Spring Fevers, Colds and Crafts.

The past few days have been cold, wet and snowy-and the kids have had colds, been whiney and snotty, such an appealing combination.  Everyone has been spending extra time in their jammies and wrapped up in various blankies.  To go along with their colds I've been dealing with a fever..spring fever I think.
   I needed to find some things to keep them occupied and give me a sense of accomplishment.  I've seen all sorts of crafts involving toilet paper rolls these days, but not so much kid crafts.  Seeing as we go through what seems like an unrealistic amount of toilet paper for a family of 5, we have lots of empty rolls around.  I will point out that there has been a large amount of nose blowing with the T.P. lately too, that might have something to do with the extra rolls!
  The first little project I decided on was a snake -what is it with kids' obsession with snakes anyway?  I took a couple rolls and cut them in a diagonal spiral, not really following the seam, that would make a really short and fat snake...I tried that first!  On one end of the spiral I did a little free-form snake head with a tongue(a little piece of ribbon would make a cute tongue too though).  I set up the munchkins at the table with markers-and a blank paper underneath- and let them color their custom snake friends!

Deciding on colors.

Even 'Tinkerbell' loves snakes!

 

The coloring actually kept them busy for quite a while, they wanted them to look just right!  Once their snakes were colored they had lost a little of their curliness.  To get it back I rolled them up and set them inside of a jar for a little while....they regained their twirl and the kids wore them like bracelets!  As they gradually stretched back out, they became little pets that ended up joining us at the table for lunch and dinner.....a little weird, but so are my kids!

Crafty supplies out and ready!

 Well we were on a 'roll' (hee hee hee), so I decided to try another T.P. roll craft.  This time we made bracelets on purpose.   So, first I cut a slit from one end to the other and then cut three equal-ish pieces from side to side.  Since I wanted these bracelets to hold their curve shape a little better than the snakes did I decided to not have the kids color directly onto the cardboard.  Instead I traced the shape onto colored paper of their choice and let them decorate to their little hearts' content.  It would have been fun to have stickers, but I haven't found my sticker stash yet.  Once they had their coloring done(and added words or pictures with the help of momma) I cut out the rectangle and glued it onto the piece of tube.  We could have stopped here and called it good....but I like to complicate things!  I also like to make things that will (hopefully) last longer than a day.  I am a BIG fan of super tape.  You know, the clear tape on the huge roll.  I have a habit of 'self-laminating' many projects.  It can get annoying if your tape strips move or stick to each other in the wrong way, but hey it's way cheaper than a trip to the copy center to get things laminated!

The 'tape sandwich'.

Trim the tape about 1/8 inch from the edge.

So,all that being said, it was tape time!  Taking a strip of tape a little longer than the bracelet, lay the tape sticky side up on the table and place the bracelet on top.  Taking another piece of tape gently stick it to one end of the bracelet and slide it up the inside-sticking it to sticky side of the first tape....basically a tape sandwich with cardboard in the middle.  Honestly, that's the hard part.  Then just trim the edges and grab your hole punch!  Punch a hole in each end and tie a small piece of yarn or ribbon through the hole.  Ta-Da!  Fun little bracelets, or maybe more like arm-cuffs, either way.  They are cute and the kids love that they made them........well, kinda.  ;-)  

Custom bracelet designed by the Cub.

So much style on little arms!

Pile of fun bracelets ready to share!

   Ok, one more little tid-bit of fun from the past few days at our house.  Yesterday morning the kids were feeling generally yucky and needed distraction.  Feeling a little less than inspired I wandered over to Pinterest to find some......not like I need an excuse to wander onto Pinterest!
   Well, the first thing I came across looked just about perfect.  A free'build your own cupcake' printable!  So perfect, on so many levels-first of all, it's free, and second, it has to do with baking-the obsession of my little people!  Yay!!  So after printing out these adorable things I spent the next hour cutting them out....takes a lot longer to do things when I always decide to make double!  So, as I mentioned before, I have a slight obsession with super tape.  Well, this project was no different.  I figured if I was going to spend all this time cutting these little cupcakes out, I didn't want them destroyed in a matter of minutes!  On, to the 'laminating'!

2 'Laminated' sheets ready for cutting!

In the same way as before I sandwich the cut-outs between strips of tape, once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty quickly.  Each set of printables has pieces to put together 8 complete cupcakes: 8 cakes, 8 papers, 10 frosting choices, and 10 decorations. So cute! I stumbled upon a fabulous discovery while putting these cupcake kits together-ready? It's big......super tape covered paper and a fine mist of plain old water on a window creates instant window clingies!!! Woo-HOoo!  My kids LOVE window clingies.  The only problem is that since they are gel like when they fall to the floor they pick up all sorts of nasty, and then they end up getting tossed.  Well, these little wonders easily stick with a single spray of plain old water, stay up for a long time, and when they do fall off, all you have to do is wipe them off!  I have to admit, I felt pretty amazing when I figured this out.  My littles played with their cupcakes on the window for a while and then on the table for a while longer.  It was fabulous and definitely worth the time it took to cut them out.  And best of all, they are safely put in a baggie for the next time they want to play!

Instant window clings!

Makin cupcakes!  :-)

  Here's the link again for the free printable: 'build-your-own-cupcake'