Seven fun ways with buttons

photo credit: paperfairys

Buttons are easy to collect.  A jar stored in the laundry room can collect dozens each year.  They come attached to new clothes, and often show up in the strangest of places.  So what can you do with all of those buttons?  Make great projects with your children!

Here are seven fun things your kids can make with all those extra buttons:

1. Button People.  Buttons with two holes make great faces.  A swatch of fabric glued onto cardboard can be cut to make the clothing, pipe cleaners or cord can be made into arms and legs and string can be cut and glued to make the hair.  Grab a flat backed pin, glue it to the cardboard and you have yourself an adorable button person who can be pinned to bags, shirts, or a long ribbon to hang.

2. Button Flowers.  Buttons have the perfect shape for the center of a flower.  Give your children several pieces of brightly colored construction paper, glue, scissors and a few buttons and see what kinds of spring bouquets they can come up with.  To get really fancy, give them string to glue to the paper beneath the flowers as a stem.

3. Sock Puppets.  No sock puppet is complete without a pair of button eyes.  Grab an old sock, extra felt for mouths, arms and legs, yarn for hair, and your children have the tools to get creative and put on their very own puppet show.

4. Flower pots.  If you have a collection of like colored or like sized buttons, grab a hot glue gun or craft glue and decorate pots to give them an upbeat polka dotted flair.

5. Button tree.  Small holiday trees can be purchased at your local hobby or craft store for less than $.25.  Small buttons can be glued onto the tree to create a lovely wintertime or holiday table centerpiece.  The more unique the button, the more interesting the centerpiece.

6. Cards. Buttons can be arranged to create an abstract design or an image and glued onto heavy cardstock.  For example a collection of buttons arranged to resemble a clutch of balloons might be the ideal card cover for you’re a child’s birthday card.

7. Robot.  Wrap a few small boxes with tin foil and stack them to resemble a robot with the smallest box on the top for the head.  Attach paper towel tubes also wrapped in foil to the body.  Buttons can be glued on for eyes, technician’s panel or other robot-like decorations.  Grab a can of metallic paint to add a more technical feel to the buttons.

Button projects are a great way to keep your children happy and occupied on a rainy day.  They invigorate their imagination and provide a very good use for those growing button collections.

WORKING WITH BUTTONS CAN BE A LOT OF FUN.  THEY CAN EVEN BE USED TO DECORATE GIFT PACKAGES TO CREATE A UNIQUE GIFT BOX.

Family Fun with Crafts

photo credit: juca pitanga

Sometimes it’s ideal to set the children down at the table, give them a craft to work on and then enjoy the focused peace and quiet that lasts for about five minutes! Other times, it’s more fun to have the entire family get involved in a craft project. It creates a sense of togetherness, shows your children that you enjoy focused time with them, and the results of the project can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. Here are a few family craft projects to consider doing as a family.

Family Tree Projects: Family trees are an excellent way to connect with your heritage and to teach your children about where they come from. Family tree projects can be created by making a collage from copies of old family photos. Depending on the age of your children you can also create a mural taking your ancestry back as far as you can. Smaller children will enjoy placing names or pictures on cut out green leaves and positioning them on a felt tree or a hand drawn tree.

Garden Crafts: Garden craft projects are exceptional because they not only allow your children to create something permanent they teach your children about growing and taking care of the planet. Projects can be as simple as creating small seedling planters and painting or decorating the containers to creating elaborate yard art. Bird baths, luminaries, stepping stones, and wind chimes are all fun projects for the entire family.

Pinatas and other holiday crafts. Pinatas are a blast to make and even more fun to tear apart. Family members can join together to create a fun family decoration and party favor for an upcoming celebration or use the piñata as an excuse for a celebration! Pinatas require a balloon, paper mache tools, paint and candy or party favors inside. Children can be involved in the entire process while parents oversee it or parents can join in and get arm deep in sticky paper mache – it’s fun! Of course letting it dry is the difficult part and a piñata usually takes several days to make. However the end result and the smile on your children’s faces as they dive for the goodies as they tumble out is more than worth it.

Other holiday crafts include Christmas tree decorations, Halloween masks, and Earth Day tye dye t-shirts!

Family crafts are a great way to spend a rainy afternoon, a fantastic way to create a holiday tradition and always a superior way to connect as a family and give them memories and love.

EVEN YOUR TODDLER OR PRESCHOOLER CAN ENJOY AGE-APPROPRIATE CRAFTS.

