Creative Mom Cafe

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.

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 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.

One project I’ve been wanting to do with my toddler is salt art. Our local play group did salt art. We didn’t get to attend but it sounded like an easy and fun project.

So today we dyed some salt and will let it dry. Tomorrow we will make our art. We made three colors and the salt should last for at least a few projects. Here is the blue salt we did -

We will make our design on construction paper. Then we will take some glue mixed with equal parts water to paint over the design using a paint brush. The toddler should really enjoy this since she loves to paint.

This will be a fun craft and very inexpensive since we already had everything on hand. I hope she enjoys creating the art as much as she enjoyed mixing the colors.

Last weekend my daughter went to the beach for the very first time. She absolutely loved it. She
has a sandbox at home and calls that her beach. Now she has been to a real beach she wants to go to the big beach.

I took a lot of pictures and some actually turned out pretty good. We even collected seashells - which was cool. It gave me the
idea on how to preserve the memories of the day. I plan to take a plan picture frame and decorate it with the seashells. It would also be neat
to take a seashell or two to make a necklace.

It’ll be a fun craft project that we can work on together and will remind us of the fun day at the beach.

A lot of moms scrapbook to preserve memories of special days and events. If I had the talent and patience to scrap, I would definitely do a spread for the beach trip. I think the frame will be a nice reminder of our fun day.

Today while shopping, I had to take a stroll through the Valentine’s Day stuff. One item that was really cute was a Valentine’s Day mailbox.

It was white cardboard shaped like a mailbox that included a red little heart flag. It was $4 but came with stickers and other decorations.

Seeing that Valentine’s mailbox made me think of the ones we used to make in grade school. They were much simpler but still a lot of fun.

Basically all you need is two pieces of card stock or construction paper. Cut one sheet of paper in half and use one half to cover the bottom of the full sheet. Tape or staple the sheet to the top of it. Use markers or crayons to decorate and write the child’s name on it. You can use stickers, cut outs, and other cute items to decorate.

We used to hang these around the classroom and then drop our Valentines into each others mailbox. We would make the mailboxes a few days before the Valentine’s Day party, so it was neat that our handmade mailboxes became part of the decorations for the party.

It was so fun to take that full mailbox back to my desk and then open all those Valentines. Since my little one isn’t in school, I’m not sure if she’ll totally appreciate having a Valentine’s mailbox. But seeing that mailbox makes me totally want to make one. We can at least exchange Valentine’s with each other and we might even receive a few in the mail. If we do, then we can add them to the special Valentine’s mailbox and open them on Valentine’s Day

Last night I made two polymer mice. I made them without a mold - which should be obvious from the picture - but think they turned out OK.

It seems each color I touched some was left on my hand that then transferred to the next color. I see why you can paint polymers now as it was nearly impossible to remove these random colors.

I had to make two - a momma mouse and a baby mouse. After working with the polymer clay for a few minutes, the thee-year-old wanted to help. Polymer clay has to be worked with to become soft enough to sculpt. I think I may pick up some kid’s molding clay for her because I think she would become frustrated with the polymer. I think I will pick up another mold as she may enjoy putting the polymer clay into a mold rather than working with it like she does her Play Doh.

While I made the animals for her, I really enjoyed doing it and will be working with polymer clay more in the future.

Last weekend we went to the local children’s museum. In this part of the country, everyone is getting ready for Mardi Gras. Parade season has begun and so have the balls. So the museum was hosting a craft for the kids - make a Mardi Gras mask. This is a really simple project and could be something fun to do with the kids one afternoon.

What you’ll need -

Construction paper
feathers
glue
ribbon or a straw
glue on sequins and other colorful confetti
Stapler

Start by cutting out the shape of the mask. You can make you a template or find a mask you like on the Internet to use. This one is pretty basic but really you could use anything you like for the shape for example your child’s favorite animal.

