Kid Friendly Archives - Page 4 of 23

Printable Disney Aulani Activity & Autograph Pages

May 19, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

Y’all know how much I love everything Disney – but I’ve never yet had the privilege of visiting Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii. It’s definitely on the wish list! I do have some friends that go frequently, though, so I thought it’d be fun to make some awesome printables. Whether it’s your first trip or tenth, these Printable Disney Aulani Activity & Autograph Pages are sure to make your trip even more magical and memorable!

Don’t forget to check out Get Away Today for the best vacation package deals! Promo Code: BusyMomsHelper

Since Disney’s Aulani is more of a tropical resort – and not a theme park – this booklet doesn’t have quite as many pages as our regular Disney Activity & Autograph book, but it’s still full of colorful, themed fun! There’s a stylish cover (front and back), plus an inside page for your child to put their info from the trip.

There’s then 4 pages of activities and jokes for them to have a bit of Disney-themed fun. These can be great for giving them something to do for a few moments during the flight, waiting to travel, or just some down time at the resort.

Following the activities, there’s then 12 pages for autographs, with a wide variety to cover the types of characters that you’re more likely to see at Disney’s Aulani resort.

There’s some for the classics, like Mickey and Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale.

Then we’ve created some brand new ones for characters such as Moana and Maui, Lilo and Stitch, Ariel (she’s definitely tropical/beach-themed, so might be there!) and even one for the ‘Cucamonga’ – the little coconut-like creatures from the film!

Don’t forget to check out Get Away Today for the best vacation package deals! Promo Code: BusyMomsHelper

A total of 20 pages, sized at 6×9 to be a better fit for littler hands – plus more easily to travel with! You can print them out onto normal paper (I recommend cardstock) and staple or bind together. Or take them to professional printing center to have them printed very good quality and bound to last for a long while. The choice is yours!

Download & Print HERE

What’s YOUR favorite character that may be at Disney’s Aulani resort?

Nab our other Disney Activity & Autograph Books here!

Don’t forget to check out Get Away Today for the best vacation package deals! Promo Code: BusyMomsHelper

Decorating with Stencils

July 6, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

This post brought to you by Stencil Revolution. All opinions are mine alone. #StencilRevolution

It feels like we just moved into this house yesterday, while at the same time feeling like we’ve been here years. In all reality, it’s been about 2.5 months – and I haven’t done a single bit of decorating! In all fairness, I still have plenty of boxes to unpack and the more important items to check off the list first, but it really bothers me having nothing on my walls. I was thrilled to get a project to try out, especially because Decorating with Stencils and being able to paint makes me so happy! My kids know when I pull out my ‘painting clothes’, that I’m ready for some DIY fun.

I had so many ideas on what to do with the large 35″x35″ Texas State stencil I got – everything from a collage of photos cut to fit inside, to string art filling up the stencil – but ultimately I decided it’d be a fun addition to this huge BLANK spot on one of my upstairs walls. I mean, check out all this boring wall space….

Yup, it was definitely in need of something. For something a little more unique – and because I received both the outside AND inside pieces to this awesome stencil from Stencil Revolution – I decided to do the state shape itself in black chalkboard paint.

It took three or four coats to get it as smooth and dark as I wanted, but then was a beautiful Texas-shaped chalkboard spot on the wall!

Next, to add a bunch of fun color! I replaced the outside stencil with the inside, protecting my (fully dried, of course) Texas state shape. I chose four different colors (pink, blue, green and purple), then took some old rags and used THE RAGS to smudge each color all over randomly…

I’m sure you could make the smudging work with paint brushes, but I felt that the rags really gave it the random splotches, streaks and swipes that I was going for. At first, I was just going to do it a couple inches out from the black shape, but loved the look so much that I decided to fill that whole indented area on the wall – and I love how it turned out!

Soon, I want to add a red heart on top of the Texas shape right where DFW is, since that’s home for us!

