I am not a crafty person by nature so the crafts we do around here are foolproof. I love the look of homemade Valentines cards because they are so much more personal than the generic little cards you buy at the store but with my options are limited by my crafting skills.

I love this super simple idea for creating homemade Valentines and the best part is you can make it from supplies you probably already have around the house!

Supplies

• Camera
• Pipe Cleaner
• Multi-colored cupcake liners

Instructions

These homemade Valentines are so easy that your kids can actually do most of the work. My son made these in our co-op preschool last year and he was so proud of the end result (You’ll have to excuse the photo. I couldn’t find the original at the moment so this was just a quick snapshot that was take of the project last year).

The first step is to take the photo. You can either take a snapshot in your backyard or create a solid background by having your child stand against a painted wall. If you don’t have a solid wall in your home, try hanging a solid color blanket or sheet behind your child.

Lighting is the key to getting the best photo. If you have a wall next to a window that brings in a lot of natural light that will work the best. Outside photos are a great alternative as well.

Have your child make a fist and hold his arm out. For younger kids, you may have to tell them to pretend that they are holding something in their hand. It’s best if your child’s thumb is on the side of their fist so that the end result looks more realistic.

Print enough photos to create the number of Valentines that you need.

Poke a small hole in the photo at the top of your child’s hand. If you want to be fancy you can poke a second hole at the bottom of their hand so it looks like the stem of the flower is coming out the bottom.

Poke a hole in the center of a stack of cupcake liners. Don’t make the hole too big of they’ll slide down the stem. A toothpick works great for this.

Have your child thread the cupcake liners onto the pipe cleaner to make them look like a flower. You can use tissue paper cut into interesting shapes for this too if you want to be a bit more create.

When your child likes the way their flower looks, fold over the top of the pipe cleaner to keep the cupcake liners in place then feed the other end through the hole in the photo.

Optional: If your child doesn’t want a flower in his Valentine, you can use a lollipop instead.

{guest post submitted by Mina of Mina’s Journal}

It is that time again when we remind those special to us that they are thought of and loved.

Make these easy stand up Hearts for Valentine’s Day, a quick project that almost anyone can do, and a nice alternative to the regular Valentine’s Day card.

Materials:

• Stand Up Hearts download (*NOTE: You need Adobe Reader to use this file. Save it to your computer for future use. Design by Mina Keenan.)
• Card or paper
• Scissors
• Glue

Technique

• Just trim around the outer edges, and fold along the tab lines where indicated, and as shown in the photo.

• Apply glue to the end tab and bring it to the back of the heart, letting it ‘naturally’ find it’s place where to stick, approximately two thirds of the way up the back of the heart.

{guest post submitted by Ashley of Our Family Stone}

We are a crafty household. I knit, crochet, cross-stitch and other random things, our girls are ALWAYS pulling out paper and crayons, there are stickers everywhere and together we love to pull out the big tower of craft supplies and create. It makes us happy; it helps our girls feel like they can express themselves and it makes gift giving for the Grandparents easy! It also kills many a rainy afternoon, and when you live in the part of the country we do, there are a LOT of rainy afternoons.

When Christmas rolls around we amp things up a little, crafting reaches its all time high. We’ve been baking (because that’s a craft of its own), making ornaments and crafting Christmas cards! This is a craft we’ve done before and one that gets rave reviews both from our girls and from those who receive the cards! Of all the different cards we make, our Christmas Foil Tree cards are the favourite. They include glue and glitter and everything messy – who wouldn’t love it?

It’s really not that hard, and if you put a disposable table cloth on your table (which I didn’t do in the photos…live and learn) as well as one on the floor under each kidlet it makes the clean-up easy! So why not join us, make 1 or 100 and have a great time! Just make sure if you do, to let us know. We want to see the pictures and hear how it went.

Christmas Foil Tree Cards

Supplies:

• Tin foil (I purchase dollar store foil for our crafts. No sense using your good, expensive foil!)
• Cookie sheet or cardboard (as a surface to attach your foil to) and tape
• Poster board/cardstock
• White glue
• Sponge brushes
• Glitter
• Red and green tissue paper (cut or ripped into smaller pieces ahead of time. This is fun to do with your kids and then just put them in a ziplock bag till craft time)
• Dish for watered down white glue
• Sequins
• Scissors and pinking shears
• Black marker pen
• Ruler
• Christmas shaped templates

Let’s Make it!