Once you have the basic shape cut out, staple a feather into one of the upper sides. Then cut two pieces of ribbon to tie the mask. Staple a ribbon to each side of the mask. Alternatively you could use a straw and have a mask that you hold up to the face instead of tying it.

Now you are ready to decorate. Use the sequins and confetti to adorn the front of the mask. Use your glue to secure the pieces. You can also have your children decorate the mask with colors or markers. Now let the glue dry before playing with the mask.

Once the masks are done, kids can put on their own Mardi Gras parade by riding their tricycles, wagons, or just walking around. Play some good old Zydeco music to set a festive Mardi Gras mood.

I recently ordered a few things from an Etsy shop and with my order came a small thank you card. The card was made from homemade paper and had held within it a collection of flower seeds. The instructions printed on the back of the card was to plant it under a light layer of dirt, keep moist, and enjoy the blooms that sprouted up. I thought that was such a great idea I went looking online for something similar.

I found this great tutorial on Making Paper From The Garden that might be just what I am looking for. I hope to get my hands on some mixed flower seeds and try making a few sheets of paper. The directions are simple enough that even children can follow them.

I immediately knew this would be a great project to make for Mother’s Day. Make sheets of paper with flower seeds and fold them gently into cards. Make these seed paper cards to give to all of the mothers and grandmothers in your life. Of course if you do not want to try to make them yourself you can always buy some. Try this set of three with a beautiful leaf image in the center. Or check out this beautiful wedding invitation with seeds in the cake. This set of 10 cute mini note cards are also perfect for sending out to the moms you love this Mother’s day.

Go out and try this for yourself! I would love to see all the fun things you can do with some plantable paper.

Mother’s Day, flower seeds, plantable paper, flower seed paper

We spent Saturday afternoon making felt balls and beads for the first time. It was fun, though quite a learning experience. We followed the instructions found on Martha Stewart’s site, and did not like them at all. Four tablespoons of soap to six cups of water was far too soapy for us, we had more bubbles than anything else. Rinsing the soap out took forever, and I still do not like the way anything felted up, if you can really call it felting. Though we used wool that was easy to felt with I really do not think any of it worked. The larger play balls for my sons are OK, maybe a 3 out of 5. But the smaller beads just did not work.

The next time I felt beads, which will hopefully be next weekend, I plan to use the instructions at Knitty instead. These sound like they will work a lot better. I am not sure if the beads I already have made can be redone or fixed (Anyone with experience know?) but still I want to make a second set to string on a necklace. I have an image in my mind that I have not really seen elsewhere yet and I want to make this necklace while I still feel inspired.

Felting balls was fun for my oldest son who just loved getting wet and soapy at the table. The actual felting process, rolling them in his hands and such was a bit difficult. Though a child with better coordination would probably have no trouble at all. Wrapping the balls took about 15 minutes to show and do and another 15 minutes of felting and rinsing makes it a quick craft to do. The beads took a little over 24 hours to dry, the balls are still not quite ready yet this morning.

For a fun outdoor craft to do while waiting for the balls to dry make these cute paper bag kites. They’re perfect for windy Spring days.

crafts, kids, felting, felt, beads

I found these adorable spring animals online and had to share them. Using empty baby food jars and some craft foam you can create cute little animals to show off. Make bunnies and chicks for Easter decorations around your house, in your church, or even at the dinner table if you are having a big Easter meal. The possibilities are endless for these easy to make pets.

Of course they don’t have to just be decorations. You could help your kids make an entire farm full of animals for some creative play time. Or you can even use them for party games. Write numbers on the lids then have everyone pick an animal. Later draw a random number, whomever has that numbered animal wins a prize. Hide the fun animals around your house or yard for an interesting scavenger hunt game, just be sure there aren’t any eggs still laying out there. Use your imagination and I’m sure you can come up with a lot of great fun ideas for these cute animals.

