Recycled Christmas Ornament: Altoid Tin

I was recently given a craft assignment: to make a Christmas ornament using recycled materials. 

Okay, okay. It wasn't MY homework. It was my daughter's first grade homework assignment. Nevertheless, I was excited. After all, it specifically said the project was to be a collaborative effort between the student and his/her family!

Momo and I started brainstorming almost immediately. We searched Pinterest for ideas and pinned like crazy! When we finally narrowed down our choices.....we ended up with a Pinterest fail: 

Trust me. It is NOT supposed to look like that!


More brainstorming. We finally we came up with our own idea of using Altoid tins!

Luckily I have been saving the tins to make more of these:

....but it just hasn't happened yet. Of course being a bit of a craft hoarder I have tons of other supplies, such as bottle caps, fabric, felt, ribbon, etc. After playing around with what we had on hand we finally completed our ornament!

We covered the front of the Altoid tin with red felt and a Christmas bow to make it look like a present:

On the inside of the tin we covered both sides with felt/fabric; glued on some bottle caps; drew a face and buttons on the caps to look like a snowman; attached a gift label to one side and then added a ribbon for hanging!(Note to self: next time put the tag on the front of the tin, so it really looks like a present!) 

Imagine all the possible surprises you can hide in an Altoid tin!

It came out pretty cute and I know Momo is proud of OUR project! :)

If you are looking for more ideas on easy, kid-friendly recycled Christmas ornaments check out my Pinterest Board: "Recycled Christmas Ornaments."

Happy Christmas Crafting! 

Halloween I-Spy Bottle

Happy Halloween!

Okay, okay! A little premature but I LOVE Halloween and I can't wait to get started! If you are planning on any DIY Halloween projects now is the time to start preparing!

About this time last year my "Dream Team" room moms and I were brainstorming some Halloween craft ideas to do with kindergarteners. Yes, I really did say "dream team" because we were! Room moms of the highest caliber. The Olympic gold medal winners of room moms! Rock star moms! (Yes, let me toot my horn! We worked hard!) All humbleness aside, Mrs. K, Mrs. M and I worked really well together. I believe a key component to our success was that all three of us have backgrounds in education and know how to create a lesson plan and carry it out. This was truly a plus!

Our first craft that we had to plan for was for Halloween. While there are so many fun and creative ideas out there we had to keep a few things in mind:

• the craft had to be completed in an hour;
• we were totally dependent on the kindergarten parents for donating the supplies and;
• the craft had to meet the common core standards (this particular one had to do with 3-dimensional shapes) 

Initially I thought about having the kindergarteners make finger puppet ghosts (see the link here) but in the the end we decided to make Halloween I-Spy bottles!

 

While it wasn't my first time making I-Spy bottles with a group it was my first time making it with a group this large. We had to plan for approximately 75 kids! Each kindergarten class was responsible for collecting their own supplies and doing all the prep work before craft day. In case you are considering making these with a large group this is what we requested for each kindergarten class:

• 24  (16.9 oz.) empty water bottles WITH lids. Smooth bottles (with  the least amount of ridges) works best. 
• 20 lbs white rice
• Orange food coloring
• 5 x large plastic bowls to hold 5lbs rice (ex. large ice cream tubs or plastic witches’ cauldron)
• 24 quart Ziploc bags 
• 24 (3oz or 5oz) paper or plastic “bathroom cups” (to pour rice into funnels) 
• 8+ sets of 24 small trinkets
• Construction paper (to make paper funnels)
• Scotch tape (for paper funnels)
• Hot gun and glue sticks (to only be used by an adult)
• Permanent marker or(to put names on lids, mark bottles “do not fill past this line”)
• Wax paper or cookie sheet (to dry colored rice) 
• Optional: camera, printer paper, laminating machine, ribbon, hole puncher, scissors (to make I-Spy tags)
• Paper towels, spray bottle/cleanser to wipe tables down; broom and dustpan; trash bag for clean up
• Paper towel/toilet paper roll to show the students that a water bottle is a 3 dimensional shape

The prep work before craft day consisted of: cleaning the bottles; removing the labels and any sticky residue; dyeing the rice; bagging the trinkets; making paper funnels; and making a sample of the craft to show the students on craft day. We also made made a laminated tag to attach to the bottle that had a list of items on one side a picture of the items on the other: 

One of the cool trinkets we put into our bottles was a bean ghost:

Simply draw eyes on white beans! It is easy and inexpensive to do and the kids can draw the faces themselves! Thanks to "Chasing Cheerios" for the idea! 

