OK…I just found this link on Family Fun.com and it spawned my latest creative decision. I think making seasonal designed shirts would be a cool idea to ring in the new season for your child and their friends.
Check out this simple, yet SUPER COOL T-shirt Craft
Another, no ‘creativity needed’ project for those of you who ask for them!!
You’re welcome!!
What family doesn’t LOVE spoiling the teachers in their lives? And wht better way to do that than with a handmade craft!
This Tote Bag is adorable and SIMPLE!
All you need is a tote bag from your local craft store or WalMart…some apples…and a few colors of acrylic paint.
This would be a great “beginning of the year” craft for a class to give to the teacher putting a child’s name on each apple. One tree on each side.
**HINT: Use acrylic paints as they are permanent and won’t wash out if Mrs. So-and-So has to throw her bag in the wash!
Celebrate your family by sitting down and making some fall decor together…
This craft requires no drawing talent ad if you have ever locked two legos together you are qualified to pass this adventure!
Gourd Decorating can be so much fun and is as easy as 1-2-3! Honest
1. Go to your grocery store or roadside stand and gather a plethora of gourds…different sizes, colors and shapes. Get plenty. If you don’t use them for a craft you can sit them on the porch for a festive appearance.
2. Collect other natural items from your yard or local park…pine cones, leaves, flowers, acorns, etc.
3. Mull some cider and sit as a family and giggle to your heart’s content while making these sweet little characters!
OK…so how sick are you of running around like a chicken with her head cut off each morning making sure one child has her instrument, the other has his inhaler and the third at least has pants on before you run out the door to the bus stop?!
This idea for a Creative Placemat solves your problem! Simply make your own placemat that highlights what needs to be done and what needs to be grabbed before heading out the door.
For little ones, I would suggest finding pictures/clip art of items instead of using words they can’t read.
For older ones, who think placemats are for babies, I would suggest a large chart near the coat rack or the shoe rack.
A little attention-getting goes a long way and makes mom more relaxed so the guilt doesn’t arrive as the bus pulls away!
OK…I am in a Family Fun Magazine kind of mood so far this week so I am going to throw some VERY cool, VERY easy crafts at you that I found while searching their site…gotta love naptime!
This first idea I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and know my kids would love using this Creative Carrying Tin for lunch money, notes to teachers, etc!
But above all, they will love MAKING it AND the interchangeable, magnetic lids!
Very cool idea - some commenters on the site had a few suggestions I thought were worth relaying to you:
**to be frugal - use magnets you pick up around town instead of buying the biz card ones!
**put the magnet on the back for older kids who can stick the tins to the inside of a locker!
**put photos of friends on the lid in place of artwork
LOVE THIS!!
WE ARE ONE…
This is a fun one I did for our entry way…
I found a photo of each of us (this was done before my third was born - he is 2…you see how far behind I am?) at our first birthday parties…you could do a photo from ‘around the time’ each of you turned one, too…it just so happened that I actually had the party picture of my husband and I.
I simply wrote our names and the year we turned “1″ under each photo and the words, “We are one” centered under all four. That phrase was suggested by a friend (Thanks Kath!) and has an obvious (and fun) double meaning!
This is MY OWN tip… no, I am not a photographer by trade but having babies in my house for the last 10 years qualifies me for at least ONE tip, right?
DON’T GUSSY THEM UP!!
Forget the tailored outfit Aunt Myrtle gave you that gets wrinkled if you cross your eyes at it. Get those photos of them in their PJs with their blankies…at the table with syrup dripping off their chins…naked and in the mud up to their knees…unruly curls in all directions…you know the situations that are TYPICAL of your children…freeze THOSE moments!
These scenarios are real. These photos will showcase their PERSONALITY, not an outfit!
I found this info on a great site, BestFamilyPhotoTips, that I will be bookmarking…
“Child Pictures Truism #8: Children under 5 may not mind having their picture taken, but they sure do hate looking at the camera!
Have a parent stand behind the camera and (when you’re ready to shoot) make a noise, squeeze a squeaky toy, play “peek-a-boo,” or just mention a funny word or phrase.”
I find, quite honestly, my all time favorite photos of my three kids are the candid-no-one-knows-I’m-shooting ones. I have an adorable B/W photo of my two oldest when they were 18 mos and 2 1/2. They were pouting. Facing each other. With their foreheads pressed together.
Can you picture it? It is framed on my living room wall and it is the photo I get the most compliments on.
So, how many photos should you take to get the ONE perfect shot?
Heather Forbes, a bi-coastal photographer mom advises using a digital camera so you are not conscious of every click seeing dollar signs go up ad up and up…
In an article at BabyCenter.com Forbes suggests taking at least 75 to get those few perfect poses!
See Heather’s work to get inspired!
So, while we are talking about CELEBRATING FAMILY, why not pick up that dusty camera and make some lasting memories. You don’t have to be a trained photographer to snap some good photos of your fam…just take advice from some pros and you are good to go!!
Laura Brophy, photographer from upstate New York advises that trying to get your child to utter the word, “Cheese!” will not get you the photo you are looking for!
Check out Laura’s Blog as well as her studio to see some “non-cheese” shots.
