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- Flag day activity for kids
  May 20, 2022Today is Flag Day, and instead of sitting in and making stars and stripes, we’re scouring our gardens for them. This Flag Day activity for kids is simple yet perfect for this special day. After playing, we discussed the flag, its development, and what the flag is used for. I’m also planning to repeat multiple times before July 4th. 1. Gather your materials. You will need a container and some flags. We got everything at the dollar spot at Target and as far as I know it’s all still there! We have 8 flags and a tin bucket. 2. Hide the flags around your yard. I just pushed mine right into the ground. 3. Gather your search party. I explained it was not a race that they are working together against the clock. This turns my super competitive 6 year old into a supportive team player and gives my daughter a chance to participate at a more equal level. 4. Go! I used my phone to time although really they didn’t care about the time they just liked the hunt. 5. I spaced the flags out a lot. I wanted them to run as much as possible . 6. As they returned the flags to the bucket I had them count and my son figure out how many more we needed to find. See what I did there? Throwing in a little bit of math. 7. All in all it took three minutes and 43 seconds to find all 8 flags. Clearly I need to hide them better …. or give fewer hints. If an inside activity is really what you are after check out these Patriotic Crafts.... Read more...
- Handprint Fireworks
  May 18, 2022We are here looking forward to July 4th! Parades, fireworks, barbecues, beach or pool tours, all wrapped up in a lovely long weekend. I fondly remember celebrating July 4th as a child—especially decorating my bike for local parades and watching fireworks on my streets. I’m so glad my daughters are looking forward to July 4th too. I knew I wanted to do some red, white and blue crafts with the girls this year and had a vision for a handprint fireworks display. I love a good hand or footprint project. One of the most important parts of successful handprint and footprint art is planning ahead. Gather all your supplies, including cleaning materials, before involving your child. Are you ready to make handprint fireworks? Let’s get to work! Supplies White cardstock Red and blue cardstock Acrylic paint in red and blue Silver glitter glue A container to hold the paint – I like to use recycled baby food containers for easy clean up! Paint brushes – I used a small foam brush for the actual prints and a finer bristle brush to add the details Cutting Board – I used a heavy weight plastic board Masking tape or painters tape Baby wipes and paper towel Paper cutter or scissors Glue stick Black pen or fine tipped marker Step One – Paper Carefully tape a piece of white cardstock to your cutting board – this will give you a nice hard surface for your child to press their hand onto when making the prints. Step Two – Planning Think about how to best place the handprints on the page. You will be cutting your handprints out later so spacing isn’t that important other than to get as many prints on a page as you can to save on cardstock. I like to make multiple prints at a time (like 6-8) – this way I can pick the best ones once they dry or send the extras to friends and family as holiday greetings. Step Three – Making the Prints Make sure you have your supplies within arms reach before you start painting. This includes extra paper, paint and your wipes and paper towel for clean up. The key is work quickly and efficiently once you begin. I started with my youngest child who I contained in her highchair for the painting. Using the foam brush I carefully painted one hand with red paint making sure it was thoroughly covered but not too thick. Be sure to get those little fingers good! We made it fun – making sound effects and pretending to tickle her palm worked well. Once the paint is applied, quickly and firmly place the hand onto the paper, pressing down gently on each finger to get good contact with the paper. Young babies have a tendency to curl their toes and fingers under. In my infant massage training, I learned that by gently running a finger across the top of the toes, you can trigger a reflex that causes a baby to fan out their toes briefly. This also works to open clenched up little fingers. I reapply paint lightly between each print. After the last print is done, I wipe off the hand with baby wipes and then follow up with a paper towel to remove the remainder of the paint. I repeated the process with my preschooler by having her sit on a kitchen chair and press her hand down onto the paper on the hard surface of a table. Using the same red and blue paint, I even out inconsistencies with the handprints to make them look more finished. You can use your pinky finger or a cotton swab to round out finger prints that didn’t make full contact with the paper if necessary. Let the prints dry thoroughly before adding the final details. Step Four – Adding the Detail On a separate sheet of white card stock, I painted the fireworks. I started by making an “X” in blue paint and then adding another “X” through that. Next I switched to red paint adding another two “X”s to the firework. I then add a few more “sparks” using both