crafts – Page 36 – the long thread

May 5, 2008May 5, 2008

7 Projects for Your Child’s Drawings

With Mother’s Day coming soon, I’ve been thinking of things we can create with the children’s drawings. So here are some ideas:

#1 Applique Tee from a bit of this and a bit of that: This would work for a bag or hand towels as well.

#2 Embroidered Child’s Drawing from Bella Dia: This project idea has been featured all over the place, but this is a nice example. Great idea for pillows, hand towels, or framed art.

#3 Shrinky Dinks! Make key chains earrings, necklaces, etc. Check out these rings from Dillon Designs for inspiration.

#4 Note Cards: Make some stationery or note cards for your mother. I used my Gocco printer here, but you could make these by scanning artwork into the computer and printing on card stock or stationery paper.

#5 Softie: Turn your child’s drawing into a stuffed animal. Here‘s a good example with instructions from Martha Stewart.

#6 Fabric Collage: Re-interpret your child’s drawing as a fabric collage as seen on bloesem kids craft projects with Arounna Khounnoraj (all of her projects are wonderful, by the way).

#7 Glass Etching: Try this to turn a plain vase or set of glasses into something special with etching cream or glass paint.

April 30, 2008May 1, 2008

Gocco!

My husband gave me the ingenious little Gocco printer for Christmas and I’m ashamed to say that I just took it out of the box today. I am intimidated by objects that require me to read instructions (particularly when they are in Japanese), but these great tutorials here and here got me through it and it turns out to be very simple. I now understand this Gocco craze! If you have not heard of these, they are basically mini silkscreen printers that burn the image and print it in a couple of simple steps.

I worked on this with my five-year-old who brought home a Dr. Seuss-ish drawing from school of her name in cursive made into people. The image needs to be in carbon to transfer to the screen, so I had her re-draw it with the carbon pen provided. Lost some of the detail of her original drawing as you can see below, but still great. I guess I could have traced the original. You can also scan in or create an image on the computer and (from what I gather) print with a laser printer or make a photocopy.

Anyway, all you do is make a screen of the original, ink it and print away. I look forward to trying some designs of my own and want to try multiple colors. Good-ness over at Etsy has a good price on the basic set.

April 21, 2008

Window Clings

We enjoyed making these window clings from drawings yesterday. We used the window decal sheets available at office supply stores. I scanned in the artwork, enlarged it and printed it on the sheets. You can see that brighter colors work better. The kids were really delighted with this project.

April 17, 2008

Etsy Finds Friday

seven, 8″x8″ archival print by Swallowfield, $18.

Mother’s Day letterpress card from Paper Dragonfly, $3.50.

Blockprinted cotton tape from Jezze, $9 per meter.

Dutch Geese paper sculpture from Molly Jey, $90.

Vintage pool balls from White Elephant Vintage, $55.

Pair of organic cotton wash cloths by Maggie’s Crochet and Crafts, $10.

Set of 3 Felted Wool Bowls from Papaver Vert, $80.

Vintage salt and pepper shakers from Blue Bell Bazaar, $18.

Iris from A Small Fox in a Big World, $30.

April 16, 2008April 16, 2008

Peg Loom

I bought this peg loom a few months back, but was afraid my five-year-old was not ready and would become frustrated. We pulled it out this afternoon and she did a great job!

This loom uses a long needle for weaving so it seems easier for little hands to control than the potholder-type loom with stretchy bands. I had her weaving over and under and she quickly figured out that she could run the needle under the whole row at once and pull the needle through. She also enjoyed pulling each row down and making sure that the yarn was neat and not twisted. We bought our loom here, but they have them all over the place. This will be a good use for leftover yarn.