I love these small chenille chicks and bunnies; oh and of course I LOVE these mushroom birds. My kids and I thought it would be fun to create these cute scenes using egg cups as a pedestal. These egg cups are kid friendly and make fun and festive Easter decor! This post first appeared for Darice on their blog – Live.Craft.Love

Supplies:

• Wooden egg cups
• Mini polyester chicks
• Pom pom bunnies
• Petaloo flowers
• Mushroom bird
• Acrylic paints
• Tacky glue
• Decorative paper or paper doilies
• Decorative edged scissors
• Easter grass
• Paint brush
• Pencil

How To:

Step 1: Paint your egg cups and let them dry.

Step 2: Choose a patterned paper and draw a circle on the paper by tracing around a cup or lid. Use decorative scissors to cut out the circle. Another option is to use a paper doily.

Step 3: Glue the cut paper piece onto an egg cup. Center over the top. Next, glue Easter grass to the paper. Let dry.

Step 4: Arrange bunnies, chicks, and flowers in place and glue them onto grass. Create your own fun spring scene.

Another option is to use a mushroom bird and pearls for eggs in a nest made from crinkled paper.

Step 5: To finish off the egg cups, glue gemstones or other embellishments to the pedestals.

And you’re done!

The post How To | Egg Cup Pedestal Display appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My 7 year old son made these drinking glasses to give as gifts to his siblings for Christmas. This is a really great kid craft! This year we are working on a new tradition. I am helping each child make a handmade gift for everyone in our family. Making special gifts makes my kids feel so excited and proud and since he loves to draw this was a natural fit. So you’ve seen what he made, don’t spill the beans to the rest of the family! Want to help your child make glasses like these? Read on to find out how simple they were to make!

I wanted to tell you a little more about my son’s choices of drawings. He drew a bunny for his older sister who loves bunnies, ninja’s for his brother, a crown for his little sister, a deer for Dad and an Astronaut for himself. There was one more glass for me, but he wrapped it so I couldn’t see it! I am so excited for him to give these to everyone! Plus now we will know whose cup is whose and I won’t have to keep washing them because we don’t know who drank out of what cup!

Supplies:

• Glass Markers – found at Michaels or Jo-Anns
• Glasses
• Drawings of what you want to draw
• Tape

How To:

1. Wash and dry glass.

2. 

   Measure your glass and cut a piece of paper so it will fit inside your glass. Use that paper to draw your picture on. Slide paper with picture into glass and use a piece of tape to secure picture temporarily to glass.

3. 

   The easiest way we found to draw on the glass is to lay it on a paper towel in your lap. Once glass is lying flat, draw your picture by following the lines of your paper sketch you see through the glass.

4. Let dry according to marker instructions. Hand wash.

The post Handmade Holidays | Painted Drinking Glasses appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Wow, it’s the end of the school year already! I always like to get the kids involved in making a small gift for their teacher at the end of the year. This paper-mache cupcake was a fun way for them to make a craft for their teacher that also doubled as a gift box.

The box is really simple to paint and after it was all painted and decorated we tucked a little gift inside accompanied by a handmade thank you card.

Supplies:

• Cupcake (by Darice)
• Acrylic Paints
• Glitter
• Red pom-pom ball (Darice)
• School or Craft Glue
• Paintbrush
• Paper Plate
• Cello Bag
• Tiny Tag
• Tissue Paper
• Piece of Ribbon

How To:

1. Squeeze a small amount of assorted paint colors onto a paper plate.
2. Use your paint brush to paint different colors onto your cupcake. Let dry between each color.
3. To add glitter, use glue to make dots or pattern and then sprinkle glitter over glue spots. Let dry.
4. Glue on pom-pom ball for a cherry.
5. When cupcake is finished write child’s name and year on the bottom.
6. Line the box with tissue paper and place a small gift or treat inside the cupcake box.
7. Wrap in cello bag and tie closed with ribbon. Add a small tag with a handwritten greeting or note!

The post How To | Cupcake Gift Box appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Oh my gosh, can you believe Summer is here already? If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter you have seen I have been traveling more than usual and that has put me behind at home. I love to have a crafty post for the blog every week, but after traveling it seems the day-to-day chores have fallen a little behind. The laundry for 4 littles doesn’t wash itself or fold itself or put itself away. Geesh, I wish it did. Add on top of that it is the end of the school year and add a few softball games for my daughter and wow it seems busy at our house. I am sure you all have similar things going on in your lives this time of year!

Even though you are busy I am sure you like to do a little bit of seasonal decorating, right? While I was at SNAP! my roomie Melissa was giving out this 4th of July vinyl mini-stacker kit to promote her online store Fab Decor. I thought I would showcase it here, it is an easy decor item to make to celebrate any patriotic holiday. You can order this unfinished kit from her by clicking this link: 4th of July Mini-Stacker or you can buy one already finished for you here: 4th of July Finished Mini-Stacker. She was also gracious enough to share a coupon for my readers to use – FabCraftNest – using this coupon you get 20% off of your order from May 31st thru June 7th. Yippee for patriotic holidays!

