How to Make a Grass House

Its nice when kids can spend a little fun time doing crafts. You know whats even better? When that craft teaches the kids something as they progress with the project. There are many science-type crafts that one can do where the "learning while crafting" idea applies. Let your kids grow a grass house and not only do they learn to how to do a fun and unique craft but they also learn what it takes to grow grass. And, they learn that grass doesnt necessarily have to grow outside! Making a grass house is fairly easy to do. You can create a house which is very simplistic or one thats a little more involved. To make the walls of the house, the roof, and even the surrounding landscape use kitchen sponges. The ones that work perfectly are rectangular ones that have no scrubber-type covering. Use tinted sponges - ones with colors of blue, green, pink, yellow or similar colors; parts of the sponges will be able to be seen after the house is finished so consider this as you construct the house. For example, if youll need two sponge pieces to make the roof use pieces which are both the same color.

Use only new sponges to make the grass house. Wet the sponges, squeezing them several times each while water runs over them, then set them on a flat surface to slightly dry. Cut the pieces to the sizes you need and assemble the house. For the most part, the sponge pieces will stand on their own, but if you need to secure certain pieces just use straight pins. The straight pins can also help you later since youll be able to turn the house, this way and that, to apply the grass seed.

Assemble the house on the lid of a clear container. A disposable, plastic bowl with lid works great. Turn the lid upside-down and assemble the sponge house on it. When the house is finished spray it with water. Dont soak the house but just wet it well. Sprinkle grass seed all over the house. As you do, some grass seed will fall off, but you can use these to patch bare spots in the grass seed on the house. Pat these into place with dry hands. s Slightly spray the grass seeds with water. Set the bowl or container over the finished house and poke a few holes in it. After ten days to two weeks the grass will grow, and when it does, the container can be removed. Kids will be thrilled to make the grass house and look for grass growth each day. When they see the grass finally growing on the house theyll be just a little more fascinated with science!

Rainbow Jar Cakes

What youll need:White cake mixPint-size canning jarsFood coloringNon-stick cooking spray Have you ever seen a rainbow cake? You slice it, and there, before your eyes, are the brilliant colors you find in a rainbow. Its a gorgeous thing to behold and delicious as well. The one and only problem with a rainbow cake is that, until you cut it, you cant see the colors. Wouldnt it be nice if you could incorporate those vibrant colors in to the scenery at your wedding, birthday party or other event? You can, you know. You can bake the rainbow cake in a different way and everyone will be able to see the colors before cutting the cake. And, forget cutting the cake; just give each person their cakes in jars! The jar cake is so pretty because you can see all the layers - each a different color. When you hand out individual rainbow cakes you not only avoid cutting, serving and cleaning up after a regular cake, but at the same time, you give each recipient a party favor.

Use pint-size canning jars to bake the cakes. They are tempered to withstand heat and can be placed in a hot oven. Do not substitute with jars like mayonnaise or similar glass jars; they could break while baking.

Mix up a white cake from a box or recipe. To help you decide how much cake batter youll need, check the cupcake recipe, then allow about two cupcakes per jar. Spray each of the canning jars with non-stick cooking spray. Be sure to spray the bottom as well as the sides thoroughly. Use five small bowls to color the white cake batter. They dont necessarily have to be divided out perfectly even. Just eyeball it and divide the mix between the five bowls. Add food coloring drops until you get really vivid colors in each bowl. Make one bowl purple, one blue, one green, one yellow and one red. Spoon approximately three tablespoons of the purple batter into the bottom of each jar. Next, add the same amount of the blue, then the green, the yellow, and the red. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set the jars of batter into a rectangular cake pan. Place water in the cake pan until its about a quarter-inch deep. This will help protect the glass jars as they bake for about 30 minutes. After the jars have cooled add frosting, whip cream or another topping. If the cake has risen all the way to the top of the jar just remove part of the cake to allow room for the topping. Your guests are going to love the rainbow cakes which are brilliant and scrumptious.

