Fun with kids – Sweet pieces by me

Forky Kids Craft – Toy Story 4 “Forky” Toy

June 17, 2019June 15, 2019 Charlene Becker

Hello Again Ya’ll! Happy Friday! Am I Southern? No, but I just love saying Ya’ll. It sounds so much better than “you guys”. 😉

So the other day my kids got a spork in their school lunch and didn’t use it. So, immediately I thought, oh my gosh, we could make Forky! Ok, most of you moms are like, “Wow! She’s so crafty!” and the rest of you are probably like “What the heck is a “Forky”? or what the heck is a spork? haha 🙂 Well, a spork is a cross between a fork and a spoon. It’s to be used for either purpose and to save on having several utensils. A “Forky” is one of the new characters in Toy Story 4 if you didn’t know. Don’t worry, no spoilers here. Just some good, clean crafting! Funny thing is they have a kit you can buy to make your own “Forky”. I saw it on a You Tube video and then saw it online at Michael’s which is around $14, but I again was able to find what I needed in our craft tote to make these little guys for free!

So let’s get started…here is what you will need:

1 spork
Red, white and blue clay or you can use wax sticks (and instead of clay, you could use salt dough!)
2 googly eyes (small and an extra small one)
1 red pipe cleaner
1 large Popsicle stick

Take your clay and roll it into the shapes for the eyebrow (unibrow) haha and the mouth. The other style of mouth can be a circle, but my kids preferred a smile. If you don’t have the clay, you can use salt dough and color it with food coloring.
Next glue those 2 on with strong adhesive. I used the Tombow glue in the green/white bottle but the E6000 craft glue would work great.
Glue on the 2 eyes.
Next take the red pipe cleaner and bend the ends back and forth to make 3 fingers on each side. Then wrap it around the spork body a couple of times so it is secure.
Then cut the Popsicle stick (tongue depressor) in half, trim as necessary. Mine were 2″ long each.
Take the white clay/dough and make a little volcano shape and stick the spork in it.
Stick the Popsicle sticks to the clay, glue if desired.
If you want, draw on a rainbow just like Bonnie had on her Forky. You can also color the cheeks red then wipe to show a little pink. We did not do that step.

That’s it! Your kids will have their very own “Forky” and LOVE it!!! Mine did!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and pictures! Let me know in the comments below if you do!

Happy Crafting!

Charlene

Crafting, kids, Mom Life, Parenting

Clothespin Alligator Craft

June 15, 2019June 15, 2019 Charlene Becker

Hi Ya’ll!

One thing I’m doing this summer to keep the kiddos busy is having a craft day!…Or two or three or four 😉 You may have heard of “Make it Monday” or “Try it Tuesday”? Well that’s what we do on those days. Mondays we make something and Tuesdays we try something. I have a whole list of projects and fun things to do with my 5 and 7 year old. Wow. Are they really that old?? Gone are the days of finger painting and water table fun. Now it is on to bigger and messier things like making slime, bath bombs, painting rocks, and making cool crafts.So I saw this cute alligator clothespin craft and thought, I can make that! I even had all the materials on hand in our craft bucket. So read on to see what you need to make this cute little guy! And please come back soon to see what else I’m “cookin up” this summer to keep my kids busy! (and LESS screen time!!!)

You will need:1 green pipe cleaner
1 clothespin
1 strip of green construction paper (1/2″ x 5″)
2 small googly eyes
1/4 tsp. green craft paint
Hot glue or a strong adhesive like E6000
black fine tip pen (Sharpie is best)
Newspaper, scrap paper or a craft mat to use under painting surfaceStep 1 – Lay down the newspaper or scrap paper to cover your surface where you are crafting.
Step 2 – Paint the clothespin with the green craft paint and let dry. Paint a thin coat so it dries quickly. It should only take about 10 minutes to dry.
Step 3 – Cut 1 piece of pipe cleaner to about 3 inches and the other to 5 inches. Bend the ends around to look like a curved foot. If this is too big for you, trim the feet to the desired length. I started at this length and trimmed them down. Take the hot glue or strong adhesive and put 2 dabs on the bottom of the clothespin, 1 on the back of it and 1 in the middle. Quickly stick on the 2 pipe cleaner pieces.
Step 4 – Use a black fine tip pen to make 2 dots at the front of the clothespin for the nose.
Step 5 – Use a dab of glue about 1/2″ above the 2 dots and stick on the googly eyes. If using the hot glue wait a few seconds for the glue to cool since the eyes will melt a little when sticking to the hot glue.
Step 6 – Take the construction paper strip and fold it accordion fold back and forth or even square folds.
Step 7 – Glue the construction paper right above the eyes to the back of the clothespin and cut off the excess.Done! There you have an adorable alligator clothespin. You can use it as a chip clip or cut up an old magnet and glue a strip to the back so you can use it on the fridge to hang up important artwork! 😉

Happy Crafting!

Charlene

Celebration, Christmas, Cookies, Life, Mom Life, Writing

So, what to do now? At 43…We make Christmas Cookies!

December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 Charlene Becker

I’ve been super ADHD lately. I have never been diagnosed but I am 99.9% sure that I am. Just today, on my way to work, the conversation in my head went something like this… “I really want to start my own business…like the Art store I’ve been thinking about, or wait maybe a coffee shop, the “Insert cute name here” coffee shop. Or, I could do both. Coffee shop by day and art shop by night? Well…that might be a lot of work. Maybe I could just make videos on You Tube. So many success stories out there. I could do crafting, I love making cards and scrapbooks…or cooking! I do love my Pampered Chef and I do have some videos out there already. Ugh, but when do I have time to make those videos? Life with a 4 and 6 year old is busy! Not too mention LOUD. They hardly ever close their cute little mouths. Hmmm maybe I’ll just go back to school and be a teacher. Then I could teach cooking and art and DO IT ALL!! hahahaha”

Do any of you feel that way? My husband always looks at me like I’m crazy. I can’t help it I just want to make something of myself I guess to be important, to matter. It would be nice to hear someone say “we’re proud of you” or “we’re proud of what you’ve done with your life”.

In the meantime I just spend time with my kids as much as I can in between work, and we make sugar cookies. It was worth coloring the icing four different colors, and spending three hours working on cookies and coloring and decorating. It made for some really pretty pictures this Christmas and some great memories. That is what matters to us, building these memories for my children so they can look back and say we had such a fun childhood filled with great Christmas traditions and memories!