Mother’s Day Gifts for Gardening Moms

Does Mom enjoy gardening? Brighten her special day with homemade gardening gifts from her children.
There is an immeasurable value in doing arts and crafts with your children. I hope parents and teachers will use the free Mother’s Day garden gift making instructions on the Crafters 4 Kids website to help children create amazing gardening gifts for Mom this Mother’s Day.

Here are just a few ideas:

Garden Kneeler: Gardening is so hard on the knees! Garden kneelers are the perfect cushion for your knees because of all the kneeling down to pull weeds and tend to the plants. Help children create this easy garden kneeler with Sunday’s newspaper and duct tape!

Painted Watering Can: Create a beautiful keepsake that will make Mom smile every time she waters her plants. Paint a metal watering can with acrylic paints. Use lines, swirls, and circles to create an easy pattern.

Spring Break Frugal Activities and Crafts for Kids

Spring Break is just around the corner; a week spent with children home from school looking for ways to have fun and be creative. As a parent you want their time spent at home to be quality family time. Plan fun frugal activities ahead of time so that when those adorable faces are staring at you begging for something to do you have a game plan.

1. Visit Crafters 4 Kids Online (http://c4k555.org)-  We have some creative frugal kids’ crafts that do not require a lot of time or craft materials. For instance, make a pet mouse using a rock, pipe cleaners, googley eyes, and a pom pom nose. Children can even take it a step further and design some fake cheese or even make a tiny shoebox home.

How to Line Snap Clips with Ribbon for Mini Bowdabra Hair Bows

Coordinate outfits with matching hair bows. Use the Mini Bowdabra Hair Bow Tool & Ruler to make easy hair bows to match all of your daughter’s clothes. The Hair Bow Tool & Ruler comes with interactive software to make 70 different hair bow styles. The interactive software gives step-by-step instructions with pictures, an easy to follow material list, a ribbon length chart for all standard bows, helpful hints, and frequently asked hair bow making questions.

St. Patrick’s Day Frame - Kid’s Project

Who says wood has to be painted?  How about covering wooden shapes with aluminum foil! It is easy and fun for kids.  I love all of the wood cut-out shapes that are available.  They are a fairly inexpensive craft item and come in a variety of shapes.  However, as a parent of young children I don’t always want to break-out the paints when we are crafting.  Sometimes it is nice to just have a simple almost mess-free craft.

Use Bowdabra Bow Wire When Making Tulle Flowers

 

Tulle is a neat ribbon to work with it. It is very lightweight, looks great stacked, and bends easily. I like working with tulle especially when it comes to making flowers. I have designed simple to make tulle flowers with a large pin center. The flowers can be placed into Styrofoam circles, blocks, discs, or wreath forms.

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Have you seen the tissue paper pom poms that Martha Stewart has on her site? I love the look of them! Today, I experimented with my Bowdabra® to see if the tissue paper pom poms were something that I could make quicker and simpler with my Bowdabra®.

Valentine’s Gifts Your Kids Can Create

It seems like Christmas just happened and now Valentine’s is merely a few weeks away! And, if you know anything about me, you already know that I have some creative and gorgeous crafts that you and your kids can create together. I’ll be posting a few new craft ideas for Valentine’s Day, each week up until Valentine’s Day, so stay tuned for new ideas!

Today, I have some adorable little Valentine’s Day gift ideas that are a cinch to make – and they are very inexpensive, too! You can find instructions on the Crafters 4 Kids website that will guide you and your child (or children) through each step of the craft creating process, with pictures to help visualize what you are supposed to be doing, too.

So, grab your Bowdabra and gather your children…


When you are filling this Valentine’s pillow with the fiberfill, you could also add some sweet-smelling potpourri to give it a unique scent and add some pizazz! Add it to one of your (or your daughter’s) drawers in the bedroom or give it as a gift to a teacher or grandma. You can find the instructions for this puffy Valentine’s pillow here.


