This painting party for kids is such a fun activity! Everyone gets to go home with a one-of-a-kind party favor—a painting for their bedroom!
You can gift paint sets, coloring books and other art styled items for favors. Such a … Read More...
Freeform wire wrapping is an undiscovered art. This beautiful bangle is a FUN project – and you don’t need to be a wire wrapping pro to give it a good go! You can learn how to make your own bangle … Read More...
It’s time to start thinking about Christmas gifts! These little trees are easy and fun to make. You can find a tutorial and free pattern at Beginner Sewing Projects. It’s a great project for kids or beginners. You will love … Read More...
Bicycle wheels hold so many recycling opportunities. As a round structure with all the wire spokes you can embellish in so many ways. This one is embellished with pretty flowers around part of it so the wheel still shows. Looking … Read More...
One of the most exciting things about DIY weddings it the ability to add your own personal touches to the decor and theming. This DIY Wedding tutorial shows you how to take sheet music to create a hymnal bouquet out … Read More...
I am not great at multiplication, and while my daughter is sort of learning her multiplication tables, I know she’s often just trying to do the math in her head rather than having the facts memorized.
Knowing how to skip … Read More...
The One Row Kerchief pattern from Natasha Sills is a really fun looking, simple pattern that can be worked in a lot of different ways.
Use any weight of yarn, and change up the pattern slightly to get more of … Read More...
Use a French seam to create a clean finish on the inside of your lightweight to medium weight garments. Petro from Easy Peasy Creative shows how to sew a French seam. It’s an easy seam finish that creates a clean … Read More...
Marcia turned a tea pot shaped die cut from Silhouette into a fun little mini album to hold recipes. How cute is that?! I like how she wrote the recipes on cards and adhered them inside with washi tape, making … Read More...
This cute little penguin is ready to make a splash this summer. Laura created this card with stamps and dies from SugarPea. The splashy watercolor background she created with Distress Inks and a Sprayer is perfect for this card!
The Cool Cobbles Crochet Purse pattern is so simple to crochet and looks so stylish in your favorite cotton yarn
This pattern is very simple to create and is as functional as it is fun.
This is a great … Read More...
Sew a midi or maxi length sundress for an American Girl or other 18-inch doll! Sew Crafty has a free pattern and tutorial you can use. She designed the dress to be easy to sew AND easy for a child … Read More...
The concentric scalloped circles on this layout from Tarrah get smaller and smaller and bring in focus on the sweet picture in the canter. The stitching around each circle adds nice texture, the little tabs are perfect for writing small … Read More...
Bibi Cameron shares how she made 3 lovely cards using just 1 die. With the Carnation Frame die from Simon Says she used it as an all over background as well as cut it apart. I love the metallic cardstock … Read More...
August is not a month with a lot of holidays in it (except my birthday, which should totally be a holiday where we all stay home and craft) but one silly holiday to be found in the month falls on … Read More...
I bet everyone has a random sock or 2 or…..a lot? This idea for transforming that single sock into a stylish dress for a doll is brilliant! All size socks can be used for all different size dolls. Pop on … Read More...
This embroidery tutorial is for Sashiko Japanese embroidery. This tutorial uses a kit but you can still view the guide as an easy embroidery tutorial. The detail in this cushion is quite intricate. Don’t expect to finish this tutorial in … Read More...
End summer with a big ol’ dose of sticker love! Get 20% off the first month of all sticker club subscriptions – use the code SOAKITUP .
Speaking of saving cash, did you know you’ll get more than $45 worth … Read More...
There are so many great, colorful sock yarns out there that it’s super tempting to use them for other projects that call for fingering-weight yarns.
I found this article from Jillian Moreno at Mason-Dixon Knitting all about sock yarn versus … Read More...
Bev from Flamingo Toes created this beautiful quilted pillow using a vintage travel poster panel print and a reverse applique technique. She’s got a tutorial showing how she did it. The print is from Riley Blake Designs National Parks … Read More...
With all the ETSY backlash about free shipping, I thought this video was well worth the feature.
Jeff from Standley Handcrafted has free shipping covered with this video tutorial on how to price your candles to cover your shipping costs. … Read More...
Altenew has recently release a line of decals. These clear vinyl decals are removable and repositionable and can be used on a variety of surfaces like walls, glass, electronics and also paper. You can use them to create lovely scrapbook … Read More...
Nothing says Home to me more than cats and books. I used the new Check You Out stamp set from Stampin’ Up combined with the Nine Lives set and punch to create a Welcome Home scene card.
Visit my Youtube … Read More...