While it was a lot of work for a group this large the kids had a great time and absolutely loved it! As a matter of fact, at the end of the year I had one student tell me the I-Spy bottle was their most favorite craft ever! 

Many thanks to my Dream Team! Mrs. K and Mrs. M! 

For other Halloween craft ideas check out some things I have done in the past: spider lollipops, milk carton lights and spooky specimens jars! Or plan a Halloween feast with worm spaghetti and blood sauce! It has become an annual tradition that the kids look forward to every year!

Happy Crafting!

P.S. If you would like a sample of the lesson plan we created please let me know. I will be happy to email it to you! You can tweak it to fit your needs.

"Fancy" Clothespins

At least that's what Momo calls them. What a relief because I made them for her friend who recently turned four. She's a great little mama's helper and very creative so I'm sure she'll have fun with them. Last year I made her a crayon/clothespin apron so she already has a place to put them when not in use.

I know that clothespins for a four year old sounds a little odd, but did you see how much fun Momo had with clothespins recently?

Yes, that would be MY child. 

I made a few to more to use around the house. I'm constantly looking for clips to close food bags like cereal, bread, chips, etc. These are much cheaper than the clips you buy from the store and much cuter too! It was super easy and fun to do. There are tons of tutorials out there but I followed this one.

For more handmade gift ideas check out Tip Junkie:



And link up with "this and that's i made THIS tuesday!"



*PS Can I just mention that I did not just give her 12 clothespins for her birthday? Not that there's anything wrong with it if I did....

Halloween - Spooky Specimen Jars!

Time to get ready for Halloween!

Believe it or not, I am NOT making costumes this year! Lucky for me my father bought the girls their Halloween costumes. A bumblebee and a ladybug. I told my husband he could be a flower (NOT going to happen) and I would be an exterminator. HA!

Anyways! I had been saving some glass jars for a project that never happened (mad scientest party turned Pokemon party) and decided to put them to use. Spooky specimen jars for Halloween!

Top row - spiders, giant flies, mice

Bottom row - cockroaches, skull, eyeballs, giant spider, snakes

As you can see some of the jars came out better than others! The cockroaches (first jar on the left) started out GREAT - they were  floating around in the jars at different depths but then they all kind of clumped together and sunk. The giant flies and mice did the opposite - instead of sinking they floated to the top. I spent a great deal of time (WAY too much time!) trying to troubleshoot and figure out how to fix the problem. In the end I just gave up. Seriously, my kids aren't gonna care. If anything they'll shake the jars to see the critters better! 

And while I think the Halloween fabric and ribbons on the the lids are a little too cutesy my kids insisted. And since this little project is really for them I had to oblige. :)

Here's a close up some of the jars:

Spiders, skull & eyeballs!

Cockroaches & giant flies - BOMB!

It's hard to see the spider in the first jar but it is AWESOME!
Spider, snakes & mice!

I would've loved to have found some fake body parts - fingers, toes, ear, etc. as well as a frog, brain, giant cockroach (I know I've seen them somewhere!) worms, and whatever else!

Wanna know how I did it? I found an easy tutorial over at Mom Moments. Her jars turned out so colorful! But I have to tell you, nothing helped me make the critters float better except for cramming them in the smallest jar possible. I also tried adding cooking oil (as suggested) to get a cooler effect and that bombed. I also found that the clear liquid hand soap (Softsoap brand) worked better than shampoo....that's what I'll use next time.

By the way.....fabric lovers....did you notice the green fabric in the background? Well...I'll tell you this now so  you can go out and find some before Halloween has come and gone.....the fabric is GLOW-IN-THE-DARK! My kids tested it out and their response was, "SOOOOOO COOOOOOL!" I actually got three different glow-in-the-dark fabrics:

With Halloween less than a week away I need to make something with them soon! My plan (keyword - "plan") is to use the FREE circle skirt tutorial over at "MADE." Can't wait to try it out especially since I was eyeballing similar skirts in the stores (and refuse to pay that much for them!)