A dainty bag of bath salts is a fabulous gift for Valentine’s Day! This is the perfect way to say, “Pamper yourself!” to someone. It’s simple, yet classy – and you can make several at the same time, if you and your child know a few women who could use some pampering. You can find the simple instructions here.

For more Valentine's gift ideas, continue reading  the full article Valentine's Gifts Your Kids Can Create.

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

How To Make A Wreath

Watch the Queen of Crafts Sandy Sandler as she shows us one of her craft ideas using the Bowdabra. Today, Sandy will help us how to make a beautiful wreath decor easily!

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Valentine’s Wedding Favor Craft Ideas

Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days to propose (or get married) in the U.S.! It’s a day that symbolizes love, of course, so it makes sense that people would want to get engaged or tie the knot on Valentine’s Day. Here are a few neat little statistics on weddings*:

• 2.3 million couples tie the knot each year
• the average number of guests on a wedding invite list is 178
• the average budget for weddings is nearly $20,000
• Despite the fact that Valentine’s Day falls in February, only 7% of all wedding during the year occur in February (That is still 161,000 wedding, though!)

Due to the fact that 30% of all weddings are now paid for by the bride and groom, rather than traditionally paid for by the bride’s parents*, people are now looking for ways to cut the budget and save some money. If you are looking for last minute, economical wedding favor ideas, you’ve come to the right place! You could even recruit your nieces for help with making them…or host a wedding favor making party weeks before the ceremony. The Crafters 4 Kids website is chock full of craft ideas that are not only easy to create, but also economical, too (they all cost less than $5 each to make). Not to mention, every craft on the website is also absolutely adorable and quite versatile, depending on how creative you are.

Wedding Favors

The Valentine Bath Salts is the perfect little favor! You can set it with the place settings to add that final touch. Your friends will love the care that you put into crafting these little packages as well as the fact that they can go home and relax with their new bath salts while they reminisce about the fun that they had at your wedding reception!

To continue with the complete list of wedding favor ideas, please read the full article Valentine's Wedding Favor Craft Ideas!

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Holiday Traditions: Something Old, Something New

Family traditions are what the holidays are all about. Creating these family traditions with your children during the holiday season is definitely a tradition in itself! Each year, thousands of families celebrate the holidays with old traditions – and, quite often, they try out a new tradition or two, as well. I’m challenging everyone this year to focus on mixing the old traditions with a brand new family tradition!

A look at our “old traditions”? How can we make them “new”?

Decorating the tree as a family…bring out the old decorations, but then add in some new ones to make the tree look different this year! Make some bows with the Bowdabra to decorate the tree with, or turn some old ornaments into new ones with mini-bows made with the mini-Bowdabra.

Bake the traditional Christmas breads, pies and cookies, but add in some other favorites, like cupcakes, for the children to decorate. Wouldn’t Santa just love cupcakes, instead of cookies, for Christmas this year?

Listen to Christmas tunes…but, this year, listen to some of the new tunes by new artists that your children are listening to on the radio.

Watch an oldie-but-goodie holiday movie with your children and then watch a new one!

To continue reading, check out the full article Holiday Traditions: Something Old, Something New.

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Re-Gifting ... the new chic

Fashion designers are creating a buzz on ramps across the globe with their environmentally friendly collections urging us to think recycle and green!

This holiday season, its trendy to apply this line of thought to gift giving as well!

It is now “chic” to be frugal and “re-gift,!”
 

Unleash your creativity at home by making wonderful crafts or baked goods, turning them into adorable goodies worth gifting. From handcrafted hair bows, to handmade jewelry, soaps, handmade candles, the possibilities are endless.

Chances are you may not even have to purchase these items from the store. About eighty percent of these items may be “hiding in plain site” in your home.

Take a look around. Didn’t you notice that satin ribbon “fraying” from your beautiful summer dress that is so “ten seasons ago!” Rip it off and turn it into a bow! Adorn a piece of handmade soap with it, or attach a pendant and make a necklace out of it.

