Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Check out our Craft Trends board on Pinterest!

I am well aware that there are large numbers of (perhaps misguided) folks out there that don’t like the taste of Peeps. For me, spring just isn’t spring until I’ve roasted a few over my stove, but for those who might like some non eating uses for the marshmallow treats (and for those of us that can’t get enough) here are some fun little peep projects for your spring delight.

Peeps Wreaths! I wouldn’t recommend them for outdoors as that might get….messy, but for inside? Awesome.

Too colorful? How about this one?

I love these bunting and their reuse of paint chips!

 A Peep Tree! Who can resist?(the Peeps Sushi is pretty funny too!)

Would you use Peeps in your spring decor? Check out more ideas on our Craft Trends Boards.

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the Blog Geek with Glasses.

Enter an enchanted world with this adorable, durable crown! My daughter, like most children, loves fairy tales.  A lot of fairy tales include a prince and princess, king and queen, or super hero of some kind.  Crowns are a big part of the dress up accessories.  We have made all kinds of crowns such as paper ones that tear and the wearer is heartbroken, then the fix is to tape it or staple it and it’s never quite the same.  Felted crowns are beautiful but as with all things felt – in a house with shorthaired dogs, felt is a magnet.  I have spent many an hour with tweezers trying to pick the fur out of the felt toys.  So, one day I was at the fabric store and they had a large bin of Leather Remnants, a beautiful selection of colors and textures, and I thought this would make an indestructible crown fit for a king, queen, princess – you get the idea.

The benefit of this crown is that it is completely adjustable, it can grow with the child.  This crown will be 19″ in circumference, with the laces pulled tight it fits my 3 year old fine. Loosen up the laces a little and I’m sporting the crown. PLUS – it can be wiped down with a damp cloth.

Supply List:

• Ridged Leather remnant – 19″ x 6″
• Eyelets
• Leather Lace
• Leather Punch
• Crown Patterns
• Pen
• Eyelet Setter

First, print and cut out the Crown Patterns, trace it on the backside of the leather, make sure to mark the eyelet holes.  The patterns provided are set up to trace one side, then flip it on the center edge to make a mirror image to trace the rest of the crown.

I use basic scissors to cut the leather, nothing fancy.

Once the crown is cut out punch the holes for the eyelets.  I have a punch that uses a hammer but there are hand held punches that work like a paper punch.  If you don’t have either of those a nail and hammer will work. 

Push the eyelets through the hole from the front (good side), set the eyelet, by setting the eyelet setter on the back of the eyelet and hammer.  A couple of whacks is all it takes, be careful not to hit it too hard or the face of the eyelet will misshapen.

Next, lace up the eyelets like a shoe using a leather cord and tie a bow.  Place it on your head and take over a kingdom!

We like the simplicity of the leather, but these crowns can be decorated with gem stickers or glitter glue.

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the Blog Geek with Glasses.

My daughter is an Irish Step Dancer and March is a crazy month for us. We have two St. Patrick Day parades to partake in, so I needed something festive to wear. I love the mini top hats and thought I’d share this tutorial on how to make your own at home.

Mini Top hats are also popular for Steampunk costumes too, it’s all in how you decorate the basic shape.

Today, we are going Leprechaun!

Supplies:

Toilet paper or Paper Towel Roll
Cereal Box
Ribbon
Headband
Glitter
Felt
White Paint / Green Paint
Thread

Optional:

Stickers
Crystals
Other Decorations

Tools:

Pen
Craft Knife
Scissors
Brush
Glue
Hot Glue Gun
Needle

The first thing to do is cut open the cereal box to get a flat side. On the inside (non printed side) of the cereal box trace around the paper roll. This will make the center of the brim of the hat. Next measure 5/8″ all the way around and draw that circle. Cut out the outside circle, then using the craft knife cut the cross marks on the inside circle. This makes tabs to glue the brim to the tube.

Next trace the roll again, this time measure about 1/4″ and make another circle. Cut along the outside line, then cut tabs to fold. This makes the top of the hat, the tabs insert into the tube to hold the top on.

Now, determine how tall the Top Hat should be. This hat is 1 1/2″ tall, carefully use the craft knife to cut the tube so not to smash the roll.

