Discovering 2014: Dreamcatcher

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was a Dreamcatcher. I made one once before as a young teen, but once I recalled how to get the web pattern down it went pretty quick.

You'll need the inside hoop of an embroidery hoop, embroidery floss (amount will vary by your hoop size; I needed under half a skein for the smallest hoop), and you can optionally use 6mm and 8mm beads as well.

Discovering 2014: Egg Carton Flowers

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Egg Carton Flowers, inspired by this pin. When I started this we had an internet outage, so I had to go off of months-old memory for this one. This is a kid-friendly project, though depending on age you may want to pre-cut the cartons.

Before diving in though, I'd like to take a brief moment to celebrate blog post #100! Wooooo! *throws around confetti*

All you need for this is an egg carton, scissors, paint and pipe cleaners (optional).

Discovering 2014: Egg Carton Ladybugs

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Us northerners are still stuck in the depths of this very long and cold winter, but it doesn't mean we can't dream of a nice spring day. Today was the first project of March: Egg Carton Ladybugs, inspired by this pin.

This one the kids can definitely get involved in; the only parts mine didn't do were cutting up the egg carton and gluing at the end (because I got frustrated with school glue and used hot glue instead). You'll need some egg carton cups (I used both scissors and an Exacto knife to cut mine out), paint (at least one bright color and black) and paint brushes, pompoms, chenille stems and googly eyes. How you want to glue it is your choice: I tried to use school glue but it wouldn't keep for me, so I opted for hot glue, though that was a bit messier.

Discovering 2014: Personalized Frames

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Personalized Frames. The idea came from a gift my sister-in-law gave all the ladies in the family for the holiday. It had our first name initial on a scrapbook paper background in a 4x6 matte frame.

For this, I picked up a 4x6 matted frame from the dollar store. I had some leftover green matte that I ended up using for the backdrop, as well as an extra iron-on transfer from a value pack I got many moons ago.

After adhering the rose iron-on with Mod Podge (any glue should work), I used some of my scrapbook embellishments to jazz it up and closed up the frame. I think I'll send it to my mom for Mother's Day this year!

The Flavored Marshmallow update is still yet to come this evening. We've been working on it and have them cut into strips and were letting the sticky insides solidify some before cubing the remainder.

Tomorrow's project is a Dry Erase Frame!

Whipped Cream Frosting Update!

The original batch of Whipped Cream Frosting, made back on the 11th, was definitely a hit in the household and went pretty quick. It was used on cookies, fruit and ice cream.

We decided to pick up some more fruit this weekend and re-make the whipped cream with cinnamon oil flavoring, which tastes amazingly great with apples! Oil flavoring is more potent, so you only use about 25% of what the recipe calls for in extracts. This time my youngest child helped make the recipe and he had a lot of fun watching the mixture change.

We can't wait until the local apples are in season here and to try out more flavors with the whipped cream. :)

Discovering 2014: Tissue Paper Bowl and Yarn Egg

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Well, the Confetti Bowl did not happen. I searched a few stores last night and couldn't mind anywhere that sold the non-shred confetti. While I could have made my own using my 3-hole puncher, I figured an alternative to making my wrist weep would work just fine.

Today's project was a Tissue Paper Bowl and a Yarn Egg. The bowl was done in the same style the Confetti Bowl would have been, using Mod Podge on a balloon. The Yarn Egg was an idea passed on to me by my friend Rijacki (check out her Facebook page here!) last night, and since I had the supplies I figured why the heck not?!

Discovering 2014: Paper Bag Booklets

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Paper Bag Booklets. This is a great project to do with the kids or for a cute and simple personalized gift. The idea came from this blog post by Stellaire.

I followed most of her instructions but I decided to cut the side flaps out instead of gluing the front and back together. My pages weren't as thick but they were still perfectly functional.

Discovering 2014: Bubble Wands

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Bubble Wands, fashioned after this picture found on Pinterest. This is a pretty quick craft that you could do for or with kids. I used about a foot or so of 18-gauge wire and some chunky beads. 20-gauge wire would likely work just fine as well, and the length you can vary depending on what you want

I made the purple by looping and wrapping the top then having a single wire at the bottom, and the brown by folding the wire in half, wrapping a few times, then having a double pronged bottom. Both I curled in after the beads were on; the purple with a flat spiral and the brown spiral curling outward.

I ran into the problem of being unable to take a picture while blowing bubbles, so once again my husband kindly obliged.

Tomorrow's project is Whipped Cream Frosting!

Discovering 2014: Homemade Valentines

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Homemade Valentines. It was supposed to be Bubble Wands, but I swapped the two since one of my kids needs to take his Valentines in early on Monday.

For this I used Microsoft Publisher to make the Valentine cards, but I imagine you get about the same result using Microsoft Word or similar software. You could also write them out by hand if you're feeling overly ambitious! After I was happy with what I had, I test printed them out (to make sure I remembered how to align the front/back correctly), then finally printed them out on cardstock.

