Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Caterpillar


What You Need:
  • Purple sweat suit
  • 4 pairs of small work gloves
  • Fiberfill
  • 3 yards sequined trim
  • Visor and 2 chenille stems
  • 2 plastic foam balls and crafts glue
  • 12x18-inch thermal fleece rectangle
  • Purple felt scraps

Instructions:

For sweat suit: 1. Prepare gloves. Stuff three pairs of work gloves with fiberfill, starting with fingertips.

2. Prepare sweatshirt. Sew rectangle to front of sweatshirt, leaving top open. Stuff. Sew top shut.

3. Decorate sweatshirt. Sew or glue on sequined trim and felt scraps.

4. Add gloves. Sew on stuffed gloves: one pair to sweat shirt and two pairs to pants.

For visor: 5. Decorate visor. Glue felt scraps and sequined trim to visor.

6. Add antennae. Twist to attach chenille stems to sides of visor. Poke plastic foam balls on ends.

Eggshell Bouquet


Decorate the Easter table with an arrangement of these delicate blooms.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

Eggs
Floral wire or pipe cleaners
White glue
Tempera paints and brushes

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
1. Crack eggs in half and gently break off pieces to get a flower shape.
2. To make the stem, roll one end of the floral wire into a spiral and glue to the base of the flower. Stand flowers upside down while the glue hardens (about 30 minutes).
3. Paint stripes of color on the flowers by starting at the center of the egg and pulling the brush to the edge.

Balloon Platoon


No matter how rough the waters get, the fearless crew aboard this inflatable toy raft will stay high and dry.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

Styrofoam tray
Long balloon
Rubber bands
Paper clips
String
Ping-Pong balls
Permanent marker

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
Balloon Platoon 1. Cut an oval base from a clean Styrofoam tray (it should measure about 9 inches in length). Poke six holes through the base about 3/4 inch in from the edge.
2. Inflate a long, thin balloon (the type you can twist into animal shapes) until the inflated part measures 24 inches. You may need a bicycle pump or a handheld air pump (sold at many department stores). Tie overhand knots at each end of the inflated portion.
3. Slip six rubber bands around the inflated balloon. Then, tie together the knotted ends of the balloon to form an oval.
4. Place the balloon on the oval base and thread an attached rubber band through each of the holes in the Styrofoam. Attach paper clips (as shown) to keep the rubber bands from slipping back through.
5. Finally, tie on a long string for a towline and assemble the passengers (just draw faces on Ping-Pong balls with permanent markers).

Winnie the Pooh Party Favor Jars


What you will need: Empty baby food jars, red and yellow/orange fun foam or construction paper, glue, tan, brown and a golden yellow acrylic paint, and a marker, candy

What to do:
1. Paint the bottom 2/3 of the jar with a tan or light brown paint and the top 1/3 with a darker brown paint and let it dry. Use a golden yellow paint to paint on the honey. Let the paint sit out a little bit if it is runny until it gets thicker. Put a lot of paint on your brush and then run it across the rim of the jar like you are trying to clean the paint off the brush. Do this all the way around so that the paint starts to drip a little. Make sure your paint is thick enough so that it doesn’t run all the way down the jar. When the paint is dry print “Hunny“ on the front of the jar.
2. Print out the pattern for winnie the pooh

. Trace the pattern onto fun foam and cut out. Use a black Sharpie to draw in the face and outline the body. Cut out a shirt from red fun foam or felt and glue onto Winnie. Glue Winnie’s belly and legs onto the jar.
3. Fill the jar with candy.

Bottle Cap Recycling Craft Project

Things needed;
  • 9 plastic bottle caps

  • 2 tiny goggle eyes or black permanent marker to draw eyes

  • red permanent marker or red craft to make the smile features
    Instructions:
    If you have bottle caps in the right colors, this project will be very simple to put together. However, if you don't have the right colors, you can use craft paint to paint the bottle caps in the colors that you need.

    Start with one yellow cap and glue six red caps around it, then take two green caps and glue them to the ends of the flower caps as leaves. Let dry.

    On the yellow cap, glue on tiny goggle eyes, or draw on some eyes with black permanent marker. Draw on a smile with red permanent marker.

    Now place the smiley bottle cap flower onto a piece of felt. Trace around the flower shape and cut out this shape from the felt, cutting just inside the traced line. Glue the felt flower shape to the back of the bottle caps. When the felt is firmly glued and dry, attach a magnet to the back of the flower with glue. Place on the fridge with a new drawing that you have created. Enjoy!

  • capdesigns (11K)
  • glue

  • felt

  • magnet
  • Thursday, August 13, 2009

    Ribbon Spool Christmas Candle


    What you'll need:

    • Large cardboard spool from ribbon
    • Foam bowl (recommended: 12 oz polystyrene disposable food bowl)
    • 1 sheet green felt
    • Scraps of orange, red and yellow felt
    • 12” long piece of 1-2” wide holiday ribbon
    • 3 green skinny chenille stems
    • White acrylic paint
    • White craft glue
    • Pen
    • Scissors

    How to make it:

    1. Paint the spool with white paint and set aside to dry.
    2. Cut green felt into twelve 2” square pieces.
    3. Cut chenille stems into fourths.
    4. Poke the center of a felt square with your finger or a pen, gather poked end and wrap a piece of chenille around it, forming a 3D leaf. Repeat for all twelve squares.
    5. Turn foam bowl upside down so the open side is faced down. Use a pen to poke a hole on the foam side of the bowl, about ½” down from the flat bottom. Insert the pointed end of the felt leaf into the hole. Poke the next hole about an inch from the first. Repeat this step until all twelve leaves have been inserted around the bowl. Trim the rim off the bowl so that the leaves are almost touching the table.
    6. Glue the spool to the flat bowl bottom.
    7. Cut a 2” tear drop shape from red felt.
    8. Cut a 1.5” tear drop shape from orange felt.
    9. Cut a 1” tear drop shape from yellow felt.
    10. Glue the yellow felt to the orange and the orange to the red so that each color shows behind the one in front of it. Add white glue to the bottom of the felt and the opening at the top of the spool. Insert the felt flame into the top of the spool.
    11. Tie ribbon into a bow and trim ends if needed. Glue to the front of your candle base, just above the leaves.

    Ribbon Flowers


    CRAFT MATERIALS:

    19 inches of green wireless ribbon, 1 inch wide
    Clear double-sided tape, 1/2 inch wide
    18-inch floral-wire stem
    Green thread
    3 (8-inch) lengths of green wired ribbon, 1 1/2 inches wide
    2-yard length of colorful wired ribbon, 1 1/2 inches wide
    Hot glue

    Time needed: About 1 to 2 Hours
    Ribbon Flowers Diagram 1. First create a stem and leaves by assembling the pieces as shown here.
    2. Fold the stem ribbon in half, sandwiching the wire and leaf stems inside. Bend one of the leaves so it appears to be sprouting from the opposite side of the stem.
    3. To make the blossom, stick double-sided tape along one long edge of the colorful ribbon, as you did for the stem. Peel 4 inches or so of the backing from the tape and wrap the sticky part of the ribbon around the stem top several times.
    4. Peel off a little more of the tape backing, then gather the ribbon and press it firmly against the lower edge of the previous layer. Continue in this way, working around the stem until you reach the end of the ribbon. Don't worry about flattening the blossom as you work; you can reshape it when you finish. If you end up with a spot or two that's not holding well, simply secure it with a dab of hot glue (parents only).