Paper Plate Apples with Peekaboo Seeds

 Tis the season for apple crafts! 

Paper plate make great apples and they're even more fun when they're hiding a surprise inside! Those are real apple seeds, arranged just the way they were in the apple they came from. Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Apples with Peekaboo Seeds

Materials:

• seeds from a real apple
• dessert size paper plates
• tissue paper (green, yellow, and/or red)
• Sta-Flo
• scissors
• cardstock (green, brown)
• tacky glue
• craft pick
• brads (green, yellow, and/or red)

Steps:

Carefully cut an apple in half horizontally and observe the star pattern that the seeds make. Remove the seeds. Rinse them and set them aside to dry. 

Choose the color(s) for the apple(s) you're making. I made a solid red, a solid green, and a solid yellow, but you can mix colors to mimic different varietals. You can see examples of that with this apple craft, which uses the same tissue paper technique. 

Tear the tissue paper into strips. Use a paintbrush to moisten the back of a paper plate (the non-eating side) with a little bit of undiluted Sta-Flo, then place a piece of tissue paper on it. Paint over the top with more starch. Repeat until the back of the plate is covered. Set it aside to dry. Glue the apple seeds to the front (eating side) of a second paper plate. 

When everything is dry, carefully trim off any excess tissue paper from the apple and then cut it in half. Arrange those pieces on top of the plate with the seeds. Use a craft pick (adults only!) to poke a hole through the bottom of each side of the apple, then use a brad to attach each piece.  

Cut apple stems from brown cardstock and glue them to the back of the apple. Fold a piece of green cardstock in half, then cut an arched shape (rainbow, hilltop, etc) along the fold. Open it up and glue the leaf to the back of the apple. 

Pair this craft with fun and educational children's books about apples!

The Mystery of the "Maple Syrup on Pancakes" Preschool Craft

Not long ago, I became aware of an unsolved mystery in the world of preschool crafts. It involves a pancake craft. This project looks great for preschoolers. Glue some brown circles to a paper plate, add a small square of yellow for the butter, and drizzle on the faux maple syrup. Cute, easy, and fun!

The mystery is what was used to make the maple syrup. There are no instructions of how to make it or what materials to use. Since I've had maple on my mind ever since our visit to the maple museum and maple farm in Vermont, I put on my detective hat, grabbed my magnifying glass, and took a closer look at the original image to see what clues I could find. (Affiliate links here and throughout the post.)

I decided that the pancakes and butter were made from craft foam. The paper plate was, obviously, a paper plate. But then there's the syrup. Surely it's not real maple syrup? Not only would that be a waste of food, it wouldn't dry and would be covered in ants within the hour. That can't be what it is. 

It was time for an experiment, so I removed my detective hat and put on my lab coat. I hoped one of the dimensional adhesives I had on hand might be the maple syrup substitute.

However, after putting a dot of each onto white paper, yellow craft foam, and brown craft foam, I learned that none of them were the answer to the mystery. Just to be certain, I used a pipette to add drops of real maple syrup (two different grades) onto more paper and foam for comparison. None of the adhesives matched the amber color of the syrups. The closest is the Mod Podge.

 

I had one more idea: Gorilla Glue. I ran my test and it was successful! Gorilla Glue looked just like what was used in the photo and was a perfect match for the darker of the two real maple syrups! I drizzled a generous amount onto the faux pancakes I'd prepared and snapped a quick photo. 

It was so satisfying to have solved the mystery. 

But wait! There's a twist... and you won't like it. Because THIS is what the craft looks like after the Gorilla Glue dries. 

As you can see, the Gorilla Glue puffed up significantly and lightened in color. What a disappointment. 

The mystery remains. Did the original crafter use Gorilla Glue and only shared a photo when it was wet? Or was a different product used? Perhaps we'll never know. 

If you make this craft, use Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. It won't look quite as good as the Gorilla Glue while it's wet, but it will look much better after it's dried. If you have another adhesive idea and want me to check it out, let me know in the comments. 

