Toddler friendly gift tags...

Piles of presents and they all belong to me... is what has to be running the the head of a toddler at Christmas. To get my 18 month old and her 2 year old cousin involved in the present passing this year, I made these:

(I did them in Photoshop Elements with digital scrapbook products by Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman and KimB's cute elf-a-bet alpha freebie.)

You could easily add to: and from: text on the photo in any photo editing/storing program and print them out on your computer. Print multiple small photos on a page by selecting the wallet print option in your printer settings or by inserting the photos into a Word document.

Or for those who like to kick it old school... just print out the photos and glue them to cute Christmas papers or tags and add stickers, ribbon, glitter, etc. You could even get the kids involved as a fun craft project to make the tags for brothers, sisters, or cousins.

As a girl who likes options... let me offer another to those completely against the digital age. Cut faces out of those unframeable shots you already have printed that are too far away, have flaws or blurs or squirrel faces, but at least one salvageable smiling cutie.

Christmas crafts for kids...

My daughter got to make 3 super cute Christmas crafts last week thanks to my new friend and craft queen, Shanna. So, here they are... and easy enough to do today!

Icing Christmas tree... edible decoration (your's WILL look prettier... keep in mind she's under 2)

Supplies: ice cream cones, can of white icing, green food coloring, candy ornaments (marshmallows, m&m's, sweettarts, smarties, gumdrops, redhots, sprinkles, etc.)

1. Mix food coloring with icing to make it green

2. turn the cone upside down on a plate

3. spread icing all over the cone

4. decorate the tree with candy

5. enjoy... my daughter takes an ornament off everytime she passes it

Lid ornaments... full of kitschy charm

Supplies: lid from old container, school glue, random baubles (sequins, buttons, beads, noodles, crayons etc.)

1. fill a lid with glue up to the top.

2. place sequins, buttons, etc. in the glue

3. allow to dry completely

4. poke a hole through the top

5. tie with ribbon

Detergent Snowman... cute and he smells good too

Supplies: detergent, cloves, sticks, sequins or buttons, toothpicks

1. mix dry flake detergent with water to make a paste

2. let your child roll 3 balls, big, medium, and small (paste dries quickly so work fast)

3. use a toothpick to keep the balls together

4. let your child decorate him: dried cloves as the eyes, pre-gathered sticks for arms, sequins or buttons for buttons, etc.

Bows-oh, is that all?

Making your own bows is really more intimidating than it is difficult. At the rate we lose the ones put in my toddler's hair, I hate to spend too much money on the everyday ones. Here is a simple way I make bows for my daughter.

Gather your supplies: cute ribbon, clear mini pony-tail elastics, craft glue or hot glue gun, clips (available 100 for $4 at Sally's Beauty Supply), foam 'no slip' cabinet liner (available at wal mart or hardware stores), thinner ribbon for bow's center, buttons or accessories for finishing

Start by making a loop at one end of your ribbon. Decide the width of your bow by making another loop on the other side and hold in the center.

Then, make an 'X' shape with another set of loops

Pinch the ribbon 'x' in the middle to make a bow shape.

Double loop the clear rubber band around the center of the bow and make final bow arrangement.

Cut a small piece of thin ribbon in a coordinating color to be the bow center. Glue one end and hold.

Glue the other end in place, trim excess and allow to dry. I like to use an extra clip to hold it tight while it dries.

While drying, prepare a thin ribbon strip with glue. Start at one end of the ribbon near the inside hinge of the clip. Continue wrapping the gluey strip of ribbon around the clip, ending near the inside hinge of the clip on the other side. ** Be sure to account for the ribbon needed to expandwhen the clip is released.** I use several spare clips to hold the ribbon in place while it dries.

To make the clip 'no slip' for fine baby hair. Use a small strip of foam no-slip shelf liner glued to the inside of the clip.

Get as creative as you want with various ribbons and accessories and create handmade bows to match your daughter's favorite outfits.

