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Homeschooling Adventures at the Maxwell's
Friday, July 25, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - Shimmering Shapes
These are cute and fairly easy window hangings you can make with just a few basic supplies. Here's what you'll need:
Tissue paper
Plastic foodwrap or nonstick foil
Pencil
White glue
Embroidery floss
Glitter
Scissors
Cut the tissue paper and either plastic foodwrap or nonstick foil a few inches larger than the design you plan to make. Use a pencil to draw a heart (or flower, diamond, circle, etc.) on the piece of tissue paper.
Lay it on the wrap or foil, then squeeze a line of white glue along the pencil line.
Press a length of thread/floss onto the glue.
At the top of the heart, make a loop with the thread and press the end into the glue.
Brush a thin layer of glue inside the heart, making sure to cover the outline thread.
Then, cut some pieces of thread and press them into the glue, so that they overlap and hang over the edges.
Brush another layer of glue over the top.
Lightly sprinkle glitter over the shape and leave it until the glue has completely dried.
Carefully peel the tissue paper off the foodwrap or foil and cut around the heart. Make sure you don't cut off the loop by accident.
Now hang it in the window for all to admire! |
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - Sharpie Shirt
The craft for this week is what I call the Sharpie Shirt. You probably already have the stuff needed for this project already lying around the house.
Supplies:
One white T-shirt
Shirt board (can also use cardboard or posterboard)
Sharpie permanent markers in an assortment of colors
Rubbing alchol
Spray bottle (a paper towel will also work)
Begin by placing the cardboard inside the shirt so that when you draw on it with the markers, the colors will not bleed through to the back-side. Using the Sharpie markers, make random drawing (swirls, dots, basic shapes, squiggles, etc.), switching between all the colors.
When you are happy with the design, use the spray bottle and fill it with the alcohol. Take the shirt into a well ventilated area (think outside) and spray the shirt well. Leave the carboard inside until the shirt is completely dry. The markers react to the alcohol and spread out creating the tie dye look. The alcohol can also be applied by saturating a paper towel and wringing it out above the marks until they are all soaked. The alcohol application should only be done by an adult or an older child as it will burn they eyes and is flammable, so just use common sense here. It dries quickly.
My daughter loves this shirt and wears it as fast as I can launder it. This would be a fun and inexpensive project for groups, clubs, or VBS. |
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - God's Eye
I was reminded of this craft that we used to make in vacation bible school when I was younger. I saw it mentioned in a magazine, it showcased hip young adults making them as a group. I laughed when I saw the article, but was inspired to do this as a featured craft mainly because it is so easy and economical.
The supplies you'll need are:
2 sticks (chopsticks, dowel rods, twigs, pencils, etc.)
several yards of yarn, your choice of colors (or save effort and use variagated)
Step one: Cross your sticks at a perpendicular angle to form an X-shaped frame. Bind them together at the point of intersection by wrapping the yarn around in a figure 8 pattern then knot to secure.
Step two: Once the sticks are bound, you can begin to weave the yarn around the four poles of your frame. Take the yarn over the top of one pole, wrap it around the pole, and then proceed to the next pole and do the same. You can weave in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Keep the yarn taut as you weave. A tighter weave will lend stability to your God's Eye. To change colors, simply snip the yarn and tie the end of the new ball of yarn to the existing line. Then, proceed with your weave. When you are finished weaving your God's Eye, secure the line to the end of a pole with a simple knot and snip.
Here is a picture of the back of the God's Eye, which I think looks just as cool as the front does shown above.
On the one in the pictures, I used the variagated yarn, but my daughter made one and used red and tan and it looks really good too. You can also experiment using yarns with different textures. Have fun! |
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - Friendship Bracelet
Friendship bracelets can be very simple or extremely intricate, but at heart they're just colorful embroidery floss woven into lovely patterns, to be given to dear friends (or kept for yourself). This knotted style is known as "Snake Around the Pole" and is probably the easiest friendship bracelet to make.
