Holiday Craft Source

Fall is coming quickly and soon the leaves will be changing colour. Here are some fall craft projects I found for you to make with your children.

At MyCraftBook we found an easy project for you do to with the younger children - Podgy Leaves. While out on a walk with your children, collect some colouful leaves. Then you are ready to make some Podgy Leaves. For this craft you will need some podgy glue, wax paper, and some paper towel. Click here for the instructions.

With those leaves you collected on your walk you can also make a Leaf Suncatcher, For this project you will need: Wax Paper, Fall Leaves, Crayon Shavings, Newspaper and an Adult with Iron. Click here for the intsructions. MakingFriends has many other Fall Leaf Craft projects to make.

At Kaboose I found this great project, Nature Luminary Cande Holders. For this project you will need: Leaves and foliage, Glass votive holder or jar, White tissue paper, White craft glue, Water, Paintbrush and Tea light candles. Click here for the instructions.

For more fall craft ideas, supplies and kits, check out Oriental Trading Company. They have lots of fall craft kits: Foam Fall Leaves Photo Frame, Glass And Foam Fall Votive Holder Craft Kit, Adhesive Foam Fall Craft Shapes, and more.

Happy crafting!!

Tags: children, crafts, Fall, Leaves

Here is an interesting idea for using the husks from corn - Cornhusk Dolls.

At Family Fun I found instructions on how to make these little dolls. Dry the husks in the sun for up to three days and you’ll have the makings for a corn-husk doll.

Over at Associated Content there is an article on how to make Corn Husk Dolls for gifts, as a tree topper and as ornaments.

At How Stuff Works they have instructions on how to make a Traditional Harvest Corn Dolls.

At Native Tech there are two articles, one gives the history of Cornhusk Dolls and the other tells you why the Cornhusk dolls have no face.

In the book “Halloween Customs, Recipes and Spells” there is a section on how to make CornhuskDolls. You can purchase this book at amazon.com.

I have two books by Hazel Pearson on Making Cornhusk Dolls: “How to Make Cornhusk Dolls” and “More Cornhusk Dolls“. In How to Make Cornhusk Dolls Hazel gives instructions on how to make Cornhusk Dolls and there are also other projects in the book: Husk Wrapped Wire Dolls; Thanksgiving Wreath; Christmas Wreath; Cornhusk Basket; Christmas Doll; Mr. & Mrs. Santa; and more. In More Cornhusk Dolls Hazel features designer dolls for home display, special occasion decorating, cornhusk flowers for table arrangements and more.

So, the next time you have corn on the cob, save those corn husks, dry them and use them to make a Cornhusk Doll.

Happy Crafting!!

Tags: Cornhusk, crafts, Dolls, Fall

As I mentioned on my About page, I am always making something, so I thought I would show off some of the baby blankets I have made in the last few years.

I started making baby blankets when my sister-in-law was pregnant with her first child, and just kept going. I find that crocheting and knitting relaxes me. In 2005 and 2006 my father was very sick with Cancer and passed away, and I found that by making these blankets it helped me to keep my sanity and helped me to get through that tough time. I do not have an actual pattern for these blankets, just my notes as I went along. If ever I get the patterns written out so that someone else could work from them, I will post them here to share with you.

Anyway, here are the photos:

If you are interested in purchasing one of my handmade baby blankets, I list them from time to time on Ebay .

Happy Crafting!!

When I was young we would spend a few weeks out at the lake and Mom would enroll us kids in the summer activities program, which included making crafts. My favourite craft to make was picture frames made out of Popsicle sticks.

Here are some picture frames and other crafts made from Popsicle sticks or craft sticks that I found on the Internet:

• At Craft Elf I found a Popsicle Stick Picture Frame.
• At Crafttown I found a Christmas Picture Frame.
• At Easy Child Crafts I found a Popsicle Stick Bookmarks and a Pencil Holder.
• At Kaboose I found many projects to make: Recipe Card Holder, Digimon Fan, Star Ornament, and more.

If you need supplies to make any of these projects, be sure to check out Oriental Trading. They have craft supplies and craft kits.

Happy Crafting!!

Tags: children, crafts, Summer

I was going through some of the items that my cousins have given me from my Aunt, who recently passed away, and found some crafting supplies - knitting needles, crochet hooks, sewing basket, and wool. I put all the items in a pile and then looked in the room that is suppose to be my craft room and thought “where am I going to put this stuff”.

I have been in our new home here in Pangman for over a year now and have not unpacked any of my craft items or organized my craft room, as you can see in the above photo.