1. Cover cookie sheet/cardboard with sheet of tin foil. Make sure all your edges are VERY secure with tape, you don’t want this moving around

2. Squirt white glue all over tin foil and then use a sponge brush dipped in water to spread the glue in a thin layer all over the tin foil

3. Have your kids cover all the tin foil with pieces of tissue paper. Using the watered down glue (one part glue, one part water) and a sponge cover all the tissue in another layer of glue and more paper. This is a layering even, have fun with it! Just make sure each layer, including the last has a layer of water glue.

4. Once you’re done with the sponge brush and tissue and your project is still WET, sprinkle the whole project with a thin layer of glitter.

5. Add sequins

6. Allow to dry overnight

7. Either use your pre-cut blank cards or cut your poster board into the desired card shape and size.

8. Using your pinking shears cut a decorative edge on your cards

9. Once your tin foil is dry you have two choices

i. you can trace your Christmas templates onto it directly and cut them out, then glue them to the front of your card and decorate with stickers

ii. You can cut a piece of tin foil slightly smaller than the front of your card, glue it on, then cut out another piece of cardstock the same size as your card, cut out a Christmas shape from the over lay and glue it on.

10. Allow to dry and mail!

We love this craft! Our family has loved the cards and it’s been excellent! The process of decorated tin foil can translate into ornaments, story pictures and all sorts of things, just use your imagination!

Author bio: Ashley Stone is a Mommy to two beautiful girls, the wife of a handsome husband, and the voice of Our Family Stone. She spends her days working with her kids in tow, baking, crafting, blogging, cleaning and trying to go to the bathroom alone. She started blogging 6 years ago because she wanted to feel like an “author” and to relieve the excess noise in her brain. Ashley has something to say about everything, pop on over to Our Family Stone and you’ll find that out!

{guest post submitted by Mina of Mina’s Journal}

Use these printouts as part of your Christmas gift giving craft stash to help you prepare for the holiday season. Grab your scissors and let’s go!

One of the most recognizable motifs of Christmas has to be the tree. It conjures up images of presents, decorations and lights. Anticipation about being with the people you love, the feasting, and the presents you receive and the reactions of those you are giving something to.

So while a good deal of thought goes into the preparation of those things, the time comes to think of the finishing touches to Christmas gift giving.

These printables feature simple designs and basic colors.

*NOTE: You will need Adobe Reader to view, print and save your downloads. Save to your machine so you can print as many as you wish and then get it out again for next year. All designs by Mina Keenan.

Christmas Gift Tags

Nine tree themed gift tags to put the finishing touches to Christmas presents with sentiments and room for a message on the back.

{download Christmas Gift Tags}

There is also a page of gift tags to color, so you can put your own special touches to them. (Think glitter and gel pens).

{download Christmas Gift Tags to Colour}

Punch a hole in the top and thread ribbon or string through and attach to your gift.

Craft Ideas

Cut and paste tags onto small paper bags for those small gifts like earrings and other jewelry. Draw the top and tie with ribbon to tie to the tree.

Use the printables and get crafty with them bits and pieces you find in the home.

Use ‘Chrissmas-sy’ paper. Use up wrapping paper scraps.

Use the images and text separately by cutting them out and decorating other things.

Make a Christmas Card

A greeting card can be a present in itself. Using some easy techniques you can make something that people will treasure and want to keep.

A nicely made card is a gift in itself. Try using the tags as a card topper.

Make a card by pasting a tag on different sized layers of paper or card.

Christmas Notepaper and Envelopes

A handwritten note to someone special is always a nice touch and is an extra thoughtful, heartfelt gesture.

{download Christmas Tree Notepaper and Envelope1}

Download some seasonal lined notepaper and matching envelopes for those gifts that require a little more writing than just a gift tag or card.

{download Christmas Tree Notepaper and Envelope2}

Trim notepaper.