blue and red. The final touch is to add some silver glitter glue to give some shimmery sparks coming out of all sides of the firework. Glitter glue is pretty forgiving – in fact, I spilled a big glob of it on one of my handprint pictures when the squeeze tip popped off of the bottle accidentally. I used a plastic spoon to pick up the glob and gently rubbed the rest off with paper towel. Crisis averted! Allow your firework to dry slightly. Cut out your handprint fairly closely to the paint using a pair of scissors. Stick it to the middle of the firework. Use a glue stick to attach it if needed, but I found that the slightly wet paint and glitter glue held it on just fine. I gently bent the fingers of the print up a bit so the looked like part of the firework as well. Step Five – Framing Using my paper cutter, I trimmed up my firework to my desired size and cut a square of coordinating red or blue paper just slightly bigger than the print to act as a frame. I attached the print to the frame using just a few dabs of glue stick. Don’t forget to finish the project by adding your child’s name and their age or the year somewhere on the print. As I have mentioned before, I just love hand and footprint art. My girls have come home from daycare with some adorable projects. I asked their teachers if they had any tricks for getting such great prints from even the littlest kids. They told me they teach the toddlers to give them high fives and practice it regularly in the classroom. Then when it comes to making a handprint they simply tell the child to give a “high five” and the child knows just what to do. How clever! My kids have gotten so used to doing these kinds of projects that they know just what to do without much fuss or mess. I hope you enjoy making these handprint fireworks as much as we did. Wishing you and yours a safe and fun 4th of July! Please take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are to have our freedoms and to live in this great country. Cheers! My posts are partying at these fun Link Parties and Blog Hops!... Read more...
- Patriotic Wreath Craft For Kids
  May 16, 2022We’re taking apart our red, white, and blue decor and craft supplies as the summer holidays approach. We love our paper plate Easter wreath and decided to make a patriotic star wreath for summer. This star wreath is perfect for Memorial Day and Independence Day. First, we pulled out one of our favorite craft supplies, paper plates. We pick these from the dollar tree and use them in many of our crafts. SUPPLIES: Paper plate Red paper Blue paper Red, White, & Blue Ribbon Glue Scissors Star Craft Papr Punch 3-Inch Note: You could also use a star cookie cutter as a template for the stars. Directions: 1. Cut center from paper plate. Most paper plate have line you can cut along. 2. Using paper punch cut out stars from red and blue paper. 3. Glue stars to the paper plate alternating red and blue. If you are doing a craft with a preschooler, you could talk about creating a pattern by alternating the two colors. (By understanding patterns, children are able to make predictions about what should come next.) 4. After the kids finish gluing their stars, attach a piece of ribbon to the back of the paper to hang the patriotic wreath. 5. Make a bow from the ribbon and attach to the top of the wreath. (Our bow is made using 3 different ribbons.) ... Read more...
- Uncle Sam Paper Plate Craft
  May 13, 2022With Memorial Day and the Fourth of July approaching, we looked at crafts from patriotic children, especially ideas from the Fourth of July tradition. This paper plate craft from Uncle Sam is perfect for you! You probably have everything you need at home – paper plates, gooey eyes, construction paper and felt. Beards and whiskers can easily be replaced with white construction paper or cotton if you don’t feel it. The reason I like to make with paper plates is that we always have some disposable plates on hand. Even if we don’t have the white one, we can flip the colored one to use the white side. easy to die. Make this Uncle Sam craft and hang it on your door for a patriotic look on July 4th! Let’s start creating… here’s what you’ll need. Materials for the Uncle Sam Paper Plate Craft Small paper plate Skin colored and white craft paint White fleece or felt Navy and red cardstock Googly eyes Glue Foam star stamp Black permanent marker Scissors Paint brushes Instructions for the Uncle Sam Paper Plate Craft 1. Paint the front of your paper plate with your skin colored craft paint and let dry. 2. Cut a rectangle from your blue card stock that measures across the top of your paper plate for the brim of the hat. 3. Then cut a large square out of your red card stock for the top of the hat. 4. Glue the blue rectangle to the bottom of your red square and use your white paint to draw stripes on to the red square and stamp stars onto the blue rectangle then glue onto the top of The skin colored plate. 5. Glue your Google he eyes right below the brim of the hat and draw a nose underneath with your black marker. 6. Cut out a mustache and beard from your white fleece and a glue the beard around the bottom edge of the plate and the mustache under the nose. 7. Now draw a small mouth under the mustache and your uncle Sam craft is complete. I love this craft! So cute.... Read more...
