Summer Craftin'

A few weeks ago I saw this fantastic melted bead bowl on Pinterest. Of course I didn't actually PIN it so now I can't find it BUT it was super cool and I knew Maddie would love to make one. Or two. So we did.

We have had a bin of perler beads sitting in the closet never getting used because they require way too much patience which Madison does not possess so this was a nice way to use them up and still end up with something cool and functional.

All you need to make the bowls are beads, an oven proof bowl and cooking spray. Oh and an oven. Obviously. While your oven is preheating to 350ish spray the your oven proof bowl with cooking spray and dump in a bunch of beads. Easy.

Next give your kid the bowl to roll around and smoosh the beads up the sides of the bowl. The cooking spray serves two purposes- #1 the bowl won't stick (although I really don't think it actually would) and #2 it works as a sort of glue to help the beads stick on the sides of the bowl. Magic. The beads will only melt and drip slightly so where ever you put the beads they will pretty much stay so we went about halfway up our bowls with beads. 

If we had more beads we probably would have tried to make single color or only used two or three color beads for each bowl but we went with a rainbow look instead which makes them the perfect bowl for crayons!

Instead of pulling out our entire crayon collection every afternoon for the baby to throw all over the room kids to color we toss a few crayons in the bowls instead. Perfect!

I am thinking that Maddie and I may be making another bowl for her teacher this fall. Hmmm maybe filled with a few school supplies? Boxes of crayons? Wrapped up in some cellophane? The wheels are turning! hmmmm....

Inspired Art

MOOOOOOOM I'm BORED. 

I hear that way too many times. 

I am feeling the need to banish the word bored from our house.

It's an evil word. 

Surprise, surprise Bored was Madison's word of the day yesterday but I had a reply this time. Well besides the usual "I guess we might as well toss all your toys then if you are sooooo bored". I stumbled upon the cutest and easiest kiddo friendly project on Pinterest a few weeks ago and quickly grabbed the materials from the closet to combat Little Miss Bored. 

Via Pinterest and Lil' Magoolie

Really this couldn't be any easier I grabbed an unused pencil from the craft closet, along with a stamp pad and some small pieces of cardstock. 

 Maddie was set for an hour or so making her own designs.

 I have to admit I enjoyed doing some cool designs too. Its a very calming technique which I have definitely needed lately!

Maddie loved her finished work and cut to size these would make great postcards to send too!

Salt Art

We crafted! Can you believe it?! Me either, but I have proof so it really did happen! I stumbled upon a great post on Pinterest for salt art (similar to sand art from the carnival) and knew Maddie would love it! Plus it was practically mess free and super cheap. 

Armed with our handy dandy trays we spread piles of table salt on white paper and proceeded to color it with plain ole chalk. Easy! Then we dumped it in the smallest Mason jar I had on hand. Since salt is cheap and we still have plenty of chalk I am saving some jelly jars that are a bit smaller to fill with salt next time. For complete directions visit flax & twine! 

 Maddie LOVED this project and it didn't involve all that much from me except supervision of course! Plus she is still at that great age that when I break out the dustpan and broom she willingly cleans the little bit of mess there was. She is looking forward to showing her Nanny how to make one next month when she comes for a visit!

Torn Paper Mosaic

My crafty ambitions do not match Maddie's lately. She wants great complex crafts and I want to take a nap. See not a match. 

The other day I decided to give myself a break and Maddie something to do for an hour. Tear paper and Glue. Doesn't get easier or more time consuming than that!

 

My involvement required giving Maddie some pieces of construction paper to tear up. I like that kind of work!

 

After spending a good 15-20 minutes tearing up paper and sticking it in a muffin tin it was time to begin the actual craft. See, time waster!

 

With a bit of white cardstock and a few glue sticks I gave Maddie simple directions on making a mosaic. 

"You use the scraps of paper and make a picture. Got it?"

"Uh huh."

Look at that! Beautiful! 

No clue what it is but it took a good hour between tearing paper and gluing so a total success in my book!

Mess Free Crafting- Sticky Shapes

 This week Maddie and took a trip to Michael's (well really a trip to Chipotle, but Michael's was next door) and stumbled upon these Sticky Shapes. Let me just shout it from the rooftops because I am in LOVE with these cut outs! No glue necessary, wo ho!!!

For a quick spring time craft I grabbed our stash of tissue paper squares and set to work with Maddie. Our tissue paper squares are from Oriental Trading but they are also available at Michael's right next to the sticky shapes.

Maddie had a great time designing her own flowers and I loved that I didn't have to worry about a giant gluey mess. 

She is now set on decorating every single flower in the package and I have no problem with it! There was a variety of different shapes available and I will definitely be picking up more next time we go to Chipotle Michael's. 

You can use any sort of material with the cut outs and I am sure we will be breaking out some glitter and sequins soon enough. 

How cute are these for bringing a little color to the house?!

Sticker Crafting- St Patty's Day

What better way to end the week than with a completely MESS FREE yet absolutely adorable craft?! Friday afternoon Maddie was feeling crafty and I was feeling exhausted. Instead of tossing the usual crayons and paper at her I grabbed a package of dot labels out of the craft closet and guided her in a super cute craft!

My first thought was just use the green labels and let Maddie go wild making shamrocks but then we decided to go a little further. We ended up using green and yellow dot labels, green and black construction paper, crayons and a glue stick.

While Maddie worked on making shamrocks I cut out a few pots out of black construction paper.

To keep things even less messy and Maddie on task (which is a major issue lately) I glued the pots onto the green construction paper. When I finished gluing I was able to sit back and let Maddie go wild. So simple, so clean and so entertaining for Maddie!

She decorated with shamrocks and filled the empty pots with gold!

Maddie finished up with crayons by adding rainbows to all of her pictures. A perfect mess free activity to end a very busy week!