Here is an easy spring craft! TULIP FLOWER made with your child’s hand print, paper, pipe cleaners. It’s so simple!
In a few days our school has a Spring Party where we like to have several stations for the youngsters to work on. Each year we need a craft table with a an easy project. To make it easy for the children to do and take with the project home immediately we avoid things that have white craft glue or paint. I’m happy to say I have found an idea that will be Spring themed, with just a few supplies and no drying time. Whoohoo!
This is what you will need:
- Colored paper (red, yellow, pink, orange, purple)
- Green and yellow (or orange) pipe cleaners
- Pencil, tape, scissors
Trace the child’s hand on colored construction paper. Cut the hand shape out.
Use a round pencil to form a curl each finger outwards. Wrap the bottom of the hand around itself so you have a tiny hole at the bottom. Add a piece of clear tape to hold it in place.
Pipe cleaners usually come 12 inches long (30 cms), so cut the pipe cleaners in half.
Bend the end of the 6 inch (15 cms) green pipe cleaner so you have a hook shape. Bend your orange or yellow 6 inch pipe cleaner in half to make a V shape. Twist the orange pieces together, then bend in half and twist again. Then twist 4 or 5 more times so the orange piece is tight. Next we need to twist the green hook end to secure it.
Slide the pipe cleaner stem in through the gap at the bottom of the flower so the green part is below the flower and the orange part is sticking up through the centre of the flower.
Add a ribbon if you make a few for a bouquet of flowers. That is all there is to it.
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Make an Earth Day T-Shirt – Green Tree Hugger Easy Project
Another Earth Day T-Shirt Post!
For a while I have been eyeing making this Tree T-Shirt idea-you simply trace your child’s hand and a bit of their arm to make a tree and branches. Thumbprint in a few shades of green paint for the leaves. You could leave it there or keep going by drawing a picture or writing a “green” Earth Day message next to it.
For this one you just need:
- a sharpie (red and black)
- craft paint -browns and greens (optional more if you paint more on the shirt)
- paint brush
- your kids arm, hand and thumb!
I know this is easy enough to follow with just the photos but I’m not a woman of few words. :o)
Trace your child’s hand.
This is the tree trunk and branches so paint it brown.
Use your thumb and dip it in green paint to make leaves.
Next put a few shades of craft paint on a plate and dip your child’s thumb into it to make thumbprint leaves. I must admit I did a lot of this part as this darling kiddo didn’t want to get too messy. Of course, I didn’t mind, finger painting is good fun!
Add a few thumb prints at the base of the tree for grass. Miss M decided not to have words on this T-shirt but a self portrait and love hearts. We drew it on with a sharpie and then found the craft paints were best to color in the clothes and hair and heart etc.
She was very pleased with the results and wore it to school the next day. The entire week was full of earth day activities so she was really into it. We love nature, we love the earth, we love hugging trees.
This shirt is big enough to wear again another year.
Below are some more nature crafts or earth day ideas! Have a look!
Did you see the earlier earth day shirt we made? It’s the planet earth made with blue and green sharpies-and it says “I care”. Check it out!
Nature Craft – Perfect for Earth Day Activity – Clay Imprints with Plants and Flowers
Easy Vermicomposting! How to start an indoor Worm Compost Bin!
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Make an Easy Earth Day T-Shirt
Earth Day is nearly here and a certain little lady in my house is really into it this year. She is throwing interesting facts about what happens to a recycled bottle and other tidbits into breakfast conversation. I love it!
So we whipped up a T-shirt project in just 10 minutes and let it dry overnight and she is wearing it today. Bam! It’s that fast!
You will need:
- T-shirt
- Rubbing Alcohol
- 2 Bowls
- Elastic Bands
- Sharpies or Permanent Markers (Green, Blue and Red)
- An old Medicine Dropper that you don’t need back after the project
First of all, we should have ironed the t-shirt but it was already after bedtime so its crumpled.
Trace a circle with a medium sized bowl or plate. Be careful, you are using a permanent marker.
Next we used a slightly bigger mixing bowl and put an elastic around the t-shirt to help lay it flat and keep the project from bleeding out of control.
This is where the kids can really have a part! We have the earth-loving-tree-huggin child draw the earth within the circle with blue and green permanent markers. Color in the area as best you can, so there isn’t much white.
Do you recall this project where we watched the sharpie’s cool effect when we add rubbing alcohol? Have a look if you missed it.
