DIY bird feeder round-up!

January 7, 2014 by mama lola

we here in SW ontario have been having some wild, winter weather. to help out the birds, we have put out all sorts of yummy things for the birds to eat. i know some people are against bird seed and bird feeders, but i think they are wonderful. our whole family enjoys watching the variety of feathered friends that come to visit!

this round-up includes bird feeders that kids can help make. these kinds of projects are a great way to teach children about the natural world. i value my kids’ connection to their surrounding environment greatly and am always looking for ways to help initiate more curiosities with it.

simple orange bird feeder from confessions of an overworked mom

heart shaped bird feeder from alpha mom

classic cheerio feeder from hands on as we grow

milk carton feeder from chic steals

toilet paper roll feeder from a thrifty mom

toilet paper roll feeder with sticks from play from scratch

DIY grapevine suet feeder from the garden roof coop

i have made some of these kinds of feeders before. one christmas i made little bird seed feeders with various holiday cookie cutters, like the heart shaped ones. not sure how practical they are, but lion and i had fun making them and people were delighted to receive them as gifts.

have fun making your own feeder. tweet, tweet!

felted soaps!

December 8, 2013 by mama lola

most people don’t use bars of soap anymore, because of the icky mess they leave behind. why most bath sets i’ve seen like this Gruffalo gift set use liquid soap nowadays. it certainly makes bath time with the kids less messy. though if you were looking for a way to make bath time more fun and creative then a bar of soap is definitely the way to go. and if you want to avoid the mess then a felted bar of soap is a wonderful way to do so. they are so fun for kids to make and they feel great using them at bath time! please note that you can do these with most soap types, so if you have a special soap product that you only ever use, be sure to repeat the instructions using the bar of soap of your choice.

MATERIALS:

roving wool
bars of soap
cheese grater
a bowl
old pantyhose
hot water source.

INSTRUCTIONS:

cover your soap in roving wool. you will need to be quite generous with how much wool you need. make sure the entire bar of soap is covered well.
place your woolied bar of soap into a cut piece of pantyhose. you want the soap to be snug in the hose, so firmly tie knots at each eand.
place your bundle in hot water and start rubbing. the friction with the warm water is what gets the felting process going. keep wetting your felt soap bundle in warm water and rubbing. depending on the size of your soap and how much wool you used this can take as little as 10 minutes or as much as 20 minutes.
once you are satisfied with your felting, removed the pantyhose and place your soap to dry on a plate.
if you want to make felt soap stones, take a regular bar of soap and grate down the corners, collecting the soap shreds into a bowl. once you are satisfied with the general shape of your soap stone, wet your hands and gently add the soap shavings to your soap bar. use warm water and gently rub the shavings into shape.
then, go to step 1, by adding the roving wool and follow the rest of the directions as suggested.

roving wool comes in a rainbow of colours; i am working with black and white today.

when researching how to make felted soaps, i found the rhythm of the home shared a wonderful tutorial written by ginny. she shares wonderful pictures of her children making their won felted soaps! check it out HERE!

martha stewart was the one who inspired me to make the stone soaps. her tutorial is HERE.

have fun with this clean project!

DIY rubber stamps!

November 28, 2013 by mama lola

i purchased some erasers on sale and decided to make some simple, festive stamps out of them. i’m hoping to make gift tags with them eventually.

aren’t they cute?

this is what i did…

with a pen i drew my design on the eraser. once i was satisfied, i used a small knife to cut out the design. *remember that whatever you cut away is permanently removed, and whatever is raised will show up in the print. in step 4 i kept testing the stamp to make sure i had cut away everything i wanted.

for the red prints in the above pics, is just used paint that i lightly brushed on. i didn’t want to buy a stamp pad! haha!

my kids want to try and make their own stamps as well, so i told them we’d make potato stamps!

did you see my inspirational post about making your own stamps… check it out HERE.

paper bag puppets!

