Tag: craftiness

Talking Turkey with Crafty Coffee Filters

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Mama

My son and I had a great time making these cute little coffee filter turkeys (or in his case, cyclops turkey monster) last year right before the holidays, so I wanted to share this quick, colorful and child-friendly craft with all of you this year. I hope you and your little one(s) have fun too!

Materials:

Non-permanent magic markers
coffee filter
scissors
glue
google eyes
brown and yellow construction paper
downloaded turkey body pattern
spray bottle with water
iron (optional)
small magnet circle or strip (optional)

How to make it:

Flatten a coffee filter, then fold it in half four times so that you end up with a wedge. Using scissors, cut a curve at the top of this folded filter.
Unfold the cut filter completely and let your child color all over it with markers. The more color the better.
Lightly spray the filer with water and set aside to dry. This will mix and mute the colors on the filter. If the filter doesn’t dry quickly enough, you can use a hot iron to speed up the process. (Parents, please use caution with hot irons around children. This optional step is best left to the grownups.)
Fold the dry filter in half so that one side is slightly lower than the other and the curved parts of the edges don’t quite line up. This will be the finished turkey tail.
Using the downloaded turkey body pattern, cut a body from the brown construction paper.
Next use markets to color a red wattle (for you city folks, that’s the red wrinkly thing that hangs around the beak) and brown or black feet on the body.
Cut a beak from the yellow construction paper and glue it on.
Glue on two (or how ever many your child might like) google eyes so your turkey can see.
Lastly glue on the folded turkey tail. It’s best to put a dab of glue between the two tail layers also.
If you want to proudly display your turkey on the fridge, simply add a magnet to the back after everything else has dried.

Thanks a Latte Kind of Day

Posted on September 17, 2015September 19, 2015 by Mama

I recently wanted to say a word of thanks to some ladies with whom I volunteer because they helped see me through a rather rough couple of months. Without their support, I might have just thrown in the towel and walked away from an awesome organization. So as a small token, I bought each of them a coffee gift certificate (just can’t go wrong with that one — if they don’t like coffee, they can order tea or just eat a muffin already). These just happened to be from Caribou Coffee, my favorite around these parts, and luckily they came with super cute kraft colored gift holders.

I simply jazzed up the holders with belly bands around the middle and cute little “Thanks a Latte” medallions. To create the medallions, I used a 3″ scalloped circle punch and a 2.5″ round punch. I created the graphic on my computer, printed and punched. So super easy, but if you like what you see here, you can download the graphic and print it for your own use. I inked all my edges before assembling, added foam tape to the circles for dimension, and that was all it took.

I think the ladies loved them, and sometimes the smallest gestures really do mean a lot.

DIY These Super Cute Over-sized Cattails

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Mama

If you saw a few of my photos from VBS this year, I just know you must be asking yourself, “How do I make those adorable over-sized cattails she’s got going on there?” Well, I’m so glad you asked, because the idea just came to me one day during float decorating and it actually turned out super cute. I think it’s so cool when you look at something, like a pile of ugly brown flannel, and an awesome idea just springs into your head. Something about necessity and the mother of invention, I guess. Anyway, these cattails are super easy and cheap to make, and here’s how to pull it all together.

Materials:

pool noodle (standard size, not the jumbo)
quilt batting
brown flannel
bamboo tomato stake
box knife
scissors
rubber band
string

Directions:

First, use the box knife (with caution) to cut a piece of pool noodle anywhere from 10-12 inches long.
Next cut a piece of quilt batting large enough to wrap around the noodle and just a tad longer.
Cut a piece of flannel material that will wrap around the noodle plus a few inches and is approximately six inches longer than the noodle.
Wrap the batting around the noodle.
Wrap the flannel around the batting and noodle.
Slide the tomato stake through the hole in the noodle, and use a rubber band to tightly adhere the flannel material to the stake, leaving an inch or two of the stake showing out the top.
Smooth any wrinkles out of the flannel and adhere the bottom using a piece of string, tying it tightly around the flannel and stake.
Trim any excess material and batting.

And that’s all there is to this easy cattail project. I created three individual cattails and placed them behind some painted cardboard grass, but you can use them however you choose. By the way, our Dollar Tree stores carries pool noodles every summer, which makes this a very affordable project.

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