button art

I'm currently a little obsessed with the blog Made By Joel (you may recall my recent post about Dress Up Drawings). Joel Henriques is an American artist and his blog is full of fabulous arts and crafts projects that he has come up with for his two young children.

Here's another one to try out ... art using buttons. A great way to use up random buttons that I seem to constantly collect from newly purchased garments but never end up needing to use!

Images from Made By Joel

more easter crafts

Wow, I've actually managed to log onto the computer twice today (that's twice more than in the last two weeks!!). Obviously this has left me very excited and I'm trying to blog as much as I can, as who knows when the next opportunity will arise.

Anyhoo, if you're after some more fabulous Easter crafts for the weekend, head on over to Kids Craft Weekly for some cute and simple projects, including the miniature Easter buckets pictured above.

Image from Kids Craft Weekly

Easter crafts

If you're not heading away for Easter this weekend, and are looking for crafty activities to keep the little ones occupied, here are a few I've found in blog-land:

Bunny masks by Khali at little.lovely (found at Bloesem Kids)

Easter egg rocks from This Little Project

Paper mache eggs and Easter bonnets from Lottie Lulu

Images from little.lovely, This Little Project and Lottie Lulu

make your own silhouette cards

These silhouette cards made by book designer Brooke Reynolds over at the lovely blog inchmark are just exquisite. Brooke was a former Senior Art Director at Martha Stewart Kids and Martha Stewart Living and her blog features some beautiful projects that she has undertaken.

I love the simplicity of the silhouettes, and it's a delightful alternative to the usual photo cards. See here for tips on making your own family silhouettes.

Images from inchmark

juice box boats

I'm loving this juice box boats craft project from gorgeous blog inchmark. I can just imagine making these and then floating them in our wading pool.

Image from inchmark

dress-up drawings

I found this cute art activity over at Made By Joel. It makes a nice alternative to the usual drawing and colouring, and if you're anything like me, you'll have plenty of fabric scraps to use from all your sewing projects! If you don't have anything handy, the fat flats available from quilting stores or Spotlight are an inexpensive way to purchase the necessary fabric.

Images from Made By Joel

toytastic - decorate your own range from villa carton

This range of cardboard toys and costumes from Villa Carton are fantastic. Based on the premise that young children usually prefer the box a toy came in than the actual toy themselves, these products are the initiative of two dutch artists and are made out of cardboard that is left blank, ready for decorating.

Available in Australia exclusively through online "emporium" Ball and Skittle, the range includes a rocking chair, castle, dollhouse, costumes and textas specifically for decorating the items.

Images from Ball and Skittle

another painting idea - string painting

Image from A Magical Childhood

As you would have guessed by now, given my frequent posts about painting, I am constantly looking for new and inspiring ways to entertain my toddler with painting activities. Here's another one from A Magical Childhood - string painting.

heart hand stamps craft project

I had grand plans to make one of these with my toddler for hubby this Valentine's Day. However, I think I'd underestimated how time poor I would be having a newborn and toddler at home, and unfortunately didn't get to undertake this project from Khali at Little.Lovely via Bloesem Kids. These Heart Hand Stamps are so simple, yet so effective ... think we'll have to make one soon "just because".

DIY stencil project for furniture

I recently saw this stenciling project over at the happy home blog and fell in love ... I doubt I'll have the time to undertake such a project, but I'll definitely be keeping it in mind for the future! I think it would be perfectly suited to dressing up the Ikea Malm drawers. Follow the links from the happy home post for the stencils and instructions.

Image from Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand via Etsy courtesy of the happy home

another painting idea - stamping with erasers

I saw this post over at a small bite of mondo cherry about stamping wrapping paper using old erasers and a fork! It got me to thinking - why stop at making wrapping paper? You could really get the kids to go to town with creating interesting artwork if you cut out all sorts of different designs from old erasers.

Image from a small bite of mondo cherry

letter and mail crafts

I don't know about you other mums out there, but my toddler loves collecting the mail from our letterbox, and posting letters into the postbox at Kindergym. Rather than forking out for yet another toy that will no doubt be out of favour within a few months, I was fortunate enough to stumble across these crafts at Kids Craft Weekly, including instructions for how to make your own play mailbox and letterbox.

Images courtesy of  Kids Craft Weekly

australia day crafts for kids

Australian Flag Collage from Activity Village

Fingerprint sheep from Activity Village

Happy Australia Day! Just thought I'd post some links to sites featuring Australia Day kids' crafts for those of you who don't have many plans for the public holiday ...

