Creative Mom Cafe

The Boomerang Cartoon Network is one of our favorite channels. We get to see a lot of classic cartoons that we watched when we were kids and get to share them with our daughter. But now she wants toys that are used in bumps for the network that aren’t sold in stores. eBay might be an option but probably an expensive one to find some toys comparable to the ones she wants.

A better and more frugal solution would be to paint old action figures to look like these classic toys. I have seen where people have painted Barbies and they looked awesome. I have painted a small Happy Meal Barbie toy to resemble Mary Jane(Spider-man). I was bored at work and used markers to color her hair red and to make her outfit black. It turned out pretty good especially for something done to beat sheer boredom at work.

I think we have some old action figures lying around so I need to gather them up. She is really into the Herculoids. Zandor and the other humans will be easier than the rest of the Herculoids.

If my painting project doesn’t turn out well, then I can always try to crochet the characters. That might be easier than trying to find action figures that are similar to the characters.

A homemade toy that looks like the character will be just as played with as the real thing. New toys are her favorite and that usually lasts anywhere from an hour to two weeks. So if I can make her toys that resemble these classic toys that are no longer for sale then that seems like the way to go.

Recycled crafts seemed like an appropriate topic for Earth Day. After crafting, we always have scraps left over. Instead of throwing that away, we try to incorporate into another project.

Fabric scraps can be used in a variety of ways. If you are a scrapper, then you have probably used fabric on your pages. I use fabric scraps as fill for pillows, amigurumi, and other projects.

Paper scraps can be fun, too. I use scrap paper for iris folding and to make shopping lists. My little girl uses scrap paper for coloring or painting.

I always wind up with some yarn at the end of a ball that I don’t need. You can tie these stray yarns together to make crazy yarn and knit/crochet a very unique project.

Those are the most common scraps that I have around the house and how I use them. How do you use your scraps to keep them from landing in the garbage?

Remember how much fun it used to be to paint plaster figures? We always did this craft at vacation Bible school. It was a bunch of fun. I’ve noticed in the craft section that they sell these small, plaster animals. Knowing how much I enjoyed painting this, I figured my daughter would enjoy it, too.

So for 62 cents, I bought one. Yesterday we pulled out the paint and a clean paint brush. Then she got to work painting her animal. She would paint a while, then play, and then paint some more. She finally finished when the animal was caked with paint. Her dad washed some of the paint off so that you could once again make out features like his eyes and ears. She seemed to like how the finished animal looked.

It kept her entertained for a few hours, so the little plaster figure was definitely worth the 62 cents. I’m thinking of picking up a few more for rainy days to keep her occupied.

Thank goodness my child loves to paint and can entertain herself. This week I’ve been sick and she has been sick, too. But she still has a ton of energy despite the hacking and raspy voice. How is she not wanting to sleep all day like her dear mother? This cold is definitely affecting us differently.

Luckily I have plenty of paper and she has a ton of paint brushes. I just squirt a little paint onto the paper and then she has at it. Here is one of her self portraits. She’s got eyes, ‘foots’, and hair.

This is a good project to keep her occupied for a good thirty minutes at least. That’s just enough time for me to take some medicine and pray it kicks in by the time she grows tired of painting.

One of my favorite aisles in the crafting store is the one that holds all the decorative buttons. Cute buttons can really change the look of an outfit or offer many possible ways to add something special to a crafting project.

I had bought some to do stitch markers but didn’t get to use them for that particular swap. Maybe I can use them for the next one.

There are some card games that my husband and I play that we use counters. Buttons stringed together would make a fun counter. I’m hoping I can think of some other ideas for these buttons.

My little girl is intrigued by the commercials for products that have 500 pieces that are used to create something. From Floam to Bendies, she wants it all. So it’s no surprise that she picked out these Magic Nuudles at the craft store.

What looks like colored Styrofoam peanuts is actually bio-degradable building blocks. You dampen one noodle and then stick it to a dry one. We haven’t tried it yet because I’m hoping to find a plastic box to store all the Nuudles in before they leave their packaging.

While it’s a lot of small parts, I don’t mind buying her creative toys especially when they cost less then $5 like the Nuudles. I’m not sure I could buy that many packing peanuts for that price.

Magic Nuudles is not recommended or children under 3. This will be a fun craft for us to do together that only uses her favorite thing - water. I can’t wait to see what she creates.

My daughter is getting to the age where she actually is wearing hair barrettes willingly. In the next few weeks I plan to make her some hair bows. I used to keep my hair bows on a ribbon that hung from my dresser. By using a pre-cut, pre-painted piece of wood, I can make her a special hair bow holder with little effort on my part.

Here is what I used for the project- glue, scissors, pre-made ladybug, and red ribbon.

Next I cut the ribbon to the desired length. Then I glued it to the back of the ladybug.

And that’s pretty much it. Now I will have to find a way to attach it to the wall. I might use a small coffee cup hook or even something I could just tape to the back.

There are two ways you can hold the crochet hook. Which one you choose is totally a personal choice. Usually I do the pencil hold method. This is where you hold the hook much like you would hold a pencil.

For me it just feels natural. When I’m doing regular crocheting, I always use this method. When I’m doing Tunisian crochet, I prefer the overhand method.

I think the reason is because with Tunisian crochet, you use and afghan hook. It’s a longer crochet hook with a stopper on the end. Tunisian crochet is a cross between crochet and knitting. You leave stitches on the hook, so you need more hook. To me it’s easier to do the overhand method when working with that longer hook.

It’s just a personal choice to which method you use as they both produce the same result.