Since they reuse the glass baby food jars you could turn them into a fun recycling project. Use scraps of felt or bits of broken toys to create the animals. You can stuff them with bits from old towels, clothes, or the cotton stuffing from blankets and pillows. See how creative you can get using only recycled items for your animals.

For other ideas on reusing baby food jars click here.  There are a lot of fun ways that you can reuse something that most parents already have sitting around.

crafts, spring, animals, Easter, recycling, kids

I’m pulling this idea out of the archives, but for a very good reason. It can be a great spring craft to make with your kids right now. Back during the winter I suggested giving flowers as a Christmas gift. It wasn’t just the flowers but also the pot that makes a beautiful gift.  No doubt if you have gone to the store recently you have seen displays of flowers for sale, lilies, daisies and tulips are the most common right now with some other spring time flowers also. These could be great to give to grandparents as gifts for Easter or to just have around your own home to bring in a little spring. But you don’t have to keep them in the boring pots the stores keep them in.

Turn ordinary terracotta pots into fun spring time crafts. Let your kids go wild painting them, sticking on bunny stickers, or gluing fake eggs around the bottom of the pots. Just be sure to cover the area well first, kids and paint always seems to mean big messes. Here are some great tips on painting terracotta pots that you can use.  You could also try this fun mosaic idea on your flower pots.

Of course you don’t have to just have flowers in your pots. You could decorate a large pot for a one pot herb garden.  Or you could try some container gardening for indoor or patio vegetables. Spring is the perfect time to grow something new and with pretty pots made by your kids it is even more fun to do.

flowers, gardening, Spring, Easter, kids, crafts

For those who like to recycle their trash into crafty projects the milk jug Easter basket is a fairly common one this time of year. However this simple basket can pull double duty and become a Pot ‘O Gold for some little leprechaun to carry. All you need is a clean empty milk jug, scissors, paint, a stapler, and your “gold”. My favorite is to use chocolate candies wrapped in gold foil. You can use both a gallon and a half-gallon milk jug to make this, both work great. Here’s how to make the pot.

Using your scissors cut the bottom 4-5 inches off of the milk jug. This bottom part will be the pot. From the top part cut a long, thin piece  to be the handle of the put. Use the stapler to secure the handle to the pot. You may need to use two or three staples on each side. It should look like this once you have the handle stapled one.

Once you have it securely stapled into place you can paint the pot. Some may prefer to go with black to make it resemble a traditional pot, others may want to go green with it. You could even glue on pictures of 4 leaf clovers or leprechauns to make it even more fun.

This could be a great class project to do. Have everyone bring in a jug to cut and paint themselves, then leave them out on their desks over night. The next morning they might find a suprise left behind in their pots by some traveling leprechauns.

crafts, pot of gold, recycled, milk jugs, St. Patrick’s day

Yesterday my sons and I celebrated the coming Spring by making some Spring creatures of our own. We used salt dough to squish and squash little insects and flowers into shape. It was a lot of fun, and not just because we got to get out hards dirty. Though, I do think that was a major selling point for them.

Most of the morning was spent making our little critters and flowers. I used a simple recipe and just a small batch of the dough. The recipe I had originally made a huge bowl full, but for us it would have been too much. As it was we filled an entire pan with things to bake and still had half the ball left over. Here is the recipe, cut down:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1/3 cup water (though that was a bit crumbly so I added a little extra water while I mixed)

Once we were done creating I laid the items on a greased cookie sheet and baked them for 1 hour at 300*F. Once they were baked I set them on a wire rack to cool for a little over an hour. Then it was time to paint. I laid out newspaper on the table and let them have at it. Since we used safe, edible clay to create the creatures I decided to use safe and edible paint as well. Here is a recipe that makes a thick and shiny paint that is safe for little ones to “accidentally” eat. You can also use store bought gelatin mixes and add water to finger paint onto fun projects.  Though no one would want to eat the salt dough, it will be safe if they decide to try a taste behind your back.

crafts, salt dough, clay, painting