November 21, 2013 by mama lola

this was a HIT as an after-school craft last week. i was watching a friends lovely ladies, so i had to come up with a craft that would interest kids from 3yrs to 7yrs. this was it!

before i picked up the big kids from school, lion and i got all the supplies ready.

* brown paper bags

* glue

* feathers

* markers, pens, pencils

* pipe cleaners

* pom-poms

* googly eyes

* construction paper

* cotton balls

each kid chose something different to make; we had an alien, a kitty, a frog, a bird. it was so much fun. the older kids made more detailed puppets, and my three year old made a pretty simple frog, but it was still fun!

look at these wonderful paper bag puppets! we used cotton balls and small pom poms for eye balls, which i think were quit effective! pipe cleaners make wonderful antennas, or whatever!

lion gifted his frog to his mummo for her birthday, so i didn’t get a picture of it.

below is a silly, green alien!

this is bear’s cat. it has a red collar and a curly tail! fancy!

what kind of puppet will you make?

this is my bird. it’s eating a fish!

halloween fun!

November 4, 2013 by mama lola

we had a fantastic halloween this year! the kids were so psyched and everything seemed to fall into place perfectly!

lion decided he wanted to be a robot. so, he and i made him a simple costume out of a some vent-tube stuff from home depot, a cardboard box, a cereal box, spray paint, and various odds n’ ends we found at home. he loved his costume and i was so pleased with the way it turned out.

bear wanted to be an astronaut. i had seen on pinterest several posts about how to make the jet pack out of empty pop bottles, but i wasn’t really sure how the rest of his costume was going to look like. but, thanks to a quick trip to the local thrift shop at the end of a dae night, it too came together swimmingly! we found a super shiny vest and short set, which were perfect!

the boys had their own halloween parties at their school’s. that meant i had to do some creative back-n-forth driving to participate in both, but it all worked out, and i was so happy to join the fun!

after dinner it was time for the main event to get started : TRICK OR TREATING! with their boots on and their thrift store pum’kin buckets in hand, we headed on out.

it was a dark and stormy night… no, for real. the downpour was ghastly, but making it worse was the incredible winds! i was holding onto the brolly with all my might and still it tried to fli inside out on me! but, the kids didn’t even notice that they were getting soggy!

once back home in our warm home, we all quickly changed into our pajama’s, made some tea and then checked out the mountain of candy. the kids received an enormous amount! maybe people were extra generous due to the weather, or maybe t’s cu they were just so darn cute, but whatever the reason the boys were delighted!

how was your halloween?

thanksgiving & fall crafts!

November 2, 2013 by mama lola

i thought i would put together another thanksgiving/ fall craft round-up.
thanksgiving is coming up, the colours are changing in the trees, so clearly fall has arrived!

check out these great projects!

recycled paper acorn banner from crafting a green world

felt acorn napkin rings from tikkido

leaf jar candle holder from kidz world

hanging leaf garland from full circle

woven placemats from mind bites

leaf masks from 5 orange potatoes

i really like the leaf garland and think we might make one, before we get overwhelmed with christmas crafts.

i will try to squeeze out a few more fall crafts while i can!

dinosaur galore kit : a product review!

October 25, 2013 by mama lola

my boys have been obsessed with dinosaurs since the beginning of summer. they have devoured over books at the library, learning all about the different kinds of reptiles that once roamed our planet millions of years ago. they have drawn their own dinosaurs, built dinosaurs out of lego, and played a variety of imaginary dinosaur games.

so, when kelly at two kids cooking & more contacted me to do a review of their kids painting kits, i was delighted to see the dinosaur option! but, if your kids are interested in other things there lots of other kits to choose from, check them out HERE.

then one day we received a package in the mail and as soon the kids ripped it open, it was time to start painting! the dinosaur galore kit includes 4 wooden dinosaurs, which the boys divided among each other. my 3yo lion picked up a dinosaur and said “this is a triceratops”, so sweet! the other kinds of dinosaurs include a t-rex, a stegosaurus and brachiasaurus. (i had to ask my kids to list them, i cannot tell dinosausrs apart! haha!)