Since I already had my ‘painting clothes’ and all my supplies out, I tackled another one of the fabulous stencils I got from Stencil Revolution – an awesome quote for the kitchen that reads ‘Today’s Menu: Eat it or Starve’ I know many of you moms are chuckling, just as I did as I browsed the site full of stencils! I feel like dinnertime is a constant battle, so may as well have a bit of humor with it – along with a pop of color in the kitchen, right?

There’s not a ton of wall space in my kitchen, which is fine with me because I love all the cabinet space and openness. This 18″x12″ vertical stencil fit perfectly on this column by my island area, and really helped that blank spot that was just begging to be decorated!

I’m thrilled to finally have some fun colors in my house, and had so much fun painting! I’m eager to add some more stencil decorations to my walls (I’ve got a beautiful saying to go in my bedroom, and a fun Iron Man face that the boys will enjoy in the game room or their bedroom), so stay tuned for more DIY projects and colorful fun!

What stencil would YOU want for your home?

DIY Paper Leaf

May 14, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

My kids love taking paper and creating things with them – from ‘houses’, to figurines, fun shapes and more. The great thing about it is that you can mix up the colors and sizes to really create a ton of possibilities. This fun DIY Paper Leaf Craft for Kids is perfect, and they can use it to decorate, play, or just for working those fine motor skills!

We did something slightly similar when we shared a DIY Paper Flower craft, and this is just as easy to follow and flexible. You can even try it with some cool textured paper to really make the leaves unique! You only need a few quick supplies, then you’re all set to start your own paper leaf project.

Supplies

Colored Craft Paper
Scissors
Craft Glue

Directions

Select a colored craft paper and cut it into a square. Fold the paper into half to mark the mid line. Unfold the half fold again.
Fold the paper from any one side to meet the mid line. Fold the other side to meet the mid line as well.
Again, fold the paper into half lengthwise.
Create a small diagonal fold at any one open end corner.
Start making small and even folds diagonally by keeping the folds aligned with the first diagonal fold. Try keeping the folds even.
Continue to create small diagonal folds until reaching the other end of the paper.
Unfold the last lengthwise fold made in step 3.
Squeeze and twist the bottom end of the folded paper to create the stem of the leaf. Apply glue to secure the twist.
Now apply glue along the top widest fold of the folded paper.
After applying the glue join the widest top folds to form the basic leaf shape.
There will be a small part of the top folds pointing outwards at the backside of the leaf, use scissors to cut off that extra part.

Don’t be intimidated by so many steps – they’re each very simple and quick, we just spread them out to make it even easier to follow! I’m thinking to make a bunch of these are around fall, as well, then having the kids create ‘trees’ using fallen branches. So fun!

What could you use a colorful paper leaf for?

DIY Popsicle Stick Coasters

April 12, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

Please tell me I’m not the only one who has a huge stockpile of popsicle sticks (aka craft sticks)? Not like used ones from popsicles my kids have eaten, so don’t worry – but I buy them in bulk because there’s so many awesome projects you can create with them! The latest fun are these DIY Popsicle Stick Coasters that you can quickly put together, then decorate however you’d like!

We’ve used craft sticks in plenty of things, such as our DIY Valentine Frame, to hold up our fun printable Star Wars Puppets, or even for the kids’ catapults! Seriously, these are one of those craft items that are great to keep in stock – maybe not the crazy amount I have, but still a bag full or so is perfect. Besides, a bunch of these crafts would be great for not just kids, but adults as well – just like these stick coasters!

Supplies

Popsicle sticks
Cutting pliers
Strong adhesive glue
Poster color
Paint brush

Directions

I used 12 popsicle sticks for each coaster, however select the number of popsicle sticks you want and cut off both round ends with the help of craft pliers so that the popsicle sticks are rectangular.
Place a piece of paper on a flat surface and place 1 popsicle stick vertically on it; Place 2 more popsicle sticks parallel to each other; Each of the 2 sticks should be placed horizontally with each ends of the first stick. The 1st stick has been used for measurement.
Now take the 1 st popsicle stick (placed vertically) and glue it on its side onto the 2 horizontal sticks.
Glue 2 more popsicle sticks on their sides onto the 2 horizontal sticks, keeping even gap between all 3 sticks. The base is now ready.
Now take the rest of the popsicle sticks and glue them on the base one by one.
You can either cover the entire top surface or keep small and even gaps between the popsicle sticks while gluing them on the top of the base.
Done gluing all the popsicle sticks? Select a color of your choice and simply paint the coaster (popsicle sticks) as you wish. Once you’re done painting, allow the paint to dry entirely.

