Tag Archives: diy

DIY Glitter Thank-you Postcards

03 Thursday Jan 2013

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I originally planned to make our thank-you cards by cutting apart holiday cards once the holidays were over.  Ada decided she wanted to keep the cards forever in her “special papers” box and refused to let the scissors anywhere near.  Luckily, she got glitter for Christmas.  So we cut some card stock into postcard sizes, rounded the edges with this corner-cutting rounder and let the girls go crazy with glue, glitter and crayons.  I love this set of glitter’s rainbow colors and variety of shapes.  (Thank you Aunt Anna!)  The glitter tubes are just small enough for little hands to grasp, and the shakers on top do a good job of controlling the glitter storm that usually erupts when a four-year-old gets to do her own shaking.  To make your own postcards you will need:

*Card Stock

*Scissors

*Corner Punch

*Crayons

*Craft Glue

*Glitter

1. Trim card stock to postcard size (The standard is 4″ x 6″).

2. Using the punch, round corners.

3. Let the kids color, glue and glitter.  (This works best if you color first.  I liked the cards that combined Josie’s coloring with Ada’s glittering).

4. Allow cards to dry, write your message and addresses on back.

5. Pop them in the mail.  Thank-yous done.

DIY North Pole Forest

03 Monday Dec 2012

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Ada came up with this project. We started out with paper Christmas tree shapes for her to decorate and she decided she wanted to make a forest with animals that would live with Santa. (Yes, that includes tropical fish). We used these animal image stickers and Ada cut paper into mountains and used crayons to color the water. After gluing paper squares together we ended up with a long picture that fit perfectly across the mantle. To make your own North Pole Forest you will need:

*Construction Paper in Various Colors

*Scissors

*Snow Glitter

*Feathers, Pom poms, Sparkles, Etc.

*Crayons, Marker, or Colored Pencils

*Animal Stickers

*Craft Glue

1. Glue paper squares together.

2. Cut out tree and mountain shapes.

3. Glue down stickers, pom poms, and feathers and add coloring. (We added glue behind our removable stickers).

4. Lastly glue snow glitter over the trees in your Northern forest.

5. Allow to dry flat and then hang up. Ho!Ho!Ho!

DIY Embroidered Jumper

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Likes, Projects, Vintage

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This dress is a variation on Purl Bee’s lovely Embroidered Denim Jumper. I love the Purl Bee blog!  The Purl Soho store in Manhattan is an amazing place to visit- it looks like a bright candy store and is full of yarn and fabric and books and projects.  I used some vintage plaid to make this dress for Ada.  The jumper made up so quickly and easily I can’t wait to try the pattern out in other fabrics.  Etsy has some pretty plaid choices here.  The jumper requires very little machine sewing and it was fun to play around with new embroidery stitches.  This dress is the first of the sister dresses for this year.  (Here are last year’s).

DIY German Glass Glitter Stars

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Party!, Projects

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German glass glitter is amazing stuff.  It tarnishes as it ages and creates a super-sparkly vintage look.  We used silver to make our stars, but the glitter also comes in lots of beautiful colors.  German glass glitter is actually made from glass, so you need be careful and wear gloves when you work with it, but the results are worth the extra care.  We made these star and moon decorations for a friend’s birthday party.  They hung on the edges of a stage and were bright in the candle and stage lights.  We took some home for Ada’s room after the party.  To make your own Glass Glitter Stars you will need:

*Cardboard (We used recycled boxes)

*German Glass Glitter

*Craft Glue

*Hole Punch

*Scissors

*Large Paintbrush (To spread glue)

*String to Hang

*Wax Paper

*Rubber Gloves (to protect hands)

1. Draw stars and moon shapes onto cardboard and cut out.

2. Punch a hole in each for hanging.

3. Lay cardboard shapes out on layers of wax paper and squeeze a generous amount of glue on each star.

4. Using the paintbrush, spread glue evenly over the entire surface of stars and moon.

5. Put on the gloves.  Sprinkle glitter heavily over glue and leave a thick layer of glitter as the glue dries.  Be sure to leave the punched hole clear of glitter.  Use a pencil to clean out hole if needed.

