If you use the 1 dozen egg cartons, you’ll need to piece them together.  First,  cut the tops off the cartons.  We’ll only be using the bottom for this project.  You’ll need more than one if you’re using the 1 dozen cartons, because you need to fill the frame with them.  Place them side by side so that they can be attached to each other with tape or glue.  Remove the glass from the frame, place a bead of glue around the edge, and insert them so that it fills up the space.  When you’re putting your glue, keep in mind that because the egg carton is bumpy, the glue won’t touch everywhere on the egg carton.

When you hang it, keep in mind that the frame is for appearances from the front, and not actually used for hanging it.  It’s just there to keep things nice and pretty.  Stick in pushpins, and you’re ready to leave notes for your kids, or grocery lists for yourself.

First, lay your bandanas so the right sides face each other.  Stitch along three edges, fairly close to the edge.  On the fourth edge, you will fold it over about a half inch and stitch at the bottom.   This should leave a long, narrow pocket all the way around the top of the bag.  Leave a small spot unsewn, so you can run the string through it.  To roll the string through, attach a large safety pin through one end.  Run this through the hole you left, and work it through the narrow pocket until it goes all the way around the bag, and both ends of the cord are hanging out of the small, unsewn hole in the bag.  Remove the safety pin and run each end through the toggle clasp (a toggle clasp is the kind that lets you push a button to slide it).  Cut the cord to an appropriate length, and tie a knot in each end.

With the third bandana, cut it so it forms two strips, sew these together so it makes one very long strip, fold the right sides together, and sew it so it forms another long, narrow pocket.   Sew one end shut.  Turn it right side out.  Fold the other end in, and sew it closed, very close to the edge.  Attach this on the side of the bag, making sure not to sew the cord accidentally.  Now you’ve got a handle, and you’re ready to use your cool new bandana beach bag.

First, you’ll need a handful of craft sticks (popsicle sticks), a bit of glue, and some decorative elements such as glitter, paint, or rhinestones.  You’ll also need an Xacto knife, which naturally should be left to the adult to use.

Using one of the craft sticks, lay it in front of you so that it’s facing vertically on your workspace.  Next, start at the bottom and cut the very ends off the sticks.  Only cut about an 1/8″ from each end.  Leave a finger width of space at the bottom of the vertical stick, and glue the other (with the ends removed) so that it faces horizontally across the other.  On the next craft stick, cut a little bit more.  You should continue cutting more and more from the sticks as you progress up the tree.  At the very top, it should be very skinny.

Use your paint to color it green, and then attach rhinestones and beads.  Tinsel can be painted with the glitter.

First, you’ll need a clay pot.  The one he used was about 2.5-3″ tall.  You’ll also need brown construction paper, googly eyes, and a big red pom-pon.

Place your hands on the brown construction paper, one at a time, and trace around them.  Cut these out.  In order to make them last as long as possible, it’s best if you laminate them.  Otherwise, putting living plants in the water will be nearly impossible (although air ferns would be very pretty in one of these).  Hot glue these hands so that they form antlers.  You can do this by attaching the wrist portion of the hands to the pot.  Then on the front, you’ll glue the gooly eyes and the red pom-pon to make a nose.

What you’re left with is a very adorable Christmas decoration that your kids will have lots of fun making for you!

The process is pretty easy.  You need the resin, a mold, mold release, and something to put under there.  Mix up the resin according to the instructions, apply the mold release, pour the resin into the mold, slip your image into the resin, and wait.  Once it hardens, you can mount this into a special type of ring that you can find on the internet.  Just Google “resin jewelry supplies”.  That’s it!  Easy enough.

While on a shopping trip at Michael’s, I noticed some Martha Stewart glitter stamping sets.  They came with glue, stamps, very fine glitter, and a glue pad.  While the glue pad would be very handy for stamps, the rest is something that you can put together, and in fact, might already have.

To start, you’ll need some VERY fine glitter.  I cannot stress how fine this should be.  School craft glitter won’t work, because it will fill in all the small details.  Also, the best ones are going to be stamps that don’t have a huge amount of detail.  Simple ones will look the best.

Pour some glue on a small plate, and make sure it spreads out.  Lightly dip your stamp into the glue, the same as you would with an ink pad.  Stamp it onto the paper, sprinkle on some glitter, then tap the extra off.  Easy enough, and very cute.

First, you’ll need 1 cup water, 1 cup salt, and 2½ cups of flour.  Mix your dry ingredients, then slowly add the water and stir as you add it.  You can add more flour or water if you need to, but it should be about the consistency of an unbaked pie crust.

Use a rolling pan to roll it thin- about ½ inch should do.  Then, using your favorite cookie cutters, cut out the shapes.  Don’t forget to punch a small hole in the top so you can hang it.  Just like with cookies, you can gather and roll out the remaining dough to get more ornaments. Let them air dry for several days, or bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet at 250° for 30 minutes on each side.

Then comes the really fun part. Using various paint colors, glitter, sequins, rhinestones, etc., decorate your salt dough ornaments.  Tie a ribbon through the top and you’re ready to put it on the tree.

First, find the piece of fabric that you love the most.  It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you like it, that’s what’s important.  Second, find a really nice matte and frame.  And it’s as simple as that.  Put it behind the matte, frame it, and it’s an interesting little frame for your wall.

Some people may balk at the look.  They might think it’s too empty.  You know the trend that first became popular a few years back of hanging a chair on the wall?  Obviously chairs don’t belong on the wall.  That’s what makes it interesting!  Just experiment, and if you don’t like it, you’re always free to take it down and use the frame for something else.

Another option is to use the fabric as the matte.  Attach photo corners to the fabric with some glue, and then slide a photo into the middle.  You now have an interesting background for your favorite photo.

First, you’ll need some stencil film.  You can get this at craft stores, but I’ve had some luck finding it at Walmart in the past.  This usually comes with three sheets in the pack, which is just about perfect.  You’ll also need black, white, and grey spray paint.  Finally, you will need a photo to use.  The photo should be in black and white, and it should be VERY highly contrasted, so that everything is in very extreme shadows.

First, mark some corners onto your photo so that you can line them up with the corners of the stencil film.  This will help you align the stencil films properly later.  Next, lay the photo underneath the stencil film, and using a thin permanent marker, outline just the black areas on one piece of the film.  On the next piece, outline only the white areas of the photo.  Make sure that these areas are closed shapes.  Using an X-Acto knife, cut out the areas.  You may also want to mark your stencils “White” and “Black” at the top.

On the background of the surface you’re painting, cover the whole area with the grey paint.  Then, one at a time, mark your corners and apply your black stencil and white stencil with the appropriate color of paint.  This will create a very cool, very edgy sort of graffiti looking art.

Silver clay is made from real silver.  It’s been embedded into clay, natch.  You use the clay, arrange and style it in any way you want, and then fire it with a torch.  I used a heat gun, like you find at a home improvement store.  When it’s all done, you have a piece that exactly resembles the piece you made, but it’s made of silver.  This is a great way to make your own silver pendants.

What I like to do is use texture plates.  These give it unusual textures.  After doing that, poke a small hole in it, fire it, and you’ve got a nice pendant.  The one I made was about 50% bigger than a postage stamp, so you can tell how little you actually get.  But still, it’s so much fun.