The supplies you'll need are:
four different colors of embroidery floss
scissors
clipboard
Cut 8 strands (2 of each of the colors) of the floss, each about 3 feet long. Line the strands up together and knot together about 4-5 inches from one end.
Take this end and place on a clibboard, with the knot directly under the clip. Seperate the two strands of your first color from the others. Take these strands and cross it on top of the others, making the shape of the number 4. 
Then loop the strands under the others and bring it through the opening created by the "4" shape.
This forms a knot that you will pull tight by sliding it toward the big knot at the top. You'll need to use your other hand to make the other strands taught for the knot to slide easily.
Repeat this with the same string for as long as you want this color. When you are ready to change colors, replace with two strands of another color and combine the first color back in with the others.
Repeat the "4" shape knots with this color until you are wanting to change then continue knotting and changing colors until you have reached a length that fits around your wrist. Finish with another big knot, and leave enough room to tie the bracelet around your friend's (or your own) wrist. Trim the excess strings once you are sure the size is what you want.
There are so many varieties you can make with just this one knotting style. Just by changing the colors and number of strands, it can fill many a lazy summer day. My 10 year old son and 7 year old daughter have made so many of these, and have plans to make many more. My son picked the colors green, gray, light brown and dark brown and make a camoflauge bracelet, he hasn't taken it off in nearly a week. My daughter made one red, white and blue for the 4th of July, she changed it to using just three colors instead of four but used three strands of each color instead of two. The kids got the hang of it very quickly, and my husband even asked them to make him one in blue and yellow (he's a manager at a NAPA warehouse) once he saw me wearing mine today.
Remember, these are not just for girls, President Bill Clinton sported one in the first televised interview of his post-presidential years.
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
CRAFT - Concertina Caterpillars
I remember doing these things when I was little and I loved it! I made one the other day and quietly placed it on the floor in front of my kids while they were playing a video game. A few minutes later they noticed it and they got excited and flipped off the TV and begged for me to show them how to do it. It's so very easy, but it kept my kids occupied for DAYS!! They made them in a variety of lenghts, multiple color combinations, gave them different facial expressions, and experimented with the width of the paper strips. Here are a few of the finished products:
The supplies you'll need are:
Paper (two colors in similar thicknesses)
Adhesive (glue dots worked the best for this)
Scissors or Paper cutter like for scrapbooking
Ruler (if you are using scissors to cut with)
Cut the paper into one inch wide strips down the long edge of the papers.
Put some glue at the end of one strip. Press on the end of another strip, like this.
Fold the left strip over and crease it. Then, fold the other strip down over it. Keep folding one strip neatly over the other one to make a concertina shape.
When you get near the end of the strips, you may glue on the spare strips, then keep folding. Or when you get to end, glue them together and trim if needed.
Draw on eyes, feelers, and anything else you'd like. If you wanted to really get creative, you could cut out and glue on some wings, lots of little feet, etc. ENJOY!!
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Saturday, June 7, 2008
CRAFT - Paper Box
The craft I'm demonstrating this week is easy and economical. There is only one thing needed, a square piece of paper, any size and any color. You can use something you already have lying around; extra scrapbooking sheets, comic books, wrapping paper, even paper you've painted.
Get a piece of paper that you like, then flip it over so the side you want to show is down. If the paper is not already square, you'll need to that first.
 
Now, fold it in half both ways so you have a center point, lay flat again.
Fold down a corner so that it meets the center point.
Fold the other corners into the center.
Fold in two sides so that they reach the middle.
 Unfold the two sides completely, leave the other two corners folded in.
Fold in the two sides to the middle, and let them flap out again.
Pinch both sides of the fold - the pinches should be on a natural fold.
Bring the end right over the top. Do the same to the other side and tuck it in neatly.
 Now all you have to do is fill your box. If you want a lid, just do the above steps again with a slightly larger piece of paper.
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Saturday, May 31, 2008
CRAFT - Woven Bookmark
The craft for this week is a woven bookmark. You can make it with all sorts of yarns and can design it to be as long or as wide as you wish. Here is what you'll need to make one similar to mine.