Supplies:

• Red, White and Blue Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Tray or Paper Plate
• Vinyl Rub-ons (from Fab Decor)
• Wood Blocks (from Fab Decor)

How To:

1. Paint each wooden block and let dry.
2. Rub appropriate vinyl word onto each block. Peel off paper backing.
3. You could also you a spray on sealer to seal the words to the wood. (I didn’t feel it needed it.)
4. You can also add ribbons, bows, tulle and stars to bling it up a bit!

The post How To | God Bless America Wooden Stacker appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Looking for a last minute Mother’s Day project? I just made this today and I admit it is for me. Don’t you just want to capture their little (or not so little) hand print size forever? And check out the cute heart in the palm of their hands. I came up with this project based upon the quote, “Mother’s hold their children’s hands for awhile, but their hearts forever.”

So maybe when you look at the first picture you are thinking, whoa someone needs to call TruGreen and get those weeds under control! Or maybe you are thinking your little one would have a hoot trying to pic all those dandelions and bring them to you for Mother’s Day. I personally want to get my kids all dressed nicely and sit them in that field for a picture, I am not sure they will cooperate with my idea though.

Anyway, back to the craft project you clicked over here to see. This project goes really fast once you have all the supplies on hand. If you have more than 4 hand prints to put on the canvas you might want to go up a canvas size or two.

Supplies:

• 8×10 Canvas
• Assorted Acrylic Paints
• Foam Brush
• Paper Plate
• Diaper Wipes
• Hand Cut Heart
• Thickers by American Crafts (that is what I used for the raised lettering)
• Marker
• Double-sided Tape
• Scissors
• Paper

How To:

1. Measure the size of the smallest child’s hand. Cut a heart out of paper so it fits in the palm of their hand.
2. You will use the same paper heart and stick it onto the canvas using double-sided tape before each child makes their hand print and then peel it up when they are finished to reveal a heart-shaped void.
3. To get ready, squirt the paint colors onto a paper plate and have a diaper wipe handy. You will want to quickly wipe the paint off a small child’s hand when they are finished with their hand print.
4. Start with the largest child’s hand first. Stick the paper heart to the canvas where the middle of their palm print will be. Use the foam brush and paint their hand with acrylic paint. Press their hand to the canvas making sure to push down on all their fingers and their thumb for an even print. Pull their hand off and remove the heart.
5. Repeat the above step for each child’s hand print. Make sure you use the largest hand first and the smallest last. Also think about what paint colors will layer well over others.
6. Let dry.
7. Add the quote by laying the stickers out (don’t press them down yet) and lightly penciling in the words. Write very light with the pencil because it does not erase well off of the canvas.
8. When you have it all arranged use a marker to permanently write in the words that aren’t spelled out using stickers. If your stickers aren’t sticking add a little drop of glue to each one.
9. Use a pencil to write in the name and age of each child along the edge of their hand print.
10. Wrap and give to Mom (or yourself)!

The post How To | Mother’s Day Hand Print Craft appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Anyone else have a Space lover in their house? I talked earlier this summer about the great book we found called 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David Aguilar. My son is still loving this book and it inspired us to create a planet mobile together. I found this great kit at a Michaels store that had all the Styrofoam balls in it and also included the ring for Saturn. I used this kit as a great start for making our mobile.

Supplies:

• Creatology Solar System Kit from Michaels
• Long piece of wire
• Fishing Line
• Acrylic Paints
• Paintbrush
• Paper Plate
• Scissors

How To:

We created our mobile over a series of days. We had to let our planets dry before we could assemble the mobile.

1. Lay out all the Styrofoam balls from the kit. You will not need to use the sticks that are included, but save the longest one for poking holes. The side panel of the box tells you which size ball represents what planet. It also tells you what color each planet should be.
2. Use acrylic paints to paint your planets the appropriate colors. To create the swirled paint effect, say for the Sun, I squirted red, orange and yellow acrylic paint all in one spot on a paper plate. My son used the paintbrush to slightly swirl the three colors together and then he started painting the Styrofoam ball for the Sun. The swirl effect of the paint transferred to the brush and created a cool look when painted on the ball. This was actually his idea!
3. Continue to paint all the planets. We poked a toothpick in the bottom of each planet as it was done being painted and poked the other end of the toothpick into the extra Styrofoam flat ring that came in the box.
4. After the planets are completely dry, use one of the long sticks to poke a hole through each planet.
5. Cut a long piece of fishing line for each planet (decide beforehand how far you want your planets to hang). For each planet thread the fishing line through the hole and run the line up the outside of the planet and tie a knot at the top.
6. Bend your wire into a slight spiral shape. Tie the Sun in the center of the spiral and then each planet in its appropriate spot, vary the heights of the planets when you are tying.
7. When all the planets have been tied onto the spiral wire use four more pieces of fishing line to create a way to hang the mobile. Tie the pieces of fishing line to the spiral in evenly space increments so that the mobile will be balanced when hanging. Join all the pieces at the top and tie them off in a knot leaving a small loop for a hook.
8. Hang your mobile in a bedroom and admire your work.

