These pictures make it seem like we are a camping family. We are not. We call this faux camping.
On two different occasions we have worked with local photographer Stephen Matera on two separate campaigns for Kelty camping gear. The funny thing is, we don't camp. We only "camp" with the safety of a photographer nearby and we NEVER spend the night. What are you crazy?!
We have heard though that there are families that enjoy camping. I know that summer is a popular time to pitch that tent and spend the weekend in nature, so if that's your thing, I have gathered 21 camping tips, tricks and hacks just for you.
Enjoy your time in that tent. I'll stay right here in my nice warm bed!
dislaimer: this post may have affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing through them, I may receive a small commission. These small purchases help me to continue to keep writing content and creating at Holy Craft. Thank you!
The Fourth of July is just around the corner. Now is the perfect time to start crafting those patriotic crafts with the kids. I've gathered 20 fun crafts that you can make in the next few weeks to help you celebrate the Fourth of July.
dislaimer: this post may have affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing through them, I may receive a small commission. These small purchases help me to continue to keep writing content and creating at Holy Craft. Thank you!
Father's Day is right around the corner. When my kids were little, my husband always complained that he never got any sweet handmade gifts from the kids. School was usually out by the time Father's Day rolled around, and while the moms were usually gifted some handmade sentiment, the dad's got left out in the dark. Don't leave that special dad or grandpa out in the dark! Spend some time making these 15 easy crafts for Father's Day.
I used to break out in cold sweats when I would think about the last day of school. The kids were going to be home for weeks straight and unless I wanted our home to turn into The Hunger Games where only the strongest survived {and I'm fairly certain that wouldn't have been me}, then I needed to come up with a plan. I needed activities, I needed play dates, I needed things on the calendar that we could look forward to.
Those activities didn't have to be elaborate, they just needed to be something I could break out of my secret stash of mom goodies if I heard the words "I'm bored" or if I started to hear the rumblings of fighting between siblings.
I've collected a few of those activities that you can have on hand to put in your back pocket to help you stay sane and to give your kids some fun activities this summer.
I find the best way to keep all of my kids activities in one place is to create a Pinterest board. I have two. You can follow them here and here. I'm always adding new kids activities. Happy summer!
dislaimer: this post may have affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing through them, I may receive a small commission. These small purchases help me to continue to keep writing content and creating at Holy Craft. Thank you!
There is nothing cuter than having your young child answer questions about someone who is close to them. I still go back and read the answers that my kids wrote about me when they were in pre-school. Which is why I put together a free all about my mom printable that you can use for your kids to capture their answers. I promise you, your older kids will look back on it and get a chuckle too.
This would be something sweet to help kids do for their mom's for Mother's Day, or it would be fun just because.
Take a few minutes and have kids fill in their answers or record the answers for them. Be sure to date it and write the age of the child you are interviewing.
**all free printables are for personal use only. Please do not distribute them for sale. If you link to them, please link to my site and give them proper attribution. **
I know Christmas is over, but we didn't want to spoil the surprise for our friends and family members, so I'm just now sharing them with you. These watercolors are winter heavy, but the same idea can be used anytime of the year to make a special gift for friends and family members.
My 13 year old daughter painted them and I think she did a great job.
Come see what each of them looks like and find out how you can make your own.
My daughter has some amazing talent. She's unbelievably creative and is a wonderful artist and crafter. She sat down one afternoon and started painting items we had around the house or things that inspired her, like this red berry wreath
and this forest of trees.
She also created some of her own designs.
I think this one is my favorite!
After she painted the cards, I took them to the local copy shop. I had them color copy each print on cardstock. Then we cut each card down to size and folded them when we got home.
Isabella tied each set up with string and they made a lovely gift set. You could take nearly any of your child's art work off to the copy shop and turn their art into a lovely gift don't you think.
We live just minutes from the beaches of the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. As an Indiana girl that's been transplanted, I can't get enough of the beach, but our beaches are just a little bit different than some.
We have an abundance of rocks and driftwood at our beaches. Which means on our beach combing, we usually pick up sand dollars and shells but also cool pieces of driftwood and uniquely shaped rocks.
I'm always wondering what to do with all of our beach treasures, and perhaps you are too. Or maybe you are visiting the beach this summer and want to create a treasure from your time there, either way, this easy painted driftwood is a fun summer camp activity for kids of all ages!
Start by picking out your favorite pieces of driftwood. One of my kiddos gravitates to the smooth round pieces, another goes for the rough thick pieces.
Pick out your paint colors and start painting! I did one color at a time. You really can't mess it up!
Once the wood was dry {it doesn't take long!} I let my kids go to town with sharpies. They drew all kinds of designs and markings on their driftwood and had their best time!
Your new painted driftwood makes a fun keepsake from your trip to the beach.
I've made a few other driftwood crafts on my blog. You can find the full tutorials for them here.
Do you make anything with the treasures you find on the beach?
This post originally appeared on Design Dazzle as part of the Summer Camp series.