- Ginger Snap Crafts
  May 11, 2022I shared this craft last year just about this time! It’s a great last minute craft to do with the kiddos. I had seen a similar idea over at A Pumpkin & a Princess. I think this was one of the first times I met Crystal & featured her on my blog! Now she’s one of my closest blogging friends, & I’m still getting great ideas from her. Thanks, Crystal! We turned our flags into a banner! Love how festive & fun it makes the mantel look. It’s super simple & easy to do, and if your kiddos love to glue & paint {like mine do!} then this is the perfect craft for them. You’ll need jumbo popsicle sticks. {Did you know that you can cut popsicle sticks with scissors?} I didn’t either, but it was super easy to do with a pair of my kiddo’s school scissors. You’ll need to cut (2) 3 1/2 inch sticks and (3) 3 inch sticks. You’ll also need 5 uncut popsicle sticks. You’ll also need some stars. I cut mine out of white card stock with my star punch. {You could also use stickers, paint or whatever you have around.} Paint your popsicle sticks. You won’t need to paint the 3 1/2 inch sticks. You’ll use those to glue your stripes on. They’ll be in the back, so you won’t see them. You’ll glue your blue sticks on top of your stripes. {We just used Elmer’s glue to hold our flags together.} Glue on your stars. Then let the flags dry really well. I hot glued our flags to a long piece of red ribbon. Then I tied 6 inch pieces of ribbon between each flag after I hung our flag banner on the mantle. It’s sad…but my mantel pretty much looks the same today a year later. Hmmmmmm…..I might need to change it up a bit! Thank you so much stopping by my blog! If this is your first time visiting I’d love to keep in touch.... Read more...
- DIY Army Wreath
  May 9, 2022I have been wanting to make a military wreath for a while, I can’t remember where I saw one at but I thought it was so cool that I wanted to make my own. Since the Army upgraded to OCP uniforms my husband hasn’t used his old ACU’s for a while. He has a few of the ACU uniforms so I asked if he could part with a pair of pants so I could use them for my project, which he gladly agreed to. I bought my foam wreath and fabric at Hobby Lobby and the pins I got at Target(I got them on the second day while I was running a few errands). The things you will need: A foam wreath About 300 pins Red, white and Blue fabric 1 yard each Old ACU’s or any military uniform or military camo fabric Time Optional: Last name Dog tags American Flag The first thing to do is cut your fabric, I cut about 3×3 inch squares. They weren’t exact, I free handed it using a scissors. The pants were kind of hard to cut just because all the pockets, I used some of the pieces that had velcro and buttons to add a little bit of character to it. Make a triangle with your square piece of fabric by bringing two opposite corners together, then bring the other two opposite ends together so all four ends meet, put the pin through all the corners, then fluff it out and pin it to the foam. To make the stars, just add a few white pieces to the blue sporadically. For the finishing touches I added our last name, dog tags and the American flag. I love the way it turned out! I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!... Read more...
