My niece, Karen just had a baby boy. I designed and sewed this diaper bag before I knew the sex of the baby.There are 2 pockets in the front and one on each side of the bag. I used wool felt to make the roses on the sides.

I painted these eggs with a solid color first and then just painted designs with a small brush in another contrasting color. (I used acrylic craft paint) They’re simple, and they look great when grouped together,

Children ages 5 and up can make this pretty Valentine cut-out card with your help:

Supplies you need:

Simple, every day supplies make this an easy project!

• Cardboard stock in colors of your choice (One 8 x 11 White)
• Pencil
• Black, pink, red and purple markers
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Decorative edge scissors
• Glue
• A homemade heart template cut from cardboard
• One foam sticker back heart

Fold the white card stock page in half longways. Use a ruler and measure 2.5 inches to mark a line at the top and the bottom. Divide those 2 sections in 2 down the center. The middle section of the card will be wider than the top and bottom.

Trace around your heart template in the middle of the center section. Poke a hole in the center of the heart with the tip of the pencil.

Poke your scissors through the hole to carefully cut out the heart shape.

Use your decorative edge scissors to carefully cut a nice edge along the right side of the card cover.

Use a marker in the color of your choice to highlight the lines on the front of your card.

Cut out 4 hearts from colored card stock of your choice, using the heart template. Glue in place.

Cut out a cardboard heart that is 1/4 inch larger than the hearts on the cover. Center this heart behind the heart cutout on the cover. Glue in place and then place the foam sticker in the center of the heart, so it shows through on the front of the card.

Decorate the front of the card with markers as you wish.

Make the inside of the card look pretty by cutting out an insert sheet on the left with a heart cutout. Decorate with markers as you wish and write any message you want inside. Voila!

Supplies:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Wooden Clothespin
• Pipe Cleaners
• Craft Paint
• Small drum ornament (from craft store)
• Scissors

These little guys are a lot of fun to make! Kids will love these too. Beware of the hot glue gun!  Use your imagination to decorate them. The sky’s the limit!

A few simple supplies and you’re on your way!

Paint the body of the clothespin one solid color but leave the tip unpainted.

Paint the bottom a different color than the top.

Paint a contrasting design on the jacket.

Glue the pom pom on the head with glue gun. First cut out a small opening in the pom pom with scissors so it rests properly on the head. Also cut out some arms out of pipe cleaners.

Hot glue arms on body.

Hot glue drum on body and lay flat until it dries.

Voila! You can line these up or hang them from the tree or even attach them to your gifts!

Wooden ornaments you can buy in the craft stores make perfect gift tags, and they are fun to paint while watching Christmas movies on TV.

All you’ll need:

• Unfinished wooden ornaments
• Acrylic craft paint
• Small paint brushes
• Water
• Paper towels

Simply paint the ornaments as you wish, let them dry, use a Sharpie to write the name of the giftees on them and tape them to the front of Christmas packages. Be sure to rinse off your brush well and tap it dry on paper towels, every time you want to use a new color. You can get creative and use metallic paints, glitter or whatever else works for you. What is great about these is that the ornaments will be used for years to come, and the recipients will think about you every time they put your hand-painted ornament on their Christmas trees.

Here’s our GIGANTIC spider made from garbage bags and newspaper!

I made a bookmark for my daughter’s friend, Simone’s birthday. She works in a biology lab in college and catalogues beetles, so used a beetle theme.

Materials:

• 2 1/2 inch X 9 inch piece of thick watercolor paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Black Sharpie Pen
• Glue Stick
• Watercolor paints
• Stickers of insects of your choice or photo cutouts from a magazine or calendar
• Decorative paper or calendar page for backside of bookmark
• Beading wire
• Beads of your choice (I used seed beads and one turquoise bead, one special glass bead at the top)
• Crimping Beads
• Crimper
• Laminator (I went to Fed Ex Copy Center for this)
• Hole Punch

How to make your bookmark:

• Draw a 1/2 inch border around the front of the bookmark with a pencil
• Paint the person’s name inside the bookmark. I chose to divide the space evenly by six for the number of letters in the name.
• Paint the background with watercolor paints.
• Draw letters of the name with pencil and color them with the Sharpie pen. I copied a font I found on line.
• Cut out the insect shapes or use stickers and glue down along the border.
• Cut out coordinating decorative sheet the size of the bookmark and glue to back.
• Take your bookmark to a laminator.
• Laminate and trim.
• Use hole punch to punch hole at the top.
• Seal bead wire with a crimp bead and add beads of your choice.
• Loop top of string through punch hole and seal with a crimping bead.

1. Parent Magazine article: 10 Ways to Tame Your Kid’s Tantrums
2. CNN: How to Talk to Your Kids About Bin Laden’s Death
3. My Summer Camps: Summer Camp Guide 2011
4. NY Times: Screening: An Autism Questionnaire at Checkup Time
5. She Knows Parenting: Mother’s Day Crafts

No More Tantrums!

http://webclipart.about.com

If you love puppets, you’ll love this book too! 10-Minute Puppets by Noel MacNeal. Read my review on LA Parent Mag’s website.