Raindrops on roses...

and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens...these are a few of my favorite things. This is a fun, super simple craft for you and your child to do together.

Just gather several magazines you have around the house, a pair of blunt-edges scissors, and some glue. With your child, flip through the magazine and find things that they love. My daughter LOVES our yellow lab, so as soon as she saw a puppy dog that looked just like him, she wanted to cut that out. Some of the others I helped with :) But she knew when she saw jewelry, or apple juice, that she wanted to clip those, too. Each time we cut out a picture we glued it down right away - this helped keep her interested. When we had a good amount on the paper, I cut out letters to spell her name and let her glue those down at the top of the page. Then I wrote in marker "favorite things," and we hung it on the fridge for display.

Personalized patriotism... in a snap.

Blame it on my daughter being born on the 4th of July... but I've become obsessed with red, white, and blue outfits. However, I was having trouble finding the perfect shirt that told the world... "HEY... It's Independence Day AND my birthday!"

My solution was a pack of iron-on transfers. I designed my daughter a shirt using photoshop elements and the 'liberty' kit from Little Dreamer Designs.

This would be especially good for matching shirts for the whole family, birthday parties, etc. It's too easy NOT to do it.

Just buy a plain t-shirt or tank top and a pack of iron on transfers.

Use a photo or fonts to create the t-shirts image or text.

Flip the image.

Print it out.

Cut around it.

Iron it on.

Or just borrow this design...

Afterlife of a formula can... (vol. 3)

Recently when organizing my craft closet, I used a tip from Real Simple magazine to put all of my ribbon spools on wire hangers. It worked perfectly... except that I was left with a box full of ribbon pieces not on a spool. I'm always buying ribbon by the yard and way OVER estimating how much I'll need or receiving cute ribbons on gifts. I hate to throw it away and can always use it for crafts, scrapbooking, gift wrapping, etc.... but need an organized way to keep it.

10 ways to reuse a formula can:

#3 Ribbon Dispenser

Gather your materials:

clean empty can with flexible plastic lid, knife, spare ribbon pieces

Cut various lengths of small slits in the lid of your container.

Fill can with spare ribbon pieces leaving one end hanging over the can.

Poke each ribbon piece through the slits leaving just a small length of ribbon showing.

Reattach the lid on the container.

Kleenex box... for more than just runny noses

My child has a very short lived infatuation with most of the new toys that I buy her. I recently found a FREE 'toy' that my 10 month old has not grown bored of after several weeks. It's so dumb... I almost hate to post it. But, if it brings ONE child joy... it may do so for others.

Joining her love of pulling things out of their container and fascination with paper, I stuffed an empty kleenex box with random junk mail, magazine subscription cards, coupons, etc.

She never tires of pulling each paper out, looking at it, throwing it down, and diving in for the next one.
When I see that it has been emptied and discarded, I stuff them all in again and the fun starts all over the next time she sees it.

The best part is that it's completely renewable. When the pieces get like this:

I just throw them out and grab some new junk mail (arriving daily).

Here are some other household items that have cured toy boredom at our house a time or two. My kid couldn't even stay away from them long enough for me to take a decent photo.

.nesting mixing bowls -- make great drums and toy hiding places
.tupperware -- a classic toy in disguise
.plastic container -- lifting lids is a favorite pastime of my kid and good for building dexterity
.paper towel rolls -- great to look and talk to your baby through for a little fun
.kitchen utensils -- measuring cups, rubber scrapers, spatulas, etc.
.colorful cereal bowls -- make great stackers and when translucent, can open the door for some good lessons in object permanence

Afterlife of a formula can (Vol. 2)

My latest use for a formula can coincides with a little holiday coming up this weekend.

10 Ways to Re-Use A Formula Can (or any food can)

#2 Gift bag

Perfect for presenting a giftcard, jewelry, crafts from kids, etc.

