O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree… no, not the real ones with pine needles that are reach up to the ceiling! How about the ones made of paper that fit right on a page? This paper tree collage is a perfect rainy day or evening activity during the holiday season.

All you need is…. paper! Well, okay… paper, scissors (or a paper cutter if you have one at home), and glue. When it comes to paper, let’s specify. You’ll need a large sheet of white paper for your background and then a variety of paper scraps that include the color green. You could use construction paper, scrapbook paper, leftover wrapping paper… whatever you like!

Cut your green paper into strips of different widths and lengths. Once you have a nice little pile, start stacking them on your white sheet, longest strips on the bottom. The rest can be random and don’t be afraid to mix your patterns and angles. Use a glue stick to adhere them down when you’re ready. If you like, you can cut out some ornaments, a brown tree trunk, and a star from construction paper to decorate your tree. Ta-da!

Quick, simple, and pretty! And your entire cleanup consists of sweeping any scraps of extra paper into a recycling bin. Display and enjoy!

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Happy Greeting Card Season! Time to grab the address book and stamps and spread the well wishes to our loved ones. Of course there’s the classic route of vacation photos or professional portraits, but those can get a bit pricey. Why not make a card that’s cute, creative, personalized, and easy on the wallet?

To make these adorable ornament cards, you’ll need some cardstock and paper, a black marker, an assortment of colorful buttons, glue, and some optional rhinestones.

On a piece of paper (cut it in half and fit two to a page), draw several ornament strings and bows with your black marker (You can also purchase a string and bow stamp, but a marker works just as well!). Then glue buttons below the strings as ornaments. If you feel like adding a little sparkle, you can glue rhinestones on top of a few of the buttons. Then just add a little message and glue the paper to a folded sheet of cardstock.

Aren’t these precious? For another fabulous homemade card idea, check out our post over at Scribbleshop. You can also frame them for simple holiday decorations. Christmas cards don’t have to be fancy or expensive to make a splash… just heartfelt and creative!

Photo via Michelle Philippi

Photo via J. Day Designs

Photo via Splitcoast Stampers

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October may be the time for spooky, scary monsters, but once Halloween is over, why not take a look at other kinds of creatures?  Monsters can also be colorful, adorable, slimy, goofy, or funny. They can also be made with just some paint and a straw!

These cute and kooky critters are fun to create and just as simple! They’re a great opportunity to play with color, character, and creativity! You’ll need white paper, paint, straws, construction paper, googley eyes (optional), and glue.

Use a straw to blow the paint on the paper, creating the body and arms and legs (remember there can be more than two of each!). You can put small blobs of a few colors on the paper to see how they interact and add more dimension to your monster.

Then it’s time to create the faces! You can use construction paper or even googley eyes… whatever you want! Just glue them where you want the face to be. You can also add accessories or scenes around your monster! Remember—all these add-ons are how you showcase your monsters’ personalities.

Go wild! See just how crazy you can make your monsters. If you give this a try, take a moment and share your finished results with us! We’d love to see some one-of-a-kind kooky creatures.

Photo via smART Class

Photo via Raising Sparks

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Hi Scribblers!

Do you find it hard to make crafts with your toddlers? How do you inspire creativity in your preschoolers? At those young ages, arts & crafts is a great way to preserve memories of how little they were. Today, we made this palm pet sheep.

The base of this sheep was made from the outline of a hand. This craft can be great to display on your fridge as a magnet or on your desk to remind you of them throughout the day.

To make this craft, you will need:

To start, help your little one trace the outline of their hand and cut out the tracing. Cut off the base of the palm just beneath the thumb.

Draw an outline similar to a cloud for the sheep’s body onto a piece of white foam. The foam piece should be large enough to cover the palm tracing to leave the fingers exposed. Glue the foam body piece to the palm tracing leave just the tips of the fingers exposed.

Decorate the sheep’s body with curly designs using glitter and glue.

Glue the googley eye onto the sheep’s face (the thumb). Add glitter embellishment for the hoofs of the sheep (other four fingers) and the face (thumb) using glitter and glue.

Hang up the little sheep craft for everyone to enjoy!

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Hi Scribblers!

Pumpkins are scarce this year due to the strange weather we’ve been having. Just because pumpkins are hard to find, it doesn’t mean you can’t decorate your home!

Check out this cute Thumbkin!

Make a Thumbkin Pumpkin!

To Make:

1. Draw half inch lines across the width of orange construction paper for the pumpkin.

2. Cut out orange strips.

3. Wrap strips around your thumb.

4. Glue the end of strip to the rolled up piece to close the circle.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have used up all the orange strips.

6. Lay out the circles side by side an arrange them into a pumpkin shape.

7. Glue the circles together.

8. Cut three half inch strips of green construction paper about 4 inches long.

9. Curl an end of each green strip around your pinky (or a pen) to make a tighter curl for the leaves.

10. Glue the three green pieces in between two of the orange circles.

11. Cut a half inch strip out of brown construction paper about 2 inces long.

12. Fold the brown strip in half to make the stem.

13. Glue the unfolded end of the brown strip in between the green strips.

14. Once everything has dried, place your Thumbkin Pumpkin somewhere as a decoration or hang in a window!

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