Happy St. Patrick's Day

I love St. Patrick's Day in all its drunken revelry as much as I love the hoards of inebriated Santas roaming the streets during the annual delightful day drinking event, SantaCon.

I know now based on the Facebook updates of my peers, my opinion is not the one that is widely held.

Apparently most if not all of my middle aged friends want to avoid the trains, the streets and everywhere else that the youth of America might be puking while celebrating. I get it. I hear you. But still. There's something to me completely endearing about young people who might otherwise have nothing in common finding just that in these celebrations of questionable merit.

And for that reason, I'll always love St. Patrick's Day and SantaCon. Even if no one else does.

As for me, I was home making Leprechaun pudding for my children, because that's how I roll these days. As may or may not come as a surprise, it did not turn out as planned.

You can find out all about how (not) to make Leprechaun pudding at my home-away-from-home, CraftFail.

Craft Failing...Online *and* in Print!

It's a double craft fail day here at Random Handprints!

First, my advent calendar gone wrong was featured on Monday on CraftFail.com! Check it out in all its imperfect glory in Unattractive Advent Calendar Adventure.

Also, just when you thought my craft failing couldn't get any better (or would that be worse?) I'm featured in the newly released Craft Fail book! Check out CraftFail: When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has crafts that don't turn out exactly as planned.

Seven Ideas for Awsome No-Carve Halloween Jack O'Lanterns

Every year I go on the hunt (and by "hunt" I mean "surf Pinterest") to find cool ideas I can use to make the most awesome Halloween Jack O'Lanterns EVER. 

But there's always just one catch - I don't want to have to actually carve the pumpkin because kids and knives are not my thing, and honestly, pumpkin guts are not my thing so much either.

So if you are also looking for ways to make a Pinterest-worthy pumpkin within a blade, here are seven ideas for awesome no-carve Jack O'Lanterns:

1. Create a Book Page Pumpkin - Creations by Kara's tutorial explains how to turn an old book into a fantastical pumpkin. Sooo amazing.

2. Make Glow-in-the-Dark Funkins - Martha Stewart tells how to make these cool creations using a funkin (foam pumpkin) and glow-in-the-dark powder. I also had success using Glow in the Dark Duck Tape. 

3. Decorate a Cute as a Button Pumpkin (pictured above) - Real Simple has instructions for making this easy polka dot pumpkin from re-purposed buttons. You can buy over 100 black buttons from Amazon for under six dollars, making this an easy and inexpensive way to decorate a pumpkin.

4. Paint a Chalkboard Pumpkin - Zakka Life's directions for this clever DIY project explains just how to do it, and I love that you can change it as often you like with the swipe of an eraser.

5. Add a hat and mask for a quick Pumpkin Disguise - I found this idea from Better Homes and Gardens. It's also turned out cute with tiny outgrown baby Halloween costumes, if you want to dress up the pumpkin entirely.

6.  Apply tickers for an Instant Goofy Pumpkin - it's as easy, peasy as it sounds. Just add stickers, you can even purchase special Halloween Jack O'Lantern Face Stickers (12 sheets for $6.99) on Amazon.

7. Use push-in sets to create Pumpkin Characters - these recently have become really popular, so you can find just about all the kid-favorite characters. Pictured here, Darth Pumpkin. You, too can have a Star Wars Darth Vadar Pumpkin for the low price of $21. It seems a little pricey, but I still sorta want to get one for my Star Wars loving son.

Also available: Mr. Potato Head ($12.00) and Mrs. Potato Head ($19.99) and a whole bunch more.

Happy Halloween pumpkin decorating!

Need any more ideas? Here are the no-carve pumpkins I shared last year.

Whatever you create, have fun and Happy Halloween!

July 4th Craft with Kids: Make an American Flag!

If you're looking for an easy and fun July 4th craft to do with the kids, make an American flag!

We did this for Flag Day, and it was a big hit with my kids, and with me, since it's pretty easy and not too messy. It's also perfect for July 4th - just swap "Happy Flag Day"" for the July 4th greeting of your choice.

Here's how to make an American Flag using dried beans:

1. Buy dried beans in red, white and blue. You'll have a few choices of varieties, any will work. Pictured here, we used kidney beans for red, black beans for blue, and northern beans for white.

