DIY Green Crafts: Fishing Game

I've seen the green company,  Green Kid Crafts, on a few different parenting blogs and kept meaning to try them out. Last month they had an awesome special where the company offered their monthly art kit for FREE, you just had to pay shipping. Of course, I jumped on that deal.

I was super excited when the box arrived, and I found four different green activities for my son to make. Plus, a small bag of Annie's snack crackers, yay!

The first craft we chose was the fishing game. A fish template and colorful felt squares were included in the box. I'd like to mention that everything we needed for this craft was included except scissors.

Next, we attached one end of a stretchy cord to a pencil and the other end to a washer. Finally, velcro circles were stuck onto each side of the washer. Then, it was fishing time! We spread the fish on the ground, and my son "went fishing." The velcro pieces easily stuck onto the felt fish. A cute craft!

Next week I'll be posting about another activity from our "Food Adventures" themed box.

Learn more about Green Kid Crafts on Facebook and Pinterest!

DISCLAIMER: I wasn't hired or paid to write about Green Kid Crafts. I paid for the product and chose to do my own write-up.

DIY Advent Calendar

Every year I watch as my friends post cool and crafty advent calendars they’ve made for their kids. And every year I vow that “ next year” I will make one, too. Next year rolls around, and I forget until I see those photos from my friends.

This year I made one! I thought of multiple different ways to make the calendar. My issue was the cost to make three calendars, one for each kid. It’s no secret: I’m frugal.

Finally, this is what I came up with –

I also had to consider space for three separate calendars, so I chose one sock for each day. The socks are large enough that I can slip three different treats in each one. It’s simple, cost-efficient, and eco-friendly because the kids get to wear the socks when the calendar is complete!

What I did…

I decided to go to the dollar store and buy four packs of holiday socks and then two 3-pack of white socks. My total cost was $6.00. I had two pairs of socks at home that I planned on using, so in all, I had twenty-four single socks.

I took two sheets of red card stock and made 24 tags, and added numbers on each tag using stickers. Everything I used to make the tags came from my craft collection.

I cut a long piece of ribbon and strung it from one side of my mantel to the other. I hung each sock & tag with a clothes pin (bought a large pack at the dollar store)

My total cost for the advent calendar was $7.00!

Christmas in July - Crafty Chica Goodies

I've been known to gush and turn into a complete fangirl over certain things and people, and I am okay with that. On that note, I adore the Crafty Chica! Kathy Cano-Murillo is a talented, fun, down-to-earth, mom, artist and writer. I have been following her work for a few years now.

Kathy organizes the Crafty Chica Art Cruise every year and attendees receive a giant tote bag filled with supplies that would make any crafter squeal with delight. Last month, she hosted a giveaway on her blog for two of these tote bags and I won one!

Yesterday I received my goodies - Christmas in July for Sage!

The package included so many crafty items and I just cannot wrap my head around the awesomeness that is now mine. Along with crafting supplies, there are also three books, the annual cruise t-shirt, and my favorite, a Crafty Chica bobblehead signed by the lovely, Kathy Cano-Murillo.

I'm in fangirl heaven, friends.


I'm currently enrolled in one of Kathy's summer online courses, Get Motivated! 23 Ways to Turn Your Ideas into Action! and it is nothing less than inspirational.

If you don't know the Crafty Chica, you need to: /http://thecraftychica.blogspot.com/

DIY: Nest Depots

My daughter’s second grade class spent their last few weeks of school learning about habitats. A representative from Olympia's Hands On Children’s Museum came to her school to talk about different animal homes and gave each child two Nest Depots.

Nest Depots are similar to birdhouses, but instead of being full of bird food they contain supplies birds can use to build their nests. The Nest Depots my daughter received look almost like square canvas frames for cross stitching. They included scraps of yarn, ribbon, and colorful craft feathers.

We have many neighborhood birds who hang out near our home so we hung up the Nest Depots on our back patio. We are keeping a list of the materials we used in the depots so we can track what the birds are taking and finding useful. We love helping out our local birds!

Bella watching the birds outside.