SUPPLIES
Yarn (your choice of color and texture)
Hardcover book around 10 inches tall
Tape
Scissors
Plastic needle with large eye
Begin by taping one end of the yarn to the book near the top. Wrap the yarn around the book several times with the strings being close but not actually touching. However many times it goes around the book will determine how wide the finished bookmark will be.
After you've made as many wraps as you want, tape the yarn end at the bottom of the book and cut. Make sure you tape the beginning and ending on the same side of the book. You can turn the book over and count the strings, the one I show was made using seven.
Cut a piece of yarn about 6 to 7 feet long and thread one end through the needle. Tie the end of the yarn to the top of the first loop on the book (do this and the weaving on the side opposite the taped ends). use a double knot and leave a long end (I didn't, so leave a longer one than I show).
Begin weaving by going over and under each loop.
When you reach the end turn the needle and go over the ones you previously went under and under the ones you'd gone over. After each turn through, use the needle tip to push the latest pass up to the ones above. Continue until you run out of yarn.
Tie off the end to a loop and trim leaving a long tail.
Turn the book over and cut the yarn in the middle of the book.
Taking neighboring yarns, tie into a double/square knot. Do this to both sides. Trim to the length you prefer.
You are now done and have a unique bookmark. You could go further and add beads to the tassles. |
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - Painted Butterfly
This is another craft that is fun for the grown-ups and easy enough for the kids. It is for watercolor painted butterflies that you can use for puppets, magnets, window decor, and more!
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Heavy white paper (cardstock, watercolor paper, sketch pad paper) - 1 sheet
Watercolors
Cup with water
Sponge brush - 1 inch wide
Paint brush - 1/4 inch wide
Old towel
White copier paper - 1 sheet
Pen
Sharpie marker
Mounting item (drinking straw, string, magnet, etc.)
Adhesive (glue dots, glue stick, hot glue gun, etc.)
I recommend first placing the paper on an old clean kitchen towel. The painting technique used in this design is called "wet on wet" in which you thoroughly wet the surface of the paper with clear water using the sponge brush. Then taking the smaller brush, and using the watercolors in the colors of your choice, just spread the color all over the paper.
Paint several areas in one color, then rinse the brush and do the same with another color - filling in all the white backgroud.
While the paper and paints are still wet, take another color and make dots/splotches all over the paper and then wet the brush again and blend it all in together.
The goal is to have a variation of colors on the paper with no distinct lines, just easily blended together. Put this paper aside to dry, this may take up to an hour depending on the amount of saturation and the humidity.
Meanwhile, take the sheet of copy paper and fold in half short-ways, then fold one half in half again.
On that section free hand draw one side of a set of wings, being sure the middle of the wings is on the fold line.
Cut this out, unfold and trace onto the dry watercolored paper, cutting two sets of wings.
Cut these out and decorate as you like with your marker and stickers (you can even use glitter, ribbons, etc.).
To assemble into this puppet, lay one set of wings face down, take the adhesive of your choice and adhere the straw in the middle. Place more adhesive over the rest of the back of these wings and on the straw tip and carefully place the other set of wings, face-up.
You now have an adorable butterfly puppet. You could also adhere a magnet to the backs of each set of wings and have two magnets for your fridge. If you made the butterflies smaller and glued strings between them you could hang them from the ceiling and they would appear to be fluttering around the room. Let me know some of the ways you use them. |
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Beaded Bookmark
This easy beaded bookmark is the craft idea for this week. The supplies you'll need are:
kitchen towel
large paper clip
embroidery floss
beads (your choice of style, make sure the hole is large enough for the floss)
scissors
Working on a kitchen towel is the best way that I've found to work with beads. If they fall from your fingers, which they will do, they won't roll away. You'll see in this picture I have all the beads in a bead tray, and if you already have one then feel free to use it, but don't run out and buy one just for this project. You can easily sort the beads into small cups or directly onto the towel.