They’re really SUPER easy to make, plus I love how easy it is to paint them to match your own decor or style.

They’d also make great gifts, especially as a ‘welcome home’ type package for someone moving! Or put these out at your next party – paint them to match the team you’re rooting for during the game, paint to match the decorations for a birthday, or just to protect your tables from those drinks 😉

How would YOU decorate your craft stick coaster?

DIY Paper Flowers for Spring

April 2, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

With all this rain, the leaves and flowers are popping up fast and making it feel like Spring. I’m definitely not a winter person, so my mood has improved with this coming season! Soon there will be colorful plants everywhere – and why not make your own beautiful Dahlia flowers with this fun project? You can do these fun DIY Paper Flowers for Spring to decorate your home or office, give as a sweet bouquet, or just because.

Supplies

Colored craft paper– 3 or more colors of your choice
Cardstock paper
Scissors
Craft glue

Directions

Select 3 or more different colors of craft paper for the flower and cut out square shapes from them. Cut out the squares in 3 different sizes and for each size cut 8 pieces of squares. Also cut out a round pattern, then cut it into a spiral.
Take any one of the square cut-outs and fold any one corner towards the middle of the square.
Now fold the opposite corner towards the middle (keeping the previous fold on its place). Overlap both folds by 1 cm and glue the overlapped part to secure the cone shape.
Similarly create cone patterns with the rest of the square cut outs. Take the spiral pattern and start rolling it from its outer edge towards the center and then glue the roll with the center to secure it; this will be the center part of the flower.
Cut out a round shape from a cardstock paper. The size of the round cut out would depend on the size of the square cut outs. Apply 8 lines of glue around the round pattern; from its outer edge towards the center, the lines don’t need to reach the center. I applied 8 lines of glue because I prepared 8 cones for each layer for the dahlia. The round pattern is the base.
Take the large cones and place each cone on each lines of glue with the cones’ open (wider) end facing outwards. Make sure to keep even gaps between the cones and arrange them nicely.
Go for the next layer with the medium sized cones. Glue the medium cones slightly inwards (joining the closed end of the cones at the center of the base and between 2 larger cones.
Now glue the small sized cones similarly; gluing each small cone between 2 medium cones and towards the center.
And finally, glue the rolled spiral piece on the center to complete the dahlia flower.

You can even mix it up and do variations by mixing and matching different colors of paper, or different numbers and layers of cones. It’s up to you – just have fun with it!

What color of paper flower would YOU like best?

5 Awesome DIY Disney MagicBand Decorating Ideas

May 22, 2019 by Kelly Dedeaux

For those that don’t know, our family is working extremely hard to be able to go visit Disney World later this year – that means saving money, planning ahead, skipping on some ‘extras’ to make it a reality. We’re all on board, and doing little things along the way to keep us excited and the momentum going – such as planning how we’ll customize our MagicBands! This is a great way to personalize your own band, and can be a fun Disney-themed craft project as you’re preparing for your next trip. Here’s 5 Awesome DIY Disney MagicBand Decorating Ideas to help get your creativity going!

If you saw when I shared earlier on why I think MagicBands are completely incredible and super useful on a Disney trip, you’ll know many of the ways you use it at the parks, hotels and more. Well, now you don’t only have your own handy band to help along your trip, but you can personalize it however you want to REALLY make it yours! Plus, it’ll add a little bit of ‘magic’ while you’re planning, preparing and counting down to your next visit.

Don’t forget to check Get Away Today for the best Disney Vacation deals!

The usual – purchase a design, or buy add-on accessories

You can order fully designed/printed MagicBands from Disney – everything from classic characters, to superhero or Star Wars. There’s also some fun accessories from places like the Disney Store that just pop into the holes along the band for some 3D accents.

