crafts

Crafts and Fun DIY with Dollar Tree!

Abby H.

Wednesday is the last day of school for us. And we’ve got two weeks of fun and frolic before summer school starts, so that means it’s time to bulk up our craft supplies and try out some new crafts.

Dollar Tree does not disappoint. Since they’ve increased prices to $1.25 per item, I’ve seen a huge increase in the quality and variety of craft items, including cotton fat quarters, which are great for all sorts of sewing and crafts.

If you are looking for some ideas for fun, inexpensive summer crafts, check out the Dollar Tree Blog here.

I picked up one of their bottles of dye for tie-dying, and I took pics for Instagram. I’ll post a final pic this morning. Overall I’d give it 5/10. I chose dark purple, and it came out more of a wisteria color. There is a lot of fading, but if you use some of my tie-dye tips here (especially the washing soda pre-soak), you may have greater success. Colors available include Green, Pink, Purple, Red, Turquoise, Yellow.

And I made this cute sign the other night. All the supplies came from Dollar Tree!

The wooden sign, The butterfly stickers, one of the colors of paint (white), and the black permanent marker I used to outline the leaves.

All told, this craft cost less than $6 and I have a cute welcome sign for the front door.

There are all sorts of fun crafts available at Dollar Tree! I’ll be posting more of our crafting adventures on Instagram this summer, if you see a craft that interests you, please comment and I can do a tutorial!

 

Free Craft Event at JCPenney for Kids 5/14/2022

Abby H.

Are you heading to the mall on 5/14? Check out this fun, free craft from JCPenney’s.

Visit the Kids Zone inside JCPenney and kids can decorate a holiday magnet.  Parents/Adults score a 10% off coupon, which can be combined with another coupon. JCP Coupons can be found here.

JCPenney hosts a fun craft event in store for kids on the second Saturday of each month.  They are easy for kids, and fun, free activity.

In-store events are only where local mandates allow.  All kids must be accompanied by an adult.

Looking forward to June, there is a cute baseball craft, which includes beads, charms, a cord, keyring, card, envelope, and marker.

And if you are looking for Mother’s Day deals, check out the JCP Doorbusters! You’ll save 60% off regular prices!

 

Host a Paint Night Party on a Budget with Dollar Tree!

Abby H.

Looking for a fun, frugal night in?

Check out this great idea from our friends at Dollar Tree!

Host a Paint Night Party- Dollar Tree has everything you need (except the wine!) to host a sip and paint.

Shop in-store or online- You can order online and have it shipped to the store for free (hooray for saving money on shipping).

 

March is National Craft Month! Free Crafts & Crafting Deals!

Abby H.

Did you know that March is National Craft Month? My daughter told me this morning and now she’s got all sorts of crafts planned for us to do.

If you need some ideas to get your creativity flowing, here are a few:

Michaels offers free online classes on a variety of crafting topics. Check out their offering here.

Dollar Tree has an amazing selection of paints, wooden items, soft crafts, craft kits, iron-ons, beads, you name it- And everything is $1.25/each or less!

AllFreeKidsCrafts Spring Crafts eBook is now available for download here. I found 3 new crafts for the kids to do today- they are going stir crazy because it’s raining here.

I know some of my readers love their wine, and if you are one of them, FaveCrafts has something just for you! Their latest free eBook, 25 Cool Things to Do with Old Wine Bottles is available here.

The week of 3/8-1/13 Craftsy, has a really great coupon to use on supplies or classes! Use MARCH15 to take $15 Off A Purchase of $25 or More!

In addition to the sweet 60% off at Craftsy, they also offer a lot of free classes. Here are just a few that I love:

Get Crafty with The Craftsy Customer Appreciation Sale!

Abby H.

 

 

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Craftsy wants to share the love of crafts with all of their customers! To celebrate, take 65% off ALL classes with coupon code, THANKYOU65.

