Category Archives: Recycled materials

Creative Kid: DIY Easy Printmaking

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

This is such a fun, easy craft for kids–and it’s doubly rewarding because you get to use something from your recycling box! You know those little foam trays that your grocery store uses to keep your veggies comfortable? Trader Joe’s, in particular, seems enamored with the excess packaging. Anyway, wash that foam and save it because now you’re going to need it.

Zeke and I spent a happy morning making prints. Make sure to cover your work space (I used paper bags–more recyclables!) because kids love to roll the paint around, and things can get messy. Also, if you want to write words in your design, remember to write your letters backwards. We actually used a hand mirror to make sure we were successfully mirror writing.

DIY Easy Printmaking

Materials:

Recycled foam trays

Roller

Washable block printing ink (you can substitute acrylic paint, but the block printing ink is thicker and works better)

Blunt-ended pen or paintbrush

Scissors

Paper

 

Step 1: Cover your work area. Printmaking gets messy!

Step 2: Trim off the curved edges of your foam trays so you have a flat surface.

easy printmaking by homemadecity

Step 3: Plan your design (remember words need to be written backwards). Draw your design, pressing into the foam with the a blunt end of a pen or paintbrush.

easy printmaking by homemadecity

Step: 4: Pool some paint and run your roller through it a few times so that the roller has an even coat of paint. Now roll paint over your design.

Step 5: Invert your design onto a piece of paper. Roll the back of the foam, evenly pressing your design into the paper.

easy printmaking by homemadecity  easy printmaking by homemadecity

Step 6: Gently lift your design. Voila! The roller and the foam should easily wash off with water.

Zeke print by Zeke

Renew: Doll Chair

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Many of my teenage summer jobs involved painting. (Of walls and houses, that is. Not of high art.) Maybe that’s why my summer cravings include not just ice cream cones, lake swims, and hammock reading, but also splashing paint about. If you have the patience, painting is such a gratifying, economical way to transform something worn and tired.

doll chair

I purchased this doll chair at a yard sale years ago, and it’s been moldering in my basement ever since. Now it has the perfect recipient–my niece Lila who has recently become besotted with a doll she named Rosie. (Feminists out there: no worries, Lila is formidable and will some day rule the world.)

I had some leftover pink paint (Ben Moore Elephant Pink) from my stair project and ombre porch swing project. After a coat of this pale pink, I cut out some Victorian roses (I’m sorry! I had to!) for decoupage. I wish I had taken a before shot–the chair was formerly dirt brown!

Tried it: Matchbox Weaving

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

matchbox weave by homemade city

Some of you may who follow this blog know about my love for all things matchbox. In addition to tiny crafts, I’m also drawn to pointless ones. So when I spotted this matchbox weaving by Marisa Ramirez on Pinterest, of course, I had to try it. I thought it might be fun to do this with kids, but my 8-year-old son Zeke informed me it would too hard. I think he’s right, but maybe we could weave some other unlikely object, like these sticks?

 

matchbox weaving
matchbox weaving 2
matchbox weaving 3

7 Summer Crafts to Make with Kids

Posted in Fabric printing, Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

These 7 crafts should at least fill the first week of summer vacation with the kids. After that, who knows?

1. God’s Eye from the Free People blog

2. Breezy Friendship Bracelets from Molly’s Sketchbook at Purlbee

3. Popsicle Tote from youaremyfave

4. Tie-Dye T-shirts from Martha Stewart

5. Lemonade Stand from Oh Happy Day!

6. Cork boat by Inner Child Fun

7. Wooden Necklaces by Avery Rayne Designs

Cardboard Boat Race 2013

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

Would you build a boat out of cardboard, cover it in copious amounts of duct tape, and set it afloat (with your children inside) in the Hudson River? Apparently, I would. And I did.

Well, to be more accurate, my kids were set afloat in the narrowest part of the Hudson River, which is located in Schyulerville, New York, where they host the annual Hudson Crossing Park Cardboard Boat Race. And it might be a stretch to imply that I built the boat, because I contributed to the effort not at all. My husband, my kids, and Pop did the work, with Gramma making countless runs to the hardware store for duct tape.

2013-08-10 13.10.43

Our boat (modeled after a 1973 Plymouth Barracuda–don’t even ask) was wobbly but it didn’t capsize–at least until its second race. A group of local firemen had the most spectacular collapse of the event. They dive-bombed their own craft mid-river, earning themselves the coveted Titanic Award. Yet no matter how you do in the Cardboard Boat Race, it’s a transient glory. Afterward, the soggy boats wilt into an amorphous sponginess, and most are unceremoniously tossed in a dumpster nearby. Until next year!