This next step involves rubbing alcohol so this should be done by grown ups in a well ventilated area.
Using a dropper to control how much rubbing alcohol comes out-slowly add the alcohol and watch it blend the colors.
Watch the colors blend for a super cool effect.
Remove the bowl and hang on a hanger for 20 mins while it dries. Better yet put it outside so you don’t smell the alcohol.
Lay it flat with a piece of cardboard in the middle so they color doesn’t bleed thru to the back.
Add a love heart with red permanent marker.
Add your message. We decided to write. “I care”.
It doesn’t take long for the rubbing alcohol to evaporate to be nearly dry.
Here are a few more recent projects for Earth Day you might enjoy!
Nature Craft – Perfect for Earth Day Activity – Clay Imprints with Plants and Flowers
http://mybrightideasblog.com/easy-vermicomposting-how-to-start-an-indoor-worm-compost-bin/
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How to Make Spring Flowers Craft From Painted Toilet Paper Rolls
Looking for something to do with all those toilet paper rolls that your hoarding? Or am I the only one who doesn’t toss them directly into the recycle bin? Well all it takes is one toilet paper roll to make 5 flower petals and 2 leaves.
What a nice idea as we welcome Spring…ignore the fact that I’m posting this in mid April and we are shut in from an ice storm. Not to worry, Springtime will be back tomorrow.
For each flower you will need: 1 toilet paper roll, ruler, scissors, glue gun, craft paint and paint brush. For the stem I used a wooden skewer but for safety sake you could use a popsicle stick. For the flower centre I used a big shiny gem but you could use a pom pom or button.
To begin you need to flatten your cardboard roll. Next measure and mark approximately 1 cm or 1/2 inch. It doesn’t have to be exact but we want to end up with it cut into 7 equal pieces.
Take 5 pieces of the cardboard tube and paint them all the same color. This will be the flower petals. Paint the remaining 2 pieces green for leaves. I was surprised at how messy you can get trying to paint this. Paint the inside first then the outside. Then paint the stem skewers or popsicle sticks green. As I mentioned I did use skewers but my 8 year old was poking her big sister with it reminding me how dangerous this would be in a toddlers hands. So as a safer option I would choose a popsicle stick. They come in a few sizes-if you can get the long skinny type like they have at Starbucks that’s what I would choose but any kind would work. Now allow everything to dry thoroughly.
After the petals have had a chance to dry we begin to glue the first two together. Put a dab of glue on the end of one and pinch it with another while it dries. Add a dab of glue to the next one and pinch them together. Add on each one the same way until all 5 petals are glued together.
Place the stem in the middle of the petals and add a dab of glue to it. Pinch the daisy petal to the stem. Add a dab of glue on the other side of the stem and pinch the other petal to stem. This will complete the daisy shape. Put a dab of glue on the stem and place on the leaves-one at a time.
To finish it off glue the gem (or button or pom pom). Now you can pop it into a plant and give it away as a gift. I had extra gems and a flower pot handy so I hot glued the gems all around the flower pot too. It was so easy that I am in the process of making a bit of wall art out of the daisies.
Here is another post using toilet paper rolls.
Toilet Paper Roll Crafts-Use your loo roll tube for easy Crafts!
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Easy Vermicomposting! How to start an indoor Worm Compost Bin!
For the last 11 years I have been keeping a big secret! I have pet worms. I love indoor composting with red wiggler worms. At times I have had as many as 30 Worm Compost bins in my laundry room (that was a bit much but at the time I was vegan and had a home day care so I was really going through a lot of fruit and veggies). I’ve tried several different techniques and bins and in the end I prefer to use the easiest system to make with just 2 regular old Rubbermaid bins.
It all began when I was a stay at home mom using cloth diapers and wanting to be kind to the planet. I had a lot of time to research all sorts of ways to add less to the garbage. We had a compost bin in the backyard but that year it snowed so much that I couldn’t get through the knee-deep snow to the compost without shovelling myself a path and I had a toddler at the time. So, I started my first bin in 2008 by purchasing a jar of worms from a man on kijiji.ca (local website in Canada that we can buy and sell things…similar to Craigslist). The jar was small and seemed to only have dirt in it he assured me it was worth $10 and there were worm babies and eggs and soon I would have a thriving community of worms. He was right. One bin turned into 2 then 3 then I was posting on kijiji to sell containers of worms. Then I would sell completely finished bins with the community of worms well established. I still have my 3 outdoor compost bins but most of the food scraps go into my many indoor bins where the worms compost the food so much faster.