the kit came in a sweet burlap bag, with instructions, googly eyes, lots of paint and paint brushes! we laid down plastic on the kitchen floor and the kids got busy. the instructions recommend painting one side at a time, so that’s what we did.

look how cute everything in these photo’s are!

we let the paint dry and then got to work on the other side, and then the details.

these dinosaurs are a fantastic craft, but once they are done they are the perfect size for playing with. my kids have created all sorts of games in imaginary worlds with their dino’s! they are so reasonably priced and kelly was so helpful with all of my questions!

i love supporting small business, especially as we head into the holiday season! these painting kits would make a wonderful, unique gift for any budding artist OR you could gift the final product to a friend, cousin or doting grandma!

(i received this dinosaur galore kit as a gift from two kids cooking & more, but the views expressed are my own.)

toilet paper roll spiders for halloween!

October 21, 2013 by mama lola

it is almost halloween, which means we are in full spider, witch, pumpkin’ craft mode!

last week i splurged and bought some silly supplies from the craft store… things like more googly eyes, tons of pipe cleaners, black felt and orange glitter! definitely a halloween theme going on here!

so, here is what lion and i made… SPIDERS! this craft is perfect for the younger kiddo’s, as there is nothing creepy or scary about these spiders!

SUPPLIES:

1 toilet paper roll
scissors
white glue
coloured construction paper
1 big pom-poms
2 googly eyes
2 black pipe cleaners
a sewing needle

[ busy at work at our messy , but FUN art table. took this pic with my phone.]

DIRECTIONS:

cut toilet paper roll in half, cut construction paper to fit around each toiler paper roll half
clue the paper onto toilet paper roll, and decorate. lion just used markers, but use your imagination here!
take one pipe cleaner and cut into 4 equal parts (i folded the pipe cleaner in half, and then in half again to get the right size)
poke 4 holes on each side of the decorated torso. i used a larger sewing needle and wiggled it around to make sure my pipe cleaner would fit through. attach legs and bend into spider-y pose!
glue the pom-pom into one end of the roll, then glue on eyes!
voila! a halloween spider!

we will be making lots of these and attaching them to our big cobweb!

make your own sparkly cobwebs!

October 19, 2013 by mama lola

we made these fun cobwebs last year, check them out HERE, and are back at it again for this halloween! the kids love this craft!

SUPPLIES:

wax paper
white glue
sprinkles in your choice of colour
a fridge

DIRECTIONS:

tear off a piece of wax paper. it has to be bigger than your cobweb.
hold your glue bottle upside down, squeeze the glue out and create the outline of your cobweb.

then, fill in cobweb with cobweb like patterns on the inside.
make sure the different levels and sections of the cobweb are all joined.

generously dump sprinkles all over the wet glue

shake the sprinkles around, so that all of the glue is covered in sprinkles.

by gently bending the wax paper is a great way to get the sprinkles evenly to sick to the glue.

once you are satisfied with your glitter cobweb, place wax paper with cobweb onto flat surface in your fridge.
let sit in there for a few hours. it really depends on the thickness of your glue and the temperature of your fridge.
once it is hard and dry gently peel the sparkly cobweb off of the wax paper. it can be brittle so be gentle and slow.

the cobwebs can be used on table tops or you can stick them to windows by dabbing a small amount of white glue into the corners of the cobweb. white glue will easily wash off your windows with a damp cloth!

not your average burlap round up!

October 17, 2013 by mama lola

when dear hubby and i were married, we gave our guests little live spruce trees as favours, because we me at tree planting and it was so fitting! the trees had root pods, which we wrapped in burlap with a simple ribbon! they were perfect. but, when i purchased the burlap i bought WAY too much, and still have an enormous amount! so, i decided to scour the internet for some fun ideas on ways to use up some of it.

there are so many burlap round ups out there, so i decided to NOT include wreaths, christmas stocking or table runners. i love so many of those ideas, but i just wanted to find some other uses for the massive burlap stash in my basement!