Craft Lightning Archives - Busy Moms Helper

Craft Stick Catapult

April 8, 2019 by Danielle 5 Comments

Who else is ready for Spring break? Ya, me neither! Luckily, I’ve got a bunch of fun busy activities for kids planned, so I won’t be hearing ‘I’m bored’ constantly. This Craft Stick Catapult is super easy to make – and really quick, too! The kids especially loved how they could customize it to be ‘their own’. Check it out!

I loved this month’s craft lighting theme: busy activities for kids! We could all use some of these in our parenting arsenal, especially with the kids out of school soon. My kids are out a whole week – crazy! I’m excited for the play time we’ll get, but for the moments when I need to get some work done, I can rely on these fantastic ideas.

Supplies – per catapult

7 Craft Sticks
Markers or paint (if wanting to color the sticks)
5 Rubber bands
Hot glue/gun
Bottom half of plastic Easter egg
Ammo (pom poms, marshallows, etc.)

Directions

Color the craft sticks with paint or markers, if desired. Allow to dry.
Stack 5 craft sticks together, then use a rubber band on each end to tightly secure them together.
Slide one craft stick above the bottom stick in the stack and pull through. Use a rubber band to secure the last craft stick on top of this one, at the end. Make sure it’s a bit loose, so it can stretch as you pull back the catapult.
To keep it steady and secure, use the last 2 rubber bands to create an X around the middle of the catapult, leaving a little loose so you can adjust it.
Use a dab of hot glue to secure the Easter egg half as a bowl to the launching end of the catapult. Allow to dry, then aim away!

See, a super easy kid’s craft you can make, then enjoy for hours! Let them draw their own ‘target’ and have them practice their aim – show them how you can adjust the length of the stick and it will affect how high/far the ammo goes. Fun AND learning at the same time!

Now head over and see the other fantastic busy bag crafts to keep kids happy with this month’s Craft Lightning!

Other fun kid activities you may like…

Paper Plate Easter Baskets

March 29, 2019 by Danielle 6 Comments

Who’s ready for this month’s Craft Lightning post? I sure am, and this month the theme is recycled crafts. I wanted something totally customizable, super cute and give it an Easter twist. There were plenty ideas to choose from, but I really wanted to share these Paper Plate Easter Baskets!

Everyone has paper plates around, right? I find uses for them all the time, and mostly it’s not for holding foods! They work perfectly for make this baskets, and you can switch it up to go along with any holiday or occasion…even just for fun! The best part about them is how quick and simple they are to make….just a few minutes from start to finish!

Supplies

Round Paper Plate
Tape
Ribbon
Scissors
Stuff for Inside

Directions

Cut two slits on opposite sides of the plate. Go in until the cuts are past the ‘ruffled rim’ edge.
Fold along the bottom of the cuts all the way across on both sides, so there’s a crease.
Fold right along the cuts across, bringing the sides up. Have the little cut ‘side’ folded behind.
Tape the two sides securely.
You’re done with your basket! Fill as desired 🙂

I filled mine with some fake grass, then some baskets have Easter Eggs inside.

In others, I put some wax paper and then a bunch of my Dad’s Healthier Cookies. The average cookie is the PERFECT size to fit in a row inside these fabulous baskets!

I also added ribbon on the outsides for a fun little POP of color! Pretty pastels in green and purple just shout SPRING to me! I’m letting my kiddos color the white part of the plates to create their own, unique ones to take to a couple friends because, well, why not?

What would you put in YOUR paper plate basket?

Now don’t forget to go see all of the other amazing recycled crafts joining in this month’s Craft Lightning fun!

More Easter Crafts…

Bug Valentine Craft with Free Printables

February 10, 2018 by Danielle

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….

Our Favorite Rebel Star Wars Father’s Day Printable

May 13, 2016 by Danielle

It’s our last day of Craft Lightning, filled with tons of easy Father’s Day crafts – so I’m sharing my favorite one: this ‘Our Favorite Rebel’ Star Wars Father’s Day Printable! Use it as a card or a picture frame for that perfect Star Wars Dad in your life. Customize it how you want, or let the kiddos have a great time with it.