Chelsea from Sew Simple Home has a free pattern for sewing this easy bi-fold wallet. It has plenty of pockets on the inside for credit cards, and a large pocket for paper money. It’s a cute wallet and a great … Read More...
The wooden and acrylic words and accents add great shine and dimension to this layout from Daniela. The purple and pink colors are perfect for a fun girly look. And I think this photo of her daughter asleep on New … Read More...
To get the pretty background on this card Nicole added embossing paste partially over a stencil and then added embossing powder over top and heated it for a great shiny, textured look. It’s a great way to mix medias! I … Read More...
Using yarn in unconventional ways to make decorations and art is one of my favorite things to look for as I have quite the yarn stash. This idea for weaving on a branch is sooooo cool. The shape of the … Read More...
This kids craft project is a mix of back to nature and kids free form art. There are no instructional photos for this post because we want you to intentionally let your child create their own design and artwork.
For … Read More...
Every teacher of preschool and early elementary that I know (and a lot of the parents, too) seem to have a vast collection of plastic caps from milk cartons and other places. These can come in lots of fun colors … Read More...
It might be about the time of year in the northern part of the world where we need to start thinking about transitional pieces (in the south, too, though they are transitioning the other way).
Boxy sweaters in wool blend … Read More...
The wavy stripes on this pillow are all made from scraps of wool fabric. I’m loving all the colors and prints! Jessica from Chambray Blues has a tutorial showing how to make it. It looks like it would take a … Read More...
Laura used alcohol based markers, colored pencils and a white gel pen to color these lovely stamped flowers. Mixing those mediums gave her stamped images a lot of depth and realism. I also love the texture she got on her … Read More...
A grid layout allows you lots of fun little squares places for photos, journaling, embellishments and in this case a little shaker pocket. Ulli used summery lemons and flowers to accent to accent her Summer Grid Layout and the shaker … Read More...
This post is sponsored by Paramount Pictures.
Where Dora goes, her backpack follows! If, like us, your family grew up watching Dora, then we know you’re as excited as we are for her latest adventure. But – if you think you know Dora, think again! Dora and the Lost City of Gold hits theaters August 9 and this time, Dora’s all grown-up and taking on high school.
To celebrate, we’ve decided to pay tribute to one of Dora’s most trustworthy sidekicks – that’s right, her backpack! And guess what – no sewing is required to craft these miniature felt favors! Celebrate the release of everyone’s favorite adventurer by hosting your own Dora-themed party and movie night! Use these backpacks as favors and fill them with gold coins, mini animal toys, and other goodies.
Or use them as party invitations instead! Write out the details (like the movie theater address, showtime, etc) on a note card and include them in the backpacks. We even printed out miniature posters and rolled them up inside too!
Step 1
Print out the template and trace the shapes onto purple felt, using chalk if needed. Cut all the shapes out for as many backpacks as you’d like to make.
Step 2
To make the main pocket of the backpack, apply a thin line of hot glue along the edge of one of the curved side panels. Stick this to the edge of the longest piece of felt, lining up the two straight edges as shown. Continue gluing the two pieces together, applying hot glue an inch or two at a time so that it doesn’t dry before you get to it.
Continue this until both side panels are attached.
Step 3
Hot glue the rectangle pocket onto the front of the backpack so that it’s centered but closer to the bottom as shown. Make sure to only glue three sides so that you can put goodies into it!
Step 4
Hot glue a piece of thin leather-look trim onto the backpack, keeping it in line with the edge of the front pocket.
Continue gluing the trim around the back and then onto the flap of the backpack. Before you get to the edge of the flap, slide a silver jump ring onto the trim and then glue the trim down, locking the jump ring in place so that it looks like a miniature buckle. Trim any excess trim from the curved edge of the flap.
Repeat this for the other side as well.
Step 5
For the handle, apply a dab of hot glue to each of the ends of the smallest rectangle piece. Attach to the top edge of the back of the backpack, holding in place until dry.
Step 6
Finally, apply hot glue to the ends of one of the remaining long felt strips. Attach onto the back of the backpack, forming a loop, to make one of the straps. Repeat with the final piece on the other side.
Step 7
Repeat this process until you have as many backpacks as you need! Once they’re all ready, fill them with candies and goodies – we used golden coins (both chocolate and plastic), jungle animal figurines, and rolled up mini posters for Dora and the Lost City of Gold. You can use these backpacks as party favors like we did here, or hand them out as invitations instead! Write all the details on a small note card inside the backpack, including the location of the movie theater and showtime.
Don’t forget to get your tickets to see Dora and the Lost City of Gold in theaters August 9th!
