Creative Mom Cafe

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

There are a lot of great sites out there that offer fun and creative craft ideas for parents to do with their kids. I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite ones for you to explore. When I am not sure what I want to do these are the places I stop by first. Even creative moms need some idea help now and then.

• Enchanted Learning - This site is overflowing with crafts, printables, and more. Geared towards education for young children you will find both fun crafts and ones to help your kids learn something new.
• DLTK - Another fun site with creative ideas and things for you to print off to do with your kids. This site is run by a very creative mom so you can be sure the ideas here are kid friendly.
• Kids Craft Weekly - This weekly newsletter always has great ideas  that I love.  You can look back through the past newsletters to find fun themed ideas.
• Family Fun - This magazine styled site has up to date ideas for seasons, holidays, and every day creative play. You can find crafts, recipes, games, and everything else all geared for kids.
• Kaboose - Another magazine styled site that I love to visit. I cannot leave the site without at least one great idea in my head.
• Family Crafts - About.com always has the bet information you can find, and their family craft section is no exception. Updated frequently with fun crafts for you to do with your kids this is certainly one place to explore.

These are my favorite places to hang out, but I am sure there are hundreds more online. If you know of any good craft sites for moms and kids to get creative ideas from leave a comment and let me know.

Nothing else says spring like flowers. Here is another fun little spring craft you can do with your kids to get you all in a spring state of mind.

• cardboard
• paints, crayons, or markers
• scissors
• glue
• a small photo of your child

You can make a cute flower photo frame to show off your child’s artistic talents and spring time smile all in one shot. First you will need to print off the flower template to use. Or create your own flower head to show off your child’s face. For the template click on the small image below.

Use the flower template to cut a flower shape out of your cardboard. You can make this a great recycling project by using cardboard from boxes. If you use food boxes, such as from cereal or pastas you may want to cut two flowers to layer together for a sturdier flower frame. Cut the center circle out for your child’s picture.

Most children will have fun decorating their flowers for unique spring time treasures. You can use just the flower heads, or cut stems and leaves to glue to your flower frames. Once dry add your child’s picture to the center and you have a fun spring time frame. The great thing about this craft is that it is so simple you can adapt it in any way that you want. Attach magnets to the back to hang your flower frames on your fridge or glue each flower onto a doweling rod and “plant’ them in a flower pot. You can get as creative as you want to with these simple frames.

crafts, kid’s crafts, spring, pictures, picture frame

I just wanted to write a quick post to share a review I found online. Melissa Wiley wrote about Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family, a book that combines beloved children’s stories with creative knitting projects. This sounds like the perfect book for a creative mom to have on her shelf.

The stories include classics such as Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, stories that most of us read and reread as children ourselves. Now we can takes those favorite stories to a new level with our children by adding fun crafts with them. Knit a pair of Ma’s boot socks or create your own cloak like Mrs. Sowerby wore. I’m absolutely in love with this idea and on pins and needles waiting for the book to come out. Luckily I won’t have to wait much longer as it is expected to come out mid-March. To tempt you a little more if you pre-order before March 8th you will also get a set of wooden knitting needles free.

Be sure to visit the author’s blog to read more about Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family. I know this book is going on my wish list, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Especially as a homeschooling mom having some fun creative ideas to go with great children’s stories is invaluable. And it sounds like the crafts would sure beat the usually paper and glue crafts in both function and style.

book, knitting, crafts, children, stories, Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family

Over at Unplug Your Kids there are fun weekly projects going on. This is one of the blogs that I absolutely love reading for all the fun ideas and easy crafts that are always going on. This week the kids made a pillow and small banner flags out of fabric. They turned out so cute and the kids were entertained for hours. Sounds great doesn’t it?

Those of you that sew, go ahead and pull out your own bins of fabric and see what scraps and pieces you might have hiding in there. Eve if you’re not a sewer you can usually find fun pieces of fabrics at thrift shops for very cheap. It could easily become a full day of fun by letting the kids pick out their own materials and come up with their own creations. Those who can’t, or don’t want to, sew you could always look for fleece. Because fleece does not fray on the edges you can make many no-sew projects.

With Easter coming up you could try sewing some cute fabric eggs with your kids, make liners for Easter baskets, sew an Easter kite, or make this sweet Easter bunny (pdf).

Stuffed animals is one Easter staple that never seems to go out of style. Everyone ends up with two or three new bunnies, chicks, and sheep before the candy has been eaten. So sewing up some cute handmade stuffed toys would be a great simple sewing project to do to. Follow in Sew Green’s footsteps and recycle old material to make the toys out of. Socks without a match and out grown clothes could be remade into sweet little lovies.

Know any other great Easter sewing projects out there? Leave a comment and let me know!

crafts, kids, sewing, Easter

I promised more spring themed crafts coming up and here is one that screams spring and is something that you can do with your kids. Make your own sweet spring bonnet to wear on those sunny spring days. The really fun part is that this hat isn’t made from the typical woven hat. Your kids will enjoy getting messy making this fun hat from paper, glue, and liquid starch.

