Patriotic Coffee Filters

Happy 4th of July! This is a simple project to go along with the Summer holidays. They can either become a garland or become stand alone festive paintings. We got the idea from katydidandkid.com here.

All you Need:

White Coffee Filters

Tempera Paint 

Paint Brushes

String/yarn
glue
newspaper

Paint your coffee filters. Make sure to lay down newspaper because the coffee filters bleed through. Let them dry.

Then either keep them as is,  maybe create patriotic flowers, or string them up into a bunting or garland!  All we did was fold them in half and glue them on to string.

Happy 4th of July!

Glittery Magnolia Pods

When were on Thanksgiving Break in the South of the US we gathered some magnolia pods as we always do to add to our continuous nature collection. They are vey similar to Pine Cones, but have a large stem on them.  I've seen many others put glitter on pine cones,  so I thought why not put some glitz on Magnolia Pods and dress them up for the holidays? So that is what we did.

Here are the Magnolia Pods before glitter.

Paint some glue on the pods.

Then either sprinkle and shake the glitter on the pods...

Or place them in a small box and roll them around in the glitter for less mess.

You could fashion some ribbon onto your pods or pine cones.

Hang them as ornaments or garland.

Or just lay them out or place them in a decorative bowl for the holidays or anytime.

Happy Glittering!

Bird Feeder Garland

This is a great all around activity that C really enjoyed!!! We created A Bird Feeder Garland using bread, cranberries, and oat cereal! The great thing is that this activity goes along with a wonderful book that I just discovered recently!  Keep reading to find out what the book is and be sure to check it out at your local library!!! It is a perfect after Christmas read!

First,  to prepare the bread in a fun way, we cut out shapes with cookie cutters!

Then , we used a straw to create a hole in the middle of each bread shape so they would be easy to place on a needle and string.  I also put the bread in a 250 oven to toast the bread a little so it wouldn't tear while stringing.  You could also let the bread dry out too!

After the bread was prepared,  I put it in a bowl along with the cereal, and cranberries.  Also, use frozen cranberries because they are easier to string with less mess!  We used a tapestry needle for stringing and yarn for our string.

C took a little warming up to begin this activity, but once she got started she kept going!  She kept saying look how long her garland was....very proud indeed!  You could work with patterning and measuring for this activity.

Here are our finished garlands ready for hanging on a tree or bush outside.  Just happened to finally snow and  I'm sure birds and animals will be happy for this wintery treat!  I also used our popcorn garland from our Christmas tree to go along with our Bird Feeder Garland!

The perfect book to go along with this activity is The After-Christmas Tree  by Linda Wagner Tyler.  I accidentally checked this book out for Christmas and was pleasantly surprised!!! It is about a family that is saddened by the ending of Christmas and they have a Winter Party and create decorations to feed the animals for their discarded Christmas tree outside!  C loved this book and keeps asking me if we are going to have a Winter Party?  This activity might just become a tradition that we do after the holiday season!

What are your After Christmas Traditions?

This post is linked to: The Play Academy

Paint Chip Candy Cane Garland!!!

We've done quite a few posts on paint chip art,  but when I saw Paint Cut Paste's post on Paint Chip Christmas Trees it got me thinking for a while about another idea! Paint chip Candy Cane Garland and ornaments!!! It was definitely an "AHA" moment for me! Take a look.

I had a bunch of paint chip samples on hand and just happened to have red and green shades! So happy! I know there are other colors of candy canes, but I just wanted to stick with the traditional colors! You can either free draw the candy cane on the back of the paint chip or use a cookie cutter as a pattern for a more uniform result!  I made the candy canes slanted so the white stripes would run diagonally.

After I traced the candy canes,  I cut them out and punched two holes on the top.  Then I strung a red and green ribbon through the holes. I made sure the red ribbon showed through on the green candy cane and vice versa!

I just love the results!!!  If you are worried about the back showing on the candy canes, trace two candy canes back to back and glue together.  Then the garland will look pretty from both sides!

You could also make ornaments with the candy canes or whatever you choose to make with them!

Cassie even made her own Colorful Paint Chip Candy Cane Garland!!!

Other Holiday Paint Chip Ideas Around The Internet:

Be sure to check out Paint Cut Paste's Paint Chip Christmas Trees here.

Dilly Dali Art has a great post on a Paint Chip Christmas Chain here.

Angela Sgro Designs has some wonderful Paint Chip Christmas Tree Cards here

A Spoonful of Sugar has some cute Paint Chip Gift Tags here

Our other Paint Chip Posts:

Paint Chip Rainbow Chain.

Paint Chip Collage and Easter Egg.

I'm thinking of more paint chip ideas for the future....
Stay Tuned!!!

