Adult Arts & Crafts

For this project we did plain glass candle holders, but you can marble just about any plain glass décor (just make sure it is not something you are eating or drinking out of)

Marbling Glass:

1. clear glass votive cups (or any glass you want to redesign)

2. nail polish (whatever colors you would like!)

3. container with water

4. toothpicks

5. nail polish remover

6. cotton balls

7. clear spray sealant (optional)

First, fill your container with warm water - marbling works best with water that is slightly above room temperature.

Next, add your colors! This part needs to happen quickly, so that the nail polish doesn’t have time to dry before you dip your glass.

Beginning with your first color, let a few drops of polish fall onto the water. Tip: Apply them near the water’s surface; if you let them fall from too high they’ll sink to the bottom. The polish will start spreading once it hits the water. After you have a few drops of the first color, add a second and it will spread a bit as well.

Then, quickly and gently drag a toothpick across the surface of the water to swirl the colors and create a marbled effect [these last two steps shouldn’t take much more than a minute or so]

Now it is time to put your marble onto your glass. With your glass held sideways, gently dip and roll the surface across the nail polish on the water. The polish will pull off of the water and stick to the votive. Roll the votive until all sides are covered. If you’d like marbling on the bottom as well, dip the bottom into the water to pick up more nail polish.

Set the votive upside down to dry. The nail polish will dry quickly, but allow at least an hour before you handle them so that the nail polish has time to set. Use the nail polish remover and a cotton ball to remove smudges.

***If desired, take to a well-ventilated area and spray with a clear sealant to protect the marbling***

*This one requires ADULT SUPERVISION*

TIN CAN LANTERNS

To make these beauties, you'll need:

1. Adult supervision - we're serious about this one!

2. Multiple tin cans (coffee cans work great, but any metal can will work for this - to keep it from bending, fill it with cold water and freeze it overnight before putting holes into it)

3. Hammer

4. Different sizes of nails (for different designs)

5. A towel (for stabilization)

6. Permanent marker and paper (for planning)

To begin, you will need to create your hole design for the entire can. Be sure to plan out your can design on paper first, then you may copy it onto your can with a permanent marker.

Next, you will have to hammer the nails into the can in order to create your design (here comes that ADULT SUPERVISION part). There are many different ways to do this, and will differ from person to person. If you have a cordless drill, you can use it to speed up the process, but a hammer will also do the trick.

We used a towel to stabilize the can. Do this by placing a folded towel on your lap, and then placing you tin can on top of it. Use the towel to stabilize the can while you hammer in your nails to create your design.

Once finished, you can add wire or string to the top as a handle. Place your light source inside, and there you have a personalized lantern!

Happy Wednesday!

Today, January 27th, 2021 is Chocolate Cake Day, so let make this Wednesday a little Wacky with a Wacky Cake Recipe!

Wacky Cake is a chocolate cake made with no eggs, no milk, and no butter. Dating back to the 1930's this cake increased in popularity during World War II due to rationing of foods where eggs, milk, and butter were more scarce. Many of you might of had this cake before made by your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents who would have lived during this period of time.

And the best part is.... you mix it right in the pan... NO DISHES!

Ingredients for the cake are

-1½ cups all-purpose flour

-1 cup sugar

-4 tbsp (rounded) unsweetened cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 tablespoon white vinegar

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-6 tablespoons vegetable oil

-1 cup water

Ingredients for the frosting are:

-1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

-2½ cups powdered sugar

-1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Instructions to mix & bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In an ungreased glass or ceramic 8-inch square pan (do not use metal), add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, and stir to combine with a fork.

3. Make three wells in the mixture and add the vinegar into one well, vanilla extract into another well and vegetable oil into the third well. Pour the water over the entire mixture and mix with a fork until thoroughly combined and no dry ingredients remain.

4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (26 to 30 minutes). Place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

5. Make the Vanilla Frosting: Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

6. Using a spatula, spread the vanilla frosting evenly over the top of the cake. The cake can be stored, covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature, for up to 4 days.

HERE is the link to chocolate cake day info and history!

Wanna see more Holidays by Day? HERE is a link for holidays a day by month!

Christmas Hat Ornament

You'll need:

1. Yarn (any color you'd like!)

2. A toilet or paper towel roll

3. A small elastic / rubber band

First, cut a small ring from your cardboard tube. An easy way to do this is: flatten the tube, make two marks (depending on how wide you want your hat to be) and cut across the tube going directly through the two marks. Then, squeeze the ring back into your circle shape.

Cut around forty 14 inch strands of yarn. Fold one strand of yarn in half. Pass the folded end through the center of the cardboard ring then pass the loose ends through the fold. Pull taught and repeat step until your cardboard ring is completely covered with your yarn pieces.

