Category: Recycling crafts

DIY Floppy Newspaper Hats

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Oh, we had so much fun making these FLOPPY NEWSPAPER HATS today! I thought I’d write up this tutorial this weekend, but I just couldn’t wait…they’re just so much fun! If you have little boys in your messy house, please don’t think you can’t make these with them…a hat’s a hat! A floppy hat’s a floppy hat! I’m sure they’ll love them just as much as any girls will! Do it! There will be lots of giggling for sure.

Materials needed:

  • newspaper
  • acrylic paint
  • painters tape
  • tissue paper, poof balls, feathers, etc.
  • white glue

First, prepare your painting area. I taped some trash bags to the floor to protect it from paint…not usually necessary for painting, but the newspaper sheets are just so large.

Next, paint, paint, paint! Paint an entire sheet of newspaper, just one side though. Don’t worry if some  of the newspaper can be seen through the paint, nobody will notice when the hat is finished! Allow the paint to dry completely.

 

 

 

After the paint is dry, lay the paper overtop of another sheet of newspaper…two sheets will make the hat a little more durable. Fold the papers twice, once in each direction, and cut the paper so when you open them back up, you have a circle. The circle really doesn’t have to be perfect, it’ll look great when you’re done!

 

 

Next is the tricky part because kids tend to wiggle…lay the paper over your child’s head and scrunch fold it into shape. As you go around, use painters tape to hold the the folds in place. The great thing about painter’s tape is that you can fix any little mistakes and it won’t tear up the paint or paper.

 

In making WB’s orange hat, I just shaped it around my knee and it worked just fine. I also experimented and used a stapler instead of the painters tape. Stapling worked great and looks fantastic, but it is a little trickier to do. The paper tears a little easier with staples in it too.

Now to decorate your hat! You can cut flowers out of tissue paper or just cut squares and scrunch them up. If you layer the tissue paper a bit, the flowers are a little fluffier and prettier. You can also glue on poof balls, jewels, feathers, anything you can think of and find around your house!

 

 

 

Super cute, huh!? Forget Easter bonnets, we’ll be wearing these to Thanksgiving dinner!!! That is if they survive a month’s worth of tea parties…

 

 

 

 

Wouldn’t these be adorable for a birthday party? You could make the hats beforehand and let the kids decorate them at the party…so many fun possibilities! Enjoy!

 

The Best Pumpkin Seed Recipe Ever!

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Store-bought pumpkin seeds don’t even compare to freshly roasted ones made right in your own home! This year I think I made ours too good…they barely lasted a weekend, most didn’t even make it out of the pan and into a serving bowl before they were devoured! I know Halloween is over, but you may have some un-carved pumpkins sitting on your front porch still full of seeds… Those seeds are calling your name…

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • salt

Plus any or all of the following:

  • garlic powder
  • chili powder
  • paprika
  • roasted cumin
  • cayenne

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

First, rinse the seeds under water washing away any pumpkin guts.

Pour the seeds out on a towel and gently pat them dry. (They don’t have to be perfectly dry.)

In a small bowl, toss the seeds with the olive oil and salt. Add your spices and toss some more to thoroughly coat the seeds. Make them to suit your preferences…if you like really spicy snacks, add more cayenne. Paprika is one of my favorite spices…kinda sweet, kinda smoky and a little spicy.

For little or no mess, line a baking pan with tinfoil. Spread the seeds out in a single layer.

Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Delish!!! (This handful of seeds was all that was left by the time I got my camera out to take a picture! They are just too good!) Enjoy!!!

Leaf “Glitter” Art

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As the girls and I were crunching our way through leaves this week, this leaf “glitter” project came to mind. The leaves in our neighborhood are changing yet again…this time from their vibrant reds and oranges to dried-up, crunchy browns. No fear though, we can get one more craft out them!

Materials Needed:

  • crunchy leaves
  • paper (look in the recycling basket first!)
  • white glue
  • a small container or bowl

First, crumble the leaves into the tiniest pieces possible and collect them in a small dish.

Next, draw a Fall picture on the paper with the white glue. Feel free to draw some for your little ones, but let them scribble a glue picture too!

 

Now, as you would do with glitter, sprinkle the leaf dust all over the glue. This was definitely L’s favorite part.

