Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I have a confession to make. I wasn’t always so crafty. OK, well, maybe I was crafty, but I wasn’t always a crafty mom. When my first child was born I spent the first year of his life preoccupied by making wholesome babyfood and keeping my house clean and organized. I was a little obsessed with the labelmaker in those days and sort of lost my craft groove for a while. But when Briton turned one he was suddenly a little boy who loved to spatter things and stick things together and make all sorts of messes. Gradually I let go of the cleaning obsession, trashed the label maker (although I still label things, but now the labels are part of the craftiness!) and dove into crafting with my child. One of the first things we ever made together was peanut butter playdoh, and it quickly became a regular part of our day, starting out as a game and ending up as our afternoon snack. Don’t be surprised, in fact, if you find yourself stealing it by the spoonful, I know I had a very pretty, made by her royalness, peanut butter playdoh flower with my lunch today, and I wouldn’t say no to another.

I like to make this in smaller quantities. For one thing, I think it looses it’s playdoh texture after a few days and gets crumbly, even in the most airtight containers.  Also, we eat it. And while it’s not too bad as far as healthy snacks go, eating it by the pound is probably not a great idea.

Before you get started here, make sure you child doesn’t have peanut allergies. It’s generally a good idea to keep kids away fomm peanut butter until after they are one. However, if your kids eat PB&J’s on a daily basis like mine, you’re good to go.

You’ll need

1 cup Powdered Non-Fat Milk
1 cup Powdered Sugar
3/4 Cup creamy Peanut Butter
3/4 cup honey

Plus Cookie Cutters!  

optional
1/2 cup rolled oats

This is messy so it might be a good idea to make this outdoors, or at least in a spot where you don’t mind some flying powdered sugar! Cream the Peanut Butter, sugar and milk until you get a grainy consistancy. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey. Using a fork, mash the sides of the well down into the honey and then mix until incorporated. For a different texture, you can add the oats now if you want to go that route. It’s fun to make half plain and half with oats so kids can see how different they feel.

Pull the mixture out onto a clean table and knead a few times then have at it with rolling pins, cookie cutters and textured objects. And don’t forget to eat up your mess when you are finished!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

The 4th of July is one of the most kid friendly holidays on the calendar, so this year, before you crank up the grill or light the fireworks, let the kids get 4th of July ready with a little bike decorating!  Remember back to the days when bikes had streamers coming out of the handle bars and nameplates or license plates dangling off the ends so everyone would know just whose bike was whose.

You’ll need:

Red, white and blue plastic lacing
Bass wood oval or square
Foam letter stamps 
Craft paint
Foam brushes 
4th of July stickers 
Super glue 

For the Streamers:

Cut four pieces of lacing, 20 inches long, for each handlebar. Tie all four into a knot at one end, leaving three inches of excess above the knot. Spread the four long strands out into an “X”. Fold two, opposite strands over and weave the other two over and under the loops that the first strands created. Continue folding over two opposite strands and weaving the other two until you have about 1 inch of woven lacing. Tie off the ends and trim them to about six inches, adding extra strands if you want more streamers when you tie them off. Use the short end of the lacing to tie the streamer to the handle of the bicycle or push through the hole in the end of the grip so that the woven lacing and streamers come through.

For the Name Plate:

Paint the wood shape red or blue. Allow the paint to dry before using the white paint to stamp the child’s name onto the shape. Apply stickers or paint decorations before  gluing 5 inch lengths of plastic lacing to the back of the name plate. Tie to handlebars or hang form the seat of the bike.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

While I sew quite a bit for my kids, particularly for my daughter, I rarely make things for myself anymore. It wasn’t always true. In highschool I  regularly made gotta-get-there-before-closing trips to the local fabric store to pick up a few yards for some outfit that I NEEDED for the next day. In fact, I was far more likely to run my bank account dry those days on fabric purchases than anything else. I helped my mom make both my prom dresses and my wedding dress and continued to putter around with making clothes through college when I could afford to buy material. But as the years went by, I stopped sewing things for myself altogether. For one thing, fabric started getting more and more pricy, and clothes could be found on the cheap. And I got into quilting which took up a lot of sewing time. And then I had kids and switched over to making things for them. I still think about it at times though. Particularly when I’m in a fabric store and see something lovely that would make the perfect dress or skirt or pants.

So when I saw Sew U from Wendy Mullin, I was intrigued. I loved the idea of brushing up on my tailoring skills and was fascinated by the thought of using base patterns to make something the way I wanted it, not just they way the pattern called for it.