How you can do it too!
To set up a bin you can start with any quantity of worms. Some websites say to start with a pound or 500 worms but truthfully if you can get a friend to share even a small quantity, in the right environment, they will multiply to fill the space perfectly.
All you need to begin:
2 Rubbermaid bins 1 Lid (they prefer to be in the dark so avoid clear bins)
Paper products-shredded paper, cardboard, newspaper (toilet paper rolls, fast food drink holders, shredded bills)
Soil-garden soil from the backyard is fine. No fertilizer or additives.
Food scraps…fruit (not citrus) and veggie peelings (not tomatoes, garlic, onion or potatoes) tea bags, coffee filter with some coffee, crushed egg shells.
Red Wiggler Worms
Drill
Optional, coconut coir, dry leaves, rubber gloves and an old kitchen or garden utensil to move and dig in the bin
A simple bin is made of large Rubbermaid tote/bin with lid. Drill holes in the top for ventilation and in the bottom to allow drainage of liquids. Use a second bin underneath to catch any fluids that drain out the bottom. Prepare bedding before adding the worms. The bedding is made of soil, wet cardboard, shredded newspaper (nothing glossy or full color pages), shredded bills and envelopes (plastic windows removed), egg cartons, toilet paper rolls etc. Garden leaves and soil. Soil can be from the yard or a purchased bag but should not with chemical additives and fertilizers. The environment should be moist but not soaked. Excess moisture will drain into the bin below. If you put rocks or bricks in the bin below you won’t need to empty it very often. In time the liquid below will need to be emptied. Pour the liquid into a jug and dilute with water. Water your garden with this nutrient rich compost tea.
Ideally the bin should be moist- not soggy. If the dirt in the bin seems dry take a spray water bottle and mist it with water or turn the compost dirt to reveal wetter dirt at the base of the bin. If the bin seems too moist, add more dry items to the bedding such as paper, leaves or soil. The worms will travel through the dirt and stir it up.
Kitchen Compost
In a tub collect your family’s food scraps. You can add compost once per week. Remember worms are vegan. Don’t let anyone scrape their plates into our worm compost tub. No meat, dairy or oils. They love fruit-but not citrus. They adore vegetable peelings-but not tomatoes, garlic, onion or potatoes. In moderation tea bags, coffee filter with some coffee, crushed egg shells.
The most important tip to remember is to cover over the food compost with soil and bedding. If you are rushed and just dump the scraps on top of the bin you will get a lot of fruit flies and all the worms will come up to the top. EEK!
Will they try to escape?
Worms will only attempt to escape if there is no food or the environment is uncomfortably wet or acidic. Add kitchen waste once or twice weekly and then a layer of dirt or bedding to discourage fruit flies and mold. Digging a hole to bury the fresh food compost and covering it over is another alternative. Feed your worms any non-meat, non-dairy organic waste such as fruits, vegetables, rinsed-crushed egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper, coffee and filters, and shredded garden waste. Breaking or cutting food scraps into small pieces will help them to break down easier. If you find there is an odour cut back on the amount of food you add to your bin. I have had a bin get a bit sickly and the worms were all on the sides of the inside. This was because I was juicing pineapple and ginger and giving them the pulp from the ground up fruits and making it far too acidic and spicy for them. Not to worry I rescued my wiggly little friends and set their bin back to their best environment again.
The Best Environment
Your worms are best kept at room temperature. Exposure to hot sunny conditions or cold winters of temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius should be avoided. The worms can die in extreme temperatures. I live in London Ontario Canada-summer can be 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) and winter can be -35 degrees Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit). Outdoor worm bins would not work here. Keeping your worms indoors year round is likely your best option. If your vacation plans are for longer than 2 weeks you may want to consider asking a friend to add compost for them.
How to Harvest the finished compost?
After several months the paper products will have disappeared. Its a good time to add fresh bedding. I tend to move all the food to one side of the bin. The worms will begin to migrate over the fresh banana peels and avocado which are their favorite foods in my opinion. The worms will be busy and migrate to one side so you can scoop out the soil from the opposite side. Keep your eye open for eggs and the odd worm so they don’t leave the bin with the soil.
Some websites say to spread the contents of the bin onto a plastic tarp and place a bright light on them so they move away from the light. That seems messy and unkind to me. I prefer to just take out a bit at a time.