- Mom, I Love You Pop Up Cards with Free Silhouette Cut Files
  May 6, 2022You, like me, might have seen a picture of an “i {heart} you” pop up card floating around on the Internet. I even pinned it to my Paper Crafts board. But I decided to change it up a bit and make it on my Silhouette instead of cutting it out by hand. And since I can’t let a good thing go, I also made a Mother’s Day card to go with it. So, today I’m sharing the free Silhouette cut files for my “Mom, I Love You” pop up cards! Go ahead, pin the image below. You know you want to, and I’d love for you to share this post on your social media outlets! Of course, the “mom” card is appropriate for right around now with Mother’s Day coming up, but the “i {heart} you” card can be used for all sorts of occasions, year-round. We’re sending these to our moms this year…which reminds me, I should probably get these in the mail! There’s nothing special you need to do with the Silhouette file – no print and cut, no double cut, no switching of blade depths. I’ve included which lines are perforated so one pass is all you need. Cut it out on plain cardstock, then back it up against colored or patterned cardstock of your choice. THE DIMENSIONS FOR EACH CARD ARE AS FOLLOWS: “i {heart} u” card: Inner card: 5″ x 7.5″, which when folded = 5″ x 3.75″. Outer card (full card size): 5.5″ x 8.5″, which when folded = 5.5″ x 4.25″. Fits in an A2 envelope, which is 5.75″ x 4.375″. “mom” card: Inner card: 6.75″ x 9″, which when folded = 6.75″ x 4.5″. Outer card (full card size: 7″ x 10″, which when folded = 7″ x 5″. Fits in an A7 envelope, which is 7.25″ x 5.25″. After the card is cut, peel it off your mat carefully, and remove the little bits of cut-outs. Fold along the perforated lines to “pop out” the letters. You should be able to fold the card in half along the center fold. Then, just assemble with glue or tape to your outer card. I’ve also included a cut-out heart in each cut file that you can use for the outside of the card, so it’s not super plain. But that’s completely up to you. You can decorate the front (and back) any way you’d like. I’m really loving paper crafting and having a Silhouette makes things so much more fun! I hope your loved ones enjoy these cards as much as I did making them!... Read more...
- Mason Jar Picture Frame Vase
  May 2, 2022Upcycle a mason jar into an affordable and thoughtful gift using supplies you most likely have on hand! This makes a great DIY gift! This post originally appeared on the blog several years ago and I recreated the project just for fun today! I’m Savvynana and every month we get a project challenge…should we choose to accept it? In March, we were tasked with presenting the Radiant Orchid color of Pantone’s Valspar. I recently gave you 3 tips for decorating with Radiant Orchid. This is a bold color and definitely not for everyone. For this project, I wanted to create something in Radiant Orchid that is easy to replicate, appeals to many, and screams YAY SPRING! I came up with a simple mason jar photo frame vase. I think this would make a great Mother’s Day gift, right? It’s simple, and kids can do most of the steps on their own with adult supervision. SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR MASON JAR PICTURE VASE For this project you will need the following: Clean mason jar Pantone’s Radiant Orchid paint by Valspar Paint brush Vinyl shape or sticker and picture Painter’s tape Clear spray paint STEP 1: PLACE VINYL OR PAINTER’S TAPE OVER JAR AND PAINT. To create your picture frame window on your jar, place vinyl or painter’s tape on the area that you don’t want painted. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out a decorative square in black vinyl. There were some gaps in my vinyl, so I filled them with painter’s tape. If you don’t own a Silhouette, you could create a square using painter’s tape and decorative edge scissors. Paint the outside of the jar and immediately remove your sticker. You do not want to wait until the paint is dry or else it will be difficult to remove your sticker. STEP 2: CUT A PICTURE TO SIZE AND ATTACH TO JAR WITH PAINTER’S TAPE. I tried out a few different pictures before deciding on the one I liked best. I sized my pictures in a Word document and then just printed them off on my laser printer. The painter’s tape allows you to easily change out the picture. STEP 3: “DISTRESS” THE LETTERING ON THE JAR. This is an optional step. I like the look of the lettering and pictures on mason jars and wanted it to show more clearly. I took a metal file and scraped off the paint where I wanted the lettering to show. Here you can see what the back of the jar looks like with the paint scraped off of the lettering. STEP 4: SEAL THE OUTSIDE OF THE PAINTED JAR WITH CLEAR SPRAY PAINT. The paint will easily scrape off of the jar if it is not sealed. To add durability to the paint, spray it with a clear spray paint. STEP 5: PLACE PAPER CUP INSIDE JAR TO HOLD FLOWERS. Your picture will be ruined if you fill the inside of the jar with water. Place a paper cup inside the jar, fill the cup with water, and place your flowers in the cup. I used a foam cup and had to cut off the lip of the cup in order for it to fit but it worked great. You can also fill the jar with epsom salts or a sugar scrub! Or just fill the jar with your loved one’s favorite candy for a thoughtful and inexpensive gift! Note: Some of you are having difficulty finding the right mason jars. Use Golden Harvest mason jars which do not have writing on both sides. ... Read more...
