Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and is always looking to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Our friend Mark Montano is full of amazing crafty ideas for your home and yourself. This beautiful butterfly piece is inspired by the Museum of Natural history and will make a great conversation piece in any home. It’s whimsical and rustic at the same time! For more creative DIYs, check out the “Make Your Mark” videos on Mark’s YouTube Channel.

YOU’LL NEED:

• 1 or 2 packages of different sized feather butterflies
• Hot glue and glue gun
• Twigs from your yard
• Glass vase
• Glass candle plate (make sure the candle plate covers the mouth of the glass vase)
• 2×2 or 3×3 wood block
• Drill with 1/4” drill bit

HERE’S HOW:

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By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and is always looking to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

If you have a creative child around, there are many great craft supplies to keep them busy, and keep you worry-free. Keep the right supplies on hand, and crafting with your kid can be fun and help you build memories that can last well into their lives.

Preschool Feather Craft – Homeschooling Helicopter Mama 

Soft and colorful feathers are a must for your kid’s craft toolbox. They come in a wide variety of colors and types, so you can keep crafting in countless different ways. Feathers are great for making textured collages. Kids will spend hours simply feeling the soft feathers then gluing them to paper. You can create an outline for the feathers to make a shape, or you can make an open-ended crafting session and let the kids glue feathers to a piece of paper and create colorful, textured art.

Here are some more unique crafts you can make with feathers:

Nest Zest – Paint Cut Paste

With a little bit of colorful yarn, raffia, felt, and other biodegradable products,  feathers can be used to dress up your local birds’ nests. Create these springtime ornaments and hang them outside to help birds build their new nests when they arrive for the spring. This is a fun and easy nature lesson, teach your kids about birds while the things inside the ornaments get taken away.

More Feather Crafts…

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By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

If you have a creative child around, there are many great craft supplies to keep them busy, and keep you worry-free. Keep the right supplies on hand, and crafting with your kid can be fun and help you build memories that can last well into their lives.

Craft foam is a versatile material that is very safe for young children to use, and your kids will love the soft, squishy feel. There are lots of different kinds of craft foam to choose from, and no matter how old your child is you can find a craft foam project. Lots of craft foam is available with adhesive already on the back, so there is no worry about using any messy glue when attaching it to something. It comes in sheets and shapes, so you can cut your own or just use them like stickers.

Here are some project ideas and inspiration to get your kids crafting with craft foam:

Goofy Foam Glasses – Dollar Store Mom

Decorate clear glasses or old sunglasses with craft foam and gems. Get the kinds with adhesive already on the back, and you don’t have to worry about messy glue getting all over the glasses!

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By General Crafts Contributor Melissa, from the blog MeloMomma.

Got ten minutes and a paper plate? Well then you can create this fun little turkey craft with me!

By Crafts for Learning Contributor, Danielle from the blog Crayonbox Learning.

Materials:

• Construction Paper (brown, orange, yellow, red)
• Cardstock (white)
• Glue Stick
• Squiggle Eyes
• Recycled Soup Can (clean and dry)
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Candy (optional)
• Fall/Thanksgiving Center Piece Template

Directions:

This activity was designed as a project for young children to make for the holidays.  It is an activity that can be done in small groups or individually depending on the age of the children and skill level.

1. Print out a copy of of the Fall/Thanksgiving Center Piece Template for each child onto white cardstock.  White is used so that the children can use their imaginations to color the turkey head themselves.
2. Give each child a piece of yellow, orange, red, and brown construction paper.
3. Instruct each child to color the head, beak, and waddle part of the turkey face (optional, the pieces can be cut out of the construction paper as shown in the sample image).  After the face piece is colored, set aside.
4. Lay a brown piece of construction paper flat on the work space.  Lay the recycled can on top flat so that you can measure how much brown construction paper you will need to wrap around the can. Use your pencil to mark the lines if needed.
5. Cut the brown construction paper.  Using a glue stick, rub the glue along the sides of the can. Affix the construction paper around the can.  (Make sure that the edge of the paper is glued real well so it will not come loose).
6. On the yellow, orange, and red construction paper,  have each child trace their hand prints.  The hand prints will be used for “feathers” of the center piece.  Depending on the size of the children’s hands, you’ll need 4-5 different colored hand prints.   Once they handprints have been traced, cut them out.
7. Turn the can with the brown construction paper on it and look for the seam.  This is the side where you are going to glue on the hand cut outs.  In a fan shape (see photo), glue the hand cut outs.
8. Cut out the turkey head from the template.  With your can in front of you (feathers AWAY from you), glue the turkey head on the inside of the can on the side farthest away from you.  (see photo).
9. Using scraps from your hand cut outs, cut out a beak and waddle for the turkey face.  Glue onto the turkey face where applicable.
10. Glue the squiggle eyes onto the turkey.
11. Let the turkey dry so that all of the glue is completely dry before use.
12. After the turkey is dry,  fill the bottom with some holiday tissue paper half way. Fill the remainder with holiday candy.  You can fill the whole can with candy if you prefer.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor Tracey, from the blog We Made That.

One of the many things I think of in the fall is scare crows, which then in turn makes me think of black crows.  This year I wanted to make some decorations for fall, not just for the holidays.  So I thought it would be fun to make a family of black crows.

A few weeks ago we went on a camping trip and searched for some great pinecones to use, but were very unsuccessful.  So I ended up having to buy them, so if you don’t find your own pinecones rest assured you can purchase them to make these cute crow’s.

I found that when painting pinecones it is best to use spray paint.  It is a LOT easier to get it covered that way.  Depending on the age of your children, you may choose to do the painting yourself (I did).   However the rest of the project can be done by the kids.  Remember though to supervise the kids when using the glue gun.

Supplies

• Pinecones
• Black Spray Paint
• Small Straw Hat
• Googly Eyes
• Orange Felt
• Black Feathers
• Glue Gun

Directions

Start by spray painting your pinecones black.  It is best to do this outside.

Once your paint dries bring your pinecones inside and glue on your googly eyes.

Then cut a triangle out of your orange felt (this will be the beak).

Glue your beak onto your pinecone.

Next glue your small straw hat on to the top of your pinecone.

Finally glue your black feathers onto the sides of your pinecone to finish off your crow.

These make a great fall decoration for your home or they make a fun toy for your kids to play with (as long as they are old enough not to eat it or the items you glued to it).