DIY Sewing Cards for Kid's

It's Craft Lightning time again and this one is all about Scout Crafts!

I remember as a young girl attending Brownies and Girl Scouts was always a fun adventure and my favorite part was all the crafts we did!

These organizations always taught such good values and important skills as well.

Sewing was one of the skills I learned back then and this project is a very basic way to teach beginning sewing skills!

I first did this project with my Grandaughters a few years back, to help teach them to sew and now I am proud to say my 8 year old Granddaughter has graduated to using a sewing machine!

As you know, I love to upcycle/recycle things in my crafts and these sewing cards were no exception.

I used old cereal boxes for the cardboard and printed out cute and colorful pictures/graphics from the internet to paste on the cardboard.

I found that the pictures looked better if I used a drier type glue to adhere them to the cardboard, such as "Zip Dry" glue which is used a lot in Scrapbooking projects to preserve the integrity of the photos and not make them appear "lumpy".

I made two versions of the cards, one with small holes for older kids and one with larger (and less) holes for the little ones.

I used some washi tape to cover the edges and poked the holes using a metal scribe on the small holes and the Crop-a-Dile II from We R Memory Keepers for the card with larger holes.

My Granddaughter who was 6 at the time was able to help with almost all of the steps in this project, so I would say it is perfect for any Scout troop with children ages 6 and above!

She was mighty proud when she was done...and so was little sister!

Here are the steps for making the sewing cards:

Here are the Supplies and Tools I used for this project:

Tools & Supplies Used:

Light to Med Weight Cardboard (such as a cereal box)

Photos or Graphics printed out from the Internet

Paper Trimmer, Fiskars

Ruler

Scissors

Razor Blade (Adult Use Only!)

Glue, Zip Dry

Wax Paper (Not shown in photo above), to cover photos/graphics while drying glue with pressure

Heavy Book or Flat Weight to aid in drying glue on cardboard smoothly and firmly

Metal Scribe Tool

Crop-o-Dile II, We-R-Memory Makers

Washi Tape, Scotch Brand

Yarn (Variegated, Multi-Color)

Colored String (Variegated)

Needle, Plastic (for yarn)

Needle, Metal (for string)

Be sure to stop by the other blogs featuring these fabulous Scout Crafts that only take 15 minutes or less! 

Just click on the Info Graphic Below.

Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you will find this project useful and fun!

This project/post is linked to the following sites/link-up parties:

Quick-n-Easy Collage Board

When I was a child there was nothing that got me more excited than to see paper, glue and scissors!
I knew that meant some crafty fun and what better way to create than to start with these three basic things.

That is the inspiration behind my post today for "Busy Bag", the latest edition of  the "Craft Lightning" series hosted by Angie from The Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 Minute Crafts.
This edition is also co-hosted by guest blogger: Stacey with "Glued to My Crafts". (LOVE that blog name by the way!)

When I found out the topic of this version of Craft Lightning, I was a little stumped at first as my creative flow has been lacking lately because of other "stuff" going on in life...but then I remembered a draft post I started a couple of years ago, but never completed and I thought how perfect it would be for this series!

Since I babysit two of my Grandchildren, I often try to think of Crafty Fun to do with them and making collages was something I always loved, I thought it would be fun for the older Grandgirl at the time (Little B), who was 6.

I thought it would be nice to have her make something for her Momma to have at work to remind her of her girls during the day!

We started with a plain piece of cardboard and glued on some pretty tissue paper.

Then I had Little B tell me some things her Mommy liked and of course I knew of some things that my DIL liked and together we came up with ideas to include on the collage.

One thing she really likes is vintage pin-up girl pictures and I had just recently found this cool book full of pin-up photos at a yard sale. It had been partially damaged by water and I got it for practically free, so I felt like it was okay to salvage what pages were still good and not feel guilty about cutting-up the book!

We also printed out some instagram photos using my Zink printer which was really handy for this project!

The Starbucks logo and sweet little girl graphic were printed out from the internet using my Lexmark Printer.

My Granddaughter added some cute stickers and washi-tape accents and then we attached a pretty ribbon to the top for hanging.

I kept this project fairly simple so that it could be easily done by a 6 year old and be done quickly.

Even though the concept of a collage is nothing new...I think it's always timely and loved because of the thought and planning put into it. It says a lot about the person who made it and the person it is made for!

Me and my Granddaughter had so much fun making it too!
Made for some good memories for me and for her also I hope!



