Toilet Paper Roll Butterfly

Well, it's clear by my lack of new posts that school has begun and we've not had time to be crafty. But today, the neighbor girl is here, and we decided to make something. It's nothing fancy, but she liked it.

For this simple project, I used a bit of card stock, an empty toilet paper roll, pipe cleaner, and googly eyes.

I made a set of butterfly wings from the card stock. Fold the paper in half and cut one wing from both sides, and you've got an instant matching set. I let her color the wings as she saw fit. I also flattened the toilet paper roll a bit and had her color on it as well.

I cut the pipe cleaner in half and shaped two antennae,
and taped them to the inside of the toilet paper roll with packing tape.

 Just to give it a little shape, I folded down the top edges of the
toilet paper roll.

I folded down the bottom edges, too.

Glue on wings...

Glue on googly eyes...

As we worked on our project, we talked a bit about the letter B and I wrote it down on a piece of paper so she would know what it looks like. She wasn't overly interested in that part. 

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Psalm 148:13

Craft Review: Angry Birds go Offline

I have never played Angry Birds. But it must be a lot of fun. I found this craft on Make and Takes and I just couldn't resist.

Because I have never played, and my daughter has, I had to ask her if the pigs had to be green. She said yes. We made three of them. But she said we could have a red, blue, and/or yellow bird. So we made one of each. For the birds, we made small pom poms, and the pigs are a size larger. I happen to have pom pom makers, but there are other ways to make them... here's one. When you make your birds, leave the ties a tad longer to make a couple angry bird tail feathers sticking out longer than the rest of the pom pom. To complete your birds and pigs, you'll need googly eyes, black yarn scraps, and paper scraps. Be creative.

Use tacky glue to attach the eyes. Cut some orange triangles
to make the bird beaks and use scraps of black yarn for the
angry brows. Use white paper to make the pig snout and ears.
My daughter made these, and she used a black sharpie to define
nostrils and ears.

Use small Dixie style cups to make a tower. Since I've never
played the game, I really don't know the purpose of the pigs...

Now the Make and Takes blog, at this point, said to sling shot the birds into the tower, but she didn't elaborate. At first we tried a rubber band. Not only did I snap my thumb and it really hurt, it killed my yellow bird and I had to repair my blue and red birds more than once. No wonder they're so angry. So we needed a different less destructive, method to catapult our birds into the tower. The answer: a plastic spoon.

Place the bird into the spoon, hold one of the longer tail feathers
with your finger to keep him from falling out, and bend the spoon backwards,
then shoot the bird into the tower.

If all else fails, just stacking cups might keep the kids, entertained.

I give this craft two thumbs up... and since my husband and both daughters are currently deeply involved in building a strong tower out of Dixie cups, maybe we should give it eight thumbs up.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Craft Review: Coffee Filter Butterfly

Yesterday was the last day of summer at our house. So we thought making butterflies seemed like a good idea. This idea comes from Kaboose.

You will need coffee filters, watercolor paints, and 1/2 piece of chenille stem or pipe cleaner.

You'll want to put something down to protect your workspace. I just used a plastic plate. It was easy to clean off afterwards. Flatten out the coffee filter and let your little Picasso work, encouraging them to leave no white space.

My oldest is 7, and she enjoyed working on a pattern.

My youngest is almost 5. She went for the lighter colors.

Neighbor girl was at our house for the day. She just turned 3.
She liked brown. And she liked to put her brush in the paint,
then water, instead of the other way around.

Once the coffee filters are dry, take the half piece of pipe cleaner and fold in half. Then fold the filter accordion style with half-inch pleats. Center the pleated filter into the bend of the pipe cleaner. Twist the pipe cleaner around the filter to secure it in place and bend the tips to create the antennae. Fan out the wings.

Hang them from the ceiling with fishing line and let them fly!

The girls enjoyed this far more than I thought they would have, and they didn't want to stop at just one. In the end we had 8 butterflies. And today when we got home from school, the neighbor girl came over to play, and she asked me if we could paint.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Craft Review: Jo-Ann's Woven Tic-Tac-Toe Rug

My daughter received a weaving loom for her birthday, and as a result has created some hot pads to share. Then I found a craft idea at Jo-Ann Fabrics that would put those hot pads to a cool new use. A Tic-Tac-Toe Rug.

Mom's personal hot pad.

The idea is to make 9 hot pads. It was suggested that we use only two colors per square with an option to make the center square more abstract using all the colors. So that's what we did. Our center square was made from all colors, the other 8 squares using only 2 colors each. We also used 4 different patterns, so that there might be 2 squares using the same pattern, but with different colors, so that each square is somehow different. Lay out the 9 finished squares to create a 3 by 3 block and use extra loom loops to weave the pieces together.

If you can find wooden letters, 5 each of an X and an O, that would be ideal. Paint them and you're ready for a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. As luck would have it, Jo-Ann's did not have 5 wooden X's or 5 wooden O's for me to purchase on the particular day that I was in the store, and I really didn't want to run from store to store looking... so I got 5 stars and 5 flowers instead. And they were cheaper than the letters anyway. My kids don't seem to mind. They helped do the painting and we've played countless games already.


As we were making our squares, I came across a different pattern that gave me another idea...

Mini Tic-Tac-Toe using a single hot pad!

To achieve this pattern, choose 6 loops from 6 different colors.
Place all six loops of color 1 together, then color 2,
then color 3. Start weaving all 6 loops of color 4 across,
then color 5, then color 6.

Once the hot pad is finished, you'll have your 9 distinct blocks. Find and paint small wooden pieces for your X's and O's. I used stars and circles because I couldn't find the letters I was looking for, at least not without purchasing 5 complete alphabet sets. 

These little Tic-Tac-Toe games would be perfect to take on the road.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13