable Valentines for Kids. This year we visited the same artists and found that most had created new valentine printables for kids. More! Yay!
Again, if you're new to the kid valentine scene, let us school you. Kids love to give and receive Valentines. At every school I know of, it's give to all or none. (Which can get very expensive). So, we scoured the web and found the most adorable free valentines for kids. Now, all you have to do is just print, add your child's name and you're done.
Yup, that's right.
Last year, my son chose Cottage Industrialist's Giddyup and Dinosaur valentines to gift his classmates. I have a feeling, he'll be choosing Love and Rockets this year!
These animal valentines are FREE but a donation is suggested (if you'll be printing by the bucket-load) as the artist SAJ--our own contributor Brenda Ponnay-- needs a new printer.
Love this adorable lollipop holder valentine printable. Tricia Rennea has lots of other free sweet valentine printables for kids, so hop on over.
Oliebollen has some adorable and free printables (they make them for almost every holiday) to just print out or to print and color in.
Lastly, we have some resources to free vintage and retro-styled valentine printables from my era and an awesomely modern personalized online Valentine card generator.
Valentine Vanilla Pudding Cream Pie
Published 02.05.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)
By Marie LeBaron
This vanilla pudding pie will be the hit of the party as you tempt your guests with this heart shaped dessert!
Supplies for Vanilla Pudding Pie:
- heart shaped pan or muffin tins with pink cupcake liners
- homemade graham cracker crust
- vanilla pudding
- red food coloring
- whip cream
- Valentine candies
First, you'll get your graham cracker crust ready. See this recipe for Homemade Graham Cracker Crust. Mix 1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
You'll press it into a heart shaped cake pan or into muffin tins with cupcake liners. Bake for 7 minutes and let cool completely.
Mix up your vanilla pudding, following the directions on the package. As you're whisking the pudding, add in 8-10 drops of food coloring. The more you put in, the less orange and more red/pink it will become. As you can see, mine is even a little too orange and I should have added a couple more drops.
Pour your pudding onto your cooled crust or into your muffin tins.
Using a spatula, spread and smooth out your pudding. Then place this is the fridge for a few hours to help it set up.
Once you're ready for your party, add a little more cream to the pie with whipped cream. I used whipped cream from a can so I could write with it as I placed it on, but you can make your own and simply pipe it with a frosting bag.
I also added a few m&m candies for a little flare. Who doesn't love chocolate, pudding, and pie?!! Enjoy this yummy Valentine Pudding Pie at your next Holiday gathering!
Free Vintage Valentines for Kids
Published 02.03.2010 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)
Free Printable Vintage & Retro Valentines for Kids
Last year, we found the most adorable free printable valentines for kids created by current artists from around the web. (And this year we plan do a similar roundup once all the artists have posted their most recent valentine printables.) But lately I have been pining for the vintage and retro look of the sweet valentines of my youth in the 70s. These were colorful cards sold in box sets much like they do with Christmas cards.
So, I decided to do some searching and while the options are limited, I found three sources that have done a great job at collecting and uploading vintage valentines that you can then print out at home on card stock. So, without further ado, here are our favorites. Just go to these sites to get the enlarged versions of the artwork.
Hearts Atwirl is a website dedicated to curating vintage valentine cards from the early to mid 20th century. How cool, huh? Here are some of my favorite finds from there. I would definitely click over and peruse the extensive collection.
Vintage Holiday Crafts is another resource that you should check out. Here are my faves:
Lastly the folks at About.com created a very nice and extensive gallery as well. I've also plucked my favorites. But since these things are personal, I suggest you go on over and see if any strike your fancy.
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About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
Disclaimer
This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.