Blissfully Domestic » Crafts

Meaningful Mother’s Day Gifts

Kat — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:20:40 +0000

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, many kids and dads are wondering how to shower mom with their appreciation for everything she does. Mom might say she doesn’t want any gifts, but she’ll love receiving something given from the heart. So how do you let mom know she is the root of the family?

Here are a few unique and meaningful gifts and activities mom will treasure for a lifetime.

Plaster plaque – Make your own stepping stone kit. Create with special sayings or memories of fun times with mom. Handprints solidified in cement are cherished forever!
Pottery painting store – All kids can make dessert plates while dad makes the cake platter. Make her a new, favorite coffee mug. Design a special picture frame and then add your favorite photo of the kids and mom.
Tissue paper flower bouquet – Fairly simple. Pick mom’s favorite colors and fill an old sauce jar with tissue paper flowers. Pipe cleaners make excellent stems.
Mother’s Day coupon book – Make a small (or large) paper book and fill with coupons for time spent with kids. Ideas included will range with ages and abilities of kids: free hugs, five minute backrubs, breakfast in bed, emptying the dishwasher, ice cream with the kids.
Mother’s Day scrapbook – Have each child pick their favorite picture of them and mom. Give them an 8.5×11” (or bigger or smaller) sheet of paper and some stickers and glitter and let them design a page to go in mom’s scrapbook. Bind together with a three hole punch and ribbon for a wonderfully handmade book.
Homemade jewelry or keychain – Bracelets and necklaces say, “I love you”. Buy a beading kit or beads on their own. Anyone can make these!
“Queen for a Day” chair cover – Wrap her chair at the dinner table with her very own “Queen for a Day” chair cover. As queen she doesn’t have to cook the meal, serve the meal or clean up after the meal!
Photo gifts are always a welcome present. Order or create photo collages online, mugs with kids pictures, canvas totes with a picture of the whole family or wall calendars that she can smile at all year long. These are fun to create with your kids and for mom to receive.
Clean the house – A day off of cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the kids room can go a long way!
Fill a jar with “365 things we love about mom” – This gift will give her something to smile about all year long.

Easy Toddler Mother’s Day Gift

Christen E. Krumm — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:51:21 +0000

Mother’s Day is right around the corner. (Seriously? When did that happen? Wasn’t it just yesterday I was making a new year’s resolution??) Mother’s Day seems to always sneak up on me, and I am always scrambling to find or make something for my mom. My mom has a love for plants and flowers. Instead of just buying her a bouquet of flowers that will die off within the week, I love getting her plants she can plant in her garden. This year Elsie (my daughter) helped with making my mom a special flower pot for her gift this year. This gift is inexpensive, can be made in an afternoon, and is simple enough for a two year to help with (so dad’s with toddlers that don’t know what to do — this is it).

You will need markers (which is much cleaner then paint when a two year old is helping) and a terra cotta pot — I got a mini one at Hobby Lobby for about $.50. If you are planning on planting a plant, you’ll need to find a small plant too (depending on the size of you pot. I used a starter plant from my mini greenhouse. It was the perfect size for this mini pot).

ABC Beanbags for Alphabet Learning

Christen E. Krumm — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:37:51 +0000

I remember growing up my mom making the four of us kids bean bags. If we were bored (or it was raining outside) she would whip us up a batch of beanbags to keep us occupied. We played hopscotch, beanbag toss, who could throw the beanbag the furthest, and so on and so forth until we were checking books out at the library on beanbag games to give us more ideas. We loved beanbags.

I now have two kids of my own and I want to keep the beanbag tradition alive. They are so easy to make (just two squares sewed together and fill with beans, rice, or any other dry bean-like item you may have on hand) that it would be almost criminal of me not to! I love the idea of making ABC beanbags because not only is it a fun game, it turns into a great learning tool.

Gather your materials:

*Cloth squares — depending on the size you want your beanbags, you could easily get away with using up some of your scraps material that you weren’t sure what to do with but didn’t want to throw away.

*Felt — again, you can use your scrap felt. If you don’t have any scrap felt on hand, your scrap material will work just fine, just make sure if your are using print fabrics that your letter doesn’t get lost in the print.

*Dried Beans, Rice, Corn, etc — something of the like (just one not all three — doesn’t matter which you choose) I used split peas.

*Various Tools — sewing machine, thread, fabric glue

Create a Mini Greenhouse for Earth Day!

