More Bottle Cap Fun

I have been inspired very recently by Kathy Cano-Murillo, "The Crafty Chica". Her spirit and sense of fun, not to mention her great ideas, have been so helpful to me.

She recently posted a great project for Bottle Cap Magnets. This is a winner of a camp craft. Cheap, easy, and hard to mess up.

I made a similar set today, to try it out, and here they are:
I attached the cute little graphic (I got these from Jelly Bean Lab, an Etsy merchant, and printed them on my computer) with ModPodge to the back of flat backed glass marble.The whole marble then gets glued to the inside of the bottle cap. I filled in the open area with glitter glue, and then embellished the glue with tiny li'l seed beads.

A good magnet goes on the back, and these'll dress up any old boring refrigerator.

I love it when things work out!!!

Stamp-a-Pin

Envirotex Lite is one of my very favorite products. Pour it on any project, and it gives a clear resin-like finish. Colors POP...and it just gives a very finished, professional look to your crafts.

I came across this little project for pins made with Rubber Stamp. It seems simple enough. Stamp a design onto card stock, color it in, cut it out, and then watch magic happen by adding Envirotex Lite with a paint brush.

Click here for project instructions.

For the Real Girlie Girls

I actually really think this is a great little craft, appropriate either in a jewelry program, or a general arts and crafts program.

Decorate silk flowers with rhinestones and beads, and then attach to a barrette, for a stylish hair flower.

I love to shop at Walmart, where I always find super cheap silk(ish?) flowers.

Project directions can be found here.

Sparkling Beaded Candleholder

I've been holding on to this one for a couple of years (no kidding!), and I think this is the year we're going to do it. This is a great way to use up random beads that we've acquired over the years.

Votive holders can be purchased fairly inexpensively through Candles 4 Less.

Instructions for this project can be found here.

Polymer Clay Pens

I love crafts that are useful. Here's an old favorite of mine, that fits the bill perfectly!

Click here for HGTV tutorial.

Laurel Burch Inspired Earrings

For our upcoming summer, I'm making an effort to find inspiration in popular artists works and apply them to camp projects. I found the Laurel Burch felines so charming, and I think our campers will find them appealing as well.

The earring's pictured above are cloisonne, sell anywhere from $20 to $30. I think we can get a similar effect using (my FAVORITE) Shrinky Dinks. We will provide campers with a template of the outline of these adorable kitties, as well as some pattern ideas. They'll color them in, using colored pencil, and outline with Sharpies and cut them out.

We'll punch a hole in the top of them before we bake them and watch them shrink....

Shrink Film can now be found in a variety of colors(!) through Nasco , and that will certainly add to the fun of this great little project.

Pretty in Pink Bracelet

Oriental Trading is a great resource for art supplies and project ideas. What's even better for the group leader, they break down each craft and show you exactly the beads you need to complete the project.

We strive to offer jewelry projects that will be treasured and appreciated. This bracelet certainly fits the bill. For variety, I might order the beads in a second color to offer campers a choice.

This beading project can be found here.

Marbleized Paper

In my first summer teaching Arts and Crafts, we offered paper marbling to our campers. It remains one of my favorite crafts, as it truly appeals to all ages. Below is a clip from Martha Stewart on marbling, you can see how much fun it is.

She uses a gelatinous water thickening agent and acrylic paints to cause the separation of liquids that creates the funky marbleized design. We have used marbling dyes that can be ordered through enasco.com. They are oil based, so there is no need for any thickening agent.

In a group setting, we use one pan of water shared between 3 to 4 campers. They agree on a "color palate" between them. They each take turns dipping paper in the solution. You can marble nearly any kind of paper. (We've used blank stationary).

Enjoy!

Flower Pot Pen

I kid you not, this is one of my favorite classic crafts. The "flower" you see here is really a pen in disguise. Totally cute, right?

