Crystal Shamrocks...

 I love letting the kids make crafts and then decorating with them for St. Patrick's Day.  Maybe it's the bright colors...greens, yellows, and rainbows.  What's not to love.  I think I love decorating for it because it is a sign of Spring and who doesn't like to see bright colors after a long Winter?  I came up with the idea for these crystal shamrocks after we made crystal snowflakes last winter.  They were so easy to make and the girls loved watching the crystals grow.  We made these on a snow/cold day from school, so they had plenty of time to keep an eye on the growing crystals!

You will need:

Pipe cleaners (various colors to represent St. Patrick's day.)

String

Borax

Water

wide mouth jars

pencil

Our first step was to find a picture of a shamrock on the internet that we liked, then we cropped it to our desired size.  Then we used it as a template to make our shamrock with a pipe cleaner...

Next we tied a string to the shamrock and the other end of the string to a pencil.  Then add a 1/2 Cup Borax ax to each wide mouth jar and pour in 3 Cups boiling water and stir until the Borax is dissolved.  You can find the Borax in the laundry aisle at the grocery or on Amazon .  Carefully dip the shamrock into the jar and try to not let it rest on the sides of the jar.  Rest the pencil on top of the jar and wait.  We left ours out all day and all night...

Once we took them out of the jars, we let them dry for a bit and then I hung them in a doorway.  I love how they look, especially in the late afternoon when the sun shines in the window.  They sparkle!

Cardboard Tube Monsters...

My husband always cringes when I decide to start saving toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls.  And I can't say as though I blame him.  When I do, one corner of our office looks like an episode of hoarders.  And now I'm hoarding them even more because one brand of TP has gone tube-less and I've heard rumors that others are going to follow in their footsteps.  I don't blame them.  It is better for the environment, but where will crafters like me get their tube fix??;)

The girls and I made these the other day (Yes, I joined in the fun also) and they turned out super cute!  I showed the girls a picture of what we were making and let their imaginations take charge!

All you need are TP rolls...or paper towel rolls, cut in half..or you could leave them full size if you want a giant monster and any and all craft supplies you want to add to your monster.  As you can see in the pic below, I just pulled a bunch of stuff out of the craft closet and the girls went to town!!

Mel and B decided to wrap theirs in felt wrap that already had adhesive on the back.

 I used construction paper for mine, so I had to break out the hot glue gun.  Torture I know...I love my glue gun;).

Here is my creation.  I also used hot glue for the pipe cleaners because I couldn't get them to stay in place with regular glue.  As always, use caution when using a hot glue gun!

 B's...

 Mel's...

 (Jo didn't get to participate in this craft because I thought it was a little too advanced for her)

Spooky cuteness!

Halloween Craft Time: Paper Plate Pumpkins...

 Jo is finally to the age where she can sometimes participate in Craft Time, but now it starts to get tricky.  You see, when I find a craft that Jo is able to do, which usually involves something to enhance her hand eye coordination, it's usually not in B's age group.  B hasn't said anything, because she's too sweet, thank goodness, but I can tell she gets a little bored with some of the crafts.  We still do some "big people" crafts while Jo is napping so that helps!

This was a Jo craft, but the girls used their imagination to create their pumpkin faces which helped.

First they painted small paper plates orange.  Can you tell we go through a lot of orange paint this time of year?

 Once the paint was dry, they painted their faces however they wanted.

 Just look at how happy Jo is to finally be making crafts with her big sisters!

 I pre-cut Jo's face out of black construction paper so all she had to do was place the cut outs on top of the dot of glue.  The older girls painted their faces.  Once the paint was dry, we added a stem out of glue construction paper and glued it to the back.

Mel made a tiger..

You can see we have quite the array of faces on our pumpkins.  Can you tell which one is Jo's?

Fourth of July Centerpieces...

The Fourth of July is Friday and hopefully that means plenty of cookouts, campfires, and get togethers.  The girls and I made these sequin jar centerpieces about a month ago and I'm just now getting them posted, but they are super quick and easy to make and they do put off a festive glow to the table.

All you need is:

red, white and blue sequins (we used star stickers as well, but they kept wanting to curl up when we stuck them on the wet glue)

white school glue

water

battery operated tea light

paint brush

jar

acrylic sealer

Begin by painting your jar with the glue.  We put the glue in a bowl and added about a tablespoon of water and stirred it.

 Then begin sticking your sequins on the jar...

Allow the glue to dry, spray the adhesive on the jar and allow it to dry, add a battery operated tea light and enjoy!