A FAST FUN Halloween Treat!

Make your own Halloween Chocolate Suckers!
Please visit my website for an AWESOME "How-to" slide show to see how fun and easy it is to upgrade your Trick-or-Treat Goodies! Here's the direct link to the slide show: For more great receipes visit http://www.thekendalcompanies.com/Recipes---DIY-Projects.html

Thinking Thursday: Create Your Own Wedding Table Number Stands

Looking for ways to save money in your wedding budget? Here's an easy way to make your own table number stands for guest tables. Why rent or buy these when you can make them!

All you need are: Wooden dowels, wooden wheels, wooden clothes pins, glue and spray paint. All these items can be found at your local Hobby Lobby or craft store. There is an aisle that is dedicated to unpainted wooden craft supplies. For Step-by-Step instructions with photos, visit http://www.thekendalcompanies.com/DIY-Projects.html

Thinking Thursday - Make your own wedding paper petal tossing cones

These are a great alternative to those expensive tulle bags or gift favor boxes.

After searching multiple websites and a ton of stores trying to find these cute cones, all I could find were ones made of tin or ones that were too expensive. I decided it was easier, much more versitile and MUCH more cost efficient for me to make my own cones. I can change the size, color, even texture of the cones I need to suit each event's theme. I can even run them through the printer to add couples names, dates or little sayings on the inside. Sometimes I add a monogram on the outside too! This is a great project for you and your bridesmaid's to do together. They are also great for holding treats such as popcorn, candy or other sweets for your guests.The trick is to use the correct template for the type of cone you are trying to make.

For Step-By-Step instructions visit

http://www.thekendalcompanies.com/DIY-Projects.html

Easy SNOWFLAKE Kid's Craft

Easy Pipecleaner SNOWFLAKES

Supplies Needed:

Various Colors and Sizes of Pipe Cleaners

Hot Glue Gun

String or Ribbon

Embellishments – I used charms from the Jewelry section of Hobby Lobby

Simple! Just lay the pipe cleaners with the centers touching and hot glue them together. (The original instructions read to bend and twist them together in the middle, but I found they tended to fall apart.) Next, tie the charms onto the ribbon PRIOR to gluing the ribbon to the center of the snowflake.


 
 
 

Make sure to cut the ribbon into varying lengths so when you hanging, they drape instead of hanging in a row. I also mix my colors to create different one.

 I hang these in our family room (which is really our sunroom/my office but everyone hangs out there!). I add my daughter's art work and silly snowman collection too! She thinks she has her own snowman/snowflake room - well, I guess she does!

Holiday Kids Craft - Traditional Gumball Tree

My brother and I made these when we were kids and I have continued the tradtion with my own children. Last year Grace did her first tree completely by herself! This is a great way to keep the kids occupied while you are busy in the kitchen. If you try this craft - send me a picture and I will post it here.

HOLIDAY

Gum Ball Trees!

Items You Need:

Toothpicks, broken in half

Bag of Gumballs - any color

One Styrofoam Cone (Found at Hobby Lobby $3)

DIRECTIONS:
Watch this slideshow  as Grace creates her tree!

Need A Little Family Time? Try this project...

Another family treasure I still have in my possession is this great handmade book that was given to me and my brother in 1978 – yes, that makes me OLD.

This wonderful book was handmade by a family friend. She took the front of past holiday cards and created an ABC book. Each page is a letter of the alphabet with a corresponding picture/word/definition. Check out her great work…

I have carried this book around with me and put it out every Christmas. I decided this year, that my daughter’s and I would make a new one. Let’s take a closer look to see what we will need:

A large, hardcover scrapbook

Stenciled Letters (we will use my new Circuit!, of course!)

Various holiday cards



A Magic Marker

I am very curious to see what words my children will chose or if they will just copy from my book. As soon as I can get them together in the same room to make this project – I will post it for you, but I wanted to give you plenty of time to make your own family’s book. Send me a post when it’s finished!

Cute Valentines Day Butterflies and Alien Class Swap Cards!

Sweet Butterflies and Creepy Alien Valentine Day Class Swap Cards...

Easy and INEXPENSIVE!

Spend a morning with your young ones creating these sweet cards for their class party. Share pictures of your finished product and post them

here in the comments section!

This is my daughter's project from last year, but it turned out so cute I thought I'd post it for you guys this year! SO SIMPLE!

Supplies:
Pink and Lime Green Construction Paper
Scissors
Red Pipe Cleaners
Glue or Glue Dots, Stapler
Markers
Optional: Google eyes, stamps, stickers, punches

I cut out "fat" hearts for the girl's butterflies and "skinny" hearts for the boy's aliens.

Grace stamped the butterflies with more hearts and used a butterfly punch to add more details but you can let your kids decorate them however they like (or whatever supplies you already have on hand!)

She then used a single glue dot to piece the two butterfly "wings" together in the middle.

I helped her curl the antenas for the butterfly and alien by wrapping the pipecleaner around my finger.

Then she stapled them to the top of each card and there you have it - easy as pie!

For a slide show of photos showing Grace making these step-by-step, visit my Valentine's Day page at www.thekendalcompanies.com

Thinking Thursday - Green Holiday Crafts for Kids

This is a great craft for small groups of children such as church youth groups and small classrooms:

Make garland out of paper you would normally toss in the recycle bin:

Use a circle punch or trace the top of a jar to make circular cutouts out of last years holiday cards. Glue layers of circles, placing twice in between the layers for hangers.

