Craft Blog|all things crafty & creative

If you and your family love crafts that spook and scare, then you just may want to invest in Creepy Crafts. This book provides instructions for making dozens of frightful and horrifying handicraft projects with a materials list for each craft covered in the book. With this book you get 64 pages of fun spooky crafts the whole family will enjoy.

If you want to spook your kids or give your co-workers something to think about, you need to have a copy of this inexpensive craft book so that you have your hands on crafts that will make them jump I their skin.

Here are a couple ideas of how you can use the crafts in this book:

• If your kids walk in the door asking what’s for dinner and keep nagging about it, then serve bowls of Bloody Nose Soup.

• Maybe your best girlfriend has a birthday coming up and you want to give her a gag gift. You can make her a pair of Dangling Digit Earrings.

There are tons of ideas like these in Creepy Crafts. It is a perfect find for kids who love crafts because it is filled with crafts, not just for Halloween, but for any day where kids just want to be little monsters.

Okay, so maybe you don’t want to give your girlfriend those Dangling Digits Earrings but your kids will love making gory crafts. If that’s so then this book is a perfect addition to your craft library. Whatever the reason, this is spooktacular find.

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Often 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.  Just ask them, and they’ll let you know that they enjoy creating with their hands as well.

There isn’t anything saying that a boy can’t enjoy any of the crafts mentioned above, but they are thought to be a little more feminine.  Boys typically need some crafts that allow them to be creative, in a masculine kind of way.  The following crafts might be what they’re looking for.

Woodworking – You can’t deny it, woodworking seems to be more of a manly craft than something a girl would like.  That doesn’t mean a girl couldn’t enjoy woodworking, just that it’s not a feminine craft.  In fact, you would probably see anyone enjoying this craft with dirty hands, sawdust all over them, and possibly a little sweaty.  Those just aren’t things most girls enjoy.  A boy, on the other hand, would think it was great!

There are a number of different areas of woodworking that a boy can try.  The simplest is whittling; the most complicated is to make a designer piece of furniture, a musical instrument, or a boat.  All of these are considered woodworking, although they’re also called something else.

Whittling is taking a piece of wood, often a stick, or driftwood that is found, and removing small pieces of wood to create an animal.  Balsa wood is a good wood for beginner whittlers because it is easy to manipulate.  The denser the wood, the harder it will be to remove what shouldn’t be there.  Make sure to keep your whittling knife, or any other item used for carving, sharp.  This will make your job 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 you have to be much more careful with what you’re doing.  If you make something simple like a bird feeder, being exact isn’t that critical.  It would be extremely important to be precise when you’re making fine furniture out of expensive woods.

Besides woodworking, boys sometimes do enjoy crafts that are considered to be 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.  Let’s see anyone call them a sissy for enjoying these 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 that boys would enjoy will most likely be more physically demanding than what a girl would choose.  There are also boys and men that enjoy the more feminine crafts, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Whatever they choose, it’s important to remember that boys can be crafty, too.

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Toddlers love to create 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. Try one or more so they can create artistic masterpieces.

1.  Noodle necklaces are so easy a toddler can make them.  Of course, Mom may have to color the noodles beforehand, but the results will be 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 are easy and fun for toddlers, particularly if they like to make noise, and almost all toddlers are experts at that.

• 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.  Let your budding artist create by making edible finger paints with sweetened condensed milk and food coloring.

• 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 hands quickly to keep the food coloring from staining their hands.

4.  Pompom caterpillars are furry friends you won’t mind finding 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, you may want to hot glue the caterpillars onto a clothes pin with a magnet and use them to show off your child’s other artwork.

5.  T-shirts with painted handprints are more than just a craft.  They are a snapshot to help you remember your child when they were little.

• 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.

Making crafts with your toddler can be a highlight of your day.  These five crafts, perfect for toddlers, may be enough to spark new creativity in your toddler, and in you.

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Girls of all ages seem to have an affinity for pretty things.  They want their clothes just right and their makeup perfect. They like to create beautiful things as well.  Here are three crafts girls will love – to make and to give.

