St. Patrick's Day Garland Craft

My kids were was more excited than I thought they would be about this shamrock garland. The little ones hadn’t done any crochet before, and were fascinated by it. My 7 year old was certainly frustrated at first when she tried it. But when she saw her big brother master it, she gave it another shot and was beside herself in glee that she did it. Since this garland only requires one strand of single crochet, it is the perfect project to introduce kids to crochet because it is so easy. The hardest part was showing them how to hold the yarn and hook. Once they got that figured out, they were well on their way!

Related Pages: St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages, St. Patrick’s Day printable poems, St. Patrick’s Day pinwheel craft

What you Need to Make this Shamrock Garland

Green yarn

Green pipe cleaners

Really – that’s it!

How to Make this Shamrock Garland

First create a crochet chain stitch in the length of the garland you want to make. Here’s a really excellent chain stitch tutorial if you don’t know how to do this part already:

Then make your pipe cleaner shamrocks – 2 or three per ‘loop’ length. These are easy-peasy. I showed my 7 year old how to do them just once and within 15 minutes we had 10 of them sitting around.

How to Make Pipe Cleaner Shamrocks

Simply wrap the pipe cleaner around all four fingers, slip them off, then bend the long end around the middle to make the stem.

Then thread them onto your crochet strand, hang and enjoy!

Shamrock Garland Craft

Here are all of the Woo! Jr. St. Patrick’s Day kids activities all in one place!

I typically like to do more sewing and clothing crafts & projects in warmer months. Summer clothes are just way more fun to make. And t-shirt refashions are one of those things that amaze me with the sheer brilliance of my fellow craft bloggers. How they come up with all of these amazing ideas is really beyond me. Every time I cut up a tshirt I end up not liking it so much and it becomes sleepwear. But I would totally wear some of these refashioned tshirt ideas any day!

Related pages: Teen Crafts, Recycled Crafts, Winter Crafts

More Cut Up T-Shirt Designs

For more t-shirt surgery brilliance, check out the T-Shirt Surgery Flickr Pool, and the 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special and Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt books on Amazon!

And I’m just happy if I remember to buy the kids Valentine’s Day cards in time to pass out in class!

Hello Kitty Hello Kitty Cake Pops	Pillsbury Pops Pillsbury Easy Cookie Pops	Cupcake Pops Valentine Cupcake Pops	Chocolate Cheesecake Pops Bakerella’s Cheesecake Pops
Pink Cake Pops Pink Valentine Cake Pops	Chocolate Cookie Pops Dipped Chocolate Cookie Pops	Cookie Pops Assorted Cookie Pops	Stained Glass Cookie Pops Martha Stewart’s Cookie Pops

Check out more Valentine’s Day crafts and activities while you are here, too!

My kids have their own work area, and my littlest daughter is especially antsy to get crafting again. She loves making presents for her teachers, friends, papa and grandma – and me! Once I show her these links she will be busy for hours.

Related Pages: Valentine Mad Libs, Valentine Treat Pops, Valentine Mazes, Printable Valentine Treat Bags

Valentine Crafts for Kids to Give as Presents

Make Realistic Paper Roses via DollarStoreCrafts	Make Crepe Paper Roses	Make Super Easy Paper Roses	Make Origami Roses
Make Paper Heart Bookmarks	Make Ribbon Heart Bookmarks	Make Doily Bookmarks	Make Preschool Bookmark Valentines
Make a Heart Scarf from Recycled Sweaters	Make a Heart Photo Frame (Scroll)	Make a Heart Bouquet Photo Holder	Make a Beaded Heart Necklace

Be sure to check out our dedicated Valentine’s Day Activities page for the whole Woo! Jr. Network.

So lately I’ve been working on finding projects for my teen daughter that are challenging enough for her not to be bored, but easy enough to give her a sense of accomplishment. She is turning into a little seamstress lately, but I’m hoping to widen her horizons with some of the teen-friendly crafts I’ve found below!