3-in-1 Rainbow Welcome Wreath

All the beautiful rainbows I'm seeing during June inspired me to make this 3-in-1 rainbow welcome wreath. 

What makes it 3-in-1? I made the sentiment removable, so when June rolls around, you can switch out the more general "Welcome!" for this "Happy Pride!" version. 

This "Lucky" version is for March. Affiliate links below. 

3-in-1 Rainbow Welcome Wreath

Materials:

• uncoated paper plate
• scissors
• magazine
• craft glue 
• Outdoor Mod Podge
• white cardstock
• clear contact paper
• poster putty

Steps: 

Cut the center out of a paper plate to make a wreath shape. I used a dessert-size plate, but you can use whatever size you want. 

Go through magazines and tear out pages with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple on them. I used the monthly guide sent to us by the city, which is why you see information about recycling/waste and classes. 

Use a pen to draw lines marking roughly equal sixths on the paper plate. If you think of it like a clock, draw a line at 12:00 and 6:00 first, then lines at 2:00, 4:00, 8:00, and 10:00. This will give you an idea of how much space each color should take up. 

Starting with red, cut around any text or pictures until you have a good-sized pile of red pieces. Glue them into one of the six segments. Working clockwise, do the same with orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. 

If you are going to be hanging your wreath outdoors, seal it with Outdoor Mod Podge. 

Write or print your sentiments onto white cardstock and trim the ends like banners. If the wreath will be exclusively indoors, you can leave cardstock as is. Otherwise, seal them with clear contact paper. Attach a sentiment to the wreath with poster putty. You should be able to remove it easily when it's time to switch sentiments. 

Paper Plate Constellations

Ready to see what I made for the "Something Beautiful" prompt? I took the suggestion of stars and used it to make a cool paper plate constellation craft. 

While you could certainly do this alone or as a family, I'm imagining this as a craft for a group. Back in my teaching days, I took my students camping each year (3 different camping experiences over the 11 years). Our school also had an annual Space Week. It would have been so cool to assign each kid one constellation to make, then they could work in groups to try to find their constellations in the night sky. Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Constellations

Materials:

• paper plates
• acrylic paint (navy blue and gold)
• pushpins
• gold embroidery floss
• star-shaped brads

Steps: 

Paint the paper plate dark blue and let it dry. Use an old toothbrush or stiff brush to flick gold paint over the blue. 

Meanwhile, draw your constellation on a piece of scrap paper. I did the Big Dipper (*not technically a constellation), but you can choose whatever you want. When the paint is dry, place the scrap paper on the paper plate and use a pushpin to poke through each star in the constellation. 

Thread a needle with 3 strands of gold embroidery floss. Stitch the lines of the constellation. The easiest way to do this is to orient yourself toward a window or lamp and hold the plate vertically in front of you as you sew. This makes it easy to see the holes. 

Put a star-shaped brad into each hole. 

*As I noted above, the Big Dipper is technically not one of the 88 recognized constellations. It is actually an asterism that is part of Ursa Major. 

Paper Plate Sesame Street: Count von Count

When I design kids crafts, my goal is to create something that fills a gap. For example, it is easy to find craft tutorials for certain Sesame Street characters, while others are completely missing. At Fun Family Crafts, we have 16 Cookie Monster crafts, 9 Elmo projects, 5 ideas for Big Bird, 3 for Oscar the Grouch, and 3 for Bert and Ernie, but none for the Count. He's #6 on my list of the Top Ten Sesame Street Characters, so he definitely deserves at least one project tutorial. ("ONE craft tutorial! Ah-Ah-Ah!") 

Presenting, the paper plate version of Count von Count! Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Count von Count

Materials: 

• paper plates
• scissors
• white cardstock
• acrylic paint (Wisteria, black, and red)
• craft glue
• black Sharpie
• silver cardstock
• black faux fur

Steps: 

Start by cutting the shapes you will need from the white cardstock. These include two round outer eyes, two half-circle inner eyes, two leaf-shaped bat ears, two rounded fangs, and a long nose, as shown below. Cut a notch from the bottom of the paper plate to make the Count's cleft chin. 