Christen E. Krumm — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:38:03 +0000

I am getting really excited about summer. Which is really funny because I am a winter kind of gal. But this year is the first year that I actually have a yard all of my own, and I have dreams of a big garden with lots of yummy tomatoes and fresh veggies.

With Earth Day just around the corner, this craft is sure to be a fun one and will jump start your seedlings for your summer garden to come.

This craft does take a little prepping. As you can see, you will need to collect a dozen or so egg shells carefully broken (I also poked three small holes in the bottom of my eggs prior to cracking). You are also going to want to save a large plastic container like those you buy baby spinach in (or if you want to create a smaller mini green house, strawberry containers work well too).

Easter Activity Pack for Kids

Mina Keenan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:04:28 +0000

Looking for something to keep you little bunnies fingers busy this Easter? Download this Easter Activity Pack with cut and play fun for little fingers.

Bunny Masks

These masks are easy to print and cut. Just cut around the outer edges and cut out the eyes. Add some elastic to the sides of the mask to attach to child’s head.

The masks come in pink and blue. These masks could also be used as wall or party decor.

The Easter Tree

Christen E. Krumm — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:57:21 +0000

This Easter tree is a simple decoration for the season, while also providing fun entertainment for the whole family.

To make the eggs for the bottom of the tree, you will need balloons, embroidery floss, and glue water .

To make the glue water, you mix equal parts of both water and glue (Elmer’s all purpose works great). Just throw both in a bowl and stir until it is well mixed.

Blow up your balloons. You want them to be smallish and a little oval. Seriously… this will be the hardest thing of this project (blowing air into small balloons = hard).

Simple Spring Centerpiece

Christen E. Krumm — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:50:14 +0000

How is it already spring? It seemed that only yesterday I was writing about Christmas and finding ideas for DIY Christmas!

For this simple spring centerpiece, you will need a vase (just pull whatever you have — even a Mason jar would be super cute), jelly beans (you can get these super cheap and in all different colors), and flowers (anything goes!)

Dump your bag of jelly beans into your vase. Depending on the size of your vase and your desired look, will determine how many bags of jelly beans you need. If you want your jar to be really full, you can either use two + bags of jelly beans, or you can get a shorter vase.

Now you can enjoy a pretty piece of spring on your table!

Need more inspiration? Try these.

Baskets for centerpieces

Fruit for centerpieces

Pink centerpieces

Easter Crafts and Activities

AngEngland — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:53:01 +0000

Recycled DIY Easter Baskets

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Make your own Easter baskets from repurposed items.

Easter is such a fun time of celebration, family traditions, and reconnecting with your faith. We’ve been celebrating Easter at Blissfully Domestic through activities, craft, printables and more for awhile. Scroll through to see DIY Easter baskets, read-alouds, natural Easter egg dyeing techniques and more! Which Easter goodness will you be trying with your family this year?

Pot of Gold Counting Game

Christen E. Krumm — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:29:34 +0000

St. Patrick’s Day is all about pots of gold and leprechauns. Here is a fun game you can make for you and your toddler to play on Saint Patrick’s Day (and an added bonus, it helps sharpen their counting skills).
Gather your needed supplies. Black paint, thin cardboard (or card stock would work just fine), gold glitter, glue, a plastic container, and a circle punch (or you can free hand cut out circles). You will also need a paint brush.

Punch (or cut) circles from your cardboard. You can make as many as you want.

Simple Spring Vase

Christen E. Krumm — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:46:15 +0000

If we are really honest with ourselves, about this time every year we are ready for spring. With April showers bringing May flowers just around the corner, March can not pass soon enough. With this super simple vase tutorial, you can bring a little spring into your home even if the actual season is still lurking around the corner.

This Mason Jar Vase is super simple. All you need is a mason jar (any size will do), spray paint (color of your choice), and (not pictured) Modge Podge to seal it.

First wash your Mason jar and make sure it is really dry — if it is still even a little wet when you spray paint it, the spray paint will run.

How to Make a Mardi Gras Mask for a Toddler

Christen E. Krumm — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:45:35 +0000

Gather your supplies! Mardi Gras is all about the glitz and glam so lots of glitter and sequins! You will also need glue, construction paper, scissors, a hole punch, and ribbon.

Choose the color you want your mask to be (we are doing orange). Fold your paper in half and place your toddler’s hand on the fold. Trace around your toddler’s hand.