Create the Perfect Craft Area in Your Home

People enjoy crafts of all kinds.  Some take up little space; some take up a lot.  Some crafts need very few supplies, and some require enough to fill a cabinet or more.  Whatever the crafts, if there is more than one person in the family, creating the perfect craft area in your home is probably something you all only dream about.

Crafts like sewing require quite a bit of space.  You need to have a sewing machine, ironing board and iron, an easily accessible space for notions, and space to store fabric and patterns.  Dad and the kids have their own crafts.  Wouldn’t it be great to have one room where all of this could be located?

Begin by deciding which room you will turn into a craft room or if you will have to add one to your home.  If you have a room to use, measure it and draw the room to scale on graph paper.  Measure each piece of furniture that will go into the room and transfer those to the same scale size; cut out each piece so you can try different room arrangements without having to move heavy furniture.

One recommendation would be to divide the room into zones.  If someone is interested in painting, they will want to have access to direct sunlight.  Sunlight wouldn’t be so important to someone who was scrapbooking or putting together models. Create a painting zone nearest the windows.

Be sure to have plenty of overhead as well as task lighting in the room.  Each task requires lighting for close tasks as well as something more general.  Lamps that can be adjusted for specific tasks would be a good idea.  Do you have enough wall outlets or do you need to add more?

Work space will probably be a premium concern.  Someone who sews would need a place for the machine as well as space to spread out fabric when cutting out patterns.  Of course, that area could be used by someone scrapbooking, as long as they weren’t trying to do so at the same time.  The longer the flat surface, the better it would be.  If it were long enough, it might be able to accommodate two crafts at one time.

Seating would be another area to consider.  Comfortable chairs are a must, especially if you’re sitting for long periods of time.  However, you don’t want to get lounge chairs.  Something that is ergonomic and practical would be best.  You want to be comfortable while working on your craft, but not so comfortable you fall asleep.  Good quality office-style chairs will probably do nicely.

The final component is where to store everything.  How much of the supplies needed for each craft can be stored on shelves rather than in cabinets on the floor?  Peg boards, wall-mounted organizers, and multiple shelved units could store a good amount of things.  What about putting strips of metal along the walls near each work area?  These would be a handy place to hold scissors, little jars to hold beads or buttons, and more.  The options are limitless if you think about it.

Crafts are an important part of our lives.  They help us relax and give us a creative outlet.  They help us to dream.  If they’re so important to us, why is it we don’t enjoy doing them more often?  Having a great space designated just for crafts might be the answer your whole family is looking for.  Think about the benefits, and then create the perfect craft area for your home.

Everyday Stuff = Great Crafts

Children are fantastic when it comes to using their imagination. They’re also pretty great about the three Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Put those two ideas together and your children will have a ton of fun. Here’s how to get them started.

Plastic Pop Bottles:

Butterflies- Grab a butterfly stencil, about four inches square for a large 2 liter bottle and 2 inches square for standard 12 oz bottles. Trace the butterfly onto the plastic and cut them out. Butterflies can be strung by piercing the center with a needle. Hang them outside for extra fun.

Ocean in a Bottle – This project works best with smaller 12 oz bottles. Fill half the bottle with clear non-toxic oil – like a light canola oil. Fill the remaining half with water. Add food coloring, glitter, small lightweight plastic items and confetti shaped like your child’s favorite animal or shape and recap tightly. Let your child play with them to their heart’s content.

Cardboard Tubes:

Rainsticks are a fantastic and fun way to spend rainy afternoons indoors. Not that you’d want to conjure up more rain! Supplies include:

o Masking tape
o Paper towel tubes
o Tempera paint
o Elmer’s glue or other white craft glue
o Rice, lentils, or small beans

Paint the tubes first and allow to dry. Poke several very small holes, toothpick sized, into the tube. Cover one end of the tube with tape and place a small handful of rice or beans into the tube. Cover other end of the tube with tape and let them at it. Different materials, rice, beans, or lentils make different sounds. Encourage your children to make several and experiment with sounds.

There are a huge number of items around the house, items that normally end up in the garbage or the recycle bin that can be used to create an artistic masterpiece and hours of fun. Old egg cartons can be used to make tulips or bells. Tin foil can be washed and used to make picture frames. Old newspaper makes great paper mache, baby food jars are excellent containers for luminaries and snow globes. Tin cans make great planters for starting seeds just be sure to remove any sharp edges with a file.

Give your children the challenge to come up with ideas of their own. A paper grocery bag could become a suit of armor, a plastic bottle can become a wind sock or a piggy bank. They have amazing imaginations, creative thinking skills, and they’re truly the experts at recycling and reusing materials around them.