Paint

Okay, how awesome is this Captain America themed band from Creative Green Living? Head over to see how she used paint to customize hers!

Temporary Tattoos

Check out how simple it is to use a fun tattoo for your MagicBand at Disney Insider Tips.

Or see The Delightful Life for another tutorial…

Jewels

How fantastic is this beautiful jeweled MagicBand from The Delightful Life?! I totally love it – this plus the ‘bonus’ craft at the bottom are likely what I’ll do to customize my own this year!

More fun ideas on the blog at Get Away Today!

Nail Polish & Stickers

There’s so many possibilities when you have some nail polish on-hand, so check out ScrapPop for how to use it on your band!

Bonus – GLITTER!!!

I absolutely LOVE this MagicBand creation from Creative Green Living – not just because it’s sparkly, but it’s also purple! I want to mix this tutorial with the jewel/bling one on my own band for our trip – I’ll be sure to share pics when it’s done!

How would you customize YOUR MagicBand?

Disney MagicBands: Why They’re Amazing

December 28, 2020 by Kelly Dedeaux

I was a bit confused the first time I went to Disney World. I’d been to Disneyland in California many times before, but there were so many differences that I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. For example, how the heck was I suppose to use these cool MagicBands that I received? Luckily I figured it out pretty quickly, and have since come to really love using them in place of tickets and such. There’s so many ways they make your trip better, and we’re sharing all our tips with you. So read on to learn all about the Disney MagicBands: Why They’re Amazing!

First of all, make sure your keep your MagicBand SAFE, because this is your ticket and key for many things! There are clasp slider things you can get, like a BitBelt, that help secure your band on just in case. This can be especially helpful for little kids who not only have tiny wrists, but also move around and mess with their bands a lot. Here’s why they’re so important, and why I absolutely love them on my Disney trip! And don’t forget to check out Get Away Today for the best prices on your magical vacation!

Magical Express Check-in

If you’re staying at a Disney-owned hotel, you can use the Magical Express shuttle from the airport to/from your hotel – for FREE! When you get to the airport, you check in at the Magical Express area (there’s plenty of signs all around the airport, don’t worry) – if you have a MagicBand, you just scan it and your reservation for the hotel pops up nice and easy. Otherwise you have to pull out your documents showing your reservation, taking more time and hassle.

Hotel Room Key

I’m a big fan of online check-in, because the lines when you arrive at your resort are typically pretty long (especially if you took the shuttle, because a LOT of people are arriving with you!). Checking in online beforehand is a great way to just skip straight to the fun – and they’ll email/text you when your room is ready, with the room number and location, so you can just go there at your convenience. What about a key? Your MagicBand is your hotel room key – yay! That means you don’t even have to go to the front desk to pick up any keys.

Purchases

Whether you’re buying that cute Stitch stuffed animal (that my hubby wants so badly), paying for your tasty meal at Tusker House, or paying for that delicious Dole Whip, you can just scan your MagicBand and it’ll charge it to the card you have on file with your band. Don’t worry, they do require a PIN for purchases, so if you do happen to lose it, it’s not the total end of the world. Still keep a good hold on it though – just in case 😉

Fast Pass+ & Reservatons

Unlike Disneyland, they do the FastPass+ system without tickets – this means it’s tied to your MagicBand! When it’s time for one of your FastPasses, you go up to that line and scan your band at the little Mickey stands. It’ll turn green if you’re good to go, and that’s it. No more keeping track of tiny paper tickets, thank goodness. And for your dining reservations, those can be pulled up by scanning your band, as well.

Park Tickets

To get in and out of the park, you can just scan your band at the Mickey stands, check your fingerprint (made the first time you go), then walk on in! It’s so nice to not have to have your tickets out and handy as you’re already trying to get through the lines, security and everything.

Check out Get Away Today for awesome prices on your Disney trip!