2. Make sure you have sturdy construction paper and a strong-ish glue - any craft glue will work fine.

3. Trace out the flag using a pencil, so you'll know where to glue the beans. You can also print out a flag - this is especially good if you're doing this craft project with younger kids.

4. Put down thirteen stripes of glue that will become the red and white stripes of the flag - or less if your kids aren't sticklers on flag accuracy. Add alternating lines of red and white beans, starting and ending with red. Make the first four lines not go all the way across to the left, as that area will become the blue background and white stars section of the flag.

5.  Last, add the blue background and white "stars" by alternating blue and white beans in each row. For accuracy, you'll need 50 white bean stars, but my guess is you'll end up with less. Don't worry, your dried bean flag will still be a thing of patriotic beauty.

6. Let the glue dry completely and then display your July 4th masterpiece for all to enjoy!

Happy Fourth of July!

For lots more Fourth of July arts and crafts, click here.

Craft Failing... Again!

Thanks to Robyn and Craft Fail for featuring my son's latest creation, Home Tweet Home Improvement.

Here's an example of the first of many outtakes, but for it's fully craft fail glory head over to Craft Fail.

Spoiler Alert: the bird house turns out spectacularly!

Make A Matzoh House! Make A Mess! Make Memories!

I love doing craft projects with my kids.

I love asking my mom to help us with some inane part of these craft projects, like finding 82 silver triangle shaped buttons, or in this case, a cardboard model on which to build a matzoh house which I was sure would end up looking something like this:

Alas, our matzoh house, it did not.

However what our matzoh house lacked in suitability as a Passover Seder centerpiece, it made up for as fodder for CraftFail. Read all about how not to make a matzoh house at Martha's Matzoh Mansion.

And many thanks to Robyn who not only described my ramshackle matzoh home as totally, utterly and completely Martha's fault, but created this as well:

Happy Passover!

Easy Easter Craft Projects for Kids

Do you need some easy Easter craft projects for the kids?

I have several fun, simple and totally easy to complete craft projects just in time for Easter Sunday.

While my family celebrates Passover, since my "day job" (really usually" middle-of-the-night when the kids are asleep job") is to write about crafts, I found a few Easter crafts I couldn't not share.



These Easter crafts are great for kids of all ages - older kids will need less help, and younger kids will need more help. Also, babies love it when you just do the whole thing for them and sign their name and date it for their baby book.



Embellished Duck Tape Easter Eggs - I've written about making Duck Tape Easter Eggs before, but then I couldn't leave those eggs alone, so I used Mod Podge and added sequins. The eggs turned out really cute - and even better, the sequins didn't fall right off - yay.

Decoupage Easter Eggs - I had been wanting to do this since I saw some way better versions on Pinterest, and while mine may not be total Pin-fection, I was also pretty happy with how these eggs came out. To make decoupage Easter eggs, just cover a plastic egg with Mod Podge, then cover with tissue paper or a decorative napkin of your choice (I used a translucent flower cupcake wrappers, and then cover the whole thing again with Mod Podge to ensure the paper stays down and also to give the egg a nice glossy cover.

And here are the sequin and decoupage eggs hanging out together:

Rhinestone Easter Eggs - We had a lot of sticky rhinestones from some other craft project, and I thought they would be perfect to bling out some Easter Eggs. The advantage to these eggs, unlike the ones above, is that you can still open the plastic eggs and fill with Rainbow Loom bracelets, Littlest Pet Shop guys, and various other trinkets.

Ice Easter Eggs - This was my "brilliant" idea based on someone else's actually brilliant idea on Pinterest. I thought it would be really cool to freeze stuff (sequins, Squinkies, little toys, etc.) in plastic Easter Eggs and then the kids could crack 'em open and discover and play with the little treasures that ha d been frozen inside. The problem, however, was that Easter Eggs divide in the middle so there's no way to put an egg-shaped amount of water into the egg (actually, I'm sure there is a way, but I don't know it).