Cut out the outer bold lines of the envelope.

Fold and cut where indicated

Print and make up five notepapers and envelopes. Package these up in a creative way to give as a gift.

*BONUS: Check this post out for Free Snowman Gift Tags. So have fun with these and have yourself A Very Merry Christmas!

Author bio: Mina Keenan – so in love with paper, cloth and yarn. Crafted all her life. Main focus right now on papercraft – designing printables in particular. Mina’s Journal.

Holiday crafts are a great way to give your home a festive feel and they are a great way to get kids excited about the holidays. We have a few favorite Halloween crafts that we do year after year that are so easy anyone can do them and most of them use things you probably already have.

Paper Bag Pumpkin

This is a great craft for preschoolers and it uses things that you probably already have around your house (always a plus in my book). I used to do this every year when I ran my home daycare and it’s an old favorite with my kids.

This works for kids as young as 2 with adult supervision.

Ghost Feet Art

 I love kids art projects that use hand or feet stamps. They are a great way to keep track of growth from year to year and they are really fun for kids to see them turn into something else. This Halloween craft is super simple so even the youngest kids can participate and it makes a festive addition to your holiday decorations.

This would be adorable put in a frame to bring out each Halloween!

Pumpkin Painting

Carving pumpkins is standard but I get a bit twitchy when my kids start playing with knives so I love opting to paint pumpkins as an alternative. My kids have always loved this activity and if you get creative you can end up with some great results that are a perfect addition to your Halloween decor.

Homemade Halloween Lantern Craft

If you are looking for a Halloween craft for slightly older kids, this one is perfect. It’s still simple enough that I could do it but the end result is some very festive, homemade Halloween decorations. You can keep it simple with a basic jack-o-lantern design or if you are feeling crafty you can try something a bit more complex. Either way, you’ll have some great decorations that your kids can be proud of.

Halloween Crafts from Around the Web

These crafts are definitely on my list to try next year.

Paper Pumpkin Craft

I love the simplicity of this. I wonder if it may be a bit tricky gluing the rings to the paper but I think this would be so much fun for younger kids to do. I know my almost 4 year old would love it. I may have to make the time to fit it into our Halloween plans for the day.

Q-Tip Skeleton

This easy Halloween craft uses Q-Tips to create a skeleton. What a great idea! Since I have absolutely no artistic ability I’d probably use a foam sticker for the skull (or print something off to cut out) but the rest of this is so easy and it’s a great way to teach kids about their skeletal system.

Do you have a favorite Halloween craft? Be sure and add the link in the comments below.

Decorating for the holidays is one of the great joys of childhood but holiday decorations can be pricey.

Fortunately, you can make some great Halloween decorations without spending much money and your kids will be proud to display something that they helped to make.

This homemade Halloween lantern is incredibly easy to make and will do a great job of setting a festive mood. For this simple Halloween craft, all you’ll need is a few supplies, many of which you probably already have around your house.

I’m not really much of a crafter so for me, the simpler the project is the better.

Supplies

Old Canning Jars – If you don’t have any already in your home, check out local thrift stores or garage sales because you can buy these for almost nothing

Orange Acrylic Paint – I bought this for under $1 at a local craft store. Be sure and look for coupons before you shop. Most craft stores offer discounts around this time of year. I took advantage of a homeschool discount from my local craft store by brining in a letter from the school district stating that I was homeschooling.

Paint Brushes – Any smaller paintbrush will do

Masking Tape  - If you want to do a simple Jack-O-Lantern design, this is all you’ll need. If you want to do anything more elaborate, look for double sided tape or contact paper.

Instructions

Start with clean canning jars.

To make a simple Jack-O-Lantern, all you need to do is cut some triangular shapes out of a piece of wide masking tape. My 8 year old was able to do this on his own. We put the paint in small silicone dipping cups. I don’t believe the ones we have are still being made but I love them for painting. You could also use silicone muffin cups or these stainless dipping cups.

Be sure that the tape is firmly adhered to the jar along the edges. This is what will give you nice, clean lines.

