DIY Candle Craft...Thanksgiving time or anytime.

I saw this on pinterest and thought I would try it out. You could really do this for anything, but I thought being Thankgiving, I would make one with my favorite verse.

Materials needed:
*Candle (white would be best, I used a beige)
* wax paper
*tissue paper (white)
*blow dryer or heat gun (I am not that fancy lol)
*sharpie pens

Draw or write on the tissue paper.

Got my candle and blow dryer. Wrapped the tissue  paper around the candle.

 Then I wrapped and held down the wax paper while using the blow dryer on hot/high for about 30 seconds or so.

You can start to see the tissue paper disappearing (melting) into the candle. Be sure to keep the heat moving around the candle or it will start to melt and drip. You don't want that mess.

You can see in the left corner the "white" part and the rest of it melted into the candle.

You could do this with any picture or saying you would like. The hardest part was finding a candle.

Turkey Prints

Handprint Footprint Turkey

Princess likes to make handprints with paint and turn them into pictures. So we thought we would make a turkey using her hands and paint.

Materials needed:
*postal paper
*tape
*paint (washable)
*sponge brush
*googly eyes or just a marker to make them


I cut off a big piece of the paper and taped it to the floor. I divided the paper into four sections so we could make four "turkeys".

Paper sectioned and ready to stamp!

Then I got out our washable paints and painted one of Princess's hands using the sponge brush. She then stamped her hand on the paper. I had her stamp her hand 3 times on each square. We then took a break to let the paint dry for a bit and for mommy to refill her coffee.

This was the best part for her.

Next up the turkey body...using her foot. I mixed up the paint we had to make a "brownish" color and "stamped her foot to the pictures. Letting it dry.

Foot print!

I cut the pictures down and we added the eyes, beak and gobble. We also added a Thanksgiving greeting to our picture. Very simple. Very fun. And something Princess can give to her grandparents and those she is thankful for.

I then after they were completely dry, I cut them down a bit more.

Thankful Garland

With Thanksgiving very close, we have started doing some "Thanksgiving" themed crafts. Today's craft came from another Pinterest find. Princess wanted to make the "thankful garland". We altered ours for what we had on hand.

Materials:
*Paint, markers or crayons (or whatever you want to "color" with)
*brushes or something that can be used a brush (i.e. sponges)
*paper (we used postal paper the link to blog from pinterest had used paper bags)
*tape to tape the paper down while they paint
*scissors
*hole punch
*string or yarn
* pen/marker

First cut off a piece of paper. I cut off a good size for her to paint. Get the paint ready and them them go to town.

Princess painting on her paper. 

Once the paint is dry, cut out "leaf" shapes. Punch holes in the leaves and write what you/your child is thankful for.

String on the yarn/string.

Princess holding her thankful garland.

Hang it up wherever you would like!

The DIY Coffee Mug

I am sure you have seen the dollar store mug + sharpie floating around pinterest. I have. It keeps popping up! I decided I would try it out before I bought a bunch of mugs and sharpies to "create" with the Princess only to discover it was not such a great idea.

Dollar Store Mug + Sharpie = ????

My first attempt did not work as I had hoped. I decorated my mug which was causing me gobs of grief towards the end because I wanted to freehand my fancy lettering, baked it and let it cool. I was so happy with my artisan self. Seriously, I was already planning all the other "mug" designs. I have hundreds.

Then I washed my mug in hot, soapy water...the ink came right off. I nearly cried into the soap bubbles.

Then I decided to investigate. Perhaps the 350/for 30 was not the correct setting to help the ink set. Maybe there was a trick I was not aware of? Or perhaps the blue ink I used was no-no and I had no idea and just learned the hard way?

Turns out it's just luck. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I read the original blog and she posted an update (you can read it here A Beautiful Mess ) that several people tried it and it failed. This project is also NOT dishwasher safe and they must be handwashed.

However if you would like to give it a try here are instructions of what I did for the first attempt:

Materials needed:
* plain mug
*sharpie
* oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
*some kind of idea of what you want on the mug (this was the hardest part for me)

I recommend that you have on hand:
*Q-tips
*paper towels
*nail polish remover

Okay...so take the sharpie and draw or write on your mug. Or have your kids write a cute message to the person of their choice.

I chose a quote from a book series that my husband likes since this mug would be for him--if it turned out. I wrote it out on the mug with blue sharpie and then got to the last two words...and kept messing up. Glad I had some Q-tips and nail polish remover! Helps the sharpie come off! SAVED!

Baked the mug for 30 minutes as the directions said. I put it on a cookie sheet. However, when I washed it, it did not stay on. I cried.

