Halloween is approaching quickly! Do you remember the Five Little Pumpkins Song? Each of my kids has learned it in Preschool. I thought it would be fun to make our own miniature fences for 5 little pumpkins to sit on. Each of us made our fences completely different and we had so much fun. Read on to see how to make your own fence.

Five Little Pumpkins Song:
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
First one said “Oh my, it’s getting late!”
Second one said “There are witches in the air,”
Third one said “but we don’t care!”
Fourth one said “Let’s run and run and run.”
Fifth one said “I’m ready for some fun!”
Ooo ooo went the wind, and out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

You can use a lot of different craft supplies to decorate your fence. My kids came up with all sorts of things to make and add to their fences to make it uniquely their own. Have the glue ready, LOL!

Supplies:

• Craft Sticks
• 1″ Orange Pom-Pom Balls
• Green Pipe Cleaners
• Leaf Punch
• Green Paper
• Moss
• Plastic Spiders and/or Ants
• Fake Spider Webs (I couldn’t find ours, but we wanted to stretch some on our fences!)
• Craft Glue
• 2 – Wooden Rectangle Spacer (can be made of balsa wood)
• Wire Cutter

How To: – click on the pics below for a closer view

1. 

   Lay out your craft sticks vertically to create your fence. Use two craft sticks and glue them horizontally to hold the vertical sticks in place. Let dry.

2. Create your second fence side the same way. Make sure you lay the two fences side by side. You need to have the horizontal sticks the same distance from the top and bottom as you did on the first fence. This will be important later when you add the wooden rectangles to the center to make your fence stand up and create a shelf for the pumpkins to sit on.
3. 

   Create your 5 pumpkins by cutting a stem from a green pipe cleaner. Glue stem to top of pom-pom ball. Use leaf shaped punch to punch out leaf from green paper. Glue leaf to pom-pom ball next to stem.

    

4. 

   Finish creating all your fence sides and your pumpkins and set them aside to dry.

    

5. 

   Cut the wood you will use for your spacer to be same length as a craft stick. They can be about 1″ – 1.5″ wide. Glue the a wooden rectangle to the each horizontal craft stick on one fence side. Next glue on the 2nd fence side. Let dry.

6. Now your fence should be complete. Add your own spooky and fun decorations to your fence. Sit your pumpkins on the top shelf of your fence.
7. Sing the Five Little Pumpkins song while you play with your fence.

The post How To | Little Pumpkins Fence appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Girls love to make their own jewelry and these bracelets are no exception! These are fun to make because you can choose your own colors to coordinate with any outfit. Bracelets like these are a perfect craft for a birthday party or girl scout meeting!

This was another camping craft that the girls had fun making. They loved how easy it was to wrap their own bracelets and walk away with customized jewelry.

Supplies:

• Plain leather bracelets, a Snap bracelet, or a rubber bracelet
• Assorted colors of floss
• Craft glue

How To:

1. Choose your first color of floss. Start at one end of the bracelet with the floss. Place a small dab of glue on the end of the floss, then start wrapping.
2. Continue to wrap the floss. Wrap until it is the width you want it to be and secure the end with a dab of glue.
3. Start the next color by using another small dab of glue at the start and then again at the end.
4. Continue adding more floss colors until your bracelet is covered*As an alternate to using glue you can tie each section of floss together.

The post How To | Floss Wrapped Bracelet appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Look at these cute animals made from such simple supplies! What started as making a bunny using a toilet paper tube, sparked creativity in all the kids and they came up with their own animals to create.On the left we have a bunny, then a polar bear, a monster and a penguin. I was so excited to see each child put their own spin on their creation.

Supplies:

• Pony Beads for Eyes and Noses
• Yarn in Assorted Colors
• Felt for Belly, Ears, Beaks and Teeth
• Cotton Ball for Tails
• Stapler
• Scissors
• Glue (optional)

How To:

1. Staple the starting end of your yarn to the bottom edge of the toilet paper tube. Start to wrap string around toilet paper tube and continue wrapping so tube is completely covered.
2. As you get toward the middle of the tube slide a pony bead on the yarn for a nose if wanted. As you near the top, slide pony beads on the yarn for the eyes.
3. Staple the end of the yarn when you are finished wrapping.
4. Cut felt pieces for ears, feet, teeth etc. Staple or glue these pieces to your yarn wrapped toilet paper tube.

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The end of summer sort of got away from me and here we are in Fall already! During one of our camping trips this summer I made this keepsake ornament craft with all the kids. We were up in the Northern part of Michigan where fossil rocks are abundant, so I decided to help them make a keepsake ornament with their favorite rock, a cork and some wire.

Supplies:

• Cork
• 2 Screw Eyes
• 2 Finish Washers
• Floral Wire
• Bakers Twine

How To:

1. Screw a Screw Eye through a Finish Washer on each side of the cork.
2. Use the wire to wrap around your favorite rock or treasure and attach wire to the screw eye on the bottom of the cork.
3. Create a hanger by tying baker’s twine through the top screw eye.
4. Hang on your tree at Christmas to remember your family vacation.