Use a paintbrush to cover the surface of your jar with orange paint. We had to do two coats. You can stick with one if you want to allow more light to shine through the jar.

Allow the paint to dry thoroughly before removing the tape.

Or you could do what we did. We aren’t patient people. A hairdryer seemed to do the trick.

If you want to do something a bit more elaborate, you can ditch the Jack-O-Lantern face and get creative. We cut a design out of construction paper then used a combination of tape and glue to get it to stick to the jar.

The edges had to be cleaned up a bit when we were done though, so I’d recommend tracing a design on contact paper, cutting it out and attaching it directly to the jar.

Before you start thinking that I’m craftier than I think I am . . . I didn’t do the adorable cat design. I set my craft sister to work on that one.

When the jars are dry, put a tea light inside and light it. You’ll have an adorable addition to your Halloween decorations.

 This project was adapted from a project published in Family Fun Magazine.

When you saw the title of this post, was your first question, “Why the heck should I bother making my own face paints?”

Well, here’s the answer.

Last year the  Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 10 commercially available face paints.

All ten tested positive for lead. Lead, as you probably know, is a neurotoxin for which there is no known safe level when it comes to kids.

Some of the paints also contained nickel, cobalt and chromium, which can cause lifelong skin sensitization and contact dermatitis.

We know for a fact that there are face paints on the market that don’t have these chemicals (see the end of this post). But since it’s easy and fun, why not whip up a batch of your own?

Here’s the thing. Making face paints, we’ve discovered over the course of several years doing it, is not an exact science. Experimentation is part of the process. So we’ll give you the basics, then you take it from there.

What you Need:

Some type of thick lotion or cream–diaper cream, hand or body lotion–choose organic ingredients when you can.

Natural food color–Conventional food colors usually contain dyes that have been proven to cause problems in some kids. Many of these dyes have been banned in Europe, but not yet in the U.S.

Cornstarch

A small bowl and spoon

How to:

1. Begin by putting about a tablespoon of the cream/lotion in the bowl.

2. Add a few drops of natural food color or try colorful spices like tumeric or for green, spirulina, or the juice of mashed and strained veggies like blueberries or beets. (Patch test to be sure there are no allergies.)

3. Mix vigorously. Add more color if necessary.

4. Add in approximately double the amount of cornstarch to cream/lotion. For example 4 tablespoons of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of cream.

5. Back to vigorous mixing.

6. Add more color and/or more cornstarch until you’ve reached an ideal color/consistency.

Tah dah! That’s it.

What we learned the hard way:

1. The final consistency should be creamy, not runny, but not too stiff either. (See, we told you this is an experiment.)

2. You can add water if the paint is too stiff or hard to spread, but be aware, that if the cream you use contains some type of oil, you will likely end up with a marbled effect which, depending on what you’re going for may be terrific or a fatal flaw.

3. Don’t leave out the cornstarch. It’s what keeps the skin from absorbing the cream or lotion (and the dye). (We know, we forgot it once.)

4. We admit that these paints may more difficult to work with than what you can buy. It’s challenging to create an intricate design (at least for us). But interestingly, kids are fascinated by the paint making process and likely won’t mind giving up a elaborate design if you set expectations at the start.

5. Using cosmetic brushes, sponges, etc. helps the application.

If, despite our spot-on directions and your enthusiastic efforts, your resulting face paints don’t offer the results you are looking for, we recommend two commercial face paint kits that contain no chemicals.

This  set from TerraFirma Cosmetics is great .

• Goes on like a face paint, sets to a pliable layer of color that is greaseless
• Removes with soap and water
• Stain resistant

Or  Luna Organics Pixie Magic Face Makeup available from  EcoMom. The colors are made of organic, hypoallergenic materials. The powder is easy to apply and most important, easy to remove! All products come off with a moist tissue.

Please remember that whether you’re making face paints at home or buying, you should test the paint on your child’s skin. Even natural, derived-from-plants and organic, can cause reactions in certain people.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of  Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.

Blog Your Way to BlogHer

This post is an entry to the Blog Your Way to BlogHer Contest. Busy Mommy Media is giving away 1 ticket to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego! Visit the contest page for details on entering.

