Toddler Christmas Crafts

Now that Marley is getting older, I've been wanting to try doing activities with her. Especially with it being the holiday season, I knew there were a lot of fun ideas out there. We invited one of Marley's little friends over and had a craft day.

Here are the three we decided to do:

Tape resist snowflake

What you need: 

Paper

Painters tape

Washable paint

Paint brush

Here's what you do:

Use the tape to make a snowflake design on the paper, then paint over it making sure all of the tape gets covered. Let the paint dry overnight and then remove the tape carefully. Pretty simple, and the end result is really cool! 

Melted Snowman

Here's what you need:

Construction paper for various shapes

 Googly eyes

White washable paint

Paint brush

Glue to apply shapes 

Here's what you do:

Cut out the shapes for your snowman parts. Arms, nose, hat, scarf, eyes. Have your little one go to town with the white paint, then have them apply the shapes with glue. The great part about this is that its supposed to look crazy and messy, so there's no wrong way to do it!

Paper Plate Rudolph

Here's what you need:

Paper plate

Brown crayons

Brown construction paper for antlers

Either a red pom pom or construction paper for nose

Googly eyes

Glue or tape for antlers

Here's what you do:

Have your little one color all over the paper plate with the brown crayons, then glue their traced hands on for antlers and apply the face. I trimmed the plate and put Marley's hands on the front because they're so small, and she didn't color on the whole plate.

This project was the best because it was quick, and virtually mess free. 

Tips for painting with Toddlers: 

-Tape down the paper they are painting. 
This way it doesn't move around and create extra mess.

-If they're tall enough, have your little one stand on a chair (with supervision) at the table while they paint. It really helped Marley to reach everything.

-If you're worried about their clothes, either strip them down or pull out an old shirt of yours for them to wear as a smock. 
I was bracing myself for the worst, and it really wasn't that messy. 

-Cover your table with newspaper if you're worried about stains. The washable paint came right off our table, I was worried the newspaper would be a distraction so I didn't use any. 

Marley's Room Reveal

I can finally say that I am done decorating Marley's room! And it only took me till she was 13 months old to finish. 

In my defense, when I was pregnant and for the first 3 months of Marley's life we were living with my in-laws. I didn't feel like I could really decorate the way I wanted because it wasn't my home. Now we live in an apartment where they could care less how many holes are in the walls, which is AWESOME. 

These were the Pinterest finds that inspired me:

And here's what I came up with:

 I was all set to make a coat rack myself, but then I found this gem at Homegoods for $15! It was supposed to be for jewelery and came with chicken wire across the chevron pattern for earrings and such. I was able to pop that out so all you see is the cute design. 

I found this M in the cheap section at Michael's (Near the registers) and painted it pink. Then I stapled the ribbon to the back and that's it! Now I have a place within reach 
to put all Marley's clips. 

I made a few more embroidery hoops to hang, and had to re-do the wall after hanging the coat rack. This is probably my favorite part. I just love how it turned out! Here are some closer looks at the fabric:

(Love this one!)

 I saved the banner from Marlene's birthday and hung it over the window in her room. You can find some really cute free banners on Pinterest, I really love this one.

These are printables modpodged onto canvas, super easy! They are
hanging at the end of Marley's crib so she can look at them in the morning. 
The temple one is hard to read but it says "I'm going there someday."

Here are some other things that I've posted already:

DIY Bird Frame

Ta-dah! Here's the finished product for Marlene's bird frame. This craft was a lot of fun to make, and only cost me $3.50 (a can of spray paint for the frame). Guess what I used for the colored paper...free paint swatches from Wal-Mart! One of my secret shames is that I grab those every now and then to do crafts.

Finding the perfect bird cut out to use was kind of hard, so I created my own. I'm happy 
with how it turned out.

Click here for my

Bird Template

Trace your birds onto some cardboard and then break out the x-acto knife and cut them out. Once all my shapes were cut out, I attached my paper using those scrapbooking adhesive squares. I figured glue would make it bumpy.

To attach the twine, you can put very short screws in the frame on both sides, and then loop it around. I was lucky enough that the frame I used had hardware already on there. 

Like I mentioned earlier, this craft was pretty cheap. Ways you can save money on it are:
-buying a frame at DI.
-Using paint swatches for the colors
-Raid your craft supplies for string
-Print out a coupon to use on spray paint
(If you go to a store like Michael's.)

