Disney World!

We are getting ready to head to Disney World!

Craftiness will resume when we return...

Simple Teacher Gift

We made this simple teacher gift last year for Valentine's Day.  We traced my daughter's hands on some cardstock and cut them out.  Then, we attached them to a small tube of hand lotion.  Before attaching them, we wrote "Ms. Mollie, you deserve a hand!" on the front and "Love" on the back.

 

Sweet and Salty Treat

This is a really simple and tasty treat you can make in a matter of minutes.  It's the perfect quick treat for teachers, a class party, or yourself!

For this tasty treat you will need pretzels (I found these waffle shaped one work really well), Hershey Kisses and M&Ms.  Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the pretzels onto a cookie sheet.

 

Unwrap and place one Hershey Kiss onto each pretzel, then put the cookie sheet into the oven for about 3 minutes.

 

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and immediately press one M&M onto each softened Hershey Kiss, then place in the refrigerator to cool and set, preferably over night.

 

These are a really tasty treat - like chocolate covered pretzels without all the work of dipping.  You could easily adapt this treat to other holidays by using different colored M&Ms.  Enjoy!



Valentine Wreath

I wanted to make a new Valentine's Day wreath and started with this wire form.

I used some leftover red garland from Christmas and wrapped it around the wire form.

 

Next, I cut some heart shapes out of cardboard (I just used old cereal boxes), and some strips of fabric about 1 inch wide.

I used hot glue to keep the fabric in place as I started, and wrapped the fabric strip around the heart, using hot glue again to secure the end piece.

I did pink, white and red hearts.  This is a close up of one of the larger red hearts.

I used some of the same fabric to tie the hearts to the wreath (the tie is in the back) and used another fabric strip to hang the larger heart in the center of the wreath.  I added a piece of heart ribbon for hanging.

I'm really happy with how it turned out - it makes me smile!

Sweet Bracelet

I made THIS cute candy bracelet at Halloween time using candy pumpkins and it was a big hit!  Not only was it cute, but tasty too!  So I set off this year to find the right kind of candy to make another one for Valentine's Day.

I found these gummy hearts by Sweetarts and they worked out really well!

I started by stringing the gummy hearts onto a piece of thread.  Be patient - these gummy hearts are pretty sticky and your needle will get kind of gunked up.  Just keep a wet paper towel on hand to wipe down your needle if it gets too hard to string them.

When I thought we were at the right size, I tied off the thread and tied white curling ribbon between each heart and curled it.  Cute to wear and even more fun to eat!

 

New Skirt

I purchased this red sundress from a clearance sale at a local consignment shop.  I really didn't like the style of the dress, but I knew I could do something with the skirted part.  When I was clearing out my daughter's clothing I came across this pair of denim shorts that were too short (but still fit in the waist), and I came up with the idea to put the two together to create a cute little skirt.

 

I started by cutting the skirted part from the dress, leaving about 3 inches at the top for stitching to the shorts.  I don't have a picture to show, but I also removed the threading from the inseam of the shorts so they were completely open. 

Next, I folded the top part of the skirt over twice to create a neat hem and pinned it to the underside of the shorts.  I folded over the bottom of the shorts to create another clean line, and only had to cut a bit of the inseam to create a straight line.  I also restitched the inseam by the front zipper just to keep the fabric together.

Lastly, I  ran a straight stitch all the way around the pinned area.  I added a ribbon belt and a ruffled flower to this new skirt.  I think it turned out really cute and will be a great new addition to my daughter's spring wardrobe. 

Sharing this craft at the following blogs:

Today's Creative Blog

Creative Itch

All Thingz Related

Best Part of Believe
Sugar Bee Craft Edition
The Gypsy's Corner
New Nostalgia
I'm Topsy Turvy
Bella Before and After
These Creative Juices
Embellishing Life     Little Eme
My Craftie Life     Tip Junkie
Funky Polkadot Giraffe     This & That
Not Just a Housewife     Ladybug Blessings

Valentines for Kids, Part 1

Valentine's Day is so much fun!  This is a great time to let your kids get creative.  With some basic craft supplies, your kids can make some colorful and loving Valentines of their own.  Some supplies we like to use are:

• construction paper or cardstock
• glitter glue
• stickers
• markers/crayons/colored pencils/oil pastels
• doilies
• craft scissors (with fancy cutting edges)
• yarn/embroidery thread/ribbon/curling ribbon
• pony beads and buttons

Since my kids have started school, we try to get crafty with our Valentines, instead of buying the prepackaged Valentines at the store.

Last year in kindergarten, we made these Valentines for my son's class.  We cut out hearts from red construction paper, punched two holes, and slipped a glow stick through.  We added the little message, "Friend, you make my heart glow!"  We saw this idea in Family Fun magazine.

When my daughter was in preschool last year, we made up these goodie bags as Valentines.  Inside the bag we put Teddy Graham crackers and gummi bears.  We tied off the bag with pretty curling ribbon and added a note saying, "Bear Hugs from _____!"  Another idea from Family Fun.

Be on the lookout for more kid valentines ideas coming your way!

Kerchief Headband

We are dreaming of Spring over here at The Muddy Princess, so I thought I would share this really cute kerchief headband I made for my daughter.

