Personalized Candles- The Feautured Craft on Honeybear Lane

I did another craft tutorial for kids on Honeybear Lane. I got the idea from dear old Robyn Sullivan. I would love it if you could stop by and comment or "like" it so Heidi thinks I am worth keeping me around. Click here to check it out.

 It is such a fun simple craft! Visit Honeybear Lane and check it out!

Kids Craft: DIY Piggy Banks!

*** Note*** This was the guest post I did for Honeybear Lane lat month. I didn't change it because . . . because I am feeling a little bit lazy if you want to know the truth . . . 

Hello Honeybear Lane readers!

I am so happy that Heidi is letting me join you again. I am Amy, from Amy's Craft Bucket. 

I love my kids. I love crafts. I especially love making crafts with my kids. I hope you'll stop by and discover fun ways to keep little hands busy.

SO here we go:

I have had a long love affair with the dollar store. Rows and rows of discounted items that can be easily transformed into treasure really makes me excited. Well guess what, my children how just recently discovered their own love for the dollar store. My number three child is always asking me what kind of chores he can do to earn a dollar.  I love it! As far as I'm concerned its a win win situation for me. 

But where do you put your hard earned dollars? You make a cute "piggy" bank of course. Alright, so this isn't a piggy. I can't pull one over on you. So you wanna know

Alright, so this isn't a piggy. I can't pull one over on you. So you wanna know what it really is? This little bank happens to be made out of one of my old Slim Fast cans. But you can use any can you have on hand.

 You will need:
*1 Slim Fast or other can
*1 piece of scrap book paper
*scissors
*paint brush
*mod pogde or other glue
*a little hot glue helps but is optional
*twine or ribbon for embellishment
*Exacto knife to slice hole in top of lid

Start by carefully stripping the can down to it's naked self and slice a coin drop into the lid (you do the slicing not your child, please:)).

 Use the Slim Fast wrapper to measure a out how much scrapbook paper you will need to cover the can.

 12x12 wasn't quite big enough to fit around my can so I ended up cutting another little strip of paper to fill the gap that was left to close.

 I let my kids use a paint brush to smooth on some mod podge around the can and wrap the scrap book paper around it. I think I used a little hot glue to secure the ends just so we wouldn't have to wait so long for the glue to dry.

 Then we glued on the extra strip of paper that we measured out.

 So far it looks like this:

 This is the my other hard little worker and her bank:

 To finish off our little bank we tied a piece of twine around it, which I hot glued to the back of the can so that it wouldn't get lost. We also cut out a circle tag with each child's name on it in order to stake clain to what was rightfully theirs:)

We are currently in the process of making a very manly Captain America bank for my son. I would love to show you how it looks. I will feature it on my blog in the near future. I would be honored to have you stop by Amy's Craft Bucket. Let me know you came by!

Thanks for having me Heidi!

Until the next time Honeybear Lane!

Happy Crafting!

XOXO,

Amy

Activity for Kids: Cheap, Easy, Fun!

My two year old is SO hard to entertain. She just really isn't into anything, accept making a mess. But this little activity did the trick! It actually held her attention! She wanted to do it again and again! This really is so much fun! best thing about it is that you most likely already have everything you need to do it in your kitchen!

 I found it on Pinterest, but it doesn't have a link, so if you know where it came from let me know so that I can give proper credit! This is what you need:

*Vinegar *Food Coloring* Baking Soda* Medicine Dropper

 Cover the floor of a casserole dish with baking soda. In a separate bowl mix vinegar and food coloring. You don't have to measure. It will all work out just fine. Fill your medicine dropper with the vinegar and food coloring mixture and drop it on the baking soda. It fizzles up really big and then settles into little colored polka dots.

This is Raia with her baby sitter Kaci who has been helping us since I have been injured. Even Kaci and I were entertained!

