Use Everyday Stuff for Great Crafts
October 3, 2008
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Everyday Stuff = Great Crafts
Do you remember how imaginative you were as a child? How you could pick the simplest things up and turn them into some sort of artwork. Imagination is one of the great things about children. Take the three R’s – recycle, reuse and reduce and put them together with a child’s imagination and they will have loads of fun. Here are some ideas to help get them started.
photo credit: Orin Optiglot
Use recycled cardboard tubes to make crafts with your kids
Plastic Pop Bottles:
Butterflies – The size of your pop bottle will determine what size butterfly stencil you need. For a large bottle (2 liter size) a four inch square butterfly stencil is a good size. For a smaller bottle (12 ounce size) a two inch square stencil will work best. Trace the butterfly stencil onto the bottle and then cut it out. You can pierce the center of the cut out butterfly with a needle and then hang them either inside or outside.
Ocean in a Bottle – For this project you will find that smaller bottles work best, the 12 ounce bottles are perfect for this project. Start with non toxic oil like canola oil and fill half the bottle with it. The other half of the bottle gets filled with water. Now you can add glitter, food coloring, lightweight plastic items and even confetti in the shape of your child’s favorite animal. Once you have everything added make sure to place the cap on and recap tightly.
Cardboard Tubes:
If you find yourself stuck in the house on a rainy afternoon, have some fun with rainsticks. Here are a list of supplies you will need:
• Masking tape
• Paper towel tubes
• Tempera pain
• Elmer’s glue or other white craft glue
• Rice, lentils, or other small beans
Follow the directions below to create your rainstick:
1. Paint the tube and allow to dry
2. Poke toothpick sized holes into tube
3. Cover one end of tube with tape
4. Place handful of rice or beans into tube
5. Cover other end of tube with tape
You can now let your child play with their rainstick. Make a couple different ones, using different materials. You’ll notice that different materials make different sounds.
All you have to do is take a good look around the house and you will surely be able to find items that can be used to create a masterpiece. Think about egg cartons the next time you use all the eggs up and go to throw it away. Save it instead and you can craft some tulips or bells. What about tin foil? Did you know that you can wash it and make picture frames? Instead of wasting old newspaper create some paper mache. Baby food jars can be used to make luminaries and snow globes. Use tin cans as planters for starting seeds.
Make sure that you let your children use their imagination to come up with their own ideas. You might be surprised what they come up with. Maybe they’ll turn a paper grocery bag into their very own suit of armor. You never know but it’s important to allow them to use their imagination and creative thinking skills.
Portable Scrapbooking Table
October 2, 2008
Is it a pain to think of having to drag your projects out into a room and even harder to leave it out until it is completely finished? Or do you have little kids or maybe grandkids that make it impossible to leave your “work-in-progress” out unless you really don’t mind them getting into it.
Have you ever been right in the middle of your project when company suddenly stops over? Or do you find yourself spending more time pulling out and putting away all of your material than is actually spent scrapbooking? Then this is the perfect workspace for you! Along with your project, The Scrap-N-Stow Portable Scrapbooking Table can be put away at a moment’s notice. It also keeps sharp tools and materials away from small fingers.
Simply stop where you are, fold up the “Scrap N Stow Portable Scrapbooking table” and slide the 4 ft long table under your bed. It really is that simple to put away. Then when you get back to work everything will be right in the place you left it; once the lid is closed, any work stays just as it was left.
I’ve been looking at organizational things for crafts and this caught my eye. I do have my own crafting room but space is always an issue in any home where a crafter resides. Plus the ability to leave my things out and put it away with them still out, I love that!
This portable table is a perfect solution for all of us who have limited space, who are always heading out to a scrapbooking class or a friends house. The sturdy work area is technically 52” x 26”. It has wheels and handles on it just like we have on our suitcases, so it’s easy to pull out to the car. The portability would make it super simple to work on my crafts in various areas inside/outside the house.
Compartments can be used for those pages in progress or for storing our tools. A paper trimmer can fit into the lower left-hand compartment and a stack of 12 x 12 paper/cardstock will fit in the lower right-hand compartment. We can keep photos in the upper left compartment. This makes selecting photos, cropping and arranging them in a large workspace very efficient. The storage area for materials and supplies has a rim around each section, so that things won’t easily get knocked off.
Remaining compartments can hold things like your embellishments or your scissors, any adhesives you may have or even a corner rounder will fit. So basically all of your common scrapbooking supplies will fit within this table, keeping everything within reach for your in-progress projects!
It is a scrapper’s dream table being a very well constructed heavy table. This is well worth the investment currently at $189.95. The Scrap-N-Stow - Portable Scrapbooking Table has been a wonderful solution to my scrapbooking needs!
Crafter Cast Show #18
October 1, 2008
Welcome to Crafter Cast Show #18 ~ Getting ready for Halloween and the holidays ~ My kids have been changing their minds too often for us to start making the costumes. The latest thing they want to be is a fairy and a dragon. I wanted them to be something related to craft products and they picked a ruler and pair of scissors, but that went out the window in about a day.
The Holiday Countdown course will help you get exited for the holidays! Excited and prepared. Sign up over at the holiday countdown page and start receiving tips today. I’m looking forward to reading what Cara has put out because I’m just not in that mood still. The costumes at the craftster.org forum have helped, as well as searching for jewelry ideas on etsy.
photo credit: DianthusMoon
Top Referrers
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