I love Halloween.
2/13/15
Trick or Treating, 2014
The forecast called for heavy rain and possible thunderstorms on Halloween, but the skies were completely clear when we set out for trick-or-treating and stayed that way all evening. Trevor and his friends had a great time. This year, I didn't even attempt to take photos as the kids knocked on doors or zipped down the street to the next house. Just a decent group shot before it got completely dark and we were good to go.
Cindy deRosier has a masters in Education and taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years. She uses that experience to blog about crafts and family-friendly educational travel. She spent many years as the Editor of Fun Family Crafts, a website with over 12,000 kid-friendly craft tutorials. Cindy is the co-author of "What Would Jesus Patent?", does freelance writing and designing, loves jigsaw puzzles, is an avid scrapbooker, and has been to all 50 states.
2/12/15
Twizzler Dragonflies
About midway through making his Yoda valentines, Trevor was ready to quit. His hand hurt from coloring and cutting. He was starting to look around for distractions, and his eyes landed on the bag of Twizzlers. We started talking about ways that we could use the Twizzlers for a future craft. By putting our heads together, we came up with this incredibly simple dragonfly. Trevor liked the dragonfly so much that he decided half the class would get Yoda valentines and half would get dragonfly valentines.
Materials: Twizzlers, black Sharpie, heart punch, vellum, and scotch tape
Use the Sharpie to write the recipient's name and your name on the lines on the printed side of the Twizzler. Flip it over, and draw eyes and a mouth on one end. Punch two hearts from vellum. Arrange them so the tips are touching, then tape them to the Twizzler. So easy!
Cindy deRosier has a masters in Education and taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years. She uses that experience to blog about crafts and family-friendly educational travel. She spent many years as the Editor of Fun Family Crafts, a website with over 12,000 kid-friendly craft tutorials. Cindy is the co-author of "What Would Jesus Patent?", does freelance writing and designing, loves jigsaw puzzles, is an avid scrapbooker, and has been to all 50 states.
2/11/15
Yoda Valentines
Trevor knew exactly what kind of valentines he wanted to give to his classmates this year: a Yoda minifig holding a Pixy Stix lightsaber, similar to last year's Lego Ninjago characters holding lollipops. He drew a sketch on a piece of scratch paper and used the computer to look for a Lego Yoda printable. When he found just what he wanted, we printed out a bunch of Yodas and headed to the store for Pixy Stix.
We went to the candy aisle. No Pixy Stix. We went to the valentine aisles. No Pixy Stix. We checked endcaps, the snack aisle, and the checkout aisles. No Pixy Stix. Trevor was disappointed, but was willing to go back and look through all the candy to see if there would be an acceptable substitute. He settled on individually-wrapped Twizzlers. We put a bag in the cart and Trevor informed me that Yoda can't possibly use a red lightsaber, so he'd have to use a bad guy instead. I had no idea. Too bad we'd just printed out all the Yodas.
We paid, gathered our bag, and headed toward the exit. We both stopped in our tracks... Eureka! Pixy Stix! I can't fathom why the only Pixy Stix in the store are located PAST the checkout lines, but we grabbed a pack, looped around, and got back in line to pay. I asked if I could return the Twizzlers we'd JUST bought there at the checkstand, but no. We'd have to go stand in the customer service line, which was currently about 12 people deep. No way.
We went home and got to work. Here is the first completed Pixy Stix Yoda:
Materials: Yoda minifig coloring page (Google to find one you like), color pencils, scissors, green masking tape, silver duct tape, tan cardstock, hole punch, scotch tape, and a tape runner.
Begin by coloring the Yodas and cutting them out. Wrap green masking tape around each of the Pixy Stix, stopping about halfway down. Wrap a small amount of silver duct tape to make the hilt of the sword.
Cut 4" x 6" pieces of tan cardstock. Arrange them vertically and write your valentine messages along the top and bottom of the cards. Punch a hole along the left side of each card where Yoda's hand will be. Slide a Pixy Stix lightsaber through the hole, then tape it securely to the back of the card. Use the tape runner to glue Yoda into place.
Even though Trevor loved them, coloring and cutting all those Yodas got old quickly and he was ready to stop after making only half the valentines he needed for school. It turned out he had a good idea for using the Twizzlers that we hadn't returned. It was a much faster and easier valentine project. I'll show you those tomorrow.
Cindy deRosier has a masters in Education and taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years. She uses that experience to blog about crafts and family-friendly educational travel. She spent many years as the Editor of Fun Family Crafts, a website with over 12,000 kid-friendly craft tutorials. Cindy is the co-author of "What Would Jesus Patent?", does freelance writing and designing, loves jigsaw puzzles, is an avid scrapbooker, and has been to all 50 states.
2/10/15
Twisteezwire Love
Have I mentioned how much I love Twisteezwire?! (Yes. Twice.) They sent me a bunch more of their wires (thank you!) so I've been playing. With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought it would be fun to make some festive decor.
I started with one red Twisteezwire and some clear beads. I cut the wire into thirds and bent each to form a heart, twisting one end around the other to secure it. I threaded three beads on the longer end, then formed a small loop to keep them in place.
I repeated those steps to make two more hearts. I took a second piece of red Twisteezwire and used it to form a cursive 'Love.' After some trial and error, I discovered that the easiest way to do that was to write the word on a piece of paper, place the wire on the paper, and guide it into position. I added a bead when I got to the O and then kept going. When the word was complete, I added three beads to each end and held them in place with tiny loops.
With the four components done, I used monofilament to hang them together like a mobile. Check it out!
The most challenging part of the whole thing was tying the darn monofilament where I wanted it. Other than that, the project was quite easy and definitely kid-friendly. I'm really happy with it.
Cindy deRosier has a masters in Education and taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years. She uses that experience to blog about crafts and family-friendly educational travel. She spent many years as the Editor of Fun Family Crafts, a website with over 12,000 kid-friendly craft tutorials. Cindy is the co-author of "What Would Jesus Patent?", does freelance writing and designing, loves jigsaw puzzles, is an avid scrapbooker, and has been to all 50 states.
2/9/15
2014 Christmas Card
I had a lot of fun scrapping and crafting with my friends last weekend. Despite doing a lot more chatting and eating than crafting, I still managed to finish a few projects. I'm really happy with this layout using our Christmas card photo.
It came together so quickly and easily. Love that.
Cindy deRosier has a masters in Education and taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years. She uses that experience to blog about crafts and family-friendly educational travel. She spent many years as the Editor of Fun Family Crafts, a website with over 12,000 kid-friendly craft tutorials. Cindy is the co-author of "What Would Jesus Patent?", does freelance writing and designing, loves jigsaw puzzles, is an avid scrapbooker, and has been to all 50 states.
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