Cut your child’s hand out of the paper, being careful not to cut on the fold.

Presidents’ Day Theme Activities

Mina Keenan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:10:41 +0000

Fancy yourself or someone in your house as President? Here’s a set of fun printables to help make that dream a bit more of a reality. Designed for children initially, I am sure they could well be used by anyone. Think party themes, club and organization elections!

Presidents’ Day Theme Activities Ebook

Here is what is in the PDF ebook for you to download:

Seals that say ‘Me for President’ can be made up into seals, badges, rosettes, buntings and table dressings. There is even room for a name on the seals.

Organic Wooden Toys for Babies

AngEngland — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:49:01 +0000

I was first introduced to Little Alouette through a Babble interview with Alli Worthington, How a Blog Helped Build a Business. I fell in love with the beautiful, simple but elegant designs of organic wooden toys. So I was thrilled to see that Amy Turn Sharp will be at Blissdom 2012′s Handmade Marketplace.

How did you get started creating these amazing toys?

We came to it organically. We were tired of the toy recalls + loved wood toys. My husband is a master carpenter from UK and we knew we could make beautiful things for our own children and at that time there was nothing like what we did on etsy. So we went for it!

What is your favorite part of creating these handmade toys?

I love knowing that inside homes all over the world there are tiny pieces of my family. I like knowing that toys are safe and gorgeous and kiddos are enjoying them. I love handmade. the process, the lifestyle.

You can find Amy Turn Sharp’s gorgeous toys at Etsy, and read more about her story on her blog, Little Alouette.

Unique Valentine Gifts

Christen E. Krumm — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:45:33 +0000

I love Valentine’s Day. Pink, red, white, and everything sparkly! What could be more fun then blowing your Valentine away with a one of a kind unique gift that takes under one hour to make?

Valentine Mug

This is the gift that keeps on giving! It is the perfect gift to make and give that your loved one can use year around.

First grab a mug and a can of chalkboard paint (which you should be able to purchase at any craft or hardware store). Tape of the portion of your mug that you want chalkboard — you can use painters tape (found at the hardware store — generally it is bright blue) or just plain masking tape. NOTE: Make sure that your tape is down nice and tight so that your paint does not seep under and leave you with streaks! Paint a good coat and let dry. Following the directions on my chalkboard paint, I waited four hours before adding another coat. You can add as many coats as you deem necessary, but two should be plenty.

Valentine’s Day Printables

Mina Keenan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:51:03 +0000

Check out these printables for the whole family, especially for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine Coupon Book for Couples

Sometimes we can get caught up with everything going on at work, home and leisure that there doesn’t seem enough time for couples to connect as often as they used to.

Valentine’s Day is a good time to stop for a moment and be a couple again, even if it is for a few hours. Stuck on what to get your significant other this year? Make up a Valentine Coupon book!

Printables include ready made coupons for those who are strapped for time with things such as Dinner and a Movie and Music and Dancing.

If money is a bit tight, get creative with the activities. Dinner and a Movie could mean a picnic in the family room followed by a rented video.

Valentine’s Day Craft and Gift Ideas

AngEngland — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:12:04 +0000

We love Valentine’s Day – beautiful flowers, a chance for kids to make wonderful little cards and crafts. What’s not to love?

Here are some of our favorite Valentine’s Day crafts and gift ideas. Whether you’re running into a last minute party, or looking for a thoughtful gift for a loved one, we’ll have an option for you.

Bingo Heart Game

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An adorable, and educational Valentine's Day Math Game.

What do you like to make and give for Valentine’s Day?

Paper Snowflakes for Preschoolers

Christen E. Krumm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:45:40 +0000

Whether you are living in a sunny warm state and want to turn the inside of your home into a paper winter wonderland or your outside is a bit chilly for the kids to play, this craft will be sure to keep your preschooler busy.

All that is really needed for this craft is paper — any kind will do (you could even recycle newspaper or magazines!), scissors, and paper punches. If you wanted to get really fancy with your snowflakes, you could even add glitter on the finished product.

Step one is for the adult — cut your paper into various shapes and sizes. the best shapes for snowflakes are squares or circles.

Have your preschooler fold their shape as many times as desired. Using the punches, have your preschooler punch as many different shapes out as they desire. You could also use this as a learning experience and call out simple shapes (such as triangle or square) for you preschooler to cut out.