Paint the paper plate, outer eyes, ears, and nose with Wisteria paint. The color is perfect right out of the bottle. When the paint is dry, use black paint to paint the Count's hair and his mouth. Paint a red tongue in the mouth. 

Glue the ears, inner and outer eyes, nose, and fangs to the Count's head. Use a black Sharpie to give him eyeliner along his top lids, extending down slightly onto the plate. Add pupils to the eyes. Then draw pointy eyebrows and color them in. 

Cut or punch a circle from the silver cardstock, then cut out the center to leave a very narrow ring.  

Glue the monocle onto the Count's left eye, tucking it underneath his nose. Cut a triangle of faux fur for his beard, then glue it in place. 

The Count seems like a natural choice for a young child's birthday party. It would be a really fun cake to make, although I did enjoy making Cookie Monster back in the day. Maybe I'll make the Count for Trevor's 17th birthday next June. 

Paper Plate Lattice Pie

I had the paper plates out to make my Football Fan, so I went ahead and turned a pair of plates into a cherry lattice pie. As one does. If you prefer a blueberry pie, switch out the red paint and red pom-poms for blue. By the way, you can add scent to this project if you really want to go all in. Use the same technique as I did for my scented pumpkin pie craft, but swap out the cinnamon oil for cherry. Affiliate link here and below. 

 

Paper Plate Lattice Cherry Pie

Materials: 

• 2 paper plates (I used 6" plates)
• paint (I used Naphthol Crimson and Yellow Ochre)
• scissors
• 1/2" red pom-poms
• craft glue

Steps: 

Paint the center portion of the front (eating side) of one paper plate red. Paint the edges of that same plate with Yellow Ochre (or the crust color of your choosing). Paint the back (non-eating side) of the other plate completely with Yellow Ochre. 

When the paint is dry, cut the solid plate into about twelve 1/2" strips. Keep the strips in order. 

Glue a bunch of pom-poms to the red portion of the plate. Now is the time to add cherry oil if you want the scented version. 

Now you'll make the lattice top. It's basically the same procedure as with real pie dough, but less fragile (and less tasty). Skip the first (shortest) strip. Starting with the second strip, apply glue to ONE end, then glue it to the plate so that its length fits. Skip the third strip, then glue ONE end of the fourth strip in place. Continue until you have five or six somewhat evenly spaced strips, glued just on one side. Let the glue dry completely. 

Rotate the pie 90°. Once again, skip the smallest strip. Take the next strip and weave it over and under the half-glued strips. Add a drop of glue under each end to secure it. Repeat the process with more strips. I ended up using only four strips for this step, because I wanted more of the cherry pom-poms to show through. 

When the lattice is complete, glue down the loose ends from the first set of strips. Now go bake a cherry pie to go along with this craft!

Paper Plate Football Fan

Have you seen the football field cookies that are so popular? They're the inspiration for my project,  a football fan for a football fan! Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Football Fan

Materials: 

• paper plate
• painter's tape
• acrylic paint (green, light blue)
• craft glue
• glitter (team colors)
• white pen
• letter stickers
• jumbo craft stick

Steps: 

Apply a piece of painter's tape across the middle of the paper plate to establish the horizon. Add five pieces of 1/4" painter's tape radiating down from the center of the plate to form the yard lines.  

Paint the smooth section below the horizon line with green paint. Remove the tape. Paint the bumpy perimeter of the paper plate with light blue paint. 

When the paint is completely dry, rub a thin, even coat of tacky glue to the smooth section above the horizon line. Sprinkle on glitter in your team colors, covering the gluey area. Allow the glue to dry. 

Use a white pen to mark the 50-yard line. 

Add letters to spell out a message on your fan. You can put, "Go team!" like I did, or use the specific name of the school, city, or mascot. 

