Felt Monster Finger Puppets

The other day, while browsing Pinterest, Little Crafter and I saw something we just had to make.  They were adorable little felt monster finger puppets.  Who could resist?  Not us!  Here's how ours turned out and how we made them!

Materials:

- felt

- pinking shears {you could also use regular scissors if you don't have any}

- sewing machine and thread {again, you could hand sew if necessary}

- craft glue or hot glue

- assorted google eyes and pom poms {thanks to CraftProjectIdeas.com for ours}

STEP 1: Cut out two of whatever shape you want.  Ours ended up all different; one was rounded at the top, one was a rectangle, and then LC decided he wanted Frosty the Snowman and a carrot.  Go figure.

STEP 2: Stitch around the edges, leaving the bottom open.

A quick note here...yes Little Crafter did do the machine sewing.  I don't know that I would necessarily recommend that for all four year olds, but he's been wanting to try it and I decided this was a good intro project for him.  He pushed the pedal and helped me to guide the felt, but I did most of the "guiding" work and made sure his sweet little fingers stayed far from the needle.  We also discussed safety before we started and he practiced stopping and starting the pedal when I said the words "Go" and "Stop."  He really did an amazing job.

STEP 3: Decorate!  We used our CraftProjectIdeas.com google eyes and pom poms for eyes and noses, and we used felt, buttons, and fabric paint for other embellishments.

STEP 4: PLAY!  Enjoy those monsters!

Talkin' Turkey...Thanksgiving Favors

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away {well, for my American friends, anyway...}?  Little Crafter and I have been busy getting ready for the holiday, starting with these fun turkey favors!

 



 

These little guys will be such an adorable addition to the Thanksgiving table, and they're so easy and inexpensive to make!  Here's what you need to create your own:

Materials:

- small terracotta pots

- brown acrylic paint and paintbrush

- red craft foam

- google eyes

- yellow felt

- assorted feathers

- assorted candy

- scissors, hot glue, glue gun

 

 

STEP 1: Paint your pots brown and let them dry completely.



STEP 2: While pots dry, cut out foam circles for the heads and felt triangles for the beaks.  I traced the bottom of a jar of Mod Podge for the head and freehanded the beak.

STEP 3: Assemble heads using craft glue or hot glue and attach to dry pots.

STEP 4: Glue feathers to the back of each pot.

 
STEP 5: Fill with candy...this was LC's favorite part!

 

 

 

That's all there is to it!  A few simple steps and you have adorable favors that every guest will enjoy!

 

Be sure to stop by on Monday for a very special "virtual" Thanksgiving dinner where I'll be teaming up with a super group of bloggers to show you recipes and more to prepare for every part of the Thanksgiving meal!  See you then!

 

Counting my blessings,



DIY Lego Beanbags

Now that the favors for Little Crafter's party are under control, I decided to start working on games for the kids to play.  {If you missed the favors, check out the Lego crayons, chocolates, and necklaces we made!}  LC loves to play beanbag toss, so I decided we'd make up some fun Lego beanbags for his friends to use.  I'm especially excited about these because {unlike many of our projects} the idea is all mine, as far as I know.  I didn't see them on Pinterest or on anyone else's blog, I just thought them up as I was trying to fall asleep and couldn't because of all the party plans...lol.

Here's how to make them...



Materials:

- felt or fleece

- scissors

- sewing machine and thread

- craft glue

- dry beans or rice

I just cut a pattern from a piece of cardstock that was the size I wanted.  You can make them any size you like, or even make them rectangular instead of square.  For the circles, I used a 1 3/4" circle punch to create a pattern and then used that when cutting the felt.

Little Crafter was a big help.  He glued the circles in place and did all the stuffing for me.  It was definitely a joint project!  For older kids, it would be a great introductory sewing project too, since all you're doing are a few short straight seams...no turning, nothing complicated.

Aren't they so fun?!



Happy Crafting!

Faithfulness

love.

joy.

peace.

patience.

kindness.

goodness.

faithfulness.

gentleness.

self-control.

