March 26, 2020
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This is For the Birds
Today is all about birds. Bird houses, bird feeders, bird identification. We can’t enjoy many outside things right now, but we can still enjoy the birds.
* Easy and Cool Birdhouse Ideas
* How to Make Homemade Bird Feeders
March 25, 2020
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Music That Soothes
No crafting today. Just sharing some beautiful music I’ve been seeing come across my FB feed lately. Although some brings tears, I somehow find it comforting to hear. If you have a link to a song you’d like me to add, just add it to the comments below. Thanks.
* In the Garden From Brad Paisely, Facebook Live
* The Impossible Dream – Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle USMC
* An arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – The Williamson family
* The Prayer – A Daddy Daughter Duet
* Songs of Comfort For Anxious Soul (free playlist)
March 24, 2020
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Bird Nesting Material
There are several sites listed below discussing what materials should be offered to birds and what should not. Natural items are always best. Why not, on your daily walks, gather up some natural items. Things like small twigs, dry grasses, and moss are just a few examples.
And what to put them in? My favorite holder idea is using a rusty spring. For those of you who know us, you are well aware of Danny’s love of rusty spring projects. If local, hit him up for one. ☺️ So the first link explains how to use a spring to create a holder.
* Bird Nesting Material in a Rusty Spring
The rest of the links are more ideas about nesting materials and a link to Amazon showing a list of materials you can purchase.
* Provide Nest Material for Birds: Dos and Don’ts
* How to Offer Nesting Materials for Birds
* Amazon Nesting Material to Purchase Ignore the first couple links. They seem to be ads sponsoring the search.
March 23, 2020
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Today is back to some quick and easy crafting ideas. Let’s get outside for a bit.
Maybe you have been getting out and doing some social distancing walks in the fresh air. Why not pick up a few interesting rocks, take them home and paint them, then drop them off on your next walk so others can find them.
It doesn’t matter what they look like. Just the fact that someone unexpectedly finds a painted rock will make them happy.
But….if you need some ideas, here you go!
* Five Tips for a Rock Painting Beginner
* Rock Painting Guide – this site has ideas for the beginner or those with advance skills.
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Make a butterfly feeder for your garden. This site shows 12 different projects for creating butterfly feeders.
* Make a butterfly feeder for your garden
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Bird Feeders are always fun!
March 22, 2020
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Today’s post is all about staying connected. A technology whiz friend of mind found a way to connect her whole family digitally and with 6 ft social distancing for a baby gender reveal of her 12th grandchild. It’s a boy! She will now have 6 of each. 🙂
The following article (by Priya Parker) has some excellent suggestions for staying connected.
“During this unpredictable and painful time, let’s invent creative, meaningful ways of being together apart.“
From baby showers, kids’ birthday parties, choirs, or just staying connected, you should find something here that might spark a way you can stay connected with your family and friends.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/internet-coronavirus-social-distancing.html
March 20, 2020
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Life Hacks
Today isn’t really crafting related (although there is some DIY crafting) but many of these ideas can help make your life easier. More may be added as I find new ideas I like, but these should keep you busy for awhile as you are social distancing. Stay healthy! We will get through this together!
* DIY Coffee Filter Hydrangeas
This one is a craft. I’ve actually made one of these. It was fun to do, and really does look like a hydrangea.
* Fold fitted sheets in a brilliant way
You’ve probably seen this one before and tried it, but didn’t have time to practice with it. Now, you have plenty of time, so try again. 🙂
Power cords hanging around all over your kitchen cabinets? These bundlers will help solve that problem. Can you think of other uses for them?
* Uncommon Ways to use common things
This is a Pinterest link. Ignore they spelled uncommon wrong 😳, and just watch the video. Visiting the site does not show these ideas. You can get a lot of good ideas just from the video. My favorite one is melting a candle over crushed ice. My aunts did a version of this with me when I was growing up. Pretty cool.
You’ve seen the t-shirt folders in stores and ones you can buy. This is one you make from cardboard and duct tape. Just watch and learn from the video. No need to visit the site. Let me know if this one works. I will tell my laundryman. 🙂 P.S. When the video is over, you can click on the link at the top to see more of her ideas.
March 19, 2020
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How About Some Wine Cork Projects?
You may have been saving wine corks but had no idea what to do with them. If you don’t have any corks and want to make some of these projects, save this post and when you are able to order from Amazon again, you can buy them in bulk there.
I’ve collected several sites for some great ideas. Hope you find some you’d like to try.
One project, a wine cork planter (tutorial linked below) was one I thought would be fun to try. I cheated, though, and didn’t use dirt and real plants. I used what I had on hand so used dried Spanish Moss from Dollar Tree and parts of a faux plant. Local viewers….check out the winery cork I used. 🙂
* DIY Wine Cork Planters – This idea is shared by none other than Bob Villa from This Old House.
* Wine Cork Phone Stand – A You Tube video shows step by step directions for making this neat little phone stand.
* Wine Cork Coasters – A quick and easy project designed to protect your furniture.
And last, but not least….
* 12 Life Hacks with Wine Corks – Who better to know what to do with wine corks than The Missouri Wine Board! They sure live up to our state’s “Show Me” slogan. 🙂 There is a lot of other good info there, too.
