crafting with a 4 yr old

With Christmas less than 100 days away crafting is in full swing.

I got some little flat wooden hearts at Michael’s (thank you, 40% off coupon) and sprayed them with chalkboard paint (define obsession- I am not obsessed *twitch twitch*). Some I punched with my handy dandy cropodile (I was skerred but it punch right through like buttah!) and will use those as gift tags and some I am glueing to clothespins and will pin a gift’s ribbons (that sounds confusing – I just wanted tag options)

Then I had a craft fail (I stuck some cork tiles on some more kitchen cabinet doors and for some reason they made the cabinet doors not close all the way- ugh- so I ripped them off) but I made lemonade outta lemons. I traced the little chalkboard hearts and cut them out with scissors, punched cropadile holes in them and was going to leave it at that but . . . we had the glitter out and, ya know, I have glitter in my veins! They kinda look like sugar cookie ornaments now.

So, Miss Crafty 4 year old painted on the glue and I poured on the glitter (sorry, she is not to be trusted with a paper plate full of glitter on her own!) I used modge podge instead of elmers just because when I cleaned my craft closet recently I discovered a plethora (a plethora I say!!) of bottles of modge podge.

But then we had this leftover glue and glitter and the pile of clothespins was RIGHT THERE. Before I knew what happened we had glittered tiny, small and regular sized clothespins. Not sure what to do with them other than glue magnets to the back and gift them out at the holidays.

Glitter ornaments

My friend Billie (BLOG) sent me this video. It shows how to use wood floor cleaner and fine glitter to make these really cute balls.

I looked around the house and found Zap (Home Depot Brand) wood floor cleaner in a cabinet and tried it. I used non Martha Stewart brand fine glitters and it worked just fine (pun intended.

My non crafty brother in law even did one! (His turned out the best of the bunch! And it was pink!!) These were super easy. BUT I am glad that the clear balls I had were nice sturdy ones from Michael’s. They are meant to be handled and crafted with so they are thicker. You can take off the hook cap easily and the edges are smooth, not sharp.

I have worked with other balls that were much thinner with sharp edges under the cap. Again this year I sorted through all my old xmas balls and took out the plain colored ones that were scratched and old looking. A rinse in dishwashing liquid soapy water and the outer color comes right off. A soak and a swish (I used a bit of paper towel inside for agitation) with bleach water takes the inner silvering off. BUT the opening is often jagged sharp and the balls are thinner are require more delicate handling. A good trash to treasure thing but not exactly a good kid craft.

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