Author Archives: Margaret Muirhead

Summer Craft Camp, Again!

Posted in Kids, Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

A rainy week at the lake with the tremendous trio of Zeke, Lila and Allie (my son & niece & nephew) resulted in a craft bonanza. We made and we made and we made. Some projects created tangible results, while others were just about the process, man.

Tie-dye spirals--in process

Tie-dye spirals–in process

The list of our productivity is long: salt dough beads (a blast, and with many production stages so we could drag it on a bit–but the wet weather made the beads kind of soggy); paper beads (less soggy); marble painting (our paintings faded but rolling marbles through paint puddles was very intriguing); and tie-dye tees (and undies for those who just couldn’t get enough tie-dye!).

Salt dough beads--somewhat soggy!

Salt dough beads–somewhat soggy!

Here are some helpful links if you happen to find yourself in a damp summer cottage with a few stir-crazy kids:

Salt dough recipe from Crafting Connections

We used this recycled paper bead kit from Green Creativity but you can make them with skewers with instructions from Rookie

Marble painting instructions from First Palette

This youtube video from Jacquard Products really helped me perfect the tie-dye spiral

Ombré porch swing

Posted in Home Design, Stuff to make by

image

I’ve been meaning to paint something pink, so this project satisfied that urge–times five. The whitewash on the porch swing at our family’s summer cottage had turned dishwater gray so it seemed perfect for a little ombre. I bought Benjamin Moore color samples in a range of five pinks: elephant pink, ribbon pink, strawberry sorbet, autumn red, and italiano rose. I mean, who could resist those names?

This paint job was deeply pleasing but also time intensive and tedious–all those little spaces! I used to painter’s tape to demarcate the ombre pattern on the runners on the back of the swing, which I mention here out of pride (I think it looks swell). I’m hooked now–and considering painting the risers on my back stairwell in ombre . . . stay tuned.

I Scream for Ice Cream

Posted in Kids, Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

image

In the summer, we try to balance our actual ice cream eating with some pretend ice cream eating. It keeps us slim (sort of)! My seven-year-old and I made these nifty ice cream cone replicas out of toilet paper rolls and tissue paper. Cut a line up the side of the toilet paper roll and curl into a cone shape–hot glue will hold the shape and make sturdy little cones. Then stuff with tissue. Voila. Here are the kids selling ice cream out the half door in our cottage.

Matchbox camera

Posted in Kids, Paper, Photos, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

image

This matchbox project was inspired by “cameras” my brother and I used to make when we were kids out of band-aid boxes (back when they were tin, which really wasn’t that long ago, was it?). We taped on a lens and a viewfinder and snapped imaginary pictures. To make this wee version, I covered a matchbox with black paper, except the ends, which I covered in light blue washi tape. Then I folded a strip of paper to make a viewfinder, and sliced off a circle of cardboard from a toilet paper roll to create the lens.

image

Inside is the treat: an accordian album of tiny photos. I went old-school for this part—good old cut and paste. I printed the photos on regular printer paper (albeit high quality printer paper) and glued the photos in place.

image

Instagram photo books

Posted in Paper, Photos, Stuff to make by

image

More summer fun projects–Instagram antics! I’m trawling through the (seemingly endless) camera roll on my Iphone and modifying my favorites on Instagram (see above: first grade Crazy Hair Day). What I like about Instagram: turning all images into squares and filtering them circa 1976–and yes, one of the filters is called 1976. Once I get to 72 images, I plan to make a set of these wee photo albums from Printstagram (you get 3 tiny books for $10).

I also love this photo book by Elizabeth Kartchner at Dear Lizzy. She used Blurb to create her paperback album and had the savvy idea to keep some pages blank to write in captions and anecdotes by hand.