Kids Crafts Saturday - Potato Painting for St Patrick's Day!

Looking for a fun and easy St. Patrick's Day crafts for the kiddos?  A potato, some paint and paper, and a little creativity makes for the perfect project!

SUPPLIES
potato
knifewhite cardstockmarkersWRMK Crop-a-Dile (or hole punch)ribbon
washable craft pain
paper plate/bowl 

Cut the potato in half, then carve your shape on the exposed edge (we used a chipboard heart for a template but you can also cut your shape freehand).


Use a bowl (or plate with raised sides) for the paint, so excess can be wiped off before stamping the potato on to the paper.

To create a clover - get paint on the potato, stamp the heart, then rotate 45 degrees for each leaf.  The kids used their fingers to create the stems - their favorite part!




Working with younger kids?  Don cut out a "handle" on one of the potatoes by cutting away the sides of the potato about halfway, then cutting a hole through the center.






To complete the project, let the kids write their names on the paper, then punch holes at the top, tie with ribbon, and set aside to dry.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Easy Cricut Gift Tags

aka - what to do when you are leaving for your nephew's birthday party in 20 minutes and realize you don't have a card!

Supplies:
Cricut Create-A-Critter Cartridge (and Cricut)
Xyron 5" Creative Station (also known as 510)
Xyron 1.5" Create A Sticker (also known as 150 or X)
WRMK Crop-a-dile
assorted scraps of cardstock (don't forget black for the features)

Determine which animals you are going to create and gather your supplies and coordinating paper (I literally used scraps I had laying around on my craft table).

 Cut each piece on the Cricut.

Run all of the larger pieces through the 510, set aside any smaller pieces. Remember that the adhesive goes on the BOTTOM of whatever item you put in through the machine, so be sure all of your pieces are facing up.

Use your scrap of black cardstock and cut out enough to cover the features (eyes, nose, etc) for each animal.  This piece will be hidden in between layers so it does not have to look pretty.

Run the black pieces and any small animal pieces through the X (right side facing up).

Start layering your pieces!

Once your animals are complete, flip them over to write a birthday message...

Use your Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the top...

and attach to your package!

Sparkly Snowflakes - Kids' Crafts Saturday

No...today isn't Saturday, but we made these on a Saturday - does that count?  :)

Actually - I call it Kids' Crafts Saturday because Don and I volunteer at the Fascinate-U Children's Museum in Fayetteville, NC on the second Saturday of every month (sponsored by Xyron - yay!).

We create fast and easy craft projects and have a BLAST doing it! I'm going to start sharing these projects here with you - maybe on Saturdays, maybe on other days, but I hope you'll be inspired to make these with some of your favorite little ones!

Supplies:
foam shapes (we got boxes of these snowflakes for a RIDICULOUSLY low price because all the stores were clearancing out holiday stuff)
markers
Xyron 5" Creative Station (also known as the 510)
glitter
tupperware container
scrap paper

Set out your scrap paper, markers and foam shapes on your craft space. (Tip - if your foam shapes have punch-outs in the middle, do NOT punch them out until after the glitter process. Trust me.)

Let the kids color on the foam shapes to their little hearts' content! (Another tip - if they color it TOO much the adhesive won't stick as well because the foam will be saturated.  We had more than 50 kids come through and it was really only an issue for about 4 of them - we solved that by just putting glitter on the non-colored side.)

 

Run your foam shape through your 510 (of COURSE I don't have a photo of this part!) with the colored side facing down. The 510 is easy enough to use that kids can help crank the handle! Peel off the top film, then peel the foam shape from the backing and place adhesive side down in your tupperware container filled with glitter.  You need enough glitter in the tupperware to make sure the bottom of the container is completely covered.

Help the kids move the foam shape around in the tupperware to cover the foam shape with glitter.  The beauty of Xyron is that if you pick it up and realize that you missed a spot - you can just stick it back down in the glitter!

And voila!  Sparkly snowflakes!  You can keep the foam shape intact,  or punch out the center for a cool shape.

Oh...and uhh...I held a snake.  :)  This has absolutely nothing to do with crafts - but it sure was awesome!

Happy Crafting Everybody!

Flat Kurt

This is our friend Kurt.

Kurt is a funny friend, easy roommate (he accidentally lived with us for six months last year), great husband, wonderful father, getter of Dairy Queen after dinner, dog lover, motorcycle rider, and soldier.

Next week he is leaving for a year to Afghanistan.

His wife Shealyn is also funny and fabulous and I would do anything for her, so when she sent me this message and photo:

Hey crafty lady, if I were to send you a good photo of Kurt, could you use your sticky goodness to make me a few of these so Daddy can go everywhere with us?

I was in.  I have been lucky enough to have Don home with me for the past year and it is a blessing I do not take for granted. So while I would make a million of these if it would help some of my fellow military families make deployment even a tiny bit easier, I wanted to post the instructions here (even if you don't think you are crafty it is VERY easy) for anyone who wants to make their own.

DIRECTIONS:

First, I took Kurt's photo and cropped it as tightly around his head as I could.

Then I printed out several copies on to 8.5x11 photo paper.

Now...here is where I am revising my original instructions - which were to cut out the face, put it on the chipboard, then cut it out again.  Why do it twice?  So sort of ignore the fact that the face is already cut out in some of the photos.  :)

I ran the 8x10 photo through my Xyron 9" Creative Station*,

adhered the 8x10 on to a piece of chipboard (you can use an empty cereal box in a pinch)

and cut out the face - for the FIRST time. (to quote Don: "Kurt needs to shave his head.  I can't cut out all these little pieces of gelled hair.")

Then I just took a paint stirrer (they are free at any home improvement store), added a little glue, and let dry!

*if you don't have one of these you can use a glue stick or a tape runner - just be sure to cover all of the edges as smoothly and evenly as you can.

I had to put these in the mail ASAP - Don was having a little TOO much fun with them.  Our dog - as you can see - was not.  :)

So these Flat Kurts are on their way to Texas - to two precious children who will spend the next year doing what military children have done for generations - growing and learning and playing and loving all while waiting for the day that their daddy is home to give them bear hugs and tuck them in at night.  If you have a friend, family member, neighbor or co-worker getting ready for a deployment with small kids, ask for a photo of their soldier and make a few of these. What a wonderful gesture and tangible way to let them know you are thinking of their family.

Love you Kurt and Shea and James and Sammi - already waiting for the day Kurt is back home safe with you.