The post How To | Solar System Mobile appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Week #6 of our Summer Day Camp series is here! My friend Sarah from LimeMade made a cute project with her kids that you will want to try. I should have done this while we were camping, we had plenty of sand available! So visit Sarah here to find the complete instructions for making your own painted sand art picture.

This will be our last week of Summer Day Camp for this summer. But I have lots of Fall and Halloween ideas coming up and I will be posting about my son’s upcoming space themed birthday party. My kids will be heading back-to-school soon, making me a little (ok, probably a lot) teary eyed. I will have two in school this year! Seems like a big step to only have 2 left at home with me.

Check back next week when I show you the Mei Tai baby carrier I made. If you can sew you can make your own and save yourself the $100 it costs to buy one.

See you next week!

The post Summer Day Camp | Painted Sand Art appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

If you are looking for a cute and easy card to make for Dad, here it is. I used my littlest ones handprint to make this cute owl.

The inside says:

“Owl always love you. Happy Father’s Day.”

I love it, what a cute keepsake. It will be a great reminder of how little her hand was at 18 months.

How To | Handprint Owl Card

Supplies:

• Paper
• Acrylic Paint (Tan, Brown, Green and Yellow)
• Paint Brush
• Paper Plate
• Large Googly Eyes
• Glue
• Diaper Wipes

How To:

1. Have your card all ready and lay it off to the side. Squirt some paint on a paper plate. Use your paintbrush to paint your child’s hand with acrylic paint. Hold their hand and press it in place on the front of the card. Slowly remove their hand. Use a diaper wipe if you have a small child and need to get the paint off their hand quickly!
2. Paint your child’s pointer finger with yellow paint and have her make a finger print for the beak. Let the card dry.
3. Use brown paint  or markers to draw branches and green to add leaves.
4. Use glue to add googly eyes to your owl.
5. Write a sweet message inside.

The post How To | Owl Always Love You Father’s Day Card appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I’ve had this idea for using a handprint to make a bird kickin’ around in my head for awhile. I finally pulled out all the supplies to make this project with the kids yesterday. The kids love getting their hand painted and seeing their freshly made print on a piece of paper. Even Calista sort of cooperated, it’s hard to hold her little fingers together to make a good print.

We are giving our cards to Grandma for Mother’s Day. On the inside I am thinking of writing something like this:

I love you,

You love me,

I’ll always be your little chickadee.

Happy Mother’s Day

****************************************************************************

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Supplies:

• Paper
• Acrylic Paint (Bird Color and Yellow for Beak)
• Paint Brush
• Paper Plate
• Googly Eye
• Glue
• Paper Lunch Bag
• Scissors
• Diaper Wipes

How To:

1. Have your card all ready and lay it off to the side. Squirt some paint on a paper plate. Use your paintbrush to paint your child’s hand with acrylic paint. Hold their hand and press it in place on the front of the card. Slowly remove their hand. Use a diaper wipe if you have a small child and need to get the paint off their hand quickly!
2. Paint your child’s pointer finger with yellow paint and have them make a finger print for the beak. Let the card dry.
3. Use a paper lunch bag and cut out small strips of paper for the nest. My kids used a deckle edge craft scissors to cut out their nest pieces.
4. Use school glue and glue on your paper nest pieces. Let dry.
5. Use glue to add a googly eye to your bird.
6. Write a sweet message inside.

The post How To | Mother’s Day Handprint Bird Card appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Shhh, I don’t want to give away the surprise, but we made this Valentine gift for my husband. I am pretty sure he will find the perfect spot on his desk at work to display this little piece of artwork. What could be cuter than hearts made from tiny fingerprints? This was such an easy project to make. You should get some supplies and whip one up too!

How To | Fingerprint Heart Canvas

Supplies:

• 3.5″ x 2.5″  Canvas (I found mine at Jo-Ann’s for $1.99)
• Mini Art Easel (Jo-Ann’s)
• Acrylic Paint or Stamp Pad
• Rub-on Letters (Mine are Heidi Swapp from Making Memories and may not be available anymore.)
• Paint Brush
• Krylon Clear Acrylic Coating Spray
• Diaper Wipes
• Wax Paper

How To:

1. Choose the colors of acrylic paint you are going to use and squirt a small amount of each color onto your wax paper. (Or have your stamp pads ready.)
2. Use a paintbrush to paint the tip of your child’s pointer finger. Have them hold their finger straight and lift the canvas to their finger. Press their finger onto the canvas at a slight angle. That is the first half of the heart.
3. Paint the tip of your child’s finger again and repeat the above step but angle their finger the other way to create the second half of the heart. Use a diaper wipe to quickly and easily clean off your child’s finger.
4. Repeat above steps to create multiple fingerprint hearts. Let dry.
5. Use rub-on letters or a marker to write a message under the heart fingerprints.
6. Spray your canvas with an Acrylic Sealer to protect the artwork and the writing.
7. On the back of the canvas write the date and name of each child and the placement of their fingerprint.

The post How To | Valentine Hearts Fingerprint Canvas appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.