So, I set the items in a corner of the room and then started to look on the internet for advice on how to organize my craft room. Here is some of the advice that I found, which I think will be helpful.

• Set aside different areas in your room for the different crafts you do.
• Sort through your supplies.
• Cull any of the excess items you have and toss those that you will probably never ever use.
• Think about the type of storage you have and you need to buy - plastic containers, table, shelving, etc.
• Get started.
• Take a few minutes after you are done working in the room and tidy it up, so it stays clean.

Craftlink Resource Centre has a a good article entitled “Organizing Your Craft Room“. Also wikiHow has an informative article entitled “How to Organize Craft Supplies”

At Flickr I found the Craft Rooms Pool which has many many many photos of craft rooms and more. I am going to spend some time looking through the photos and hopefully I will find some inspiration for my craft room.

So my plan for the next while is to get that craft room set up, so I can find what I need to start making some holiday crafts. I will post some photos here after the room is all done.

Wish me luck!.

Tags: craft room, crafts, organization

Now that summer is here and the kids are out of school and you are planning your summer vacation, do not forget to take pictures of your summer activities and put them in a scrapbook.

There are many sites on the internet with scrapbooking ideas, templates, and supplies. Here are some interesting and helpful scrapbooking sites I found while looking for some ideas for summer scrapbook pages.

• Kim at Scribbled Scraps has lots of information and tips on scrapbooking. Her most recent post talks about how scrapbooking can be a fun activity to share with your children. She offers hints on how to involve them on creating their own scrapbooking page. She also has a post entitled Scrapbooking 101: Where do I Start, which I found very informative.
• At Crafty Places I found 3 summer fun scrapbooking layouts that you may want to use as inspiration for a project of your own.
• In the July 2008 issue of Scrabooking.com I found an article entitled “Fun in the Sun and Water” which has 5 scrapbook page layouts you can create with photos of your family having fun in the sun or in the water.

Be sure to take some time this summer to get those photos into a scrapbook to preserve your summer memories for years to come.

At the top of this post is a picture of one of my scrapbook pages I did when my son was young, after a day at the exhibition.

Happy Crafting!!

Tags: memories, photos, Scrapbooking, Summer

Happy Canada Day!! I hope everyone had a great day across Canada. My husband and I went to the Exhibition at Weburn. We walked through the Midway, played a few games, had some Mini-Donuts and went through the petting zoo.

You can learn more about Canada Day at Wikipedia.

Check out this video I found at Video Rambler . It is a Domino salute to Canada Day. Click here to view this video.

Happy Canada Day!!

Tags: Canada Day

I find that summer is a great time to do cross stitch projects. I enjoy sitting on the deck in the morning or early evening to work on my cross stitch project. You can make small projects or work on larger ones to give as gifts. I like to work on smaller projects, that way I can actually finish them and they will not end up in the “to finish” box, with many of my other uncompleted projects.

Here are some summer cross stitch patterns I found that you can download and print for free:

1. Butterfly chart over at Free Cross Stitch Pattern. Stitch on 14 count Aida cloth to make a bright picture for your home or as a gift.
2. Yummy Watermelon Cross Stitch Chart from About.com Cross Stitch . Stitch on waste canvas to add the motif to a denim hat or jacket.
3. Cross Stitch Beach Read Bookmark from About.com Cross Stitch. Cross stitch this bookmark for yourself or a friend to mark your place in your favorite novel.

I am also a member of Free Patterns.com. It is free to join this website and they have many cross stitch patterns you can download and print. You will need Acrobat Reader to download and print these patterns. Click here to see some of there cross stitch patterns.

Happy Crafting!!

Tags: cross stitch, patterns, Summer

I received bad news about my Aunt this morning. She passed away early this morning. My husband and I are leaving to see my cousins this morning.

I will try to have a new craft project posted next weekend.

Well it is June and school will be out soon. Here are a couple of summer craft projects for the kids we found over at Kaboose.

Pretty Pencil Pinwheel. For this project you will need some colored card stock or construction paper, Thumbtack or stick pin, pencil with new eraser, glue, scissors and sequins. Click here to find all the materials required, pinwheel pattern and instructions.

After you make up some of Pinwheel Pencils, you might want to make a Summer Journal. To make the Summer Journal you will need a blank notebook or foam journal, foam letters (available as stickers) and shapes, wiggle eyes and craft jewels, fabric paint tubes and white craft clue. Click here to find all the materials required and instructions.

Happy Crafting!!