Cut cardboard tubes from paper towels and gift wrap rolls into 1-inch sections, then fit the rings together to form a ball. Poke a hole in the top and run a string through it for a hanger.

Cut pages from magazines into 1 1/2 wide strips. Spread glue on one side, place a straw lengthwise along one edge and roll the paper around the straw. When dry, cut the straw into 1 inch pieces and thread onto ribbon.

*Taken from the Dec. 09 issue of Better Homes and Gardens

Don't peak if you are my friend.....

You peaked! It's okay. I just didn't want you to get a glimpse of your beautiful present I wrapped today...

Actually, this is a gift that Grace and I made for her friend's birthday - BUT, you may still have one like it with your name waiting under my tree.....

So you guessed it - I finally got my own Cricut machine and I have been putting it to good use this holiday season. It cuts the beautiful letters, to my specifications, perfectly! If you haven't seen one of these suckers - head over to http://www.cricut.com/ and check it out!

Overflowing with Chritsmas Cards

Such a simple use for all those photo holiday cards you get year after year….

Although every January I donate all my Christmas cards to St. Jude’s Children Ranch, I keep the ones that have my friends and family’s photos on them. I have several years’ worth of each family’s Christmas photos in a bowl on my living room coffee table. It is such a wonderful thing to look through a see how the children have grown, pets that people have include and all the wonderful friends that share their family with us. My bowl is almost full and I plan to place all of these in a scrapbook in the next few years, but for now, I just love “visiting” with my friends every time I pass the table.

I do the same thing at Halloween with the girls in their trick-or-treat costumes….

Counting Down the Days Kid's Craft

Last week my neice and her son came over so we could make our Christmas cards. Being the teacher that she is, she brought along a craft for the kids to complete while we were working.

Kids at work - yes my OCD was kicking in......

Meg at work:

Kids finished product:

My finished products:

To make your own "countodown to Christmas" ring chain you will need:

1" strips of green and red construction paper (we had 6 of each color b/c there were 12 days left)
One piece of yellow construction paper (to cut out a large bell shape for the top)
Glue or staples
Stickers

The kids deocrated the "bell" with stickers, then created a chain by stapling the rings together to form a chain. Every night before bed, we take off one ring to represent how many days are left until Christmas.

To make you own cards (like mine) you will need:
Card stock paper in multiple colors. I used kraft color, light blue and red on mine.
Holiday stamps and stamp pads
"pop-it"  - found at Hobby Lobby. These are mini pillowed squared that give a 3-D effect
Glue pen
Glitter.

Starting with a standard sheet of card stock, cut it in half and fold in half to creat a note card.
I cut out a swirl "snow" and glues to the bottom of the page. I then stamped a plain tree on the front and used glitter to "draw on" the ornaments and stars. I used the pop-its to create a layered 3D effect on the front.

Turkey Day Kid's Craft

Okay - so the grand plan was to make a family of these little turkeys to use as place card holders on our family dinner table - but after realizing that would be 30 turkeys, we decided to just make one! I found the idea in a magazine (the ad is for Hidden Valley Ranch).


You will need:
One Idaho Potato - Cut in 1/2 and use one half for the face/body
One Fingerling potato - Cut in half and use as the feet (attach with 1/2 toothpicks)
One Baby Carrot -Cut off two small discs off the widest end for the eyes and the remainder for the beak)
One Bay Leaf - use red marker to paint the gobbler, place under the carrot beak
Toothpicks
Construction Paper - Trace child's hand in several colors for feathers
Red Marker

For photo instructions, please visit my website and see Grace's slide show!

Celebrating Family

So Sunday after Halloween I took down all the decorations and promptly pulled out my Fall/Thanksgiving decor. I have kept tons of my daughters artwork and love to to place them around the house. My 6 year old loves to play with her things and they rarely stay put and even my 17 year old smiles when she sees somthing she did in first grade on the windows. Thanksgiving is for "giving thanks"  and celebrating family. What better way is there to celebrate family than having your children's artwork around your home? Check out the photos!

Great Pumpkin Craft Idea

Here's a GREAT way to combine your football spirit AND help that pumpkin live past Jack-o-lanturn season!

Just take acrylic paint and paint the outside to look like your team's (hopefully it's UGA) helmet. The one pictured below even has a bulldog face painted inthe helment. CUTE! No need to throw these pumpkins away as they will last for weeks - at least until the DAWGS make it to the Sugar Bowl in January. For more great Halloween craft ideas, vivist: http://www.thekendalcompanies.com/CraftHowTos.html

Inspiration Overload

Inspiration Overload

Kid's Craft - Valentine's Day Cards

Creating Homemade Valentines Card/Pencil Holder

Give the gift of something personal. Nothing shows you care more than something you have made yourself. Anyone can go to the store a buy a card. It takes planning and thought to create you own cards - and your recipient will treasure your gift even more.

Supplies: Card Stock Craft Paper, embellishments, glue,
hole punch and pencils

You can really use any type of craft items or scrap you already have at home. For Grace's class valentines, I used some 12 x 12 scrapbooking pages and cut them into 6 pieces. I took scraps of paper in different shapes and layered the cards to make them more colorful. Grace wrote her classmates name, signed each card, stamped with rubber stamps and decorated them with stickers. To add the pencil, we used a hole punch to create a hole at the top and bottom of each card, then slid the pencil into the hole. EASY!