Jewelry making can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be to begin with.  There are a few required tools to start with, however.  To make beaded earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, you will need to purchase these items:

• Beads in various sizes
• Head pins
• Earring hooks
• Wire cutters
• Round nosed pliers
• Elastic thread
• Jump rings and other findings

Here’s how to make a simple bead earring set:

1.  Place the desired bead onto the head pin, either as a single bead, or in a particular design.
2.  Leave at least one inch between the last bead and the end of the head pin. If there is more wire than one inch, trim it with the wire cutters so it’s only one inch.
3.  Use the round nosed pliers to bend the wire away from you, forming an “L”.
4.  Place the pliers in the middle of the bent piece and curl it toward you to create a circle.
Do not close the circle yet.
5.  Place the earring hook onto the curl and then close the curl.
6.  Make the second earring to look like the first.

There’s no limit to the earrings you can make with a little time and practice.  Who knows, this may be the start of a great craft for the older girl to enjoy. For other instructions for making jewelry, go to your favorite search engine and look for “free jewelry instructions”.

Girls and women alike enjoy using their hands to create beautiful art pieces with nothing more than some fabric and colored thread.  Cross-stitch is one of the simpler of the needlecrafts.  All you need is even weave fabric like Aida, a pattern, a needle, the required floss, and an embroidery hoop.

Find the center by folding the fabric in half and then in half again.  Mark this point.  The center of the pattern is generally marked with points along the edges.  Follow the arrows to find the center.  Using two threads of the symbol closest to the center, create a stitch by going up in the upper right corner of the center square and down through the lower left. Continue this half stitch going to the right until you reach another color symbol. Come back through the upper left corner, and go through the lower right corner. The complete stitch looks like a cross, thus the name cross-stitch.  Complete the colors, moving from one to the next, until the entire pattern is complete.  Choose the best framing for the finished project and display it with pride.

Scrapbooking is another craft that is popular, especially with girls.  Not only can a girl use scrapbooking as an artistic outlet, they can also journal in them, store all their photos of their friends, and use them as a photo diary of sorts.  The ideas for scrapbooking are limited only by each person’s imagination.  Funny or chic, serious or playful, there’s no right or wrong way to create a scrapbook.  Each is a one-of-a-kind creation to commemorate a girl’s life.

Girls love to create things that are meaningful to them. These three crafts are something girls will enjoy doing, perhaps for the rest of their lives.  Encourage them to try a craft and watch what they can create.

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Many people think that once a child gets older, it loses its interest in crafts.  That isn’t necessarily the case.  These craft ideas for older children can help bring the artist back out in your child.

Girls seem to love scrapbooks, and who can blame them?  It gives her a chance to create a personalized book for all her memories.  You purchase a small scrapbook and allow her to fill it up.  She may surprise you by adding some journaling in it, too.  Stickers and other embellishments make them more individual.  The sky is the limit on what she can do with a scrapbook.

Polar fleece blankets have been all the rage. Your older child, girl or boy, may like to create one of these.

• Decide how big they’d like the finished blanket to be, and then add 12 inches to the length of the fabric if they would like to create a fringe for it.  They may choose all one color, or use two contrasting colors for variety.
• Make sure each piece of fabric is the same size and shape.  Trim any excess fabric off where needed.
• Lay the fabric out in front of you, wrong side up, so that it is horizontal.
• Draw a vertical line on the fabric, going up 6 inches from the cut edge.  Do this with both ends.
• Now create horizontal lines going from the vertical line, ½ inch apart, on each end of the fabric.
• Cut along the horizontal lines to make the fringe.
• If you’re using two pieces of fabric, tie the corresponding fringes together to join the fabric and create one blanket.

Let your older child create their own “treasure” box by decorating an old cigar box.

• Find a wooden or heavy cardboard cigar box, with the hinge intact.
• Using craft glue called “Modge Podge”, paint a thin layer of the glue onto the surface they are working on.
• They can decorate the box with photos from magazines, handwritten notes, or whatever they like.  Then paint at least three coats of the glue over the paper, allowing it to dry thoroughly before adding the next coat.
• When it’s dry, they can add other embellishments to make it entirely theirs.

Painted flower pots have been popular for years. This could lead your child into a new business, or just allow them to release their artistic nature.

• Purchase small terracotta flower pots and the dishes that go with them.
• With an acrylic paint, decorate the outside of the pot however they like.
• Decorate the dish in a similar fashion so they obviously go together.
• Your older child can plant something in the pot after it has dried, or fill it with something else. The choice is theirs.

