Craft Stick Bracelets

These bracelets are pretty cute and easy to make, but be prepared to start a day in advance of when you want to decorate them.

SUPPLIES:

--large craft sticks

--drinking glass or votive holder

--whatever you want to use for decorations: paints, markers, buttons, fabric, etc

GAME PLAN:

Try to pick out the nicest, strongest looking craft sticks. Make sure they don't have any noticeable cracks or any weakened spots. Boil them in a pot of water for 15 minutes to make them pliable. Remove from the water and gently bend into a curve and place it in a glass container. The boiling makes them very susceptible to breaking and splintering (I lost 2 of the 6 that I boiled) which is why I suggest picking out the sturdiest looking ones to begin with. Really, the hardest part for me was finding the right size glass container to put them in. The one I put in the drinking glass made a bracelet that was large enough to fit my wrist, but would have been way to big for my 3 year old son's wrist. Finally I found a votive holder that curved the sticks small enough to fit his little wrist. Once the sticks are in place, let them dry completely over night. Then simply remove and decorate however you wish!

Here are the sticks drying in the glass and votive holder.

 Cohen gluing buttons to one of his bracelets!

 He decided to paint his other two bracelets!

 Our finished bracelets!

Melted Crayon Stained Glass Window Leaves

The results of this pretty fall craft were nice, but to be honest it took quite a bit longer and more effort than I anticipated.

SUPPLIES:
--construction paper or cardstock
--various leaf templates
--wax paper
--crayon shavings
--iron
--glue

GAME PLAN:
First, I printed and cut out various simple leaf patterns from the Internet (the more simple the better for easier cutting). Next, I cut out several squares of 5 x 5 inch cardstock (I decided to do 6 leaves, so I cut out 12 squares of cardstock - you need two pieces for each leaf).  I traced a leaf on the top sheet of each of the cardstock pairs. Firmly holding the two pieces of cardstock together, I cut out the leaf. It was fairly difficult to cut the cardstock because it was so thick, construction paper would definitely be easier to cut, but wouldn't be as sturdy. Next, came the crayon shaving. I found that a potato peeler worked best to shave the crayons, but I would definitely recommend using those big fat toddler crayons since it was really difficult to get shavings from the regular sized crayons (they kept snapping in two). Next, I cut approximately 5 inch squares of wax paper. Cohen sprinkled the shavings between two pieces of the wax paper and then he helped me iron (on a very low setting) it. Don't overdue the ironing; it melts very quickly! Also, a few crayon shavings go a LONG way! Don't put too many or they melt and run out of the wax paper. I would say about a half a teaspoon of shavings per leaf would be fine. After you've melted the crayon, glue the stained "glass" wax paper to one side of the cardstock and then glue the other leaf cut-out on top, lining up the leaf cut-outs.

Child's Name on Painted Canvas

I don't know about other kids, but Cohen LOVES to paint, so I knew he'd love this one!

SUPPLIES:
--art canvas (whatever size you want)
--painters tape (not sure if regular masking tape would work, but I didn't want to chance it)
--paints (we just used washables)

GAME PLAN:
I used the painters tape to tape off Cohen's name and then just let him go to town painting all of the canvas. After it's dry, simply peel off the tape to reveal the white, paint-free name beneath. NOTE: if you take the tape off when it's mostly dry but not completely dry, you can use a wet wipe to still remove any smudges of paint that seeped beneath the edges of the painters tap; especially useful if you have a kid who likes to use A LOT of paint like mine does!

M&M "Gum Ball" Machine

Saw a super cute bright red gum ball machine on Pintrest, but of course Cohen wanted to paint his "all the colors!" HA! And we replaced gum balls with more Cohen-friendly M&M's!

SUPPLIES:
--terra cotta pot
--terra cotta dish
--small deocorative fish bowl
--wooden knob
--acrylic paints (work better than washable paints on terra cotta)
--ribbon
--E6000 glue (or something like that; needs to be able to glue together glass & terra cotta)

GAME PLAN:
This one's super easy! Just glue the glass bowl to the terra cotta pot (make sure when you are buying them that the diameters match) and glue the wooden knob onto the terra cotta dish. Let dry, paint and attach ribbon, fill with candy...voila! Easy!

Sun Catcher Window Art

I saw something similar to this on Pintrest and thought it was such a cute idea! Originally it was meant to be more of a temporary craft but I thought it would be neat to display Cohen's artwork in a more permanent manner, so I made a few adjustments! I think it turned out great! And it's really pretty when the sun is shining through the window!

SUPPLIES:
--cheap picture frames
--assorted transparent stones
--acrylic paints
--paint brushes
--clear drying glue
--a sponge paint brush
--permanent foam mounting tape

GAME PLAN:
I bought 6 frames from the Dollar Store (literally for $1 each) and several bags of the assorted transparent stones. If you aren't doing as many, you might want to get a little nicer frame that has a deeper space between the front of the frame and the glass. I took the back off of the frames leaving just the glass. I tried to glue the glass onto the frame but didn't have much luck. Honestly, I didn't try that hard because I knew that I would be mounting them to the window, but I'm sure something like E6000 glue would work. Next, I used a sponge paint brush to spread a medium thickness coat of glue on the outside glass (since the stones were thicker than the frame depth). Then came Cohen's part: sticking on all of the stones all over the glue. Then simply let dry!

Cohen glued stones to three of the frames and painted the other three with acrylic paints and paint brushes.

Finally I used Scotch 1/2 in. permanent mounting foam tape (holding up to 2 lbs.) to mount the frames to the windows. The original craft suggested glueing suction cups to the back of the frames to mount, but the frames with the stones were far too heavy to mount with only suction cups. Besides, I knew that I wanted them mounted more permanently.

Do I Really Need Another Blog???

Well, apparently the answer is a resounding YES! Two more, in fact! With my original blog The Jackson Family Blog being completely taken over by super cute pics of my super cute kids, I decided I needed a separate outlet for two of my other loves: artsy crafty stuff and a more editorial blog with my take on different social and current issues (kind of what my original blog started off as.) Not that anyone particularly cares what I have to say on these topics, but as a writer by nature, when I hear about something going on in the world, my first impulse it to write about it. So this blog, as the name implies, will be dedicated to all of my arts and crafts endeavors - all things crafty, so to speak! I've been getting a lot of fun and creative ideas from Pintrest, and Cohen and I have been having a blast trying them out! I hope to use this blog to showcase our crafts and perhaps inspire others as well! Hope you enjoy!