March 18, 2020
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Make a DIY Stress Ball (a Squishy)
We all have a lot of stress in our life right now. This fun and happy project is not only a quick and easy one, but if you are home with your kids, this is perfect to do with them. Just look how much fun I had playing with the one I made! And trust me, squishing it does relieve some stress. 🤣
Why not make some for the kids in your life, sanitize them and mail them!
My example shows a yellow balloon and orange and yellow play dough. But use any color you’d like. Don’t “stress” over the color. Lol
I found this type of play dough at Dollar Tree, but any will work. I share a link to some homemade stuff below. I can’t guarantee it works, but you can make DIY play dough. There are all kinds of recipes online. You don’t even need to add color. Or maybe you have some old “multicolor” play dough around that is still pliable. That will work, too.
For kids, another fun idea besides happy faces, is to use different colored balloons for all their emotions (joy, disgust, anger, sadness, and fear.) The Pixlar movie “Inside Out” would be the perfect movie to watch with kids at this time. The link to make faces to make with the emotion stress balls includes the directions for DIY play dough. The Dollar Tree play dough, though, is so much easier.
Supplies Needed:
* Latex Balloons – I used 12″. This is a good size. 9″ would be too small, I think. I got this package at Dollar Tree. If you want to do the Emotion ones, they also have solid color balloons. Walmart may also have them or any of the other big stores or party supply stores.
* Play dough of some kind – mine came from Dollar Tree.
Directions:
* Pick your colors
* Start filling your balloon with play dough. The best way is to take a small amount and roll it thin. The shorter and thinner the better. (Thinner and shorter than the picture shows – see more photos below for size reference). I blew into the balloon just to open it up enough so I could hold onto the neck and then dropped the pellets in.
* Keep adding play dough (the picture below shows the perfect size pellet) until you get almost to the neck. I used the whole little jar of orange and some of the yellow. You want to save a little room to blow a small amount of air before tying it off.
And that’s it! Be sure to blow just a small amount of air into the balloon and tie it off. You are ready to relieve some stress. Enjoy! See links below for DIY play dough and making the Emotion type stress balls (squishies). ☺️
Here is the link showing how to make the Emotions stress balls. It includes instructions for making your own DIY play dough. Click on the photo below or the link.
http://pre-schoolplay.blogspot.com/2011/07/stress-ball-balloons.html?m=1
March 17, 2020
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Be sure to follow my blog to be notified of each day’s craft!
Teaching was my career. I loved sharing knowledge. One of the things I love most about our small chalk-style painting business is learning new techniques for using our paint (Missouri Limestone Paint Company) and sharing them in classes, on Facebook, and on my blog. We still paint furniture and have quite a large inventory to go through, but we realize we are getting older and it is more difficult to move around large pieces of furniture. So, we’ve been transitioning to smaller items. This winter I have also been crafting quite a bit and have been thoroughly enjoying it.
We are in a crisis right now that none of us have ever experienced before with the Corona Virus (COVID-19). The last several days I have seen many posts come across Facebook with ideas, websites, apps, etc. that will help children continue learning at home as their schools shut down for the time being. I have shared them myself as I have four young grandchildren that will be home with their parents. I feel very fortunate my kids and their wives can all work from home. My heart hurts for those not as fortunate and with daycare closing their doors also. I have also seen some amazing acts of kindness from businesses and members of my community and others reaching out with very creative ways to help one another.
We must learn the lessons of other countries and follow CDCs guidelines by trying to stay home as much as possible to help break the chain of infection or at least slow it down.
So, to help combat cabin fever, I thought it might be fun to share some easy and fun crafting ideas. I belong to several crafting groups and stalk Pinterest all the time. I see many projects that can easily be created with items from Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Walmart. For now, at least, we can still get out to go to those stores. Just be sure to use hand sanitizer (if you can get it) before or after.
I will be making a blog post (hopefully on a daily basis or at least frequently) for simple projects. I will be posting supplies, tutorials, photos, etc. so you can make them, too.
Here is the project for Day 1. I literally can’t remember where I saw this idea. It was either on Pinterest or in one of my crafting groups, though. I also just realized that my first one falls on my dad’s birthday. He always got a kick out of his birthday being on St. Patrick’s Day. I spent a lot of time learning from him as he refinished furniture and we made gifts for family at Christmas. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Dad! 💚❤️
I hope you will make a pillow cover and post a photo of yours in the Comments.
Make a 5 Minute or Less Pillow Cover
Supplies Needed:
* A pair of scissors
* A throw pillow. You will probably already have one you aren’t using or would like to cover
* A canvas tote bag from Dollar Tree. These are hanging up with other tote bags in the aisle where you find socks. There are about 4 different images on the bags, but I don’t remember what they are. I think one might be similar to the image below, but I chose the cute little hedgehog one. Walmart also carries plain bags in their craft department.
* You also might want to have some balloons, sharpies, and Play Doh (or make your own) on hand for tomorrow. Day 2 project can be with or for kids or something all of us adults can use right now, too.
This literally takes minutes to do and so easy! You could iron the tote, but I didn’t.
* Pull each handle up to the center so it is even and cut in half.
* Stuff the pillow into the bag and make sure you get it into the corners at the bottom. Then take a front and back handle and tie a bow. Do the same with the other.
That’s it! Enjoy your new pillow! I’m hoping my granddaughter, Lucy, will like this one. She really likes hedgehogs. And just think! It was only $1.00!
Are you more talented than I am? I think Walmart has plain canvas tote bags. You could paint something on one of those or maybe stencil it. The possibilities are endless!
SharSum Paint 