12 Crafts for Teens that are Easy But Cool

Easy No Knit Scarf	Easy Friendship Bracelets	No Sew Bikini (Really!)	Make Decorated Journals
Wishbone Necklace	Ribbon Belts	Recycled Jeans Purse	Night Light Recycled Craft
Decoupaged Clothespins	Decoupaged Hangers – via	Glitter Flip Flops	No Sew Fleece Pillows

For more teen crafts, check out these recycled crafts and winter crafts, too.

Related Pages: Snowflake crafts, winter coloring pages, winter kids activities

Preschool Winter Crafts

Preschool Penguin Craft	Rainbow Ice Winter Craft	Preschool Ice Skate Craft	Pinecone Birdfeeder Craft

Winter Crafts for Kids

Sock Puppet	Winter Igloo Craft	Glove Puppets	Lacy Ice Craft

Winter Crafts for Teens & Tweens

Make Fizzie Bath Balls	Felted Sweater Mittens	Easy Felted Slippers	No Sew Slipper Socks

Be sure to check out our awesome Valentine crafts, too!

I absolutely love this craft I did last weekend with the family. Technically you could also use it for a Hanukkah craft, too. It was super simple and easy to paint, and took very little time as well. This is the kind of thing that I am going to bring out every year with a warm smile on my face, remembering when our thumbprints were these sizes:

Family Keepsake Plate Craft

What You Need to Make This Christmas Family Plate

Like these Thanksgiving painted plates, all you need are Folk Art Enamel paints in blue, white, orange and extra dark purple (or black), a plain white plate from your local dollar store, and paint brushes. Oh, and thumbs. Make sure you get the Enamel paints, they get baked onto the plate.

How to Paint the Penguin Family Christmas Plate

First, mix the light blue paint together with a tiny bit of blue paint in some white paint. I left them slightly unmixed for the streaked effect in the background. Paint the area shown in the example plate above in light blue. Since it would be hard to get a clean edge by hand, I just left the brush strokes on the outside to transition the painting to the plate.

Next, paint the bottom ’snow hill’ with straight white paint in a wavy line, then feather the edges like you did for the blue paint.

Next get the family lined up and start painting thumbs! I went from largest to smallest (Dad, Mom, Big Sis, Brother, Little Sis). You do need a generous amount of paint for the thumbprints, but don’t let it glob up on the plate, otherwise it will crack while baking.

Penguin Family Plate Detail

Next, with a small detail paint brush and the dark purple (or black) paint, put two wings, a ‘V’ shaped hairline, and eyes on each penguin. Then dot two feet in place and a tiny triangle for the beak.

I thought the plate looked a little plain at this point, so I dabbed snowflakes randomly all over the background with the white paint. Then I put a ring of dark purple polka dots around the rim and added “2009″ at the bottom. I could have also labeled each penguin with a name, but liked it enough just as is.

Let it dry for about an hour, then bake according to the Enamel paint directions.

You can’t eat off of this plate, but if you cover it with a cute napkin, I’m sure that Santa would LOVE to eat cookies off of it every year! Mine is probably going into a plate holder and onto my mantel.

Be sure to also check out our Christmas recipes, more Christmas crafts, or our huge amount of Christmas coloring pages!

Normally my crafts are much less involved, but I used to do a LOT of mosaic when I crafted for a living, and I really miss it. This does take several days to complete because of the drying time involved with adhesive, grout and polyurethane. But the whole family helped with this project, so it will be an extra special present that was totally worth the time we spent on it!

Thanksgiving Turkey Mosaic Platter

What You Need to Make This Thanksgiving Mosaic Platter Project

Thanksgiving Mosaic Craft Materials

Everything I needed for this platter I got at my local craft store:

Small unfinished wooden tray

Craft paint (I used brown and red)

Glass mosaic tiles – 3/8 inch in 7 colors. I bought mine in two fall color assortment packages – Red, yellow, orange in one, & off white, tan, brown and reddish brown in another.

In addition to what is pictured above, you will also need:

Sanded tile grout - off white.

Water based polyurethane (my preference because it doesn’t smell at all and is super-easy to clean up).

