Make Something Useful for Your Sweetheart: Easy Valentine Paperweights!

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Make Something Useful for Your Sweetheart: Easy Valentine Paperweights!

I like to give something useful as Valentines, whether they are to my kids’ classmates (when we used to do that…sob!), friends, or family. “Useful” can sometimes be candy but, as there is already a lot of sugar at this time of year, we try to give out candy alternatives. I made these Valentine rock paperweights for The Week Junior, a super easy craft and a sweet keepsake that will remind your loved ones of you all year long!

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Fun and Easy Valentine Crafts Made From Recycle Bin Items!

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Fun and Easy Valentine Crafts Made From Recycle Bin Items!

If you’re here, you probably know that I love to make stuff out of materials found in the recycle bin…and, of those, my absolute favorites are toilet tubes! In fact, I have a whole book of toilet tube crafts called Toilet Tube Treasury! Surprise your Valentine and decorate their room with this toilet tube heart garland from the book! (Or a tube heart necklace, see below!)

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Our Very Favorite Crafty Holiday Project: Cookie Cottages Made with Supermarket Supplies!

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Our Very Favorite Crafty Holiday Project: Cookie Cottages Made with Supermarket Supplies!

Sure, gingerbread houses are fun to bake and build, but making these little cottages, constructed from store-bought graham crackers, allows you to skip the baking and get quickly to the fun part: decorating! And (almost) everything you need can be found at the supermarket or in your kitchen. I made these last year for the incredible New York Times For Kids (and somehow never posted it here).

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Creative Gifts for Creative Friends (and Everyone) on Your Holiday List!

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Creative Gifts for Creative Friends (and Everyone) on Your Holiday List!

Do you have a few creative and crafty peeps on your gift list? An artist, chef, baker, crafter? Or someone who just likes pretty things? If so, this list is for you! It just so happens that many of these items here are made or sold by friends and family. (But I am only sharing items I truly love!)

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Eco-Friendly (and Cheap!) Gift Ideas for Creative Kids

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Eco-Friendly (and Cheap!) Gift Ideas for Creative Kids

When I was a kid, I hoarded bottle caps, doilies, paper bags, and boxes to make dollhouse furniture, cards, and various craft projects. Do you have a kid like this on your holiday gift list? Assembling a craft kit is a great solution if you are stuck for a gift idea. And these kits involve recycled materials which mean that can be cheap…and eco-friendly! The main idea is to gather recycled household materials, pair them with a few basic craft supplies, maybe a craft book, and pack them in a simple tote bag, bin, or box!

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December is Almost Here! Make This Easy, Recycled Tube Advent Calendar Wreath

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December is Almost Here! Make This Easy, Recycled Tube Advent Calendar Wreath

It's almost December! Time to set up an advent calendar! ⁠Save a few toilet paper, paper towels, or shipping tubes to create this advent calendar wreath. Fill it with small presents like candies or little toys or little notecards describing “activity” gifts like: “movie night!”, “hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers!” or “evening drive to see holiday lights!”.⁠ As presents are removed you can fill the holes with a small ornament, toy, or piece of candy.⁠

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Fun and Tasty Weekend Holiday Project: Peppermint Bowls!

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Fun and Tasty Weekend Holiday Project: Peppermint Bowls!

With all the leftover peppermint candy I have from cookie-house-making, I am planning on revisiting these peppermint bowls I made many years ago for our book, Candy Aisle Crafts. ⁠They're not as hard as you might think (and super fun!) but it’s good to read through the instructions, below. Especially the tip to use a potholder while handling and shaping the melted candies to the bowl (essential!). Also, as I describe below, it helps to melt the inner candies and then add rows of candies. If you heat them all at once the inner candies are sheltered and won't melt enough.⁠

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Tell Us a Story!

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Tell Us a Story!

When Lindsay Volle was growing up in early-90s Phoenix, her dad would wake her up early once a month for what they called Donut Patrol. “We would drive down to the local donut shop,” Volle remembers, “and buy anywhere from three to seven dozen from a local shop where they packaged donuts in beautiful bright pink boxes. Then we’d drive to friends' houses and leave a box on their doorsteps. I would get to ring the doorbell and run -- like ding-dong ditch but with breakfast. We didn’t leave a note or anything, so first-time recipients wouldn’t necessarily know who brought them. That was so exciting to me! My dad understood that because my dad understood fun. Donuts are fun. Surprises are fun. Surprise donuts? Extra fun.”

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Tasty Spring Project: Make These Pretty Watercolor Cookies!

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Tasty Spring Project: Make These Pretty Watercolor Cookies!

Are you looking for a pretty, springy Easter treat, or a crafty food project for spring break? These super easy and fun “watercolor” decorated cookies that I made for the current issue of Reveal Magazine are the thing! (You can use egg-shaped cookie cutters if you have!)

