Kids Craft Project - Recycling Can Lids Snowman Ornament

Last weekend while my nephews were visiting me...we had to come up with an easy holiday ornament project that used a throw-away item for one of their school projects. After much thinking, we decided to recycle aka re-purpose metal soup can lids and tuna can lids to make some hand painted snowman ornaments.

We used a can opener that unseals the tin can lids, so the edges of our lids are smooth.

Ages: 8 and up with adult supervision

Supplies Needed Per Ornament:

1 clean soup can lid
1 clean tuna can lid
acrylic paints - white, orange, navy blue and black
paint brush
foam paint brush
quick drying all-purpose craft glue
scrap of fabric or ribbon (for hanging loop)
Scissors
water dish and paper towels (for cleaning your paint brush)
(optional) clear acrylic paint sealer

Since painting is involved, lay several sheets of newspaper down onto your work surface.

Step 1: Paint the one side (the outside) tuna can lid a dark navy blue. We had to apply two coats of paint, letting each coat dry for 20 minutes. Paint both sides of the soup can lid with white acrylic paint. We had to apply two to three coats of paint. Let lids thoroughly dry.

Step 2: While your lids are drying, cut a piece of ribbon or scrap fabric to measure 6" long by 1" wide to use as your hanging loop. Wash your paint brushes and let dry.

Step 3: Squirt some all-purpose craft glue on the wrong side of your white soup can lid and use your foam paint brush to spread it around so its an even coat. Fold your fabric strap or ribbon piece in half and form into a hanging loop. Sandwich the strap between your tuna can lid and your soup can lid and press them firmly into place. Let dry for 10 minutes or until the lids no longer slide around.

Step 4: Let the child paint on black eyes, an orange carrot shaped nose and black mouth dots. (My nephews used the end of their paint brushes just dipped in black paint to do their mouth dots).

Set your ornament aside for a few hours to completely dry. If desired, you can spray it lightly with some clear acrylic paint sealer.

I had a great time making these with my 8 and 11 year old nephews.

~ Shelly ~

Scrapbooking - Easy New Baby Page Layouts

I have been spending a lot of time the past few months teaching my 24 year old daughter how to scrapbook. Her style is much different than mine...she likes quick, easy and simple page designs.

She recently gave birth to her first child back in May 2009 so a lot of the photographs we have been scrapbooking are newborn pictures of her daughter...aka our first grandchild.

Both of these layout ideas are easy to make...some of the supplies we used:

Patterned Papers
Stickers and Rub-Ons
Corner Rounder Punch
Satin Ribbons
A little Chalking
Printed Out Fonts & Wording from the computer
3-D Embellishments
little cotton scallop edge lace (tea stained by hand)

As you can see...they are very quick, easy and stream-lined pages which are perfect for a beginner scrapbooker like my daughter. I hope these pages will give newbie scrapbookers a few ideas.





~ Shelly ~

Kids Craft Project - Penguin Craft Stick Popsicle Stick Ornament

My little neighbor girl came over to visit me this afternoon, she is 7 years old. She knows I love to craft and decorate my holiday tree with handmade ornaments. She was so proud of herself as she handed me this cute little penguin ornament that she made for me! (sorry my photo is blurry, but he is really cute). In exchange, I gave her some cookies and milk along with a snowman ornament that I had made for her.

By looking at the ornament she made for me...she used a tongue depressor wooden stick (large craft stick) and painted it black. She then painted a popsicle stick white and glued the popsicle stick onto the center of the larger craft stick. She painted a white circle near the top of the black craft stick for the penguins head and added 2 black eyes and an orange beak. I believe his little scarf is made from a piece of red fleece.

I think she did an excellent job on her ornament from me!

Shelly

Crochet - Blue Striped Scarf Pattern and Instructions

Today I am featuring a guest blogger pattern from my friend Sharon who made this beautiful crocheted scarf! I just love the fringe she put on this scarf. Here are her instructions for making your own crochet scarf.

Blue Multi-Color Scarf

This was modified from another pattern I found at About.Com - I just made it a simple way.

I use a size 5 crochet hook. Chain 250 stitches. Create row one all in double stitch. Change color, double stitch. Repeat until scarf is wide enough.

Because you are crocheting this lengthwise instead of width wise, you don’t have to tuck in the ends of yarn when you are done. If you add fringe as I did, the ends just blend in.

I used a crochet hook to make the fringe. To keep them even I wrapped the yarn around something, and cut it off. Poke crochet hook through hole like you are making a slip knot. Wrap yarn around and pull through. Repeat. I used 2 strands for each. Trim to the same length when done.

Sharon Katzman is a Manager with Gold Canyon Candles. Through her business, she is able to help women to make an income and feel empowered. To find out more, visit http://mygc.com/skcandles
In her downtime, she enjoys crafting, reading, harassing her cats, and being lazy. You can find out more about Sharon and her hobbies at http://muchadotoon.blogspot.com

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I will be posting 2 more great patterns by Sharon in the coming days so make sure you bookmark my blog and check out the crochet section often.

~ Shelly ~

Paper Pulp Snowball Snowman Head Ornaments

This is a great project that utilizes some recycling...you will need a fast-food drink carrier or cardboard egg box to make your own paper pulp. You can make these snowball ornaments fancy or simple and plain like we did.

Ages: 8 and up with adult supervision.

