Pet Frog

 Since the weather has warmed up here we have been hearing a chorus of frog friends singing melodies each evening to us. It sounds as if there are a thousand frogs outside our home, but have still yet to see one frog. We decided to make our own!

 My favorite crafts require a little nature walk. We took a nice long walk and collected things that the kids thought would make good frog building materials. Rocks and leaves seemed to be the best nature goods among the two!

 

 With a little glue, googly eyes and felt feet our rock became a new pet for the kids to play with.

This guy got well taken care of since everything in our house gets a name, a bed and of course some frog food. Although, Emma made this one a vegetarian since she was not willing to collect bugs for her new pet.
My full pet frog tutorial is over on Kiwi Crate.

Treasure Hunt For St. Patrick's Day

 My fellow crafty and very good friend, Gwen, sent us golden nuggets at Christmas time. They were filled with sweet treats and little treasures for the kids. When these arrived in the mail I hid them in the yard and Emma and Grayson went on a golden nugget hunt. They thought this was wonderful and so did I!
These adorable little gems have been on my list of art to-dos for months now and I knew I would find the perfect reason to make them. I think a golden nugget hunt is the perfect activity for some St. Patrick's day fun.

materials needed:
walnut shells (remember to try and keep the shells in tact when cracking)
gold paint
hot glue gun
tiny treasures and sweets

Once you have shelled all your walnuts, lay the shells out on some newspaper and paint them gold. Let dry completely before filling with your goodies. The kids helped me paint these gold, but I had them get into some clay while I filled them. I used some teeny tiny figurines, charms, coins and of course some sweet treats. For the unwrapped edibles be sure to wrap them in a little piece of tissue or wax paper before placing in the shell.
Now to close the shell add a few drops of hot glue on the edge of the shell and close. This will be just enough glue to keep it closed, but also to allow those little fingers to easily pry the shell apart and giggle with excitement as they find their little treasure.

Thank you Gwen, for this great idea and even more so for your great friendship!

Tie Dye Flowers

 Friends! I am sorry I have been M.I.A. these days. I have been swamped over at Green Owl Art with school commitments and my latest exciting endeavor--a Girl Scout troop! I can't wait to share the amazing things our troop has in store, but today here is a simple no-treat Valentine to make.

 All you need:

paper towels

watercolor paints

paint brush

clothespin

 We started out by just painting on the paper towels. We love using liquid watercolors. They are so vibrant and a little goes a long way. An ice cube tray is perfect to hold these paints.

 The trick is to cover the entire paper towel with paint. Another way to do this is with paints or food color and water in spray bottles (especially good for the impatient little one.)

 Look at the results! So beautiful, right? I just love all the colors. It would also be fun to stick to Valentine colors for this. A bouquet of red and pink would be very sweet. We let these dry outside for about and hour.

 At first we thought we could just roll our towels up and secure with the clothespin, but they were way too bulky and didn't look much like a flower. So, we decided to tear them into smaller peices to get the right look.

 We made small piles with our "petals" and twisted each one before adding a clothespin to the bottom. You could paint the clothespin green if you'd like or just leave natural like we did.

Em decided a spritz of perfume was a great touch. A few drops of lavender oil would be nice, too. Along with a simple note these are a great way to make a no-treat Valentine still fun and exciting.

I shared this over at Kiwi Crate.

Egg Carton Penguin

 We made these penguins last winter and I just pulled out the goods to make them again this morning. I adore penguins and I think I have passed on this love to the kiddos. I also love a good recycled craft, so this one is a keeper!

 I broke apart the egg carton cups for the kids and grabbed some tacky glue, felt, scissors, googly eyes and black and white paint. This morning I think we may even make a few purple penguins.

 The kids painted the entire egg cups black except for the "belly" which was of course white.

 For our little penguin feet we used felt. Cutting the felt into a small heart shape worked perfect and a little tacky glue held it on to our egg cups.

 A felt triangle and googly eyes finished off our little guy and the kids discovered they could use these as finger puppets! How fun!

How cute are these little penguins? I just love how they turned out. I think I may include this craft at our family kids Christmas table. It would be fun to add some other fun accessories to the mix and see what the kids could come up with. A penguin with some fun yarn hair perhaps??

I shared this over at Kiwi Crate. Join me there for more winter fun crafts.

Cardboard Cookie Shop

 Pretend bake shop is always such a hit in our house. Sometimes we use play dough and sometimes we use felt, but today, cardboard and foam stickers made the most beautiful cookies in our bakery.

 I set this craft up early on a Sunday morning while the kids slept in a bit. I used cardboard for the circles and cut abstract stickers from sticky foam sheets to be our icing. Simple foam stickers would be used as sprinkles.
This can be done with any craft materials really. If you don't have stickers it can be simplified with just markers and cardboard. This craft is more about the imaginations then the supplies. So, let those little creative minds lead the way.

Both kids were fully engaged in this simple activity. They each became a new character that morning and baked up a storm as I prepared their breakfast. What a great way to start a Sunday.

I shared this over at Kiwi Crate, join me there for many more ways to inspire little imaginations. 

Teeny-Tiny Fairy Door

 I wish my children could believe in fairies forever. I adore watching their beautiful imaginations wonder about the fairy world and make up stories about what might happen there. It's one of those childhood treasures that really make you appreciate this innocent and wonderful age.

