Little Books

I’m in love with these little books. I can’t stop making them!

Confession: sometimes I buy food products because they come in cute containers. That was the case with some mine hot cocoa I saw at Target – it came in a cute jar that looks like a paint can, complete with a metal top you have to pry open with a knife (or spoon handle).

Make yourself a cute container for storing craft supplies using your own recycled food container, a few paper scraps, and decoupage glue. The only tool you need is a paintbrush or foam sponge applicator.

Supplies: empty container, sponge applicator, decoupage glue, paper scraps

Spread glue all over the surface of your container, and begin applying paper scraps. Tip: don’t do this while nursing a baby. It works better if you can use both hands.

project in-progress

Spread glue on top of the papers to seal them, and continue adding scraps until the whole thing is covered. Try to avoid getting air bubbles under the paper by pressing them down with a brayer (or your fingers – again, not recommended activity while nursing – just trust me on this one).

Can covered with paper scraps

Apply a final coat of decoupage glue, and allow your new craft supply container to dry completely. Fill with beads, buttons, glass marbles, or other small items. Optional: add a label identifying the contents, embellish with glitter and/or stickers, and decoupage the lid with extra scraps and a little tag.

My lid, with blank tag to fill in later

I found a very cute tutorial for mini notebooks and decided to make a few.

You probably don’t need a tutorial to make them – once I read the tutorial I realized I could have figured it out all on my own – but the little books she made are so darn cute I didn’t realize until I read how she made them that I could so easily make a stack for myself.

I did mine a different size, and then tried a few other sizes using a couple pages from a calendar:

My son loves these – and the same technique could easily be used for mini coloring/sticker books to stash in your purse for emergencies like when you have to sit in line with a couple of impatient little ones….

Just for fun this holiday weekend, because my little boy is so funny and he doesn’t know it…enjoy! These are just a few of my favorite things he’s said, pretty much since he started putting words together in a (semi) meaningful way.

“Papa has two arms. He have a big big big old head.” — Andrew

My mom: “How much do I love you?”
Andrew: “About two hours.”

“Niel Diamond have two eyes and pretty hair.” — Andrew

“That’s ‘n’ for ‘blocks’.” — Andrew, pointing at a number on his box of blocks

“It’s raining down on the floor outside.” — Andrew

“Papa isn’t home. He’s in the potty.” — Andrew

“Papa got a lightbulb, was very very sad, that’s the flashlight, I’m gonna need it for home.” — Andrew

Andrew: “What’s this?” (pointing at a Dr. Seuss animal that looks vaguely like a dog)
Me: “I think it’s a puppy.”
Andrew: “No. It’s a cactus.”

Me: “What are you doing?”
Andrew: “I spit on the bed.” (and he did…)

Me: “Happy Birthday Andrew!”
Andrew: “We have cupcakes and a playdate.”

Me: “Do you know why you had to have a time out?”
Andrew: “Stop being a noxious.”

Me: “No, you can’t chew on that [bottle cap], you’ll choke on it.”
Andrew, through the tears: “I want to choke on it!”

“Rusty bear is naughty.” — Andrew (Rusty is his teddy bear.)

Me: “We have to go to one store today to get something for Papa.”
Andrew: “I think Papa will like a burrito.”

“I got a new diaper, Tio Diamond.” — Andrew, to the Niel Diamond record on top of our stereo

“Look at that sun! It have cream on it.” — Andrew, pointing at the cloud partially covering the sun

“Grandpa having a baby too.” — Andrew, when I was ~8 months pregnant

“I do it yourself!” — Andrew, learning about pronouns

“Mama, I hurt my butt. Need kiss it.” –Andrew, Jan 2010

Me: “Do you need to go poopoo?”
Andrew: “Not til Monday.”

Andrew: “I have a baby in my tummy.”
Me: “Really? What are you going to name your baby?”
Andrew: “Tio Robert.”

Racket (a bear): “I’m sorry Chicken. I got go bye-bye.”
Chicken: “Bye-bye bear.”
Racket: “Bye-bye chicken.”
Chicken: “I right next door.”
–December 2009

Me: “Why did you do that?” (‘that’ being: tear up an entire roll of toilet paper)
Andrew: “Wash boogers.”

5:00 am, December 1st, 2009: “Gosh darn it! Lost keys! Sorry Papa.” — Andrew

“I got poo-poo. No touch it.” — Andrew

Andrew: “I got money.”
Me: “Oh, do you want to go shopping?”
Andrew: “Yeah.”
Me: “What are you going to buy?”
Andrew: “Two cookies. Also chair.”