I had so much fun designing this Father’s Day card, and the kiddos were big fans, too! I had to print off a picture of hubby and the kids with their lightsabers, then just taped it on. Another option is to let the kiddos draw a picture of Dad, their favorite rebel! You can’t really go wrong whichever way you choose 🙂

I couldn’t resist including Yoda-Stitch and Darth Vader-Goofy in some pics. Y’all know how big into Star Wars our family is, right?! If you didn’t, you sure do now!

This would go perfect with our Star Wars Father’s Day Gift Bottle Printable Set we shared, to give a little bit ‘more’. I thought about putting this in a picture frame, but then it may cover the fun edges – so I might just glue a little cardboard piece behind it as a ‘stand’ and have it BE it’s own photo frame!

I know hubby would love to put it on his desk – or we could just put it above the fireplace for everyone to enjoy.

Download the 8.5×11 printable here

Once you download the printable (I recommend cardstock), just cut it out and either draw your favorite rebel, or tape/glue on a picture. There’s a larger one that’s roughly 5×7 in size, then a slightly smaller one so you can choose which best fits your needs.

Craft Lightning Father’s Day Features

I absolutely LOVE this Father’s Day Cricut Card from Crafting in the Rain!

One Artsy Mama did an awesome job with this Father’s Day Superhero Art

Create this Personalized Journal from Create and Babble for his special day

The kids would love making this Shrink Film Father’s Day Key Chain from A Sweet Berry’s Blog

I’m sure any Dad would love this Homemade Old Bay BBQ Sauce from Happy Go Lucky Blog

I never knew this Stamped Leather Key Chain from Artistic Endeavors would be so easy

This Father’s Day Dresser Catch-All for Dad from Stuff-n-Such would be super useful!

How cute is this Printed Faux Leather Key Chain from Silly Pearl? Love it!

Father’s Day Star Wars Bottle Gift Printable Set

May 12, 2016 by Danielle

Let your Dad know he’s the ‘Best Dad in the Galaxy’ with this super fun Father’s Day Star Wars Bottle Gift Printable Set! Dark side or light? You don’t have to choose, just do one of each! This is the perfect Star Wars gift for dad, and it’s really easy to put together.

You can also mix and match the bottle wraps – cool backgrounds, just characters or with some text. We just made a few changes to our Graduate Star Wars Bottle Set so it was focused on the Dad in your life, and we know he’ll love it!

Supplies

Download your Printable Sets Here:
- Bottle Wraps: Background Only or Characters or Text
- Front Label & Handle: Dark Side or Light Side
- Side Labels
Scissors & Tape
6-pack Glass Bottle Set

Directions

Download and print the sheets (links above in supplies), then cut them out.
Tape into their spots on your bottle set, then gift away!

Told you it was easy – yet awesome!

Father’s Day Craft Lightning Features:

I wish I’d made these cute Foiled Baby Footprints like Hey Let’s Make Stuff when my twins were born!

You can really have fun with these Personlized Coasters from Tried & True Blog!

Loving this Father’s Day Coupon Book from Jen Gallacher – it’s only $1.99 in her store!

These Star Wars Father’s Day Treats from Clever Pink Pirate are right up our alley

I’m loving this DIY Painted Pint Glass from Laura’s Crafty Life

Have your kids help with this DIY Dad Brag Book from 100 Directions

As you know, I love mason jars – so these fabulous Mason Jar Father’s Day Tags & Treats from Beth Watson Design Studio are perfect!

Get our favorite crafts started, because Father’s Day will be here before you know it!

The Dad Card

May 11, 2016 by Danielle

Guys, I’m super excited to share today’s Father’s Day craft with you – The Dad Card. You know how people say ‘man card’ or they’re going to ‘pull the parent card’? This means they get to trump a decision, or get the final say. Give Dad his very own ‘Dad Card’ so he gets priority for decisions on his special day! The best part – you can make it really quick and easily using on-hand supplies!

Fun, right? I’m eager to see what things hubby pulls HIS Dad Card for 🙂 Now, for mine I used whatever supplies and scraps I had on-hand, and you can do the same. Just make little tweaks as you need if you have different random supplies. No need to spend lots of money!

