DIY Safari Puppet Parade

Apr 04

DIY Safari Animal Puppets

When our good friend Emily Meyer from Tea Col­lec­tion asked us to cre­ate a DIY craft inspired by their lat­est South African col­lec­tion of children’s clothes, the answer was obvious–of course! We’re huge fans Emily and her pio­neer­ing brand.

Tea Collection South Africa

The design­ers at Tea Col­lec­tion explore exotic des­ti­na­tions through­out the world and then trans­late those expe­ri­ences by cre­at­ing “globally-inspired children’s clothes for the lit­tle cit­i­zens of the world.” Their lat­est col­lec­tion, and per­haps their best yet, invites you to explore the col­ors and pat­terns of South Africa. Be sure to check it out on the Tea Col­lec­tion web­site!

DIY Safari Animal Puppets

How do you cel­e­brate a brand founded by two globe-trotting moms with more than ten years’ expe­ri­ence under their belts? You sound the bells and hold a parade, of course! Here’s an incred­i­bly fun DIY tuto­r­ial for cre­at­ing your very own parade of safari ani­mal pup­pets. You can whip them up in no time at all using just a few craft dow­els, a lit­tle paint, and some paper.

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DIY I’m A Rock Doorstop

Mar 29

DIY I'm A Rock Doorstop

Let’s cre­ate a cute, dec­o­ra­tive doorstop fol­low­ing this super easy craft tuto­r­ial! 
I always use doorstops in the spring and sum­mer to keep air flow­ing through the house. With­out them,  my doors slam shut when­ever there’s a gust of wind.

This smil­ing rock is the cozi­est solu­tion I’ve found for adding some fun and a touch of organic design to my home. He’ll be happy to help you hold your door open, or, if he’s placed behind the door, keep it from slam­ming into the wall.

Let’s get started!

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Handmade Charlotte Stencils

Mar 27

Handmade Charlotte Stencils

Plaid approached us with a dreamy proposal–create a line of sten­cils that would be sold in all of our favorite craft sup­ply stores. We jumped at the chance, and with the help of craft sup­ply pow­er­house Plaid Enter­prises, our dream became a reality.

The sten­cils go on sale this week in Jo-Ann Stores and Jo-Ann Stores online. The sets are super afford­able and cost only $6.99 for the more than 40 sten­cil designs included in each set.

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Last-Minute Easter Craft Inspiration

Mar 27

Easter Egg Decorated with Colored Pencils via Fine Little Day

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very impor­tant date”, said one very famous white rab­bit, and indeed I am. Easter is almost upon us, and this year it coin­cides with my youngest son’s 8th birth­day and April Fools’, not to men­tion the tra­di­tional vil­lage egg hunt.  My to-do list is long and once again the clock is tick­ing fast. Hmmm! I guess the only way I’m going to deal with all the last minute prepa­ra­tions is to sim­plify, and that suits me fine.

I’ve book­marked a few easy egg craft projects that I’d love to try with my fam­ily this week­end, so if you’re short on time and inspi­ra­tion, per­haps there’s some­thing for you as well? Enjoy!

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Fabulous New Book Filled With Activities From The Artful Parent

Mar 25

New Book Filled with Creative Activities from The Artful Parent

My good friend Jean Van’t Hul from The Art­ful Par­ent has a fab­u­lous new book filled with cre­ative activ­i­ties for fam­i­lies that you sim­ply must check out. Who couldn’t use a new trick or two for get­ting cre­ative with their lit­tle ones?

The book includes over 60 art projects for chil­dren ages 1 to 8, so you’re bound to find some­thing new that you’ve never tried before. Here’s a peek at one of my favorites from the book, mak­ing  your own “stick­ers” using sty­ro­foam prints…

DIY Styrofoam Stickers via The Artful Parent

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Pre-order The Art­ful Par­ent: Sim­ply Ways to Fill Your Family’s Life with Art and Cre­ativ­ity on Amazon.com to make sure you get a copy when it’s released on April 9th, you’re kids will love you for it!

DIY Silhouette Easter Eggs

Mar 18

Decorating Easter Eggs With Sticker Silhouettes

Easter is a trea­sured hol­i­day in our house­hold. Some of our favorite craft­ing mem­o­ries are the many happy times spent dec­o­rat­ing and prepar­ing the house for the big day. Every year, we love to kick things off by col­or­ing eggs to dec­o­rate the break­fast table on Easter morning.

Here’s a fun tech­nique for col­or­ing Easter eggs that’s sim­ple enough for the whole fam­ily to enjoy. Let’s jump right in…

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Tiny St. Patrick’s Day Gifts for Leprechauns

Mar 16

Tiny St. Patrick's Day Gifts for Leprechauns

St. Patricks Day is a big to-do around our house. Not that we’re Irish or any­thing, though my third child’s name is Mur­phy (named after my brother, who was named after a great Aunt’s hus­band that was indeed Irish).

I’ve always told my lit­tle Mur­phy that he was half lep­rechaun and that St. Patrick’s Day is when every­one cel­e­brates the tiny keep­ers of gold like him­self. So every year, we leave gifts for his lep­rechaun half-brothers. They’re very tiny, so the gifts have to be tiny, too!

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DIY Recycling Center For Kids

Mar 11

DIY Recycling Center for Kids

My kids are con­stantly using cereal boxes, cans, bot­tles, and other recy­clables for their inven­tions and art projects. As such, we were in des­per­ate need of a spot where the kids could eas­ily access the re-purposed trash, so we put together a mini-recycling sta­tion to min­i­mize the chaos and keep things in control.

The kids absolutely love their new mini-art sup­ply store, and they’re even more thrilled about devis­ing ways to use the “new” mer­chan­dise. Here’s a run­down of how we put every­thing together so you can put together a recy­cling cen­ter of your own.

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