5:30 am, November 18, 2009: “Go away pillow!” — Andrew

I found a really fun tutorial for making cute easter eggs with canvas – but you could use any kind of fabric. Make them for your kids, or let your kids help!

This photo envelope tutorial was designed for Valentines Day, but you could make pretty envelopes for any occasion!

Here’s one I made for a birthday card for my husband:

Envelope made from scrapbook paper

A little link love for some great kid craft projects – many of these blogs/tutorials/etc were found via the Craft zine blog.

This sweet post on A Little Hut shows how one crafter incorporated her daughter’s work into one of her own pieces.

Upcycle some cargo pants into a water bottle sling.

Make a bird’s nest out of old paper bags and a little glue.

Knit a kid hat using one skein of yarn.

Make a felt book, this one has an egg theme, but you could design your own too….

This youtube video tutorial is from illustratingstories.com, a great site for mixed media art projects and inspiration.

I love how they used so many things that would otherwise be thrown out. Free materials are great to share with kids!

Does your child love to read (or at least look at picture books)? Maybe they would enjoy creating their very own little book. I found a great tutorial for making a simple little book using just a sheet of paper. Just to test out the tutorial, I made one myself with a piece of scratch paper, and it took about a minute, tops. Here are a whole bunch I made while crafting with my son:

Folded Paper Books

Once you’ve folded your little book, (or demonstrated how to do it for your older child to try), it’s decorating time – your child can use stickers, paint, crayons, glue in pictures, and basically let their imagination run wild making their own little story or picture book.

If you use nice scrapbooking paper to make one of these mini-books, they could make great little handmade gifts for “hallmark holidays” with the addition of some photos, snippets of your kids’ artwork, and a nice message at the end. Or, write in some favorite recipes & attach as you would a gift tag to a basket filled with the ingredients for one of the recipes – perfect gift for someone who likes to cook. A 12 by 12 piece of scrapbook paper cut in half (into two 6 by 12 rectangles) will make two books that are 3-inch squares, like this one:

3 inch square book from scrapbook paper

The possibilities are really endless, and a great way to use some pretty paper (or to recycle scratch paper – you can always gesso over it to create a blank canvas for painting on….). They can be a kid craft or a grown-up craft depending on what you want to do with them – fold one up for your kid to decorate while you make yours into a photo book, then give both to the grandparents, for example.

Cork used for stamping

If you are like many moms today, you are probably looking for ways to save money and “green” your lifestyle – luckily, when it comes to crafting, the two often go hand in hand. There are so many potential art and craft materials that just get tossed in the garbage can or recycling bin, so if you want to do more creative projects with your kids and don’t want to spend money, consider some of these ideas:

* Use the foil tops that are common on yogurt containers to sharpen paper punches.

* Use the waxed paper backing from sheets of stickers to lubricate paper punches.

* Then use the resulting punched shapes to glue onto collages or as confetti.

* Paper grocery bags can be cut up and used for all kinds of craft projects – try using them to make pretty leaves.

* Never toss a good container – yogurt containers can be used to hold water for rinsing paint brushes, as can jam jars, which also make great storage for craft supplies. Little plastic lidded containers used for salsa and salad dressing are great for storing small bits and pieces, and larger containers (like the ones cookies and things are sold in at Trader Joes) are perfect for organizing pens, crayons, and other art supplies.

* Old magazines = free paper that already has color, text, and images. Great for collage projects.

* Corks can be carved to make homemade stamps.

* Broken costume jewelry can be remade into great dress-up accessories – restring beads, or glue rhinestones onto a headband, for example.

* Empty glass bottles can make beautiful vases, decorated or left as-is.

*Those magnets that come in the mail with marketing on them can be re-decorated with paint or by gluing images over the marketing message.

*Junk mail, newspapers, and any other paper you were about to toss could probably be used to make handmade paper, papier mache, or for coloring/painting. I staple together scratch paper and printer paper that still has a blank side to make little notepads for my kid to draw on. Old newspaper is also great to put down underneath messy art projects to protect your table/floor/etc. Why spend money on paper when there is so much free paper available?

*Cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes can be decorated and used for storage, or larger boxes can also be transformed into toys – I’ve seen examples online of people making cars, rocket ships, robot costumes, and more from cardboard boxes. Smaller boxes and tins could be decorated and used for gift-wrap (ditto for small but well-made shopping bags like the ones handed out at the fancy make-up stores).

*Expired dry beans, corn, etc are the perfect stuffing for bean bags – my mom and I made a bunch for my son, and I cleared some much-needed storage space in my kitchen in the process. Bonus: we used fabric scraps from Mom’s sewing projects, so my son got 8 bean bags for the price of the thread we used to stitch them (in other words, basically free).