The Crafty Crow featured this little log cabin made from lolly sticks last week which I thought was so charming I had to share it here! A prime piece of real estate in the woods for dolls and birds alike. It's just one of many pieces of 'popsicle stick art' featured on A Little Hut recently, and has fired my imagination for some really great recycling projects, some suitable for adults, others for kids...
Anyone who's ever been a little girl will appreciate the significance of this 'instant mermaid kit', specially made to fit standard-sized baby dolls. The result is what maker Amy Karol refers to as the 'merbaby'.
Making one of these interchangable tail fins couldn't be easier, and will provide hours of fun for toys that may otherwise have been left at the bottom of the pile. You can also add a cute, shell-shaped bra top for that authentic Little Mermaid look. All the materials you'll need are velcro, elsatic, wool felt and velour; there's a diagram you can use after the jump, but for full instructions check out Angry Chicken's blog.
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Here at Crafty we can hardly contain ourselves about the impending Halloween holiday, and I found something today that will help everyone get into the spooky spirit...a Halloween countdown calender. It was created by Shannon Bolt, who saw a similar and very expensive version of this for sale in Pottery Barn, and decided to create one of her very own. She's very kindly put the details here for us all to follow. You can put monstrous treats in each pocket, or insert some spooky messages to send chills down your spine.
You can also modify this pattern to create a much more festive Christmas advent calender. Get started now - both holidays are just around the corner!
[via Craftzine]
Remember papier mâché? I certainly do, although I haven't tried it in more than 30 years. Many of us learned this crafting technique when we were children, and it hasn't gone out of date at all. The supplies are simple and easily found around the house: you need old newspapers, and a glue made from flour and water. To decorate the paper sculptures, use whatever is on hand: paint, glue, sparkles, cardboard, egg cartons, string, or anything else that you can imagine.
Follow the jump for more information and resources, so you can do this fun craft with your little ones.
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Rosh Hashanah is nearly here! The Jewish new year of 5768 begins this year at sunset on the 12th of September. Making holiday crafts can be a great way for kids to participate in and learn more about the occasion. Here are a few suggestions of activities you can enjoy with children.
• Make a shofar (the traditional ram's horn blown on the holiday) out of card, and decorate it with glitter and ribbons.
• Make greeting cards for family and friends. Include traditional Rosh Hashanah imagery of apples and honey. Kids will enjoy making a stamp out of a real apple, and imprinting the image on cards.
• Make a honey dish.
• Make a play challah (the traditional bread) out of old stockings.
• Make a tzedaka box for saving coins to donate to a good cause.
• For young children, print out holiday themed colouring pages. They're available for free download in pdf format. Others can be found here and here.
The Kaboose Family Network gives instructions on making a picture frame out of Lego. This is a super easy craft that would be fun for kids to do. All you need are some Lego pieces in different sizes -- they specify that flat pieces work best -- and a photograph. You can add a Lego hinge to the frame if you want to make it fold (and presumably stand freely), but it's not necessary.
While the instructions make no mention of making the frame permanent, adults could help kids to glue their creation together if they want to keep it intact (since Lego creations are notorious for getting "broken" before their time.)
Kaboose.com can be a good resource for parents, providing a variety of suggestions for crafts, games, holiday plans, recipes and other tips. Check it out for more ideas.
For those of you who love all things big-eyed, round and anime that make no sense but are strangely cute, nobody does it better than Hayao Miyazaki. From the tiny naked rears of ghostly little kodama, to giant school buses shaped like cats, to hardworking soot clouds with eyes, Miyazaki’s films have it all.
And if you love the films, then chances are that you are also a huge fan of the fine art of amigurumi. So combining the cute-but-weird with the fantastic films of Miyazaki would be nothing short of genius. And now someone has. Heaven’s Hellcat, from the sunny South of England, has conjured a crochet Totoro, and the pattern is as free as Princess Mononoke in the forest.
And if you have no idea who Miyazaki or Totoro are then shame on you, quite frankly. They are perfect for rainy nights sitting cosily in front of the TV with some knitting on your lap.
The Crafty Crow featured this little log cabin made from lolly sticks last week which I thought was so charming I had to share it here! A prime piece of real estate in the woods for dolls and birds alike. It's just one of many pieces of 'popsicle stick art' featured on A Little Hut recently, and has fired my imagination for some really great recycling projects, some suitable for adults, others for kids...
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