For the past seven weeks, we've been working to teach Little Crafter about the fruit of the Spirit.  {We still have 2 weeks to go!}  We explained that there are certain qualities that other people should see in our lives because we love and follow Jesus.  Each week, we define the quality in simple terms {ie: Patience = waiting nicely}.  Then, we sing songs about it if there are any, read a Bible story where someone displayed the quality, and make a craft related to our "fruit of the week."  We also add a fruit to this bowl that's displayed on his bedroom door.

This week, our "fruit" in focus was Faithfulness.

We defined it as doing the right thing even when it's hard and being a person others can depend on.

Our Bible story was Daniel in the lions' den...talk about someone who was faithful!

Captured and forced to live in a foreign land, serving a foreign king, Daniel stayed true to his faith.  He refused to eat meat because he didn't know if it had been sacrificed to idols.  He did everything that was asked of him to the best of his ability.  And even when he knew it could cost him his life, he continued to pray to God three times a day, just as he had done before.  We explained to Noah that Daniel did what he knew was right even when it was hard; even when it could cost him everything. 

Then, to go along with the story, we made this craft.

 PAPER PLATE LION

 Materials: paper plate, colored constrution paper, scissors, glue, crayons

Procedure: Turn plate upside down and color the center.  Draw a lion face.  Cut construction paper into strips and glue around edges of plate in two rows {or more!}.  Then, ROAR!

We've been having a lot of fun, and it blesses my heart to hear him list off the fruit of the Spirit from memory.  Makes me feel like maybe, just maybe, we're doing something right.

The Gift of Creativity

Little Crafter got some fantastic gifts for his birthday.

It was really special to see how well our friends know him; he got lots of Cars and Thomas toys, books, and games, and even some new Ravens gear.  Several friends gave him fun new art supplies, like a white board, a doodle board, Color Sticks, and Color Wonder.

One of our mutual favorites was the gift sent from a sweet family we know in Texas...they gave him the gift of creativity in the form of a $20 Michaels gift card.  I'm thinking that's not a common gift for a 3-year-old, but you should have seen his face light up!  He wanted to go spend it right away.  Here's what he came home with:

a wooden stool, a wooden shelf, a mini flower pot, a Christmas ornament, and TWO 18x24 canvases!

Yes, we got all that for just a tiny bit over $20, thanks to sales, deals, and coupons.  Yay, Michaels!

As patience isn't Little Crafter's strong point {or his mama's either}, we set right to work.  Take a look at some of our creative adventures with his gift purchases.

MASKING TAPE CANVAS PAINTING

These tape paintings have been all over Pinterest lately and I've been itching to try one.  Here's our attempt.

Materials: canvas {any size}, acrylic paints, paint brushes, masking tape or painters' tape

STEP 1: Create a design using tape all over the canvas surface.  Make sure tape is pressed down firmly so paint can't go under it.

STEP 2: Paint canvas with desired color[s].  Don't you just love my disgusting pink carpet in the craft room?  Ugh.  All 3 upstairs bedrooms had that when we moved in...now this is all that's left of it.  I thought maybe if I let Little Crafter use it as a drop cloth, hubby would finally let me redo the flooring...lol.

STEP 3: Allow paint to dry thoroughly.

STEP 4: Remove tape.  Try to remove it in the order you put it on to avoid extra pulling.

STEP 6: Hang and enjoy!

I just loooove the way it turned out, and I'm sure you can guess how proud a certain someone is of his art!



Here are a few more of our projects.

PAINTED WOODEN SHELF

He wanted a place to hang the beads he got at the carnival and his behavior bead necklace when he's not wearing it.  I like to call this his "blue period"...lol.

FROG STOOL

This one was a team effort.  I sketched the frog and letters and did the outline painting.  He painted the legs and background, and also helped paint the frog.  My one complaint is that it's not very sturdy.  I thought it was the same as his other wooden stool, but the legs have a different placement and he fell off of it twice this morning when he was trying to put his Pop Tart in the toaster.  Mama fail.  At least it's cute to look at...

SEASHELL ORNAMENTWe used his plastic ornament to make a memento of our beach vacation.  You may remember seeing this several days ago...if not, a full tutorial is here.