Ride & Photographer Photos

You know those amazing photographers all over the parks willing to take your photos? They just scan it onto your MagicBand, then the photos are loaded to your account to view and/or purchase. So convenient! Plus, during rides that have photos – they’re automatically scanned to your band, so you don’t have to rush at the end to nab your photo before it switches to the next one.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

If you do breakfast or lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant (highly recommend it – so fun!), you seat yourself after placing your order. With your Magicband, they can find you to bring you food right to your table. Don’t worry though – if you don’t have a band they give you a special ‘rose’ so they can still locate your party.

Test Track

For this amazing ride in Epcot, you design a ‘test’ vehicle for a simulation ride while in line (or at a station after the end of the ride), then scan your design from your MagicBand right before you get into your ‘car’. This is really exciting for kids (heck, and us adults, too!) who want to see how their design does. Also, a cast member told me it stays on your MagicBand for about 30 days – so if you design the perfect one and don’t want to replace it when you return in a few days or so, just be sure to not scan a new one onto your band and your cool design will still be there.

Our friends at Michael’s VIPs can give you all sorts of fun tips with their unforgettable guide services!

Personalized Message Surprises

Since they can ping/locate your MagicBand, some ques or rides will have special messages with YOUR NAME on there! At the end of it’s a small world, it said goodbye to ‘Danielle & Vardee’ when I went with my mom a couple years ago. Last year with hubby in line for Expedition Everest, one of those screen ‘ads’ that scroll through personalized to ‘Clayton’, and we saw a few kids get excited when their name popped up in others as well.

They’re Fun & Customizable

Whether you want to add fun things to it yourself, like little button stick-ins or glitter, or want to order a printed design, you can have a lot of fun designing your own MagicBand. Since you don’t HAVE to get a new one each visit, but instead can keep your favorite band, it makes it like a special keepsake as well. If you don’t want to pay more for customizing or decorating it, no worries – if you’re staying at a Disney-owned hotel they send each person one for free and have a handful or so of colors you can choose from. And yes, you can still put your name or something on it while you’re doing the personalizing, too!

What color or design would you want your MagicBand?

Minecraft Birthday Party

December 24, 2020 by Kelly Dedeaux

My twins turned 5 this month. FIVE! Ya, I’m still in shock a bit. When we started talking about what type of birthday party they want, it was a definite MINECRAFT answer from both of them! No surprise there, of course. Although this was a few weeks ago, I’m finally getting around to sharing our Minecraft Birthday Party!

One thing that I was really excited about is that there’s SO MUCH you can do with a Minecraft party, from the food, to the decor, to the activities…really, it’s crazy how many possibilities you have to work with! I really like not going broke for a 5-year-old birthday party, though, so I kept it really budget friendly and as stress-free as possible.

Minecraft Invitations

I’m really a fan of making our own invitations because 1. usually I can get them cheaper and 2. they’re totally fun! I made sure to include some Creepers, Steve? and his pup, even an Enderman! There’s a spot at the top of the text area you can write who’s celebration it is, then all the spots for details!

Print off the invitation HERE, cut it out and tape/glue the blank sides together. Then just fold on the designated lines, fill in your details, and pass them out. Now get ready to Par-Tay!

Minecraft Decorations

We had a ton of fun creating the setting for our party! Our awesome backdrop was a huge hit with the kiddos, and was really simple to put up! All you do is get some square plates in 2-3 shades of green and some black. Lay them out on a table or the floor, creating your Creeper pattern.

Turn them over, being careful to keep them in the patter you’re wanting, and tape all along the plate backs. Across, down, and diagonal.

See how easy it picks up? Then just use little nails or something at the top corners and one in the middle to hold it onto your wall. Easy and fabulous!

On our tablescape we used these fun Minecraft paper/box sets to really make the place look like the game. They come in sheet patterns that you just pop out and fold together. Great activity idea! I also nabbed this Grass tablecloth, which worked perfect!

I hung balloons and put Creeper faces or Enderman faces on them in our kitchen area and at the front door. For the favor bags I just got simple green baggies and taped black construction paper Creeper faces on the front!

