Puzzle Piece Crayons

As Autism Awareness month comes to an end, I am reminded that Autism is something we should be educating people about every day of the year! The more we know, the more we understand. The more we understand, the more we can help! Here is my final Autism Awareness craft for the month.

Materials:

-broken, unwrapped crayons

-puzzle piece ice cube tray (I found one at Ikea a few years back!)

-gallon Ziploc bag

-hammer

-oven

Instructions:

1. Place all broken and un-wrapped crayons in a gallon, Ziploc bag.

2. Using a hammer, break up crayons into small pieces.

3. Place broken crayons into puzzle piece, ice cube tray

4. Place ice cube tray on a cookie sheet and put both in the oven and bake 15 minutes at 250 ° until crayons have melted.

5. Remove cookie tray from oven and let cool. Once the crayons have hardened, remove carefully from the ice cube tray.

For more information on Autism Awareness, please visit this incredible website!

Photo Figurines

Since Claire is starting to get the hang of remembering the names of everyone in our giant family, I decided I would keep the momentum going by creating miniature family members that she can use in her dollhouse and many assorted playthings! To start, we found some cute, full-length pics of two of her cousins (whose names she could say in her sleep) and decided we'd start by turning them into miniatures! Eventually, I'd like to take full-length pictures of all of our family members to make a complete set. For now, we will "play with our cousins" in spite of them living hours away! Here's the simple way you can make your own family miniatures...

Materials:

-photo paper/printer

-scissors

-contact paper or laminator/sheets

-binder clips

Instructions:

1. Size and print out full-length pics of the friends and family members you wish to miniaturize. I made mine about 3-4" in height to fit our dollhouse.

2. Cut out pictures precisely

3. Cover the fronts and backs of each miniature with contact paper (or laminate) and trim

4. Clip a binder clip on each miniature so that it stands up on its own.

As you can see, she's a huge fan of her "little cousins," and even though we don't get to see them as often as we like, this is definitely the next best thing!

Bunny Bag (template included)

Last Easter, I posted these adorable bunny bags and thought I would revamp them a little and post them again this year! The best news? I have made it even simpler by creating a printable (includes ears, nose, and four paws) that you can simply print and cut out and then adhere to the bag! Doesn't get any simpler than that, and its perfect for a last minute, Easter craft!

Materials:

-bunny printable

-scissors

-white paper bag

-double-sided tape

-black permanent marker

1. Print out bunny template.

2. Cut out bunny ears, nose, and feet (I cut out the black lines, as I don't like the overall look with them)

3. Using double-sided tape, adhere the ear, feet, and nose pieces to the bag. Adhere google eyes and draw on a mouth, teeth, and whiskers with a black, permanent marker to complete!

Hope you've enjoyed all my bunny-inspired crafts and that you have a wonderful, Easter holiday filled with family, fun and lots of CHOCOLATE!!!

Fingerprint Bunny Canvas

According to my awesome, Facebook fans, it seems that crafts that children make for parents and grandparents are at the top of their "must see" list. With that being said, here is a sweet and simple fingerprint bunny that children of all ages can make to give to all of their favorite people! And, with two days remaining until Easter, it is fortunately quick, too! Here's how it's done...

Materials:

-small canvas (mine was 5"x5" and stands up on its own)

-acrylic paint (child's choice)

-cardstock (in a color that corresponds to your paint choice)

-scissors

-glue gun/sticks

-google eyes

-white pom pom

-Sharpies in various, spring colors

Instructions:

1. Spread a thin layer of acrylic paint on your child's pointer and middle fingers. Spread the child's two fingers onto the canvas and press the fingers down, leaving two finger prints (ours are a bit of a hot mess, but what can I say...toddler+paint=insta-trainwreck).

2. Cut bunny shape out of cardstock

3. Draw a bunny face, hands, and claws on the bunny cutout in the  Sharpie color of your choice.

4. Decorate canvas using Sharpies

5. Adhere the bunny shape onto the canvas using hot glue

6. Hot glue google eyes and white pom pom onto canvas to complete.

For parents and grandparents with multiple kids/grandkids, multiple canvases could be used or bunnies could be placed on one, large canvas!

Hoppy Easter, Peeps!!!

(puns very much intended!)

Burlap Bunny Wreath

How is it even possible that Easter is in 3 days?!?! While I have not slacked on creating lots-o-stuff for the Easter holiday, I am finally getting around to posting them, now that the month has (hopefully) died down a bit! Up first...a cute, burlap, bunny wreath! Here's how I created it:

Materials:

-burlap ribbon (about 20 feet)

-wire wreath form

-scissors

-pink tulle

-wire (mine was a very thin gauge, as that's what I had on hand, but I would recommend a thicker wire)

-wire cutters

-Scotch tape

Instructions:

1. Weave a burlap ribbon through the wire wreath, as shown in this tutorial.

2. Bend and fold a piece of ribbon 20" long, as shown in the pictures below.

3. Thread wire through the point of the folded ribbon and twist to secure, as shown in the pictures below

4. Place wire the entire length of the ribbon down its center. Thread wire through the bottom of the folded ribbon (pictured below) and twist/secure, leaving a tail of about 4" of wire at the end.