- Accordion Folded Spring Flower Collage
  April 29, 2022Tomorrow is the first day of spring! We’re off to a very rainy start around here – our house could definitely use some spring color to brighten things up. To welcome spring, we made cheery flower collages on accordian-folded strips of cardboard for a spring flower collage. They stand up on my mantle and make us dream about gardens full of blooming flowers. Aren’t they pretty? You’re going to love this super easy spring craft. Grab your kiddos and get started here. You will need some sturdy paper, poster board, or light weight cardboard for your base. I cut a cereal box into three strips for our project. Accordion fold your strips, so your finished piece will be able to stand. Time to gather your stem collage items. I gathered these ahead of time and presented my girls with a “stem buffet.” Your kids might enjoy helping you with this step, too. Accordion Folded Spring Flower Collage Supplies: plastic straws pipe cleaners strips of colored & patterned paper felt craft foam yarn ribbon popsicle sticks, painted green green tape draw stems with green crayons, markers, paint, etc. Instructions: Once you have all your stem materials gathered, glue, tape, and draw stems on your board. Be prepared – pipe cleaners take a lot of glue to stick! Set this aside to dry while you work on your flowers. There are many different ways to make your flowers – use what you have on hand! This is a great time to use up extra craft supplies. We cut circles and tulip shapes out of watercolor paper. The girls made designs with oil pastels and crayons, followed by watercolor painting. If you’re needing other ideas for flowers try there: colored paper shapes, mini cupcake papers, flower pictures cut from magazines and catalogs, or flower stickers. When your flowers are finished and dry, attach them to your stems. We used a combination of glue stick and white glue for this part. Glue dots would also work great, with no drying time. Using glue is good hand-eye coordination practice. That’s it! Easy right? Now you have some cheery flowers to tide you over till the real ones are blooming. Display this on your mantel, in your child’s room, on the fridge, or hang it from the wall. My girls also decided these would make great backdrops for their Playmobil and animal set-ups. So super fun! ... Read more...
- Spring Flower Bouquet Craft
  April 25, 2022The colors of spring are in full bloom right now making it perfect timing to enjoy a fun spring flower bouquet craft. You can hang these colorful flower bouquets up on display at home or in the classroom to be festive for spring, or personalize the flowers to create a flower bouquet as a precious Mother’s Day gift for Mom or Grandma. Spring Flower Bouquet Craft Using Oriental Trading’s pre-cut watercolor flowers makes prep for this fun flower craft a breeze. The set comes with several different variations of flowers so children can use their own unique combination of flowers and can paint them with a variety of different watercolors when creating their flower bouquet. For a fun twist, personalize the inside of the flowers with photos and/or love notes and use the bouquet as a sweet Mother’s Day craft. Mom or Grandma will squeal with delight when they take a look at their flowers and they will treasure them as a keepsake forever. Head over to Fun365 to see the full supplies list, detailed instructions and to grab the free flower vase printable. While you are there, check out more of their fun spring craft ideas and Mother’s Day crafts. More Spring Flower Crafts: These paper straw tulips are super easy to create with construction paper and paper straws and they would also look darling displayed in a vase. We love enjoying Hyacinth flowers every year in our front yard. Here’s a simple way to create a beautiful paper hyacinth craft. Here is another way to create a flower bouquet craft with colorful paper doilies. You’ll love the unique way we folded our craft paper to create the bouquet. Looking for more fun spring crafts? This ladybug and butterfly stained glass craft is a perfect art project for spring time. Observe some colorful birds around your home this spring and then head indoors to create these awesome paper birds. The accordion fold wings make them look like they are in flight. Kids will not only love creating this beautiful butterfly craft but they can use it as a puppet afterwards and enjoy watching their butterfly fluttering above the flowers on their paper plate. ... Read more...

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