• Activity Sheets for Kids from Australia Day Council of NSW
• Line drawings for colouring from National Australia Day Council
• Australia Day crafts from Activity Village

Wooden spoon crocodile from Activity Village

Line drawing for colouring from National Australia Day Council

crafty use for old magazines from "a small bite of mondo cherry"

Image courtesy of A small bite of mondo cherry

The weather forecast for tomorrow in Adelaide ... 38 degrees! This will no doubt mean a day spent indoors searching for interesting activities to keep the littlies occupied. Crafty blog A small bite of mondo cherry recently posted this threading activity using magazines. If you're anything like me, you'll have a lot of old mags lying around waiting to be sent to the recycling bin, and the only other items you'll need are string/wool/pipecleaner and some stickytape. Cheap AND cheerful!

how to make a beach collage

Wondering what to do with all those shells and pieces of cuttlefish collected by the kiddies during strolls along the beach? Don't just throw them out en route back to the car ... take them home and create a beach collage using these instructions from Kids Nature Spot.

I think that this is a great way to commemorate summer exploration, and will provide you with an indoor activity when it's just too hot to still be playing outside.

pom pom decorations

I went to a wedding last weekend (yes, it was a bit rough being 8 months pregnant in 43 degree weather but worth it!) and was totally inspired by my friend Kathryn's beautiful decorations - colourful tissue paper pom poms and table decorations which beat the heat AND looked gorgeous.

I had already been considering making some pom poms for the impending arrival's nursery after seeing them in this nursery at ohdeedoh, but was unsure where to source them or how to make them.

Image from ohdeedoh

Luckily, the universe responded in the form of a recent post at little.lovely - see here for instructions on how to make tissue pom poms. Martha Stewart Weddings also has a tutorial for making hanging pom poms, with a few more photos than at little.lovely - handy for those of us who require more visual instructions.

Image from Martha Stewart Weddings

free amy butler patterns

I am currently obsessed with Amy Butler fabrics, patterns, books etc and I just found these free patterns that you can download in pdf format.

And here are some simply beautiful fabrics from Amy Butler to swoon over ... enjoy!

Images courtesy of Modern Retro Textiles

sew your own baby burp cloths

With only 4 weeks to go until baby number 2 arrives (!!!!), I have been in full nesting mode. This has included borrowing my mum's sewing machine and attempting to sew for the first time in 15 years! Having loved sewing at school, I have felt inspired by my many crafty friends and fellow bloggers to take up the activity again.

My first project was making sheets for my toddler's new room - a simple exercise which allowed me to practice simple straight stitch and hemming. I am now onto baby burp cloths - another fairly simple project that I found at chikaustin's beautiful blog. You can find the tutorial here.

I bought a pack of 12 "softies" cloth nappies at Target and some fat flats from Spotlight for the decorative fabric. I'm not sure I'd go the fat flats option if I were to repeat this project, as they were not wide enough for the nappies - this meant I had to cut the nappies smaller and then hem them again, which was more work than I'd anticipated when I started this project. Next time I think I'll just get fabric cut for me.

painting projects

With most regular activities on hold over school holidays, I've been searching for inspiring projects to do with my toddler to keep him entertained - this is especially important on the hot days when we can't be outside all day. Here are my current favourite painting projects sourced from other blogs:

Water colour resist painting from BloesemKids

Animal portrait from BloesemKids

Glue prints from The Adventures of Bear

Vegetable printing from Domesticali (pictured above), Make-Stuff and BloesemKids (pictured below)

I also adapted the methods for vegetable printing to make my Christmas wrapping paper this year by using household sponges cut into shapes as prints. Here was the result:

After an afternoon of painting yesterday, I have the following tips for keeping it as mess-free as possible (I emphasise "possible", as painting with a toddler will inevitably involve some mess, make no mistake!):

• lay down plastic tablecloth over the surface on which you are going to be painting - if you are sitting over carpet, I also suggest putting something protective over the carpet as well. Spotlight sells plastic tablecloth material cut to measure in an assortment of colours and patterns, as well as clear/colourless;
• blue tac or sticky-tape the paint pots or plates (I use old yoghurt and butter containers) to the table/surface on which you are painting. This will prevent them from falling over everytime a paintbrush or stamp is placed into them (usually with a large amount of vigor!);
• keep a wet chux/kitchen sponge handy to wipe up any spills as they occur - this will save you heavy handed scrubbing at the end of the activity;
• I highly recommend purchasing a painting smock from Ikea - these are the only ones I've found that have adjustable arm lengths and therefore can be made to fit even young toddlers.

make your own advent calendar

If you're a bit late off the mark, and still don't have yourself an advent calendar, why not use this weekend to make your own? It's another great activity to do with the littlies, and you can avoid that cheap and nasty chocolate that usually comes in them (try a sticker or little toy if you don't want to go the chocolate option, but I know my toddler loves a bit of Haighs!).

Here are a few DIY advent calendar ideas:

1. Paper cup advent from Well I'll Be A Monkey's Mama

2. Paper envelope advent from Kids Craft Weekly

3. Box advent from Full Circle

4. Glass jar advent from Fuse Interiors