Crafts

With warm weather and kids there are always ice pops around.  They’re a summertime staple! I love them because they’re less messy than regular popsicles, but I don’t like how my kids always complain about how cold their hands are while eating them.  To solve that problem I made these DIY freeze pop holders!  

DIY Ice Pop Holder Supplies

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• Acrylic craft felt
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Embellishments  (I used rainbow ric rac)
  

How to Make a No-Sew Freeze Pop Holder

 

STEP TWO

Hot glue down the long sides of the felt strips.

 

 

STEP THREE

Fold the felt strips in half, and press along the glued seams.

 

 

STEP FOUR

Cut the ice pop holder pouch down so that it’s shorter.  Embellish however you like, or leave it plain!

 

 

STEP FIVE

Watch your kids enjoy their icy treats without complaint! 🙂

 

 

Tip:  For a healthier spin on ice pops, freeze yogurt pouches.  My kids think they’re getting a special treat when they’re really having a healthy snack.

 

Now I’m going to go use one of my Koozies for a special adult treat.  (Too bad they don’t have rainbow ric rac.)  🙂

 

– Bre

Going to the beach is always an adventure with kids!  To help them take responsibility for their things, it’s great to give them their own beach bags.  These fun DIY Painted Beach Bags for kids are are great project, and even a good “rainy day at the beach” project.

My kids made these beach bags to bring on our trip to Seabrook Island, South Carolina.  They had a blast making them, and having individual beach bags made staying organized much easier!

Supplies Needed for DIY Kids Beach Bags

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• Canvas tote bags
• Multi-surface acrylic paints
• Foam paint brushes
• Contact paper
• Crayola fabric markers

How to Make Beach Bags for Kids

First, I drew sea creatures on the back of Contact Paper to serve as our stencils.  We chose fish, a seahorse, an octopus and an anchor.  

Your drawings do not have to be perfect because your kids will inevitably get paint underneath the contact paper, which will deform the shapes anyway.  But, if you want to be a perfectionist, you could find clip art online, print it, and trace it onto the Contact Paper.

Next we cut out the Contact Paper shapes, removed the backing paper and placed them sticky side down on our canvas tote bags, making sure to press them down the best that we could.  

In this picture you can see that we’d placed one of the fish and still had to do the other items.

Third, we got down to business!  My kids loaded up their paintbrushes and got to work covering their bags with their favorite sea-inspired colors. 

 

My daughter, who is a huge Octonauts fan, was insistent on having two different colors so that there would be a difference between the “midnight zone” and the upper part of the ocean on her beach bag.  Details details.

 

 

The little guy was pumped to be using such a large paintbrush filled with paint that leaves a permanent mark.  

 

 

I was having a minor heart attack at this point.

 

 

Next we let the paint dry, and then we removed our stencils.  The bags looked like this with the stencils removed.

 

 

They were a little plain, to say the least, so I got out the fabric markers and added a little extra detailing in the way of fish scales, tentacle suckers, eyeballs, etc.  The creatures looked a little happier (and a little more identifiable) that way.

 

I’m not joking that my kids were super pumped to carry these down to the beach.  They loved having their towels, sunglasses and sun hats in their own special place. (These beach bags are also perfect to carry back supplies for a DIY ‘Beach in a Bottle’ Vacation Souvenirs!)

 

Isn’t my model scrumptious?  (The other one refused to stand still or make a normal face, so I don’t have a modeling pic of her.)

Okay, I seriously love Anthropologie.  It’s definitely up there on my list of favorite stores, right there with Target and Nordstrom.

Most things Anthropologie sells are worth the higher price tag, in my opinion.  But once in awhile, something sneaks in there that makes me scratch my head and say “for real?”  Take pushpins with pom poms glued on them, for example.

$15 for a set of 12 pushpins?

No thank you.  I’ll spend my $15 on a crystallized bobby pin or metallic hair tie, thank you very much.  And I’ll make my own pom pom pushpins for a fraction of the price!

Literally all you need are some pre-made pom poms, wide-base pushpins and a hot glue gun.

Did you know that Teacher Appreciation Week is around the corner?  I don’t know how teachers do it . . . putting up with all of the craziness children throw at them on a daily basis.  Some days I can barely even handle my own children, let alone other people’s kids.  Teachers truly are special people, worthy of a week devoted to making them feel appreciated!

I always like to give teachers little gifts throughout the year, and one of my favorite teacher gifts is these DIY Fabric Covered Clipboards.  Swap out teachers’ boring, plain and uninspired clipboards for these fabulous fabric covered clipboards! This is a great Teacher Appreciation Week gift, or a gift for anyone who likes to be organized!  

