More with Maps

First it was V. and me, but now we have another one..Little Z. She just came to live with us this week, so we haven't had much crafting time. I have to admit, this craft I did on my own because it took a little more attention to detail (and my two mini divas are very random). I hope to do something crazy with paint and glitter this weekend....we'll see how much stamina I have on Saturday.

I still had lots of maps and wanted to do one more project with them. This was the end result:

Supplies: 

Block of wood

Paint

Modge Podge

Letters -I got these at Michaels for 50 cents a piece

Old Maps

Scissors

Glue Gun

Steps: I found an old block of wood in the garage and painted it blue. While the blue paint was drying, a put the letters on the maps and traced them. 

Step 2: I used the Modge Podge and glued the maps to the letters. 

Step 3: After the letters dried, I painted the edges a dark blue color. 

Step: After everything dried, I glued the letters to the block of wood and Voila! 

I display this next to our travel pictures frames. It was fairly easy and is a great memory of our various travels. 

Valentines Around the World

I am so sentimental about our travels as a family that I keep every map as a souvenir. I found them in a box at the back of my closet and tried to think of a creative way to use them. Since Valentine's Day is coming, I thought maybe I should use them to make Valentines from Around the World...(well sort of...at least that's what I'll call it). It was quick, easy, and not very costly.

Supplies: 

A piece of scrapbook paper (aqua worked best for my design, but any bright color would work)

Scissors

A piece of construction paper

Old Maps

Glue Stick 

Picture Frame- ( I used 8x10)

Step 1: Cut your scrapbook paper to fit the inside of your picture frame. 

Step 2: Cut a heart out of construction paper to use as a pattern. 

Step 3: Trace the heart pattern onto your maps, and cut each heart out.

Step 4: Glue the hearts to the scrapbook page and place it inside of the frame. 

Voila! You now have a fun Valentine for your significant other and a great memento of all your adventures. 

Let It Snow!

We haven't had any real snow around here ...yet. It doesn't look likely either, but since V. and I both love snow, we decided to make our own blizzard. The only problem is, I am horrible at making snowflakes. I was the kid in elementary school that always make the ugly square ones, or mine just ended up in pieces on the floor. I did however, find a fool proof way to make awesome snowflakes that anyone can master, and they end up looking like this:

The secret is coffee filters! At the dollar store you can buy a pack of 100 to start making your own blizzard!

Supplies: 

Coffee Filters

Scissors

Since this project didn't involve any glue, paint or glitter, I actually took pictures of each step. 

Step 1: Flatten the coffee filter and fold it in half. 

Step 2: Fold it in half again so it looks like a fan.

Step 3: Fold it in half 2 more times. 

Step 4: Cut designs only on the closed, folded crease. You can also cut the bottom edge of the triangle (just don't cut anything on the open fold). 

Step 5: When you are finished cutting, unfold the filter to see your beautiful snowflake!

If you want to hang the snowflakes, ornament hooks or paper clips work really well. We put them all over V.'s room!

*I think I might make snowflakes with my students and have them write compound words on the flakes and hang them up in the classroom. We'll see....

Easy Winter Tree Decor

Christmas is over and V. is so sad that the tree is gone and the decorations with it which caused us to get creative with winter decorations. Since my little explorer loves to play in the woods, I gave her a task... go and find some cool branches and bring them back to the house. As usual, she went above and beyond the call of duty and brought back what looked like several small trees. Although we couldn't use all of them, a few worked rather nicely. We fashioned them into the winter decor you see below. It was a completely free project and added a little more ambiance to our bare "after Christmas" decor. For those of you that are like us and need a little post Christmas fun..this is the project for you!

Supplies: 

Twigs

Epsom salts

Glass bottle

Step 1: Send your energetic child to get some dry twigs or branches.

Step 2: Fill a bottle 3/4 with Epsom salts

Step 3: Shove the twigs in and arrange them to your liking

 Step 4: Find a fun shelf or mantle to put them on!

After seeing that we had a stack of Christmas cards that we had no idea how to display, we took it one step further. We punched a hole in each card, tied a loop with some twine and hung the cards from the tree. It was a nice way to display the photo cards for at least a little longer! 

"Can" We Build A Snowman

Cheesy title, I know. So I hate throwing things away...especially if I can reuse them. We had a huge sweet potato can and a smaller condensed milk can. They seemed like the perfect pair to make a snowman. We also used a toilet paper tube to make his hat. I have to admit that this project took a little bit of time because all the paint had to dry, but it was pretty easy. I also had all the materials laying around so I didn't have to make trip to the store.

Supplies: 

2 cans

two tubes of white paint

1 orange tube of paint

3 small foam brushes

1 tube black paint

black construction paper

toilet paper tube cut in half

buttons

scrap of material

2 twigs

glue gun

1 kabob stick

Step 1: We painted both cans. They needed a thick coat. If you can see the silver through the first coat, it may require a second one. 

Step 2: While waiting for the cans to dry, we painted the t.p. tube black. I then broke the tip off of the kabob stick and painted it orange.

Step 3: After everything dries, glue the small can on top of the large can. Decorate the rest of your snowman by gluing on buttons and the orange kabob stick. I tied the scrap of material around the small can. It could be glued, but I didn't think it was necessary. I then glued on the twigs for arms. 

Step 4: To make the hat, cut the black construction paper to fit the top and a large circle for the bottom of the t.p. tube. Glue both circles on the tube. Next glue the hat on. 

Now you have an amazing recycled snowman that will never melt!

Kickin' Winter Blues with Crafts

This is that time of year when my daughter, V. can't play outside as much as she would like....so we have to find other fun projects and activities for us. Since we both love to paint, we created this simple snowman canvas. It took about 15 minutes to complete and 2 hours to dry. I have to admit that I am terrible at taking pictures of all the steps of the process since we are usually up to our elbows in glue, paint, or glitter. So, I will briefly explain and I think you'll get the idea.

Supplies:

8x10 Black Canvas- A.C. Moore $8.99 (We used our weekly 40% off coupon)
1 tube of white acrylic paint
1 tube of black acrylic paint
Small twig
2 -3 colorful buttons
2 Small foam brushes
1 artist's paint brush
Glue gun

Step 1: We painted the snowman with the foam brush. We did not trace it or anything fancy, we just painted 3 circles.

Step 2: We used the artist's brush to paint the word "snow". We did it free hand, but you could always print letters from the computer, cut them out, trace, and paint.

Step 3: I dipped the end of the artist's brush in the white paint and dabbed on the canvas for the snow.

Step 4: After letting the paint dry, I used the glue gun to put the twig for the arm and the buttons. I then dabbed the end of the foam brush in the black paint and painted the snowman's eyes and mouth. Buttons could be used for the eyes and nose as an alternative.

All done! This was an inexpensive and easy project. We put it in our living room, but it could also be a gift.