Related Pages: Fall Paper Crafts, Tissue Paper Flower Topiary, Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Fall Wreath Craft

Fall Wreath Materials List

Black, green, yellow, orange and brown tissue paper

Wide ribbon (I used a green organza I got on Christmas clearance last year)

Floral or beading wire

Glue

8 inch grapevine wreath

Optional: Feather butterfly decoration (I got mine at the dollar store!).

Fall Wreath Craft Materials

How to Make this Fall Wreath Craft

You’re going to start by making 1 tissue paper tiger lily and 3 tissue paper black-eyed susan flowers.

Tissue Paper Tiger Lily Flower

Paper Tiger Lily Flower Parts

For the tiger lily, cut out two five-petal pieces of orange tissue paper, a 1.25 inch piece of brown tissue paper (or a brown paper bag works), a 1 inch piece of black tissue paper, and a 12 inch strip of green tissue paper.

Crumple and then uncrumple (a few times) the two small circles so that they look more natural.

Twist the strip of green tissue paper into a string-like appearance as shown. Break it into two pieces, they don’t need to be exactly the same length, but close.

Curl the petals of the orange flower very lightly as you would curling ribbon with scissors. Do this to both pieces, though only one is shown that way (so you can see the shape).

Now, score each orange petal with a fingernail or bone folder as shown – this gives it a remarkably tricky realistic appearance!

Making Paper Tiger Lily Petals

Layer the pieces as shown below, poking holes with your floral wire. You will need about 8-9 inches per flower.

Assembling the Tissue Paper Tiger Lily

Twist the wire like a twist tie on the back and this one is done!

Tissue Paper Black-Eyed Susan Flowers

Paper Black Eyed Susan Flower Parts

I know there isn’t any green stuff in the middle of a black-eyed susan. I just though it looked more polished this way!

For this tissue paper flower, cut three yellow circles about 2.5 inches in diameter, and tear off a 3 inch or so square of green and black tissue paper. Crumple up the black one tightly and the green one very loosely.

Clip the petals as shown into the three yellow circles (you can do this on all three at once, just make sure to rotate them when you assemble the flower to give it variation).

Layer the three yellow pieces and green piece together and attach them with another 8-9: piece of wire as you did with the tiger lily.

Assembling the Paper Flowers with Thin Wire

Leave off the black crumpled piece of tissue paper because it would be too hard to get the wire through it. Assemble it all, and then glue the black piece into the center instead.

Tissue Paper Black Eyed Susan Flower

Make two more for three total.

Attach the Tissue Paper Flowers

Attaching the Tissue Paper Flowers to the Wreath

Take the wire on the back of the flowers and attach them to the bottom of the grapevine wreath form. This is just like using a twist-tie (which also means you can reuse these parts in something else if you want to!). Put the tiger lily on one side and the three black-eyed susans next to it, tucking the wire ends into the grapevines so that they don’t poke out and hurt someone.

Fall Flower Wreaths Closeup

Add the Hanging Ribbon

Since my organza ribbon was too sheer to see with one layer, I double wrapped it around the top of the wreath. This was about a 7 or 8 foot length of ribbon.

Fall Wreath Bow Step 1

I then cut another 2.5 foot or so piece of ribbon and tied it in a bow around the top, gathering the ends of the longer piece.

Fall Wreath Bow Step 2

I had a little orange feather butterfly hanging around that seemed like the perfect addition to the top of the bow, so I just hot glued it in place. Plus it works well to cover up any bow-tying imperfections!

Fall Wreath Bow with Feather Butterfly Decoration

All done! Just go hang it somewhere where you can enjoy it!

More Fall Kids Crafts

Indian Corn Craft

Cute Yarn Apples

Splatter Paint Fall Tree

Fall Corn Color by Number

I’ve tried to find Cricut craft projects that don’t require a big investment in more cartridges, though some do, of course. Several of them offer free template downloads or instructions on how to create the projects on your own. Also, some of these patterns are just as easily made on other paper cutting craft tools, such as the Gypsy and Cuttlebug.

