creative jewish mom

How To Make Multi-Colored Plastic Bag Yarn Or "Plarn"

Hopefully wherever you may live plastic bags are not something that are so easy to find, but if you are like me, and live somewhere where plastic bags are still plentiful, unfortunately, well the best thing is to craft with them! First of all, there are a few ways to make "plarn" but I'm going to show you the method I use, as it's fairly quick to make and quite honestly becomes a bit of an addiction. Heavy plastic bags are great for fusing projects like I've taught you here, but the light weight bags (mine are from the grocery store and the vegetable store) used for food, and even light weight garbage bags will do the trick as well, and are in fact the best, since you can get quite a bit of "plarn" out of one bag. 

Check out all my plastic bag crafts right here, and then collect those bags and start using them to make yarn! To keep it from getting tedious, start a ball of yarn, and then simply add to it each time a plastic bag comes into your life! In the past I made balls of plastic bag yarn in solid colors, but this week I decided to make multicolor plastic bag yarn as it is perfect for the plastic bag pom poms I'll share with you shortly! Okay, lets get to it!

Paper Doll Chain Party Decorations In A Pinch!

Sometimes you just need a great idea for party decorations in a pinch, and maybe even a ton of them, and this my friends is a keeper! Paper doll chains can be made in any length or size, the only limit is the size of your paper! I just love the idea of hanging them on a line, with clothespins, whether suspended, as mine were, or on a wall, and this preserves the paper dolls for use in the future, or maybe you'd like to take them down and let the guests clothe them? Now how is that for party decor meets party craft? Okay, our big party of the year, Purim is coming tomorrow night, so lets get this show on the road!

Summer Camp Crafts: Pine Cone Animals

I have taken this post out of the archives as it really is a perfect summer camp craft. And while some might rather make pine cone pineapples, these animals will appeal to almost everyone. Make a plan to make at least one of every kind and display them on a special dedicated shelf! Don't forget to take photos of your efforts and then you can give your creations to someone who might enjoy them as well. Okay, lets get crafting!

Kids and adults alike love collecting pine cones after a nature walk, and they tend to be aplenty at many forest locations of day camps and sleepover camps, so pine cone crafts are a perfect summer craft, as long as one stays away from red and green felt if you know what I mean? Keep reading for links to all these projects, and hopefully I'll have time to use those pine cones I just found in drawer during our Passover/Spring cleaning, now seriously underway. Lucky for me the pine cones are already painted white, so maybe there will be some pine cone penguins in our near futures!

Summer Camp Crafts: Pine Cone Pineapples

 

I have taken this craft out of the archives and dusted it off as it is a great partner to my pine cone animals post. Plus it truly is one of the cutest nature crafts ever, right? And pineapples can be any color, not just yellow as long as you have a few yellow ones in the bunch. Best of all, you'll hopefully have to take a nature walk to collect the pinecones, so enjoy!

I have been wanting to make pinecone pineapples for a few months now, and even painted the pinecones yellow before Passover, and finally found the time to give this fantastic summer craft, that would be a perfect summer camp craft a try. And wow, the results are so adorable you'll want to make a whole bunch, I know I do! You can use your pineapple pinecones as decorations for part of a tropical party, or as whiimsical decorations any time. Line up a few on a shelf and you'll smile every time you see them, or hang some mobile style. And of course if you want to be a little bit different, how about hanging some pineapple pinecones in your succah? Succot is among other things, a fall harvest festival, and in Israel that means pomegranites and dates, but it could certainly mean pineapples as well, right?

Regardless of whether you have a plan for your pinecone pineapples, gather some pinecones and get crafting, I'm sure a great idea will come to you. If not simply display them on a little shelf which is where mine are sitting right now, looking as cute as ever! Best of all, once you get the hang of how to make these, you really could whip up quite a few, even as fun Bar or Bat Mitzvah, birthday or wedding centerpieces, so lets get crafting! (Note: If you do plan on making a large quantity, I would paint them by dipping them into a large container of paint, so much easier!)

Summer Camp Crafts: How To Make An Acrylic Pour Painting

Summer is here, which means whether or not summer camp is a part of your summer, you can still do messy, activity oriented crafts (outdoors?) that one might do in summer camp. Acrylic pour painting fits right into that category perfectly, so lets take a look at this trendy painting process.