There are many stories your family has written already. But they most likely are not written down - just spoken off the top of your head. The story about Daddy walking through the fresh cement or when Mommy dropped the birthday cake onto the kitchen floor.
Write these stories down with your children and archive them in hardcopy book form! This is easier than you think.
Snapfish.com has a great memory book project that allows you to upload photos right into book form. You can change the layout and add words. It is a wonderful gift to commemorate a date or for your little ones to remember a funny family moment.
Don’t have pictures of the cake falling to the ground? No problem, you can scan in drawings, too. Have your budding illustrators do the work and VOILA!
You can order these in any quantity. A great idea for each season!
When you get photos developed at WalMart or any 1-hour place you usually get a plastic little photo album along with your order. Most of you probably throw these away. If you don’t get them with you order, you can usually buy similar ones at the counter for under $1.
Make up small photo albums using extras you didn’t scrapbook and give them to your children. This is an easy way for them to share their weekend experience with their friends on the bus the next Monday.
Here are some thematic ideas:
1. My Family Tree
2. My Weekend/Summer Trip
3. My New Baby Brother/Sister
4. Our New Puppy/Kitten/ Fish
5. My Favorite Summer/Winter/Spring/Fall Things
6. Mommy and Me
7. Daddy and Me
8. My ABC Book
9. Things I Like
10. My Friends
I have even used these photo albums for teaching my toddlers different words for their vocabulary by cutting pictures out of magazines and putting them in each page.
Do this activity together. Let them choose the title. Let them pick the pictures. Add words if you like. Create memories that will last a life time.
My mother-in-law made the neatest quilt for my husband when he was in High School. It was swatches of his T-shirts and jeans sewed together in a simple block pattern.
I have since saved many of my favorites of my kids’ clothes when I go through their closets with ebay on my mind! The things that I remember them wearing all the time….a certain striped shirt with a little bicycle logo on it or a flowered shirt that says sweetheart or my favorite pair of fuzzy jammies.
Someday I will, too, cut and sew these into my own crude fashioned quilt. My son loves sleeping with “daddy’s jean quilt” and it sparks some conversations as well.
Think about the following conversation when you are ready to sell your daughter’s best toddler dress - THINK QUILT!
“Daddy, why does this T-shirt say SPIDER?”
“Well, bud, when Daddy played little league they called me Spider because they said I could catch anything and that the area around me was like a web.”
“Cool, Dad. You must have been good! What is this dark stain on it from?”
“Hmmmm. That’s the time there was a hole in Daddy’s web and the ball caught ME…right in the nose!”
“Ouch!”
“Yep. Ouch!”
Our theme this month at the Cafe is CELEBRATING FAMILY…
what better time to celebrate someone than on their birthday!
We went to State College, PA this past weekend to grant my son his ONLY wish for his “double digit” birthday - yes, my oldest has hit double digits!!! UGH! - was to see a Penn State football game. So, we traveled a couple hours to Central Pennsylvania for his very first college game!!
His birthday party is this weekend and although I usually go all out and construct unique one-of-a-kind cakes for my kids, I am taking a photo I took of him at the game - foam finger, huge grin and Nittany Lion paw print on his face - and having it put on a cake at WalMart.
I am playing around with the idea of juxtaposing a photo I have of him in a similar PSU jersey from when he was about 2….
Have fun! Have a party!
Do you remember the first time you saw something that took your breath away?
Maybe it was the ocean, an amusement park or something as simple as a butterfly…
Think ahead when you are planning trips this fall with the family.
Take my advice, grab your camera and designate a spot in your purse for some take-home tid bits to make a memory forever…
I will use a petting zoo as an example.
1. Take photos of your child enjoying his first petting zoo. Make sure the pictures are on his level not from yours looking down on the top of his head. Focus on his facial expressions as he touches his first goat or feeds his first duck.
2. Pick some weeds that he may have used to entice the goats to come closer, grab some kernels of corn he was feeding the ducks. Leave the poo, even if he picked it up! Eeewww!
3. Save your tickets, flyers, etc. that have the name of the place you visited.
4. Place your “findings” ad tix in a ziploc bag you have in your purse for just these occasions.
5. When you get home and your little petting zoo dude is fast asleep, print your favorite photo - try to pick just one but if you must use 2 - max.
6. Assemble your photo, tix and such creatively and frame.
**My suggestion would be to use a frame in which there are two pieces of glass that sandwiches your photos between. This will make a dramatic piece as the images and findings will appear to float. Like this one I found at framesbymail.com
As always - SEND YOUR photos of what you have completed and I will honor one lucky winner each month!
Creative Mom Cafe is the place to come and try your hand at something you thought you could never do or to get an idea you would never have had on your own. Most of the ideas I bring to 'the Cafe' are simple and for the creativity-challenged but every now and then I will throw in a doozie for those of you who are waiting for it.
Every month will have a theme and all ideas that month will tie in to that theme. It may be fun recipes for kids, a scrapbooking idea, an organizational tip or anything else that is in my head that month. I invite you to send your photos of projects you have done and at the end of the month I will highlight one or two "fan" projects!
Thanks, stop in the Cafe as often as you can!
Creative Mom Cafe Author(s)
» Lynn-Little