The book is, for the most part, divided into two parts. The first is one of the best primers on sewing I’ve seen. Both for beginners and for more advanced seamstresses. It goes over pretty much everything you should know to get sewing – from shopping for a sewing machine and learning how to use it to choosing fabrics to how to read and use patterns. It also includes basic instructions for making the three types of projects, skirts, shirts and pants, that come in the second part of the book. There you find three or more options for each project to help you design different looks. It also has hints on how to make further variations  and a place to record your own project notes. At the back of the book is a pocket with the three base patterns for the projects which is roomy enough to keep the patterns even after you have unfolded them, which isn’t always true of pattern envelopes.

Because skirts were always my favorite thing to make I decided to start there. That and I had the perfect piece of linen that just begged to be a light weight, a-line skirt sitting in my “current projects” box. Using the premise of “the Summer Skirt” I made a few changes that I thought woudl better suit the skirt I was looking for (and that’s the whole point of the book, isn’t it?) I decided against adding a ruffle to the bottom and cut the fabric on a bias, since I like the way linen hangs when cut that way.

Her hints for adjusting patterns to fit you helped a great deal since most skirt patterns end up too wide in the hips for me and I ended up with just about the perfectly fit skirt. ( I had to go back and adjust the waist size a bit) In fact, now that I’ve made one, I’m hunting for some more fabric to get working on my new, adjusted pattern. I can see a lot of linen skirts in my future!

I’m hoping to get my hands on her other two books, Built by Wendy Dresses and the other one is Sew U Home Stretch Book. I don’t wear a lot of button up shirts so I’m curious to try my hand at making some tee’s and tanks for myself and, next to skirts, dresses are my favorite thing to make. Wendy also carries a line of stand alone patterns but I think this book is still the best place to start, even for an experienced sewer.

Do you sew for yourself? What Wendy project would you like to try?

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

The beginning of June, in our house, signals, not just the start of Summer Vacation, but also the kick off to our families birthday season. All four of us, plus the dog, have summer birthdays. And, thankfully, the one who requires the most over the top birthday (that would be my little princess) comes first, so I have almost a years worth of birthday energy stored up to deal with all the pink and fluff and dresses and glitz that my own little Fancy Nancy deems necessary.

This year we are planning a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, which opens things up for all sorts of fun, including these puff balls. The perfect thing to hang from the ceiling or scatter over the table to add a little Wonderland to the scene, I like them so much, I might just recycle them into a decorations for my office.

Here’s what you need

8-12 sheets of tissue paper per flower
Floral wire or a heavy duty stapler
Scissors 

How full your puff looks depends on how many sheets of tissue you use. Eight full sheets makes a looser, flower looking puff with a slightly open center, 12 sheets creates a more solid, dense puff. You can also scale these down to make different sizes for a more varied look.

Layer all your tissue into one, even pile. From the narrow end, begin folding in an accordion  fold, 1 1/2 inch wide folds for full size sheets, 1/2 inch for quarter sized sheets.

Once you have folded all the way up, wrap a length of floral wire or punch a few staples into the center of the strip and cut the ends to a point (rounded or straight ends would look cute as well.

Fan out the sides and carefully (the tissue is very easily torn) pull up one layer at a time until you are almost halfway through the layers. Flip over and repeat, doing the last few center layers at the end to ensure an even look.

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”. 

The window is open, and a fresh, cool, breeze is filling the room. Outside, the rain is coming down steadily from pale gray skies. I’ve been waiting for flip-flop weather, but not idly—I’ve been giving my flip-flops some Style!

Here’s what you’ll need to do the same:

• A pair of flip-flops
• A scrap of print fabric
• Two silk flowers—multi-layered petals work well
• Two coordinating buttons 
• Glue 
• About a foot of craft wire 
• Scissors, pencil, paper, brush

First take a sheet of paper and trace around your bare foot. You need to draw a line between your big toe and the next, all the way to the web, where you’ll draw a small circle. You can draw the shape of your toes, like a scalloped edging, or a smooth arch. (I drew the scallops, but ended up cutting the smooth arch, because of the pattern on my fabric.) Cut out the foot you’ve drawn. This is your pattern.

Take your piece of fabric and fold it in half, pin the pattern to it, and cut it out. You may want to cut a little outside the lines, to leave an edge showing around your foot.

Before you unpin the pattern from the fabric, lay them on the bed of one of the flip-flops to test for fit. You may need to adjust the cut of the circle the flip-flop’s post goes through, or trim some off the foot, and this is the time to do it.