The chain stitch is easiest stitch in crochet. When people first learn to crochet, the chain stitch is what they learn first. When I learned to crochet, I loved doing chains since they were so easy and everything else seemed like there was so much to remember! (other stitches aren’t necessarily hard. It just takes practice)

Now that we’ve made our first stitch, it’s time to add some chains.

Yarn over (that is place the yarn around the hook) so that when you pull the hook through the loop(on the hook) that the yarn comes with it forming a new loop.

Nearly all projects start with a foundation chain. The chain stitch is represented on a pattern by the letters Ch. So if a pattern says Ch 108 that means to do 108 chain stitches.

Now that you know the chain stitch, we’ll move onto the single crochet in the next lesson.

March is National Crochet Month. Have you ever wanted to learn to crochet? It is easy and very rewarding as you can create some really cute items in a couple of hours. Before you can begin any project, you start with a foundation chain. We’re going to go over how to begin your chain first.

I read about this method on the Internet when my interest in crocheting was renewed. My grandmother had taught me a different method that I can’t seem to remember exactly. But this one works well.

First hold the yarn between your index and middle finger.

Next wrap the yarn around your two fingers to complete a circle.

Next draw the string up through the circle to make a loop.

Then place your hook through the loop and tighten it.

Now you are ready to start on the foundation chain.

March is National Crochet Month. Crochet is my favorite fiber arts craft and I find it so very relaxing to pick up some yarn and a hook. It’s exciting to learn that a whole month is dedicated to this fun craft.

Sadly I haven’t made much headway on my works in progress. They are still pretty much at the same points they have been for months. I think I crammed too much crocheting in my schedule the months before Christmas that my hands just needed a break. This week I actually picked up my hook to repair an afghan. I have a baby shower next month and must finish the star baby blanket and want to also make some baby booties as well.

The baby blanket is mostly double crochet with the points consisting of three double crochet, two chains, and three more double crochet. I’d love to crochet a layette but since I’ve never made clothing, I’m not sure if I can do it in time for the baby shower.

So this week in honor of Crochet Month, I will be demonstrating on how to do some basic crochet stitches, how to read patterns, and maybe I can work up a free amigurumi pattern.

Crochet is so much fun, so if you crochet pull out your hook and yarn to work on something this month. Or if you don’t know how to crochet, stay tuned as I will be giving step by step instructions on how to get started.

My three-year-old loves those foam beads that come in a huge page for less than $5. You can make necklaces out of them but she just enjoys playing with the beads by themselves. This week we made a bottle cap necklace at a local event. Part of the necklace was actually made out of some of those foam beads. It’s a clever idea and an easy one - that is if you can find bottle caps. I haven’t seem a soda bottle in quite a while although I guess if I started looking I might run across one.

Fist you will need a bottle cap, beads, foam beads, and sting. Pain the bottle cap if desired. Then secure it onto the string so it won’t come off accidentally. Then add beads to each side of the necklace. Add as many or as few as you want.

My daughter loves hers. In fact we took it off for bath time last night and she wanted to put it back on after her bath. From yesterday’s crafts I’ve learned something pretty valuable. Kids love practically anything. It doesn’t have to be a shiny new toy but can be something as simple as a bottle cap and some beads on a string. It just reiterates that crafts for kids are so important. It can be fun to do with them and be their new favorite toy at least for a few days.

Did you remember your green today? Neither did I. But here is a little fun craft that will give you that needed green in a pinch so you can avoided being pinched.

What you will need is some green felt preferably with a sticky back, some stickers, and green paint. It’s best to use the paint that squeezes out of the bottle and that is meant for writing.

Cut out the shamrock shape and then use the paint to go around the edges. Let it dry. Then take your stickers and decorate as you wish. Then remove the sticky back and place on shirt. Now you have your green for St. Patrick’s Day.

If your felt doesn’t have a sticky back, then use a safety pin to attach it to your clothing. This makes for a fast craft and a cheap one as felt is inexpensive.

Making a shamrock can be a fun craft for the whole family since it gives the person the required green for the day as well as gives them a chance to personalize it.

My three-year-old loves amigurumi animals. I had done a pig for my niece for Christmas. The first one I did was too big, so I gave it to her to play with. It wasn’t long that she wanted a baby pig to go with the mama pig. So without a pattern for a small pig, I did this one -

I basically start a round of single crochet and increased it to the size I wanted. I then did a few more rounds to make the body and then started to decrease the stitch to close it up.

The nose I just worked a round of stitches into one end. I used safety eyes and placed those in before stuffing and stitching up the pig. The ears are just a few single crochets together and folded to make an ear shape. I just did a few small rounds for each foot as well.
The tail is just a few single crochets together to make a swirl.

She has really enjoyed playing with it and now the mama pig has her baby pig. At least she is content with just one and I don’t have to make six baby pigs. It was easy to do even without a pattern. Sometimes working without a pattern can be frustrating. Starting out with a small project presents a great opportunity to do something of your own design that is very manageable.

It’s fun to create without a pattern and is easier than you may think. You don’t have to be an experienced crocheter, you just need to think about what you want to create and get started.

This week I have decided that I really need a coin purse. I have a a card carrier that works well for the bank card, driver’s license, etc. But I really have no place to put money. Right now I dump my money on my dresser each night and usually forget about it when I head to town. So instead of buying one, I am going to make one. I had started to make a small crocheted one that is pretty basic. Just not sure I want to finish it -

I’m not sure I want one that buttons. I would rather either have a drawstring or buy a coin purse top that snaps close. Instead of making just one, I might make a few just using single crochet to get a tight weave. I do plan to line my coin purse but like the tight look of single crochet for coin purses.

I have so many half finished projects but making a coin purse shouldn’t take that long.