Glue a 10" craft stick to the back. Now you have a football fan that will help any football fan stay cool while supporting their team!

Family Photo Paper Plate Wreath

When Trevor was a baby, I printed pretty much all the photos I took, then picked among them to scrap my favorites. The ones I didn't use went into a box. By the time he was 4 or 5, I started planning my layouts before ordering photos. Now I rarely end up with a printed picture I don't use. 

Last week, I picked a photo out of the box to make my conversation heart photo frame ornament. While I had the box open, I chose another 8 photos from Trevor's first year to make a paper plate wreath. Starting at the top, that's the first time Trevor had solid food (rice cereal) and he gave me such a confused expression. Going clockwise, you see cousin Timothy reading to baby Trevor, Trevor playing in his exersaucer, Trevor in his crib looking at his mobile, Steve parading Trevor around the house on his shoulders, Steve and Trevor hanging out on a blanket in the backyard, Trevor trying to feed himself, and Trevor chewing on the ribbon on a gift. The wreath is now hanging with the Valentine's Day decorations and it makes me smile every time I see it. Affiliate links below. 

Family Photo Paper Plate Wreath

Materials: 

• red paper plate
• microtip scissors
• Folk Art Extreme Glitter
• heart stencil
• 8 photos
• black Sharpie
• black cardstock
• craft glue
• red metallic cord

Steps: 

Cut out the center of the paper plate, leaving just the rim. Add a coat of Extreme Glitter.   

Place the heart template on a photo and move it around until you are happy with how the photo will look when cut into a heart. Trace the stencil with the Sharpie, then cut just inside the line. Repeat for the remaining photos.

Glue the cut-out photos to the cardstock, leaving 1/2" between each photo. Carefully cut around the photos so that they have narrow black mat around them.  

Thinking about the wreath like a clock, place photos at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00. For the 3:00 and 6:00 positions, try to have the faces looking inward.  

Place the remaining hearts evenly between the hearts you've already placed. Again, try to position the faces looking in. Glue all of the photos in place. When the glue is completely dry, turn the wreath over and glue the hanger in place. 

If I were doing this with a group, I'd glue the photos and the hanger with hot glue since it dries much faster. Plus, it has a stronger hold. Mine is holding up just fine with the craft glue; we'll see how it holds up over time. I may end up reinforcing it with hot glue.

Paper Plate Advent Wreath

Tis the season of Advent! Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent and the first day of the new church year. Advent is always a special time as we prepare for Christmas, but this year our family had something extra-special to celebrate - the baptism of our nephew (Trevor's cousin, Ian) and Ian's son, Allen. 

This year, I made a paper plate Advent wreath to mark the season. As you can see, it already has one purple candle for the First Sunday in Advent. For the next three Sundays, we'll add another candle to the wreath (another purple candle, then the pink, then the last purple). While I like Advent chains that count down to Christmas, I prefer the symbolism of adding candles rather than subtracting rings. It's a great visual reminder that Advent is a time to get increasingly prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ. 

Paper Plate Advent Wreath

Materials:

• paper plate (I used the dessert size)
• green paint
• tissue paper (green, red, purple, pink, yellow)
• white cardstock
• scissors
• glue

Steps: 

Cut out the center of the paper plate. Paint the remaining part of the paint green. While it is drying, stack green tissue paper and cut out holly leaves. 

 

Add dots of glue on the wreath, then add a flat layer of holly leaves to cover the paint. Fold the rest of the holly leaves in half. 

Add a dot of glue to one end of a holly leaf, then glue it to the wreath. (If you glue in more than one place, you lose the dimensionality of the wreath.) Continue until the wreath is sufficiently fluffy and full.

Roll balls of red tissue paper and glue then in clusters amongst the holly leaves. 

Cut out four rectangles for the candles. Use your finger to smooth a layer of glue onto each, then press purple tissue paper onto three of them and pink onto the fourth. Trim the excess tissue paper. To make the flames, cut out four teardrops, smooth glue on them, and press yellow tissue paper onto them. Trim the excess. Cut four tiny rectangle wicks. Glue each onto the back of a candle to connect it to the flame. 

