Gift Wrapping Life Hack

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Things come in awkward-shaped containers, and sometimes a gift bag is not an option. (We ship a fair amount of gifts.)

Martha Stewart has a decent amount of ideas on this subject, but I've found a way that she hasn't honed in on yet. I also think it is adorable. 

You will need:

gift wrap

so much tape

gift

a cute kid, who is young enough to make a hot mess charming

Step 1: Cut the paper to an understandable size for the gift.

Step 2: Cut twice the amount of tape you would normally use.

Step 3: Give the child all the materials and wish them luck. 

Voila! 

Level Up: Have a roll of butcher paper or white easel paper on hand at all times for crafts and emergency gift wrapping. Combine the two by giving your kid crayons before wrapping. 

The Art Cart

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If you need a cool and nontraditional gift to give this holiday season, or for a birthday, or the art supplies in your house have taken over and you want to reign it in, you need an Art Cart.

You are probably thinking one of the following: 

That would never fly in my house. 

The kids would destroy everything we hold dear.

She has girls, so this is invalid because  [whatever incorrect gender stereotype here].

Fear not. With some rules and careful product selections, your kids can have art, too. And they will be better for it! You can always wheel it into a closet or locked space until needed, if all else fails. 

Ikea sells these nifty little carts that are perfect for just about everything. On their website, Ikea has a picture of the cart decked out with art and party supplies. I'm not sure if that is where my friend first got her idea, but she is where I first got this idea from. She is very organized and I'm... not. I'm just not. This cart is one way I've been able to emulate a little Type A in a house that is decidedly Type B.

I purchased my little cart and took everything out of the various drawers, off countertops, and from under weird places where they were previously stored. A few of those lovely $1 Target buckets and we were in business.

This is the top of the art cart:

The supplies rotate, but generally feature crayons, markers, colored pencils, stampers, glue sticks, paint cakes, paper, scissors, coloring books, and stickers. Play dough supplies are there, but I do occasionally remove the actual dough. It depends on how feisty they've been in playing with it. Sometimes I just can't pick up one more dried clump from the dining room rug. 

The wheels are key. I tuck this away in a corner in our dining room, and the kids can wheel it to the table or to the easel, where paint is allowed. There was a period of time this summer where the art cart was wheeled into the spare bedroom and removed from play. After having free access to scissors for over a year, my preschooler cut all her sister's hair off, to the scalp in places, before turning on her own hair, which she cut into a fairly decent bob.*

The art cart keeps the supplies at kid-level, is easily organized, and makes art always accessible, for better or worse. But it is 90% for the better, and most of the things we have on there are Crayola, for their high washability. (Ikea products make up the remainder, and the ones I've been given the privilege of scrubbing off stuff has been washable.) It keeps the kids from asking me if we have a piece of paper, if I can get them the crayons, if they can cut out shapes. They have control and independence when it comes to art and maybe, just maybe, that helps lessen tantrums when they aren't given free reign or open-ended choices in other parts of their day. 

Art supplies just waiting for kids can seem like a terrifying disaster. Trust me, it will pay off, and trust your kids. Start with coloring books, paper, stickers and enforced rules before graduating to acrylic paint and micro glitter. 

*Post coming. I think I'm ready, 3 months removed. 

Eek! Spiders! Halloween Craft

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Every year, our moms' group has a Halloween party. It is one of the really big events we do, and we go all out. 

I saw similar cute little spider craft kits on a bulk-order site for a small fortune. I decided this was something I could replicate for little cost and effort. The cost was definitely lower. I may have gone a little overboard with effort, but that's how I do. My definition of "simple" is skewed. 

For each spider web set you will need: 

3 Notched popsical/craft sticks

1 black pom pom

2 pipe cleaners, cut in half (for 4 total pieces)

Black and glow-in-the-dark paint (or colors of your choice, or none at all)

About 64" of yarn

A hot glue gun

Start with the sticks. Glue them together to look like a snowflake. I chose to spray paint them black, then coat them with glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint. 

While those dry, make the spiders. 

Twist the pipe cleaners together in the middle to create 8 legs. Hot glue a pom pom right in the middle, and glue the eyes onto the pom pom. If your kids are older, they can make the spiders. I am aiming for the PreK crowd, and want something quick, since we have a million crafts. 

Hot glue the length of yarn onto the back of the craft sticks. Mine took about 64" of cheap, worsted weight acrylic yarn. You  might want to test one out on your sticks to be sure. 

The kids weave the web, and glue the end of yarn into a loop on the end of a stick. Now, all that is left is to wrap a spider leg around a web string and display!

Happy Halloween!

Rubbing Crayons

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My preschooler has been obsessed with crayon rubbings for years. Every autumn, we collect leaves and make a giant leaf rubbing mural. Last spring, she made colorful rubbings of the engravings on benches at the baseball field, all logos for local shops that supported the sports field face lift.

The one complaint she has is the crayons. She doesn't like peeling her crayons, and they snap while she uses them. (This was more true when she was two, when this project started, but we like it this way now.)

To solve this problem, we melt crayon pieces. Silicone treat pans and the small colorway packs Crayola puts together work amazingly well for this. I purchase most of the specialty silicone pans I use at craft stores (get the apps for the coupons!) or the Dollar Store, which sells seasonal themes.

We only have Crayola products because they are the only ones I've found to be truly washable. In this project, they are the only ones I've had luck melting completely and without leaving a weird, waxy residue, causing a horrible, lingering smell, or losing color. You may need to make adjustments to the time if you use other brands.

We'll be doing bone shapes for our playgroup Halloween party. Today we did squares of autumn colors. We talked about melting points, change of states of matter, and physical changes. A science lesson in the books, and cool crayons to boot. 

Peel the crayons. You can soak them in water to make the labels come off a bit easier. I didn't, to give my kids something to do for 5 minutes while I cleaned up from lunch. 

Preheat the oven to 160F (which takes minutes... I do mine in the toaster oven) while you fill the cavities of the pan you are using to the top. You can use a higher temperature, but this keeps the smell down. I love the smell of legit Crayola crayon wax, but not for hours and hours on end. 

Bake the crayons for 20 minutes. Check to see that all chunks have melted. If they haven't, return the pan to the oven for 5 more minutes. 

Allow the crayons to cool, then pop them out of the molds. If they don't come right out, put the pan in the freezer for 5 minutes and try again. (I have never had this issue with silicone pans, only metal.)

About 20 whole crayons made 8 of these little squares. How many crayons you need will depend on the pan used. 

All that is left to do is color.