Gather your materials:

empty, clean can, decorative paper or wrapping paper, ribbon, scissors, glue or double sided tape, gift tag

Measure surface area of can and cut a strip of paper or wrapping paper to fit around the can

Affix the paper to the can with glue or double sided tape. (I used a tape runner)

Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to wrap around the can with some extra.

Slide a gift tag onto the ribbon and then tie a bow. **You can easily make a tag from scratch with some heavy paper and a hole punch.**

Stuff with your gift and some matching tissue paper and *VOILA*... not your average 99 cent gift bag.

A little birdie told me...

eesh. You know when life just gets crazy?!? We've been having one of those weeks. Nothing earth-shattering, just busy, tired life with little ones. So, I apologize for the delay in posting, but we're slowly getting back into the swing of things.

Kate's been loving our craft times, and I'm learning that it doesn't have to be some big, elaborate craft to make it worthwhile. Pick something your child has been fascinated by recently and make a craft out of it. It could be trains, the sun, or, if your kid's like my daughter - birds. So without too much forethought, I gathered supplies we had on hand and let Kate make her very own birdie.

I just cut out a bird shape and wing

Let her color her bird

glue on puff balls

and feathers

and added a pipe cleaner for a little tuft

So don't put off doing something creative with your child because you think you don't have supplies or good ideas. Your kid will love creating anything with you. And Kate still talks about her colorful birdie that's hanging on the fridge.

The after life of a formula can...

As the un-official trash person in our house, I'm quite conscious of the amount of waste my family produces. Therefore, I'm trying to be 'crafty' about ways to re-use things around the house... especially it means something my kid can do with me or play with when I'm done.

Thus, the 'Bean Blog' brings you:

10 Ways to Re-Use A Formula Can (or any food can)

#1 Toy Drum

This would be a great craft to do WITH an older child or FOR a younger child.

Gather your supplies:

can, scissors, ruler, glue, clear packing tape, noise makers (noodles, buttons, beads, etc.), scrap paper, crayons

Measure the height of the can.

Cut a strip of paper to fit the height of the can and to fit around the can... it may take 2 strips taped together.

Let your child decorate the paper strip.

Adhere the strip to the can with glue.

Then, use several strips of clear packing tape to seal the paper and can.

Fill the can with noise makers from around the house. (noodles, beads, buttons... be creative... I found a 'pink pearl' eraser makes a very cool noise.)

If your noise makers are small enough to be choking hazards or to make a mess... seal the lid on with a line of craft glue or another strip of packing tape.

Find some good drumsticks around the house and let your kid go to town.

**If you have any 'crafty' ways that you recycle things around the house ... let us know or challenge us to figure out a way!

A two's tutu tutorial.

I just finished making several tutus for my daughter's second birthday party and thought I'd share a "how to make a tutu" here. ahem. a no-sew tutu. :)

To make a child size tutu, you'll need two spools of tulle found at your local craft store or walmart. You can buy the tulle by the yard as well, but if you buy it in spools you only have to cut the length, and I found it saved lots of time. Also, purchase a pack of 3/8" elastic and cut enough to fit around your child's waist and tie a bow.

Figure out the length you want the tutu and double that length. I wanted my daughters to fall 15 inches from her waist, so I cut my tulle at 30 inches.

Cut. Cut. Cut. until you've finished both spools.

Tie your elastic around something to make it easier to attach your tulle strips. I found a picture frame works great! Then, you'll start knotting your tulle. Loop your tulle so that it's even on both sides.

Then pull the bottom two strips over the elastic and through the loop.

Then just pull it tight. When you start to pull the tulle, the elastic has a tendency to twist and roll, to keep this from happening, I found placing my index finger over the elastic and the tulle while I pulled really helped.

Continue doing this with each tulle strip, making sure that you bunch them closely together. When you're finished you can tie the elastic in a bow around your child's waist. This allows it to be completely adjustable.

The finished product - personal opinion - the poofier, the better!!