I found these awesome swords and pick-axe and the kids LOVED them! Perfect for the decor, then you can use them for a game of ‘fight the Creeper’, then the birthday kid can keep them afterwards. We HAD to get a diamond sword version along with the iron, since my family is kind of obsessed with this game and it just ‘topped it off’.

There’s also PLENTY of Minecraft items HERE you can check out, from glowing wall torches, to pins, to spinning Wither and more!

Like the fabulous torches? Get the Tutorial HERE

Minecraft Food

Seriously, you could go even more crazy here, too! Here’s some of the delicious snacks and drinks we served up…

Creeper Juice & Creeper cups (green cups with marker faces)
Gold Brick boxes (also good for favors) with Coal (chocolate)
Sticks (pretzels)

Water (blue jello)
Lava (red jello)
TNT (licorice bits)
Dirt & Grass (pudding with green frosting)

Bread (biscuits with pizza toppings)
Redstone (rice krispies with black/grey food coloring and red candy chunks)
Diamonds (rice krispies with black/grey food coloring an blue candy chunks)
Creeper Cake (with green/white/black fondant squares to make a face)

I got the fun Free printable food name place cards from Catch My Party.

Minecraft Games & Activities

Like I said, you could play ‘fight the Creeper’ with the foam swords, or go ‘digging’ through some boxes with the pick-axes. You could also create your own sword with this fun Free Printable Sword Stencil HERE.

There’s also a Creeper Pinata – Get the Tutorial HERE

My boys seriously LOVED their party, and everyone had a wonderful time. We were also able to keep most of the decor for the kids to enjoy for a long while yet!

Don’t miss out on more Minecraft Fun…

Bug Valentine Craft with Free Printables

February 10, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

Even though many of us are barely recovering from Christmas, Valentine’s Day is quickly creeping up on us – crazy, right? With 4 kids in school this year, we’ve got plenty of kids’ Valentines for school to deal with. Luckily, these Bug Valentine pencils are a super easy craft, turn out adorable, and we even included the free printables for you!

You all know I love joining in Craft Lightning every month – and we’ve done some awesome crafts for every theme! Remember the snowman fingerprint activity last month? For those that don’t know – with this party we only share 15-minute (or less) crafts. I was able to do at least a dozen in that time, so within an hour I had plenty for my kids’ friends. Here’s for not waiting until the last minute – Woot woot!

Supplies

These Printable Bug Valentines – Download the 8.5×11 sheet here
Pom-poms
Pipe Cleaners
Hot glue/gun
Scissors
Googly eyes
Pencils
Hole-punch

Directions

Glue a pom-pom onto each pipe cleaner at the top. Glue 2 googly eyes onto the front. Cut the pipe cleaner to your desired length (or leave it longer, up to you) and wrap around the pencil.
Cut out the bug valentine cards. Hole punch at the top and bottom, then slide your pencil through.

That’s it – see, I told you it was a super easy Valentine idea! The kids are really excited to give these out – and were glad we did such a variety of colors for their friends to choose from.

Another bonus? It’s a non-candy Valentine idea, meaning less sweets to deal with! I like this partially because my kids don’t need even more candy, as I’m sure their friends don’t either – but while doing the craft I’d probably eat well more than I should if it was candy! I’m much safer with pencils and pom-poms 🙂

Now head over to see the other amazing Valentine’s Day crafts for this month’s Craft Lightning!

If you missed our other Craft Lightning crafts….

12 Winter Hat Kid Crafts

January 17, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

With all of these snow storms & freezing weather, kids aren’t getting as much outside time. If yoy’re looking for a fun winter-themed craft to give them a little extra fun this winter, you’ll love these winter 12 Winter Hat Kid Crafts! They’re an excellent craft to make during the winter, and your kids will love them!