Supplies

Popsicle Sticks
Markers/Paint
Scrap paper/cardboard (for the inside part)
Marker/stickers for text
Hot glue/gun
Handle (I used a cheap sponge brush)

Directions

Use your markers/paint to color the popsicle sticks as desired. Use your hot glue gun to secure them into a frame – overlapping as I did, if you want.
Glue your scrap cardstock/paper/etc. (I used an old paint color card) behind the frame so you have the centerpiece. Attach your handle (or cheap brush, whatever) and then add your text by writing it or using stickers. That’s it!

It’s easy for the kids to help – coloring the sticks, choosing the sticker/text, even helping with the gluing (with high supervision). Great affordable and EASY Father’s day gift from the kiddos!

More features for Father’s Day Craft Lighting

How awesome is this Steampunk Dad Mug from Michelle’s Party Plan-It? Love it!

Every dad could use a Slim Wallet, like this one from Carla Schauer – especially if it only takes 15 minutes

It’d be saying A LOT in our house if the kids loved Daddy more than LEGO – so this card from Scrappy Chick Blog would be perfect!

I love this Best Dad Duck Tape Gift Card Holder from Mad In Crafts – makes me think of the Guardians of the Galaxy mixed tape!

I never knew a DIY Pop-up Card, like this one from Raegun Ramblings, was so easy to make!

This Alphabet Soup Message Board from Me And My Inklings is not only fun, but useful

Is your dad the BEST? Then give him this cute Best Dad Picture Frame from Albion Gould

For that fisherman Dad in your life, check out this fantastic ‘Dad is REELY Awesome’ frame from Frog Prince Paperie

So many great ideas – whip up your favorites, and don’t forget to give him his own DAD CARD!

Button Art Dad Gift

May 10, 2016 by Danielle

Another day of fantastic and EASY Father’s Day crafts with this month’s Craft Lightning! I love how our Button Art Dad Gift turned out – so simple, yet a lot of fun for the kids. Plus a good excuse to use a lot of my random buttons I tend to stock up on! Choose your own colors and styles for this Father’s Day Button Art and get crafting!

Just like yesterday’s Fingerprint Dad Gift, you don’t need a ton of supplies. After all, the whole point to Craft Lightning is simple crafts in 15 minutes or less (minus drying time).

Supplies

Canvas of choice
Buttons
Hot glue/gun
Toothpick
Pencil

Directions

Outline your DAD letters (and we put a tie at the end, so all 4 kids had their own) with the pencil.
Select your buttons. Doing the edges first, and a section at a time, use the hot glue gun on the canvas. Use the toothpick to press each button down onto the hot glue, working in sections until the whole letter (or shape) is filled.
Allow to dry, then hang or display!

I love the texture of the all the fun buttons, don’t you? It just adds some fun dimension to this Dad Gift.

Here’s the features from yesterday’s Craft Lightning group!

What a cute Daddy Daughter Picture Frame from Practically Functional!

Do you think Dad would share some of this yummy S’mores Bouquet from Seven Alive?

I really want to make these Shrinky Dink Tie Tacks from A Girl and a Glue Gun with my kiddos!

Another adorable Father Daughter Frame that’s super easy to make from Creative Cynchronicity

I bet this Kid Made Beard Oil form My Very Educated Mother smells fantastic!

I’m a big fan of cute mason jar crafts – so love this Father’s Day Mason Jar from Gingersnap Crafts!

I can think of several places these Essential Oil Air Fresheners from Hydrangea Hippo would be useful!

Any Dad would appreciate this fun Father’s Day Gift Wrapping from DIY Inspired

Check back for more great Father’s Day Gift Ideas tomorrow, and grab those buttons for our Button Art Dad Gift!

Snowman Fingerprint Craft and Gift

November 8, 2015 by Danielle

I can’t tell you how much I look forward to Craft Lightning each month! I love joining with other bloggers on one theme, and seeing all the fabulous creations that come out of it. It also gives me a great excuse to unpack some of my crafting supplies and spend some time ‘creating’ – something I’ve missed during the whole moving process. So now I get to share with you this fun and beautiful Snowman Fingerprint Craft and Gift we made!

