DIY Candy Pretzel Necklace

Did you know that April is National Soft Pretzel Month?  That is definitely something worth celebrating!  Pretzels are such a traditional snack food, and candy necklaces are a classic party favor.  I figured we could marry the two, for an adorable “twist” on the candy necklace!

Can’t you imagine some little fashionistas stylin’ in these pretzel necklaces?  Planning parties for kids is my favorite because you can let your inner child come out to play.  I enjoy using activities, favors, and snacks that kids adore while trying to get creative with the presentation.  Sometimes I wonder if the kids have as much fun at the party, as I had planning it!

You don’t have to have a pretzel-themed party to use these necklaces, although I think that could be adorable!  Candy pretzel jewelry would be fun for guests to wear, make at the party, or take home in favor bags.  However, I would not recommend eating the candy off the wire…we don’t want to send kids home with chipped teeth!  Be sure to instruct kiddos or parents to untwist one end of the necklace to release the candy.

Now… let’s do this!

What You Need

• Candy bracelets
• .64mm aluminum wire (pink!)
• Scissors
• Tape Measurer
• Bowl
• ¼ yd. jersey knit fabric

How-To

Step 1
Cut the string on several candy bracelets, and release the candy pieces into a bowl.

Step 2
Cut a 15” piece of wire, using scissors or a wire cutter.  String the candy pieces onto the wire, leaving about 1.5” open on each end.

Step 3
Hold each end of the wire by the top candy pieces to keep everything in place.  Carefully fold the wire into a pretzel by rounding the piece into a circle, crossing the top ends into an “x”, and placing the ends at the bottom, with about 5 pieces of candy between each end.

Step 4
Twist each end of the wire between two pieces of candy, with the 5 pieces spaced between.  Wrap the wire tightly, and cut off or tightly squeeze in the final ends, so that it will not scratch any kiddos!

Step 5
Cut a 30” long piece of jersey knit fabric, about 1” wide.  Slide it through the pretzel with the first end going through the top right side, and coming back through under the top left side of the pretzel.

Step 6
Bring the two ends of the fabric together, and line them up evenly.  Tie them in a knot, about 2” from the top.

Voila!  Now you have a unique candy necklace. Happy crafting!

DIY Floral Toy Clock

Who needs a watch when you can use flowers to tell the time? Make this charming flower chart that doubles as a fun clock to teach your kids to read time. Recently I learned about Linnaeus’ flower clock – it was created by Carolus Linnaeus who had the brilliant idea to use the opening and closing of different plants and flowers to tell the time. You can read more about it here!

Whether or not your kids are already fascinated with clocks, this is the perfect craft project now that spring is finally here – plus, it’s a great excuse to wander around nearby parks and gardens. Printable templates of the floral clock faces are ready for you to download below, one including the names of the flowers and another blank option you can fill in yourself.

Go out with your children to a park or forest and encourage them to take the printable observation journal with them.

They can make notes, take photographs, or draw the different types of flowers that they see and then add colors, drawings, descriptions, photographs, or even real leaves and flowers on their floral clock. Get creative and have fun!

What You Need

• Printable templates (download here)
• Crepe and tissue paper
• Colored or patterned paper
• Cardboard (corrugated and thin)
• Thumbtacks
• Cord
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Glue stick
• Markers, paint, or colored pens

How-To

Step 1
Download the printable templates containing the clock face, hand, journal, and flower templates. Print out copies of the flower observation journal page on plain paper and go out with your kids to observe flowers, taking photographs and notes. First, they’ll have to identify a selection of flowers that open and close at regular hours. You can help them look for specific plants and flowers by referring to books or looking for details online ahead of time.

Step 2
Print the blank paper clock face template and fill it in with your observed flowers around clock. Color it in or cut out the big flower templates and transfer them onto colored paper, and then glue onto the clock. You can instead print out any of the clock face templates with my selection of flowers to make it faster.

Step 3
Cut out a 10” circle from corrugated cardboard and cut out the clock hand from thinner cardboard. Paint them or cover with colored paper. Poke a thumbtack onto the marked spot on the hand to make a hole. Pick one of the printed clock faces and glue it onto the center of the cardboard circle. Place the hand over the hole and secure with a thumbtack. Cut small pieces of cardboard and attach to the backside of the clock to cover the sharp end of the thumbtack.