Make sure you have plenty of baking soda because if your kidsa re anything like mine, they will want to do it again and again. My nine year saw these pictures while I was posting and she wants to do it now too.

 It may be perfect for all ages!

I hope you try it and let me know how it turned out for you! I'd love to have you become a follower as well. It would make my day!

Thanks!

Have a great day!

XOXO,

 Amy

Three Simple Valentines Crafts and the Winner of the Headband!

Before we get to the cute Valentine's Day Crafts, it is time to announce the winner of the beautiful Cambria Headband! The winner of this pretty pink satin flower headband is . . .

MamaHunfy!

Congratulations Mama Hunfy! You won simply because you are a follower and we hope you'll spread the word about Amy's Craft Blog. In order to claim your prize I need to hear from you by midnight tomorrow night or I will draw someone else. Email me your address to:

amykaidavis12@yahoo.com

Thank you for being a follower of our blog!

The next follower only give away will happen when we reach 100 followers . . . I will soon show you the prize and tell you how to be entered multiple times, but for now . . . on with the crafts!

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Now, Onto the Crafts!

It honestly took less than an hour to produce these three crafts and I did them with my kids which made it even more fun. Yes, I said more fun:) This is what we did: 1. Heart Shaped Crayons (thank you Pinterest)
2. Decorative Plate
3. Decorative wood blocks.
I don't like spending a lot of money to decorate for "small" holidays, so these were all really cheap crafts as well.
1. Heart Shaped Crayons First of all you have to strip all the paper off of the crayons and then chop or break them into fourths. The smaller the pieces the better they look when they are melted. Then I put them into my silicone heart shape mold and cooked them in the oven on 250 degrees for 15-20 minutes. You'll know they are ready when they are all melted. Remove from oven. Let cool and harden completely (30 minutes or so) and remove. Done:)

2. Decorative Plates I picked up some clear plates at Walmart for a 1.50. Then I picked up some tissue paper for $2.50. Then I had the kids use paint brushes to cover the back of the plate in modge podge (you can also use Elmer's school glue). Then I cut the tissue paper in half and we covered the plate and smoothed the tissue paper down all over the plate. When it was completely dry, I trimmed the edges. Done:)

The kids hard at work:)

Don't worry if the glue seems plentiful, it will dry clear:)

3. "Be Mine" Painted Wood
First, I asked my neighbor if we could have a few pieces of wood from her wood pile. Then we painted them. Then we used an old glue lid and placed it onto a craft paint bottle to make it easier to write with the paint (this step does take some practice as you can see from my sloppy writing). Then I sanded the edges to add a little character. For the smaller block I measured some tissue paper to fit the block of wood, then covered the wood with Mod Podge and placed the tissue paper on top and gently smoothed it down. I also sanded the edges of that block and I think it looks cool.

Before any sanding was done

I hope this is something that you will enjoy doing! Happy Crafting!
xoxo,
Amy

For Little Hands- Halloween Witches

Do your little ones need something to do . . .?
I love doing crafts with my kids. And that is a good thing because with 4 little ones running around I don't really have much opportunity to hide away and create beautiful things. Mostly, I craft with my motley crew by my side. I have noticed that my girls have the same need for creative activity as I do. The boy . . . not so much, though he does LOVE to paint.

This is one of the Halloween crafts we did together. We made little witches and turned them into a centerpiece for our table.
I'm sure you don't need step by step instructions on how to make these little witchies:
I used:
glue (hot and Elmer's- or a glue stick)
construction paper (or cardstock or scrapbook paper)
yarn
raffia
googly eyes
skewers
The silver star is from a Christmas garland that got cut up a little:)
Basically I just cut out easy shapes and let the little ones use there imaginations. What I love is how they each turned out so different even though they had all the same supplies. I love how your child's personality is displayed through their creative side.

This was a s simple as can be, but the kids loved it and they love even more that there art work is currently being featured as out centerpiece.

Happy Crafting!

xoxo, Amy