Thrifty Thursday: Embroidery Hoop Art

Last week I was able to get some projects done around the house, and one of those was making some embroidery hoop art for Marley's room. This project was a lot easier than I thought, and cost me next to nothing. 

The only thing I bought for this project was the hoops, and they were really cheap at Michael's. (Plus you can use one of their weekly 40% off coupons to save a little more.) The rest of the materials I rounded up from my stash of craft supplies, fabric, and felt. 

Here's what you need:

-Embroidery hoops in assorted sizes

-Fabric large enough for hoops with about 1/2 inch "seam allowance"

-Hot glue gun

-Felt for appliques (Optional)  

-Fabric glue (if you choose to use the felt.) 

Here's what you do:

 (Sorry for the lack of pictures! I got into a crafting groove and forgot to take them as I worked. Hopefully these directions make sense!)

1. Use the complete circle from your hoop to trace out your fabric. Leave about 1/2 inch additional space for hot gluing.

2. Place the complete circle on top of your fabric and hot glue it a few sections at a time. Pull tight as you go, but not too much or else it might not leave enough fabric on the opposite side. (Guilty!)

3. Trim excess fabric and then attach adjustable portion of hoop. 

4. Now you can have fun decorating! I used felt to make my hearts and letter M. Because some of my fabric had pretty dark patterns I actually had to glue two pieces of felt together before attaching it to my fabric. I used fabric glue for this step because I wasn't sure if hot glue would leave bumps. Also, I used a paperback dictionary to put under the hoop so I had something to push against.

I did the stitching on the letter M after I had already attached it, and I wish I had done it before. I had to be really careful not to stretch the fabric as I went.

I found the heart template Here at this awesome website with free applique patterns. 
They have some really cute stuff! 

For the letter M all I did was go through my fonts and found one I liked (Its called "Lemonade"), blew it up like to size 400, then printed it out and made a stencil. 

(Tip: When you trace it onto the felt, trace it backwards that way you don't have to worry about trimming pen marks!)

There you have it! This thrifty craft cost me about $7 total, and I LOVE the finished product. (I'll probably add more if I can find more hoops.) They really look cute in Marley's room over the changing table, and she loves looking at them. 

This could also be a fun project for all the different holidays. You could pick a spot in your house to hang hoops with cute Valentines Day/Halloween/Christmas fabrics and switch them out! Just a thought.

Happy crafting!

Thrifty Thursday: Holiday Garland

Its Thrifty Thursday! Today is the day I share craft projects that are virtually free. 

Today's craft is a holiday garland that uses stuff most people already have around the house. I found this fun site that has downloadable patterns all ready to be 
cut in strips, making it So easy!

Here's what you need:

-Computer paper

-Colored ink in your printer

-Scissors or paper cutter 

(Paper cutters are AMAZING. Get one if you don't have one already!)

-A stapler/or glue

Here's what you do:

-Go here to download some fun patterns

-Print your patterns out

-Cut your strips out and then cut them each in half

-Staple or glue your chain together 
(I stapled mine...my mantra is "Aint no body got time for that!" 
So I wasn't about to sit there and glue each paper...)

(Some tips: lay your strips in the order you want your pattern. I was sure that I was going to mess it up, but surprisingly I didn't! This helped. And you can see in the picture that I left a strip of white when cutting. This was just out of laziness, but you can't see it when stapled. Just saves a little time.)

Pretty simple! What I like about this is that The dimensions are already made up and I can save the files and make one each year. I will try storing mine with the Christmas decorations, but I'm pretty sure it will get smashed. 

Thanks whipup.net for the cute patterns! 

Thrifty Thursday: DIY Sensory Toys

Lately I've been trying to think of inexpensive toys to make for Marlene to play with. I've been saving lots of plastic containers in hopes of coming up with something she'd like. Last night I came up with a sensory toy for her that engages sight, sound, and touch.

Here's What you Need:

-A plastic container with lid

-Hot glue

-Things that rattle (I used uncooked rice, pasta, and beans)

-Different textures for outside to catch attention

-Different colored items if your container is clear. (Pom poms, beads, buttons, etc)

Here's What you Do:

Fill up container with whatever you have on hand that will rattle.