Using the Hot Glue Gun, attach the brim by folding the tabs up and placing the tube over top. Glue the tabs in place. This can be done with craft glue but  then the tabs should be clipped until the glue dries. The Hot Glue makes the project go quicker without drying time. After the brim is in place, fold the tabs on the top of the hat and glue the it in place.  

Once the hat is assembled paint the entire piece white or green. I painted mine white, then after the glitter I went in and painted the edge of the brim and bottom green. It wasn’t necessary, but I did not like the white edge. If the entire hat was painted green to start that would not be an issue, but the glitter will show up different with a dark background verses a white background. It’s up to the crafter to decide.

When the paint is dry, cover the hat with craft glue and sprinkle the glitter on. Let the hat dry completely, once dry tap off the extra glitter.

I decorated the hat by gluing a ribbon around the base of the hat. Then using stick vinyl, I cut 3 hearts out using a heart shaped punch. I stuck the hearts on the hat in the shape of a shamrock and glued a crystal in the center. I added another shamrock to the hat in the same way. This is where it can become any type of hat that you want.

Next,  cut a circle of felt and glued it to the bottom to make attaching it to the headband easier.

I made 2 ribbon bows and glued them together, then hot glued the hat on top of them. 

To attach the hat to the headband, first hot glue the ribbon/hat to the headband. Then make a couple of stitches around the headband making sure to catch the felt on the hat, secure the thread with a good knot.

Now - put the beautifully crafted hat on your head, drink some kind of ale and eat Bangers and Mash Or follow the rainbow to your pot of gold! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

By General Crafts Contributor Mina, from the blog Mina’s Journal.

Make these wee night light lanterns for the wee ones you know to help settle them to sleep, or to set a mood!

Craft Materials:

• Small boxes – lightbulbs or food packaging for example
• Marker or pencil
• Craft knife
• Cellophane or clear plastic
• White glue
• LED lights
• Craft Paint

How to Make the Night light Lanterns

Carefully pull the the packaging apart, so it is still in one piece, but will lie flat.

Draw your designs onto the packaging. I used the inside of the box so the paint would cover better.

Simple shapes are cool. You can see here I’ve used hearts, stars and small square and rectangle shapes like a building at night time.

Cut your designs with the craft knife and paint the surface of the box.

Cut cellophane to cover the cut out spaces and glue to the inside of the box.

Note about Lining the Boxes

For large designs, the spaces look better if they are lined with something like cellophane. For small designs, there is no need to line the boxes.

You could line the window spaces with colored cellophane.  Bend the existing folds of the box the opposite way than they were intended, so your box will keep its shape. Glue the side edges together. Fold the ends of the box back in.

Pop your lights in when you are ready!

A Note about LED Lights

The LED lights I used here are childrens’ finger laser lights. They are safe, small and have a switch – all enclosed in plastic housing. They are cheap – there are four in the set I got in colors white, blue, red and green.

Ideas for the Night light Lanterns

For little ones:

• Stack on top of each other for buildings.
• Change the nightlight Lanterns and / or the colored lights around each night as a pre-sleep activity.

There are more sophisticated uses for these things for grown ups.

• Set the scene for romantic dinners
• Use in the bathroom to have your bath with (Don’t forget the bubble bath!)
• Use in ‘your space’ for quiet contemplation or relaxation

Have fun with these and create your own ambiance! Happy crafting!

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Check out our Craft Trends board on Pinterest!

Once upon a time, my best friend decided to make herself a whole set of dishes at a paint your own pottery place. It was a great idea and in the end, she had a truly one of a kind table full of dishes but it took a long time to complete. Which was understandable, because back then, going in and painting, and then waiting for the store to glaze and fire the piece was really the only way, unless you had your own personal kiln at home. Now a days, however, there are other options, the best of which, in my opinion, are the new ceramic pens that, once baked, turn plain dishes into one of a kind treasures which are dishwasher safe and will last a lifetime (or until you drop them!) I’m currently working my way through a set of thrifted white coffee mugs myself and now that I’m in the swing, I think I may move onto plates as well.

Available in lots of colors, ceramic pens look like your run of the mill paint pen but the paint can be set permanently and simply with a few minutes in the oven. This means that anything that can stand the oven can be decorated to your hearts content. The possibilities are endless!