Step 4
Now it’s time to make flowers! Draw your own flower shapes and leaves, then cut them out from crepe and tissue paper. Or, you can use the printable flower templates and transfer them to crepe/tissue paper. Use the flower circle shape to cut circles from layered tissue paper, fold in a half and then cut tiny slits into the curved edge, following the templates. Create an extra layer of petals by cutting the second layer of tissue paper a little bit smaller than the first. Place your flowers and leaves onto the clock face around hours.

Step 5
Finish up the crepe flowers with fringed centers or by adding long, thin strips of crepe paper. Don’t forget to add leaves too! Pin the petals, centers, and leaves together using a colored thumbtack. Shape the crepe petals with your fingers, curling each side of the petal. Take the tissue flowers and fold them to form creases, and then open them back up and pin the center on with a thumbtack. Separate the layers of the flowers, fluffing them up into the center.

Step 6
Arrange and pin the paper flowers around the clock face. Lay the clock down and glue a loop of cord to the top of the back, for hanging. Glue small pieces of cardboard to cover thumbtack ends as before.

Step 7
As an added bonus, you can install a real clock mechanism to make your floral wall clock actually work! Otherwise, you can hang your new Linnaeus’ Floral Clock on the Wall and let your kids play while learning about numbers, hours and flowers.

Happy crafting!

How to Make an Off-the-Grid Dollhouse: Part 5

In today’s tutorial, we’ll be working on the kitchen, pond, and gray water systems! We’ll make the kitchen appliances, a simple compost toilet, a wetland pond and wastewater recycling systems for our off-the-grid dollhouse.

In this chapter, we’ll learn how to set up our dollhouse so that it’s off the sewer line and deal with waste (especially sewage) in our own eco-friendly way! We’ll separate gray water (waste water from the shower, washer, and sinks) from black water (from the toilet) to reduce water overall water usage and make our own compost. With these recycling systems, our doll house will minimize its impact on nature. Gather up some empty cardboard boxes, drinking straws, felt, and paper to craft along with this new tutorial!

Kitchen Appliances

Our dollhouse has an eco-friendly kitchen, with energy efficient appliances including an induction oven, refrigerator and washing machine.

What You Need

• Printable templates (download here)
• Cereal boxes
• Thin bendy drinking straws
• Play dough
• Hot glue gun
• Craft knife
• Marker
• Scissors

How-To

1. Download and print the kitchen appliance template. Glue the printed paper onto cardboard cereal boxes.
2. Cut out the templates from the cardboard. The refrigerator template only has three sides, but you can add a fourth side and a base to make it sturdier if you like.
3. Do the same for the all-in-one kitchen cabinet template (which includes the sink, oven, and washer).

4. Fold and glue the templates together.
5. Cut a piece of bendy straw to make the faucet, leaving 1/2” from the flexible part to the top end. Shape two tiny play dough balls to be the knobs.
6. Glue the faucet on top of the cabinet, centered over the sink, with one play dough ball on each side.
7. Using a craft knife to cut along the lines of the oven and cabinet doors so that they can fold open, as if on hinges.

8. Set the cabinets and refrigerator into the kitchen. Make sure that the plumbing and electrical wiring are in the right places to supply the electrical appliances, faucet, and washer.

DINING ROOM FURNITURE: TABLE AND STOOLS

What You Need

• Cardboard
• Colored/patterned paper
• Felt
• Two corks
• Paint
• Hot glue gun
• Toothpicks
• Craft knife
• Scissors

How-To

1. Cut out several circles from colored or patterned paper and felt to be carpets and tablecloths.
2. Cut a circle from the cardboard to be the tabletop and paint it white. Cut a much smaller cardboard circle (slightly larger than the cork) for the table’s base, and paint this white too.
3. Glue the cork onto the small cardboard circle and then glue the large cardboard circle on top of the cork.
4. Paint the cork white to match the table.
5. To make the stools, you’ll need a cork and some toothpicks.
6. Slice cork into four pieces and cut the toothpicks in half.
7. Poke each piece of cork with three toothpick halves. Adjust the toothpicks’ positions until the stools stand evenly.
8. Glue a paper tablecloth on top of the table, and center it on your favorite felt rug, setting the stools around it.