*eyeballing - I swear...it was purely a coincidence that I used that word! HA!

Happy early Halloween! Now off to make the spider Tootsie Pops for Kailani's class......

Last year's lollipops....gotta make a bunch more this year!

Need some more Halloween ideas? Check out ABC & 123's Show & tell Blog Hop!



Suncatcher Ghost

I hosted a Halloween craft playdate today for the little ones - fun, fun, fun! Prior to it I looked for a Halloween story to share. While there were many to choose from a lot of them were too "creepy" (according to Momo) and I certainly didn't want to creep any kids out before their big trick-or-treat day! 

I finally found a book that I thought would work - "Ghosts in the House" by Kazuno Kohara. It's a really cute story about a little girl that moves into a house which is haunted by ghosts - but she is not afraid because she is a witch and a ghost collector at that!  After capturing the ghosts she puts them into the washing machine and then uses them as curtains, a tablecloth and a few other things. What a clever little girl!  

We give this book two thumbs up!

After the story we did a follow up craft. Since the story was about happy ghosts we had the kids make some happy little ghost "suncatchers." 

All you need for the craft is Contact paper (you can find Contact paper where they sell shelf liners in the store) and random white crafting supplies like ribbon, tissue, glitter, etc. You also need scissors, tape and a pen (to draw the ghost - or you can cut the ghost out free hand if you're good at that!)

I found the idea here but instead of using felt to make the eyes we used googly eyes. Using contact paper was GREAT as it was sticky (but not too sticky) and definitely less messy than using glue!

Of course when Kailani came home from school she wanted to make one too: 

They look darling on the window! Try it! It's easy and fun! 

Edited to add:

If you are looking for lesson plans that include a story and some sort of craft please check out "A Mommy's Adventure" - stART (story-art):

Thanks so much to Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot for telling me about Michelle's blog!  (How did I not already know?!?)

Last Day of School.....

Today is the last day of public school here in Hawaii. (I don't know whether to let out a big cheer or a big cry!) Kailani is graduating from the 2nd grade - unbelievable. I asked her if I would recognize her when I came to pick her up...since she would technically be a 3rd grader this afternoon and she said, "Mom, I don't know." So cute.

Well, I had all these great plans of what I wanted to do for Kailani's end-of-the-year teacher gift but next thing you know........the day is here! So yesterday (yes, YESTERDAY) I decided to make a reversible banner for Kailani's teacher. I've been wanting to make one for some time now and finally decided to do it. Here's how it turned out:


One side has her teacher's name and the other side is of Hawaiian prints. It was a bit of a pain as I made my own patchwork bias tape and appliqued each of the letters but I think it was worth it (and the lack of sleep).

Summer vacation....here we come!

Edited to add: I recognized Kailani after school. ;) AND....her teacher hung up the banner!

Marble Magnets - Teacher Appreciation Week

It's teacher appreciation week! Time to let your kid's teacher know that you appreciate them! So what to do? What to get? What to make?

My kiddo was no help:

Me: "Does she drink coffee?" K: "I don't know."

Me: "What's her favorite color?"

K: "I don't know."

Me: "What does she like to do?"

K: "I don't know."

Great.

I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try making some marble magnets - they've been on my to-do list for some time. There are a lot of tutorials on how to make them but I used the one on Not Martha (clever blog title don't you think?)

For my first attempt I'm happy with the way they turned out! It was super easy to do, inexpensive, took very little time and required only a few supplies (magnets, silicone glue, flat marbles and decorative paper.) I kept thinking of more words to use but decided to stop at twelve.

I'll definitely make these again....but tweak a few things like the font that I used, the size, etc. We are putting the marbles on a magnetic dry erase board and wrapping it up. Next time I'll put them in an empty Altoids tin, or better yet a tin with a clear window on top? Has anyone seen these and/or know where to get them? (Update: I found some at Oriental Trading Company)

Hope Kailani's teacher likes it!

The Letter B....

Two weeks ago the Honolulu Mommies started a series of play dates called, "ABC & Me." The intention of these play dates is to introduce a letter of the alphabet to our preschool kids (ages 1-4ish) via crafts, games, story time, etc. This is something I've been wanting to do with Momo but have kept it on the backburner for awhile now. I jumped at the opportunity to participate.