I love love love these tea cups with their drawn doily saucers.

And how fun are these postcard mugs?

Personalized mugs, an excellent gift idea and also great way to cut down on the washing up, no more loosing your mug and having to get a new one!

But you don’t have to stop with dishes. These mason jars would look great lined up on a shelf with bulk ingredients in them, wouldn’t they?

Check out our pinboard for more ideas and send in your photos of your own ceramic pen projects!

By Paper Crafts Contributor, Lauren Romano.

Roses are one of my favorite flowers and there’s something truly beautiful about wearing them in your hair whether they’re real or fake. When you make your own rose clip, you can customize it in any color you wish – red, blue, yellow, purple – so you can have one in every color or pattern possible. It may look complicated, but it’s pretty easy to do, especially once you get the hang of it.

What you’ll need:

•  Red cardstock
•  Pen
•  Paper
•  Red tissue paper
•  Scissors
•  Mod Podge
•  Clip

Step 1. Cut out a small square from the red cardstock, then trim it so it creates four adjacent petals connected by a tiny square in the center.

Step 2. Cut a small triangle from the red cardstock, then trim it so it forms three petals in the shape of a triangle that are connected by a tiny circle in the center.

Step 3. Bend both pieces so the petals face upward, then use scissors to carefully curl the ends.

Step 4. Make the center of the rose by cutting a small rectangle from the red cardstock and rolling it tightly. Use the Mod Podge to hold it together.

Step 5. Glue the second piece inside the first, then the center piece directly in the middle.

Step 6. Make several singular petals from the red tissue paper. Use your fingers to slightly bend the edges.

Step 7. Dip the very tips of the tissue paper petals in Mod Podge, then carefully slide them in the flower to fill it out.

Step 8. After the flower dries, lightly pinch it in between your thumb and pointer finger to expand the flower a bit.

Step 9. Glue it to the edge of your clip, then let it dry thoroughly before moving it. 

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the Blog Geek with Glasses.

I knit and weave, so I have many opportunities to use all the pretty yarns out there. My daughter on the other hand, is too little to want to learn to knit and has no interest in weaving, but wants to make things with all the pretty yarns. The project I came up with was simple yarn art paintings. This type of painting is based on the traditional folk art of the Huichol Indians of Mexico. The traditional way of producing this type of art is taking bees wax and melting it on a wooden board, then pressing the yarn into the wax before it hardens. We are going to use glue and cardstock. 

Supplies:

Yarn
Cardstock
Glue
Pencil

First I came up with our design idea. We thought the chickadee type bird would look cute in her home room, replacing some of the baby art – since now she’s a big girl. I sketched a simple outline in light pencil on a piece of heavy cardstock. We gathered the colors of yarns we wanted, a couple of toothpicks and glue.

The pink bird was my daughter’s. I started her bird by laying a thin single bead of glue around the outside line of the sketch. She placed a length of yarn on the glue following the path. Then right next to that I placed another line of glue. This technique worked for her because there is not a large area of glue for her to get her arm in and there is a short length of yarn to deal with so it does not get tangled. We continued to work in this fashion until we got to the center. We placed the eye on top of the pink yarn, not traditional but again, it worked for the younger artist.

The blue bird, I started with the wing and eye in the darker color. I spread a layer of glue on the wing area and started to lay the yarn.  On the wing, I started with a spiral then back and forth working toward the tip of the wing. The eye was a spiral starting in the center and working out until it was the size I wanted. For the lighter blue, I started in the center by the wing working out. I used the toothpick for making the hard corners and pressing the yarn down, since I tend to get extra gluey fingers. I liked the idea of using one long piece of yarn, winding it around to create texture and shapes, but if it’s easier to use a shorter piece of yarn that is fine too.

Both of these approaches worked really well since we were not covering the entire piece of cardstock. If the design calls for the entire piece to be covered I suggest working from left to right, placing glue only on the section that is being worked on, then when it’s covered contiue by adding more glue to another section.

When the glue was dry, I placed them in frames and hung them in the little one’s room.

This is a great project to use up bits of yarn and yarns that are beautiful but you don’t want to wear. Also, a project if you love yarn but do not knit, crochet or weave. Create your own folk art piece today.