sutton087

Add a natural element to your autumn decor Tutorial at The Papery Craftery Blog "Quilling paper acorns, although totally and completely adorable, aren’t really a new design. There are a bunch of quilling paper artists designing and selling paper acorn ornaments that are just lovely! But when I was brainstorming new autumn quilling crafts, it dawned on me….I could make a quilling paper acorn with real acorn caps".... Read more

All you need are stones, acrylic paint, and a black marker Tutorial at Non Toy Gifts Blog "Are there any Minion fans in your family? My boys love the little yellow creatures and I must say, so do I. Last time we went to the dollar store, they wanted  minion coloring books and I grabbed a bag of polished river rocks to paint them into minions".... Read more

Fun way for children to decorate a pine cone Tutorial at Non Toy Gifts Blog "I know that a pinecone craft may sound more of a winter activity but there is so much more you can turn a pinecone into, other than Christmas decorations. Think of pinecone owls, spiders, fairies or…apples. My inspiration for this craft came from an adorable pinecone pineapple. It’s just a matter of color and leaf change and you can easily have an apple instead of a pineappple. If you want a yellow apple, even better, the only thing to change is the leaf shape".... Read more

Use painted rocks to teach and play games Tutorial at Non Toy Gifts Blog "If you’re looking for activities to get you in the spirit for the Olympic and you enjoy crafting with natural elements, you’ll love these flag rocks that manage to beautifully combine the two. The Summer Olympics is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about the flags of the participating countries and help them identify some of them".... Read more

Make with twigs, cardboard, paint, and hot glue Tutorial at Non Toy Gifts Blog "My mom worked as a doctor in an North African country many years ago. I was just a kid. It didn’t cross my mind back then how difficult it must have been on my dad to raise his daughter on his own for three years.  I also didn’t realize all the changes my mom had to face and how she had to adapt to a new country with a new mentality and climate, totally different from Romania, how she had to learn a new language she had never spoken before. There were nights when she cried herself to sleep because she didn’t know if she could handle everything and because she was missing her family. All I cared about were the cool stuff, like she adopted a dog, played tennis everyday (there wasn’t much else to do in the campus where the medical staff lived) and went once to Egypt where she visited the pyramids".... Read more

Bring nature into your bathroom decor Tutorial at A Crafty Mix Blog "You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a towel rack, it’s easy to make one from an old branch. Here’s how we made this one. All you need is a sturdy curved branch and some curtain accessories similar to the one shown in the picture below. It’s the bits you screw into the wall that keep the curtain rod up.  We cut the branch down a little and removed the side growths".... Read more

Encourage children to spend less time alone in front of screens and more outside Tutorial at Non Toy GIfts Blog "Starting young sets kids in a good direction and builds up a great connection with nature. Further down the line, it may be more up to parents to maintain this connection alive and help their kids establish a healthy balance between screen time and outdoor time.  A DIY nature explorer kit is a wonderful tool to assist children in engaging with nature. It can be directed to any age and focusing on any nature elements (flowers, trees) or creatures (bugs, butterflies, birds). It can be as simple as putting together just two items (binoculars and an observation notebook) or you can add as many items as you want".... Read more

A simple way for kids to use natural materials to make art supplies Tutorial at AppleGreen Cottage Blog "Making your own nature paint brushes is easy, fun and free! It will get you and your kids out in the nature and kids will have a blast collecting natural materials - And pine needles make fantastic brushes! Paintbrushes can be made from a wide variety of different materials, many of which you probably already have in your yard. We used materials from evergreen trees for bristles. Have you ever made a paint brush out of cypress tree leaves? Or spruce needles".... Read more