5. Repeat the process of threading wire through another piece of 20" ribbon.

6. Wrap the extra wire from both pieces of folded ribbon around the wreath about 8" apart (creating bunny ears). Keep in mind the ears may be floppy, so you will need to reinforce with tape when hanging.

7. Tie pink tulle into a bow and thread wire through the back of it. Wrap the wire around the wreath so that the bow sits at the bottom of a rabbit ear.

8. Hang up the wreath and reinforce the ears with tape (place on the wire behind each of the ears so that it does not show) so that they stay up.

My favorite element of this wreath is that, once Easter is over, the ears can come off and flowers, ribbon, bows, etc. can be added for a beautiful spring wreath to last you through the remainder of the season! How cool is that?!?!

Here's hoping the Easter bunny brings you everything your heart desires!

Autism Awareness Necklace

Now that the Easter insanity has come to a close, I can finally show you this easy-to-make and able to be worn with everything necklace to celebrate Autism Awareness month. As some of you might know, I am an Autism Support teacher and hold this cause very near and dear to my heart. Autism now effects 1 in 68 children and there is no cure at this time. Researchers continue to work tirelessly to determine its cause and are getting closer to determining factors. Knowledge is power, folks, and bringing awareness to this cause can only help increase support and understanding of individuals on the Autism spectrum. For more info., feel free to check out this awesome site. Here are the steps to make a necklace of your very own!

Materials:

-chain with closures (mine was about 18")

-puzzle piece charm (Hobby Lobby and Michael's both sell them in their "Charms" sections)

-split ring

-blue, faceted glass bead

-head pin

-wire cutters

-needle-nosed pliers

Instructions:

1. Using needle-nosed pliers, open the split ring and place the puzzle piece charm onto it.

2. Place blue bead onto head pin and cut remainder of the pin about 1" above the bead. Create a loop using needle-nosed pliers

3. Place blue bead onto split ring. Close split ring using pliers.

4. String pendant onto the necklace. If closures are too large, simply open the split ring and close once around necklace.

Together, let's Light it up Blue for Autism Awareness!!!

Autism Awareness Rag Wreath

April brings the promise of Spring...flowers that have waited all year to bloom, children's laughter when it is finally warm enough to play outside, enjoying friends and family at Eastertime, just to name a few. For myself, and for the incredible families and staff members I have the pleasure of working with, it brings awareness to a cause very near and dear to our hearts...Autism Awareness month! As a special education teacher in an Autism Support classroom, I can say with complete confindence that it is, by far, the most challenging job I have ever held. With that being said, I also find it to be the most unbelievably rewarding and fulfilling job a girl could ever ask for, as it creates in me such a sense of pride in the progress my students continue to make, in spite of the obstacles they encounter every minute of every day. Going into teaching, I assumed I would be doing exactly that...teaching; however, I find myself humbled each day in how much these students teach me and will take those life lessons with me into the future.

Here is my first (of a few) projects to celebrate Autism Awareness, along with how to make one of your own...

Materials:

-wire clotheshanger

-puzzle piece fabric (to learn the reason for the puzzle pieces, check this out!) I used about 1/2 a yard in total

-scissors or a rotary cutter and mat

-wooden puzzle pieces (most thrift stores sell them very inexpensively)

-acrylic paints (I used red, yellow, blue, and green to go along with the color scheme)

-black ribbon

-glue gun/glue sticks

Instructions:

1. Using a rotary cutter or scissors, cut strips that are 1" in width (typically, once a small cut is made, the fabric can be ripped the remainder of the way)

2. Cut long strips into 4" strips.

3. Bend the wire hanger into a circular shape for the wreath form.

4. Double each strip of fabric and place under the wire hanger (as shown in the picture)

5. Thred the open ends of the strip through the folded end and pull to form a knot (pictured below)

6. Continue to repeat step 5 with 4" strips until the wire hanger is covered

7. Paint 16 wooden puzzle pieces using acrylic paint (I made four of each color)

8. Once the puzzle pieces have dried, use hot glue to place 12 of them around the wreath)

9. Cut ribbon into 2-6" pieces and 1-8" piece. Hot glue one puzzle piece to the end of each 6" ribbon and two pieces at the end of the 8' piece.

Interested in a wreath you can make with your child? Check this out! For more information on Autism, please check out the Autism Speaks website, an incredible resource that I would highly recommend!