Crafts – Devoted Motherhood

December 5, 2018December 29, 2021

Thumb Print Christmas Cards – FREE Printable

This year, the kids are part of a Christmas Card exchange with a few families from around the nation. Since one of the kiddos is too young to write and the other is still perfecting his handwriting skills, I decided to do an easy and fun thumbprint Christmas Card for them… and I’m sharing it with you too!

Simply click on the photo below (or click HERE) to be directed to the download page, download the PDF, print out the card, cut it out and fold it in half. You can use a stamp pad or you can do what we did and use paint. While the paint was still wet, we added a little bit of glitter to make the lights look like they are twinkling.

I printed these on cardstock and when cut out and folded, it is a 5″ x 7″ card.

The inside is blank, so my kindergartener will be practicing his handwriting by writing, “Best Wishes” inside the card and signing his name.

Merry Christmas!

March 14, 2018

Egg-citing DIY for Easter

It’s perfectly imperfect.

Could I have dyed the eggs more evenly? Yes. Does it bother me that the eggs are not evenly distributed across the branches? Yes. Would I have it any other way? No.

I can’t help but smile as I look up at my mantle and think of the tiny hands that helped me make this. I’ll be honest, this is not a craft that you throw at your preschooler to keep them occupied. This is something that you make WITH your kids. It’s a memory maker… the best kind of craft there is!

I bought 18 white eggs for our tree and thankfully only broke 4 in the process. I consider this a victory considering my helpers are 5 and not-quite-2 years old!

Could I have used some homemade dye recipes? Definitely, and with beautiful results! But this craft was meant to be vibrant and quick… without much prep-work, so we used an Easter egg dying kit from the store. I love how vibrant the tie-dyed method is, so this is the kit that I chose 🙂

Without boiling the eggs, help your children color the eggs. My son got a little over-zealous while mixing his colors a couple times, and ended with a few broken eggs. I don’t think he realizes his own strength sometimes, now that he’s transitioning into a man child. It was fun talking about colors and seeing which ones my toddler wanted to mix together! We got some beautiful results!

After dying the eggs, allow them to dry. Using whatever method you choose (I just used a small screw driver because that’s all I had on hand), tap a hole in both the top and bottom of the egg. I’ve seen that they make cute little hand pumps for blowing out the yolk, but we wanted to do it like Babushka did in Rechenka’s Eggs (an adorable little story about colorful eggs and a very special goose).

WARNING: If you choose the method I did, you might want to make sure your schedule is clear for the following few hours. My lips were blue until bedtime!! HAHA!

We allowed the eggs to dry out overnight, and then spent the next morning threading pretty ribbon through the holes in the egg. I used a thin wire and twisted the end to create a loop for the ribbon to go through. My 5 year old threaded the ribbon through the loop and I fed the wire through the eggs, creating a pretty loop to hang on the tree and tied a bow on the bottom to secure the ribbon.

Michigan is having fickle weather lately, but we braved the snow and cold for a few branches. I remember when I was little, my mom found pussy willow branches and cut those and put them into water. They bloomed beautifully! Unfortunately, we do not have beautiful flowering trees on our property, so we made due with what we had. hehe… My daughter had fun eating snow and my son attempted to cut a few branches. Was this the most enjoyable part of our project? Nope! We were freezing and the kids were complaining, but we persisted, got outside and were rewarded for our efforts.

The kids had fun hanging the completed eggs on the branches. I gently guided them to not hang them ALL in one spot, and the results were fabulous! My son enjoys looking at the project, knowing HE helped make it. There’s something so rewarding in knowing you made something with your own hands.

Let em know if you try this with your kiddos!

January 27, 2018July 23, 2018

Bunny Hop

We continued our second week of The Peaceful Preschool with a bunny hop!

We started our morning by reading The Runaway Bunny and So Many Bunnies: a bedtime ABC and counting book. The kids thought the So Many Bunnies book was hilarious as mama bunny tucked each of her children into “bed.” I had my son tell me each letter and number as mama bunny counted her 26 children and called them all by name.

Later in the day, we practiced our fine motor skills. We collected “bunny tails.” My sweet little 21 month old tried her hardest to be like big bother and use tweezers to pick up the cotton balls, but after several tries, she found it easier to use her fingers. My son thought it was a lot of fun and kept dumping out his bag so that he could collect more! I didn’t realize how much it would benefit my almost 5 year old, but after several minutes, he told me his hand was getting tired. He continued to use the tweezers, but definitely got in a lot of great fine motor skills practice!

Taking the “bunny tails,” we placed them in piles of 5 and practiced skip counting by 5’s until we counted all of the cotton balls that we had collected.