Then hot glue the lid shut, making sure it is VERY secure. 

Next you get to decorate the outside. 

 Felt is a great way to add a different texture. If you are going to cut out letters, I recommend making a stencil and then trace it backwards to avoid pen marks. 

I learned that the hard way with the M. 

You can also pull out your Keroppi sticker book from 1997 and put sparkly stickers 

on your toy for visual appeal.

That's pretty much it! The best thing about babies is that they are VERY easily amused, so they'll be happy with pretty much anything. 

The best thing about this is that it was 100% free because I made it with stuff I already had. You would be surprised what you can do when you raid your stash of craft supplies!

Check out another sensory toy HERE

DIY Fabric Blocks

A few weeks ago I posted this picture on Instagram of the fabric blocks I was working on. I realized that I should share the tutorial because this is something SUPER easy! 

The tutorial I used can be found Here.

It was so simple I finished these in just two days. (Would've been faster if my sewing machine isn't so loud...no sewing during nap/bed time.)

This is a great project for emptying out your scrap box of fabric. You can make them any size you want, judging by what scraps you have. 

I used flannel fabric for two of the sides just to add different texture. Also, I didn't realize but the pink ribbon I used for the taggies also has bumpy edges. Perfect for a curious little babe. 

Here you can see they are a winner! I even toyed with the idea of putting bells inside or "crinkly" materials, but in the end I just went for something simple. And this way they can come to church.

DIY Sensory Board

Lately our little girl has become so curious! I can tell she's learning so much everyday, I just want to encourage her in anyway I can. So I started looking around Pinterest for ideas on sensory toys and decided a sensory board was what she needed. 

Most sites had CRAZY boards that required a lot of hardware, nuts & bolts, zip ties, peg boards, etc. And then there were others that just hot glued stuff onto a poster board. I was leaning more towards the hot glue side, when I realized that there are lots of things that can't just be glued on. 

So to maximize my options I decided to do something in the middle. I bought one of those foam poster boards and poked holes in places where I wanted to zip tie larger items, and then hot glued everything else. 

I had so much fun exploring the Dollar Tree for things that Marley would love to explore. It was interesting trying to think like a baby. Here are some of the items I bought:

Gift wrap bows
Bath Sponges
Dog toy rope
Car wash sponges
Dish scrubbers
Colored pom poms
Metal strainer
Hair brush
Duster
Bubble wrap
And a Sparkly letter "M"

The trick is to get a variety of textures. Soft, rough, smooth, hard, etc. Then space them out on the board so that similar textures aren't grouped together.
 
I bought one of those foam poster boards and zip-ties at Wal-Mart (Before I realized they were at the Dollar Tree too) and the whole project ended up costing me about $12. 

I used a screw driver to poke holes into the board for the zip-ties, and make sure you place them close enough together so that the item is secure. For the other items I used A LOT of hot glue to make sure Marley can't pull them off. 

Overall, I'm so glad I made this for my little one. She loves it! I can tell the little wheels are turning in her head and she can't stop exploring. 

 Most of the items on here aren't choking hazards, but I don't like to leave her alone while playing with this. (She MAAAAY have already destroyed that silver bow) Plus, its a great opportunity to get on the floor and play with your little one! 



Linked up to:
Little Inspiration 
Classy Clutter 

Nursery DIY's Under $10

Now that Marley has a room of her own, I've had lots of fun decorating the walls! Because we don't have a lot of extra money these days, and to keep the husband happy, I make sure to keep my crafts cheap.

 

Here are some DIY's you can do for under $10.

Tutorial Here

Tutorial Here

Tutorial Here

 

Chevron Tutorial via A Simple Kind of Life
Flower Tutorial Here

Tutorial: Match desired printable with correct sized canvas or block of wood. These here are with canvas, because they were easier to come by. I would recommend using wood though to reduce air bubbles.


Money Saving Tips:
-Before heading to the craft store, print a coupon!
(Or pull up a digital one with your smart phone.)
Stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby ALWAYS have great deals.

-Hit up the DI or Goodwill first, you never know what they'll have!
(And its a fun way to get inspired!)

-Lastly, The Dollar Store is your friend! You'd be surprised whats there... 