Now that Easter is over, you probably have all kinds of leftover candy and plastic eggs that you need to do something with. This homemade matching game is really, really simple to make and is a great way to use up some of those extra plastic Easter eggs.

Matching games are a fantastic way to introduce preschoolers to early math skills and this simple game helps with number recognition at the same time.

Materials

Plastic Easter Eggs

A permanent marker or small round stickers

Instructions

Count out 10 plastic Easter eggs. You can use more if your preschooler has already mastered counting to 10 and recognizing the numbers 1-10.

Use a permanent marker to write the numbers 1-10 on the top and bottom of the plastic Easter Eggs. You can make this game a bit easier by putting matching numbers on the same color eggs or a bit more difficult by mixing the colors up so that the matching numbers are on different color eggs.

Allow the marker to fully dry so it doesn’t rub off. Depending on what type of marker you use, the numbers will likely start to rub off eventually but considering this game took me less than 5 minutes to put together, I’m not really concerned with long-term durability.

If you want, you can write or print numbers on small stickers and use those to label the plastic eggs.

Variation for Older Kids

While my preschoolers were enjoying using this activity as a matching game, we changed up the rules a bit for my 7 year old. Since he is working on memorizing all his addition tables we turned this into a quick math game.

Take all the plastic eggs apart and drop them into your Easter basket (or another container). Reach in and pull out two egg halves and fit them together. Have your older child then add the two numbers together (or multiply them together if your child has already mastered addition). This activity turns into a fun way to quiz your child on his addition (or multiplication) tables!

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The process of dying Easter eggs with young children can be, well, a mess. While I’d love to say that I’m such an easy-going, relaxed mom that I just accept the mess as part of the process, in reality, it takes a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Since my kids had so much fun with the Hot Rocks activity we did over the summer, we decided to carry that over into our Easter egg decorating.

The result was beautiful, unique looking Easter eggs that my kids could do on their own. You could continue on and dye these eggs still. It gives the eggs a really fun, almost marbled look.

We stopped with the crayons because I didn’t want to mess with the dye  . . .  and my kids got hungry. Eggs are for eating after-all.

Materials Needed

Old Crayons – Preferably with the paper taken off

Hard boiled eggs, still hot – You can leave these in the pot with hot water for quite a while to keep them warm.

Paper towels/newspapers to protect surfaces until the melted crayon dries – I lay some paper towels down on a cookie sheet with a rim. I use cookie sheets for pretty much every craft we do because they are wonderful for containing messes and you don’t have to worry about your eggs rolling away.

Easter egg dye (optional)

Instructions

Boil your eggs until they are done. If you need some tips for making the perfect hard boiled egg, there’s a great post you should check out over at Good Life Eats. You do want to keep your egg shells hot so when your eggs are done, only remove the egg from the pot that you are decorating first. Leaving the others in warm water will help keep the shells warm, although they will continue to cook a bit so you may want to shorten the cooking time just a bit.

Remove an egg from the water and allow it to air dry for a minute. The water should dry up fairly quickly if the eggs are completely done. Lay the egg on a paper towel (or back in an egg carton if you are doing this with young children who don’t want to touch the egg). The eggs will be hot but the crayons will still melt if the shell is just warm so you can let them cool for a minute if you want.

If the egg is too hot to touch, you can use one fingertip to stabilize it. My kids had good luck coloring their Easter eggs as they rolled around on the paper towel. It let them color all the way around the egg without touching it. Once it cooled down a bit they used their fingertips to hold the egg still and get the spots they missed.

Use the crayons to draw whatever you want on the egg. The hot eggshell will melt the crayons and create really vibrant colors. As an added benefit, you won’t get dye leaking through the shell and staining your egg so if your kids (or you) are grossed out by that you are in luck.

This adorable Valentine’s Day coloring page will be a hit with preschoolers and can be used as part of a preschool Valentine’s Day preschool theme or as a fun activity to do at home with mom. We plan to use this page to decorate our homeschool classroom.

Have you colored this page? Send a picture of your picture to Rachel with “coloring page” as the title and have your child’s artwork featured here.