Paper Plate Snow Hat Craft

Winter Hats Craft

Dressed for Winter Hat Activity

Cozy Winter Hat Project

Santa Hat Christmas Ornament

Paper Plate Winter Hat

Santa Hat Cup Craft

Yarn Wrapped Winter Hats

Reindeer Hat

Winter Hat Tree Ornament

Winter Hat Craft

DIY Valentine Frame from Craft Sticks

December 28, 2020 by Kelly Dedeaux

Let this sink in for a moment – it’s less than a month until Valentine’s Day. Please tell me I’m not the only one in shock – I mean, didn’t it just turn 2018, and already we’re looking to February?! Well, whether we’re ready or not, the holiday is coming – so to TRY and get myself in the festive pink-and-red-everything mood, I wanted to share this fun DIY Valentine Frame from Craft Sticks that I put together.

It’s surprisingly easy, aside from getting the glitter off your hands afterwards (really, I need to find a reliable trick that will help me get rid of the random glitter that sticks around for days after a project because DANG it’s everywhere). You don’t even need a ton of stuff, and you can even let the kids make their own sweet valentine frame for a neat holiday craft.

I love that it’s 3-D looking due to the layer and stacking of the sticks, and that you can customize it to fit your own preferences. Hate pink? Don’t use it. Want larger sparkles instead of tiny glitter? Do it. This is YOUR Valentine frame, so make it your own!

Supplies

12 full craft sticks
6 full craft sticks cut in half (so 12 halves) – be sure to cut off the sharp edges
Hot glue/gun
Glue Stick
Glitter, sparkles, accents, ribbon, etc. as you see fit
Photo

Directions

If you haven’t already, cut the 6 craft sticks into halves (does NOT have to be perfect, just ‘ish’). Then, pour your glitter/sparkles of choice into a large plate or tray. I mixed a few colors to get a variety mix (silver, white, pink and purple). Rub one side of each stick (including the halves) with your glue stick – one stick at a time – then rub in the glitter mixture to coat that side. Set aside to dry as you continue with all the sticks.
Follow the following diagram below to arrange and hot glue your sticks together. 1: put 2 sticks on the left and 2 sticks on the right, connecting at the bottom point of the ‘heart’ (don’t glue in this step). 2: glue a stick on top & between the two sticks on each side (shown in photo 2 and 3 below). 3: glue 2 halves on the top right and 2 halves on the top left to angle in towards the top of the ‘heart’. 4: Turn over and glue 2 halves under the left and 2 halves under the right to do the final point down and in to finish the ‘heart’ shape. 5: Turn it back over and glue 1 half on the left and 1 half on the right to make the top center part more sturdy. 6: Glue 1 half to the left and 1 half to the right for the top ‘corner edge’ parts of the heart – again, to make it sturdy.
To finish it up, glue a ‘handle’ to the back & bottom of your heart shape with the last full craft stick piece!
Then all you have left is to carefully trace & cut out your photo so it fits on the back of your frame, then carefully glue along the edges so it stays in place.

That’s it! I know that may seem like a lot of steps, but it’s truly simple and takes hardly any time at all. In fact, doing the glitter on the sticks is what took me the longest of everything! Just be sure to follow that diagram photo so you have a visual to help keep it as easy as possible.

You can add accent pieces – like a little ‘jewel’ – or a ribbon, as you see fit. Like I said – make it YOURS! Or customize to the person you’re giving it to 🙂

I had to add the photo hubby and I had taken during family pictures last month because I absolutely LOVE it! Often us moms forget to get photos of us with our kids, and sometimes even less do we get photos with our honey. That’s something I’m trying to work on this year – more photos WITH those I love, not just of them!

One last tip – if you don’t want the ‘craft stick’ tan color showing through, you can use markers or paint before hand to color it, or just be sure to layer up the glitter a lot for full coverage. I kind of like the randomness and dimension to it, but that’s just my personal preference.

What photo would YOU put in this fun DIY Valentine frame?

More Valentine’s Day Crafts

21 Alien & Monster Crafts for Kids

January 16, 2018 by Kelly Dedeaux

Whether you’re doing a themed project at preschool, need to give the kids an activity while you tackle laundry, or just want to sit down together and create, here’s a fun list of 21 Alien and Monster Crafts for Kids to help you out.

Painting and paper folding, silly faces and crazy decorations, there’s a little bit of something for everyone in this great list of crafts for kids – and adults, too, because you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy some good ol’ alien or monster fun 🙂