DIY Suncatcher Butterflies

Summer is in full swing around our house. Our newest 100 Things To Do This Summer chart is hung, graduation ceremonies and party fun has been had, freckles are showing up on noses, kiddie pools are getting indefinite use, and the "What are we going to do today?" grumbles are settling in.

The twins and I did this butterfly suncatcher project during our days of Pre-K homeschool. It is a great project that can be done by little hands or big!

The materials we used were: 

• Tissue paper in a variety of colors
• a pair of scissors 
• glue sticks
• a template with open spaces to fill

We also used a couple of little lunch trays. They are great for containing projects to one area for cleanup.

The butterfly template we used was found in this book! I love this series of books and have every one of the months and seasons.  These books have many ideas and projects for homeschooling.

 
Next, the girls chose the colors they wanted for each empty space in the suncatcher. I helped them cut the pieces to fit but older children will be able to do this by themselves. 

They used their glue sticks around the edges of each cut out space and placed the correct piece of tissue paper where they belonged.

After filling in each empty space with a different color tissue paper, they were done! 

  
The template we used had a butterfly body to stick on the completed project. Here is one glued and completed! 

They were very proud of their projects and we hung them on our sliding glass doors to let the sun dance through their pretty colored wings! 

This is an easy faux stained glass project to do that is fun and a beautiful decoration! This project can be used to decorate your doors and windows throughout the year with a variety of different shaped stencils! 

  

Check out another great BUTTERFLY WALL ART CRAFT with FREE templates here!
Happy creating!

New Spring Arrivals

I've caught a creative bug and it just may stick around for awhile! On a recent craft run, I bought a ton of new things for some new Spring projects.

We've used other kits before but this Tie Dye Kit by Jacquard is the best I've come across so far. It has a dye fixer which is the key to bright, vibrant colors. I'm hoping to purchase some blank dresses from Dharma Trading Co. for a big tie dying party!



Another project I thought I'd tackle were the pajama bottoms from Heather Ross's new book, Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching.

My mom had recently purchased this book and created some fabric napkins (which are super nice and a great way to reduce paper napkin usage, by the way) and I was more than willing to steal borrow it from her!

I got some cotton fabric from Joann's, held my breath and hoped for something slightly better than terrible. I actually completed Lana's pair today. Here they are!





I have some other project ideas rattling around in my head as well. I bought this cotton yarn by Sugar'n Cream to create a mini version of a vintage granny square afghan.

Cross your fingers on this one. I'll show you the finished product when it's complete. That may not come for some time, though. I'm quite an accomplished procrastinator.



Also, snagged these bandanas to make a couple of dresses seen on the Daisy Janie blog. I gave myself plenty of time for this one, however I may still be working on them come midnight of July 3rd.

Just kidding! Two cute babies I know will definitely be sporting these at the local parade this year!



What crafty project ideas are tugging at your art strings these days?

St. Patty's Day Fun!

Every year for St. Patty's Day, the girls' school hosts a Potato Head contest. We buy a potato to support the library's Write to Read program and then we decorate them to be displayed for a week in the main lobby.

Last year, Madelyn's Potato Princess won 2nd place in the "Most Beautiful" category! She was thrilled!

This year the categories involve Literature and History. Madelyn picked The Cat in the Hat and Lana picked Princess Jasmine. I tried to talk Lana into Ariel the Mermaid because I had cuter ideas but she wouldn't budge! ;)

Here is a picture of The Cat in the Hat on a date with Jasmine.