 

 

 

Once the glue is all covered, gently shake the excess leaf “glitter” off and reveal your masterpiece!

 

 

 

Pumpkin Seed Necklaces

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There’s a lot of pumpkin carving going on this week, so I thought I’d hurry and get this one out there! Have you ever turned your pumpkin seeds into jewelry? The key to stringing pumpkin seeds with ease is to make sure that they’re fresh…no baked or thoroughly dried pumpkin seeds here! This year we tried dying some seeds before stringing them too. This craft is super easy and so much fun!

Materials needed:

  • fresh pumpkin seeds
  • dental floss, embroidery floss, or thread
  • sewing needle

For colored seeds you’ll also need:

  • food coloring
  • vinegar
  • boiling water

As you carve your jack-o-lanterns, separate the pumpkin seeds from the pulp. Rinse the seeds in some water to get any excess pumpkin guts off.

 

 

If you’d like some colored seeds, boil a cup of water. Add 1-2 tsp of vinegar and lots of food coloring. (I basically followed the directions for dying eggs on the food coloring box, adjusting it a little bit.) Let the water mixture boil for 5 minutes.

Turn the stove off and add your pumpkin seeds. Let them sit for 15-20 minutes, stirring the seeds a couple times, until you achieve the color you like.

Pour your seeds into a colander to drain them and run some cold water over the seeds briefly. Spread the seeds out on some cardboard to dry a bit. You can pat them dry with a paper towel too if needed.

Now, time to make some necklaces! Using the needle and thread (or dental floss), string the seeds on one at a time. If the seeds are a little tough, you can lay them flat on cardboard and push the needle through.

 

This is a great time to talk to your kids about patterns! Have your little ones pick out seeds and lay them in order to help you string. When you’re finished threading seeds, tie the ends in a knot or two to complete! Enjoy!

 

 

Some early morning necklace-making in our pajamas in Our Beautifully Messy House…

 

 

Water Lens

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I don’t know a kid (or an adult) who doesn’t love playing with a magnifying glass. They’re just mesmerizing! The “water lens” experiment is such a fun activity that allows kids to not only play with a magnifying glass, but it shows kids how to make one too. So much discovering going on here!

Materials needed:

  • a plastic bucket (we used a large coffee container)
  • marker
  • knife and/or scissors
  • clear, plastic material (a dry-cleaners bag is best, but plastic wrap would work too!)
  • large rubber band
  • water
  • small objects

First, draw three large circles on your bucket or plastic container. They need to be big enough to get one’s hand in-and-out easily. Our coffee container had a funky handle part, so we just drew and cut a rectangle shape around it. Modify your circles however you need to to make it work!

 

Using your knife and/or scissors, cut the circles out. Try making smooth edges so no little hands get cut going in-and-out.

Next, lay the plastic material loosely over the bucket and secure it with the large rubber band. If you don’t have a rubber band big enough, you could always cut and tie a couple together to make it work.

 

Since water is involved, it’s best to do this activity outside, in the bath tub or in a water-safe area. We put a beach towel down on our kitchen floor and put our water lens inside a baking pan to catch any splashes…worked great!

Pour warm water onto the plastic material…as much as will fit without spilling over. And now your water lens is ready for play!

Have your kids take turns holding various objects underneath the “magnifying glass.” They can experiment by moving their hands up and down, and by adjusting the amount of water in the lens. So simple to make, but so much fun!

 

 

 

 

Make sure the water you use is warm…if you use cold water the lens will fog up quickly! We made that mistake for you! Ha!

L had a ball with this one today! Tomorrow morning we plan to venture outside and collect more flowers, sticks, snail shells, leaves, etc. to examine up close with our homemade magnifying glass! Where will this discovering activity take you? Enjoy!!!

DIY Mason Jar Lid Pumpkins

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This pumpkin craft is one of the simplest and sweetest of the season.  It’s not only cute for Halloween, but you can keep it up all the way through to Thanksgiving. The “mason-jar-lid pumpkin” could even be used to brighten up your Thanksgiving table centerpiece…your guests will adore it!