E6000 glue - perfect for adhering glass to wood.

Beads for the beak and eye, or you can use pliers made for glass cutting to shape these pieces.

Sandpaper

How to Make this Keepsake Thanksgiving Platter

Plan Your Thanksgiving Mosaic Pattern

“Stain” Your Wood and Do A Trial Run

First of all, water down some brown paint and use it as a ’stain’ for the outside edges of the wood platter. When I painted art furniture for a living, I found this method to be WAY easier than messing around with oil based stains, and gave nearly identical results.

After the paint has dried (which will take less than an hour), sand the wood to remove all rough edges. You can do this before you paint, but I wanted a weathered look, so I sanded after I painted.

Then start arranging your tiles on the platter to get an idea of where you will want to place them with the glue. I highly recommend this trial run, because trying to ‘draw’ with glass squares is a little challenging, especially around curves. I also discovered that I had started my design too far from the bottom edge, so when I glued the tiles, I knew to start much further down.

Glue the Mosaic Tiles in Place

Turkey Mosaic - Glue the Glass Tiles to the Platter

E6000 is both a tricky and forgiving glue to work with. Tricky because it is not so easy to spread and dries kind of fast. Forgiving because even though it dries fast, it doesn’t dry all the way for a longer period of time, which means you can make minor adjustments in tile positions if you need to.

The way I found worked best was to spread the glue in the shape of an area I wanted to cover – such as the turkey neck, then body, then half of the feather area, etc. Then press your tiles (grooved side down!) into the glue. Once the tile has been on the glue for a few minutes, try not to pull it up again. But you can move it slightly from side to side if you find you need to make adjustments for fitting pieces into your design.

Since I didn’t want to cut the tiles (too sharp for little hands to help), I used a few beads I had on hand to make the beak and eye. If you want to cut tiles for a more precise fit, use pliers made for glass cutting. Really – trust me on this, don’t use anything else to cut glass tiles. It will save you hours of frustration and wasted broken tile pieces (and probably sliced fingers. Yes, I speak from experience).

If you were tiling a floor, you would have to make sure that your grout lines were always a certain width, but for a craft project, you have way more leeway. Just make sure that no spot is big enough for another tile to fit there. You can see I have a few awkward gaps in some places, but I love the look of handmade stuff, so I purposefully didn’t let myself get perfectionistic about placing the tiles into the design.

Allow Your Mosaic to Dry

My kids loved helping me with this part, and even fought over turns. We’ll probably have to do more mosaic soon!

Once your tiles are in place, allow the platter to dry for at least 24 hours.

Grout The Mosaic

Important - before you grout, tape off the wood around the perimiter of the tiles (like you would if you were painting). The grout sticks to raw wood (unfortunately very well), and makes for a real mess you would have to sand off later. I used clear tape that you can’t see in these pictures.

Grouting the Glass Tiles

I bought my grout at Home Depot, just using the smallest container they had of pre-mixed grout. I always hated mixing grout myself. I used an old kitchen spatula to spread the grout between the tiles. Be sure to press the grout down in between the tiles and spread it around as you smooth it in all directions. Sometimes the grout looks like it is everywhere when it really isn’t, so it’s very important to spread in all directions to get it down into all the various spaces between the tiles. The kids helped with this too, just make sure they either wear gloves or don’t get it on their skin.

For grouting around the beads, make sure you uncover them enough to see them. My beads were not as tall as the tiles, so there is a slight indentation there.

When you’re done, scrape off as much excess grout as possible. It should look somewhat like this – don’t worry about the haze:

Mosaic Thanksgiving Platter - Grout Completed

Let the grout dry for at least an hour or 90 minutes. Then use a wet sponge or paper towel to removed the grout haze. It comes off quite easily now.

Let the grout cure for an additional 24-48 hours, according to the label directions.