• Clipboard
• Fabric of your choice
• Mod Podge (I used matte finish)
• Foam brush
• Hot glue gun & glue
• Rotary cutter, Xacto knife, and/or sharp fabric scissors
• Optional: fabric stabilizer (see step six below)

How to Make DIY Fabric Covered Clipboards

It’s so easy to make these clipboards!  

STEP ONE

Cut your base fabric slightly larger than the size of your clipboard.

 

STEP TWO

Cut a space out of the top of the fabric to accommodate the clip portion of the clipboard.

 

STEP THREE

Apply a layer of Mod Podge all over the clipboard.

 

STEP FOUR

Place your fabric over the Mod Podged clipboard.  Smooth out any wrinkles.  Apply a layer of Mod Podge all over the top of the fabric.

 

STEP FIVE

Once the Mod Podge has completely dried, flip the clipboard over and cut the excess fabric from around the clipboard.  I used a rotary cutter and it worked very well.

 

STEP SIX

You could leave your clipboard as is, but if you want to add a pocket to the bottom of the clipboard, cut a rectangular piece of fabric 1″ taller and wider than the bottom portion of the clipboard.  Flip the fabric over and fold three sides in .5″ and iron for a crisp seam.  Hot glue those pressed in sides to the bottom of the clipboard to form a pocket.

 

Note that I applied an iron-on stabilizer to the fabric I used for my pocket, just to give it some extra strength.  I also trimmed the top portion of the pocket with pinking shears to ensure that the fabric won’t fray with time.

I love how the pocket can be used to hold pens and other small accessories, and I like how the contrasting fabric gives an extra dose of personality!

These fabric covered clipboards are sure to be a welcome addition to any classroom!  How will you be recognizing the teachers in your life this Teacher Appreciation Week?

 

– Bre

Last weekend I got to go shopping by myself.

As a mother of small children, do you know how precious that time was?

I was actually able to browse around and go into stores with breakable merchandise.  It was so liberating and SO INSPIRING!!!

A direct result of that shopping trip was this project . . . my knockoff West Elm Brass Base Terrarium.

West Elm’s Brass Base Terrariums are beautiful.  They come in two sizes – small and large – and are priced at $29.50 (small) and $59 (large).  The interesting thing about the West Elm terrarium is that it looks like the bowl is almost tipped on its side, as opposed to being straight up (like mine).  West Elm also sells the succulents to go inside of the terrarium at $12.50 a pop.

I love the low-maintenance nature of succulents and I wanted one of these terrariums.  But I wasn’t about to lug one around the mall with me, nor was I about to pay $42 for a terrarium and one succulent.  So yeah, I decided to try making one myself.

West Elm’s terrarium definitely looks nicer.  But I think mine is okay, too.  And for just $7 all in (like, with the plants), I’ll take it.  And since my glass bowls aren’t tipped on their side, these can be used for taller plants as well.  Bonus!

Faux Brass Base Terrarium Supplies

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Here are the materials I used to make these faux brass base terrariums:

• Small glass bowl vase
• 4×6 piece of wood, cut to size
• Sandpaper
• American Accents spray paint in Aged Bronze (you can find this cheaper in a store!)
• Acrylic paint in bronze
• Elmer’s ProBond Advanced glue

How to Make a DIY Brass Base Terrarium

STEP ONE

Determine the desired size of your wood base by placing your glass bowl on top and deciding how large you want the bottom square to be.  Measure and cut.  (Ignore all the junk in my garage.  We just finished a renovation and had to store a bunch of stuff in there.  It’s normally not this messy!)

STEP TWO

Sand your wood block all over and then spray paint it.

 

 

STEP THREE

Once the paint has dried, coat it with a layer of bronze acrylic paint.  This will make the color look richer and your base piece look less like a piece of wood and more like a bronze block.  (The block on the left has acrylic paint on top whereas the block on the right does not.)

 

 

Check out this other blog post of mine to learn how to create an even more authentic faux brass finish with paint!

STEP FOUR

Once the paint has dried, apply the glue to the bottom of your glass bowl.  Affix to the wood and follow the package’s instructions for proper adhesion.  (NOTE:  the glue does not dry clear so be sure not to apply too much or it will squeeze out the bottom of the bowl and leave a visible glue ring around your bowl and base.)

STEP FIVE

Once the glue is dry, add your plants and enjoy!