cheerios box dragon wings

our favorite movie at the moment is "how to train a dragon"

..........so we had to make some dragon wings!

take apart a cereal box and...

we made St's tail using the side flap, but Ji wanted the bottom part of the tail(top part on the photo)  wider than the flap was, and he wanted the crease, so we made it on the crease. 

...we left the outside plain(cheerios cover), since the wings stay pretty much open and the boys didn't mind, but you could also glue some construction paper on to hide the cover.

to attach:

wings: make 2 holes on each side of the middle piece(...first photo) and thread some string or ribbon through the holes, or you can cut short incisions on the ends of the creases and just latch the string/ribbon in place. then tie around the arms.

tail: i just folded the tail into the waistband of their pants and that way it stands out a bit instead of laying flat. you can secure it with masking tape, or you could also tape it to the bottom of the wings.

little dragons in action :)

update - here is a link to a fancier pair of wings we made ;)

paper egg silhouttes tut

we're in the process of making some.....

as decorations, maybe make a mobile or even some cards

 

 

                                 directions:                                                                          

                                 1. draw an egg, fold in half and use as template               

                                 2. trace onto paper rectangles folded in half, then cut out

                                 3. glue on strips of paper to bottom paper                        

                                 4. glue on top paper                                                          

                                 5. leave as a rectangle or cut out egg outline
                                 p.s. you can use the cutout eggs to make a harmonica egg decoration!

              

use all kinds of paper strips(and/or tissue paper) :

 

p.p.s. great for all kinds of shapes!

...xmas trees for next xmas? :)



cheerios box horses :)

just turned the cheerios box inside out, altered one corner, reglued and decorated.....

 

 

stamped wrapping paper

we did some stamping with the boys :)...

 

 

...just some ordinary erasers, ink/paint and paper

i cut the tree out of an ordinary white eraser with my exacto knife, used a pencil eraser for the dots and stamped onto ordinary brown packaging paper

tip: make sure you have suitable ink/paint and paper - test it out first...so that the ink/paint soaks into the paper and doesn't smear. usually really smooth or glossy paper doesn't work well...
p.s. ikea has this really cheap brown paper, but i haven't made it to the store yet, so i can't tell you how well it works.

card gift wrap

a simple way to wrap a print/photo/children's drawing gift into a card...

 

 

cut out a simple deisgn,  then fold paper,

wrap gift in colored tissue paper and insert :)

 

simple paper daffodils

tools:

- color paper

- glue stick

- scissors - straight and zig-zag

- cylinder of some sort - pencils

   or markers work well

- wooden skewers (optional)

directions:

- cut out yellow flower leaves - the easiest is to cut out circles and then cut triangle wedges :)

- cut strips of orange paper (one edge zig-zaged) long enough to wrap around your marker, having the short edges overlap a little. apply a "stripe" of glue to one short edge, wrap paper around the marker (zig-zag end to the center of the tube) and press overlapping edges firmly to let the glue set. then move your paper roll so that the end sticks out and start folding the end inward as i started on the photo to create the bottom of the "cup" - start with the overlapping glued edges). before you fold the last part, apply glue to it and then press to a flat surface to set glue and have it as flat as possible. then apply glue to the bottom of the "cup" and glue to the flower :)...when you glue it on, it should slip off of the marker.

- then make stems and leaves of your choice! - cut strips of green paper and tape daffodils to your windows and walls, or glue onto skewers and put them in a vase or for areas with low chance of rain (this is especially for my sis ;)!) "plant" them into your lawn :)....careful if you have sprinklers ;)

for green skewer stems:

- cut a strip of green paper, apply glue to the top end and start rolling it onto the skewer - use an angel similar to the one on the photo. tip - i use my bottom hand to hold the paper in place and the top hand to roll it.

- before you get to the end, apply glue to the end and roll the end on.

- cut up little yellow squares, and with the skewer in the center of it¨, glue it on to the flower.

mail/garbage carrier

all you need:

recommendation for cutting the box - i find it the best to take apart the glued top/bottom and lay the box flat and cut in one line, instead of having to cut all around and ending up a bit off the start point, and then re-glue the  closure again.

when we finished making the mail-carrier and i attached it to Ji's vehicle(JD tractor, that is way to small for him now, but he still loves it!), he announced that he will be a garbage man instead and that he wants to collect garbage....luckily after we made some pretend mail with our stamps i persuaded him back to the mail man gig!!! garbage...maybe next time ;)

fun postage stamps!

fun to play with or use as "additional" postage ;) on your real mail!

all you need is:
- brown paper tape (found at office supply stores)
- stamps and stamp pads
...you can find a great tutorial for making your own stamps here!
- zigzag scissors