Remember, the rules with Craft Lightning is that it has to take 15 minutes or less (minus drying time) to create – because who has hours to spend on crafts during the holidays?! I loved that these were super fast – just do a little, let it dry, a bit more, let it dry, etc. I think actual ‘doing’ time was maybe 5 minutes for each thing – perhaps 10 for the younger kids that really wanted to ‘focus’ 🙂

Supplies

Plaque, board, canvas – whatever surface you want these on
Blue paint for background
White paint for snowmen/snow
Black paint for hat/eyes/buttons
Brown paint for stick arms
Orange paint for carrot nose
Paint in color of choice for scarf
Paintbrushes
Toothpicks
Ribbon or twine for hanging

Directions

Paint the surface blue – allow to dry.
Put some white paint on your kids’ fingers (not thumbs, as they’re much shorter – unless you want to). Press straight down firmly, press, then lift straight up.
Finish the ‘snowy hill’ underneath the fingers – allow to dry.
Use a toothpick to carefully create black eyes and buttons, brown for stick arms, and orange for a cute carrot nose. Carefully use either a small brush or a toothpick to add a black top hat – allow to dry.
Add a colorful scarf to your snowmen!
Add a ribbon loop (or twine) for hanging, then display it proudly – or send it as a gift!

So cute, right?! Now head on over to check out the other AMAZING holiday-themed projects for this month’s Craft Lightning!

Free Printable Teacher Gift Tags

April 7, 2015 by Danielle

Who’s ready for another Craft Lightning post? I totally am – I love joining in this fun week every month! This time around we’re acknowledging the amazing teachers with gift ideas. There’s so many great ideas, so I thought I’d share some adorable Free Printable Teacher Gift Tags you can use on anything!

It’s amazing how hard teacher’s work during the year. I use to volunteer/sub at an elementary school and couldn’t believe the hours and care put into their students’ education! Once I subbed for the computer teacher a whole month straight, and by the end I had an even higher appreciation for all of them. As much as I love kids and teaching, I couldn’t do it long-term!

I wanted these tags to be simple, yet fun. Of course I had to incorporate a chalkboard-type background because, duh, school!

I’ll even share what we did for our fun gift – a Classroom Emergency Kit! Seriously, so many options of what you can include in here 🙂

Supplies

Basket or other box
Paint of choice, brushes
Filler
Presents
Ribbon/Rope
Printable Gift Tags – Download Here

Directions

Paint your crate the color you want. I added a red cross on the two sides of mine, since it’s an ‘EMERGENCY’ kit.
I chose to use fake grass type stuff for my filler. Since I didn’t want it to fall through the cracks on the bottom, I lined it with some tissue paper.
Put your teacher presents inside, attach the gift tag, and you’re all set!

This particular basket is going to Wonder Woman’s 3rd grade teacher. She’s always saying how they run out of these basic things in their classroom….now she’ll have a little stash! I HAD to include the fun chocolate note pad that says “I would give up Chocolate but I am not a Quitter” 🙂 Then toss in a gift card, because every teacher deserves a little treat for themselves!

Craft Stick Catapult

Supplies – per catapult

Directions

Other fun kid activities you may like…

Paper Plate Easter Baskets

Supplies

Directions

What would you put in YOUR paper plate basket?

More Easter Crafts…

Bug Valentine Craft with Free Printables

Supplies

Directions

If you missed our other Craft Lightning crafts….

Our Favorite Rebel Star Wars Father’s Day Printable

Download the 8.5×11 printable here

Craft Lightning Father’s Day Features

Father’s Day Star Wars Bottle Gift Printable Set

Supplies

Directions

Father’s Day Craft Lightning Features:

The Dad Card

Supplies

Directions

More features for Father’s Day Craft Lighting

So many great ideas – whip up your favorites, and don’t forget to give him his own DAD CARD!

Button Art Dad Gift

Supplies

Here’s the features from yesterday’s Craft Lightning group!

Snowman Fingerprint Craft and Gift

Supplies

Directions

So cute, right?! Now head on over to check out the other AMAZING holiday-themed projects for this month’s Craft Lightning!

Free Printable Teacher Gift Tags

Supplies

Directions

Head over to see the other amazing Teacher Gift Ideas for Craft Lightning!

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