I refused to be defeated so I gave this craft another go. I modified to directions and got success! Here is what I did for the second time around.

Materials are the same, only instead of using blue I used BLACK ink.

Same quote but used black ink.

Baked the mug at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. I put the mug directly on the oven rack this time.

Once it was done, I let it cool overnight.

Out of the oven and ready to rest overnight.

Here came the test. I took a deep breath and braced myself. Using a the soft side of the sponge, dish soap and hot water, I washed the mug! It stayed on!! I was so happy! My recommendation is when you wash this  use a soft cloth. I am not sure exactly what change helped keep the the ink on, but at least it worked!!

See the water drops? It survived it's bath! 

Hubby likes his new mug. I am happy.

Moon Sand

I saw this idea on Pinterest to make "Moon Sand" with only two ingredients. I needed to investigate. The blogger at delia creates had already tested it with good results. So I decided to give it ago for my princess.

A turkey with "Mood Sand"

Materials needed:
*1 cup baby oil
* 8 cups flour

Mix ingredients in a ziploc bag or bowl. And play! Easy.

I only had about 4 cups of flour and used 1/2 cup of baby oil. Mixed it in a bowl and it worked pretty well.

Not super firm, but still fun for the princess to play and work those fine motor skills. She was able to build a tower and was very happy with herself.

Quote from the princess, "Mommy, this playdough is awesome!" This was a huge hit at this house!

Just a warning though, it can be messy. In fact, I actually allowed my child to make a mess. (GASP!) She played for two hours with this "moon sand" and was having so much fun.

I figured I would just vacuum up the mess. But honestly? A broom and dust pan had it cleaned up in a less than five minutes. So the mess wasn't too bad. Now had it been in carpet? I am not so sure.

My daughter loves polar bears. She is currently set on becoming a polar bear doctor so she can save them all. I don't always find "polar bear" clothing for her to wear and I thought it might be fun to make one from a very easy and very inexpensive way. Since I already had a shirt, bleach and contact paper, I did not have to go out and buy anything to make this.

This what you will need:

* T-Shirt (dark colors work best, but I used a bright blue)
*bleach
*water
* spray bottle
*contact paper or freezer paper (freezer paper must be ironed onto the shirt)
*scissors or xacto knife
*cardboard to put inside shirt
*shape ( used a polar bear )
*sharpie/marker

I went through my daughter's closet and found a plain bright blue shirt. I put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt.

 I then found a polar bear outline. I traced the polar bear shape onto the contact paper (paper side) using a sharpie. I cut it out using scissors. Then I peeled the backing off the polar bear shape. I placed the bear shape on the shirt.

I pressed the image firmly to make sure it was sealed well. I then mixed 50/50 water and bleach in the spray bottle. I used a mist setting on the bottle. Holding the bottle a few feet from the shirt, I sprayed it several times.










I let the shirt dry and removed the contact paper. Viola! Polar Bear shirt!

Princess is very happy with her new shirt.

The 4th Doctor Scarf

After rediscovering my love for Doctor Who, I decided it would be super fun to crochet a "4th Doctor" scarf. For those that have seen the show, know it was the multicolored 14 foot scarf Tom Baker would wear. I found directions to make it here: Doctor Who Scarf Pattern

When I made mine, I crocheted with a K hook using single crochet. I cut in half the number of rows for each color and modified it a bit. My variation ended up being about 7.5 feet. My modified version number of rows and colors is:(going left to right)

 (start) 8 Brown  5 Mustard  11 Rust  4 Purple  10 Green  4 Mustard  14 Camel  7 Rust 4 Brown 5 Purple

21 Green 4 Mustard 8 Grey  4 Rust 26 Camel 5 Purple 6 Green 4 Mustard 8 Rust 4 Purple 18 Brown 5

Camel 4 Grey 20 Rust 7 Mustard 10 Green 4 Purple 21 Camel 6 Brown 10 grey 4 Rust 6 purple 3 Camel 7

Mustard 27 Green 8 Rust 6 Grey (finish)

My "Doctor Who" scarf. 

My daughter liked my scarf and wanted one. So I modified the pattern once more for her. I crocheted it with a P hook. This version was 49 inches long. The modifications for this scarf are as follows : (left to right)

4 Brown 4 Mustard 6 Rust 2 Purple 6 Green 6 Camel 4 Purple 6 Green 4 Mustard 6 Rust 4 Grey 2 Purple

4 Brown 6 Camel 6 Rust 4 Grey 4 Mustard 6 Brown 2 Purple 4 Camel 6 Grey.

Each scarf, has 7 tassels, 8 inches long using all the colors.

I think this earns me a jelly baby!