When you have the fabric foot cut to satisfaction, put a little glue in a dish and add a little water, until it’s the consistency of paint. Protect your work surface, turn the fabric foot face down, and brush the watered glue all over it. Thoroughly coat the fabric with glue, paying special attention to the edges.

Turn over, and smooth onto the bed of the flip-flop. The fabric will go over the top of the straps at the back. You can leave it like that, although the movement of the straps may loosen the bond. The other option is to mark a semicircle following the curve of the strap, and cut far enough up from the heel end to clear the strap. Tuck the edge under the strap, dabbing a little extra glue on it.

Cut two pieces of craft wire, each about six inches long. The wire is going to show, so try to pick a color that coordinates with the fabric and flower you’re using. Bend each piece of wire into a U, and slip the U over the center post of the flip-flops, under the strap.  Let the U-bend extend about ½” in front of the post.

Now bend the U up and over the top of the strap, so it’s at about the middle of the strap’s Vee.

Bring the ends of the wire up from the back, and under the U. That creates a lark’s head knot, to anchor the silk flower without irritating your foot. Don’t worry if the wire fights you—just work with it until you’ve bent it to your will!

Now take your silk flowers, removing all the plastic bits that hold them together. Each layer of petals will have a central hole. Thread both ends of each wire through that central hole, and then through one of the buttons, and twist to secure.

Wind the extra wire around a toothpick, round-nose pliers, or other skinny thing to form curlicued stamen. The photo below has flip-flops using both shank and two-hole buttons, to show how each would work.

You’re finished!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

My dad always wore crazy ties. In fact, he’s been infamous for it in every place he’s ever worked. When I was a teenager I was mortified every October when he pulled out his arm bone tie, a three dimensional stuffed ties that looked ust like an skeleton arm, shoulder to fingertips. On the other hand, it’s always made gifts pretty easy to find for him, give him a wacky, themed tie and he’s a happy camper. Which is what led to the creation of these ties, although they ended up being neither wacky or weird, in fact, according to him, they get more compliments than anything else he wears (good ones, that it).

This is a quick and easy father’s day present that every dad will cherish, and which you can taylor to the style of the man in question through your paint and tie choice. For my dad, who teaches at the University of Missouri, we used black and gold for the school colors. One if from my son when he was small, the other is newer and form my daughter. He loves them both to bits and considering the older one has had a lot of use over four years and is holding up well, they should last forever.

Here’s what you need

Fabric Paint
Foam paint brush�
Solid colored tie
Little hands (or feet)
Newspaper

Spread out the newspaper on your work surface and lay the tie out all the way so that you can pain all the way down. You don’t need to center each handprint, in fact, it looks cute to have partial hands here and there.

Coat your little one’s hands well with the paint and, with their fingers spread out a little, carefully press their hands down onto the tie, reapplying paint after each print.

Allow the paint to dry according to the instructions on the bottle before wrapping it up for a Father’s Day Surprise. It’s sure to be a hit!

What are you getting dad for Father’s Day this year?

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”. 

Summertime. Sandals, hula hoops, water balloons, picnics, and filling the sidewalks with colorful chalk art.

What’s even more fun than gettin’ down and drawing on concrete? Making your own sidewalk chalk first, and it’s easy!

You’ll need:

• Plaster of Paris 
• Food coloring, tempura paints, or acrylic paints 
• Water
• Mixing containers and a spoon
• Molds

You could probably figure out what to do just from that list, but I have some tips to go with it.

You’ll use two parts water to one part Plaster of Paris. Pour the water into your mixing container, and add the coloring agent you’ve chosen to that. Then add the plaster of Paris.

Add your color to water

Add Plaster

The thing about plaster of Paris is that stirring it makes it set up faster. Adding the color to the water means less stirring, and more time to work with the goop. Warm or hot water also makes the plaster set up more quickly.

Wet your mold before pouring the plaster into it, to make the chalk easier to remove when it’s hardened.  Don’t worry if you slop a little on or around the edges; it will flake off easily later. Give the mold a jiggle or two, to settle the plaster and smooth it out.

Molds can be anything you like. Ice cube trays work well, as would popsicle or candy molds. I’ve even used the tubes from inside toilet paper, wrapped in plastic film, and just torn them off when the plaster was set. By happy circumstance, I ran across molds made specifically for making chalk at Goodwill.

The last step is to let the plaster set up firmly. Don’t get impatient to see your chalk “all done” and try to turn it out before its time, or you’ll get what I got—broken chalk!