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The Easiest Homemade Card for Valentine's Day..or Any Day!

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The Easiest Homemade Card for Valentine's Day..or Any Day!

As I've mentioned here, for the past few months, I’ve been contributing craft ideas to the incredible At Home section of The New York Times. Because we’re not all able to get to stores like we once did, they have asked me to create crafts where the newspaper itself is the starring art supply. For *today's* paper, I show a super easy technique for making collaged cards for Valentine’s Day or any day!

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Leave Your Sweetheart a Handmade Valentine Message

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Leave Your Sweetheart a Handmade Valentine Message

In our house we have a tradition of leaving surprise messages for each other. They're usually in the form of garlands or banners, strung across doorways or along the edge of the mantel. These tube letters, from our book, Paper Goods Projects, are a fun way to display a message, no tape or string required! And they marry type and cardboard tubes, two of my favorite things! (See a “happy birthday” tube message here!)

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Simple Printed Valentines Made With Stuff You Probably Have!

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Simple Printed Valentines Made With Stuff You Probably Have!

This little pile is from a printed Valentine card class I taught online last week. Before the class, I was afraid that it would be too simple, not enough steps or ideas, but since I was teaching a few little-littles (and it was over Zoom), simple seemed safest. As it turned out, the hour flew by, and when I ended the class, the kids were still going! We focused on printing with items from around the house: potatoes, sponges, and our fingers! When I suggested that the kids could make anything (flowers, butterflies, balloons!) out of their printed and stamped hearts, they were off! A lesson I need, over and over again, not to overcomplicate things!

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Make a Recycled Cardboard Menorah this Hanukkah!

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Make a Recycled Cardboard Menorah this Hanukkah!

Cardboard is one of my favorite craft materials, especially in the form of a tube! I came up with the idea for this menorah as a kid, I thought it would be fun to have something to put our gifts around. A few years ago I (finally) made it, for our book, Paper Goods Projects! A sturdy tube like the kind found inside a roll of aluminum foil or wrapping paper is ideal for this project, though a paper towel tube works fine too!

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3 Easy DIY Recycled Newspaper Gift Toppers!

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3 Easy DIY Recycled Newspaper Gift Toppers!

As I've mentioned here, for the past few months, I’ve been contributing craft ideas to the incredible At Home section of The New York Times. Because we’re not all able to get to stores like we once did, they have asked me to create crafts where the newspaper itself is the starring art supply. For *today's* paper, I made gift toppers out of newspaper.

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6 Easy Ways to Decorate a Holiday Gift Bag!

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6 Easy Ways to Decorate a Holiday Gift Bag!

Gifts are made even more special when you present them in a hand-embellished reusable bag! On Oriental Trading's Fun365 site, I shared six easy techniques for decorating plain canvas bags! For most of these gift bag ideas, you won't need much more than acrylic craft paint and a few household items like masking tape, freezer paper, or even vegetables! Acrylic paint is permanent on fabric when dry which makes it a great choice for these projects. Your gift recipient will think of you every time they use their cute and custom bag!

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Easy Folded Paper Leaves for Your Thanksgiving Table!

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Easy Folded Paper Leaves for Your Thanksgiving Table!

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been contributing craft ideas to the incredible At Home section of the New York Times for the last few months. Because we’re not all able to get to stores like we once did, they have asked me to create crafts where newspaper is the main “art” supply (like these newspaper crows, this newspaper flower wreath, rolled newspaper beads, and paper mache animal masks! This month, I made accordion-folded paper leaves to decorate your holiday table!

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For Halloween, Make a Murder of Crows...from Newspaper!

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For Halloween, Make a Murder of Crows...from Newspaper!

Spooky birds, such as crows and ravens, are perfect Halloween decor, and can be easily created with newspaper and a few simple supplies! I showed how in the recent At Home section of the New York Times! (In case the title of the post shocked you, a group of crows is referred to as a “murder”!)

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Easy Two-Step Coffee Filter Flowers for Spring Decorations!

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Easy Two-Step Coffee Filter Flowers for Spring Decorations!

Yesterday, I did a really fun Instagram Live for @CountryLivingMag and showed how to make these easy coffee filter flowers, and a few ways to use them to create spring decorations for your table and home. I have made a LOT of paper flowers in my life and the are THE EASIEST...and fastest!! They take only a few second to make each once the filters are dyed and dried. The bigger step here is dyeing the coffee filters which also really easy (and fun!) but allow a few hours to overnight to let the filters dry. Dye as many as you can and use them for lots of flower projects! (We have a whole chapter of coffee filter projects in our book!) By the way, I used food coloring to dye these flowers since they will be coming into contact with drinks. If you're not using these near food or drink, you could use thinned out craft paint to dye them instead.

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