Start Your Own Craft Blog for Fun and Profit

Are you looking for an online business that you love? If you enjoy crafts or finding information about crafts then starting a craft blog may just be the perfect opportunity for you.

Well, Just Add Sweat is offering great eGuides for people who want to work from home and they are filled with practical advice on starting your own business. Just Add Sweat.

JoAnne Wescott and Nicole Dean are two great business owners who are sick of the hype and just want to offer real information on making money using real business models. There’s a quote on their website that really does a great job of defining their whole concept:
“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” - Thomas A. Edison

After spending some time going over the ‘How to Start a Crafts Blog for Fun and Profit’ eGuide I was very impressed by the quality of information they are offering and how easy it is to start your business.

Of course, as with any JustAddSweat guide, the only thing you need to add is your own hard work and sweat!

What’s included:
· Ideas for types of craft blogs to start.
· Definition of a blog.
· How to set up and use your blog.
· How you can make money blogging.
· How to choose your market.
· What to blog about.
· How to get traffic to your blog and make money.

There is real value in this product and for one great price you get a 35-page eGuide, a SweetStory Success interview, audio blog tips, bonus Time Management Guide and a 2007 Blogging Calendar.

Check it out for yourself, right here:

Just Add Sweat

Five Fun Crafts for Your Toddler

Toddlers love to make things with their hands. It’s part of their personality and what makes being a toddler so much fun. These five crafts are perfect for toddlers. Let your little one create some artistic masterpieces.

1. Noodle necklaces Mom, you may have to color the noodles beforehand but the results will be well worth it.

• Mix together ½ cup vinegar and a few drops of food coloring for each color you would like.
• Soak various kinds of noodles in the various colors. Allow them to dry on pieces of wax paper.
• When dry, your child can string the noodles onto pieces of yarn. Tape one end to make stringing easier.
• Tie the ends together to close the necklace and let your child wear it with pride.

If you don’t feel like coloring the noodles, you could use colored cereal between the noodles to give it some pizzazz, or just make cereal necklaces, instead.

2. Paper plate maracas This is not only easy to make but it’s fun to play with afterwards. You know how toddlers like to make noise.

• Have your child decorate the bottom of two paper plates with whatever items you feel like giving them.
• Mom, help with this step: Staple the edges of the two paper plates, insides facing together. Leave a small opening for the beans.
• Place 5-6 dried beans or rice into the opening and then close it up.
• Put tape over the pointy side of the staples to be sure no one gets snagged on them.
• Turn on some music and let the kids join in!

3. Edible Fingerpaint Only has two ingredients but watch out for the coloring or you little one with have colored hands.

• Mix together small amounts of the condensed milk with a couple of drops of food coloring.
• Give the child a sheet of paper on which to create their work of art.

Don’t worry if they put the paint in their mouth, it’s yummy. Wash their hand quickly to keep the food coloring from staining their hands.

4. Pompom caterpillars Here are some furry friends you won’t mind find in your toddler’s pocket.

• Get three pompoms, the same size, in varying colors.
• Glue the pompoms together in a line.
• Glue on the wiggly eyes.

Mom, this would be a great addition to your fridge. Just hot glue the caterpillars onto clothes pins with a magent and use them to show off your child’s other artwork.

5. T-shirts with painted handprints These are more than just crafts. It’s a wearable snapshot to help you remember just how small your little ones were as I’m sure it will become a keepsake as well. This project also makes a terrific gift for grandparents, momd and dads.

• Get a new t-shirt in your child’s favorite color.
• With fabric paint in a shallow bowl, allow your child to place their hands into the paint. Immediately help them put their hands on the t-shirt.
• As an alternative, they could place their thumbs or fingers in the paint and place several prints together to form a caterpillar.
• Help your child wash their hands thoroughly with soap.
• When the paint has dried, use paint markers to write the date and name on their t-shirt. Finish off the caterpillar by drawing on a face, feet, and antennae.

We did this for my dad, all the grandkids got a different color and all the different sizes of handprints and bright colors made it an extra special gift for grandpa. Needless to say, he loved it.

Making crafts with your toddler can be the highlight of your day. These five crafts may be enough to spark new creativity in both you and your toddler.

Have fun!

Growing Your Own Balloon Garden

Here’s a great kids craft idea I came across while surfing the other day and I thought I’d share it with you.

