Holiday Craft Source

It is already August 15th, I do not know where the month has gone. It is almost time for the kids to return to school.

Here are some craft ideas to use up all those popsicle sticks the kids have saved over the summer.

• Reversible Gorilla Stick Puppet from StoryPlace. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Dragonfly Craft from About.com. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Heart Flowers from FamilyCorner.com. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Pencil Holder from MakingFriends. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Heart Angel from DLTK. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Craft Stick Water Skier from Craft of the Day. Click here for supplies and instructions.

I hope you have fun making some of these projects with your kids during the last few weeks of summer.

Happy Crafting!!.

I have done some quilting before and I was looking for a quick, easy project.

I fould this Simple Quilted Potholder at Craftzine.

For this potholder you will need:

4 strips of light to medium-weight cotton fabric, each measuring 9″×2.75″
9″×9″ piece of light to medium-weight cotton fabric
Two 9″×9″ pieces of cotton quilt batting (I like Warm & Natural brand.)
4″–5″ length of ribbon

Click here for supplies and instructions.

Happy Crafting!!

Do your kids like to play with Play Dough? Have you ever made your own Play Dough?

• At Craftzine.com I found a tutorial on how to make your own Play Dough.
• At Recipe Goldmine I found many different recipes for making Play Dough.
• At Family Corner.com I found 10 Edible Play Dough Crafts: Kool-Aid Play Dough, Oatmeal Play Dough, Peanut Butter Play Dough and more.
• At Creative Kids at Home I found more Play Dough recipes: Uncooked Play Dough, Corn Starch Clay and more.
• At Ruby Glen I found instructions on how to Create Your Own Play Dough Kit.

The next time the kids are bored, make up some Play Dough and they will have fun creating shapes and creatures. Do not forget to take pictures of their creations.

Happy Crafting!!

I do not know where June has gone it seem to have just flown by.  July will be here next week and the kids will be out of school for the summer.

Are you looking for some craft projects to keep the kids busy this summer? Well be sure to check out some of these summer crafts.

At Main Street Mom we found some great ideas:

• Rock Paperweights.  Find some unique rocks when out walking, wash and dry them and then have the kids decorate them with paint.
• Jigsaw Puzzles. Recycle some cardboard and some old magazines to make into Jigsaw Puzzles.
• and more!

At DLTK Growing Together I found:

• Kite Craft. This kite won’t actually fly but it is a reminder of the times  you and the kids did fly kites.
• Summer Lacing Projects. Lacing projects are great for pre-schoolers and kindergarten children. Choose one of three templates or design your own. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Luminaria Craft.  Recycle some of your tin cans and crease a luminaria from it.
• and more!!

I hope that you and your kids have fun making some of these crafts this summer. Also, do not forget to take photos of the finished projects so you can treasure them forever.

Happy Crafting!!

Summer will be here before we know it. Are you looking for some crafts for the children to do this summer?

At DLTK Growing Together I found some Flower Crafts:

• Daffodil Egg Carton Craft for children ages 4 and up. Click here for supplies and instructions.
• Handprint Tulips for any age. Click here for supplies and instructions.  A great project for kids who like to get messy.
• Plus many more Flower Crafts.

At My Craft Book I found:

• Paper Towel Roll Rain Stick. Click here for supplies and instructions.  If you like the sound of rain sticks why not make one of your own.
• Braided Jean Bracelet. Click here for supplies and instructions.  Before your old jeans are tossed out  make this bracelet for yourself and your friends this summer.
• Flowers and Bees Decorated Flip Flops. Click here for supplies and instructions.  Great idea to decorate those flip flops for summer.
• Plus many more summer crafts.

And, remember to take photos of the crafts your children make this summer to put into a scrapbook to be treasured to many years to come.

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!!