 

Materials needed:

  • about 20 mason jar lids (found in the grocery store)
  • glitter spray paint (orange, gold, silver)
  • cord or string
  • scissors
  • cinnamon sticks
  • decorative, floral wire (optional)

Outside or in a well-ventilated area, lay all the lids out on a flat surface. Spray half the lids with the orange spray paint, a quarter of them gold and the last quarter silver. (You can always change up your colors and do something different than what I did…all orange, all gold, no paint…it’s up to you!)

 

Let the lids dry overnight. Next, cut a piece of string about 2-3 feet long. Thread all your lids on the string, making sure they all face the same direction.

 

Pull the string tight and then tie a double-knot to secure the mason jar lids.

Move the lids around, arranging them into a pumpkin shape. Place 6 or 7 cinnamon sticks in the center for the pumpkin stem and (optional) add a curlicue of florist wire.

 

 

How cute is that!? And easy too! Now that I’ve made one for our house, I’ll be making a few more this week to give away as gifts. Enjoy!

Have you seen our DIY Witch Legs??? That’s another one you’ll be sure to love!!!

DIY Witch Legs

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So I looked around for a tutorial online for how to make “Witch Legs” and they were all much more complicated than they needed to be! People using irrigation tubing, tube socks with sand and tape, mannequin legs, etc… I don’t know about you, but I’m all for cheap and easy! So I tried it my way, fingers-crossed that it’d work out, and it did! I just love our witch legs…costing under $10, they took about 15-20 minutes to make!

Materials needed:

  • heeled, sparkly shoes (find them at a thrift store!)
  • kids, knit halloween tights
  • poly fil stuffing
  • hot glue gun and glue
  • scissors

(I originally thought I’d decorate the shoes with some pipe cleaner curlicues, but they ended up looking best without! That’s why the pipe cleaners are pictured here, if you’re wondering.)

First, stuff the tights with the poly fil. Leave about 4-5 inches at the top not stuffed.

Next, cut the legs off the tights, as far to the top as possible. Then tie a knot in each.

 

Position one foot into a shoe to have a good idea how it will set. Then, starting with the toes, glue each foot into the shoe. It’s okay if the “foot” is smaller than the shoe…it probably will be because they’re adult shoes and kid’s tights. You can continue pushing the leg down into the shoe just past the heel and nobody will be able to tell the difference.

 

And now for the fun part…find the perfect spot to display your witch legs and surprise the neighbors! If you have an overhanging porch on your house or a large bush in the yard, you can hide the ends underneath. There’s about a half-inch gap between the siding of our house and the front porch that I was able to wedge the ends down into. A big flower pot set on top would work too! Get creative and have fun! Ding-dong the wicked witch it dead!!!

 

 

DIY Autumn Leaf Bookmarks

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We are so, so excited in Our Beautifully Messy House that Fall has finally arrived and with it new projects and crafts to do! Nature offers so many free materials this time of year…from brightly colored leaves to acorns and buckeyes of all different sizes, not to mention weird and crazy seed pods. These Autumn Leaf Bookmarks were just too perfect for me to do this week with the new addition of our Little Free Library at our house, as well as all the leaves starting to change and fall in our backyard!

Materials Needed:

  • empty cereal or cracker box
  • scissors
  • gold acrylic paint
  • brightly colored leaves
  • hot glue gun and glue
  • Mod Podge and brush

First, cut your cereal box cardboard into bookmark-shapes. I did some thin ones with square edges and a couple thicker ones with rounded edges…both turned out great!

After cutting your bookmarks, paint a couple layers of gold acrylic paint on each side. The paint job doesn’t have to be perfect since the leaves will cover up most of the cardboard.

Once the paint has dried completely, it’s time to glue on your leaves. First, prepare your leaves by cutting the stems off.

Start with one of your larger leaves, and apply the glue directly onto the bookmark. After you’ve pressed your leaf into the glue,  smooth it down as flat as possible, working from the center of the leaf out. And work quickly…hot glue dries super-fast!

Once the central part of your leaf is attached, apply small dabs of glue to the edges and tips of the underside of the leaf and continue to smooth it flat. Fold over-hanging tips around and glue to the opposite side. Continue layering and gluing leaves on both sides.

 

 

 

Once all the leaves are attached, examine the bookmark and try to remove any little pieces of hot glue that may be visible. Now paint one or two coats of Mod Podge on each side of the bookmark. The Mod Podge helps preserve the leaves and their bright colors. It also makes the bookmark a bit more durable!