At our first get together we started with the obvious, letter "A." It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. I went ahead and volunteered to do "B." Scary. It's been awhile since I did any kind of teaching but everything went fine. (And when I did start to stress I just reminded myself that these were preschoolers - they are truly not going to notice if I make a mistake or forget something!)

After a quick review of "A" I introduced "B" and it's sound. I brought a box full of items that start with the letter "B" such as a bunny, basket, ball, bubbles, blanket, etc. and then read (actually had my 7-year old helper read) "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See." After each "....what do you see?" the kids repeated the line. It was really cute. We then followed up with a related craft.

I had already made some bears on craft sticks so all the kids had to do was repeat what I said and then glue/stick the corresponding item onto the bear. Such as:

"Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see.....":

• I see a bow stuck on me...
• I see a band-aid on my knee...
• I see buttons stuck on me....
• I see a butterfly flying next to me....
• and then finally, I see the letter "B" on me....

Momo hard at work. (Thanks to Stephanie for the picture!)

No...the pictures is not backwards. The "B" is. ;)

The end result was really cute! I have to thank Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot for the great idea! Can't wait to see what "C" Brings!

Cupcake Game

Look at this fabric! Is it cute or what?


Now, what to do with it? How about this:


Know what it is? No? Yes? Maybe? What if I showed you this:


Ahhhh....a felt memory game!

The fabric is by Timeless Treasures - their "Got the Munchies?" line. I thought it was super cute and absolutely perfect to do something with for Momo's cupcake party. With 12 different, perfectly sized cupcakes on the print which are evenly spaced (easy to cut!) I thought it would be great to make a memory game. Since most of our guests are a mere three years old I'm going to package three or four pairs of matching cards to give away as party favors. That should be enough, right?

Cutting. Ugh. Lots of cutting. (How do quilters do it?) Cut the cupcakes, cut the adhesive, cut the felt.....not hard but time consuming.

While I intended for this to be a no-sew project I ended up using my machine. However, it CAN be done without sewing! (You could use a fabric glue or iron-on type adhesive.) I used some iron-on adhesive to attach the fabric onto the felt and in addition did a straight stitch around the edges. Pinking the edges of the felt made it look that much cuter. :)

Can I just mention that I now know the difference between wool felt and craft felt? OH MY....what a difference! Lots of love for wool!

Got a lot more cupcake things to do.....better get on it! :)

Spider Lollipops

Need a last minute idea for your kid's class or Halloween party? Check these out. It took me about an hour to make 30 of them - and that includes having to stop every other minute due to a two year old and 7 year old wanting to play with them! All you need are Tootsie Pops (or any other lollipops), googly eyes, black pipe cleaners and some glue!

You probably don't need instructions on how to make it but just in case you do you can find them on the Family Fun website here. Need more than written instructions? They even have a video demonstration!

Happy early Halloween!

Graduation

*Sigh*

My kiddo is graduating today.

From 1st grade, that is.

Where did the time go? When I think of kindergarten and 1st grade I think of itty-bitty cute little kids. But 2nd grade? Sure, they are still cute but they are older and smarter. It's a whole different ballgame. Am I ready for it?

So yesterday of all days I decided that YES, I will send the teachers an end-of-the-year gift. Yeah. The day before the last day of school. I have no idea what they want or need. All I really know is that one of her teachers LOVES frogs. Since I totally procrastinated I had to think fast.

WELL! Since time is not of the essence I decided I would go ahead and SEW! Since we're moving back to Hawaii really wanted to use some GORGEOUS Hawaiian print fabric but what do you know. There isn't much of a selection here! I managed to find a few pieces from my own stash and went to work. While I'd rather the prints be more uniform and/or from the same designer line of fabric it wasn't happening. I had to use what I had.

I ended up making both of her teachers three reversible journal covers and wrapped it with a non-matching ribbon:



On the ribbon I wrote, "When you use these think of me....."

Last week I sent in some hibiscus cupcakes to Kailani's class that I ordered from a local bakery (we are not allowed to send in home baked goods - only baked goods from a licensed bakery.) as a "farewell Kailani" token. They turned out okay. Taste-wise I would also say "just okay". For the price I was expecting a bit more. I don't think any of the 1st graders had any complaints!


So goodbye 1st grade, hello summer vacation!