Saturday, April 11, 2009
Green Weaving: Make Your Own Loom
This is my kind of loom - easy, free, and recycled.
How to Weave on a Cardboard Loom
Here is another one made from a box:
Here are instructions for a children's loom using a craft stick. I have also seen people use a flat hair clip.
A few more loom ideas from Montessori World
Cardboard Weaving printable PDF instructions.
YouTube - Weaving on a Cardboard Loom
Here is a nice tutorial for a plastic bag rug, although any scraps of fabric will do.
Not cardboard, but doable with the purchase of a 2x4 and a wood dowel: homemade wood peg looms.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Random Crafts This Past Week
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Free Vintage Children's Sewing Cards
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Build a Rustic Wood Shed
I'm trying to convince my husband to build this. Right now, we are using a tarp and bungee cords for the lawn mower. Directions here. Really, any scrap wood could be used, including deconstructed wood pallets.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Beauty Berry, a Natural Insect and Tick Repellent
Denese had an interesting blog post with free resources for folk remedies, and one of them caught my eye, Old-Time Mosquito Remedy May Work Against Ticks, Too. Using crushed beauty berry leaves has long been used by Mississippi natives to repel both mosquitoes and ticks.
I buy plants from my local native plants society twice a year, and three years ago I planted a Beauty Berry bush. I will definitely be trying this; we have a lot of ticks and mosquito here in coastal Virginia.
I recently bought some organic citronella oil from Mountain Rose Herbs, so I'll be using this as well. They have dog and cat pet collars using natural herbs as a flea repellent which I'd like to try. Even though we use a monthly treatment on the pets, they still seem to get ticks and fleas. My cat likes to roll in one particular place on our patio, so last year I spread diamateous earth in that area. It's a natural bug killer. It works by dehydrating the exoskeletons of the bugs. It may have helped, but it couldn't have hurt. I'm willing to try something natural this year.
I'll post my results during the summer.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Spring in the Garden
A few early bloomer's in my garden:
Flowers:
Camellia
Christmas Rose(Hellebore)
Veggie: broccoli
...and a few shells on a garden table from a recent trip to the beach.
Not pictured, but our witch hazel and Japanese Rose(yellow) are just about to blossom.
Flowers:
Camellia
Christmas Rose(Hellebore)
Veggie: broccoli
...and a few shells on a garden table from a recent trip to the beach.
Not pictured, but our witch hazel and Japanese Rose(yellow) are just about to blossom.
Free Shakespeare Audiobooks
"To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to." ~ Hamlet
Shakespeare Monologues, Volume 4 :Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Queen Margaret from Richard III, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V , Antony and Cleopatra, and As You Like It.
Free to listen to online, and fully downloadable.
All seven volumes available here at Internet Archives.
I download these to a Sansdisk compact flash memory card(AKA: Thumbdrive), and then to my mini-laptop. It's great to listen to in the car.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Green Living: Homemade Cloth Grocery and Clothespin Bags
Debbie of Homemaking Dreams is at it again making those pretty shopping and clothespin bags.
Check out her Etsy Store.
Check out her Etsy Store.
Blooming Liquid Soap Tutorial
I saw this craft over at Allfreecrafts.com and decided to try it. My daughter now has renewed motivation to use soap when she washes her hands. It's difficult to see, but I also added a purple cornflower. The artificial flowers were snipped off two bouquets purchased at a dollar store. I got the green apple soap there as well.
See Decorative Liquid Soap Pumps for instructions and pictures. They added glass marbles to theirs, and cut the stems shorter.
Paper Doll Puppets
These paper doll puppets are so cute! By coincidence, this crafter happened by my blog last week, just as I was browsing her Etsy shop. She also lives nearby in North Carolina.
These will go fast at just $3.00. It would cost me more just to buy all the pretty paper if I were to do this myself.
Check out her shop at End of the Day Crafting.
These will go fast at just $3.00. It would cost me more just to buy all the pretty paper if I were to do this myself.
Check out her shop at End of the Day Crafting.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Make Your Own Paper Flowers
These were very easy and quick! I used the wrapping paper from a box which I received for my homemade vaporizer liquid ingredients.
You'll need:
-Thin paper(ex: packing paper)
- Scissors
- Water color or food dye
- Glass bowl
- Glitter spray(optional)
- Take the paper and simply cut into circles, each circle should be progressively larger than the next. You should be able to see each layer peaking out about an inch. Don't make perfectly round circles, a little uneven and sloppy is good.
- As you cut them out, stack each of them from small to big - about six.
- Then grab the center from the bottom and gently shape(crumple) into a cone, pinching the bottom from the center tighter than the rest. Gently manipulate the petals to make them look like a real flower by pulling down the outer petals. Voila, you've got a flower!
To color them, place a few drops of color into a bowl of water, then using a small spoon, ladle small amounts of the colored water over the flower, hold it upside down to get it to run out, and to dye the underside. Another way to do it is to place a wadded paper towel into the colored water and squeeze it over the flower. You will get a subtler effect doing this. The pink and white one above was done this way.
***Don't soak the flower too much, or it will wilt into a ball of wet paper. If you don't get the color you want, wait until the flower is dry and dye it again, or even layer the colors for more depth.
I dried mine upside down with a clothes clip attached to the pinched area on the underside. This is the area where a stem could be attached, so it's pinched and pointy. When they are almost dry, spray with glitter spray. I use a gold glitter spray purchased from the Walmart craft area.
See more projects and recipes at the Make-it-from-Scratch Carnie.
Free Homeschool Curriculum: St. Patrick: The World's Greatest Missionary
From CurrClick:
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. I have put together a Holiday Helper just right for the busy parent. There is no preparation (except for easy, yummy soda bread), just time together to enjoy. There is a biography of Patrick that is rich and engaging, rare illustrations for study and learning, a recipe for real Irish soda bread and an essay you and your children won't want to miss, entitled, "The Real St. Patrick".
What's inside:
* The Real St. Patrick: An essay by Charles Mack
* St. Patrick, A biography from Our Island Saints
* Picture Study: Three In One
* Picture Study: St. Patrick Expels the Snakes
* Mapwork: Map of Ireland
* Recipe: Irish Soda Bread
* Copywork: St. Patrick's Breastplate
Click here.
Also see: Saint Patrick and Irish Children's Stories, Activities and Music
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. I have put together a Holiday Helper just right for the busy parent. There is no preparation (except for easy, yummy soda bread), just time together to enjoy. There is a biography of Patrick that is rich and engaging, rare illustrations for study and learning, a recipe for real Irish soda bread and an essay you and your children won't want to miss, entitled, "The Real St. Patrick".
What's inside:
* The Real St. Patrick: An essay by Charles Mack
* St. Patrick, A biography from Our Island Saints
* Picture Study: Three In One
* Picture Study: St. Patrick Expels the Snakes
* Mapwork: Map of Ireland
* Recipe: Irish Soda Bread
* Copywork: St. Patrick's Breastplate
Click here.
Also see: Saint Patrick and Irish Children's Stories, Activities and Music
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