Linked Up To:
Little Inspiration
Classy Clutter
I heart Naptime
and
Lolly Jane

Tutorial Tuesday: DIY Headband Holder

When I found out I was having a girl, I went headband CRAZY. I made so many, I often forget what options I have because they're all stuffed into a ziplock bag. One night when I was falling asleep this idea came to me...

I had this wooden piece leftover from a project I ended up not doing, and I had the idea to glue the clothes pins on as a way to display all the headbands Marley has.

 

Here's what you need:

 

 Wood glue, paint, clothes pins, and a base of some kind.

Sidenote: I had never seen this glitter paint before, and I LOVE it! Found it at Wal-Mart, its cheap and ADORABLE.

 

If we hadn't just moved in to our apartment, I would have probably spray painted the clothes pins to save time. But I didn't want to seem like a crazy craft lady to our new neighbors, so I painted each one with the glitter paint.

 

It required 3-4 coats because its pretty clumpy. Once that was dried, I colored the sides with a silver/metallic sharpie. That worked great because it blended with the metal on the pins.

Figure out how many pins you want to use, and space them accordingly. Mine are probably about an inch apart.

 

Let the wood glue dry, and decorate the front however you want! I bought stickers from JoAnne's because I don't trust my handwriting in "high stress" situations.

(I always choke or spell things wrong!)

For the flowers I did a simple rosette out of fabric and used wood glue to apply.

To hang it, use command picture hanging hooks (They look like velcro) if your wood piece has no hardware on it like mine. Make sure you use enough so

it doesn't come crashing down.

 

Linked up to:

Lolly Jane

 Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Classy Clutter
Blooming Homestead
Little Inspiration
and
I Heart Naptime
 

 

 

Getting My Craft On

I was so excited to start working on craft projects again once we moved. I promised Jason when we moved in with his parents that I wouldn't go too crazy with crafting because I knew we'd eventually be moving again, and space was very limited downstairs.

 

Since we moved in I've done a few projects that were pretty fun.

 

This first one I'm pretty proud of because I came up with it all on my own! I very rarely come up with my own crafts. I normally love following tutorials I find and
tweaking them a little bit.

 

I came up with this idea for a place to put Marlene's head bands because she has so many of them, its hard to keep track of what goes with what.

This way, they are all laid out in front of me when I'm getting her dressed and it makes picking one out a lot easier. I'll post a tutorial later!

 

The second craft I did was this wreath, inspired by Domestifluff's tutorial.

I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. It took me forever because I kept having to go back to the store for more felt! It takes A LOT...

 

The third project I started was this wrapped canvas key hook:

 A tutorial for this will also come later...its SUPER easy!

I've been keeping myself busy while Jason works and it helps that Marlene likes to play by herself a lot more these days. Next on my list is to make a wreath for the front door,
this is my inspiration:

 

We're Moving!

After living in Cedar Hills with the In-Laws for the last 9 months we are moving out on our own! We found an apartment in South Salt Lake and are moving this weekend.

 

I'm so excited to have a place of our own, but want to know something funny? I'm most excited about being able to do crafts and decorate a new space. Ever since I was little and started scrapbooking, I have LOVED doing "crafty things."

 

Ever since we started looking for apartments I've been on pinterest and wearing out the "home decor" and "diy & crafts" categories. Also, on top of all that, today we bought some loveseats for the apartment that are really cute, but don't match our old decor. (We decorated in our wedding colors: electric-skyblue & lime-green)

 

They're a lovely pattern that has a pretty dark purple and now I'm so excited to decorate our new place in a new color scheme: dark purple, grey, and white! Here are some crafts/decorating ideas I'm dying to try once we get settled:

 Swatch Portraits via The Purl Bee

Felt Ruffle Wreath via Domestifluff

My decorating inspiration! Love everything about this room...

the rug, the table, the chairs! via The Lovely Side

Wrapped canvas with hooks...white & grey chevron perhaps?

Wrap a piece of cardboard in fabric and put at back of bookcase instead of

painting or wallpaper. via In My Own Style

Fabric on canvas with wooden letters via Spell it With Style 

Spray paint ceiling rosettes from Home Depot via Better Homes and Gardens

 

Just to name a few....

I'm seriously itching to start crafting again! Friends in the area,

let me know if you want to have a craft day sometime.

 

Stay tuned for pics of the new apartment after we get settled in next week.