From cooking, knitting, embroidery, rug making- Craftsy has something for everyone!

If you are new to Craftsy and want to check it out, they also offer a lot of free classes. Here are just a few that I love:

Green Kids Crafts: 25% Off Select Boxes + New Numbers Lab!

Abby H.

Science & Craft Subscription Boxes for Kids ages 3-10+My kids love to get mail. They also love doing science experiments. With our winters looking kinda rainy, kinda gloomy, I’m trying to find something fun and indoorsy that’s not the usual. That leads me to Green Kids Crafts. 4-6 educator designed STEAM projects in every box. Millions choose us for our award-winning hands-on activities.

Right now, Green Kids Crafts is offering 25% off their favorite boxes!

Use code FAVORITE25 at checkout and save 25% off their select favorite monthly boxes through the end of the month.

I know that Henry will love the Volcano Kit. The Volcanoes Discovery Box contains FOUR award-winning Creativity and STEAM Science Kits! Your pint-sized volcanologists will have a blast (literally!) with these fun learning kits including Break Your Own Geode Kit, Volcano Splatter Art Kit, Exploding DIY Volcano, Crystal Making Kit, and more!

And I think Margaret will be interested in the New Numbers Box! The Numbers Lab Box contains FOUR award-winning art and science STEAM kits! Your young mathematician will learn counting, number recognition, and matching and patterns with this sensory box that contains the following fun learning kits: Playdough Kit, Telling Time, DIY Flashcards Kit, Counting Games, and more!

What I like about Green Kids Crafts is that you can buy individual boxes or do a subscription! We’ve gotten their boxes before (when Margaret was a baby) and Henry loved them. They are great for the naturally curious kiddo in your life.

 

Let’s Start Fresh in 2022!

Abby H.

Starting fresh means different things to different friends. For some, it’s New Years Resolutions to Eat Better, Lose Weight, Get Organized, Spend more time on Self-Care. Whatever Starting Fresh means to you, I’m here to help.

For me, Starting Fresh means grabbing new calendars for the kitchen, kid’s rooms, and my room (I have a bulletin board next to my vanity with a wall calendar so I can review each day while I brush my teeth in the morning). I update the calendars each month with appointments, days off school, birthdays, etc. I usually get free calendars in the mail towards the end of the year and use those. For the kitchen, I get a Holiday a Day calendar and use that- It’s a great way to include silly “national” days into the meal plan or weekend plans. Like National Pizza Day (it’s in February) or National Bake Cookies Day (that was yesterday- we’re celebrating today).

Other Ways I Start Fresh Each Year (and keep it going through the year):

  • Inventory my Fridge, Freezer, and Pantry (and donate/share any unwanted still-in-date food). You can buy my inventory sheets here on Etsy.
  • Deep Clean/ Organize one area of the house each week. Start small. I start with the front coat closet.
  • Clean my car out. If you are a parent, you know. I take a laundry basket and a trash bag down to the car, and once the trash is out, and the stuff that needs to go into the house is in the basket (and back upstairs), I take my car to the carwash and pay $20 to have someone else wash and vacuum the car (and clean the windows inside and out).
  • Get rid of stuff that no longer serves you. I like to start in my closet. It’s a great chance to weed out clothes that no longer fit or serve me, and I can donate or share them.  I tend to do one area a month. I work on it for 10-20 minutes a few times a week, so it is not a mental burden.
  • In the same vein, do a toiletry/beauty/makeup purge. Travel-sized/sample-sized toiletries can be donated to homeless or domestic abuse shelters or local rehab/inpatient centers. Makeup and personal care items do expire (check out this article from Insider for more deets). If it smells weird or has a strange texture- toss it!
  • Space out Appointments or other “Adulting” tasks. As someone who had two mental/behavioral health appointments, an IEP Meeting, and a doctor’s appointment last week, I can assure you I was mentally and physically exhausted. As it was the end of the year, provider time was limited, so I didn’t have much of a choice, but going forward, I’m limiting myself to 1-2 “Adulting”/appointments per week. Otherwise, it is overwhelming and everything else, like tasks of daily living, gets pushed aside (shower, what’s that?).
  • Spend time Doing Stuff I Like. Yeah, seems weird? Spend a little time doing something that makes you happy. Play a game on your phone for 10 minutes, read, do a craft, work on a project, play Legos with your kids, go for a walk.