Decorate the kitchen with small plastic caps and tiny plastic or dried flowers.

GRAY WATER RECYCLING

Now we’re going to create a simple gray water recycling system. Grey water and water waste will be collected from the shower, bathroom sink, washer and kitchen sink and treated by a filter tank. It will be reused later for flushing the toilet, in the shower, and bathroom faucet.

What You Need

• Bendy drinking straws (in different colors)
• Felt
• Small empty cardboard box
• Toilet paper roll
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun

How-To

1. To make the filter tank and plumbing: turn the doll house upside-down and glue the small cardboard box centered under the bathroom and kitchen wall. Cut two different colored bendy straws and glue them to one side of the box, one color for the wastewater (green) and another for the clear water (blue).
2. Cut another green bendy straw and glue it on the opposite side of the filter tank. This will be the pipe for the kitchen wastewater, so place it under the kitchen sink and washer.
3. Attach another green bendy straw from the filter tank to the bathroom sink and shower.
4. Now let’s install recycled clear water pipes that go from the filter tank to the bathroom sink, shower and toilet. Glue a piece of blue bendy straw from the filter tank and up to the bathroom floor.
5. Attach more blue straws until you reach the toilet. Your grey water recycling system is now complete!

Pond

Our man-made pond will also help with treating sewage. Water, soil, plants and animals will all live together in an ecosystem. Water plants such as sedges, rushes, and grasses will keep our pond algae-free and use the contaminants from the gray water as nutrients. At the bottom of the pond, there’s a filter bed of sand and gravel. Frogs and fish will reduce pests such as mosquitos.

What You Need

• Pond and lily pad templates (download here)
• Play dough
• Colored paper
• Scissors

How-To

1. Download and print the pond and water lily templates. Cut out lily pad shapes, transfer onto green colored paper, and cut out. Sculpt colorful play dough into flowers for the lily pads
2. Press to close some of the flowers to look like opening buds and add tiny play dough balls to the centers of the open lilies.
3. Cut out the pond shape from the template, transfer the shape onto blue felt, and cut out.
4. Time to install the pond! Place the blue felt on the ground by the dollhouse, with an edge underneath the filter tank straws. Place the paper lily pads and play dough lilies all over the felt.

COMPOSTING TOILET

A composting toilet will turn bodily waste into nutrient-rich compost to make homemade garden fertilizer. It provides a low-cost, hygienically safe, environmentally friendly sanitation option that produces the most fertile soil. It’s very simple to build and all you need are three parts: a toilet receptacle, a compost bin, and carboniferous materials (such as straw, leaves, or wood shavings) to mix with the waste. The waste will be covered with the carboniferous materials in the compost bin to help with decomposition.

What You Need

• Toilet paper roll
• Marker
• Craft knife
• Bendy drinking straws (same colors as before)
• Hot glue gun

How-To

1. To make the composting bin, use a marker to draw a small square door onto the toilet paper roll and cut open along three sides using a craft knife.
2. Cut a small notch into the top of the toilet paper roll to fit the blue straw (clear water pipe) going from the filter tank up to the toilet. This will bring water to the toilet’s high tank water closet to use for flushing. Glue the top of the toilet paper roll to the bottom bathroom floor under the toilet.
3. This image shows the completed gray water recycling and the composting toilet system.
4. Turn the doll house right-side up again. The composting toilet door must stay closed during the composting process, but once it’s finished you can open it to take out the compost for fertilizing your garden!

And stay tuned: in the next chapter, we’ll be making a few more additions to our off-the-grid dollhouse. Happy crafting!

Ping Pong Bunny Cupcake Toppers

Ping pong balls are becoming one of my favorite crafting supplies – they can be used in so many cool ways! Today I turned these pink ping pong balls I found at the dollar store into cute bunny faces! I love bunnies so I’d use these cupcake toppers all year round, but they’re especially great for Easter.

If you can’t get your hands on pink ping pong balls, I think these toppers would be just as cute in white too! Use paint or permanent markers to add details (fur, whiskers, etc) onto the face – I’m sure your bunnies will be the cutest ones around. Happy Easter!

