I do not have a crafty bone in my entire body.  Lucky for me both Nana and Grammy do.  And, apparently, the crafty gene skips a generation.  This fun spring craft was created entirely by my 7-year-old, Ella!

• First, enjoy a snack of pistachios. (Sorry for those with allergies, maybe dry shell macaroni would work?)

•  Spread wax paper to hold your completed “flowers”.

• Paint the shells whatever colors you’d like.

•  Put a bead in the middle of the flower.

• Be sure bead and shells are all touching, and then fill with clear glue.  (Be generous)

• Allow about 4 hours to dry.

• Carefully remove from the wax paper and Voila!

•  Add magnet to the back if you’d like, or, glue to a picture frame.

        Easy, springy, cute, and fun!

We used this technique last night and not one egg was cracked! Check it.

Preheat your oven to 325.

Put your eggs in a muffin tin.

Cook for 25-35 minutes.

Place eggs in a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes.

Easy Peasy!!

Used:
1 can cherries and juice – red/purple
3-4 Tbsp. Chili powder – orange
3-4 Tbsp. Chamomile tea – yellow
6oz. bag spinach – green
1 package frozen blueberries – blue

I added 3 cups of water to each color.

For the fruits, the kids mashed them up.

I boiled the spinach on the stove for 20 minutes to get some of the color out.

Finally, I added 2 Tbsp vinegar to each color before adding the hard boiled eggs. We let the eggs sit in the in unstrained color for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

The colors are more “natural” and so pretty!

Here’s what I used:

-     Liquid Stitch adhesive

-     3 yards of double fold Bias tape.

-      Pinking Shears (to cut my flags to reduce fraying)

-     Assorted Fabric

-     Cardboard

Here’s what I did:

-          Cut out a cardboard template using this free printable: http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2010/11/free-fabric-bunting-pattern.html (I used the 6” measurement)

-          Fold the  fabric in half (so you can make two at once), pin it together and trace the template onto the fabric, then cut out the two pieces of fabric for each flag (I cut out two of each piece so I could glue the fabric pieces together for a  solid flag)

-          Using the adhesive (Liquid Stitch), I glue two pieces of similar fabric together (right-side facing out) to make each flag

-          I made 15 flags, but ended up only using 13 for the spacing I wanted when I glued them into the bias tape

-          Lay out the bias tape and insert each flag, spacing them as you wish

-          Glue each flag in place in between the bias tape fold and let dry for 24 hours before hanging

We have turned our dining room table into a coaster making workspace! This inexpensive and festive craft will be given to everyone in the family, so if you are family avert your eyes!

Supplies:
4 square tiles from your local hardware store (4.25″ x 4.25″)
4 pieces of scrapbook paper (3.75″ x 3.75″)
4 pieces of felt (3.75″ x 3.75″)
Mod Podge (we made our own with equal parts water and Elmers glue)
Sponge brush
Glue (i.e. Fabri-tac or other strong adhesive)
Clear acrylic sealer

• Brush one coat of Mod Podge onto tile.

• Place one piece of paper on center of tile.  Allow to dry.

• Brush on another coat of mod podge on top of paper.  Allow to dry 15 minutes and repeat 2-3 more times.

• After mod podge is dry, take tiles outside and spray with clear acrylic sealer.  Follow manufacturers instructions.  The sealer makes these tile coasters water-resistant.

• Allow coasters to dry completely.  Once dry, glue felt squares to the bottom center of the tile.

• Wrap four of these coasters up with some beautiful ribbon and you’ve got a gorgeous handmade gift.

Looking for some last minute Thanksgiving crafts for the kiddos? We have rounded up our favorite “no hassle” crafts for those of you who have waited until the last minute. Do you have any turkey crafts to share? Please send them our way!

Here is our take on a traditional Fall Craft. Normally, people get a little “heavy with the ribbon” on this one.  In order to keep my 5 year old interested and participating, we picked a fun color ribbon and went “light on the ribbon.”

You will need:

Oranges

Cloves

Ribbon

Hot Glue Gun

• If you are using ribbon, attach it with the hot glue gun in any pattern you desire. Let the glue dry before you start adding the clove to the orange.
• Make a pattern for your little one so that they are able to get the clove into the orange, make small holes with sharp scissors.
• Insert cloves into holes.
• Voila! These smell amazing, put them EVERYWHERE!!

We were so inspired by this simple apple craft from Martha Stewart that we decided to let our little ones give it a try!

What you’ll need for this craft is the following: apples, brightly colored acrylic paint, plastic knives or forks, bowls for paint and some cute kid sized fabric bags or aprons from Michaels (we found ours in the clearance bin for .10 cents each).

Half the apples. Fill the bowls with paint.

Stick a knife or fork about halfway into the round side of the apple (so you can get the apple out of the paint bowl).

Have Fun! Your little one can easily make the apple imprints alone.

Voila, now your little one has a super cute bag for APPLE PICKING!!!!

My 5 year old recently inquired as to why we re use our plastic veggie bags at the farmers market and at the grocery store. She informed me that cute bags ARE easy to make and they are NOT plastic. Point taken.