The Pleated Poppy – Custom Fashion at Handmade Marketplace

AngEngland — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:59:47 +0000

I am so excited about Blissdom’s Handmade Marketplace and am thrilled to introduce you all to The Pleated Poppy. Her fabric fashions are sure to be a hit – I love what I’ve seen others wearing at past blog conferences.

Lindsey Cheney describes herself as “the fabric-hoarding, late-night working girl behind the pleated poppy, my little online shop where i get to create bits of goodness and send them out to customers far and wide.”

While I can relate to hoardes of fabric stashes, mine do not turn into brilliant creations the way Lindsey’s do. Scarves, belts, petal pushers, and even purses, the fashion accessories at the pleated poppy make a fun and colorful statement.

How did you get started with what you’re doing now?

“After hand-making all my christmas gifts one year, my blog readers encouraged me to try selling my handmade items. So I started a shop for fun, and now its a full time business that I run in the wee hours of the night!”

What is your favorite part of creating your handmade works?

“I have a thing for colors and patterns, so getting to work with fabulous fabrics every day is so much fun!

I love pairing up different fabrics and designing new products!”

Like her Facebook fanpage to stay informed of when new items are released (she only lists actual items already made in her store) or come to Blissdom’s Handmade Marketplace to meet her in person!

Printable Nursery Rhyme Cards For Kids

Mina Keenan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:27:47 +0000

These printable Nursery Rhyme cards are perfect for scrap booking children’s pages, card making or as an educational resource for older children practicing to read. Decorate cards with them by adding ribbon and other embellishments.

It is interesting to note that Nursery Rhymes are sometimes a shortened equivalent to stories by the Brothers Grimm – cautionary tales and life observations and sometimes a record of history.

Nursery Rhyme Origins

What does the Nursery Rhyme ‘Jack and Jill’ have to do with King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette?
Was ‘Little Jack Horner’ a thief or hero? He lived during the time of King Henry VIII.
Lucy Locket May have been an actual person, along with Kitty Fisher.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary refers to Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII, otherwise known as Bloody Mary.
Little Bo Peep is a moral snippet about paying attention and consequences.

Valentine’s Day Crafts for Preschoolers

Christen E. Krumm — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:57:13 +0000

Red, pink, and white. Valentine’s Day is back! Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday. Here are some fun and simple crafts you and your preschooler will love doing together.

1. Paper Chain. Cut out strips of red, pink, and white construction paper. Before linking together, take time with your preschooler to write down things and people that they love on each strip of paper. Link the strips together and admire.

2. Tag Valentines. Have your toddler paint tags. You can purchase inexpensive tags from your local craft store (they can use the whole pack or find great ideas to incorporate your left over tags in your scrapbooking from this article). After your preschooler is finished creating their mini masterpiece, add a paper doily heart with your “Happy Valentine’s Day” message.

Prairie Mama – Custom Clothes at BlissDom’s Handmade Marketplace

AngEngland — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:21:07 +0000

Great way to upcycle your old collegiate tee.

Kim Borchert, aka Prairie Mama not only has a lovely blog, but a fabulous Etsy store as well. Her personalized baby and toddler clothes are a great way to upcycle some of those old tee shirts you want to preserve, but no longer wear.

How did you get started creating these unique dresses and rompers?

“I started sewing pillowcase dresses for my daughter 5 years ago. I wanted something cute and original for her and soon had many friends who wanted some too. I opened a booth at our little Farmer’s Market and made many new friends while selling dresses.

That same Summer, I came up with a new design for a ring sling. I had been wearing my babies for many years and was never thrilled with the ring sling options I could find. I started selling those at the Market also.

About that time I learned about Etsy, and opened my Prairie Mama Etsy shop.

As my sewing skills have increased so have my creations. After a friend asked if I could make a dress for her daughter out of an old t-shirt, and my Upcycled t-shirt dress line was born.”

Scrapbooking: Making Pretty Tags

Christen E. Krumm — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:59:07 +0000

They come in many different sizes and can be used for many different purposes. You can buy them in packs from various different stores. These versatile, every scrapbooker should have them in their stash — tags.

Tags truly are the underdog of scrapbooking.These handy little tags can be used for virtually anything! Below are some ideas to get you kick started into making your tags pretty!