Related Pages: Printable Box Templates, Printable Vintage Postcards, Printable Dragon Paper Craft

Cricut Paper Crafts

Cricut Paper Purse	Cricut Robot Papercraft	Pretty Cricut Cupcake Wrappers	Cricut Paper Flowers Craft

Halloween Cricut Crafts

Cricut Halloween Decorations	Cricut Paper Pumpkins	Decorated Halloween Candles	Halloween Door Hangers

Thanksgiving Cricut Crafts

Cricut Thanksgiving Turkey Craft	Cricut Thanksgiving Pie Favor Boxes	Cricut Thanksgiving Place Cards	Thanksgiving Paper Banners

Christmas Cricut Crafts

Paper Cutting Christmas Ornaments	Cricut Glitter Snowflakes	Christmas Mouse Candy Cane Holders	Cricut Paper Christmas Scene

Valentines Day Cricut Crafts

Cricut Valentine Treat Bag Toppers	Cricut Strawberry Valentine Treats	Cricut Valentine Cards	Cricut Valentines Day Banner

Easter Cricut Crafts

Cricut Spring Flower Easter Treats	Cricut Easter Bunny Basket	Cricut Easter Egg Holder	Cricut Easter Place Cards

Check out more paper cutting crafts while you are here, too!

Related Pages: Bulletin Board Decorations, Peanut Butter & Jelly Recipes, Teacher Newsletter Templates

Over the weekend I was brainstorming some back to school craft ideas as a way to try to make a dent in this budget. This pencil case tutorial came together way easier than I thought it would – and all of my kids loved the results. The best part is that it technically cost me $0 dollars, because everything I needed to make it I already had around the house.

Pencil Case Tutorial

Easy Pencil Case Materials List

NOTE: You can easily change dimensions of this pencil holder and make it smaller or larger as you choose.

1 sheet 12″ x 12″  (preferably double-sided) scrapbook paper

Clear contact paper (the re-positionable kind rocks, but isn’t necessary)

3 hole punch

2 sets of Velcro dots

HELPFUL, but not required, is a grid cutting mat, though most contact paper also has a grid on the back you could use.

BTW, if you have contact paper with a pretty pattern, you can just make this pencil pouch with regular (non-corrugated) cardboard or card stock.

Pencil Case Tutorial Step by Step

Step 1

Cut up 4 pieces from your scrapbook paper. I made this pencil pouch 11 inches wide to fit neatly into a 3 ring binder.

Pencil Cases for School - Step 1

In order, they are (1) at 1″ x 11″, (1) at 3″ x 11″, and (2) at 4″ x 11″

Step 2

Lay down your paper onto a piece of 13″ x 15″ contact paper as shown. This is easiest done on a grid so that you can measure and line things up perfectly.

Pencil Cases for School - Step 2

Leave a 1.125″ gap between the 3 hole punch flap and the back of your pouch, as this will be covering the other side of the 3 hole punch flap. If you think it’s tight, err on the side of being too large of a gap rather than too small. You can always cut off the excess contact paper, but you really need the front and back of the pouch to line up nicely.

Step 3

Carefully fold the pouch in half so that the front and back of the pouch are right on top of each other.

Pencil Cases for School - Step 3

Make sure that your front flap has enough room to fold over the top of the pouch when it’s all assembled. Only press the contact paper in place over the three hole punch flap, because you are going to cover the inside of the pouch with contact paper, too.

Lay the pouch flat again with the contact paper on the bottom.

Step 4

Cover the inside of the pouch with another piece of contact paper, with piece sized 11″ by 11″ . It’s OK if the top and bottom edges don’t cover all the way, but the sides do need to be pretty exact.

Pencil Cases for School - Step 4

Step 5

Now you need to clip your corners and fold lines so that you can tape the parts together into a pouch. The first photo shows where the cuts need to be made, but are kind of hard to see in the picture. So I’ve included a second photo with better lighting so that you can see what I mean:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 5a

Clip the corners off completely, but just make slits in the sides:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 5b

Step 6

Starting with the Front Pouch Flap, Fold over the excess contact paper to the inside of the pouch:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 6

Step 7

Next fold in the sides for the Back of Pouch:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 7

Step 8

Lastly, fold the Front of the Pouch over, and fold the contact paper around the entire pouch, sealing those side flaps on the back of the pencil pouch:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 8

Step 9

Almost done! Here is a rear view of the pouch. Simply clip off the excess contact paper on the sides of the 3 ring punch flap:

Pencil Cases for School - Step 9

Step 10

Carefully punch holes in your 1″ flap to be able to carry it in a 3 ring binder. If you want your hole circles more centered than mine are, then pay more attention than I did to how deep your hole punch is set! ‘Doh!

Pencil Cases for School - Step 10

Step 11

Attach your sticky velcro circles on the corners of your flap, and your pencil case is ready to pencil hold!

Pencil Cases for School - Step 11

The beauty of this back to school craft is that you can find any kind of scrapbook paper (or fabric, for that matter!) to suit nearly any personality. I’m making one for my son with Star Wars scrapbook paper, for example. You could also use wrapping paper, but I admit I’m not sure if that would work  as well because the paper is so much thinner (let me know if you try it!).

