Paper wad tree

I actually had no intention of blogging about this craft,
but it turned out so cute I just had to share.

I have seen many variations of this craft online,
and I knew Nik would love it.
Because of the wading paper aspect and the glue of course.
He just loves glue.

I was not quite sure what to call this project,
the hubs advised me that it looks like a paper wad tree.
Paper wad tree it is.

Materials:

Paper to print on
Paper squares to wad

Tools:

Glue

scissors
(Only if you need to cut the squares or trim the picture)

I gathered materials, which only consisted of paper squares,
a printed picture of a tree & glue.
I had the squares from a previous project.
Found a bag of them at a craft store for 3.99.

 

Any project that uses glitter glue is a friend of mine. 

I found the tree template at a free printable's site.
I showed Nik had to wad the paper, explained that we
were making leaves and let him go.

 

He had so much fun.
And I just loved how simple it was. 

Nik told me this project made him happy. 

The result is gorgeous. I cannot wait to frame this one.

Thanksgiving turkey window decor

Pickles loves stickers. The only thing he loves more, 
is placing them where they don't belong. 
ie.. Mommy's car window.  
I decided I would give him a healthier outlet for his sticker fascination, 
a foam turkey. 

Materials:
Foam turkeys
Festive stickers
Ribbon
Raffia
Goggle eyeballs
Pom Pom balls

Tools:
Glue

Pickles had so much fun with this craft. 
It combined his love of stickers, goggle eyes and glue all in one project. 
I assisted in placing glue on the eyeballs, the rest was all Nik. 




Nik placed stickers, pom poms and eyes all over the turkey's.
He was muttering things to himself about sad pumpkins and asking why he couldn't just pour all the glue all over the eyeballs? 
It seemed like a perfectly legitimate idea to Nik and he could not understand why I would not just get on board with the idea.

This was by far the least messy project we have done.
We had a little glue to wipe up, aside from that it was mess free. 

Nik decorated both sides, then I tied a little ribbon and raffia to the top and we hung these in the window for everyone to enjoy. 

Toddler autumn leaf suncatcher

I love Autumn. 

I really wanted to do a fall craft with Pickles. So, we decided on a fall leaf window sun-catcher.

We started by collecting some fallen leaves.  I let Nik use the plastic pumpkin to collect them, it was like trick or treating for leaves, sticks and at one point dog poop (he thought it was a stick, poor Pickles).. 

Pickles got so excited about riding his bike to go collecting, 

he continually forget the mission we were on.  

Toddlers.. 

Materials:

Collected leaves, small sticks and twigs

Contact paper

Thumbprint glass to add some sparkle (clear and green)

Shaved crayons (fall colors)

Tools:

Hole punch

Tulle that I had left over from my wedding crafts

Something to shave the crayons up with (I got this grater from the dollar store)

And of course tuna cans to hold the contact sheet down. 

(The cans do not have to be full of tuna, you can choose any potted meat you would like)

I flipped the contact paper clear side down and pulled the paper up in just one corner. Pickles started placing leaves, glass and small twigs, and I shaved the crayons down a bit for some crayon "sprinkles".

As he filled a section with leaves, glass and sprinkles, I pulled more paper down.

  

 When we were done with placement, we folded the contact paper over onto itself and stuck it together. I trimmed the edges with scissors, you could use shears with a nice design for a fancier look.

Perhaps this is common knowledge for everyone on the planet but me, but contact paper does not stick to itself for crap. We had to press between each item, and the glass we chose was far too large for this project. 

 

Nik decided it needed to be hammered down lightly. It helped. 

I punched two holes on the top and ran the tulle through them, tying a tulle bow at the top. 

Pickles was so proud. 

When I asked him to show me the finished product he stood in front of me, 

turned to his right and proudly showed his project to the cat. 

We hung the sun-catcher over the sliding glass window with a tack.

Ta-da!