Vermicompost will provide nutrients to your plants and will help the soil hold moisture. It can be used in a number of different ways:
1) Sprinkle into a seed row when planting.
2) When transplanting, add a handful of soil to the hole you have dug for the plant.
3) Use as a top dressing, sprinkling the compost around the base of your plants.
4) Mix with potting soil (half and half) for house plants.
Remember to dilute the liquid that drains out and water your garden with it.
I really do enjoy talking about worm composting. I’ve even did demonstrations at the girls school for as young as kindergarten. Grade 3 has a soil part to their curriculum which the last 2 years we were able to teach the students about setting up the bins. As you can see by now, I do love my little worm farm, so send me your questions and comments!
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Plant Puns on Painted Potted Flower Pots – Adorable Gift Idea to Make Them Smile!
Say that title 4 times fast “Plant Puns on Painted Potted Planters”..now that is a tongue twister!
So I was talking crafts with a friend at the office and she showed me these painted terracotta plant pots. What a great gift for someone who is leaving the office or a friend who is down or recovering from illness. It’s an awesome gift that is guaranteed to put a smile on their face! :o) In fact that friend just had her final week at our office as she moves onto another part of the company and I surprised her with the Elvis Parsley flower pot. She loved it! Plus its edible so that is a gift that keeps on giving!
You will need:
Terracotta pots, white or cream paint and paint brush, natural jute rope, hot glue gun and 2 sticks of glue, pencil and Sharpie, a herb or plant and a catchy pun to write on it.
Start by painting the empty terracotta planter pot a white or cream color with a regular craft paint. Allow this to dry for several hours.
You can choose to write the message on now or after you hot glue the rope. Decide where you would like to write the message onto the pot. I recommend that you write it very lightly in pencil first. Also make sure that the ends of the rope don’t end up at the front of the planter. If you make a huge mistake-like miss a letter in a word. Try to save the project by painting over. If that doesn’t cover it you could change the colour to a dark blue, brown or black and use white paint for the lettering. Waste not!
Trim the end of the rope on an angle. Begin by gluing the rope around the top of the flower pot. Since hot glue dries so quickly I would put a 2 inch line of glue and then press the rope into the glue for a few seconds. When this is cooled add another 2 inch line of hot glue and press the rope into the glue. Repeat all the way around the pot until you have filled the rim of the planter and the ends meet up. Trim the end of the rope on an angle and glue the ends down. Watch your fingers!
Lastly, you need to put your plant in the pot. Add a few pebbles in the bottom, then soil, then the plant and a bit more soil to fill the gaps. Awesome! Here are some more that I did this week.
The planter that says “can’t touch this” is meant to be a cactus but there was wasn’t any available at the store so this succulent is acting as a stand in.
This has been a lot of fun. Last night we had a family dinner and I took an Elvis Parsley to my mom’s house. It got a laugh out of the group. If you are looking for a silly hostess gift or housewarming gift I highly recommend giving Elvis.
Have fun with your painted potted plants!
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Nature Craft – Perfect for Earth Day Activity – Clay Imprints with Plants and Flowers
I wanted to blog about a natural craft for earth day and discovered clay impressions of plants and leaves and flowers. What a great idea! The only problem is that its just the very beginning of spring and the garden is ugly. Except for a few crocuses there is nothing nice around my home. I popped into the florist shop (Regency Florists) nearby and asked if they had any flower scraps like a bit of fern that we could use for this craft project. The lovely young lady made a little bouquet of scraps for free! How lovely is that! We are going to take her one of these lovely creations as a thank you gift.
Supplies
So you will need CLAY and a very smooth surface to work on. If you have a clear bit of plastic table cloth or a very smooth kitchen cutting board-either will work. You also need some flowers or plants, a rolling pin or water bottle that has smooth sides. Later when the clay is dry you may want to use some craft paint to add the green or flower color. Also if you want to turn it into a mobile or wind chimes you might need a chopstick or skewer to poke a hole in it.
Our clay is from the dollar store craft aisle. We just slice off chunks and made different shapes with it. Then we rolled it flat. Next we place a bit of plant or flower onto the clay and rolled over it gently with a smooth water bottle. Pull the plant off the clay and admire the details now imprinted in the clay. If you want to add a hole-this is the time to grab your kebab skewer or chopstick.
Allow the clay to dry overnight. It should feel completely dry before you paint it. I just used regular craft paint.