To continue reading, check out the full Re-Gifting ... the New Chic article right now!

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

10 Frugal Tips for Gift Wrapping

For the frugal holiday lovers, I have some gift wrapping tips for you! If you’re tired of spending a ton of money and feeling like the gift wrapping process is tedious, you’ll be happy to know that just a tad bit of imagination and a touch of love can create some attractively wrapped gifts. So, gather up the swaths of cloth, paper bags, and crafting supplies and get ready to have some fun with wrapping this holiday season. Have a wrapping party with your friends or let your kids invite some buddies over to join in the festivities.

1. Leftover pieces of fabric can make softly textured gift wrappers. Use the fabric that is lying around your house to add some creative holiday designs with puffy fabric paint for a three-dimensional, rich quality appeal.
2. Jazz up gifts with some paper bags and craft paper. There are a million ways to decorate presents when wrapped this way! Wrap, decorate…how the gifts come out is completely up to you and whoever is wrapping presents with you. Have your children dip their hands in washable paint and decorate the plain paper with handprints – wouldn’t their grandparents love their personalized paper? *Clever hints: You can recycle your brown paper bags and fasten them shut with double sided sticky tape. Blend the extra seams of the paper bag into the decorative pattern.
3. Instead of a box, use an ice cream container. Decorate the box with odds and ends around the house; you can use some ribbon, flowers, and if it’s for the kids, some colorful, fluffy pom poms are cute.
4. When you run out of wrapping paper in the middle of a present, create a mosaic by adorning the seams with ribbons, beads fabrics or colored duct tape.
5. Use the Bowdabra to make economical and unique bows. To be even more frugal, you can repurpose the scraps of ribbons that you find around your house to design a very distinctive bow.
6. 
7. Use the Christmas cards from last year to create personalized gift tags. Decorate them with scraps of ribbon or fabric, candy, buttons, or glitter.
8. For larger presents, place them into a pillow case and tie them off with a gorgeous bow. For an even larger gift, run to one of the many dollar stores and purchase an inexpensive vinyl tablecloth or fabric remnant.
9. Let your children design some art work. When you wrap presents in children’s artwork, the artwork poses as a wonderful present, too. Artwork is great giftwrap for both grandparents and teachers.
10. Shop at the end of the season. Once Christmas is over, wrapping paper is marked down to prices with amazing savings. Be sure to hit the after Christmas sales and store the paper in a cool, dry spot for the next year.
11. Instead of using scotch tape, try using dots of glue or colorful duct tape.

A bit of imagination, ingenuity and some “crafting time” thrown together can save money and create some fabulous looking gifts. Be sure to look around you house for materials that you could use to wrap and decorate with. The sky is the limit when you “think outside of the box”.

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Homemade Gifts Kids Can Make

What better way to teach children the true spirit of the holidays than by helping them to make homemade gifts for their friends and family?  This year families are searching for ways to make holiday traditions without all of the costly expenditures, and I have some of the cutest and most inexpensive ideas to make that happen.

There is an immeasurable value in doing arts and crafts with your children.  I hope that all of you parents and teachers will use the free holiday gift making instructions on the Crafters 4 Kids website to help children create gifts for their family and friends this year.

Here are just a few:
Holiday Pencil Toppers – Children can create pencil toppers with pipe cleaners.  This is a perfect gift for teachers, classmates, and school age siblings.


Holiday Notepad – Personalize a notepad with foam holiday decorations and give it to adult relatives.  It can be used as a phone message pad, a grocery list, or a place to jot notes.  Children can make an additional notepad for school and use it as an autograph book to remember their friends over Christmas break.


Jewelry – Foam is the perfect crafting material for children.  Children can cut foam into strips, add ribbon, and decorate for fun cuffs and bracelets. This craft requires limited supervision and children can really use their imagination with it.  They can make several different styles depending on the gift recipient.