6. Carefully shake off excess glitter onto the wax paper when glue is dry.  The paper can then be folded and extra glitter returned to the container for reuse.

7. Flip stars and moon over and repeat glue and glitter process.  (Don’t forget to leave your hole clear for hanging).

8. When both sides of stars are dry, string them up out of reach of the kids.

*These stars would make beautiful Christmas tree ornaments or garland!

Some other sparkly projects you might like:

DIY Vintage Crepe Paper Flower Hat

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Party!, Projects, Vintage

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My Mother-in-Law gave me this amazing How to Make Crepe Paper Flowers book for my birthday last year and I have been waiting for the right time to put it to use.  My copy is from 1922 and contains the secrets to making realistic flowers from crepe paper.  Needles to say, I am in love with this book!  Ebay has several copies for sale here.  The flowers turned out better than I had thought possible and we used them to make a special birthday hat for our friend Sandy.  To make your own Crepe Paper Flower Hat you will need:

*How to Make Crepe Paper Flowers book

*Variety of Crepe Paper (We used this 100 gms paper from Papermart, and each flower used less than one roll of paper)

*Headband

*Floral Tape

*Floral Wire (We used straight 18 gauge wire)

*Craft Glue

*Scissors

*Pinking Shears (optional)

*Card Stock for Patterns

*Ribbon to Tie Hat (optional)

1. Prepare patterns.  Our copy of the book did not come with the original patterns, so we followed the drawings in the book and made our own from card stock.  Label each pattern for future use.

2. Following directions from the book, make up flowers and leave stem wires long until you are ready to apply to the hat.  We used 9 flowers to make our hat.  It is helpful to hold finished flowers in a vase or cup as you go.

3. Lay ribbon over ends of headband about 2″ and glue.  (Our hat was a little heavy, so we added the ribbon to make it more secure for dancing).

4. Wrap headband with floral tape up until the point you want to add a flower.  (Start on one side of the headband and add flowers up and over to the other side).

5. Put a spot of glue over the floral tape and wind a 1″ strip of green crepe paper around the headband over the tape, gently pulling tight as you go.  This will be the visible headband covering, so try to keep it neat.  Our strip was about 15″ long x 1″ wide.

6. Trim the wire on first flower to about 3″, position it and use floral tape to secure to the headband.

7. Wrap green crepe paper over floral tape as you go, covering the headband between each flower.

8. Position the second flower and repeat the wrapping.

9. When all flowers are in place wrap the floral tape and crepe paper down to the other end of the headband and secure crepe with a little glue.

10. Allow the hat to dry.

Get your party on!

You may also like these projects:

DIY Felt Fish Necklace

05 Monday Nov 2012

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We originally made these fish necklaces for part of our Halloween costumes.  Josie has since claimed them so I decided to post about how to make them.  We also made some individual fish for use with the play kitchen and Josie has been cooking them up all morning.  To make your own felt fish necklace you will need:

*Various Colors of Felt (We use wool felt from Wool Felt Central)

*Embroidery Thread in Contrasting Colors

*Embroidery Needle

*Stuffing

*Scissors

*Card Stock to Make Pattern

*Pencil

1. Draw fish shape on card stock and cut out.

2. Stack two sheets of the same color felt, hold fish pattern on top and carefully cut out fish shape.

3. Place a bit of stuffing inside of two fish and use blanket stitch to sew together with embroidery thread.  Older kids could do this part themselves.

4. After stitching the perimeter of the fish, put the needle up through the head and sew an X through both sides to make an eye.

5. Pass the needle and thread down to the center of the fish’s tail and leave hanging until all fish are sewn.

6. To make a necklace, use the hanging threads to sew fish head to tail.  To make individual fish, just cut the thread.

*These would make a cute garland, or the long string could be tied to a dowel to make a toy fishing pole.