What You Need

• Ping pong balls
• Hot glue gun
• Cardstock
• Scissors
• Black permanent marker
• Wooden skewers
• White paint
• Paintbrush

How-To

Step 1
Draw faces onto the ping pong balls. Keep it simple with black permanent marker, or paint a white oval for the mouth patch, let dry, and then draw the mouth on top.

Step 2
Cut bunny ears out of cardstock and fold a small flap on the bottom of each one.

Step 3
Hot glue the bunny ears onto the bunny faces.

Step 4
Cut the ends off of wooden skewers (about 3” long) and hot glue the flat end to the bottom of the bunnies’ heads. Hold in place while the glue dries.

Happy crafting!

Easter Brunch Citrus Baskets

When I think of Easter, the first food that comes to mind other than eggs is chocolate. Some of my all-time favorite treats are Easter candies – creme eggs, I’m looking at you! Chocolate really is everywhere at Easter, so I thought why not put together a cute and simple project that showcases a healthier option?

These fruit salad citrus baskets are the perfect snack for Easter brunch – bright, colorful, tasty, and still sweet! This project was inspired by an idea mentioned a vintage book I picked up recently: Betty Crocker’s Party Book. The book says to empty half a grapefruit, add a ribbon as the handle, and then fill the basket with marmalade – we decided to use patterned paper plates for the handle and to fill them with fruit salad instead. This way, everyone gets their own Easter basket!

What You Need

• Cutting board
• Knife
• Spoon
• Scissors
• Paper plates
• Oranges and grapefruits

How-To

Step 1
Cut your oranges and grapefruits in half.

Step 2
Use a knife and spoon to carefully hollow out the fruit from the peel, putting the fruit in a bowl to the side for now.

Step 3
Cut a paper plate into strips – these will be the handles for the baskets, so use fun colors or patterns.

Step 4
Curl the paper plate handle into an upside-down U shape and place into the citrus peel. The handle should stay in place as-is.

Step 5
Cut up the orange and grapefruit that you removed from the peels, as well as other fruits that you like – we used strawberries, kiwi, and grapes. Serve and enjoy!

Happy Easter!c

Printable Rainbow Color Matching Cards

If you ask me my favorite color, I’ll tell you it’s rainbow. Putting things in color order makes me so happy! And that’s what these printable color matching cards are all about. Well, that and learning the words for the colors in the rainbow!

Montessori classrooms use cards like this to help children connect words with the things those words represent. And they aren’t only for kids who are already reading! In this case, the cards teach colors and give you the chance to help little ones learn all about ROYGBIV.

What You Need

• Card stock and/or paper
• Scissors
• Crayons or markers
• Rainbow Color Matching Cards templates (download here)
• Rainbow Coloring Cards templates (download here)

How-To

Print the pages from the color matching PDF onto card stock.

There are three parts to each of the matching sets. For each color of the rainbow there is a card with the picture and the word, a card with only the picture, and one with only the word. Cut all the cards apart.

Divide the cards into three piles with the cards mixed.

Now there are a several ways to use these cards, but the basic idea is to match pictures and words.

When Montessori classrooms use cards like this, students start with the most complete card. In this case, it would be the full rainbow.

Have your child find the full rainbow card with the picture and the word. Next, have them find the card with only the picture of the rainbow and place it on top of the first card. Finally it’s time to find the card with only the word ‘rainbow’.

Even if your child can’t read yet, they can learn how to look for the words that match. This process will help them connect the words with the pictures and start to gain sight words!

Continue working through all the cards, matching the colors, pictures, and words.

The cards with the words and pictures act as a way to make matches, while ensuring that the answers are correct. But as your child is better at reading the words and making matches, you can set the largest cards aside.

If you want to encourage learning the ROYGBIV color order, you can ask your child to place the cards in order. Do this either as they are matching the cards or after they are finished.

You can extend this activity with the Rainbow Coloring Cards PDF. Print out a page (or two) of blank rainbows and grab some ROYGBIV crayons or markers.

Have your child start by matching the cards to the colors.

Now they can color their own rainbows! For even more color and word practice, invite them to color a set of cards like the printed set. For each card, they can color one stripe of the rainbow and then write the color word underneath.

Because these cards work in different ways, this is an activity that you’ll want to pull out from time to time. As your child learns and grows, they will experience the rainbow in new ways!

Happy color matching!

