Tag: craftiness

Easter Egg Wreath is Easy and Inexpensive

Posted on March 25, 2014March 27, 2020 by Mama

I know March is not quite finished and the temperature outside is a brisk 30 something degrees, but Easter will be upon us before we hardly blink. Sooo, as I try to get into the creative Spring of things I decided to whip up an Easter wreath this weekend. “Whip” may not be the most accurate word to use because it took about three hours to make this cute little thing, but it was easy and cheap enough to create.

The wreath cost me about $10.50 to make, minus the burlap ribbon and hot glue sticks I already had on hand – pretty affordable, I thought. The idea came from the Clover House blog, but I’ll give you a few pointers that will hopefully make your project a success without a few of the pitfalls I experienced.

Update: I removed the plastic wrap from my wreath before starting the project, but my mom tried it using these directions without removing the plastic packaging. Her eggs seemed to stay on a bit better, but it could have been her hot glue, skill, etc. . . just a thought.

Materials:

12″ straw wreath
plastic eggs (I used approx. 75 regular sized eggs)
2 bags of paper basket filler
ribbon for hanging wreath (I used approx. 3 feet of ribbon)
glue gun and glue sticks
flat head screwdriver

Directions:

Start by finding the center of your ribbon and hot glue it around the straw wreath, letting the ends lie loose.
Tip: Even if your eggs seem to stay in place with hot glue, about the time you finish your lovely little project they will probably start popping off (been there, done that). Smooth plastic surfaces and hot glue don’t tend to mix for very long, but here’s a way to fix this problem ahead of time. Open up each egg and put a glob of hot glue at the hinge point and close the egg quickly. The hot glue should ooze out the edge and give your new dollop of hot glue something on which to adhere.
Start gluing eggs to your straw wreath using the hot glue. Mix up the orientation and angle of the eggs to get a less-uniform look. Place the eggs pretty close together, but they don’t have to quite touch. You will have larger spaces between the eggs in many spots and that’s okay because we will fill those with the basket filler. Make sure to glue eggs on the outside and inside of the wreath, but not on the back.

After all the eggs are glued in place take small wads of basket filler and start poking them in the gaps between each egg. Use the flat head to do this and stuff each area pretty full. You don’t need to glue the filler in place, because it should just stay where you put it as each spot fills and tightens.
Tie a bow at the top of your ribbon and hang your wreath in its designated spot. That’s it!

I used pastel eggs, brown basket filler and burlap ribbon for my wreath, but you could use whatever you have on hand, opt for a less earthy feel or even color block your eggs to suit your style. It really is an adorable idea for Easter décor and easy to make if you have a bit of time and don’t mind playing with a hot glue gun. I hope you enjoy!

*****

Shared at:
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
What We Accomplished Wed. @ Green Willow Pond
What’s It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants

Make a Batch of St. Patty Playing Dough

Posted on March 14, 2014February 28, 2015 by Mama

Last night I gave this very green recipe a go just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. While my son loved the finished product; during the cooking process, I was really beginning to wonder why I emptied a few of my kitchen staples into such a venture. I started out with a gooey, sticky mess that progressively became tougher to stir, but patience won out and I was rewarded with a huge ball of St. Patty playing dough.

The recipe for this big blob of fun comes from Being Creative to Keep My Sanity, but I’m going to expand on it just a bit. It really is an easy recipe and doesn’t take much time; so if you have faith that it’s working, you’ll be rewarded with hours of entertainment.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
green food coloring
green glitter

Directions:

Mix all of your ingredients together in a medium saucepan, preferably not the nicest one in the cabinet. It’s not like this process will hurt the pan, but it sure won’t be pretty when you’re finished. As far as food coloring and glitter go, the amount is up to you — add enough to get the color and glitz that’s toward your liking.
Put the pan of ingredients on medium heat and stir as it cooks. You don’t have to stir constantly, but I did give it a good mix about every other minute or so.
As the goo first starts cooking, it becomes a very sticky mess; but as it continues to cook, it will slowly change to a darker color, become a lot less sticky and will ball up a lot more. Cook until it becomes a big ball of dough and most of it is a darker color. Don’t over cook or burn.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of wax paper or plate to cool.
After the dough has cooled, it’s play time! Store your dough in an air-tight container.

One Boy’s Valentine Banner

Posted on February 6, 2014January 14, 2016 by Mama

Yesterday I told you that my three-year-old son and I spent part of our snow day creating a cute little Valentine project, so today I thought I would share our kid-friendly craft with all of you (especially if you’re still stuck inside from this week’s storm). I came up with this quick banner idea by combining a couple of Pinterest projects with some of my son’s favorite things — paint and glue.

To create your own Valentine banner you will need:

brown paper lunch bags
empty toilet paper/paper towel roll
red washable paint
scissors
glue
string

To begin the project, cut a paper bag right above the bottom fold. Then cute along the two outside edges to give you two rectangular banner pieces. If you want, you can cut a triangle out of each of those pieces or just leave them square on the bottom. Cut as many bags as you desire for your project. If your child is old enough to handle the scissors, great but make sure an adult supervises this task (I let my three year old, cut on some scrap pieces, but he wasn’t up for the first part of this project).

Next, shape the empty toilet paper roll into a heart. I started by creasing the top inward, being carefully not to make creases in the rounded parts of the heart, and then I creased the bottom point of the heart. After you have the shape to your liking, pour some washable paint on a paper plate. Have your child grasp the TP heart roll around the middle to hold its shape, dip an end into the paint and stamp it onto each banner piece. Your child can redip as necessary.

After the paint dries, flip over each banner piece and run a bead of glue along the top of each one. My son loved doing this and it really didn’t matter that he got a little sloppy (you might want to cover your work space before this step). Meanwhile, I cut string long enough to span each banner with a small gap between and extra for tying off at the ends. After the glue was in place, I came along and pushed the string into each bead of glue. We let it dry over night and by the next day we had a truly heart-warming Valentine banner to hang about the house.

If watching your youngest glue paper bags to his fingers, the table and the cat is not your idea of a good time, you might try one of these alternative methods. 1) Punch a hole at the top of each side of your banner pieces and run the string through the holes to create your finished banner. 2) Fold the top of each banner piece over the piece of string and staple the flap in place to create your finished banner. Which ever finishing touch your choose, pick one that works best with your child’s taste and strengths (and your mama mess index).

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