Tin Lid Cuff Bracelet

A metal cuff bracelet can cost a lot of money because, after all, its a large piece of shiny metal - possibly even gold or silver - and can have beautiful embellishments like an engraved motif, or even embedded jewels. If you love cuff bracelets, but are often shocked by the prices, look around your house for something you can make the cuff bracelet out of. A tin with a lid is a fabulous choice; the lid can easily be turned into a gorgeous bracelet youll be proud to wear.Its not hard to find an inexpensive tin and turn it into a stunning cuff bracelet. Tins are sold at dollar-theme stores, craft stores, and discount department stores. In a grocery store, you can find tins of cookies, tea, or even crackers. Youll often have selections like holiday themes, outdoor scenery, or just plain ones with interesting colors. When you choose a decorated tin youll often find that the resulting bracelet is quite elegant. Measure around your wrist to get an idea of how long the tin - and lid - should be.Use tin snips or industrial-type scissors to cut the lid of the tin. It can be a little difficult to get started since you have to cut through the thick lip of the lid. Once you cut through it, though, you can simply cut around the perimeter of the lid and remove the entire lip. That will leave you with a flat piece of metal for making the bracelet.Cut the tin piece to be as long as you want for the bracelet, and as wide. There are tools you can use to bend the cut edges of the tin under, and make it safer to wear. It can, however, be a long and imperfect process. A quicker way to finish the tin, and give a nice accent to the bracelet, is to use colored tape. Whether you use metallic tape, or electric tape in colors of blue, red, or black, youll just cover the edges with it.Tear a piece of tape to be the same size as one short side of the bracelet. Place half of the tape on the metal, then wrap the other half of the length behind the bracelet. Do this to both ends, and to both long sides of the metal.After the sharp edges are all covered wrap the metal piece around a bottle, a candle jar, or another round object. This will help you shape it for your wrist. After you get the general shape, put the bracelet on, then further shape it to fit.Youll love the tin lid cuff bracelet project because you have millions of tin lids from which to choose. Plus, its so easy to make, yet looks so high-end and costly, that youll definitely want to own many.

Interchangeable Curtain Accents and More

There are all sorts of window treatments a person can do, from putting up cornices, to choosing just the right tie-backs. As for the curtains or drapes themselves, they look like they look, right? You try to choose a solid color, or a nice pattern, and have them blend in with the other furnishings. Curtains are a big investment, though, so a person tends to leave them in place for a very long time. I dont know about you but Im one of those people who loves changes, but not the work that normally comes along with taking down drapes, and hanging new ones. If youd like a new look for your curtains or drapes, but none of the hassle, go with magnets. Magnetic curtain accents opens up a whole new world of how your curtains and drapes can look. With magnets, you can give your curtains metallic accents, holiday embellishments, and much more.Little round button magnets, or even small, square ones, are perfect for quickly attaching things to valances, curtains, drapes, and even tie-backs. Purchase the magnets at a craft store and then you can begin looking for the interchangeable accents you can create. A craft store also features many small, metallic things you can use. Look for lightweight, copper butterflies, jewelry charms, refrigerator magnets, and similar pieces.When you purchase a small sheet of copper - or other metal - you can make any shape you want. Its easy to cut the thin sheets, which you can find at a craft store, with ordinary scissors. You can cut a single, flat piece, when you use a stencil. Or, cut other pieces and layer them. Create the design you want, from a monogram, to a heart. Use a small magnet to mount the design on one of the curtains.At a hardware or home improvement store you can find even more metallic accents. Look for small, wrought iron pieces, metallic molding, metallic tiles, and other accents. After cutting certain pieces down to size, simply use a magnet to stick it to the curtain or drapery.You dont have to limit yourself to things that are metal, or even to just using the magnets on curtains. Glue a magnet on the back of a silk flower, a velvet bow, or another object, and you can attach it by using a magnet on the back of the curtain. You can make small designs along a curtain hemline, along the edges of a valance, or make one large accent in the middle of each curtain. The magnetic accents also look adorable on a shower curtain,a window blind, a tablecloth, or even on certain articles of clothing.