Here are the tools and supplies we used to make this project:

Tools/Supplies Used:

Pin-up Illustrations/Pages out of Book, "The Great American Pin-Up"
Zink Printer
Mini Personal Photos (printed on Zink Printer)
Printed Tissue Paper, Expressions from Hallmark, Lt. Purple design on White
Stickers, Tiny Crafts, Felt, Owls
Stickers, Puffy
Stickers, Me & My Big Ideas, Girly, Mambi Mini's, Words
Lexmark Printer (not shown in photo above)
Graphic of little Girl (Internet)
Logo/Graphic of Starbucks (Internet)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Elmer's school glue stick
Stapler & Staples (to attach ribbon)
Scissors, Large Adult Size
Scissors, Kid-Safe (not shown in photo above)
Ribbon, Satin, Polka-Dot, Fuschia/Dk. Pink
Washi Tape, Tapefetti, Monster High

Be sure to stop by the other host blogs (click on graphic below) and see all the great Kid's Busy Projects you can do in 15 minutes or less!

Thanks for stopping in to visit my blog!

Dr. Seuss Cat-in-the-Hat Pen/Pencil Holder

As many of you know, Dr. Seuss is a pretty big deal every year around this time, as his Birthday is coming up on March 2nd as is "Read across America" Day!

In honor of this, my awesome bloggie friends Angie at The Country Chic Cottage and  Carolina at 30 Minute Crafts are hosting a Craft Lightning Series "Seuss Edition".

The goal of this series is to come up with a Dr. Seuss craft that takes 15 minutes or less to make (minus drying time).

I thought a craft that would be super easy for kids to do and would make use of things you might have around the house would be good for this project.

One thing any child young or old could use and easily make, would be a pen/pencil holder for their desk.

Since I have TONS of empty toilet paper rolls laying around (just ask my husband...he always wants to know WHY??!!), I immediately thought of using one of those...one less for hubby to fret about! Ha-Ha!

I wanted to make it look more like a hat and not just put the striped cylinder with a flush bottom on it.

Also, I knew it needed to be a little heavy and somehow be able to remain sturdy to hold the pens and pencils, so I scoured around my kitchen to find some old jar lids and finally found one the right size to make it look like a brim of a hat and to stabilize the holder.

I wrapped the paper tube with Duck brand duct tape (white, then red for the stripes).
You could measure before doing this, but to be honest, I just eyeballed it and cut the tape with scissors and/or an exacto knife.

Next, I painted the metal jar lid with a Elmer's white paint pen.(You might have to do more than one coat, depending on the color of your lid).

After the lid was dry I used a glue gun to glue the tube hat onto the lid/brim.

Easy Peasy and a recycle craft to boot!

Here are the supplies/tools used for this project:

Tools/Supplies List:

Empty Cardboard Toilet Paper Roll
Metal Lid from Glass Jar
Duck Brand White Duct Tape
Duck Brand Red Duct Tape
Elmer's Painters - Opaque Paint Marker - White
Exacto Knife
Scissors
Glue Gun

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy, kid-friendly craft and be sure to check out the other great Seuss inspired crafts by clicking on the Craft Lightning Badge below!

Thank-you for checking out my blog and this project!

Sesame Street Ernie Cake - My First Attempt at Fondant

Our precious Granddaughter C-Bear recently celebrated her second birthday.
I wanted to make something special for her big day and since she has recently become obsessed with sesame street...I figured anything to do with that would be a big hit!

Her favorite Sesame Street characters are Elmo, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby.

I decided to make a Sesame Street cake!

(Just a quick reality check here: I have made several buttercream icing cakes using Wilton tools to try and make them look professional, with mediocre results… So, the fact that I wanted to make a Fondant cake was pretty much sheer insanity on my part!)

To be honest, I've never really considered making a Fondant cake before, because I was just sure it was way too hard and involved for me to even try.

Happy Nieces!

Thought I'd give a little update on my last completed projects.

I made a Doll Sleeping Bag for my niece "K" and a Baby Doll blanket for my niece "H" and recently went by to see them with gifts in tow.

Here are some photos of them with their dolls & new accessories:

I think they were pretty happy, which of course made me very happy!

They are such sweet and beautiful little girls and I love them so much!

If you'd like to see my post about the doll sleeping bag, you can see it here.

I have not had a chance yet to make a post about the doll blanket, but when I do, I will update this post with a link.

The blanket was partially made with an old shirt of my Hubby's, so it's an "up-cycled" or "re-purposed" project that was pretty easy and fast.

I have been trying to do more sewing lately, but I am so critical of my work that sometimes I talk myself out of even starting.

I need to change that and just get motivated and SEW!

I really love it...and my awesome Hubby just bought me a brand new, fancy-smancy sewing machine, so I need to get busy!

Perhaps I will post about that new machine too!

Thank-you all for checking in with me and staying around...I will try to be more regular about posting.

XOXO

Lisa