Category Archives: Free Tutorials

Make: DIY Bitty Bistro Chairs

Posted in Free Tutorials, Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Mini Cafe Chairs by homemadecity.com

I’ve been saving champagne corks for a while meaning to twist together some tiny cafe chairs, but I had forgotten about the project until . . . I tripped onto This Is My Dollhouse, a recent picture book by Giselle Potter (published by Schwartz & Wade Books). As a maker and admirer of all things itty bitty as well as a fan of Potter’s doll-like, oval-faced illustrations, I couldn’t resist getting my hands on the book.

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The story is about a girl who creates a dollhouse out of a cardboard box, furnishing it from snippets and household bits.

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Inside the dust jacket is a hidden treat: hints and ideas for making and outfitting your own cardboard box dollhouse.

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Clothespins and a matchbox become a bed. Bottle caps make perfect plates. Pieces of yellow string equal noodles. Fried eggs? Pencil a yellow circle on a white scrap! The story honors a child’s ability to transform the ordinary into a miniature world.

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So, I found my champagne corks where I had squirreled them away.  If you have a supply ready, here’s how to make them:

You need: a wire cutter and a champagne (or craft beer!) cork

Step 1: Cut the wire that connects the bottom of the cork cage. Try to straighten out the twists as best you can.

Step 2: Twist the wire into the shape you’d like and hook and secure the loose ends to the back legs of your chair.

The tricky part (other than all that twisting that ended up lopsided in my attempts) is to secure the back and keep the seat on the chair. If the legs splay out too much, the seat falls off. You need to straighten the legs a bit to keep the seat attached.

Mini Cafe Chair by homemadecity.com

 

 

 

Creative Kid: Spring Crayon Craft

Posted in Free Tutorials, Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Smashing old crayon bits and melting them into multi-colored jumbo crayons is a great way to spend one of those rainy April afternoons with (or without) the kids. That’s how 2 ten-year-old boys and I recently wiled away a gray day.

  1. Gather old crayons. I had a big bag of sad, old crayons from school. We began by sorting out springtime colors–light greens, pinks, yellows, periwinkles.
  2. Peel off the paper from the crayons. This is the most onerous part, but it’s better to consider it meditative. Think Zen.
  3. Smash. We broke the crayons as much as possible with our hands. Then we put the pieces in a brown paper bag, brought it outside, and bashed it with a hammer. Needless to say, the boys really dug this part.
  4. Prepare the muffin pan. I heated the oven to 275 F and sprayed a mini-muffin pan with canola oil. We sprinkled the crayon bits into the muffin pan. At first we were strategic about which colors went into which mold, but then we threw caution to the wind and just dumped in the rest.
  5. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Your house will smell like a delightfully waxy Crayola factory. Let the pan cool fully. (Because the boys were eager to see the results, I placed the muffin pan in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.)
  6. Ta da! Once the muffin pan is completely cool, the crayons will slide out easily.

 

 

 

 

Make: Tissue Paper Collage Creature Feature

Posted in Free Tutorials, Kids, Paper, Stuff to make by

 

 

When Danielle Davis of This Picture Book Life blog asked if I’d make a craft inspired by the delightful picture book Normal Norman by Tara Lazar, illustrated by S. Britt, I thought, no problem! After all, Norman is my kind of guy. A dune-buggy-driving, jet-pack-flying, tiara-toting, out-of-the-box orangutan dude.

Norman’s multi-hued self is decidedly not orangutan normal, but it is fun-loving, just like the big guy. And tissue paper collage seemed the best way to capture Norman’s coat of many colors. Tissue paper collage is also great because it’s very forgiving in less experienced kid hands–you can smudge, rip, and layer exuberantly, and still the results are delicious.

What you need:

Tissue paper in fun colors

Mod Podge

paint brush

white card stock

stick-on googly eyes

paper fasteners

popsicle sticks

Trim the tissue paper into 1″ squares. (We sorted our tissue squares for easy use: purples, blues, and greens in one bowl, yellows and oranges in another.)

Next trace Norman’s orangutan bulk, his adorable eggplant-shape head, and his 2 longish arms onto card stock. (If that step seems onerous, we traced some basic gorilla shapes for you here.)

Brush a layer of Mod Podge onto a small area of your shape and cover with tissue squares. Make sure to overlap squares to create new hues. Seal the squares by brushing another layer of Mod Podge over the top of them. Continue in small areas until you’ve covered the shape.

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Give your collage time to dry. Once dried, cut along the outlines of each shape. Adhere the face with glue or Mod Podge and attach the arms with paper fasteners (to give them a little gorilla swing).

Now for the best part: accessorize!

Add goggly eyes, brown specs, a teeny tiara and tutu, or even a dual-rocket jet pack (Norman’s preferred not-normal way to get around). Attach a popsicle stick to the back of your creation to make a puppet. Do not forget to make some friends for Norman: a magenta clarinet-playing hippo, a rollerskating giraffe, a top-hatted snake!

 

 

 

Make: Paper Hearts

Posted in Free Tutorials, Holiday, Kids, Paper, Stuff to make, Things to see by

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Heart Day is almost here. What to make? For me, this holiday is not about red roses but paper and scissors. (And maybe a bit of chocolate, too.) I like trading valentines that remind me of my school days: home-hewn, simple, with lots of pink and red.

Paper hearts fill my criteria for simple: the folds are easy enough for kids’ hands and the results are colorful, with the delicious gloss and saturation of origami paper. I used 3 x 3″ origami paper (which makes 2″ hearts) but larger paper would work well, too.

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DIY: 3D Paper Snowflakes

Posted in Free Tutorials, Holiday, Paper, Stuff to make by

These paper snowflakes are the miniature version of the kind I’ve seen kids make at elementary school. Instead of 8.5 x 11 office paper cut into a square, I used 3 x 3″ origami paper in many colors. My smaller rendition does require a little extra dexterity and teeny tiny pieces of tape but it is also very easy. Even though the little coils look intricate, they are deceptively simple to make.

Materials:

3″ origami paper

Scotch tape

mini stapler

scissors

 

Step 1:

Fold the 6 squares of paper in half to form a triangle, and then fold again into a smaller triangle.

Step 2:

Make three cuts into the folded bottom side of the triangle, each cut parallel to the diagonal edge. Cut almost to the top, but leave a little space intact.

Step 3:

Unfold back to a square.

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Step 4:

Roll the innermost corners together and tape.

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Step 5:

Flip your square over and roll the second innermost corners together and tape. Repeat (flip and tape) until all of the corners are rolled together. Complete this process with all six pieces of paper.

Step 6:

Join 3 coils together and staple. Repeat with the remaining three. Then staple the two sets of three together in the center. Some instructions suggest that you also staple each coil together, but I found that because these stars are small and compact, I didn’t need to do that step.

String and hang in a window!