Decorated Wooden Boxes – Use simple wooden boxes and decorate them with little miniatures tailored to the gift recipient.   Add a little gift or gift certificate inside of the box.


Holiday Coasters – This craft uses recycled lids from glass jars and foam and transforms them into something very useful like coasters.  Children will roll strips of foam and place them into the lid in a mosaic like pattern.  No two coasters will look exactly alike!
 

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Who’s Dreaming of a Green Christmas?

What’s on the top of eco-conscious people’s Christmas wish lists? A “greener” Christmas, that’s what! People are searching for eco-friendly, inexpensive holiday decorations and gifts this year. As a matter of fact, Deloitte has announced that one out of five consumers will be purchasing more eco-friendly products during the 2010 holiday season.  Consumers will be seeking out companies that maintain sustainable practices and products – and they’re not shy about the price of these “green” products, as 17% of consumers reported that they are willing to pay a little more to do their part conserve and save the Earth.

The top two things on the list for conserving the environment this year are:

1)      Skipping the plastic bags. A lot of stores offer handy (and eco-friendly) bags with handles for a minimal fee. Many of these bags are made of canvas and you can use them anywhere you shop. Just because you buy the bags at the grocery store doesn’t mean you can’t use them at the Dollar General or any other store that you choose to do your holiday shopping in.

2)      Gift wrapping will be either eliminated or people will use materials including fabrics and vinyl tablecloths that can be reused for the next season or crafting projects. There are also recyclable wrapping papers to choose from, so keep your eyes open and read the labels when you are shopping.

The Christmas Tree Dilemma


People are wondering if cutting down the real Christmas trees is worse for the environment than buying an artificial tree. The answer is: NO! There are organic tree farms that grow their trees without causing any harm to the environment, plus they specifically grow the trees for the Christmas season and plan to plant more each year. Jus the chemicals that are emitted into the atmosphere while making the artificial trees is bad enough, let alone the fact that they are made out of PVC or non-renewable plastics, which will sit in landfills for years to come when they are thrown out.

You can elect to go without the tree this year to show how environmentally friendly you are, but most of us enjoy the sweet smell of fresh pine, so find an organic tree farm in your area and do your part to have a greener Christmas this year.

Green Lighting

What’s Christmas without the lights? LED lights are the environmental choice this year. They use less electricity, which means you will spend less money on your electricity bill also!

Christmas Cards

You can go in several different directions with holiday cards. The e-card is a bit less personal than the traditional holiday cards, but people are definitely trying out this avenue for their holiday greetings this year. If you can’t tear yourself away from the old-fashioned card-and-envelop-in-the-mail routine, try looking for greeting cards made with recyclable paper.

After the holidays, you can pack the cards that you received this year and reuse them next year. Simply cut them up into small square and rectangular shapes and use them as gift tags.

These are just a few ideas to help you green your Christmas this year. If you are interested in more “green” holiday ideas, stay tuned…I’ll be posting up some green holiday decorating ideas for this season in the near future.

Happy Holidays from your Bowdabra Family!

About the Author

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

Decorating For the Holidays with the Kids

When you involve your children in the holiday decorating, you build long lasting memories and fantastic keepsakes. If you’re looking for kid-friendly, mess-free holiday decorating projects for you and you kids with step-by-step instructions, I am excited to pass on these ideas to you.

Be sure to put the date on the back of your crafts to turn them into timeless keepsakes. Next year, your kids will see the artwork from the previous year (and the fun that they had) when you unpack the holiday ornaments and decorations. Just the memories of the fun times that they had will inspire them to create new holiday crafts year after year. They may even come up with some great ideas on their own!

Mess-Free and Kid-Friendly holiday décor:

Decorate pictures with Santa: Craft some home made frames to adorn the pictures of your kids on Santa’s lap. Decorate them with holiday foam, pieces of wrapped candy, holiday colored buttons, scraps of ribbon, mini bows made with the mini Bowdabra, and other creative embellishments to give them a festive appeal.