To go along with the color sayings, we included little baggies I got on clearance from Michaels with crayons.. that I also got a box of 200 on clearance from Michaels. :) We originally had all eight colors in the baggies, but then I realized there were too many needed (48 bags total!), so we dropped it down to four each.

Tomorrow's project is Homemade Cheez-Its!

Discovering 2014: Italian Lemon Drop Cookies

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today's project was Italian Lemon Drop Cookies, better known as Anginetti. I followed this recipe from Food.com exactly, and they turned out perfectly. Since I didn't have to deviate from the recipe at all, I'm just going to simply share some pictures I took while working on them!

Discovering 2014: Embroidery Floss Tassels

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My final project of January was Embroidery Floss Tassels! This is a very quick craft to do. 

Make some loops with your embroidery floss, and cut off a length to wrap close to the top. Once that's tied off, snip the ends off on the longer half, fluff,  and you have a tassel!

The more loops you have the fuller it will be. Pictures are below! 

Discovering 2014: Crochet Stitch Markers

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day 27 project were Crochet Stitch Markers. A while back my mother-in-law (whose beautiful dishcloth is included in the picture above) had asked me to make her some, but not researching what in the world ones specifically for crochet would look like, the stitch markers I made weren't able to be removed, and therefore became keychains. It's past time to rectify that mistake, and that's the heart of today's project!

I checked Pinterest over the weekend and found a few different styles. The three major ones I found were leverback findings (similar variation here), curved wire findings, and safety pins. Of the three, I made stitch markers with leverback and curved wire findings. I also used some random chunkier beads I had, including the yellow owls shown in one of those linked pins, and a couple of wigjig wires that were abandoned.

Discovering 2014: No-Sew Crayon Wrap

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day 25 project was a No-Sew Crayon Wrap. The project came from seeing this pin by Small + Friendly. Her full tutorial is quite excellent and should be able to help with making your own!

For differences: I didn't have a disappearing ink pen, I didn't stiffen the felt (though afterward I think it would have been better stiffened), and I used scissors more than my exacto knife. There wasn't a size listed for the ribbon, but I estimated that it was 3/8" grosgrain.

Discovering 2014: Whipped Cream Dollops

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day 19 project was Whipped Cream Dollops. This is one I actually started a few days ago to ensure everything was done in time. The idea came from this pin by The Creative Mama. Her dollops turned out much nicer in appearance than mine (it was only my second time using a icing bag) and she made the whipped cream from scratch, but the end result is the same. =)

This was actually supposed to be a February project, but when we ended up with a partially used whipped cream container, I decided to bump it up by swapping it with the Paper Bag Booklet day. The supplies are: whipped cream (store-bought or handmade), wax paper, decorating/icing bag, something to set your dollops on while they freeze, space in your freezer (pretty sure that's a commodity), and a container to transplant the dollops to after they're done.

Discovering 2014: Button Bookmarks

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day 14 project was Button Bookmarks. The project came from this pin by the I Heart Nap Time blog. This is a simple craft that you involve the kids in (well, excluding the hot glue part!).

The supply list for this is simple: large paper clips, buttons, hot glue and a bit of felt.

Discovering 2014: Paper Bows

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project every day throughout the year!

My day three project was Paper Bows. This was a much shorter project, only taking about 10-15 minutes for my first try. It's pretty simple and I see it as a nice way to add a personalized touch to a present. This could also be a nice craft to do with your kids!

The directions to create the bow are easy to follow.

Summer Projects for Kids: Foamie Stamps and Butterfly Clothespins

Almost every Saturday this summer I've been doing an art project with my five and eight year old kids. For some odd reason, the teenager isn't interested. ;) Here are a couple of easy projects we tackled.

Foamie Stamps
For these you save the lids from bottles. I saved lids from Gatorades and a huge one from a Sunny D we had. Foamie stickers can be found at Michaels or Jo-Anns, and I've often seen them on sale for at least 50% off, making the huge value pack containers cost about $3.50 each, or the smaller packs cost about $1.50. Cheap ink pads can usually be found at a dollar store if you don't have any.

Just put the stickers on the caps--yeah, it's that simple! For ours we also used a little bit of Kids Mod Podge around the edges of the stickers for longer-lasting adhesion, then once that was dry, the kids had a blast using them. I cut off the top of an egg carton for a stamp storage spot.

Butterfly Clothespins

This one ended up not quite turning out as I expected, but the kids were happy with the end result. They painted their clothespins (generic acrylic paint) before lunchtime and let them dry for an hour or so. Then I gave each child two fuzzy pipe cleaners to put beads on, leaving some space at either end.

Once that was done, we formed each one into a wing shape and then (the part I'm not thrilled with) I lashed them to the clothespin using part of a metallic pipe cleaner. I probably could have used my glue gun to get the wings on there instead, but doing it that way did allow for the clothespin to still be usable so they can clip it onto places and the wings even flap a little if they bob it around. The remainder of the metallic pipe cleaner was used for some antennae.

In the coming weeks we'll be working with clay, making noodle light sabers and painting rocks!