The post How To | Cork Ornament Keepsake appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Emily from The Benson Street is our Summer Day Camp Instructor this week. This is our final week of the day camp series and we have all had so much fun sharing our summer craft project ideas with all of you. Thank you so much for being a reader of my site!

A little about Emily – After graduating from college and working for a couple of years, she needed to find an outlet for her creative juices and a way to learn new things. Not only is it an outlet for her, it is motivation. Blogging helps her to get her projects done, share ideas and connect with friends.

Head over to The Benson Street and check out her full instructions for making these fun stained glass paintings. You can find the full instructions by clicking here.

Again, thanks so much for following my Summer Day Camp series!

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Hi everyone! My name is Cindy and I blog at Skip to my Lou. I love to blog about simple crafts, sewing, crochet and recipes. I hope you will come visit me if you are looking for more fun crafts and activities.

School is getting ready to start, but we are trying to have just a few more days of summer fun! I love a super quick activity that will keep the kids entertained. These DIY Bubble Blowers are made with items found right in your home and are sure to bring on loads of laughter! Making bubble snakes would be a great after school activity too!
Grab some dish soap, a wash cloth, a rubber band (we used a ponytail holder), an empty water bottle and a small container.

Carefully cut the bottom off of the empty water bottle. A pair of scissors works great.

Place the wash cloth over the cut off end of the bottle and secure with a rubber band.

Mix about a 1/2 of cup of water with 1/4 cup of liquid dish washing liquid in a shallow container. Dip the wash cloth covered bottle into the soap mixture. Remove and allow excess liquid to drip off.

Now let the fun begin! Remove the lid of the bottle and blow through the opening and you will create amazing bubble snakes!

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Wow, summer is winding down here. Luckily in Michigan school doesn’t start until after Labor Day, so we have a few more weeks of keeping the kids busy and enjoying lazy summer days. How is your summer going?

Our camp instructor for this week is Sarah from LimeMade Designs. Sarah is a natural crafter and a truly talented sewer. She has an Etsy shop featuring an amazing array of sewn items. On her blog you don’t want to miss Insta Fridays!

This week Sarah is showing us how to make Sand Candles. You can find detailed instructions with lots of great photographs on how she made these fantastic candles by visiting her blog at LimeMade Designs.

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It’s a twofer this week! Our day camp instructor this week is Becky from Patchwork Posse. Becky’s site has some great patterns and tutorials. She has been sewing since she was 8 years old {her first sampler}.  Her first official quilt was finished in 1997 and it is ‘history’ as they say it since. She has 4 kids at home who help inspire her designs. She L O V E S to sew! She started quilting with a big girl machine in 2010.  She loves to design quilts, bags, but her favorite is dolls and stuffed animals. She collects buttons, lace and ric-rac. She loves tall socks, but has a hard time finding ones that fit her ‘athletic’ calves…thanks to her dad.

For our second summer day camp project of the week Becky is showing us how to make bleach dyed t-shirts! If your kids have an older shirt with a stain, this would be a great way to have some fun with a shirt that might have been thought of as ruined. Head over and visit Becky for the full instructions to make your own bleach dyed t-shirt: Patchwork Posse.

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Summer is flying by here at the George household! We are keeping busy camping, swimming and swinging on the tree swing. We have another summer day camp project this week from Kara from The Joys of Boys. Kara is a mom of 4 boys, which also makes her a nurse, referee, taxi driver, teacher, baker, ATM, maid, personal shopper, jungle gym, coach, puppeteer, motivator and negotiator. On her blog she shares fun activities, crafts, recipes and ideas designed just for boys.

Today for our Summer Day Camp Instructor Kara is showing you how to make boats using juice boxes. The full instructions can be found at her website by clicking this link: The Joys of Boys.

Visit us next Tuesday the 16th of July for another day camp project. And if you missed last weeks project, click here to see what you missed!

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This week I am hosting the summer day camp project here on The Craft Nest! When summer time hits our neck of the woods it often means parade time. No parade is complete (at least not where we live) without candy to catch. Usually we grab a plastic grocery bag and head out, but this summer my kids and I crafted candy catchers to take along to the parade sidelines. One of the best features is that we used containers out of the recycle bin!

A special thanks to American Crafts for sending me these beautiful patriotic supplies to use for our project!

Supplies:

• Empty Plastic Container (we used vinegar jugs)
• Patriotic Paper Supplies by American Crafts
• Zazz Glitter Glue by American Crafts
• Glitter Tape by American Crafts
• This to That tape by American Crafts or Double-sided Tape or Craft Glue
• Thickers (letter stickers) by American Crafts
• Scissors or Paper Cutter

How To:

1. Find an empty container. Wash and dry the container. Cut an opening in the side of the container.
2. Use a scissors or paper trimmer and cut your paper to size and adhere it to the container using This to That tape by American Crafts.
3. Add other embellishments and stickers to your candy catcher.
4. Use glitter glue to add more sparkle to your container. Let dry.

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