I welcomed this cute idea because since becoming pregnant, crafting in our house has become almost nonexistent.

Here  is how we made these cute, reusable, veggie bags.

We used:

• Mod Podge for fabric.

• Old scrapbook paper.

• Some old totes (from Michaels), leftover from a craft over a year ago.

We(my 5 year old) traced veggie outlines on the scrapbook paper and then cut them out.

We applied a base coat of Mod Podge before applying the cutouts and then let them dry.

Two more coats of ModPodge on top of the cutouts and Voila!

Easy Peasy!

Reusable Veggie Bags.

Thoughts?

This picture does not even do this gorgeous color any justice.

In the midst of “my” nesting, “we” have finally decided to refinish the hutch we bought a few years ago.

The color was supposed to be a deep country blue/green… NOT sea foam green! I was going for that antique chalkboard color. The man at the hardware store said the paint would dry darker.

It’s not that I don’t love this color for a CANDY SHOP, or even for for my daughters bedroom.  It’s simply not right for our earthy, 200 year old dining room.

We ( my husband) obviously need to repaint.  Maybe we could just hang on to this in case we ever decide to open an ice cream parlor?

Thoughts? Color suggestions?? I’d love ANY.

A lovely shade of sea foam green.

Here is a very simple craft that we did on vacation last week and we were able to use some of the 8 Million tiny shells that we have been hoarding from every vacation we have EVER taken.

• We found a highly inexpensive jewelry box.

• We put a layer of glue on the lid.

• We placed the tiny shells on the layer of glue and then waited for the glue to dry.

• We placed all the “treasures” we found on the beach in the box.

Hi! Here is our take on the popular Garden Dream Flags craft. These little beauties are inspired by Tibetan prayer flags and they will add a little fun to any outdoor or indoor space. We used fabric we had lying around (think UPCYCLE) but you could certainly make them more durable by purchasing some duck canvas.

1 Cut six 8 by 8 inch squares of the fabric of your choice.

2 Using brightly colored acrylic paint, let your little one “get to town”. Asking for specific designs may be a little far fetched for the wee ones,  just embrace their “unique” painting style on all 6 squares of fabric.

3 Take 1/2 inch of the top of the fabric (after it has been painted) and wrap it around a thick piece of canvas twine, then adhere with gorilla glue (or something of similar strength).  Find some small heavy items (we used cups and rocks) to hold the fabric in place, while the glue dries( We left a little slack on both ends of twine and spaced the pieces of fabric about 6 inches apart). Please do this for each piece of fabric.

4 We used some hot pink duct tape (naturally) to hang these little beauties up, but you can use whatever your sweet little heart desires!

5 Voila!

For this craft you will need scissors, fabric, acrylic paint, paintbrushes, twine, gorilla glue (or similar substitute), small heavy items (to hold fabric in place while glue is drying). Have fun!

Here is an adorable footprint craft from our favorite mama, Khara Levy. This is a great craft for Mother’s day that doesn’t take much time at all.

You will need:

Acrylic paint.

A paint pen to outline.

Khara used 3 tiles (perfect if you have some sitting around somewhere), you certainly  could use paper.

If you are using a tile, paint the entire tile the color of your choice. Next, paint the bottom of your little ones feet. When they make make their foot impressions, make sure their feet are crossed so the big toes face out. Paint the body of the butterfly (the middle black part). Finish up by outlining the painting with your paint pen and make a simple border.

As of late, my dear olfactory sense has been on overdrive. In fact, the slightest disagreeable smell sends me flying into the bathroom. 75% of this problem is due to pregnancy, the other 25% is due to having a very sensitive little nose.  That being said, I was completely overjoyed when I found a great idea on Pinterest for keeping my house smelling super fresh!  Here is my version, using the abundance of mint growing in my backyard!

Aromatherapy…add 1 sliced lemon, some mint, and 1 tsp rosemary essential oil with a pot of water. Simmer all day on low and your house will be smelling so fresh and so clean!

 This is a very easy and fun craft, with lots of “already on hand” ingredients.

• Materials
• Small clear bottle or jar (baby food jars or spice jars work well – they must have a lid)
• Corn syrup
• Glitter
• Popsicle stick or child-safe butter knife
• Water

1. Get your craft area ready, corn syrup is serious business.  ( this is a small reminder of why you should try to not be ingesting corn syrup, its nasty)
2. Fill the jar 1/3 of the way full with corn syrup. The corn syrup helps the glitter stay in suspension longer.
3. You will use water to fill the rest of the jar. At this point, only add about half of the water you need and then mix the corn syrup and water together until the corn syrup dissolves most of the way.  Once the corn syrup is dissolved, top the jar off with water.
4. Sprinkle in some glitter. Use as many colors as you’d like, and as much as you’d like. My daughter chose to ONLY use pink, but variety is the spice of life. Mine probably would’ve turned out cuter if we’d used more color.
5. Put the lid on the jar and shake to watch the glitter swirl.