Just because your child is growing older, doesn’t mean that they cease enjoying crafts.  These are just a few of the many crafts an older child may enjoy.  There is also cross-stitch, painting, drawing, and a myriad of others.  Encourage them to spend some time creating; they’ll probably be glad to have the creative outlet.

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Grandmas adore handmade gifts from their grandchildren, even if they don’t have a use for the gift. They know just how to fawn over present given in love.  The following are five ideas that children may like to make for Grandma this year.  (Mom, be prepared to help, just in case.)

1.  What woman doesn’t love jewelry?  Make Grandma a perler bead necklace.  Perler beads are short pieces of plastic that are specially made to fuse together when heated with an ordinary household iron.  You can buy kits at 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 (a heart would be great), why not hot glue some ribbon, sequins, or plastic gems on to make each a one-of-a-kind gift.

2.  Potpourri pies are popular in gift stores.  Here’s how your little one can create a similar experience.  Create this pie with 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, and then 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.

3.  Help your child make Grandma a great pillow without having to sew.  Purchase a floral polar fleece large enough to make a pillow from and some fiberfill to stuff it.  Cut this out into 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 and then finish filling it up, making it as fluffy as you would like.  You can leave the pillow as is or decorate with paint markers, or any way your child would like to decorate it.

4.  This is another gift that 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 (you should be able to find this at a major craft store), 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, then 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.

5.  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 would be great for this, and your child could decorate it they like, as well.

Mother’s Day is a time to let mothers and grandmothers know that we love them.  Each of the above five gifts made by your children will make Grandma’s day.  Not only will she know that your child loves her, but she’ll treasure each gift that was made especially for her.

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You can get that theater popcorn feeling even without the big fancy popcorn machines and over priced topping! Get out some plain old paper lunch bags, or better yet some cereal bowls from the dollar store! Some foam shapes, paint, and anything else you can find to decorate your popcorn bags and bowls with. Obviously if you paint or glue foam on the bowls they won’t be dishwasher safe anymore ~ that’s why we’re using dollar store plastic bowls! Decorate away and pop up some microwave popcorn. Everyone still gets their own popcorn and you didn’t even have to pay $8.99 per person to get in, or $6 for nachos! LOL If it’s raining where you are this weekend like it is here, I’m sure a movie night might come in handy.

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Well, to make up for my lack of craftiness to share on Friday for the craft club, I present you with the magnets my kids made today. There are only three, Dylan was at his friends house this afternoon so he didn’t make any yet. I still have plenty of supplies for making more though. And I discovered we are in need of glue. All that glue I bought for school and I totally forgot to buy some extra for at home. To the dollar store I will go!

In the meantime I will be hunting through unpacked boxes this week to find some fabric to sew with and finally break in that sewing machine Brian bought me for Christmas. Yes, it is still unused. LOL But, first I’ve got to put away some laundry and unpack the remainder of luggage that is sitting in my stairway from our recent trip to Pennsylvania. Yes, I still have things to unpack, yes I’m a total slacker about everything.

Technorati Tags: online craft club, magnet crafts, kids crafts, craft stuff

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The kids have just headed back to school. It can be a stressful time for them, and you. Now is a good time to set up a project that’s fun for them and for you. Head out to your local craft store, I know Michael’s Crafts has the supplies but you can probably pick them up at other places too and even the dreaded yucky Wal-Mart place will have most of what you need! Look for the unfinished wood section, you’ll find bar stools, step stools, nightstands, boxes, shelves and all sorts of things that are ready for you to transform!

Let them pick out what they want to make, a stool for in their room, a little shelf to put their books on, a nightstand to have by their bed, a step stool for reaching the medicine cabinet. All are great choices. If you don’t have some primary colored paints already, pick those up and grab a small can of protective sealant. In that same aisle you’ll probably also find some wood cut outs and embellishments to use to make it fun! Other embellishment options include ribbon, and fabric! You could wrap ribbon around the legs of a stool, or make it padded by adding fabric and batting. Your imagination is the limit.

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With Valentine’s Day parties coming up this month with the kids now is a good time to start planning some crafts and projects to do with them. I love Oriental Trading for my kids craft projects, we order a couple times a year and the prices are great, delivery is quick, and there are so many projects to choose from. They’re also great for getting the supplies to put together some nice party goodie bags for the kids. To add to their already low prices and get a really great deal, stop by this coupon website and pick up a coupon code before you shop!

Technorati Tags: crafts, kids crafts, Valentine’s, Oriental Trading

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