This would be a lovely gift from a child to a teacher or grandparent. Its a great craft for all ages though. I highly recommend for adults to give it a try. Its very therapeutic! This project has a lot of possibilities so let your imagine go wild. Find things around the house with interesting textures to imprint the clay.
Have fun!
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Rainy Day Kids Craft – Raindrop Sun Catchers
Is it raining near you today? It is spring so we are going to have a lot more to come. Rain and sun is what is going to make my brown lawn green and that naked tree grown luscious leaves. In the meantime, let’s make the best of it with a cool craft.
You will need:
Several shades of Blue Crayons, Wax Paper, Iron-set to low heat setting, Old tea towel and Paper Towel, Scissors, a Pencil Sharpener, String or Yarn or Embroidery Floss (Blue) and a Hole Punch.
Choose some blue crayons and peel off the paper so they are ready for sharpening. I chose several shades of blue, turquoise and white. Lay out a piece of wax paper and sharpen the crayons overtop of the wax paper. Spread the shavings out. Next cut another piece of wax paper the same size and place it on top of the shavings for a crayon shavings sandwich. I did the craft on a wooden cutting board with a tea-towel under the wax paper and paper towel on top of the other wax paper. The shavings move around a lot so you may end up with some melted to the towels. My main thought was trying to protect the iron from permanently melting crayons to it. Now you make a quick run over the top layer with the iron. Adults should do the ironing-start at lowest setting if it doesn’t seem warm enough increase a bit at a time.
Draw a raindrop shape onto the wax paper and cut out the water drop shape. Next use a hole punch to pop a hole in the top of the raindrop. String up the raindrops and tape or wrap it around a stick or dowel or wooden spoon. If you haven’t got anything to use just put it with a line of tape right on the window. If I had blue painters tape I would have just put a line of that on the window.
The sun is trying to push through the clouds!! Better hurry and grab a kiddo and doggo and get out for a walk….
How to make a DollarStore Picture Frame into a Cork Board! Easy Project!
Hello again! Today’s project is all made from Dollarstore items! Its a bulletin board or corkboard-covered in fabric! The Dollarama Stores near me are getting great craft items. They are no longer everything in the store is $1 but they are getting better quality items and still much cheaper and closer than going to my local craft store.
For this project I purchased a very modern photo frame for $4, a roll of cork $3, a roll of jute (this one had a white painted design) you could use fabric for this instead. Additionally, you will need your scissors, ruler and hot glue gun and some cute tacks to post pictures or notes to it.
The frame I used was square 12×12. Take off the backing and remove the glass from the frame. Use the backing to trace and cut the cork to exactly the same size. Next cut the fabric larger than the backing. Make it an inch wider all the way around so you can wrap it around the cork and board and secure it on the back.
Now stack the layers-the board on the bottom, then the cork, then the fabric-and push it into the frame. Pull the fabric in tight. Everything should be snug.
Hot glue the fabric flat-close to the edge and trim off extra fabric. Fold the corners so it is tidy with a mitred look. Find some little pictures and cute push pins. At the moment I have it leaned against a wall on a side table but it could be hung up on the wall….in fact-there is plenty of supplies left over to make more frames and put a collection of 2 or 3 on a wall! I just took down some shelves and know just the place!
All in all this is a 10 minute project with a cost of about $10 with left overs to make more projects. It was a success!
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Sharpie Tie Die Coloured Shirts
There is so much you can do with Sharpie permanent markers! For this project I wanted to see for myself what happens when you mix sharpies with a white tshirt and drops of rubbing alcohol. I was hoping for a vibrant a tie dye effect. It turned out pretty cool!
For this project, you need permanent markers (like Sharpie’s), a plain t-shirt, rubbing alcohol, a piece of cardboard or plastic to put between the layers of t-shirt so it doesn’t bleed through to the back side of the shirt. You will also need an eye dropper or baby medicine syringe (safety note-throw it out after using it for this project) for dropping rubbing alcohol onto the artwork you create.
Its harder to write on a t-shirt than you might think. Fortunately, I was just aiming for some funky designs that would look bright when the colours were all blurred together. This would be very cool on a cotton pillow cover or canvas running shoes!
The rubbing alcohol is really quite smelly and I drenched my shirt in it because I loved the process-it’s like watching fire works! When I made this shirt I was battling a cold and my nose was stuffed up…but when my family came home they said it was really strong. It might be better to do this when the windows can be open or even as an outdoor project.
The best thing about this wearable art is that every one will be an original!
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