DYI Play Dough

This afternoon my daughter and I sat down to make some homemade play dough.  The store bought stuff I had purchased many moons ago, was all dried up and had to be tossed.  I saw a recipe online for homemade dough and I knew I had everything on hand, what I didn't realize is just how EASY and FAST it is to make this stuff!  It has the same consistency of the real Playdough and makes a ton too!

What You Will Need:

1 Cup Salt

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

2 Cups Water

Food coloring -OR- Kool Aid Packet**

1 TB cooking oil (I used Safflower Oil because I had it on hand)

1 tsp Cream of Tartar

Directions:

Put all ingredients into a medium sized pot.  If you are using Kool Aid dissolve it into the water first.

Turn the stove onto med-high heat and stir the mixture continuously. 

After literally about 2 min it's DONE!

Gather all the contents from the pot into a lump and dump onto the counter.

I let it sit for a couple minutes and then kneeded it all together...it was still pretty warm but not real hot.

Wait a few more minutes until it is cool enough for the kiddies to handle and then viola!

TIME TO PLAY!!!!

Store in airtight container in the refridgerator.

**Other people who have made this says that the play dough stinks a little.  However if you use the Kool Aid instead of the food coloring, the dough takes on the scent of the drink mix and smells pretty good!

Hair Bow Holder

I decided that with all the hair bows I've been making, I need somewhere to put them all where they are easily accessible, but cute too. I ended up making a bow holder out of a large frame.  It's a great place to clip on all sorts of bows and barrettes and it is SUPER easy to do.

What You'll Need:

22"x 18" piece of thin fabric

3 yrds of 1in ribbon

16"x20" frame

hot glue

Directions:

1. Take out the piece of glass or plastic from the frame and lay it on top of the fabric of your choice.
2. Pull the fabric so that it's taut and glue the edges to the back of the glass/plastic.  Wrap the corners like you would wrap a present and secure with hot glue.
3. Decide if you are going to hang your frame vertically or horizontally and then cut your ribbon to be slightly longer than the frame.
4. Hot glue the ends of the ribbon either vertically or diagonally to the back of the glass piece, making sure that the ribbon has no slack in it.
5. Once the glue is dry, place the glass back into the frame and secure it in place.
6. Place bows and clips on the frame and hang up!

*I made mine to match my daughter's room so I used a piece of purple fabric with Disney Princess ribbon.  This would be very pretty with a nice looking frame, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I bought a poster frame for about $5 at Walmart.

Girls Hair Bows

I have decided to dabble in making hair bows.  My daughter is 5 years old and just started kindergarten.  I wanted to put all sorts of cute things in her hair, but I quickly realized that they were hard to find.  After looking online at some hair bow tutorials, I thought "I can do that!"  Feeling pretty optimistic I went ahead and ordered a bunch of ribbon and cute adornments for the bows.  I ordered everything from www.theribbonretreat.com  because they had what I thought were great prices. 

What You Will Need:

• Ribbon in a variety of colors and sizes (I used grosgrain)
• String or thread
• Clips or Headbands
• Hot Glue
• Scissors
• Lighter

Some Possible Materials You Will Need:

• Bottle Caps
• Colored Printer (if you decide to do bottle cap embellishments)
• 1 in hole punch
• Jewels
• Faux Pearls
• Large Beads
• Silk Flowers
• Ric Rac
• Wooden Dowels & Clothes Pins (for curling ribbon in the oven)

There are SOOOOO many different kinds of bows you could make.  The possibilities are endless.  Because there are several ways to form the different bows, it is easier to see it rather than describe how to do them.  I went to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUlvZ7xx6uE and watched some tutorials on how to make some basic bows and then started designing and putting together my own creations.  Once you have the basics down, you can put together TONS of different styles by layering the bows on top of one another.

 What is more girly than a cute bow?!  I can't wait for my princess to see her new bows :)

Crayon Art for a girls, craft or play room!

I SO wish I would have taken pictures along the way when I was making this craft, but since I didn't I will try and do my best to explain through words what I did.

This craft is a perfect way to add some decoration in a little girls room, craft room, or a kids playroom! This was actually WAY easier to make then it looks. There are a ton of things you can do with crayons and this is just one way you can use crayons for artwork!

 

To Make:

 

Things you need

 

Crayons (I used all the purples and pinks, but you can use any colors you want)

Canvas

Paper flowers or Flower embellishments
Colored Card Stock Paper

Blow Dryer

Hot glue and glue gun

Knife

 

Step One: Cut the Crayons to the length you prefer. It is easiest to score the crayon all the way around and then snap it at the score line (I think it gives it a cleaner cut).

Step Two: Hot glue them all the way across the bottom of the canvas, crayon tips facing up.

Step Three: Lean the canvas upside down (so crayons are now on the top of the canvas, tips facing down) up against a wall.

Step Four: Turn blow Dryer on high heat, but low air flow and run it across the crayon tips until they begin to melt and drip (be careful because the crayon drippings are more "runny" then I thought they would be so it tends to splatter if you have the blow dryer to close).

Step Five: After you have your crayon drippings to your desired length on the canvas, allow the drippings to dry (only takes a couple minutes)

Step Six: Turn Canvas back right side up and hot glue your flower embellishments onto the ends of the crayon drippings. Cut out petals from your card stock and add to the "stems".

Step Seven: Enjoy!!
 

Making a Masterpiece out of a Kids "masterpiece"

Every kid loves to mess around with a little poster paint right? Well my 2 year old definitely does!

Problem # 1: It usually makes a mess
The Fix: I suggest stripping the child to diaper/underwear, and place them somewhere that's not close to carpet.

Problem #2: The "masterpiece" is usually not something you want hanging around the house because..well...eegghhmm...it's done by a toddler :)

The Fix: This brilliant idea!! Make a Masterpiece out of your child's "masterpiece"!

picture courtesy of: squashblossombabies.com

 

What you need

 

Canvas

School Glue

ModPodge

Your Child's Art

Scissors

Paint

 

 

Step One: Paint the entire canvas in your choice of color, let dry.

 

Step Two: Cut your child's artwork into shapes (circles, squares, etc.) and glue them lightly to your canvas in whatever design you prefer. Allow to dry.

 

Step Three: Modpodge the whole thing to secure the artwork and give it a a finished look.

 

Step Four: Dry and Done!!