Finished Pencil Case Tutorial

The finished pencil case is surprisingly sturdy and should hold up for a good amount of time. It’s similar in weight to plastic folders, which are the only kind I buy for my kids, because the paper ones disintegrate in just a few weeks.

Be sure to check out all of our back to school printables on Classroom Jr., too!

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Printable Merry Christmas Banner

This is my last *sniff* Christmas in July post this year! I won’t miss it too much – I’ve taken a break from Classroom Jr. for the summer. And now that August is right around the corner, I’m going to be crazy busy putting new back to school content up!

Related Pages: Coordinating Christmas Gift Tags, Printable Vintage Christmas Cards, Easy Christmas Finger Puppet Crafts

Printable Christmas Cupcake Decorations		Printable Christmas Cupcake Wrappers
Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 1	Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 2	Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 3
Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 4		Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 5

Check out all of our Christmas Kids Activities from the Woo! Jr. Network!

Related Pages: Recycled Kids Crafts, Flower Crafts, Leaf Crafts, Acorn Crafts

Be sure to check out all of our nature crafts on Craft Jr.!

But man (and child) cannot live on berries alone – though my kids would if they could! So here’s a roundup of really easy summer recipes both you and your kids will love. These would be perfect for summer BBQs, summer party food, or just take a rainy afternoon and make them with your kids!

Related Pages: Watermelon Recipes, Summer Party Games, Ice Cream Party Games

Summer Fruit Recipes

Easy Kids Lunch Ideas

Smoothie Recipes

Summer Dessert Recipes

Check out all of our summer kids crafts while you are here, too!

Related Pages: Luau Bingo, Summer Printables, Easy Friendship Bracelets

Beach Craft Driftwood Mobiles	Beach Sand Mosaic Casting	Sea Shell Wreaths
Beach Glass Craft	Beach Coloring Pages	Make Seashell Candles
Origami Oyster Shell Tutorial	Shell Figurine Craft	Making Sand Candles
Silly Sea Shell Creatures	Shell Matching Game Craft	Beach Shell Animals
Driftwood Craft Ideas	Beach Sand Hand Casting	Driftwood Photo Holder

Check out all of the summer kids activities from the Woo! Jr. Network!

This free sewing pattern is a perfect stash-busting project. Depending on your size, you can make this top with less than 3/4 of a yard of fabric!

I’ve made this tutorial crystal-clear with step by step photos so that even a teenager can pull this together on their own.

Free Summer Top Sewing Pattern

To break her out of her “making pajama pants rut”, I taught her how to make this ultra simple tube top with a simple rectangle of fabric and elastic thread. If elastic thread intimidates you (it did me for a while!), don’t worry about it for another second. Sewing with elastic thread is just as easy as sewing with regular thread. I’d say it’s easier, because it does so much shaping of the fabric for you, so you don’t need to worry so much about cutting precisely.

Even though this project is easy enough for teens, don’t think you can’t whip up a few for yourself! You can finish them in less than 2 hours – more like an hour and a half, tops!

(ooooh… bad unintentional pun.)

What You Need to Make This Summer Top

Fabric (see measuring guide below)

Regular coordinating thread

1 spool of elastic thread

Steam iron

To determine how much fabric you need, print and complete this super-simple measuring guide:

Free Easy Sewing Pattern - Strapless Summer Top

*Disclaimer – If you have a rather busty figure, I’d recommend adding straps to this top!

Strapless Summer Top Sewing Instructions

Step 1 – Sew your rectangle into a tube

Step 1 - Sew a Tube

Step 2 – Hem the top and bottom edges

Step 2a - Press raw edges

To make this super-easy, press the fabric down 1/2 inch, then again another 1/2 inch. Then turn it over and topstich the hem in place with regular thread:

Step 2b - Sew the pressed hems

Step 3 – HAND wind a bobbin with elastic thread

This may seem like a real pain in the rear, but it’s not. You can do it in less than 90 seconds. DON’T pull the elastic as you wind, simply keep it snug but unstretched. Then load the elastic thread bobbin into your sewing machine. Keep regular thread in your machine needle.

Step 3 - Wind elastic thread bobbin

Step 4 -Start sewing rows with the elastic thread

Line up the right side of your presser foot with the hem you just sewed. Now simply start sewing rows around your tube. You will be doing the exact same thing on both the top and bottom of the shirt, so you can start on either end. Make sure that you have the right side of the fabric on top, so that the elastic thread gets sewn on the wrong side of the fabric.

Some sewing machines may have a hard time if you backstitch the elastic thread at the beginning of your row. If so, just start and be sure to backstitch at the end of your rows.

These rows are also referred to as ‘smocking’.