Now all we have left is one more canvas and the flowerpot.  We have plans for turning the pot into a pumpkin, but I told him he has to wait until September first. :)  The best news, though, is that just when we thought all the birthday presents were over, he got another Michaels gift card from some family friends...he's already planning what to buy with it!

Meanwhile, speaking of craftiness, don't forget the Fall Craft Challenge coming up in just a few short days!  Grab a button and get ready to play along!  Also, be sure to stop by Luxe Boulevard and enter the bird nest giveaway before it's too late.

Hope you have a great day!

PS - Like what you see?  Follow along for the journey!  Just 16 more friends and it'll be time for some major giveaways to celebrate!  Also, if you'd like to vote for me at the Parents magazine Best Kids Craft blog contest, I would be so honored!

She Sells Seashells

So, you know that I have a love affair with the beach.  Myrtle Beach, in particular, but anywhere there's sand and ocean will do.  And like any good beach lover, I can't help but look for interesting seashells each time I visit.  Now I have another little pair of eyes and hands who enjoys doing the same thing, so it only stands to reason that we have multiple ziploc baggies containing really cool shells we don't know what to do with laying around collecting dust in the craft room.  Sooo...I've been on the lookout for {cheap} projects I can do to put some of thesm to good use.  Here are a few I've whipped up for around the house:

BEACHY BATHROOM DECOR

This was super easy and super thrifty too; I just got a glass vase from Michaels {$3.99} and filled it with my favorite shells.  I started with large ones on the bottom and filled in the center with big broken pieces that wouldn't get seen anyway.  Then, I went around the edges, placing the shells where I wanted them.  The basket was around $5 at Target, the starfish and burlap were a gift from my {wonderful, sweet, talented} friend Sabine, and my mom gave me the sand dollar because it was collecting dust at her house.

Total cost of shell vase: $3.99

Total cost of entire thing: about $9

Here's a broader view of how it looks in the powder room.  Hello!

I also did a similar version as a centerpiece for the dining room table a few months ago, just in a larger vase, and added a candle in the center.  Easy peasy.

BEACH IN A JAR

You may remember from my "Life's a Beach" series that I fell in love with this idea from my crafty bloggy buddy Carmella over at Creative Carmella.

Before I show you mine, you have to hear my story.

I really wanted to make my own, but I forgot to bring sand back from the beach.  Boo.

So, on Monday I was at a playgroup with Little Crafter and the hostess, Erin {who is quite the artsy mama herself}, called me into the bathroom saying, "You inspired me!"

I was a bit curious...I, um, inspired you in the bathroom??  But what she meant was that she'd made a beach in a jar and had used it in there for decor.  It was super duper cute, but I didn't take a picture for you for two excellent reasons:

A. I forgot to take my camera to playgroup {fail, because the kids are really cute}

B. I thought it would just be too high on the weirdo-stalker-meter to start snapping pics in someone else's bathroom...

Anyway, I pouted a little to her about wanting to make my own but not having sand, and you know what she did?  Handed me a huge bag full of it.  Her mom had brought a bunch back for her from Ocean City so she could do the project and it was way more than she needed.  Woo, free sand!  Thanks Erin, Thanks Mrs. Ginny!  This called for a trip to Michaels for another $3.99 vase.  I printed a photo, added sand and shells, and

ta-da!!

Total cost: $3.99 {well, unless you count a piece of photo paper and the ink to print it...but still, cheap!}

Now I just have to find a spot to display it where Little Crafter and his slightly more rambunctious friends won't knock it over.  Don't want to have to vaccum that up...

SOUVENIR ORNAMENT

I came across this awesome idea for a beachy ornament at How to Nest for Less and instantly knew we had to make one.  Little Crafter helped me with all but the ribbon tying and hot glueing.

Here's what you need:

STEP 3: Hot glue the ornament top back on!  The sand is heavy and otherwise, you'll undoubtedly have a mess under your tree!

I'm loving it.

Total cost: about $1.

The shells and sand will shift around in there {especially if when a 3 year old violently shakes it for fun, but the shells will naturally return to the top...whew}.

I am so excited to finally have some good, practical uses for these great shells!  Hope you're inspired too.