Spring Wreath Craft

Mia recently made this wreath at church, and I wondered why we had never made a wreath with tissue paper before. We have made a few wreaths in the past including this hand traced one for fall, this egg wreath for Easter, and this toilet paper tube holly wreath. This version is both beautiful and very simple, making it perfect for even toddlers to help create!

{Pretty Easter Wreath by Mia, Age 7}

Materials:

• paper plate
• scissors
• white glue
• tissue paper (in your choice of colors)
• ribbon/yarn for hanging
• hot glue gun (optional, for attaching ribbon/yarn)

Directions:

1. Cut the inner circle out of a paper plate. Do not discard it because it makes a perfect glue holder.
2. Cut tissue paper into small rectangles. (Tip: If you want your child to practice scissor skills, she may be able to help with this step. If you are doing it with a large group, it is best to do this in advance. Another option is to have kids tear off pieces of tissue, but again, it's often best to prepare in advance.) Our pieces of tissue paper were about 2" x 2" I believe, but you can make yours bigger or smaller, depending upon your preference and the ability of your child. (Tip: Don't buy new tissue paper! Just reuse that old stuff that came in gift bags. If you have to buy tissue paper, though, don't spend a lot. You can find it at Dollar Tree and most grocery stores.)
3. Pour a small amount of glue onto the inside circle. Have your child bunch the tissue paper up, dip it into the glue, and the apply it to the paper plate ring. She will keep doing this until it is filled up (or until she gets bored and decides it's finished).
4. Cut two lengths of ribbon (or yarn). Tie one into a bow and use a glue gun to apply it to the front of the wreath. Ours it at the bottom, but you can place it wherever the child wants. Make the second piece of ribbon into a loop and adhere it to the back of the wreath for hanging. (Tip: If you don't have a hot glue gun or you don't want to use it around young kids, you can also use glue dots or a stapler. I wouldn't recommend white glue for this job, though, since it's not really sturdy enough.)
5. Let all glue dry before displaying the wreath.

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Earth Day Recyled Crafts Round-Up

In celebration of Earth Day, I thought I would create a round-up of some recycled craft projects that we have done over the years. This list is by no means comprehensive, but here are more than 60 projects that we have made using recycled materials. Pulling craft projects together is easier (and cheaper!) than you might realize when you just start to think inside the recycling box. The best things in life really are free. Many craft materials are readily available in your home so now's the perfect time to get creative.

Bubble Wrap:

• A-Corny Printmaking Project
• Bubble Wrap Indian Corn Print Making

Cardboard Tubes:

{Homemade Sidewalk Chalk}

• Advent Wreath
• Butterfly
• Bird Feeder
• Bunny
• Chick
• Christmas Tree
• Holly-Day Wreath
• Indian Corn
• Octopus
• Rainbow Pom Pom Chutes
• Reindeer
• Scarecrow
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Turkey
• Wind Sock

Cardboard Boxes:

{Rainbow Pull-String Pinata}

• Cars Party Pit Stop Game
• Cheer Bear Photo Prop
• Horse Diorama
• Lorax Moustache on a Stick
• Lightning McQueen Pull-String Pinata
• Rainbow Pull-String Pinata
• Sandpaper Letter Rubbings
• Welcome to Care-a-Lot! Sign

Egg Cartons:

• Bat
• Caterpillar (I never wrote a post about when we made these, but they were just like what you probably did as a child. We dressed ours up with torn pieces of colorful tissue paper that were glued onto the caterpillar's bodies.)
• Paint Trays/Organizers (Even if you don't make the egg cartons into something, you can use them for holding paint. You can cut them apart if you are just using a couple of colors or keep them whole if you are using lots of colors or if you need space for mixing. They also are handy for sorting out beads, dyed pasta, buttons, beans, sequins or any other collage material you are working with like we did with the spices for making turkey cards.)