This post is linked to: It's Playtime

Contact Paper Fall Leaf Garland

Contact paper is always FUN and I decided to preserve some Fall leaves with it and ended up creating a garland!  I think it turned out pretty!  It makes such a whimsical Fall decoration! Before putting the leaves on contact paper,  I pressed them in books to flatten them out for a few days.

When the leaves were flattened, I placed our leaves on the sticky side of the contact paper and then put another sticky sheet on top.  C is still fascinated with the "stickiness" of this paper!  Maybe I should have her just explore a sheet fro sensory sticky play?

Then, after sticking the two sheets together with the leaves between,  I cut around the leaves, leaving an edge around them.

Then, I punched two hole through the bottom part of all the leaves.  They kind of look like ghost leaves!

Next, I strung the leaves with yarn.  You could use a pretty ribbon too.  I'm sure there are other ways this garland could be spruced up? What do you think?  This garland looks really pretty against a window with the light shining through the leaves!!!

We've used contact paper quite a bit with many projects!  Check them out if you never have:

Contact Paper Nature Collage

Contact Paper Rose Window

Mother's Day Sun Catcher

So Easy Kaleidoscope!

I Love these New Contact Paper Projects from The Artful Parent:

Autumn Leaves Stained Glass

Flower Mandala

Fairy Wings

This post is linked to: Pinteresting Party, It's Playtime, Sunday Showcase, Craft schooling Sunday

What are your favorite projects to do with contact paper?

Spin Art Easter Eggs

We had a lot of fun making spin art again! Everyone Loves Spin Art and I'm sure we will revisit this activity again and again! Last time we created Valentine hearts from our spin art and this time Easter Eggs.  Check out my Valentine Spin Art Tutorial here.  I decided to make some garland with our spin art too:

We used our Melissa and Doug Spin Art Machine which was a Christmas gift of mine! (Not Cassie's) It is a great little machine, but uses only 4x4 inch pieces of paper.  It would be neat to try out all the  different Spin Art machines and see which one is the best!!!! Do you have a favorite?

We used the paint that came with the machine and some watered down liquid acrylic paint. We had a wide variety to choose from.

We tried adding paint while it was spinning. Fun! It is always amazing to watch and the best part is that it is different every time!

We tried adding paint first and then spinning too! Both ways are fun!

Here are our Spin Art masterpieces and then some! Aren't they FANTASTIC??

To make them into Easter Eggs, simply trace or draw an egg shape over your Spin Art like this and cut them out:

For Easter Egg Garland attach your eggs to yarn, string, or ribbon. We used tape on the back to attach the eggs to the yarn. They make a Gorgeous Easter decoration!  Very unique too! You could also just attach each egg with a single string for an Easter Tree. I'm sure there are many possibilities!

What do you think???

What have you created with Spin Art?

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Paint Chip Rainbow Chain

Another project with paint chips: a Paint Chip Rainbow Chain! (Be sure to check out our Paint Chip Collages.) Very simple and easy to do! All you need are some paint chips from your local home improvement store, scissors/paper cutter/x-acto blade, and a stapler.  Cassie is great with the stapler,  but with this project it was difficult for her to do it herself. I had to hold the paper and she could squeeze the stapler.  Here is a finished chain:

Here is our beautiful arrangement of paint chips cut into strips.  I used a paper cutter which worked out really well to cut pretty straight strips.  You may even be able to find paint chips that are already long thin rectangles to form into chains.  Grab a stapler and your ready to go!

These chains would make a great decoration for Spring to brighten up any room.  They would also be a great decoration for a rainbow themed birthday party which I've seen at  the blogs The Imagination Tree and Paint Cut Paste. Two great blogs with amazing ideas!

Still having fun and thinking of more ideas with paint chips!!! 

A reader gave me an idea for my Paint Chip Collage post:

Use paint chips in "earth" tones or "grey" tones to make a collage for a rainy day!

The ideas are endless!

Do you have any other ideas for a Paint Chip Chain Garland besides a rainbow themed chain?

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What To Do With Magic Nuudle Creations?

I was always apprehensive about buying these Magic Nuudles,  but finally decided to buy them about a year ago and we LOVE them! Magic Nuudles are biodegradable building blocks made from cornstarch and you just need to dab them with a damp sponge to stick them together!  No other materials are needed!  Well, we collected all these little projects and didn't know what to do with them until visiting a friend who had the idea to string them together--FABULOUS! Why didn't I think of that?

 Here are our creations before the garland!
 

Just take a tapestry needle or a plastic needle and string
your Magic Nuudle creations on some yarn and you'll
have a CUTE, COOL,  and COLORFUL
garland, necklace, or ornament!

HOORAY!!!!!

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