A content creator I really like, Rayna Cohen put it simply, ” Allow yourself to enjoy the new energy of the new year.”

My kid’s school sent out a Kindness Calendar for January. I plan on incorporating some of these RAOK throughout January and beyond.

Talk Back: I’d love to hear about how you are Starting Fresh for 2022!

Free Craft Event at JCPenney for Kids- 12/11/2021

Abby H.

Heading to the mall this weekend? Check out this fun, free craft from JCPenney’s.

Visit the Kids Zone inside JCPenney and kids can decorate a holiday magnet.  Parents/Adults score a 10% off coupon, which can be combined with another coupon. JCP Coupons can be found here.

JCPenney hosts a fun craft event in store for kids on the second Saturday of each month.  They are easy for kids, and fun, free activity.

In-store events are only where local mandates allow.  All kids must be accompanied by an adult.

 

And looking forward to January 2022, check out this cute penguin craft:

Give the Gift of Creativity with Craftsy (and FREE CLASSES)!

Abby H.

If you have a hard to shop for person on your gift-giving list this holiday season, I recommend the gift of creativity!

Craftsy has some amazing deals this Cyber Week!

All Classes and DVDs are 75% off with coupon code CYBER75 at checkout.

 

If you are new to Craftsy and want to check it out, they also offer a lot of free classes. Here are just a few that I love:

 

Fun & Crafts for the Whole Family: Shrink Plastic Crafts!

Abby H.1 Comment

Most of us Gen X kids remember shrinky dinks. They’re still around. You can buy craft kits at Dollar Tree, Five Below, local craft stores, or on Amazon.

Recently I found LOL Surprise shrink plastic kits at dollar tree and I picked a couple up.

We were also recently given shrinkable plastic by the sheet. And this is great because you can draw your own designs, cut them out, hole punch them, shrink them in the oven, and end up with all sorts of cool stuff.

If you’re not familiar with Shrink Plastic, it is super fun and simple craft with anyone who can color can do. However, it does require adult supervision at some point during the craft, cause you have to use the oven.

To do this craft you will need the following items:

Before…
After…

You are looking to make a specific design, you will need to print that image out onto a piece of white paper. And then you will trace it onto the shrinkable plastic using a pencil. Word of advice: most shrinkable plastic shrinks significantly if you start with an image that is the size of a silver dollar, it will come out about the size of a dime.

Also important to note, punch a hole if desired, in the plastic before you shrink it. Once it has shrunk and is hard, it is almost impossible to put a hole in it. Especially without damaging the plastic.

Once your design is traced/drawn onto the plastic, color it with permanent markers. I like these markers.

Once your design is colored, punch a hole in it as desired/needed. Then cut your image/design out of the sheet, trim up any sharp/pokey edges. Use a nail file if needed. You can also file the plastic after it has been baked/shrunk and cooled down.

Most shrinkable plastic sheets will come with the heating/baking directions for the plastic, but it’s usually less than 10 minutes. And you will need to keep an eye on it. That is the step where you do not want small children around.

In the past, I’ve made wine charms, this year I made all kinds of cool stuff, including zipper pulls for the kids’ backpacks, I made keychains, I drew our family’s SCA heraldry/devices. I also made some little charms for a charm bracelet for my daughter.

Next up I will be drawing food and making little toy food for my son’s Playmobil characters to eat. While some of his sets have come with food, he is missing things like french fries, hamburgers, pizza. All things that the Playmobil guys in his adventures want to eat.