Kids’ Craft Ideas - Growing Your Own Balloon Garden

by Magrietha Du Plessis

http://kidscrafts.topknacks.com

Crafts will always be a very important teaching tool for anyone teaching little kids. Kids learn best by “doing.” Homeschoolers and especially unschoolers can use this balloon craft as part of a biology lesson. This is a wonderful kids’ craft idea, that is fun and easy to do and also a great first lesson about plants. This craft use balloons so watch the little ones, while you are doing this craft, to prevent suffocation!

All you need for this kids’ craft idea is a medium or large sized, clear balloon, a little earth and water, some seeds, a small funnel and a piece of string. Radish seeds work well, but you could use almost any seeds that are easy to grow.

Kid’s Craft Ideas Step by Step – How to make your first balloon garden

1. Don’t blow your balloon up yet! Put the mouth of the balloon over the funnel and hold it firmly in place (this is where an extra pair of adult hands comes in useful!) Tip in around a ½ cup of earth – enough to almost fill the deflated balloon.

2. Now gradually add water, via the funnel again, until the earth is wet through.
Don’t put too much water in or it will all just turn to mud and start overflowing!

3. Dry your funnel, then add your final ingredients, the seeds, into the balloon,
still holding it firmly in its upside down position.

4. Still holding the balloon upside down, so that you don’t get a mouthful of dirt,
carefully blow it up.

5. Tightly make a knot in the top of the balloon, then tie your string around it and use the string to hook the balloon garden up near a window or other well-lit place.

Making balloon gardens is a fun thing to do at birthday parties, and will keep the kids occupied and happy for ages – as long as you don’t mind the mess! On a summer’s day, it’s best done in the backyard.

Balloon gardens also make lovely gifts, the children can make them for an adult friend or relative and the recipient will be delighted – especially when they hang the balloon garden up and it grows green and lush.

Grandmothers and grandfathers especially love this kid’s craft idea – either to do with the kids (especially a granddad who is a gardening enthusiast) or just to receive a balloon garden craft as a gift. They will love that the kids will want to keep coming back to visit them and seeing how their balloon garden is growing.

When the balloon garden slowly dies off, it is a good opportunity to explain to your kids about the cycle of life, and to help them make a new balloon garden! Use this opportunity to teach them a variety of facts about nature, not only the cycle of life. Plants need water, fresh air, good soil etc. to grow. You can also work a lesson about seasons into this craft.

Enjoy your “Balloon Craft.”

Originally published on SearchWarp.com for Magrietha Du Plessis Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Article Source: Kids’ Craft Ideas - Growing Your Own Balloon Garden

Perfect Home-Made Gifts for Grandma

Grandmas adore handmade gifts from their grandchildren. They know just how to fawn over presents given in love. They deserve something special and below are five special grandma gifts your kids may enjoy making. (Mom, be prepared to help, just in case.)

Bead Necklace – What woman doesn’t love jewelry? Perler beads are short pieces of plastic that are specially made to fuse together when heated with an ordinary household iron. Kits can be bought at just about any craft store; the kits come in a variety of colors and sizes to make multiple patterns. After you have fused the beads together in whatever shape you desire (grandma’s always love hearts), add some ribbon, sequins, or plastic gems with a hot glue gun (this is where you mom, will have to help out)to make a one-of-a-kind gift.

Potpourri pies – You can create something similar to what can be found it gift stores. Use a disposable pie shell. Make a bottom pie crust out of flour/salt dough. Add a potpourri that smells like your grandmother’s favorite scent, create a lattice pattern out of the dough. Cover the potpourri and allow the dough to harden overnight. To enjoy the potpourri, “bake” the pie in a warm oven. Grandma will love it.

Homemade soap - Here is another gift idea Mom will have to help make, but it could be a lot of fun for both of you. Buy at least 8 ounces of clear glycerin (found at most major craft stores), a soap mold, and a very small bottle of lemon essential oil (or Grandma’s favorite scent). You will also need yellow food coloring, 6 tablespoons of corn meal, and 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds. Melt the glycerin according to directions, add 2 drops of food coloring and 2 drops of lemon oil. Add the corn meal and poppy seeds and stir very well. Pour the mixture into the mold and allow it to sit until firm. Remove it from the mold and place into a small basket.

No sew pillow - Purchase floral polar fleece large enough to make a pillow from and some fiberfill to stuff it. Cut two pieces in the shape of a heart, about two and a half inches larger than the finished project should be. Mom, carefully cut a fringe about an inch apart all around the fabric. Line up the fabric wrong sides together and then double knot each fringe, leaving a few pieces untied so you can fill the pillow. Fill the pillow making it as fluffy as you like. You can leave the pillow as is or decorate with paint markers, or any way your child would like to decorate it.