DIY Kids: Mini Fairy Garden

Day 2 of What’s the Word June

Word of the day: mushroom

Creating a miniature fairy garden is a fun, and creative activity you can do with your kids. Most of the materials for this craft can be found in your yard!

Materials

• Bottom of a planter (plastic, decorative or terracotta) 

• Potting soil
• Rocks/Gemstones 

• Acorns 

• Glass beads 

• Garden fairy *tutorial below
• Mini animals or bird eggs

Directions

Fill the bottom of the planter with potting soil. The bottoms of planters are shallow, so you don't need to add too much potting soil. Leave a tiny space between the trim and the potting soil. Next, your child can arrange all the items that they collected from their nature hunt in the planter. Along with nature items, you may also want to add a small flowering plant in the fairy garden.

Extra tips:

- Using acrylic paints, choose vibrant colors and paint the rocks prior to adding them to the fairy garden.

- You can create a pond by pushing a small plastic lid, like the top of a yogurt container, into the soil, and adding a little bit of water.

- Make a fairy house out of bark and other pieces of scrap wood! Simply collect small pieces of wood and build a mini house formation, securing the sections into place with your glue gun.

- Fairies need a colorful mushroom to hang out on! Mold a mushroom out of clay and add it to the garden.

Don’t Forget the Fairy

Materials

• Circular wooden bead 

• Oval shaped wooden bead 

• 3 craft pipe cleaners 

• Glue gun  

• Scissors 

• Colorful yarn 

• Sharpie

Directions

Start off by gluing the circular wooden bead (the fairy's head) onto the larger wooden bead, which will be the fairy's body. While you are waiting for them to dry firmly together, cut off small sections of the yarn for the fairy's hair. You may also begin bending and shaping two of the pipe cleaners for the fairy's wings. The third pipe cleaner is for the fairy's arms. You'll only need to clip two small sections from the pipe cleaner for the fairy's arms. Adhere the yarn and pipe cleaners to the body with the glue gun. You can also draw a face onto the circular bead with a sharpie. Be sure to lightly draw the face on, if pressed too hard, the lines from the sharpie will be thick and could run into each other. Your child can "dress up" their fairy with any other crafty items they have.

When the fairy garden is complete, it can be displayed outdoors or near a window indoors!

Peep into my Favorite Book

I want to start off by saying that the Olympia Timberland Library rules. There is constantly something fun planned for adults, teens, and kids. One of the events this month is Peep into my Favorite Book: a Peeps Diorama Contest. As soon as I told my kids about it they were eager to create a diorama.

My oldest daughter Emily is 11-years-old and a big fan of The Hunger Games. It was no surprise that she chose to do a Hunger Games diorama. She wanted the central focus to be on the cornucopia. If you aren't familiar with the book (or movie) then you probably have no idea what I am talking about. In the Hunger Games the cornucopia is filled with weapons, food, medicine, and various survival supplies.

Bella is my 8-year-old daughter who loves Amelia Bedelia and all of her kookiness. She instantly knew which book she wanted to choose for her diorama project.

We filled our table with craft supplies, crayons, and shoe boxes. While Emily began to draw trees onto the sides of her shoe box, I started forming the shape of the cornucopia out of tin foil. Next, she worked on Katniss' braid and coloring the lake while I hand-stitched mini felt backpacks and sleeping bags.

Bella's diorama was themed around the book page that read, "Remember?" said Amelia Bedelia. "You said these books needed jackets. So I made a jacket for each one." 

Bella made the mini books while I cut out felt jackets to go with them. She decided she wanted "Peep" Amelia Bedelia to be knitting behind a desk so I reused our Peep box and made a desk and chair. We broke a toothpick in half and covered both pieces with tin foil for Amelia Bedelia's knitting needles.

I am really proud of the work the girls put into their pieces. It was great to see how in awe they were of how each diorama turned out. I safely packed up the dioramas and I am excited to say that they survived the 3 city bus rides it took to get them through some errands and finally to the library.

Tonight we are going to the Olympia Library where the winners will be announced. Both of the dioramas were entered into the Family category. Wish us luck!