How to Make a Flip Book

When kids get bored it usually means you have to break out the wallet and pay dearly for entertainment. If the thought of that scares you to death run for the home printer instead! Grab some of that white printer paper and kids will have a blast making a fun flip book that will keep them giggling for hours.

You can actually use any color of paper to make the book but, ideally, it wont be lined. Also, dont use thick paper, like scrapbook paper, for this project. Decide on the paper, make a small stack, then fold it in half, lengthways. Staple along the fold and kids can get busy creating the book the way they want it.

Place the stapled paper so that the fold is facing away from you and the long edges of the papers are facing you. Cut from the edge over to the fold and do this twice. By cutting the paper this way you create three individual sections on each piece of paper. If you have a thick stack of paper you might need to cut a few at a time, then a few more, until theyre all equally cut. Any stapling or cutting should be done by grownups, if the child is under the age of 8 years of age, or childproof scissors should be used for younger kids. Turn the book so that the staples are facing to the left and the pages open from the right. The top stack of papers will become heads and faces of characters, the middle papers will become shirts or bodies, and the last section will become legs. If you have kids who enjoy drawing they can draw the faces and other features. Instead of drawing kids can cut pictures from magazines. Paste the heads on the upper papers, shirts on the middle ones, and legs or other things on the lower papers. The more creative you are with the individual sections the funnier the finished pictures are. For example, cut giraffe leg pictures, frog bodies or other silly additions to the book. At the head sections, cut or draw pictures of old people and young, men, women and children, and people with various colors and styles of hair. In the middle section cut or draw pictures of bare men or boys bodies, assorted shirts, and even animal bodies. For the lower sections try animal legs, people with scuba-diving fins, furry boots, legs with high heels and more. When finished, any of the heads can align with any of the bodies, which can align with any of the legs. Kids will have loads of fun turning the various pages, and combining them with others, to create dozens and dozens of silly characters!

How to Make Fake Cupcakes

Its fun and easy to make fake cakes, cookies and other goodies but whats the point? You cant eat them and few people would appreciate the fake goods as a joke. Fake cupcakes and such do serve one purpose, however. They can be set around the kitchen as d?cor. You might not want to offer the fake goods to friends and family but you can certainly add a scrumptious look to your kitchen.

You can make a cupcake any size you want by using a regular cupcake wrapper or a circle of paper. Create the ridges on the paper by simply folding it, opening it up, folding again, and so on, until youve created the lines all the way around the paper. Instead of paper you can also use foil.

A Styrofoam ball will assist you in making a fake cupcake that looks real. Choose a ball thats proportionate to the size wrapper youre using. The ball should fill the wrapper entirely and rise up slightly above the wrapper. Cut a tiny sliver off of one side of the ball so it will sit steady in the wrapper. Decorating the ball before putting it in the wrapper will ensure you dont get paint, glitter or other things on the wrapper itself. Its not necessary to decorate the entire Styrofoam ball. Mark a line, if needed, around the area where the edge of the wrapper would meet the ball. Decorate from this line, up. Dimension paint makes it easy to create a look of globs of frosting on the cupcake. Dimension paints are found at craft stores and go on rather thickly. Spread the "frosting" all over the top of the cupcake and allow it to set and dry completely. Use fabric paints, which dispense from tubes, to create designs on the cupcake. Make squiggly lines, fake flowers, polka dots, stripes and other designs by simply squeezing the paint onto the top of the cupcake. There are lots of things you can use to finish the cupcake. Apply adhesive to the top of the cake and sprinkle on glitter or even seed beads. Or, glue a fake cherry on top. When youre finished decorating the cupcake, set it on the wrapper, then glue the wrapper up around it. Even though the fake cupcakes arent edible they certainly look delicious! Theyre perfect for setting on a plate on the counter or putting on display inside of a glass cabinet. The cupcakes instantly give the kitchen a homey look that works great for a country theme, food theme or other kitchen decorating. Theyre fun, easy and inexpensive to make so create many different ones! They make great gifts, too!