Rainbow Balloon Cake Topper

It’s almost time for leprechauns, April showers, and rainbow season!  I don’t know about you, but I have some serious Spring fever.  Spring and fall are probably my favorite times of the year for entertaining, so let the festivities begin!

You have probably seen balloon arches before, and even rainbow cake ideas…but have you ever combined the two into one adorable cake topper?  It is such a fun little DIY, and only requires five supplies, including the cake!  You know what Julia Child says.. ”a party without cake is just a meeting.”  Well, a cake without a cake topper is like a unicorn without a horn!  We can’t have that.

Let’s whip those balloons into some rainbows, shall we?

What You Need

• Water balloons in pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple
• Balloon Pump
• Craft wire
• Scissors
• 8” round cake (or larger)

How-To

Step 1
Using a balloon pump, blow up 4 balloons of each color.  They should be about the size of a small kiwi. It’s easiest to start large and let air out to get them down to the right size.  The balloon above is pictured with an egg, for size reference.

Step 2
Cut a 30-inch piece of wire, and tie a pink balloon around it, leaving at least 6 inches of space between the balloon and the end of the wire.

Tie a second pink balloon around the wire, and slide it so that the two balloons are close together, and touching.

Continue tying balloons around the wire, until there are four pink balloons all squished together.

Step 3
Now begin tying on four orange balloons, and slide them down to touch the row of pink.  Squish them all together as much as possible so that the wire and balloon ends are not showing through.

Step 4
Repeat this process with four yellow, then green, blue and purple balloons.

Slide the balloons around the wire until they are arranged in such a way that the wire and ends are showing through as little as possible.

Step 5
Hold the wire on each side at the ends of the balloons, and pull the ends together to form an arch.

Step 6
Estimate the height of your cake, and using scissors, cut the wire down on each side, leaving at least two inches of wire to stick through the top of the cake.  Use soap and water to wash the two wire ends and any balloons that may touch the cake.  Don’t forget to rinse and dry!

Step 7
Hold the balloon arch over the middle of your cake, and stick the wire in on each side.

Voila!  You have an adorable rainbow balloon arch cake topper. Enjoy!

Happy Spring Paper Watches

Now that our clocks have sprung forward, why not celebrate the longer brighter days with these fun DIY watches? Craft, draw, and color these adorable paper watches and greeting cards for the perfect handmade Easter presents! Choose your favorite design from the free printables below and have fun coloring them in with your kids this spring.

Gather up some buttons and ribbon, print out the provided template and let’s get crafting! Oh, and P.S: these cute handmade watchbands can be used on real watches, too! Keep reading to see more.

What You Need

• Printable templates (download here)
• Ribbon and trims
• Buttons
• Elastic cord
• Cardstock
• Scissors
• Craft knife
• Glue
• Needle
• Thread
• Paint and/or markers
• Round stickers (optional)

How-To

Step 1
Download and print the templates onto plain or colored cardstock. Cut out the watches and greeting circle shapes. Fold the watch in half so that the interlocking tabs (the small circles on the sides) meet and lock together. Take extra care when cutting and folding to ensure a good fit. Use a craft knife to cut out the slots, following the marks on the template. Now, color in the printed greeting circles.

Step 2
Glue your colored greeting circles onto a blank paper watch. Glue one to the front and the two into the inside.

Step 3
You can also choose to draw your own designs onto blank watch templates. Have fun with it and mix it up!

Step 4
To make the watch band, cut a piece of ribbon, leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance on the ends. Thread the ribbon through the paper watch slots. Choose your favorite button and stitch it onto one end of the ribbon with a needle and thread. Cut a piece of elastic cord about 2 1/2” – 3” long and tie an overhand knot, forming a loop.

Step 5
Thread the other end of the ribbon (the one without the button) through the elastic cord loop. Fold the ribbon end (hiding the elastic loop knot in the process) and stitch a seam to hold it in place. Add a few stitches to the elastic cord to keep the knot inside the ribbon seam too.

Step 6
Download and print the Happy Spring cards onto cardstock, or write your own message on a blank card. Decorate the cards with stickers, glitter, drawings, whatever you like! Cut it out and secure the watches around the card.

Choose a matching envelope and voila!

And one last tip! Follow the steps to make your own watch band to replace an old broken one of a real watch. Cool, right?

Happy spring!