Too easy, right? It makes such a cute, lil gift for a friend or neighbor! Check back for many more Fall crafts to come in the next couple months! Enjoy!

 

 

 

Playing Monet

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Ever since I was a kid and was given the book “Linnea in Monet’s Garden,” Claude Monet has been one of my very favorite painters. When L found my old book last week, I immediately thought of our melted crayon art and thought that we could try to make our own impressionist, water lily artwork. We used a different technique to melt the crayons this time, and we used materials found in the recycling basket for a “canvas.” I was thrilled to be able to teach L a little bit about Monet and his phenomenal paintings…and in such a fun way too!

 

 

 

Materials Needed:

  • empty cereal or cracker box
  • acrylic paints
  • crayons
  • oven

First, I cut the cereal boxes to make nice little “canvases” to paint on. I left the side flaps intact, making the artwork easier to move while working, using the flaps as handles. You can cut them off at the end.

Next, looking at Monet’s painting we talked about what colors to paint the background, representing the water. We chose two colors of green and two of blue to use. I let L paint the cardboard canvas however she pleased, encouraging her to cover the entire thing.

 

 

After the paint dried, it was time to create the lily pads and flowers. I made crayon shavings by simply cutting up crayons into little shavings or pieces. You can use a cheese grater if you like, but a sharp knife works just fine! (The crayon shavings pictured here are from another piece of work…hence the orange, yellows and reds. For Monet’s water lilies, I made shaving from three different green crayons, as well as some pinks, yellows and white.)

Now, using one color at a time, L sprinkled the crayon shavings onto her canvas. We started with the greens for the lily pads, putting the shavings into little piles, and followed it with the pink and white for flowers.

 

 

Next is the really fun part…melting the crayons, transforming the artwork! With the oven set to 200 degrees F, I lay the cardboard on a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven for 5 minutes. L loved watching the crayons melt!

Once the shavings were all melted, we removed the artwork from the oven to cool. Be very careful not to tilt or shake the artwork at this point…for the first minute or two before the melted crayon cools, it’s very liquid and will drip or move-mix around. After a couple minutes, the crayon is dried and the art ready to show off and display!

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you have as much fun with this one as we did! If you have a favorite impressionist painter, other than Monet, I’m sure the melted-crayon technique would work to mimic their work too! Enjoy!

DIY Wind Chimes

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I love finding new uses for old things and I’ll take any excuse to peruse an antique store, so making these wind chimes was the perfect project for L and me! Like most of our home decor projects, L couldn’t help with everything, but I let her help where she could…she painted all the keys and picked out all the buttons we used. Your wind chime doesn’t have to include everything ours does, but hopefully it inspires you to make one with things you do have around the house!

 

 

 Materials for Wind Chime #1:

  • antique cheese grater
  • old buttons
  • keys
  • an old prism
  • sturdy thread or cord
  • acrylic paint
  • glossy sealant spray

 Materials for Wind Chime #2:

  • antique, silver candy dish
  • old buttons
  • keys
  • an old prism
  • sturdy thread or cord
  • acrylic paint
  • glossy sealant spray

For Wind Chime #1, which we made for my younger brother, I painted an old cheese grater that I had found at an antique store. While I painted the cheese grater, L painted a bunch of old keys. Once the keys dried, we turned them over and painted the other side different colors. After both sides were painted and dried, I sprayed the keys and the cheese grater with a glossy sealant. It gives the items a more finished look and will help them stand up to the weather a little better too.

 

 

 

 

First, figure out how you’d like your wind chime to hang…for instance Wind Chime #1 was hung on a slight angle, so the painting was visible. Wind Chime #2 was an antique candy dish hung upside-down. Hang the wind chime between two chairs while you work on it. This makes fastening all your keys and buttons soooo much easier!

To assemble the wind chime, we first laid out all the materials we had on hand…buttons, keys, old thread spools, and prisms. From here we decided what we wanted the wind chime to look like and started piecing it all together. It’s a great opportunity to talk about patterns with your little ones!

After everything was strung-up and fastened the way we liked it, I put a spot of crazy-glue on each knot and cut the extra strings. Now for the fun part…ready to wrap it up and give it away as a gift or find the perfect spot for your wind chime to hang! What will your wind chime look like?