By CraftyMomof3
One of my favorite things to do is make crafts with my kids. It is one of the things I always wish I had more time to do. Doing crafts with your kids is easy and you don’t have to be the “craftiest” person to do it! There are some great sites out there that can help even the most novice of crafters. I am going to do a series of posts featuring these different sites in the hopes I can inspire the craftiness in you!
A favorite site of mine is Disney Family Fun. They have great ideas overall for loads of things to do with your kids, not just crafts.
I loved doing potato stamping when I was a kid. It has actually transferred over to my adult life! It is such an easy way to make great cards and stationary and it looks fantastic. I also love it because the more “imperfect” the stamp is, the better. I found a cool instructional on the Disney site for St. Patrick’s Day:
Use it to decorate paper place mats, coasters, tablecloths, or anything else your little leprechauns wish to dress in green.
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter (2 1/2 inches wide and long)
- Potato, cut in half
- Paring knife
- Green acrylic paint
- Paintbrush
Instructions
- Press a heart-shaped cookie cutter (ours was 2 1/2 inches wide and long) into the cut face of a potato half.
- With the cutter still in place, use a paring knife to cut the potato from around the heart (a parent’s job).
- Remove the cutter, then dip the heart into green acrylic paint and press it onto the paper. Repeat to make two more leaves, then use a paintbrush to add a swish for the stem.
One of the best tricks I learned as a kid making St. Patrick’s Day crafts is that three hearts make a shamrock!! A good tip for potato stamping is to always use a styrofoam plate. I know it’s not eco-friendly, but it works the best. Styrafoam doesn’t soak up the paint and allows the stamp to slide for maximum paint absorption. Another plus is that you can wash the paint off and reuse it in your next project.
If you are looking for a more adult craft that is just as simple a great site to visit is Better Homes & Garden. BHG has a 30 Minute Craft section at their website. A really great feature in this section is some of the crafts have instructional videos.
I found a craft project that any one can do. It comes from the BHG section 100 Crafts under $10.
Creative Kitchen Utensil Holder
Craft a unique utensil holder with a can, a magazine, and a little creativity.
If you can use scissors, glue and a paint brush you can make this! It’s also a very creative way to use those old US Weekly magazines!
I personally am considering making one for my girls room to hold all their markers and I am thinking of letting them color pictures and use those instead of magazine pages.
To view some of my other craft finds please visit: http://craftylife.net.
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Comments
9 Responses to CraftyMom’s Talks St. Patrick’s Day Crafts and More!
Thanks Craftymomof3! I did not know the tip about 3 hearts making a shamrock. I think my kids will really enjoy this craft.
Great ideas! I don’t think my kids would participate in crafts anymore ( they are in their twenties) but I wish I would have known about the heart shaped cookie cutter and potato stamp when they were younger. I use to love potato stamping when I was young also.
The Better Homes & Garden site looks like a great site for craft ideas. I will have to check that out more often.
I LOVE Family Fun magazine, still! My youngest is pre-teen so she and I like to look through the magazine while waiting in doctors’ offices. In the past few years we’ve used ideas from the magazine for her Valentine’s Day cards. She loves to craft and never liked the store-bought ones. I would love to use this idea for St. Patrick’s Day. My parents come up every year for dinner (and Irish coffee) but I never bother to buy a shamrock table cloth or even linens for decoration. If I had more time, I’d use fabric paint and have my daughter make at least a cloth for the basket that holds the Irish soda bread. Maybe we can fit it in on Sunday…
Great ideas! It’s enough to make me wish I had a little one to be crafty with! I miss the days when my niece was young and we’d do things like color Easter eggs together.
Thanks! I love the idea of doing fabric paint on a basket liner! Let me know if you do it how it comes out!
I am going to try to see if I can find other shapes that can work like the heart trick because I think it helps make these types of crafts easier.
Craftymomof3
I love your avatar. It reminds me of the book, The Friday Night Knitting Club. I really need to start knitting again.
I would have never thought about making a stamp from a potato! Great ideas!
Pam you just reminded me that I need to read that book again, I’ll have to put it on my GoodReads list to remind me! I love that book.
Nancy- it’s really easy, some times it’s good to just channel your inner child and go back to the basics!
I am going to try to see if I can find other shapes that can work like the heart trick because I think it helps make these types of crafts easier. – Craftymomof3
Thanks for all your tips and I agree the BHG site is awesome.
Let me know if you find more uses for the “heart trick” because while I am crafty-impaired, I am willing to learn!