I went ahead and froze the half-empty (or is it half-full?) eggs:

And then I had the kids open them up outside, because I have learned the hard way the simple equation of kids+ice = MESS:

And there you see, our blob-shaped ice. Not the Pinterest-perfect egg-shaped ices I had so longed for. (Those were actually created by pouring water and trinkets into a balloon, and then cutting away the balloon after it's frozen, to reveal perfect egg shapes. You can see them here.)

Happy Easter!

Five Ways to Have a Swell Snow Day

Clearly I do not live in Hawaii.

This year, if you live just about anywhere except Hawaii, you've had a lot of snow days A lot. Even our southern friends who don't usually get to spend one of these charming surprise vacation days with their kids have gotten one - and sometimes even more - this year.
With it looking more likely than not that another super-fun snow day will be happening this week for folks all over the East Coast, I'm sharing five super-fun ways to have a swell snow day... just in case you're running a little short on ways to entertain the kids.


1. Have a Yes Day. This is a day where you say yes to all of your children's outrageous demands, which luckily can't be too outrageous because you're housebound. We did this on a snow day last week, and while it did force me to live tweet my descent into madness, fighting amongst the offspring was at an all-time low due to their easy agreement that the day should follow this pattern: TV-candy-TV-candy-Wii-candy-TV.


2. Have a Backwards Day. Start the day with books in bed reading the back page first, then have dinner for breakfast, with dessert first of course! When you get dressed, put on your clothes backwards, walk backwards, write backwards, maybe even play some backwards games like seeing how many tries it takes to recite the alphabet Z to A. End with breakfast for dinner, and let the kids sleep in their clothes if they want to keep the game going until the last possible moment.


3. Have a "Perfect Mother" Day. This is one of my favorite strategies for surviving a snow day. I make a schedule for everything for the whole entire day, which includes games, crafts and snacks, and then stick to it as best I can. My kids usually love following a list if I make a big show of writing it all down and having them cross the items off one-by-one as we go along. For my "Perfect Mother" Day, I have projects planned (and supplies sourced the night before), a few good books that aren't overly-familiar ready for reading, and maybe a surprise or two I actually think-up beforehand. (A scavenger hunt outdoors in the snow or an obstacle course indoors are usual favorites.) I actually set the table for breakfast before the kids wake-up in the morning, and I pre-plan what we’ll eat for all three meals and the two snacks throughout the day so I don’t have to rush around figuring this out like I usually do when I'm having a normal "Regular Mother at Best" day. I even make the kids put away one toy before they take out another, all the while using the schedule as the reason why we need to finish one activity and cross it off so we can move on to the next one.


4. Have a Guest Mom Day. I have this day all the time. For this day, I beg my mother/best friend/distant cousin/neighbor to come over and help me out. If the roads are passable, I hire a babysitter. And if all else fails, I plead with my husband to take the day off, please.


5. Have a Be Yourself Day. Another favorite at our house, this day is not as easy as it sounds, but it’s a great option. Be yourself, even if that person is cranky, tired, and maybe even just a teensy bit impatient with her beloved children. Let your kid be himself, even if that person is whiny, fighty, or prone to saying repeatedly “I’m bored.” Just be glad there is no school to be on time for, no homework to do, no ballet class to go to, and my personal favorite, no lunches to pack.


And remember what people tell you all the time and you know deep down must be true, or why would people say it all the time… they’re only young once. Enjoy it. 


Even on the *$@* snow day this season.


Need a few more ideas for keeping kids entertained on the snow day? Check out:

• Lazy Mom's Guide to Snow Day Activities
• Snow Day Ice Cube Scavenger Hunt
• How to Make Snow Ice Cream
• How to Make Q-Tip Snowflakes

Q-Tip Snowflakes - Easy Craft with Kids

With so many people having snow and cold weather in the forecast this week, I'm sharing this craft from last year in case you need something easy and fun to do with the kids that should keep them occupied for 5-10 minutes, but don't worry, the clean-up will take much longer!
With just Q-tips, paper plates, watercolor paints and whatever else you have in your craft drawer, kids can create fun masterpieces like these made by my daughter Kay (age 7):

and this awesome snowflake:



For more fun snowflake crafts you can make with clever items like price tag stickers check out Simple & Striking Snowflake Crafts for Kids, and you can find directions for a handprint snowflake here.

