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Bat Mobile

recycled-halloween

bat-mobile

This is not a vehicle for the caped crusader, but rather a hanging mobile!  I’ll be periodically featuring recycled projects for Halloween over the next month.  In addition to my disdain for plastic crap made in China, I am just frugal.

So here’s an easy project made with thin cardboard.  You can use cereal or cracker boxes, or save chipboard from packing materials, like I did here.  I think these would also be pretty cut from patterned paper, if you are so inclined.  I just cut these from cardboard, poked holes where the eyes should be and hung them to a branch using clear thread.  This clear thread looks completely invisible and is light enough for the bats to fly around a bit.

bat-mobile-detail

I’m feeling for bats these days after hearing about the decline in the bat population along the east coast.  We need these little critters.  I’ll try to post some more batty projects over the weekend.

Just click on the image below and print out the template.

bat-template

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Father’s Day Crafts

fathersdayshirtcard

I think Father’s Day might be one of the toughest holidays for crafters.  So, what can you make for Dad or Granddad?  Photos are always a good idea.  I think we’re going to do a gift certificate along with a handmade gift from the kids.  Since my husband bought two boxes of 1000 popsicle sticks to make my Mother’s Day present with the kids, there’s a good chance that he’ll be getting a popsicle craft as well (for the next ten years).

Here are some other suggestions:

Origami Card from Cindy Hopper of Skip to My Lou for Alpha Mom (pictured above).

Father’s Day Cards Kids Can Make from The Crafty Crow.

Five Excellent DIY Father’s Day Gifts from Alpha Mom.

10 Quick & Easy Sewing Projects for Father’s Day from BurdaStyle.

Father’s Day Crafts for Kids to Make from One Pretty Thing.

Altoid Tin Toolbox from Brenda Ponnay of Secret Agent Josephine for Alpha Mom.

Paper Airplane Cards from Martha Stewart.

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All you need is love…and cupcakes.

vegan-cupcake

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I made these vegan chocolate cupcakes from Chow that I posted about earlier this week.  The basic chocolate cupcake recipe is excellent and you could fool anyone with this.  This recipe was given the kid stamp of approval!  I used dark cocoa powder.

I made the icing recipe suggested with some beet juice added for color (you can’t taste it and it’s natural).  I would recommend adding some other flavoring to it as it needed something — maybe peppermint, lemon, chocolate or the sandwich cookies they offer as an option.  You can also see that it didn’t come out silky smooth, but my icing piping thinga-ma-jig isn’t working, so that might have helped.

I love these cards from some e cards.  They totally fit my cynical sense of humor.

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Heart Hair Clips

hair-clips

I thought I’d re-post these little hair clips I made last year.  A simple project to make a little girl smile on Valentine’s Day.  Click here to see the original post with template.