We then had a lot of fun making bunny masks! The kids glued on all of the cotton balls to make soft bunny fur, and after the masks were made, we hopped around like bunnies while playing “Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.”

I love listening to my kids laugh and play together… and it makes my heart even more full to know that I had a small part in enriching their childhood!

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December 10, 2013December 13, 2020

Moss Christmas Tree Ornaments

Never know what to do with the clear bulbs at the craft store? Look no further! These beautiful moss tree ornaments are easy to make and look elegant and stylish once finished.

I love the way the Christmas lights on the tree reflect through these ornaments!

Materials:

Clear glass bulbs
Variety pack of moss (I got mine at Joann Fabrics)
Variety of Christmas sprigs (all the crafts stores have bins to choose from). Pick ones that you can cut down to size and fit in the opening of the bulbs.

How to:

After removing the top of the bulb, insert a small amount of moss.
Add 1 or 2 glittering Christmas sprigs.
Put the cap back on the bulb.

Yep… it IS that easy!!

Special thanks goes to the Ornament Girl for inspiring me to use moss.

December 10, 2013December 14, 2020

Sheet Music Ornaments – DIY

When my husband and I were first married I bought some cheap ornaments. Over the last 5 years… well… let’s just say they are starting to look a little sad.

Rather than just throw these ornaments away, I decided to breath new life into them. Using a little bit of decoupage and some free Christmas sheet music I printed off the internet, I was able to turn drab into fab!

I used one song per bulb, so I have fun reading the snippets of lyrics and trying to guess what song it is.

I am so thankful I was able to repurpose something I bought when we were first married.

How to:

cut sheet music into various sized pieces
using decoupage (I used high gloss), adhere the paper to the bulb
once the entire bulb is covered with paper, add one more thin layer of decoupage to the entire bulb
hang to dry

Hint: Be careful not to rub too much once the glue starts to dry. Your paper will start to flake.

I was inspired to do this on Pinterest. When I followed the link however, the direct source it not available 🙁 Thank you to whoever made these!!

January 25, 2013January 3, 2021

Antler Mobile

What is a nursery without antlers, right? Well… this nursery would not be complete without them anyways!

Materials needed:

Antlers (assorted shapes and sizes)
Large and small wooden sewing hoops
20 gauge silver wire
White spray paint

How to:

Cut the antlers off at the base
Drill a hole through the end (Special thanks to my father-in-law for using his drill press)
Hang the antlers with wire and spray paint them white… this will require a couple coats
Remove the center rings from both the large and small sewing hoops
Spray paint these center rings white
Once the paint is dry, thread the 20 gauge wire through the hole in the base of an antler and twist the end of the wire around any way you want… get creative!! 🙂
Using different lengths of wire, attached each antler to the sewing hoops randomly.
Once all of the antlers are attached, twist the wire around the sewing hoops in a decorative way… I chose to use loops and criss-crossed the wire. (Hopefully the close-up pictures are more descriptive than I can be with words!)
Get creative and have fun! There are no rules! haha…

February 11, 2012January 3, 2021

Burlap Wreath

If you can not tell by all of the red that I have been using in my projects lately, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. I wanted to create a simple wreath for our front door for this “special day.” Since I had been seeing so many burlap wreaths lately, I figured I would try my hand at creating one.

I like to create wreaths that are very “full” looking. I think I have inherited this from my mom… I remember when I was little, she would always pick out the fattest Christmas tree. It would take up half of the living room, but it was always beautiful. 🙂

Here are the directions to the wreath I made. Let me know what you think!

Supplies:

– 1.5 yards of Burlap
– Large Foam Circle
– Scissors
– Pins
– Ribbon
– Any pieces of flare you want (I made fabric rosettes)

1. Cut the burlap into strips approximately 3-4 inches in diameter. They do not need to be perfectly straight… I actually prefer the flaws.

2. Use the strips to wrap the foam circle.

3. Begin pinching the strip of fabric in half and then twist it. This will create loops. Pin the loops onto the foam circle. Use random placement… you do not want all of the loops to face the same way.

(Sorry for the blurry photo!)

4. Once the foam heart is completely covered, you are almost done! Attach whatever “flare” you want… I used the fabric rosettes I made. If you want to see how to make these, click here.

5. Then, hang the wreath with whatever ribbon you want!

It’s that easy!! 🙂 I love the simplicity of this wreath and hope you do as well!

February 6, 2012

Valentines Day – Felt Wreath

I am addicted to Pinterest! I enjoy being inspired by all of the creative DIY projects that I find on there. Even if I am not looking to make something specific, I can usually find a project on there that gets my “creative” juices flowing.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I wanted to add a little bit of “love” to the atmosphere. When I saw this felt heart, I knew this would be perfect!