Thanksgiving Crafts and an itty-bitty plug for a great Suffragist

As regular readers know, the Random Handprints household is full of Thanksgivukkah cheer this holiday season, as shown in many ways including the creation of roughly 2,063 handprint menurkeys.

However, if your household is celebrating "just" Thanksgiving this year, don't worry - I have craft ideas for that, too!

Here are two easy and fun crafts that kids will love!

The Tee Pee Centerpiece:

and the Handprint Turkey Place Card:

Head over to New Jersey Family for the full directions for both at Thanksgiving Arts and Crafts.

And also, if your looking for a great Thanksgiving book to read with the kids, I love this new edition of the classic poem Over the River and Through the Wood: The New England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to the poem, which despite being from old-timey times my kids ages 4-9 all loved, there are some historical notes at the end which made me love it all the more once I heard the backstory.

To learn more about the author Lydia Maria Child, click here - and then tell me that's not a person we should be discussing over the Thanksgiving meal!

And for a review of Over the River and Through the Wood as well as two other wonderful books for the holidays, check out 3 Great Holiday Books at New Jersey Family.

A Very Duck Tape Halloween

This was my most popular Halloween post during last year's 31 Days of Halloween series, so I'm giving it a re-run, with more and better Duck Tape creations.

Neither my obsession with decorating Halloween pumpkins or with Duck Tape seems to be on the wane, so why fight it? Instead I'm bringing them together here.

Just look at the incredible Halloween creations you can make with Duck Tape.

Amazing and creative Jack O'Lanterns:

A cool candy corn loot bag for your Halloween candy haul:

Or black bat decorations to spookify your home:

And... if you have mad Duck Tape skillz, you should enter Duck Tape's 2013 Stick or Treat Contest! Full details, rules and prizes are all here.

 

For creating your Halloween masterpiece, check out the new Halloween pattern from Duck Tape, Ghoul & the Gang!

 

Here are some of my favorite previous entrants to the Stick or Treat contest:

 

And two more duck tape pumpkins:



The Gene O'Lantern



Rob-O-Lantern

 

Happy Duck Tape Halloween!

 

PS No compensation for this post, I just have a genuine love of Duck Tape. Love, possibly obsession, since a quick search returned close to fifty posts about Duck Tape!

Great and easy ideas for no-carve pumpkins for Halloween

Last year I made a bazillion pumpkins with the kids. I've decided that until they are older, all pumpkin Jack O' Lantern creations are going to be no-carve, and through the beast that is Pinterest I found a ton of ways to make fun and awesome pumpkins that don't involve combining sharp utensils with young children. I'm sharing all the ideas that turned-out the best here.

Extra points for these pumpkin ideas: the ones that involve covering the pumpkin in glue or tape also act as an excellent animal deterrent.

If you are going to try one of the ideas that doesn't have full pumpkin glue coverage, first coat the pumpkin in hair-spray or something similar to keep the wildlife away.

The Googly-Eye Pumpkin

I love this project because even the littlest kids can peel and stick the eyes on the pumpkin, and it turns out perfectly silly.


The Glow in the Dark Pumpkin

This project is so easy, and it's perfect for older kids and tweens who love Duck Tape. All you do is cover the pumpkin with overlapping pieces of Duck Tape. We used a mini pumpkin and glow in the dark tape, 'cause everything glow in the dark is cool, but it would also look fantastic if used any other style of tape, too.


The Glow in the Dark Stars Pumpkin

Do you have a few of those glow in the dark stars leftover from decorating a kid's room? They're perfect for decorating a pumpkin! Just affix with glue dots and you'll be able to remove them easily from the pumpkin when the holiday is over.


The Glitter Pumpkin

I wrote instructions for how to make this glitter pumpkin last year, for full instructions click here.

One last note: I created all of these projects with real, live pumpkins but I think they would all work as well - possibly even better - with a funkin*.

* If you don't know what a funkin is, that's probably for the best. Just be happy and don't Google it.

Do you have any no carve pumpkin ideas? I'm always looking for more ways to festoon these celebratory squashes for the holidays!

This is the second post in my week of Halloween, for all the posts click here.