Here is what you will need:

• large mixing bowls
• a large metal pan
• liquid starch
• glue
• 2 large pieces of construction paper, 24 inches in diameter, per child

In the pan mix together the startch and glue. Dip the pieces of paper into the mixture and cover them completely. Turn the mixing bowls upside down and place the pieces of paper over them. Smooth out the papers and allow them to try. There may be dripps from the glue and starch mixture so you might want to lay down newspaper to cover the area. Expect a lot of mess as your kids get their hands covered in the goo.

Once the paper hats are dry glue on ribbons, fake flowers, or anything else you and you kids want to create a fun spring hat. They aren’t the sturdiest hats and will break if played with too much. But for a fun spring time dress up game these hats are perfect.

While you have out the glue and liquid starch you can also make a batch of crazy putty for your kids to play with. There is a great recipe for it over at Howstuffworks.

crafts, spring, spring bonnet, kid’s crafts

Last week I finally finished my first apron. I know it took a while to get it done, but I’m glad that I did. And yes, it’s very purple and I like it that way. I actually had fun making it, and learned what to do better next time. Though I’m certainly no Aprinista, I’m getting there. Next up is to make my swap partner’s apron. I’ve got some fun blue material with lots of flowers all over it that I found for cheap. Since it is a spring theme I thought it would perfect.

Speaking of spring, believe it or not the warm weather is coming soon. I have already begun getting catalogues full of crafts, toys, and goodies for spring time. I’ll be passing o the goodness here with lots of craft projects for you to do, both for and with your kids. And plenty of ideas for you to make just for yourself. If your hands are already itching to make something Lisa Lam has 20+ Quick & Easy Makes for Easter and Spring for your Craft Business that you can check out. Several of those I plan to make for upcoming birthdays this year.

Are you planning anything fun and crafty this spring? I would love to hear about it! Maybe some sunny ideas can clear away the winter cold that is still lingering. Or at least some spring inspired crafts can make it feel a little less chilly outside. Go on and leave me a comment letting me know what you’re creating this spring!

crafts, aprons, spring, fun

Whip Up os doing a month of crafts for kids that you don’t want to miss. Check out these cute, and simple, pencil toppers or these creative glove puppets!

I showed you all on Wednesday that I was sewing something up with pink felt. It was a cute little felt bag, perfect for Valentine’s Day. Jut fill it up with candies, a toy, and a card and you have a sweet way to say you care.

The inspiration came when I saw these cute felt Valentine gift bags
from Hearth Song. They are so adorable, and so simple. I knew I could make them myself. As it turned out they are so simple anyone can make them! All you need is some felt, a needle and thread, and a basic blanket stitch. Don’t worry, it is a simple stitch to learn. I recently learned it myself when I attempted to make some felt christmas ornaments. Use this tutorial on sewing felt and you can’t go wrong!

Now here’s how I made the bag. (more…)

Are you going to be hosting a New Year’s Eve party for kids? It can be a lot of fun decorating and setting up fun things for kids to ring in the new year with. And it can be easy too!

Making a ruckus at midnight is what it’s all about. You can create some fun noise makers for kids of all ages to enjoy. For younger kids you can make a tambourine from a paper plate and some bells. Punch holes around the plate and tie bells to the holes. This can also be a fun craft project to do before midnight. Paint and decorate the plates then add ribbons for shaking fun. You can also use cardboard, craft foam, or anythign else to create unique tamborines.

For a midnight burst fill balloons with confetti and blow them up. Then at midnight pop pop pop them for a fun burst.

Making hats for everyone to wear can be fun too! You could use cardstock, cut it into a crown shape, and have your kids decorate with glitter, markers, and fake jewels. Use a hole punch to put a hole on each end and connect with a rubberband. You could also use construction paper, thin sheets of craft foam, or plain visors that you can decorate into hats.

And don’t forget the decorations! Streamers, ribbons, and sparkles are the basic supplies. But for something more here is intructions to make your own New Year’s Eve ball. Having one of these will really make your child’s party stand out, it works for a grown up party too. But not that kind of grown up party.

Is anyone else doing any fun New Year’s Eve crafts? I’d love to hear about them!

New Year’s Eve, party, fun

Now that the rush of Christmas is over it’s time to start thinking about sending thank you cards. Sending a great card with a heartfelt note of thanks is the perfect way to let someone know their gift was appriciated. Of course with kids you will probably be lucky to get a scribbled “thanks”. At least you can make the cards look great!

One of my favorite ideas is to make handmade cards using the wrapping paper from the gifts. You can use pieces of cardstock cut down and folded into a card or buy a box of blank cards that you can decorate yourself. If you are really organized you could decorate each card individually using the paper that that particular prson used. Though I doubt many people keep track of who sent what gift and used what paper.

This can be a fun project to do with your kids. Cutting and gluing and being creative always makes for ahppy kids, especially if you’re snowed in the house right now. You can be as creative as you want to be. Lay a piece of silver paper down as the background then use red and green paper to stencil out “Thank You”. Cut out images from the paper, presents or snowflakes or Santa Claus and glue them to the front. Or go for a montage of pieces of different paper glued on randomly. Glue on ribbons, add stickers, toss on the glitter. Whatever you and your kids want. It does not have to look perfect at all. This is one case where the thought really does count!

If you’ve already sent back thank you cards to friends and family this is a great idea to store away for future birthdays, baby showers, or any other celebrations.

Christmas cards, thank you cards, cards