Grandma and grandkids memory book - If you really want to tug on Grandma’s heart strings, find photos with your children and Grandma in them. Create a small memory book with the pictures in it. Have the children write the descriptions for each one, explaining what they remember about that particular time. Pre-made scrapbooks are great for this, and your child can decorate it anyway they like.

Each of the gifts above made by your children will make Grandma’s day and she’ll treasure each gift made especially for her.

Boys Can Be Crafty Too!

Most of the time, when people think of crafts, they think of things like crochet, scrapbooking, or jewelry making. These crafts are usually more associated with girls and women, but boys can be crafty, too.

Woodworking – Woodworking seems to be more of a manly craft. That doesn’t mean a girl couldn’t or wouldn’t enjoy woodworking, it’s just not a feminine craft. In fact, you would probably see someone enjoying this craft with dirty hands, sawdust all over them, and possibly a little sweaty. Things most girls wouldn’t enjoy much. A boy, on the other hand, would think it was great!

There are a number of different areas of woodworking. The simplest being whittling and the most complicated being that of making a designer piece of furniture, a musical instrument or a boat.

Whittling is taking a piece of wood, often a stick, or driftwood removing small pieces of wood to create an animal. Balsa wood is a good wood for beginners because it is easy to manipulate. The denser the wood, the harder it will be shape it. Keeping your whittling knife, or any other item used for carving, sharp will make whittling much easier.

The more complicated aspects of woodworking include using electric power tools to cut, sand, and shape pieces of wood. Often detailed plans are needed for this type of project and precision is required unlike making something such as a bird feeder where being exact isn’t as critical.

Boys and men sometimes do enjoy crafts one might consider more feminine. Many professional football players enjoy crocheting or knitting as a way to relax. Some even create items that can either be auctioned off or given away to help others. I doubt anyone would call a 300 pound lineback a sissy for enjoying such crafts!

Blacksmithing is definitely a manly craft. It’s another one of those dirty, stinky crafts that most girls don’t like. It takes a great deal of strength to be a blacksmith. Let’s face it; girls just don’t have the muscles. Blacksmithing and wrought iron work also takes a lot of skill. Manipulating hot metal isn’t a task for the faint of heart, or the weak of muscle.

Crafts boys would enjoy will more than likely be more physically demanding than what a girl would choose. Whatever the craft, it’s important to remember that boys can be crafty, too.

Craft Idea: Stencil TShirts

Embellishing clothing is an easy way to get more life out of your clothing and show your personality. There are many ways to embellish and here is the info you need to paint a stencil onto a shirt.

Here are the supplies you will need:

Freezer paper
Paint
Sponges
Craft knife
Stencils
Cardboard piece
Iron
TShirts

First, find a stencil you like. There are many sites with free stencils available and if you have the knowledge, you can also change a picture into a stencil using a program like Photoshop.

Once your stencil is printed to the size you want to use, transfer it to the paper side (not the slick side) of the freezer paper. You can trace the image onto the freezer paper using a light box or taping them both to a window. Use a large enough piece of freezer paper that you have a border around your stencil when it is cut out.

Then you will need to cut the stencil from the freezer paper. I have a craft knife that has a small blade that swivels - perfect for cutting the stencils!

If you are unsure of doing this project, pick an easy stencil so you won’t have a problem cutting it out.

Next put your piece of cardboard into the tshirt - this is so the paint doesn’t soak onto the backside of the shirt. Turn your iron onto a low setting and position the stencil where you would like it to go. Put the freezer paper slick side down and iron into place.

Finally use a sponge (or stiff paint brush) to put paint onto the shirt. The freezer paper will help keep the paint where it should be, but if you put too much on you run the risk of it possibly going under the edges.

If you do a light covering of paint and want to do a second coat, let the first dry for a few minutes and then paint the second coat on. Once it is completely dry remove the stencil (be careful not to tear it if you want to use it again!) and throw the shirt in the dryer to set it.

I have used regular paint (not fabric paint) and my shirts turn out fine. They don’t bleed or get onto other clothes in the wash and have lasted over a year.

If you have a stain on a shirt you don’t want to get rid of, try painting over it first.

Here are two shirts I did - one for each of my kids!

Tsoniki Crazy Bull is the host of the Crafter Cast - a podcast for crafters and craftypeneurs - a new show is posted every Wednesday.

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