Rainy Day Crafts for Kids
Bad weather days can keep your kids indoors, but television isn’t the only answer to inactivity. Simple and fun craft projects that can be done with items you probably have around the house can easily become a fun family activity!
Edible Jewelry. This is a very creative and fun way to play with your food! You will need shoe string licorice (not the rope style, as the licorice will be the string) and goodies that have some sort of hole in them. Example would be: Cheerios, pretzels, gummy lifesavers, mini donuts and dried apple rings. String the items along the licorice ‘thread’ and tie the two ends together. You can make necklaces and bracelets!
Edible play dough. If you have young ones who tend to eat their play dough - this is a nice alternative. Mix together one half cup of honey, one half cup of smooth peanut butter and one cup of dried milk powder. Mix until you have the dough consistency you like, adding more powdered milk if it feels sticky. If you like, you can work in a few drops of food coloring at this stage. Then let the kids play with and eat it! This is meant for a single use, don’t store this longer than one day.
Sponge stamps. For this, all you need is any type of sponges you can find. The more different the textures of sponges, the more fun the designs are. Just cut the sponges into different shapes with scissors. The kids can dip the sponge pieces into paint and create their own works of art. For more creativity, try gluing the sponge pieces onto a 3 inch paint roller.
Maracas. For home made maracas, all you need are paper plates, dried beans and tape. Give each child two paper plates. Have them color and decorate the bottom of the plates any way they wish. Fill one plate with about ¼ cup of dried beans, place the other plate on top, face down and tape together - making sure you seal all the way around. The hollow area creates the space for the beans to shake around and make noise!
Homemade clay. There are lots of recipes out there for homemade clay, this one is very easy, if a little messy! You will need, flour, 12 day old slices white bread (with the crusts removed), ¾ cup of white glue, food coloring. Tear the bread into chunks and put in bowl, add the glue and mix really well with your hand until it becomes a unified mass. Turn out onto a floured board and need until the clay is no longer sticky. You may need to add tiny bits of flour as you go. To color the clay, pull off a chunk and add a drop or two of food coloring. Knead well to incorporate the color. Let the kids form whatever designs they like, then air dry the pieces. It will take a day or two depending on how big the pieces are. Paint the dried clay designs if you like. Clean up with soap and water.
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Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Crafts Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell |
Sew the Contemporary Wardrobe for 18 Inch Dolls Complete Instructions and Full Size Patterns for 35 Clothing and Accessory Items
Expert sewer of clothing for 18-inch dolls, Joan Hinds, is at it again, this time with fun, hip, trendy, and fashionable clothes for some of today’s most popular dolls!
This great new book provides 35 patterns for clothing and accessory items that can be mixed and matched to create an infinite number of outfits to fit the ever-popular 18-inch dolls. The wardrobe includes all the latest fashion items for girls, such as a jean jacket, flared jeans, all styles of t-shirts, special occasion dresses, nightwear, purses, and hats. Suggestions for other fabric, embellishment, and color changes are given to help the reader personalize the wardrobe for each doll.
The book is beautifully illustrated with 50 photographs and more than 200 illustrations to guide the reader through the sewing process. Each pattern is full-size and on pull-out tissue sheets—no need to trace or photocopy patterns! Also includes tips throughout for helping children sew the outfits themselves.
• 35 full-size patterns on pull-out tissue sheets
• Projects range in difficulty from beginner to intermediate, with tips for helping children sew the outfits
• 50 photos and more than 200 detailed illustrations guide the reader
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars doll clothes
Wonderful patterns and instructions. I am having so much fun making the outfits for my grand daughters American Girl doll.
5 Stars Great book, simple instructions
Given how expensive American Girl clothes can be, this book offers a way to make your own clothes at a fraction of the price of buying them. It is a nice collection with a variety of clothes to make a complete wardrobe. A bit of experience in sewing is definitely helpful though. Most patterns are a bit complex for a child to do alone, but anyone with some sewing background would find them quite straight forward. Full size patterns are included for all the clothes. Definitely recommend this book.
5 Stars best of the bunch
Found this to have excellent sewing instrucions with illustrations. Very versatile pieces that can be interchanged. Accessories easy and add to the wardrobe.
3 Stars Great for Ideas
This book was great for ideas and general instructions. However, I found the patterns to be way too large for the 18″ dolls, and I found several errors in the construction directions. As a seasoned sewist, I knew how to work around this misdirection, but newer sewists may not.
I can still recommend the book though just for the inspiration.
5 Stars Contempoary Wardobe for 18-Inch Dolls
This book contains full size patterns that sew beautifully. Great selection of outfits and complete insructions that are very easy to follow.
Pioneer GSP Acid Free Glue Stick Pen
Pioneer GSP Acid Free Glue Stick Pen
Pioneer Photo Glue Stick is a special photo safe formula that permanently bonds photos to most surfaces. Excellent for scrapbooking and memory albums. Glue is non-toxic, child safe and dries clear. Pen- 2.5 grams, acid-free
Stunning Canon 5D2 Time-Lapse Video
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Rainy Day Crafts for KidsBad weather days can keep your kids indoors, but television isn’t the only answer to inactivity. Simple and fun craft projects...