Glass Jars:

{"Sand" Art Jars}

• Centerpieces
• Crystal Snowflakes
• Jar-o'-Lanterns
• "Sand" Art
• Sidewalk Paint
• Snow Globe

Milk Jugs:

• Berry Buckets
• Ghostly Greeters
• School Bus with Working Wheels

Paper Bags:

• Gingerbread Men Paper Dolls
• Indian Corn
• Pumpkins
• Reindeer Paper Dolls
• Rudolph Puppet
• Turkey
• Turkey Puppet

Plastic Bottles:

{Seek 'n' Find Bottle}

• Bottle Cap Stamps
• Bubble Blower
• Seek 'n' Find Bottle
• Turkey Leg Maraca
• Wave Bottle

Styrofoam:

• Pot 'o Gold
• Print Making 

Tin Cans:

• Bat Treat Cup
• Cat Treat Cup
• Rudolph Treat Cup
• Snowman Treat Cup
• Valentine's Day Heart Bouquet

Tissue Paper (saved from gift bags):

• Apple Tree
• Autumn Tree Collage
• Sun Catchers (Easter Eggs are just one example. We've made sun catcher for most every holiday and season.)
• Yertle the Turtle

Various Other Materials:

{Paperback Pumpkin}

• Angel
• Drum
• Frog Craft
• Headband Organizer
• Magnet Craft
• Newsprint Flowers
• Owl
• Paperback Pumpkins, Apples, and Pears
• Tree Frog

Easter Egg Sun Catchers

I feel like I am behind on posting since Easter has come and gone, but really, it felt a bit early this year. Anyway, here is a project we did on Sunday. We've done plenty of these sun catchers over the past couple of years. It's so easy and relatively mess-free, that once you have made them you find occasions to make more. Plus, it helps if you already have a stock-pile of pre-cut tissue paper squares in an assortment of colors. I prepped a few paper eggs and Con-tact paper rectangles and then took the whole bunch along to Grandma and Grandpa's house so that all the kids could make them, if they chose.

{Pink Egg by Mia, Age 6 & Yellow Egg by Logan, Age 3}

Materials:

• colored tissue paper
• scissors
• pencil
• construction paper
• clear Con-tact paper 
• scrap paper (optional, for making egg template)
• paper trimmer (optional)
• clear tape (for hanging finished sun catchers)

Directions:

1. Cut colored tissue paper into small squares. I used approximately 1 inch squares, but you could make yours bigger or smaller depending on the age of the children. Tip: To make this process go faster, layer a couple of pieces of tissue paper together, cut into smaller rectangles, and then cut the rectangles into strips, re-layering as needed. Put as many strips together as you can comfortably cut before cutting smaller squares. Tip: I save all of the cut tissue paper from previous projects, and store it in zippered baggies according to color. Tip: You don't need to go out and buy nice, new tissue paper. We re-use all the crumpled pieces that come in gift bags.
2. Fold a piece of construction paper in half like a hamburger. 
3. Fold a piece of scrap paper in half, hamburger-style, draw one half of an egg shape, and cut it out. Make sure that your template will fit within the borders of your folded construction paper, with about an inch or more border all the way around. Tip: You could also find an egg template online if you prefer. Tip: If you are only making one egg sun catcher, you can save this step by simply folding your paper in half a second time, drawing your egg shape, and then cutting it out. You should end up with two corresponding egg shapes on either original half of the folded paper.The template is just handy if you know you will be making several sun catchers.
4. Lay your egg template onto the construction paper, trace it with a pencil, and then cut it out so that both sides of the folded paper have a corresponding egg shape removed from the center.
5. Cut two pieces of clear Con-tact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are at least 1/2 to 1 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it. Tip: If you have leftover pieces of Con-tact paper, save them for future projects. For example, I find that the long, somewhat narrow strip left after making several of these sun catchers is just the right size for "laminating" labels onto jars of homemade play dough, which we give as gifts. The smaller remnants are also good for hanging leaves in the fall.
6. Adhere one side of the paper to the clear Con-tact paper so that there is a border of at least 1/2 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the Con-tact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
7. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the Con-tact paper egg shape until it is filled. Tip: You can use multiple different colors or shades of the same color (pink, purple, etc.) of tissue paper to give the sun catcher a more complex design. It looks especially nice where the two colors have overlapped in places.
8. Layer the other half of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the egg shapes line up. Tip: If you wish for the project to have a name and date, add this to the back before sealing up the sun catcher.
9. Add the second piece of Con-tact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 1/4 inch is the minimum border I would recommend.
10. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.