**You may also like some of these earlier felt projects**

DIY Hanging Fall Leaves

18 Thursday Oct 2012

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I remember making leaf rubbings when I was little. It seemed magical to see the veins and lacy outlines appear as the crayon was rubbed across the paper. We have been working on quite a leaf collection on our walks home from school, so we decided to preserve some of them by making rubbings. To make your own leaf rubbing cutouts you will need:

*Various Fresh Leaves (These are less likely to crumble under paper).
*Card Stock
*Crayons with Wrappers Removed
*Scissors
*Hole Punch
*Twine

1. Place leaf under card stock.
2. Rub crayon above the leaf until outline and veins are clearly visible. Be sure to hold paper still so leaf doesn’t shift.
3. Cut out leaf shapes.
4. Punch hole in leaf shape and string up.

Happy Fall!

DIY Acorn Necklace

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

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There are acorns falling in these parts, and it is the perfect time to make acorn necklaces. We first learned to make this easy project at a visit to our CSA farm a couple of years ago. It is a great project for tiny bits of leftover yarn. Kids can help with the acorn gathering, and yarn choosing and twisting. To make your own you will need:

*Acorns with Caps

*Small Screw Eyes

*Yarn – at least two colors

*Scissors

1. Gather freshly fallen acorns and wash if necessary. Snip off stem from top of acorn with scissors, leaving a flat spot at the top of acorn cap.

2. Twist screw eye into top of cap. If cap pops off it can be glued back on with craft glue.

3. Choose two contrasting strands of yarn and cut about 36 inches of each. (Adjust size per wearer).

4. Tie two strands together. Stretch out yarns with knot in the middle and have two people hold each of the two ends. (Or tie one end to a door knob if you are alone).

5. Twist each color of yarn in the opposite direction until yarn coils back on itself. Bring the two loose ends together and grasp. Grab the knot in the center and pull away from loose ends until the twist evens out. The two colors should now be evenly twisted around each other. Loosen or tighten twist until you like the way it looks.

6. Slip screw eye over the twisted yarn strand and tie the ends together.

Happy Fall!

New Clay = Happy Girl

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

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Sometimes it just takes a simple $8 package of clay to make Ada happy, and to make my life a little easier for a couple of hours while she carefully unwraps packages and makes sculptures with scissors and string and pipe cleaners.  I can completely relate to her excitement over new supplies.  The potential is so endless!  Last month Katie from Katie’s Pencil Box had an amazing post about her favorite online office supply store Present and Correct.  (If you haven’t visited Katie’s beautiful blog, you should).  I am making my list of supplies to work into Christmas gifts this year.

DIY Apple Maple Jam

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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Josie and I made jam today from some of our 20 pounds of apples picked this weekend. The house smelled like apple pie and the sun was streaming through the kitchen windows as the fence builders were busy outside. (We are finally fixing up our back yard and the work from just two days has already made the house so much brighter!  More about the fence building soon).  Please don’t judge me for the ugly kitchen in the photos…It is on the list of projects.  This recipe was adapted from the Ball Blue Book.  To make your own Apple Maple Jam you will need:

*12 Half-Pint Canning Jars with Seals and Lids

*15 Cups of Peeled, Cored and Chopped Apples (We used a combination of Cortland, Gala and Yellow Delicious)

*6 Cups Sugar (We used Raw Cane Sugar)

*1 Cup Maple Syrup

*2 teaspoons Cinnamon

*1 teaspoon Allspice

*1 teaspoon Nutmeg

*1/2 teaspoon Cloves

*Seeds Scraped from 1 Vanilla Bean

1. Prepare apples and combine all ingredients in large pot.  (This is my favorite apple peeler).

2. Slowly bring to a boil.

3. Stir frequently and cook until jam is thickened to your liking. (Ours took about an hour).

4. Remove from heat and spoon into washed hot jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace.

5. Carefully wipe rims and screw on two-piece caps.

6. Slide jars into warming water and boil for 10 minutes.

7. Remove from water using a jar lifter and allow to cool.

8. Jar tops will depress as they cool.  Any that don’t should be reprocessed or eaten within a few days.

9. We decorated circles of paper, carefully unscrewed lids and placed the circles on top of the sealed tops.  Screw lids can be replaced to hold the papers in place.  Be sure to label each jar with the contents and date.

**This jam is yummy warmed on vanilla ice cream, pancakes or PB&Js.  Store unopened jars in a cool dry place and eat within one year.  Enjoy!