Hand Card

This was a cute, quick card we made for my Mother for Mother's Day. Our gift idea had started with my husband and I planning out a nail day for Mom (Riley's Grammy) and I, but how to make that cute? Soooo tired of just handing over gift certificates. Then the hand card popped into my head. My mom would not only love a tiny little reminder of how small her granddaughter's hands once were and this was yet another project to keep my kid occupied an make her extra proud when she gave it to her Grammy.

Super simple. 

Supplies needed- Pencil, construction paper or 2 depending on the size of hands, white paper, scissors, glue stick and markers. 

First we traced both my daughter's hands (that's why the hands don't lay exactly together). Cut both hands out. I drew line on each hand where her nails are so she could color each in. She had a ton of fun with that part, she was cracking up thinking it was the funniest thing to make "her" nails whatever color.

Cut a slice of your white paper, length isn't really a issue but think height needs to be a little bit smaller then the palm size. 

Write your message. For the inside of our card we thought up sayings like "Happy (Grammy) Mother's Day!" and "Gift Good For Nail Day With Your Daughter," the language was a little goofy cause it was from all of us, but it made it extra special. As you see my daughter thought the inside should be just as colorful as the outside. She isn't at the writing stage (completely) yet, so I let her pick the markers. My only word of advice is don't sign card till the very end. If you wait till after the folding an gluing you can have signatures fill in the white gap easier. (The picture above was taken before my husband signed, hence the gap on right hand.)

Then fold accordion style. The 2 ends, first and last put glue on the back side (non-written) side. May need to adjust folding or chop extra when looking at it. Rub onto the palm of each hand, the non-color side, right should be your bottom hand and left be your top hand. Just think putting your hands together and opening them like a book. Now sign away!

Hope this gives you a idea for the next Mother's, Father's, or Grandparent's Day around the corner. :)

Coffee Filter Butterflies

Cute little butterflies! We've made them over an over again and this project never gets old. No two are the same and you can let them fly or use them as magnets on your fridge. HINT - Magnets make good little handmade gifts. ;) 

What you need: Let me first tell you that most things are optional, but you absolutely need Coffee Filters, Chenille Stems (aka Pipe Cleaners) and Washable Markers. I will list everything else that you can possibly need, but as I go through the steps I'll explain where and what you can change/leave out. Now the other stuff; 1 Water Spray Bottle, Water, Clothespins, Googly Eyes, Glue, Magnet Strips, Scissors, Clear Fishing Wire and Thumb Tacks.

This is the odd ball of the group so I'll start with this type and it was intended as a magnet but my daughter decided it needed to join the rest of her butterflies in her room. This version requires: 2 Coffee Filters, Clothespin, Glue, Googly Eyes, Markers, and Magnet Strips.

Let your kid marker both of the coffee filters and the clothes pin. Fold each filter in a accordion style then bend in half.  Wrap pipe cleaner around finger for curly effect the bend in half so you have a curly V. During all this if you are having to do it, let your kid glue two googly eyes to the top (smaller portion) of the clothes pin. Once dry, add folded coffee filters in the pin then the pipe cleaner. Try to gently unfold the filters. Flip butterfly over and stick or glue your magnetic strip to the back of your clothes pin.

To make this style you only need one coffee filter for each butterfly and one pipe cleaner, as you see the clothespin is a option. These both are generally created the same. 

Time to decorate the filter with washable markers, lots of colors. Once full of color little one can use the water sprayer to wet the filter creating a tie dye effect. Hang somewhere good to dry. If you are doing a clothespin go ahead and decorate that bit. Once filter is dry pinch center of filter creating two halves, either place inside clothespin or wrap a chenille stem here. If doing the stem wrap it twice around the body then the ends once around each other, so your butterfly is secure. Make sure the ends are at the top and bend the tips a bit for a more buggy antenna effect. If doing clothespin, fold your stem in half point it out a bit making a V. Add your stem, point end of the V inside the clothes pin on top of filter. Now to make your butterflies fly! Tie fishing wire to a thumb tack, think about the length you want the butterfly to be dropping from your ceiling to be flying around, add a touch more, and cut. That extra portion use to wrap around body (center) of butterfly, nice and tight tie it. Thumb tack your butterfly to ceiling and when the windows are open on a nice day enjoy them flying about.

Obviously you can do the curly or antenna version on any choice of butterfly style, but this is just how we did ours. Mix and match! Have fun!