The tutorial from Creature Comforts uses fabric and glue to create a simple yet amazing tag that would be a great embellishment for any scrapbook page. This tag would make a great title piece for any page!

These paper tags from Retrospection have me drooling! Never underestimate the power of a good layering!!

This tag was given to me by Debee from InspireLovely. This is simplicity and beauty in the best form (paper). I love how it’s just two punches sewn together on the tag and just one little word.

Tags are great pieces that can really add an extra pop to your layouts. You can make them as embellished and layered as you want — or maybe just something simple and wonderful. Tags are also great for journaling and if you love creating mini books, tags make great “pages” Especially if you want to create an “Anything Goes” scrapbook that I talked about in Helping Kids Get Creative With Scrapbooking. Don’t underestimate the power of that little white tag. It can really glam up nice for a great pop on your next layout.

Sick Day Craft for Kids – Kleenex Tissue Box Monsters

AngEngland — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:52:57 +0000

What happens when your kids get sick? But aren’t sick enough to stay in bed – only stay home from school? These Kleenex box monsters are an excellent way to dress up the tissue box which will probably have to be close at hand.

Supplies Needed:

Scrapbooking papers or pattern papers
Pipe Cleaners or “Chenelle Stems”
Googly Eyes
Party Horns
Pom Poms
Plastic cups for feet
Crinkle cut paper

Other optional supplies not shown that you can use instead include fake grass or yarn for hair, felt pieces, toilet paper tubes cut into sections instead of medicine cups, etc. Use your imagination and follow the video tutorial below!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wrap the box in decorative paper (cut out the hole using the cardboard piece as a pattern). Glue on your eyes, ears and other facial decorations. Glue on the hair with paper shred, fake grass or yarn. Create the feet with medicine cups as shown, or cut paper towel tubes into one-inch wide sections and use those as feet.

I love that you can really let your child be creative and imaginative, even if they aren’t feeling 100%. Because one thing back-to-school season brings – sick days. Now at least they don’t have to be boring days as well.

Easy Printables: Thank You Card Templates

Mina Keenan — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:41:42 +0000

I love my machines (computers) and I love mail, BUT nothing beats receiving a handwritten letter, note or card. Most of them are easy to store and are great mementos. When I receive cards I like to write the date or just the year (in the case of birthday or Christmas cards). They are really lovely to look back on.

Download Thank You Bells On Cards

Because I like to design things, it is interesting to see each card with different illustration and typography styles.

Download Thanks So Much Cards

A cost effective and inexpensive way to show your appreciation to someone is to give them a card. These ‘Thank You’ card downloads give you the opportunity to do just that.

These cards feature simple design, festive colors and are easy to make; just print, cut and fold along the middle guideline.

For those who want to use their own colour scheme, there are plain downloads. So get out the colored markers and use the outlines to craft your own cards.

Download Plain Thank You Bells On Cards

You can even dress up these cards with embellishments and glitter. Re-size the images to make gift tags using these Free Gift Tag Templates

Download Plain Thanks So Much Cards

You need Adobe Reader to use these files. Save them to your machine for future use. Have fun with these and Happy Crafting!

Design by Mina Keenan

Ideas to Make Your New Year’s Eve Party POP!

Christen E. Krumm — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:43:48 +0000

New Year’s Eve parties are some of the biggest parties thrown each year. Below are some ideas to make your New Year Eve party this year unforgettable.

Center Pieces

Gather clocks and display on your mantle or on a table.

This centerpiece is fun and practical.

Easy and elegant. You can purchase unfinished letters at Hobby Lobby and glitter-fy them for your table. It would even be cute if you glittered “2012″ as well.

Party Favors

When the clock strikes midnight, have everyone break these glitter filled eggs and have glitter rain down. (Don’t forget the noise makers!)

Lentils are said to bring you good luck in the New Year. These beautifully filled jars, with an added “good luck” note would be a great party favor!

Who wouldn’t want a chocolate sucker in the shape of a mustache or lips?! And if you go with a “Kiss My ‘Stach” theme for your party, these would be a big hit! You can find the mustache and lips candy molds at your local craft store or at amazon.com.

Party Hats

Feathers and sparkles make this party hat glamorous!

These party hats are super simple to make, and you could make them more festive by using sticker letters to add “2012″

This party hat is simple, fun, and even the kids will enjoy them!

I hope your New Year’s Eve Party this year is a smash! Everyone have a wonderful New Year!