As I was making a new paper chain last weekend for my mom’s 86th birthday, I realized that this classic, old-school activity really is my favorite way to decorate a room. And the best part is that you can use any paper you have, and all ages can join in and collaborate. Paper chains are…
garland
Cupcake Liner Snowflakes
This is a perfect craft for a cozy day inside. All you need are some plain cupcake liners (here I used white and kraft) and some scissors. Hole punchers optional. That’s it! Fold them a few times, snip here and there, and soon you will have a whole table full of these little cupcake liner…
Watercolor House Garland
This house garland can be painted in endless ways. Here I used some white crayon resist, watercolor, and a splash of gold tempera paint. Set this out for a group of children and let them explore the resist technique used when mixing crayon and watercolor. You could make these in a classroom, or at home…
Make: World Flag Garland
We made this world flag garland back in 2014 for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but I recently dusted it off because it is so awesome. And I do mean awesome. This one kept my kids busy for days and days. But more than that, it sparked so many interesting conversations about the world. It…
Cardboard Egg Garland
In the last art camp I held in my house, before the pandemic shut everything down, I had the kids paint a bunch of cereal box cardboard. I set it out with some paint jars and expired gifts cards and had them scrape the paint all around. After it was dry, we used that cardboard…
Cinco de Mayo Garland from Coffee Filters
If you’ve never used coffee filters for crafts before, now would be the time to start! These colorful and super festive “Papel Picado” garlands for Cinco de Mayo were made by 8 & 9-year olds and would be the perfect craft for teens. And of course, grown-ups. I loved making them! It felt like a Spring version…
Potato Print Garland
There is something about potato stamps that makes me think of my childhood. I’m not even sure I ever did potato stamping, but it’s more the look that the stamping provokes: imperfect, smudgy, and just authentically kid-like. I was hoping my art class students would be into it. And to my eternal relief…they were! How…
Watercolor Garland {paint with Q-tips}
I am so in love with these garlands that the 4-yr olds made in art camp last week. This technique was such a success that the kids asked to do it again the next day! They LOVED painting with q-tips. And I swear, there was literally no way to make these mini paintings look bad….
LOVE Garland
Today on Art Bar Monday over at Small for Big, learn how to make this artsy LOVE garland. It’s a variation on last year’s Valentine’s theme, with the painted newspaper, but you can make it any way you want. Like most of my projects, there is lots of room for variation. Make it your…
25 Creative Halloween Ideas
Here is a list of creative Halloween ideas for all of you out there who, like me, don’t get very excited about decorating for Halloween. My kids are always begging me to ramp it up. And we get over 600 little trick-or-treaters coming to our house every year (that’s a fact), so the pressure is…