Each Sunday, take the appropriate candle (purple, purple, pink. purple), and fold the bottom slightly to make a tab. Spread glue on the tab and attach it to the wreath. 

Happy Advent, everyone!

Rainbow Halloween Costume for Three

For Halloween, our family of three dressed as a rainbow. 

 

Even though I am completely incompetent with the sewing machine, this costume was easy enough that it only took me a few hours to make. I made some mistakes along the way, so you get to benefit by learning from my errors.

The biggest error? That image above is a lie. I digitally flipped it to get the colors in ROYGBIV order. The actual photo has us in VIBGYOR order. Even though I actually thought about how to get the colors with red at the left and purple at the right, I still messed it up. Sigh. Affiliate links below. 

Rainbow Halloween Costume for Three

Materials:

• 6 identical t-shirts (one each of ROYGBIV), one size larger than you wear
• Clover wonder clips (SO much better than pins)
• fabric scissors  (I use the left-handed version!)
• chipboard
• 2 paper plates
• Folk Art paint
• 2 extra jumbo craft sticks
• silver thread
• glow pony beads

Steps:

Fold each t-shirt in half as precisely as you are able. Mark the center with clips or pins, then carefully cut the each shirt in half. 

After all the shirts are cut, pair them together red-orange, yellow-green, and blue-purple. Here's where I went wrong. I chose the wrong half of each shirt. I should have red and yellow on the left sides, and orange and green on the right sides.  

I strongly recommend you lay out all the shirts in order to make sure you are using the correct sides. You might luck out and get a t-shirt brand where the front and back are symmetrical, but ours had a dip in the front with a very high back that would have been weird to wear backwards. 

When you are sure you have the correct order, it's time to sew. Carefully match the fronts of the shirts together and clip one of the sides in place. 

Sew that seam, being sure to backstitch at the hem and the neck to secure the seam. Clip the second seam together. Sew that seam, then turn the shirt right-side out. Repeat the process for the other two shirts. 

To make the rain cloud, cut a cloud shape from chipboard and paint it grey. Glue it to a jumbo craft stick. Tie glow beads onto pieces of silver thread and tape them to the back of the cloud so that they dangle like raindrops. 

To make the sun, cut 8 triangles of chipboard to make the sun's rays. Paint them and the backs of two paper plates yellow. Glue one plate to the craft stick, then glue the rays to the front of that plate. Glue the second plate on top to sandwich the rays between the two plates. 

Then you just have to make sure you stand next to each other in the correct order through the entire costumed celebration! 

This was a fun costume and so easy. Half of each shirt is leftover, so in theory I could either sew up the correct rainbow, mix-and-match the colors to make random two-tone shirts (opposites on the color wheel?), or come up with other way to use the fabric. I'm open to suggestions!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Paper Plate Halloween Wreath

 Check out my new Halloween wreath! The base is a paper plate.

Paper Plate Halloween Wreath (affiliate link)

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Paper Plate Halloween Wreath

Materials:

• paper plate
• Halloween paper and stickers
• scissors
• glue

Steps: 

Cut the center out of a paper plate so that you have a ring. Then cut the Halloween papers into 1.5" x 8" strips. I used 25 strips for my completed wreath. 

Cut a V in the end of each strip, if desired. Glue the strips to the paper plate, letting a bit of the strip hang over the edge. Overlap the next piece slightly. 

Continue until all the strips are glued. Flip the wreath over. Use scissors to trim the excess paper so that the opening of the wreath is even. 

Decorate the wreath with papers and stickers. I cut the HAPPY HALLOWEEN strip from one of the patterned papers, then added the five stickers. 

Because it's made from a paper plate and strips of patterned paper, the finished wreath is very light and easy to hang. Mine is resting on a small Command hook.

I'm really happy with my new Halloween wreath!