There wasn't much sewing involved in the making of this headband, because this craft started with a doggy kerchief!  Yes, you heard me, a doggy kerchief!  I found a few of these on clearance a while ago at Target for less than $1 and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

 

I started by using my seam ripper to remove the threading from the end pieces where the velcro is.  Turns out, this was one long strip inside the casing.  I decided to keep that long piece and maybe make a simple headband out of that as well.

 

Next, I just slipped a plain plastic headband through the casing of the kerchief and added a dab of hot glue on each end to keep it in place.  Ta Da - instant kerchief headband!

 

I was able to make two of these, but as you can see, my headband model wasn't in the mood for trying on one new headband, let alone two.  But, I think it turned out really cute and was SO easy to make!  Be sure to check every clearance endcap at Target - you never know what you might find!

 

Sock Cupcake

While surfing around in bloggy land, I came across THIS cute idea for Valentine's Day.  I decided I had to give this a try for my son's teacher.  I bought a pair of fuzzy socks from Target.  Starting at the top, I rolled the socks all the way to the toe and secured them with a rubberband.

Next, I traced and cut out a cupcake liner template.  You can find free templates online.

 

I placed the rolled socks inside the liner, pulling and fluffing as needed to have the socks fill the liner, and tucked a red pom pom into one of the top layers like a cherry.

Last, I placed the sock cupcake inside a treat bag and added a gift tag saying, "This cupcake treat is not to eat, but "baked" with love to warm your feet!"  We are also including a real baked treat along with our sock cupcake.

Fingerprints

Being the mom of a science loving kid, I've been on the lookout for great science ideas to keep his interest going.  And, one of my favorite blogs is The Science Mommy, totally dedicated to science for kids.

I was browsing and saw a post about fingerprints, with a link for a great data sheet.  I knew both of my kids would enjoy this, so we gave it a try.

We started off by putting our fingerprints on the data sheet, then using magnifying glasses to study the different lines that made up each of our unique fingerprints.

 

 

We were surprised to find out that we all had different types of fingerprints, even though we are related.

I had tented arch type fingerprints, my son had whorl type fingerprints and my daughter had arch type fingerprints.

 

This was a fun activity that helped the kids practice their observation skills.  And my son extended this activity on his own, by asking if we could get fingerprints of other family members to see who had the same type.  So, fellow family members, don't be alarmed if we ask for your fingerprint the next time we see you.

Paper Lanterns

Yesterday, we learned a little about the Chinese New Year and made these easy paper lanterns.  We started by folding a piece of paper in half.

 

On the folded edge, the kids cut a fringe about half way up the paper.

After cutting the fringe, we opened the folded paper and wrapped it around to create the lantern, taping the ends to keep it together.

We added a handle and the kids decorated the lanterns with sequins.

This was fun and simple and a good cutting practice craft.
Happy Chinese New Year!

Review Time!

The Muddy Princess has been going strong for a little over 6 months now - can you believe it?!?  I'm really enjoying blogging and sharing so many great ideas with all of you.  Today, I'm really excited because I've been given the opportunity to do a review with CSN stores. CSN stores is like a one-stop online shopping mall with everything from home furnishings and modern office furniture to crafts and educational toys.  If you want it, they've got it!  So keep your eyes on the lookout for an upcoming review of something crafty you'll want to add to your must have list. 

Hand Warmers

At Christmas time I made these really easy therapy packs.  They were a great gift and everyone has enjoyed them, especially my kids.  They love to use their small ones as boo-boo packs, and occasionally try to sneak my larger one to warm up with in bed.

Since we still have a few more weeks of chilly winter weather, I decided to use up some of my scrap fleece to make some hand warmers.  It's still pretty cold in the morning, in the van and waiting outside of school, so I thought these hand warmers would be helpful to keep tiny fingers warm.

I made them the same way I did the therapy packs, just smaller.  I used about a half cup of rice in each hand warmer (maybe a little less).  We warm them up just before we leave for school.  I put one set in the microwave for 30 seconds, take them out and shake the rice around a bit, then put them back in for another 30 seconds.  That usually does the trick.

 

Groundhog Puppet

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!  Although we enjoy the Winter season and playing in the snow, we were very excited to hear that Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow today, which means Spring is on its way!  In honor of our little furry friend, we made a groundhog puppet today with some simple supplies.

First we glued some scrap felt to a large craft stick.

Next, we added some googly eyes, a pom pom nose and some ears.

 

Then, we glued some green scrap felt around a toilet paper tube.  Be sure your scrap is long enough to have it hang over on one end.

 

Using scissors, cut a fringe on the overhanging felt to look like grass.

We also added some foam flower stickers (to remind us of Spring).  Then our little groundhog came peeking out of his hole.  My 4 year old daughter did this craft completely on her own, but younger kids could have fun with this too, with a little help.

Pattern Hearts

Since we are stuck at home for another snow/ice day, I thought we would work on some more Valentine crafts.  I found these cute dot printables over at DLTK.  You can use bingo markers or dot painters to fill in the dots.  But, since we didn't have either, we used dot stickers instead.

We chose the heart and decided to use our dots to create a pattern.  So, after the kids colored their hearts, they used the dot stickers to create a pattern around their heart.  My daughter is getting really good with patterns so this was good practice for her.  My son has had patterns down for a while now, so I challenged him to make a longer one.

I think they turned out really cute!  The kids even added another row of patterns to the inside of their hearts, then cut them out.