As a mom, one of my favorite things to do with my kids is to craft and create. Which is why I love this new line of creative kits and projects called We Made It from Jennifer Garner exclusively available at Joann's stores.
We are barely into our summer already and I am already getting the reports of how bored my children are, so I was happy to be able to take out this fairy princess craft kit with my daughter and spend the afternoon creating together for my three year old niece.
Bri obviously loved the tutu and wand her big cousin made her and I can't wait to introduce you to the line of more than 100 creative kits and projects designed for kids ages 4-11.
When I was younger I used to take old boxes {kleenex boxes were my favorite} and create little houses out of them for my dolls and small toys. I would cut the lid off of the box, and use the cardboard to make a bed or a shelf and I used old fabric scraps of my moms to make curtains or quilts for the bed. I spent hours creating.
I see my kids doing the very same thing now. There is so much value in creative play for our children and when I find kits or activities that encourage it, I jump on board!
My daughter saw this fairy princess costume kit and immediately thought of making it for her younger cousin. What a fun afternoon project that we were able to take outside and enjoy making together in the shade. I love that each We Made It kit comes with loads of information on the back that will not only prepare you for any special items needed {none were for this craft} but that they also focus on the key techniques and skill level of the project. Sometimes making the project is half the fun, but being able to give a high quality handmade item to her cousin was even more fun.
I was so impressed at how complete the kit was and that all of the boring parts {the cutting and measuring} was already done for us so that we could focus on the fun stuff like creating! What we ended up with was a high quality product that is a great memory to treasure or a wonderful gift to give.
There are so many projects and kits included in the We Made It line, from tea towels to doll costumes to my favorite, the sharing blanket.
A sharing blanket is a blanket kit that includes all the materials a few siblings will need to create two halves of a blanket that they can then sew together to create one big blanket that they share for book or TV time. Talk about a great project for creating loads of memories!
Next time you hear the dreaded "I'm bored" from your kids, head over to Joann's and check out the new We Made It line. You are sure to find something you can create with your kids!
Our oldest son drummed on everything. It started when he was a toddler and it seemed to continue with no end in sight. He would drum on pots. He would drum on boxes. He would drum on the table. He started asking for a drum kit and our response was always no. Why? Because drums are loud!
As parents we encourage our kids to practice their musical instruments, but let's be honest, sometimes it's brutal! There have been a lot of screeching notes and the same song on repeat more times than I would like to remember!
Learning music is tough, but it's so important. Find out how you can make it a little less painful on everyone in the whole family!
Our son started the fifth grade and joined the band at school playing the clarinet. He learned how to read music and he taught himself how to play the guitar, but he never stopped drumming. Several years into middle school, he became a TA for the younger grades. He was still playing the clarinet, but kept asking to play the drums. His teacher would let him play the drums at school and he finally pulled us aside and said you know, Aidan is better at the drums than he is on the clarinet. He should give them a shot. We finally gave in and for his 13th birthday, Aidan got a drum kit and started lessons.
You know what, that teacher was right. Aidan is an amazing drummer and it's been fun to watch him turn into an awesome musician. Though it doesn't change the fact that drums are loud! Heck, any instrument is loud. I know some of you are in that same boat with me.
We sometimes feel like we live in a nightclub hearing drums playing all the time. It helps if we close the door to Aidan's room, though it doesn't help as much as these acoustic tiles do that we were able to install recently. I promise you, if you are a parent of an aspiring musician this may be the help that you need to survive some of the noise.
I knew that I wanted to do a checkerboard pattern on the wall, so we ordered these 12x12 acoustic foam tiles with a sticky back and matching design foam in the same size. We ordered 16 of each for the size area that we were planning on covering. Because Aidan's drum kit is in the corner, we wanted to cover two pieces of wood that would absorb the noise directly behind the drums.
We picked a 4x8 sheet of plywood at Home Depot and had it cut in half so that we had two 4x4 sheets of wood. Then we marked off 12x12 squares so that we knew where to place each tile.
I laid out the tile pattern on the boards. Notice the design foam tiles are white because I haven't covered them with fabric yet.
I labeled the wood with an "A" where I wanted the acoustic tiles to go.
I picked up three yards of cotton fabric in black. I cut the fabric slightly larger than the design foam tiles and peeled off the adhesive backing. Place your design foam tile down on your fabric, adhesive side up. Then wrap your tile like a present, pushing in the corners of the fabric and covering the tiles. Then stick your tile to your board following your pattern.
I left the four corners of my board open so that the board could be screwed into the wall.
The holes were pre-drilled in the board and the boards were hung in studs.
Screws mounted the boards in all four corners.
I completed placing the tiles on the boards in the corners after the board was hung.
This is what we see when we walk past his room. Side note, he loves flags and license plates.
We still close the door to his room when he plays, but I promise you, if you have a child practicing music and just getting started, getting some acoustic tiles set up will be a lifesaver for everyone involved!
This post is brought to you by Tulip and Blueprint Social. All opinions are 100% my own.