Step 4 - Sew rows with elastic thread

Depending on the weight of your fabric, the elastic thread won’t pucker much at first. Don’t worry about this – a little steam iron magic will take care of it when we’re all done.

Step 4 - First row of elastic thread

Step 5 – Starting a new row of elastic thread

You are going to sew 5 rows of elastic thread on both the top and bottom of the shirt. Along with your hemmed row, that will be six stitched rows each.

Some people prefer to cut their thread and tie it off on each row. I prefer to keep it all one long piece of thread, to minimize any future breakage. To make sure that there is no pulling between the rows, pull the fabric away from your presser foot about 3 inches and then put it right back down under the presser foot, lined up along the previous seam. This will give it just enough slack to prevent puckering where you don’t want it to pucker.

Step 5 - Start a new row of elastic thread

One bobbin should be just about enough elastic thread to get through 5 rows. But if you run out, no worries. Just wind a new bobbin, start sewing where the old thread left off, and make sure you tie the ends together on the back of the fabric.

Tip - Start new bobbin

Continue sewing rows until you have 5 with the elastic thread.

Sewing with elastic thread

Step 6 – Repeat elastic thread rows on the other end of the shirt

When you are done with one end, it will look like this:

Step 6 - Finished one end, do the other

The back of the rows will look like this:

Wrong side of elastic thread rows

Do the same on the other end of the tube top.

Step 7 – The fun part – steam the elastic and watch it pucker!

When you’re all done, fire up your steam iron. Do not touch the thread with the iron! You simply need to hold the iron right above your elastic thread smocking and give it a few shots of steam. Your elastic will pucker right before your eyes.

Step 7 - Steam Away!

Step 8 – Look cool and sip some iced tea in your new summer top!

Free Sewing Project - Easy Summer Top

Summer Top Variations

You can also make this top with a completely different look by omitting the bottom smocking rows and wearing it with a belt. Adorable!

More Teen Crafts

More Teen Sewing Patterns

Easy Bulletin Board Decorating Ideas

Recycled Crafts: T-Shirt Surgery

4th of July Decorations for Kids to Make

This kids craft would make a great hostess gift for a 4th of July party, or just to make and hang as a front door decoration. Even though the end result is a pretty ‘grown up’ craft, I was surprised as to how much my kids wanted to participate. When they saw how easy rag wreaths are to make, they were all over it!

Related Posts: Watermelon Carving Ideas, 4th of July Coloring Pages, Summer Worksheets for Kids

How to Make Rag Wreaths

Rag wreaths are “easy peasy lemon squeezy” as my daughter would say! Plus they are an awesome stash-busting project, because you can use up a ton of those scrap fabric pieces that are too small to make much else with!

All you need is some wire, 1 yard of ribbon to hang the wreath (preferably wired), and between 1 and 1 and a half yards (total) of scrap fabric:

Next time I make one of these, I plan on being more precise – my strips were about 10 inches long and I ended up needing more fabric than I should have needed. I was extremely sloppy and random about tearing up my strips of fabric for this project. This meant my strips were a little too long and I ended up using about a yard and a half of fabric. If you prefer a little more precision, try to cut or tear your fabric strips into 1 inch by 6 inch pieces. If you use a heavier weight fabric such as canvas or denim, make the strips 7 inches long. Either way, though, you really can’t mess up a rag wreath – they look good no matter what!

I did find that it helps to fold the strips of fabric a bit before you tie them onto the wire. That way the outside print of the fabric was more likely to show (instead of the backside).

But really – this is it – tear up the strips and tie them on in random order.

How to Make a Rag Wreath

I told you it was easy peasy lemon squeezy! The kids thought so, too!

Kids 4th of July Crafts

Be sure to check out all of our 4th of July kids activities from Woo! Jr. websites for kids!

Tissue Paper Flower Crafts

Tissue Paper Flower Topiary	Basic Tissue Paper Flowers	Flower Pillbox Hat	Embellished Tissue Paper Flowers

Preschool Flower Crafts

Preschool Paper Flower Garden	Cupcake Liner Flowers	Handprint and Footprint Flowers	Pipe Cleaner Flowers

Flower Printables

Summer Flower Coloring Pages	Spring Flower Coloring Pages	Printable Flowers and Baskets	Printable Flower Letters

Flower Desserts and Treats

Flower Cupcakes	Flower Cookie Pops	Flower Cupcake Toppers	Flower Basket Cupcakes

More Flower Crafts for Kids

Origami Flowers	Dried Flower Crafts	Flower Fairy Crafts	Paper Mache Flowers

Check out more spring crafts and summer crafts, too!