 We made a few simple fairy doors with cardboard that I cut out into tiny door shapes. Emma painted them and added some special touches. Beads, buttons and twigs are great additions.

 She wondered if her door would get used that night and what kind of fairy might use it.

 She thought about all the perfect spots for a fairy door.

 She asked to leave something special at each door that evening to encourage some fairy friends to move in.

And sure enough the next morning we saw some evidence that we may have some new house guests.

Flying Saucer

 So, you probably know that in our house we make a lot of girlie accessories, fairy attire and unicorn paintings. Emma has always ran the show in our art room, but lately my little Grayson as been showing more and more interest in creating and although he is totally cool with beads and tutu's--I wanted to create something special with him.
Emma and I knew he would be very excited to make any sort of flying device and we did have some leftover paper plates on hand, so a flying saucer it was!

 We started by gluing two plates together and painting them silver. Tacky glue works best (I think I say this for every project, but it is true!)

 While the paint was still wet we sprinkled on the glitter. It was looking pretty "out of this world!"

 OK, so I must be honest, this is Emma doing all the work. We lost the little guy at step two...you win some you lose some, right? And Emma had to have gems all around the edge of the saucer. I actually loved this special touch of hers.

 We used googly eyes and large pom-poms for our aliens. Are they cute or what?

When we were finished with our very awesome flying saucer you better believe our little "too busy to craft" guy was back in action wanting to fly our saucer all over the yard. I guess it was a success after all.
I shared this over at Kiwi Crate, join me there for this craft and much more.

Tie-Dye Napkins for School Lunches

 Tie-dye is one of our favorite crafts to do together. The excitement of not knowing how it will turn out is the best! With school just a couple weeks away we made something new using tie-dye--cloth napkins! This were a hit with Emma. She is so excited to take them in her school lunch.

 If you get a simple clothing dye kit at the craft store it will come with everything you need--gloves (a must!) squirt bottles (pre-filled with dye,) and rubber-bands. All you need is the plain cloth napkins and you're ready to get dyeing.

 We dampened our napkins and pulling and twisting straight from the center began adding the rubber-bands. The more bands you add the more contrast you get.

 When we were all set we laid them in the grass. Tie-dyeing outside is a must! That dye does not come out!

 Emma got to work adding color. alternating the color in between each band works best. Once the napkin twists are fully saturated with dye, place them into a plastic bag and let sit for at least 24 hours. The next day cut the bands off and toss into the washing machine. After I wash these I usually turn the washing machine on a cycle to rinse out any remaining dye before I do a load of laundry.

They came out pretty cool! Emma is thrilled to have her own special set of cloth napkins for her school lunches.

Birthday Party Decorations

 Today is my birthday and you know what that means....my kids are crafting away on homemade cards, banners and gifts to shower me with. All of which will mean the world to me! I can't imagine much more that I would want to be doing than waking up (a little too early) and reading "Mom u r mi frnd!" on a homemade card by my sweet girl. Life is good.
The banner above is one that Em made for her Grandma. We found some old music sheets at a thrift shop. I cut and she wrote. With a little tape and twine our Birthday Banner came together.

 

 This is a fun way to serve party snacks. The kids colored circles that I cut from paper grocery bags. Next, with a small cut they rolled into a cone and we filled them up with snacks! Check out more details, Party Snack Cup.

 We call this our Friendship Garland. It's fun to make with friends and a great DIY alternative to party streamers. Just pipe cleaner and beads is all you need.

Lastly, our Paper Plate Party Hat. We cut the top and popped it up to be decorated. So easy and can be personalized for any party theme. This also makes a great birthday party craft.

I am off now to enjoy my family on this (thirty something) birthday. Because that is what it is all about.
xo
green owl mama

Easy Bird Feeder Crafts

 

 Making offerings to our sweet backyard birds is a great way to teach children about nature and compassion for all living creatures. It is something I have done with the kids since they could walk. Here is an easy one to start with. The Pine Cone Bird Feeder is the perfect bird feeder for little ones to make with confidence. All you need is a pine cone, string, nut butter (you can use sun butter if your child has allergies) and birdseed.

 First, we used a small spoon to get the butter into all the crevices of the pine cone.

 This was the fun part--into a bag of birdseed it goes! Shake, shake, shake! This went on for quite awhile.

Pretty proud of his little bird feeder. We tied it to a tree in the yard right near a window and it didn't take long before we saw sweet little birds stopping by for a snack. The kids loved watching their success! We first tried this feeder when Emma was given all the supplies as a gift from a good friend. Isn't that a sweet DIY gift? I thought so!

 This started out as a salt container. With a few cuts (by me) and some pretty details (by Em) this little house came together very nicely.

 We used a found branch for the perch, cute, right? Even cuter when we saw it being used by the sweetest little bird.

 Windows and flowers are a must for any bird house!

We filled it with birdseed and hung it in a tree with some floral wire. For all details check out my full tutorial here, Salt Container Bird Feeder.

 So, this Slinky Snacker started out as a little treat holder for our backyard squirrels, but we were surprised when it was emptied by another local friend.

 Using a slinky and pipe cleaner we filled our snack holder with peanuts and used twine to hang it from a tree.

This beautiful bird spent all afternoon taking every single peanut out, shelling it and bring them to her nest only to return for more until every peanut was gone. Wow! What a great way to observe nature. I hope you are inspired to feed the birds today!