Supplies Needed:

Cardboard Fast-Food Drink Carrier or Cardboard Egg Box
White Crafting Glue
Styrofoam Ornament Balls
Blender with tap water
Old Plastic Bowl
Foam Sponge Paint Brush
Strainer/Colander
Wooden Clothespin
White, Black and Orange Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
(optional) scrap piece of fleece fabric

Making The Paper Pulp - Rip your empty paper drink carrier or empty egg box into small pieces. Place the pieces into an old plastic bowl. Pour in just a little bit of tap water and let the pieces soak for 60 minutes. Once they are good and wet, Pour paper mixture into a strainer. Using your hands, squeeze out excess water. Place paper pulp into your blender container and blend on low speed so that it gets mushy. Pour the pulp back into your empty plastic bowl. Stir in some white craft glue so that you are forming sticky paper pulp. Mine is the consistency of lumpy dough.

Making The Snowball - Using a foam-style paint brush, lightly spread white craft glue on 1/2 of your Styrofoam ball. Using your hands...pat on the paper pulp dough so that you are covering the top half of your ornament ball. Repeat this process on the bottom half of your ball. Once done, hang the ball up via the clothespin so that it can dry and harden. (mine take approximately 16 to 24 hours).

Note: I got a package of sparkly foam balls at our local dollar store...6 balls for $1.00 and those are cheaper than the craft store. You can recycle old ornament balls too...after all, you are covering them with the homemade paper pulp.



Adding The Facial Features - Once your ball is dry, paint with two coats of white acrylic paint. Once that is dry, paint on black eyes, black dots for his mouth and finally, an orange triangular shaped nose.

Optional Scarf - We cut a piece of fleece measuring 1 1/2" wide by approximately 10" long and tied that into a loop and then glued it to the bottom of our ball to resemble a fleece scarf.

~ Shelly ~

Quilting - How To Make A Rag Style Quilted Table Runner

I just love to spend time in my sewing room and one of the things I enjoy making are rag style quilts, table runners, dresser scarves, pillows and wall-hangings. I love the 'country-style' feel with rag quilts! If you are a beginner quilter or someone who is just learning to sew, this is certainly a great beginners project. Before you get started, please read through all of the steps/directions involved.

Supplies Needed:

1 yd. Cotton Fabric - Primary Color
1 yd Cotton Fabric - Secondary Color or Print
1 pkg. Warm and Natural Cotton Batting
Rotary Cutter, Ruler and Cutting Mat
Scissors
Sewing Machine and Basic Sewing Supplies
(optional) Fiskars Rag Quilt Snippers (like scissors but use for cutting the fringe)



Cutting The Fabric: I pre-washed my fabrics to remove sizing. I then ironed them to remove wrinkles. Using my rotary cutter and cutting mat, I cut 22 (6") fabric squares from my Primary Color of fabric. From my secondary color (print fabric) I cut 20 (6") fabric squares. You will need 2 squares of fabric per quilt block. From my Warm and Natural Cotton Batting, I cut 21 (5") batting squares. Note: Your cotton batting squares need to be a minimum of 1" smaller in size than your fabric squares.

Sewing Your Quilt Squares: You will make fabric block sandwiches by layering a piece of cotton batting between two of your fabric squares. Place a straight pin in the center to hold your 'sandwiches' together. Once your sandwiches are together, its time to sew your blocks (right sides of fabric facing out). Start in one corner and sew a straight stitch to the other corner. I leave a 1" space at each corner. You will then do this from corner to corner on the other side until you have sewn an X in the center of your sandwich fabric square. Do all of your squares in this manner until they are done.



Table Runner Assembly - Lay out your quilt blocks in your desired pattern. I decided to do 3 rows by 7 rows (see photo). Using 5/8" seam allowances (some people use 1" seam allowances) Place 2 quilt blocks right-sides together and straight stitch them together. I chose to do my horizontal rows first which consisted of 3 quilt blocks each. Once I had my horizontal rows together, I then I connected them all together by sewing my vertical rows. You now have a rectangle and all blocks are together. Finish up your sewing by sewing around the entire table runner using a 5/8" or 1" seam allowance.

Note: While attaching my rows to one another, I like to press open my seams using an iron...that is up to you if you want to do that step or not. I think it makes your sewing easier and your quilt will look nicer.



Fringing - I found the best tool for cutting all those seams to make the fringe. It is made by Fiskars (tm) and is called a rag quilt snipper...it is a lot easier on your hands compared to scissors. You will want to snip all of your seam allowances without snipping into your sewing line. I like to snip/cut every 1/8" of an inch because the smaller your snips/fringe...the better your fraying will be.

Washing and Drying - Once your table runner is finished, wash and dry it twice using laundry detergent and fabric softener. The fabric softener will help it to fray even more and make it softer.

Warning: The first few times you wash your rag quilt table runner, you will need to clean your washer and dryer lint traps every few minutes to keep them from getting clogged. I set a little timer for 10 minute intervals so that I am constantly checking on them and cleaning the traps. You don't want any fires! After the first 2-3 washings, your quilted table runner will quit shedding and you can wash and dry it normally.

Primitive Snowman Theme Muslin Fabric Tags

One of my favorite web sites to purchase Primitive Stitchery Patterns from is called Primitive Stitches. I love Rhonda's patterns because they are super affordable, easy to understand and they are delivered within hours to my email box so that I can print them out and get busy working on them.

This year I decided to make handmade ornaments to attach to all of our holiday packages and these cute primitive snowman tags is one that I purchased from the Primitive Stitches Site. I stitched them up onto tea-stained muslin using DMC floss. I used Warm & Natural batting in between my 2 layers of muslin fabric. I think they are just too cute since I am a snowman fan!

You could use these tags on your holiday packages, hang them on your tree, off of peg shelf hooks, cabinet knobs, etc.

Hop on over to Rhonda's web site and check out all of her fantastic primitive stitchery patterns today.

~ Shelly ~