I wanted to share with you how to make this because it is incredibly easy and fun to make… it doesn’t hurt that it only cost me $7!

Directions:

Supplies:

– 18 pieces of felt (they are 4 for $1.00 at Hobby Lobby)

– Medium sized foam heart

– Pins

– Scissors

– Pencil

– Cup that is around 3-4″ in diameter

– Ribbon of choice

1. Using the cup as a guide, draw circles on the felt. I have found that you can fit 6 circles on 1 sheet of felt. If you place all the circles towards the outside, you can use the strip of unused felt from the middle to wrap your foam heart.

Here I tried fitting more than 6 circles on the felt, but obviously it didn’t work! haha…

This was the best placement of the circles. Cut out the unused strip from the center to warp the foam heart.

2. Using the strips you cut out, wrap the foam heart. You will use your pins to secure the felt to the foam.

3. Cut out the circles, there will be a TON of them! You will probably get tired of cutting them out. I took a couple “mini” breaks. 🙂 Once these are cut out, fold one circle in half and then fold it in half again.

4. Pin the folded circles to the heart. To ensure the best look, pin the folded circles in different directions (some horizontal, some vertical, some diagonal… I’m sure you get my drift.)

5. Once you have completely covered the front of the heart, using a ribbon of choice (I just used a scrap piece I had left over from Christmas), pin it to the back of the heart. This will be used to hang the heart. Fold the ribbon in half and pin it in a “V” shape to the middle of the heart. (Back view of the heart)

6. Find a cute place to hang it, and you are done! I already had “wintery” theme on my fireplace mantle that I was not quite ready to take it down yet, so I just added a splash of red to it. I loved the result!

Here are the original instructions that I followed. I made a slight modification to these instructions: I am not a fan of unfinished surfaces, so I chose to wrap my heart before adding the folded circles.

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/01/valentines-day-craft.html

January 19, 2012

Transfer Photo to Canvas

I decided that I wanted to hang some more pictures in our house, but I was tired of using frames. I started looking into having some photo canvases made… I was SHOCKED at how expensive they were!!! Thus, began my search on how to transfer a photo to canvas.

There are a lot of tutorials out there that show you how to mount a picture to canvas. This is a neat idea, but it was not what I was looking for. I wanted my photo to look like it was canvas. When you mount a photo onto canvas, it does not take on the “cross-hatched” properties of the canvas.

I finally found a tutorial that looked like it would work for transferring an image. I have tried it a few times now and have modified the original tutorial to make it even better 🙂

So here it goes!!

You will need the following materials:

– Canvas
– Liquitex
– Paintbrush
– Laser Printed Photo (It is important it is laser)
– Scissors
– Spray Bottle with Water
– Mod Podge

Step 1:

Print your photo on a laser printer. Since we own an ink jet printer, I went to FedEx/Kinkos and had them print me one. If you make a canvas that is smaller than an 8.5″x11″ you can have them print a color copy for very cheap, but if you are looking to make larger prints like I am, I went with an “engineer” print in black and white. It is possible to get a color photo that is large, but you are talking a significant increase in price!

Since I like to have the edges of my canvas covered as well, I printed the photo larger than the surface area of the canvas so I could wrap it around the edges. Example: I had a 16″x20″ canvas, so I printed an 18″x22″ photo.

Step 2:

With a paint brush, smooth a thick layer of Liquitex onto the canvas. The thicker the Liquitex, the better your image will adhere.

Step 3:

With the Liquitex still wet, smooth your photo onto the canvas face down (your image will be reversed in the finished product). Make sure that you smooth the paper as you lay it down. I suggest working from one end to the other as you lay the paper down to avoid bubbles. I had some ripples in one of my finished products, and I believe this is from placing the entire photo down before smoothing.

Step 4:

For the edges and corners, I wrapped the paper around the edges and pinched the paper in the corners (the edges DO have Liquitex on them as well).

Step 5:

Let it dry over night.

Step 6:

Wet the paper with the spray bottle. Then beginning rubbing the paper with your fingers. This is the messy and fun portion of the project… you get your hands dirty!! As you rub away the paper, you will see your image will begin to appear. This step takes some time and patience. Be sure you get all of the paper off without rubbing too hard and removing some of your image.

Step 7:

Once you have completely removed the paper and it’s residue (I usually use a damp washcloth for the final touches on cleaning the paper off the canvas), your image will be revealed. After this, apply a coating of Mod Podge. In the tutorial I read, it suggested putting another coating of Liquitex on top of the canvas, but Liquitex is not a “finishing” produce. So I use Mod Podge instead… this will give it longer lasting properties.