The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining and the friends are coming over in droves! We are always looking for fun {electronic free} activities for the kids, especially as they get older. My 13 year old daughter Isabella is very much like I was at that age. She is drawn to anything creative where she can express herself. Her friends are very much the same way. So one afternoon, a half a dozen girls gathered around my patio table for some tie-dye fun! But the fun didn't stop there! We created six different ways {most of them no sew} to restyle their t-shirts!
We started with this easy, one-step mess free kit from Tulip. I know, I know, mess free and tie-dye don't seem like they should go together, and to be honest, it did make my heart skip a beat when I thought of the old way I used to tie-dye, but I promise you, not a single article of clothing that we didn't want to get dyed didn't get dyed and thanks to the gloves {that were included} no one walked away with dyed hands. This kit actually made it less messy to tie-dye shirts than the kit we used to dye our Easter eggs!
There was a little prep work before the girls came over. I opened up the kit and spread out the plastic tablecloth {it's included!}. There are 18 bottles of pre-measured dye, so all I had to do was add water to each bottle. While I was doing that, the girls read through the {included} full color idea brochure so they could get an idea of the technique they wanted to try. The girls put on gloves {seriously, they thought of everything!} and I had each of them shake the bottles of dye up.
The girls prepped their shirts with rubber bands and set to work squeezing dye onto the shirts. Once the shirts were finished, I actually wrapped them up using the plastic tablecloth that was included. You could put them in a sealed baggie for 6-8 hours but I like using what I have and wrapping the shirts up in the plastic tablecloth worked out just great! Doing that, made clean up a breeze!
After the shirts sat for 6-8 hours, all you do is cut off the rubber bands, wash them, dry them and then they are ready to be restyled!
Restyled Six Ways
I have six different restyling methods for you, all using your average white cotton t-shirt.
Side Ties
Start by cutting off your sleeves and your neckline. Turn the shirt over {front side down} and widen the back of the sleeve on the back side only, giving your shirt a racer back look. Cut down both of the seams from the armpit down to the bottom. Line up one side of your shirt {front and back together} and cut about four inches in every half an inch or so from the armpit down to the bottom of the shirt. Do the same to the other side. Use about a half an inch strip about six inches long of the unused sleeve to tie up both sleeves.
Fringe
This fringe pattern is really fun! Start by taking off the sleeves, the neck and about two inches off the bottom of the shirt leaving you with a tank top style. Cut small strips about eight inches up on the front and back of the shirt. Start by tying each of the strings together. About an inch down from the tie that you just made, tie the far right string from one, to the far left string of the other. I made a little illustration for you. Use a piece of the cut off sleeve to tie the shoulders.
The Braided Back Tank
Cut the sleeves and neck off of your t-shirt. Turn your shirt over {front facing down} and widen the neck of the t-shirt. Once you widen the neck, you will also cut a straight line from the bottom of the arm holes all the way to the other side. You can now open up your shirt. On the back cut three straps about ten inches long. Pull those straps to curl the fabric and then braid them. Once it's braided, secure your braid with a few needle and thread stitches. Fold down the front flap with the neck and secure the braid with a few more stitches to the center back. Roll the extra material on both sides to the center where the braid is secured and cut a one inch strip from one of your unused sleeves and wrap that around to hide the seams. Secure in place with a few more stitches.
Bow Back T
Cut the sleeves and neck of your shirt as shown. Turn your shirt over {front side down} and widen the back arm holes on both sides, again, making a racer back style like the side tie shirt. Cut about an inch lower on the back neckline. About two inches down from the neckline, cut one horizontal slit going about eight inches long. Cut another slit two inches down from that one about the same length. Repeat until you have the desired amount of slits in your shirt. Use your discarded sleeve and cut off the end inch where the seam is. Use that length of fabric to wrap the middle of your cut slits and secure the bands in place with a few stitches. Repeat, until all of your slits are wrapped.
Baby Doll T
Cut off the sleeve and make a v-neck in the front of the shirt. Cut an "L" shape {following the red lines in the bottom left picture} on both sides of the shirt on the back. Open up the top of the shirt by cutting a straight line across at the top seam. On the back cut a four inch line down the back side of the shirt. Tie the front long strips in a knot. Connect the ends of the strips to the back two cut pieces by tying them.
One Shoulder
This one shoulder shirt requires cutting off half the shirt at an angle {leaving part of the shoulder in a tank style} and removing the remaining sleeve. Cut the remaining part of the top in half about four inches in. Then, cut four inches into the shirt starting below the armpit every inch and a half or so until you reach the bottom. Tie the cuts that you made together, starting with the cut you made in the sleeve and working your way down the shirt.
That's a lot of different ways to restyle a plain white t-shirt isn't it?! I know there are a lot more. Once you start restyling you can't stop!
I would love to see your t-shirt restyle creations. Share them with me on Instagram @holycraft1 and don't forget to use the hashtag #TieDyeYourSummer and tag @ilovetocreate.