North Pole sign: Look around the house for recyclable materials, such as wrapping paper tubes. Wrap some white and red ribbons around the tub to create an innovatively made candy-cane looking pole. A cardboard box can be cut to add the sign to the top of the pole with any creative decorations you choose and write the words, “North Pole” on the sign with glittery glue.

Handprints: Children’s handprints are the best keepsakes, as they change in size every year. Cut out handprints from holiday fabrics, green and red construction paper, or other materials of your choice. You can glue a bunch of the handprints together (in a mish-mash way) to make an adorable holiday wreath.   

Getting your kids involved in the decorating for the holidays will open up their imaginations and encourage them to get their creative juices flowing. Don’t forget to check out the Crafters 4 Kids website for other great holiday projects, too!

About the Author:

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com

A Bowdabra Christmas

There’s no doubt that the holidays are a great time for family crafts and decorating together. Have you ever seen someone “Deck the Halls” with bows? Bows on the tree, bows on the stairways, bows on the railings outside…bows on presents. A Bowdabra Christmas is the chic festive holiday decorating scheme this year. Whether your theme is silver or red and green or the new blue or purple, with Bowdabra bows, you can achieve the snazzy presentation you’re looking for.

Gift wrap Bows

Top presents off with your home-made Bowdabra bows, with ribbons to match the wrapping paper. Or go ultra-chic with mixed fabrics and ribbons that contrast and compliment. New blue wrapping pops with silver, glittery bows and the even newer purples are accented with stylish gold bows. Kids will love crafting these bows and helping you attach them to the presents.

Stairways and Railings

Make a variety of diverse (or matching) bows to adorn the indoor and outdoor stairways and railings in and around the house. Get the kids involved with picking the colored ribbon out, designing the bows and tying them around the house. 

Christmas Hair Bows

These are awesome for presents for nieces and granddaughters, classmates and even your own daughter. Create them with the kids or make some new surprise hair bows to wrap and stuff into the stockings. Let your daughter make a hair bow for each of the girls in her class and spread the spirit of Christmas giving or take them to church and give them out. 

Bowdabra hair bows also great crafts to sell at craft fairs for holiday fundraising! People love the craft fairs during the holidays. Whether it’s for church, school, or to make some extra cash of your own this season, whip up some of these easy-to-make crafts and see how fast the sell! 

Bow Wreaths 

Add Bowdabra bows to a pre-made wreath. This is another perfect craft fair/fundraiser idea. You can make regular sized bows for an elegant and large wreath or mini bows for a smaller wreath. Hang your home-made wreaths around your own house as well – you’re sure to receive some compliments on these!

Tree Bows

Have you ever seen a Christmas tree decorated with bows instead of ornaments? You might see this is one of the major department stores, rather than glass ornaments. Elegant and classy, chic and stylish barely covers the presence that a tree decorated with bows displays. In addition, they’re also not breakable like the conventional glass ornaments. Instead of a star this year, make a large bow to top the tree, and then tie colorful – or completely matching – bows on the ends of the branches around the tree.

Make your Christmas a Bowdabra Christmas this year. Get your children, family, friends, and neighbors together, put out some snacks and drinks and have a Bowdabra festivity crafting party. There’s nothing better than being with the people who you love and creating new and easy decorations that will last for years to come.

 

About the Author:

Sandy Sandler is founder of non-profit Crafters 4 Kids and creator of the QVC best-seller, the Bowdabra. Her frugal craft projects and activity ideas are designed to transform the creatively-challenged into creative pros. Sandy’s focus is on creative and easy projects that parents can do with their kids and that kids can even do on their own that are both frugal and green in nature. Crafters 4 Kids focuses on projects that can be done under 5 minutes and under $5. Visit www.C4K555.org. Contact Sandy at jaimevivre@mac.com