Author Archives: Margaret Muirhead

Summer Craft Camp

Posted in Fabric printing, Kids, Stuff to make by

School’s out! (In 9 days–but who’s counting?) My list of summer hopes & plans grows with each passing minute. First on my list?  Something frivolous & impractical that I can do with my kids like . . . build this children’s summer teepee by Courtney Cerruti from Creativebug! Creativebug offers online D.I.Y. tutorials for a fee, but this summer the site is featuring family-friendly “craft camp”–free video workshops of stuff to do with kids. Other workshops include making clothespin dolls with Amy Karol or Shrinky Dink earrings with Nicole Blum.

kids-crafts-02-3d11eb5f23bdf760c846af500ce57c59

 

Painted Rocks Round Up

Posted in Stuff to make by

Rock art is a perfect project for hunchbacked, myopic beach combers like myself. I mean, what to do with those treasured stockpiles of rocks anyway? Don’t even get me started about the shells.

To make these garden markers, I grabbed what I had on hand–rocks, black Sharpie, white gel pen, and Mod Podge. The white gel pen didn’t last long–I’ve since read that white paint markers work far better. I’m going to make more–there’s something so appealing about doodling on a rock!  Here are some other nifty ideas:

Row 1, left to right: Ladybug and bumblebee tic-tac-toe from Chicken Scratch; rock dominoes from Martha Stewart

Row 2: Painted rocks by giochi di carta; herb markers from August Wren; and rock doodles from The Art of Being Creative

Upcycled Books Round Up

Posted in Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

book mobileIn my library day job, I’ve been weeding old books from the shelves. The books aren’t in circulation any more but they’re still hardcover treasures with great illustrations about Arctic explorers and Presidential boyhoods and stuff like that. With some help from The Repurposed Library and a glue gun, I remade some of them into “bookmobiles.” (Repurposed has instructions for dismantling books to make all sorts of upcycled crafts.)

Kids think the mobiles look like birdhouses. I think they look like something that exploded and spilled over in weird loopy accretions. But I like them anyway.

Here are other great ideas for upcycled books (links below):

Row 1, left to right: Nancy Drew book purse by Rebound Designs; party favor pinwheels & keepsake box from bhg.com

Row 2: paper hearts from Too Much Time On My Hands; decorations from an Anthropologie store display; organizer from SCJohnson

Row 3: Artichoke pendant by Zipper8Lighting; book shelf by Lisa Occhipinti in The Repurposed Library; “lace” runner by bhg.com;

Mr. Bunny’s Matchbox

Posted in Free Printables, Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Recycled materials by

Mr. Bunny Matchbox 824

This mini-matchbox home belongs to Mr. Bunny. If you (or your kids) enjoy tiny coloring–great for fine motor skills!–here is a free printable of Mr. Bunny’s burrow. Just color and trim to fit your matchbox. Matchboxes don’t come in standard sizes so you may need to do some fancy cutting and pasting. Happy bunnies & eggs & challah bread!

Be Our Valentine

Posted in Holiday, Kids, Paper, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by
heart wagon
heart button cork stamps
easy stitch heart
pencil heart stamps
making heart prints
tiny heart prints
stamping!
sew-a-heart

A Sweetheart candy-induced sugar rush fueled a valentine bonanza at our house this weekend. We tried out stamps that we made from heart-shaped buttons glued on wine/beer corks and tiny heart stamps carved into pencil erasers. Yes, carving a pencil eraser takes some adult fine motor skills–and I learned that a Speedball carving tool works better than an X-acto knife. We also sewed paper valentines with yarn stitches (I punched holes and my seven-year-old Zeke stitched). Zeke preferred simple stitches–the star design (above) was too tricky for him.

But when it came time for all-out valentine production for Zeke’s classmates, we kept things simple. With washi tape and construction paper, we made big, neon plaid hearts. Happy Valentine’s Day!

valentines 001