Final Step – Protect with Polyurethane

You have to seal and protect the platter so that you can clean it later after use. I hate the fumes and cleanup of normal polyurethane, so I use a water-based polyurethane if possible. I wouldn’t use it on hardwood floors or furniture, but it’s perfect for craft projects. Be sure to cover both the top, tiles and bottom of the platter. Put on two coats and let dry between coats according to product instructions. Sand lightly between the coats, too. I know it’s a PITA, but it makes sure the second coat adheres to the first coat, especially if you are using a gloss finish like I did.

Thanksgiving Platter - Mosaic Pattern

Here’s the finished product with a top view so that you can use it as a pattern template!

More Thanksgiving Crafts

You might also like this keepsake Thanksgiving plate craft, or here are easier turkey crafts for younger children. Here are also some Thanksgiving appetizer recipes to serve on your new platter!

Last weekend we finished up our keepsake Thanksgiving plates. I’ll be using these every year until I’m old and gray, I tell you!

Thanksgiving Keepsake Plate Craft

These turkey handprints are surprisingly easy to make, you just need a few special materials found at any craft store:

What You Need to Make Thanksgiving Handprint Keepsake Plates

Thanksgiving Keepsake Handprints - Craft Materials

Plain white plates – I got mine at my local dollar store – cheap, cheap, cheap!

Folk Art Enamel paints – these are baked onto the plate surface after the painting is done, so be sure to get the Enamels. They don’t come in a huge number of colors, so you will be mixing colors from red, green, yellow and brown paints. I also used black paint for the eyes, but you can use one of your existing colors for that tiny dot, too.

Paint brushes

Keepsake Thanksgiving Plate

Wash and dry the plates, and get a paper plate ready to use for mixing your paint colors. There’s no exact science to it, I just created different shades of red and orange out of the brown, red and yellow paints. When trying to mix lighter colors, use only a very little bit of the darker color and mix more if necessary. These pigments are pretty saturated and light colors are easily overpowered.

For the above design, I used:

Straight brown for the palm and thumb

Straight red for one finger

Light orange (yellow plus a little red) for another finger

Dark red (red and brown) for another finger

Darker red (red brown and a drop or two of green) for the last finger

You can mix it up and also use straight green like my son did for one of his fingers.

Plate Painting Instructions

If they mess up, don’t worry, just wash the paint off while it is still wet and start over!

Working fairly quickly (because the paint can dry out fast), paint the colors onto your child’s hand. Be generous with the paint, but you don’t want globs of it coming off onto the surface. Help your child hold their fingers apart and center it over the plate, then guide it down in position and have them press their handprint for a few seconds. After they lift their hands, they may need to press again to ensure the full handprint makes it onto the plate. Because the finger impressions didn’t end up touching the palm impression, I went back in with some brown paint and filled in the parts of their hands that didn’t come in contact with the plate.

If you end up with thick globs of paint, take off the excess with a paint brush, because baking globs of the enamel paint doesn’t turn out well at all.

After your kids have washed their hands, have them come back with a small paint brush and add the eye, beak and red turkey waddle underneath the chin.

For the outside rim decorations, I gave each of them only a little guidance. I was really pleased to see all of them come up with interesting designs that complimented each other yet were very much a reflection of their personalities.

After they were all done, I took a tiny bit of black paint and added “2009″ to the bottom corner of their handprints. Then I painted their initials onto each plate .

Bake according to the directions on the Enamel paints.

While these plates can’t be used for eating, they can dress up your walls, decorate your Thanksgiving table, be excellent hostess gifts for Grandma, or be used as charger plates for smaller see through plates!

Here are more Thanksgiving handprint crafts, printable Thanksgiving placecards, and an adorable set of Thanksgiving finger puppets to make!

Blank Printable Football Helmet	Make a Football Fan Bobblehead	Fun Football Cookies	Football Coloring Pages
Football Team Spirit Pins	Stuffed Paper Footballs	Super Bowl Centerpiece Craft	Football Toilet Paper Roll Craft
Paper Plate Football Craft	Football Door Hangers	Favorite Football Team Scoreboard	Football Pen Holder Craft

You might also like this awesome ‘Find the Footballs’ hidden picture printable from Printables4Kids!