Take all of the loose ends of yarn and pass them through the center of the cardboard ring and out the other side. Gather all the ends together and secure them with your elastic or rubber band. Cut the excess yarn off so the top looks like a pom-pom, and attach a hook to hang!

Twig Reindeer

All you need to create these festive figurines are:

1. Small sticks and branches of different sizes. You'll need pieces for the legs (4), the body (1), the head (1), and antlers (2) so plan out which each stick or wood piece can be used for)

2. Hot glue

3. Little decorations for eyes, nose, tail etc. you can be creative!

Gather your materials. For this, hot glue works best to put your reindeer together, so make sure you have adult supervision!

Snowy Pinecone Owl

You'll need:

1. Pinecones

2. Cotton Balls

3. Google eyes

4. Pipe cleaners

This one is super easy! Rip up all the cotton balls into small pieces and begin stuffing them into the sections of the pinecone (the more cotton pieces the better!)

Once you are happy with your owls fuzziness, you can add on the google eyes, beak, and wings (made out of pipe cleaners) with glue and your owl is ready for the holidays!

Happy Wednesday! Let's do a craft

DIY Sun Catchers - Perfect for summer! Super easy to make

Materials

1. Clear or white school glue (white glue will dry without being completely clear, so keep that in mind when choosing glue!)

2. Beads, rocks, glitters, anything to add color and shine!

3. A clear plastic lid (or honestly something that will hold your sun catchers shape while they dry)

First, clean out your plastic lid. Squeeze a good amount of your glue into the lid so there is a thick layer that covers the entire bottom.

Stick your sun catching materials into the glue. You can arrange them however you want, but make are to use all of the space - it looks fuller that way! Cover the top with more glue.

Let sit for 2-3 days, or until glue is completely dry. Pull your creation out of the plastic top.

Find the thickest part of your catcher's edge, and push a hole through for the string. This is how your sun catcher will hang.

You have your very own sun catcher!

Supplies: Chalk & Masking Tape

Instructions: Lay your design out on a driveway or wall, fill in with chalk, remove tape and enjoy!

Who can make a better window than ours? Show us in the comments!

Happy Tuesday! Today we want to get a little crafty...

We are making broken crayon molds!

Materials:

1. Broken crayons - assorted colors

2. Silicon molds (these work best to keep your crayon creations from breaking)

3. Your oven with adult supervision!

Begin by tearing off all wrappers on the crayons. If you have full-sized crayons, break them into small pieces after you rip the wrappers off.

Arrange your crayons into the silicon molds - you can do a rainbow, different shades of the same color, or just about any combo you can think of!

Bake your crayons in the molds at 230 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Take your mold out and let it cool. Putting them in the freezer will help them cool quickly.

Once hardened, push them gently out of the molds!

Have boxes and boxes of old crayons lying around the house? Why not turn them into an easy-to-do art project...

The only supplies you'll need:

1. A box of crayons

2. A piece of cardboard (bottom of a box works great!)

3. A hair dryer

4. Glue

Glue the crayons to the top of your cardboard. I covered my cardboard with computer paper to have the colors stand out more.

Run the hair dryer over the crayons, and watch your colorful picture come to life! Please remember to lay a cloth down before melting, as it can get messy.

For a fun twist - add any extra decorations underneath the crayons to personalize your picture! (Tip - make sure to cover whatever decorations you put underneath the crayons with a piece of paper or tape so they do not get covered by melting wax)

The sun is out so let's hunt for the perfect rocks for ROCK PAINTING!

Flat, smooth rocks work best to hold the paint. To do this project, you'll need:

1. acrylic paint (paint shows up the best, but you can play around with different art supplies)

2. rocks

3. craft sticks/ plastic spoons for designs

4. paper plates

Are your paper-folding skills next level? Can you stay cool under pressure? Let's put you to the test with this ORIGAMI challenge! Today's project will be a dog.

All you need is a square of paper to begin (pro-tip: the thinner the paper, the easier these challenges will be)

The instruction key is posted. Each specific line or arrow means a specific folding move, so use that key!

Try it out, you may surprise yourself.

Make it into more of a challenge by using a timer and turning it into a race of who can fold their dog the quickest.

As always, snap a photo of your crafts and we may feature you on our page.

Happy folding, and watch out for those paper cuts!

Do you have all of these plants and not enough surface space for them? Have you thought of how great they would look suspended in the air by decoratively tied ropes? Well then watch the video links below to create a hanging jungle right inside your own home. Each link is rated for the skills level required.

"Basic" represents a basic skill level required.

"Advanced" represents a advanced skill level required.

Basic Macrame

3 Basic Macrame Knots

Advanced Macrame

Advanced Macrame Basket Hanger

A dollar bill can be more than just spending cash, it can also be a work of art. Click HERE to see instructions on how to make an abundance of dollar bill origami.