Our summer would not have been complete without some crafting! We here LOVE all things handmade and love to make things for ourselves and others. I know it's kind of old-fashioned, but my kids and I have been enjoying it together so that is good enough for me.
In our part of the town, Duct Tape is all the rage. I'd love to know how this trend started, but kids can get very inventive with a little Duct Tape. If you're like me, you remember Duct Tape from your youth as a boring gray color that is used by your dad in the garage to fix things or hang holiday lights.
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| A prom dress and corsage from duckbrand.com's "Stuck at Prom" contest |
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| A duck-o-lantern from duckbrand.com's "Stick or Treat" contest |
These days, DuctTape comes in TONS of fun and colorful designs and colors. It's also now about $6 a roll and can be purchased not only at the hardware store, but at basically every craft store and even Walmart. You can now even get it in college themed or sports' themes....pretty crazy.
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| Our personal collection of duct tape. |
Our summer started with us taking our duct tape to the beach with us EVERY day and let me tell you, duct tape, sand and a very busy 4-year old DO NOT MIX! We made the best of it though. and spent time making bracelets, bookmarks, and flower pens. We're not quite at the prom dress stage yet, but since my oldest is only going into 4th grade...I think we've got time to practice! haha
After tiring of duct tape, we moved onto friendship bracelets. I love what they are all about. A little history....friendship bracelets started in Central America and first came to the U.S. in the 1970's. According to tradition, the recipient of the bracelet must wear it until the cord wears off and the bracelet falls off to honor their friend's hard work. Pretty cool. Here are some really cool ones....not by us.
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| These were made by Jenna at friendshipbracelets1234.com Check out all of the amazing pictures submitted. |
We're not quite at that level yet, but we're still practicing. We like to wear our bracelets until one of three things happens:
#1 they get cut off and replaced with a newer and more exciting design,
#2 they lose their color from the sun or
#3 they look so dirty that I comment on them everyday until the child wearing it can no longer listen and demands it cut off.
Sad, but true.
What I love most about the whole thing though is how organized my daughter keeps her box.
Now we can't seem to put our clothes in the hamper, put dishes in the sink, put away toys or any other things around the house, but she'll be darned if one of those colors are out of place.....lol
I am very impressed though with her hard work and beautiful bracelets that she has been making. And...she has been VERY generous with making them for her little brother who has a new request each morning for a different variety of colors....remember reason #1 to change was pure boredom!
And the thing that really warms my heart is that she chooses to carry all of her supplies for all of her craft projects in her busy bag and everyday tote that I made for her. In fact, that is how the whole thing got started. We needed a fun way to carry all of her crafting.
My son's busy bag, well, that carries his endless rock and shell collection and has started to include his sand collection too.....lol Typical boy!
He has been very busy since last summer collecting shells and painting them. We have collected enough to have one on every single windowsill in our house now. They really are pretty!
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| An artist at work busy painting and watching TV... |
Sadly our summer is almost over, BUT I have started working some fun "Back to School" crafts that I will share soon! Until then, back to work on bracelets and shells...
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