If you are like me, you are slightly familiar with acrylic pour painting, but have not yet actually thought about trying it, as you've got so many other projects on your to-do list or a whole closet of craft supplies yet to be used? When I was asked to write an article about pour painting I was really excited to do the research and find out exactly how those dazzling multi-color paintings are made, and whether it would be something I'd consider trying. This article is a brief guide to help you determine whether indeed you'll spend the time and money to make some acrylic pour paintings or whether you'll pass. For a really great and in-depth article on acrylic pour paintings with how-to photos, and everything you need to know check out the post: Learn Everything About Acrylic Pouring. Just a guess, since I've discovered that one can actually make pour paintings with some inexpensive supplies, I think you'll be tempted to try, I know I am! Plus, one can do pour paintings on paper that has been coated with gesso, meaning you could even use those pour paintings as art journal backgrounds, or for something less precious than dictated by doing art on a canvas or wooden cradle board, not to mention that practicing on paper is a good idea. Ah yes, and since acrylic pour painting does not require any drawing or painting skills is it a fun craft/art activity that can be enjoyed by just about anyone over the age of around eight, so get a group together and enjoy! Okay, lets get into the specifics of acrylic pour painting.

Summer Camp Crafts: A Graffiti Logo Sweatshirt With Splashes Of Color

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   I am so grateful that my teen daughter loves crafting, as with no school for months now due to Covid-19, she has had lots of time to delve into creative activities that she loves, the latest being grafitti sweatshirts! Her friends are begging her to make some for them, and while I was just thinking she could do a class, maybe just buying an airbrush and semi-mass producing them would be a better idea? Just to be clear, my daughter isn't wearing this sweatshirt out and about, but she certainly has fun wearing it as pajamas! The graffit sweatshirt idea all started with a Purim costume which led to a black and white graffiti sweatshirt, which then led to this colorful creation, all done by aforementioned teen daughter on the floor of her tiny Israeli sized bedroom......of course the bedroom is a cute as can be, complete with tiny lights and dreamy decor, so it is actually a nice sanctuary for creativity. This project is perfect for summer as a whole family or group of kids could make them together and even make each shirt or sweatshirt together to reflect the group as a whole, which could be a really great memento of time spent creating together. The instructions for this project are quite loose, so you'll really have to rev up the creative gears, but if you start with a word or a logo in the middle and then go from there, you really can't go wrong. And if you do, just pour some paint over the areas that weren't so successful and keep on going! Okay, lets take a look at the supplies we used for this graffiti sweatshirt......

Summer Camp Crafts: A Simple Graffiti Sweatshirt In Black And White

Summer is here, and yet this summer is not like other summers, sigh. Here at CJM central we seem be in the middle of eternal vacation, well sort of, with the future of schooling this year very uncertain. Rather than dwell on that, and whether some of my kids will actually get "summer vacation" when and if school starts, lets get busy making summer camp crafts, as there is something about messy or process oriented or outdoor type crafts that just makes many of us happy, not to mention busy and creative! Speaking of busy, this graffiti sweatshirt project could keep someone busy for hours and hours, and when my daughter disappeared into her room for long periods it dawned on me that she must be working on a graffiti sweatshirt! This graffiti sweatshirt idea was born when my teen daughter wrote all over one of her brother's old white shirts as  Purim costume (keep on reading for photo) and realized that she'd like to create a sweatshirt in the same style to wear as pajamas......and voila, a graffiti sweatshirt was born. And then another for a friend, and then another, but with color added! So, if you love to doodle, and love lettering, and/or drawing little items, this is the project for you, or your kids, so get a cheap sweatshirt, some permanent and/or fabric markers and enjoy. If some areas don't turn out wonderfully, just get some dark fabric paint and pour splatters over the areas you'd like to cover, ah yes, this is where the outdoor crafting part comes into the picture! Enjoy this one, and actually if you want to keep yourself and/or the family really busy, you could do a comforter cover, or a set of sheets using this graffiti sweatshirt as inspiration...........

Ten Pine Cone Crafts For All Ages

Kids and adults alike love collecting pine cones after a nature walk, and they tend to be aplenty at many forest locations of day camps and sleepover camps, so pine cone crafts are a perfect summer craft, as long as one stays away from red and green felt if you know what I mean? Keep reading for links to all these projects, and hopefully I'll have time to use those pine cones I just found in drawer during our Passover/Spring cleaning, now seriously underway. Lucky for me the pine cones are already painted white, so maybe there will be some pine cone penguins in our near futures!