Make It Monday: Popcorn Cherry Blossoms

One of the things I love about spring is seeing the trees start to bud. That new life and splash of green and is refreshing after the gloom of winter. My favorites though are the flowering trees. The pinks, the purples, the whites - all so pretty. We used to have a beautiful flowering tree in the front of our house. Pretty, that is, as long as the flowers were still on the trees. Once they started falling - and got glued to the exterior of our van - it wasn't so pretty anymore.  Even after we'd clean off the dead flowers, there would still be gunky residue left on the van. Yuck. 

Leighton cut down the tree and filled the space with concrete to expand our driveway. While I don't miss the dried flower gunk or having to walk through the mud to get from the van into the house, I do miss the pretty flowers.

Not to worry, we now have our very own cherry blossoms . . . inside the house.

To make the tree trunks, we traced each child's hand and arm.

Then, they colored them.

You'll need popcorn and pink/red/purple JELL-O for the blossoms.

Pour both the popcorn and the JELL-O powder into a bag.

Make sure the bag has no holes. One way to check is to pour them in and shake. If the powder spills out all over the table, there is a hole. 

Ask me how I know.

Once you pour the popcorn and powder into a new bag - one with no holes - shake, shake, shake it up!

Squeeze dots of glue all around the tree and place popcorn in each one.

Our blossoms were more purple-y than the pink I had originally envisioned. That's what I get for letting Jake, Mr. I-love-everything-cherry, choose the JELL-O. The color did change to pink once they touched the glue though. Also, I sprayed them with hair spray to ensure that the powder stuck and to turn them pinker.

I could have spritzed them with water to bring out the pink, but I remembered what would happen!

Of course, there was plenty of popcorn eating as well. And messy, sticky fingers. And dirty faces. And a powdery table. All the very best things about crafting.

Jake liked the popcorn so much that he asked if we could make it for Tasty Tuesday. It's no wonder he liked it; it tasted just like the fruit-flavored pancake syrup we made.

Aren't they pretty! There's really no wrong way to place the blossoms. The ones off the tree look like flowers that the wind blew away. (Good thing there's no van next to it!)

We got 3 beautiful cherry blossom trees (without the hassle of the clean-up!) and a tasty snack to boot? Sounds like a great springtime craft to me!


Hope you have fun making your own flowering trees!

Make It Monday: Polar Bears

Happy Polar Bear Day! The kids and I are really enjoying celebrating the silly and random holidays. So many times they'll ask when they wake up in the morning, "What national day is today?" There's just something fun about taking the time to enjoy the little things in life. Like polar bears. Not that they're little in size, but little as in not a big part of our life - thank God! One, they're too big to keep in an aquarium, which is about the only pet I want in my house. And two, I don't want to live in the cold region of the polar bears. However, that did not stop us from celebrating their cuteness. 

Here's our cast of characters: pipe cleaners, googly eyes, glue, pencil, construction paper, pom-poms, cotton balls, and a bowl.  This craft is so versatile though that you can use any supplies you have on hand. 

 Use the pencil and bowl to draw a template for the bear's head.

 Gently stretch the cotton balls to make them light and fluffy.

 Cover your circle in a thin layer of glue.

Fill in the circle with the cotton balls. Add 2 cotton balls for ears.

Little Zac did not care for this part. Every time he'd try to place a mush of cotton, he'd get glue on his hand and some of the cotton would stick to him. He was not thrilled with the "pider web" on his hand.

Bend a piece of pipe cleaner into the shape of a smile and glue it on the face. The polar bear's face, not your face. Please, flash your own smile.

Stop to play with the bag of cotton balls.

 Glue on a pom-pom nose and googly eyes.

Look at the cute, fuzzy polar bears! We're out of big googly eyes, and Jake thought the size we have is too small. He used white pom-poms and drew eyeballs on with a black marker. Part of the fun of crafting is making it your own! These little guys are hanging on the wall in our kitchen. Hmm, maybe that's why it's a little chilly in here . . . 

Make It Monday: Yarn Hearts

I found this craft on the Family Fun website. And it looked like fun . . . for my family. So we made them for Valentine's Day.

Start by making glue. Stir 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan until smooth. Heat over medium until mixture is transparent and thickens. Let cool before using.

* Tip - Don't get distracted by the kids and walk away for 3 minutes during the cooking process. Your "glue" will be like jelly. Then you'll have to add water and whisk to get it back to a thinner consistency. Trust me.

 Gather your glue, heart cookie cutters, and yarn cut into 10 inch pieces.

 Dunk a piece of yarn into the glue.

 Once it's coated thoroughly, pull the yarn back out.

 Grab it by the end, and squeeze off the excess glue using your thumb and forefinger.

 Place your yarn into the cookie cutter on parchment paper.

 Repeat until the shape of the cookie cutter is filled in a thin layer. Press the yarn down gently.

 Allow to air dry for at least 24 hours or place in a warm oven for an hour or two.

How festive!

We chose to add string to ours and hang them in the kitchen window. I love seeing the kids' crafts as I stand at my sink - especially since I spend a lot of time there! 

This craft really would work better for older children. My kiddos did fine coating the yarn, but they wanted to wipe off their hands after each one. The glue is definitely messy - but that's part of the fun! After a little while, I dunked and squeegeed the yarn, and the kids placed them in the cookie cutters. They chose the design, and I got to be part of the process. Teamwork at its finest!

This could also be adapted for any occasion - eggs for Easter, bulb ornaments for Christmas, flowers for spring, ect. We're even thinking about red, white, and blue stars for the Fourth of July! Have fun experimenting!