Spring – Page 4 – Our Beautifully Messy House

DIY Floppy Newspaper Hats

November 6, 2014November 3, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

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!

Clothespin Butterflies

September 12, 2014September 29, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

These clothespin butterflies are fun to make and can be clipped just about anywhere! L and I started this craft on a whim a couple weeks ago, we were trying to make butterflies with things we already had. Hopefully you have all the materials hiding around your house too! You could use paint or markers to color the clothespins. Using markers, the butterflies could be finished in one morning. We chose to paint ours…L loves to paint and I like when projects can be stretched out, keeping us busy for a few days.

Materials needed:

clothespins
paint or markers
pipe cleaners
beads
hot glue gun and glue

First, paint the clothespins. We painted one side, let them dry, then painted the other. I helped with the touch-ups…filling in any little spots that were missed. Let the kids have fun with it! L was happy painting hers all sorts of colors…there’s no right or wrong way.

Next, choose the color pipe cleaners you want to use for wings and the color beads. We used three colors of beads for the wings. This was a great learning activity to teach little ones about patterns! L strung the beads on the pipe cleaners, repeating our 3-bead pattern 4 times for each wing.

Spread the beads out a little bit, so the color of the pipe-cleaner can be seen. Next, loop one end of the pipe cleaner around to the middle of the pipe cleaner and wrap it once or twice, leaving about half an inch of the end sticking out. Repeat with the other side of the pipe cleaner, forming a figure-8 butterfly wing shape. Twist both half-inch ends together. (This step is much easier to see in the pictures than to explain!) Repeat for the second wing.

To make the butterfly’s antennas, cut a pipe cleaner in half. Then, bend that piece in half. Put a bead on each end of the antenna and curl it down a bit.

After you’ve shaped both butterfly wings and the antennas, it’s time to glue them to the clothespin. Using the hot glue gun, put a little bit of glue on the inside ridge of the clip and quickly press the middle of the antennas in place.

Next, put a bit of glue inside the wire coil and push one of the wings in. Repeat the same on the other side, only put the glue above the wire coil and slide the wing in place.

Cute, right? These would be beautiful hanging in a window with the sun lighting-up the beads! We’re making something special for WB’s room with ours…I can’t wait to show you next week! Enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 1, 2014September 29, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

In the Summer, when I was a kid, my mom used to make a frozen, creamy yogurt pie for us. She mixed together yogurt, whipped cream and fruit, poured it into a graham cracker crust and stuck it into the freezer to harden up. We ate it for dessert, afternoon snacks and even breakfast! This is a new twist on such a yummy and healthy Summer-time treat!

Ingredients:

banana
graham crackers
2 cups, low fat yogurt, any flavor
1 cup, low fat whipped cream (store bought or homemade)

First, take a 8 x 8 in or 9 x 9 in pan or dish…line it with tin foil. Break the graham crackers into squares and lay them out on the bottom of the pan.

Cut the banana into slices, about 1/4 inch thick, and lay one slice on top of each graham cracker.

Mix the yogurt and the whipped cream together in a bowl. Pour and spread the yogurt mixture evenly over the bananas and graham crackers.

Finish with another layer of graham crackers. Quickly put the pan in the freezer for a few hours to firm up.

Take the pan out of the freezer and carefully lift the foil and ice cream sandwiches out. Place on a cutting board and cut into squares. Let them sit about 5 minutes so they’re more creamy and less icy. Yum-yum….enjoy!

A great thing about this treat is that it’s very versatile…you can make it with just about anything you have on hand.

Variations include:

mash up 2-3 ripe bananas, mix with peanut butter…layer in-between graham crackers
add 1-2 tablespoons of jelly, jam, nutella or chocolate syrup
use strawberries instead of bananas
use cookies instead of graham crackers

The possibilities are endless…let us know what you come up with!

DIY Fairy Door…Gnome Door…

July 29, 2014September 29, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

In our garden the fairies and gnomes live amongst each other. Their village spreads around the yard with lil houses, patios and ponds hidden beneath the flowers. Throughout the year, L and I like to collect and make things to add to our garden…this morning we made a lil fairy door.

Materials needed:

sticks
florist wire
a button

First, have your kids collect some sticks and twigs around the yard. Sort through the sticks, finding ones that are particularly straight. Lay these sticks side-by-side, getting an idea of what your door will look like.

Next, cut two pieces of florist wire about 2-ft long each. Fold them in half.

Take the first stick you have laid out for the door and place it in the middle of one of the wires. Wrap the wire around the stick, about an inch from the bottom, and twist the wire once to secure it.

Do the same with the second wire about the an inch from the top of the stick. Continue adding sticks, one-by-one, wrapping and twisting the wires as you go.

When all the sticks are connected, hold the door in two hands and very gently squeeze the sticks together.

Cut the end of the wire, leaving about half an inch, and fold back the extra.

Next, have your child select a button for a door knob. L chose this cute lil heart button…probably not the one I would have chosen, but it was perfect for a fairy door! (Kids just know when it comes to these things.)

Thread the button onto a 4-inch piece of wire, twisting the wire a bit to secure it. Then, deciding where you’d like the door knob to be, wrap and twist the wire around one or two of the sticks.

To ensure that the button won’t slide down the door, you can thread the excess wire up and over the wire that holds the sticks in place as well.

Now the fun part…find a little piece of wall, fence, or a tree trunk to prop the door up against! Add some buttons, pennies, or broken tile pieces for lil fairy stepping stones… Adorable!

This project was so quick and easy, I think we’ll make another to sneak into our neighbor’s garden. He’s got the perfect tree for a fairy or gnome door…

DIY No-Sew Teepee

July 11, 2014September 29, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

What kid (or adult) doesn’t like to play in a fort, tent or secret hideaway?! This teepee was so incredibly easy to make, I was able to construct it in about 5 minutes, just after the sun came up and before my girls awoke. Breakfast in a teepee anyone?

What you need:

6 x 72 in. bamboo stakes ($3-$4 for a pack of 6 at Home Depot)
twine
10-12 clothes pins
a large bed sheet (I used a king-sized one, queen would probably work too)

First, arrange the stakes in a circle, pushing them about an inch or two into the ground. Leave one opening a little wider than the others, making room for the door.

Second, tie your twine in a knot around one bamboo stake. Gather the stakes at the top, one-by-one wrapping the twine in-and-out and around. (It’s much harder to explain than it is to actually do!) After the last stake has been gathered and wrapped, tie a bow so it is easy to undo when your teepee is ready to come down.

Next, wrap the sheet around the teepee frame and clip a clothespin in the middle to secure it at the top.

Then, starting at the front and the top, clip the sheet to the stakes using the clothespins. Make sure you keep enough fabric up front for a “door.” As you clip the tops of the stakes and the bottoms, smooth out the sheet and pull it taut. Tuck any excess fabric under at the bottom.

And there you have it…a teepee in under $10 and under 10 minutes! Not only did L eat breakfast in her teepee, she read books, colored, and played with her dolls for HOURS! The teepee’s been going up and down for a couple weeks now…it’s about time to put it away and out of sight for a couple months so it doesn’t lose its luster. Perhaps we’ll bring it out again this Autumn for a special lunch among the colorful falling leaves!