For this craft, you'll need:

Artificial flower
Plastic encased ball point pen
Floral Tape
Mini Clay Pots
Beans or rice to fill pot
Little Plastic Bags to wrap craft
Paint or rub-ons to decorate pot

Before your campers join you, prepare flowers by removing stems. Discard stems. Remove little cap from back of your pen (depending on the brand of pen you choose, this can be a little tricky...pliers help). With a glue gun, use a drop or two of glue to adhere the flower into the pen.

Have your campers choose their favorite flower, and wrap floral tape around their pen, stretching the floral tape as they wrap.

Decorate the flower pot as you please. We've done decoupage, paint (that can be really a mess!), stickers, rub-ons, etc.

Fill the inside of the pot with dried beans,then insert the pen.

Helpful hint: So you don't spill the beans (literally!), The Camp Art Lady recommends wrapping these in plastic favor bags tied with ribbon or raffia. Makes a really pretty gift, too!

Uses: We made these once for a Girl Scout Mother Daughter Dinner. The girls each made slightly larger pots than pictured, and filled each with 3 pens. They served as centerpieces, and then each mother was given one as a party favor. So CUTE!!!

Paint your own Pottery - Plaster version

With the popularity of "Paint Your Own Pottery" studios in the last few years, we had every reason to seek out a similar activity for our groups.

Unfortunately, we hit one big stumbling block...money.

Bisqueware, the unfinished pottery pieces you'll find in these stores, is very expensive. To provide these ceramic lovely bowls, vases, boxes and figurines wouldn't be cost effective. Not to mention, they also require a second firing in the kiln, which, if space in your kiln is an issue, might be a problem.

That's why I was so happy to run into the nice people from Millie's Plaster Craft at a recent convention. They offer plaster molded pieces, at a fraction of the cost of bisqueware. They simply need to be painted with acrylic paints, and sprayed with an acrylic glaze.

Instant gratification in just 45 minutes. This project appeals to ALL ages, boys and girls alike, and the final product will look great hanging up in a bedroom, kitchen, or family room.

Glass Bead Bracelet

From Fire Mountain Gems
LINK

We can add strands, or matching necklaces/earrings to stretch this activity out.

Wow, SAFE Candle Making

Our utmost priority in all of our creative projects is SAFETY. I love the idea of candle making and we have done traditional candle dipping in the past, and truly, it is one of my favorite standard activities.

Beeswax candles are a wonderful alternative to the traditional candle making, and of course we are not working with heat, so they are an incredibly safe and simple and a perfect immediate gratification project...

Oooh, and dig the pretend sushi candles!!! Cool Beans!

Resin BottleCap Craft

C'mon, how cool is this! I'm going to do these as a magnet craft for boys and daycampers, and an earring craft for the girls..

Instructions and inspiration: LINK

Collage with Resin and Found Objects

We haven't worked intensively with resin, but we used a wonderful product last summer called Envirotex lite. It added a sheen to a couple of our projects that was astounding and simple. I'm ordering decorate your own trays from Oriental Trading, and a bunch of fun objects, beads, cool papers, fabrics, and we're going to do a version of the project below. I'm VERY excited about this one!

Paper Lantern

I searched high and low for a paper lantern to decorate, and what do you know...Oriental Trading strikes again!!

Link

Paper Posies

Link
From Accu-Cut

Another nice tutorial - Link
From Gabriela Delworth

Carnival Scratch Mask

From Blick Art Supplies
Link

Book Mark

From Fire Mountain Gems
Link

Bracelet with Glass Beads and Memory Wire

From Fire Mountain Gems
Instructions

We offer a jewelry program at camp. Along with the requisite "gimp" and "friendship bracelets", I have hopes of offering our campers experience in beading skills. Beading can be challenging for a camper, who only has 45 minutes to complete a bracelet (or earrings), particularly when part of that challenge is selecting beads for their project. (I know that I could spend hours upon hours just rummaging through bead bins!)

I've simplified it, a bit for the girls, by providing specific beads for specific projects. The final outcome is always more impressive, and again, it's that immediate gratification that we are going for!

This project, from Oriental Trading (of all places, they have an extensive variety of craft supplies and within the past couple of years, they have great craft ideas as well), look simple and cute...I like 'em.

Instructions