After assembling all the beads you are using, arrange them in the design you want to have on your bookmark. Keep playing around with them until you have them in a pleasing design.
For this design, I cut off about a two foot length of floss, folded in half and looped it around the single wired end of the paper clip. Pull tight to secure. Begin putting the beads onto one side of the floss until that side is complete, then tie several knots to keep the beads from sliding off. Do the same with the other side. I found that it helps to lick the end of the floss in order to get it through the holes in the beads, and sometimes I would twirl it between my fingers after wetting it to give it an even more pointed end.
You now have your finished beaded bookmark. I used letter beads for this one, but I've made these using several bead types and they all look very nice. You'll be very pleased with whatever design you come up with!
To use your new bookmark, merely hook it to some pages in your book and you'll be able to easily find your place the next time you need it.
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Saturday, May 10, 2008
CRAFT CORNER - Mosaic Tile Table Top
The craft project I just finished is a tile mosaic table top. It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time and finally had the opportunity when this particular table was given to me by a cousin. The green color scheme on the table didn’t work with anything else we had so I decided to try my hand at doing the tile work.
I browsed through the idea books that I could find at the library and got the basic tips I needed to make my ideas workable. Here is the list of equipment that you will need for this project.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Table or other flat surface
Sharpie marker
Design idea
Wall tiles in your choice of colors
Hammer
Newspapers
Mastic (tile adhesive)
Grout mix kit in your choice of color
Rubber grouting trowel
Tile nippers
First give the surface you will be covering a good cleaning and allow to dry completely. Take your marker and draw the design you want to make. Since this was my first project, I chose to go with only two colors and a bold/large design. For this design, I took a small salad plate upside down on the table and drew around it in four places. I then took the marker and drew wavy lines going from edge to edge to make it look like loops of ribbon.
The tile will need to be broken and that is why you must choose the thinner wall tiles versus the thicker floor tiles. I was surprised by the lack of color choices available at my local Lowe’s and Home Depot stores, just the white, black and cream/natural colors were carried. I already had the blue tiles as we removed them from the counter backsplash in the kitchen during a recent remodel project in there. The amount of tiles you will need will be determined by the size of the surface you plan to cover. Since most tiles measure 4” x 4”, you can take a measurement of your table and see about how many would cover it if you left them intact. You may end up with a few more than you need, but that’s better than not enough. Begin by laying the tile in-between several layers of newspapers then smack with a hammer a few times to get it broken then dump them into a box that is large enough to easily sort through the pieces. Use one box for each color tile.
Start with the main design by merely laying the tiles on the table until you like the way they fit together. Leave small gaps between the tiles for the grout, then adhere these pieces first using the mastic and some sort of spatula; I used a large popsicle/craft stick. After you get the main part done, start with the remaining ones. I started with the tiles in the middle of the circles then worked around them like I was outlining them. After you are happy with so many, adhere them with mastic and keep working with the rest. After doing the outline then I started around the edge of the table. Once all the tile was used that had been broken with the hammer you’ll need to use the tile nippers to get the pieces in just the right size and shape to fill in all the little gaps.
Let all this dry for about 24 hours or whatever it says on the mastic container. Look over the tile and make sure no mastic is sticking up over the tiles and not mastic is smeared on the tops of any. It’s easy to clean up and easier when it is totally dry. Mix up the grout according to the manufactures directions, the kit should come with everything you need except for the rubber trowel. I actually forgot to buy that trowel and used the fake credit cards that come in the junk mail and they worked wonderfully and just tossed when finished. Do this in a well ventilated place, and wear the gloves that come in the kit. Also, since the tile is now in smaller pieces, plan on using about 3 times the amount of grout the container says you will need for a wall the same size. After you’ve applied the grout, let set for 20 to 30 minutes then using the kit’s sponge, and a bucket of water mixed with a splash of vinegar, use some elbow grease and get the grout off the top of the tiles before it dries hard as cement.
That’s it, you now have a finished mosaic tile table top that you did yourself! |
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