On Summer’s Wings: Ladybugs, Bumblebees, and Butterfly Crafts

May 11, 2014 by AllFreeKidsCrafts 1 Comment

April showers bring May flowers, and May flowers bring all kinds of cute little critters. Now that the sun is shining strong and the flowers are in bloom, I’ve been seeing a few new faces in my neighborhood…and I’m not just talking about the kids I’ve seen running around outside. Ladybugs, bumblebees, and butterflies are by far the cutest symbols of summer, so now that I’m finally seeing my favorite bugs out and about, I’m feeling inspired!

In honor of all the glorious warm weather we’ve been having, AllFreeKidsCrafts has gathered up our favorite insect-inspired summer crafts for kids.

Lovely Ladybug Crafts

“This lucky little lady bug has landed here to stay, to make my garden pretty, and keep the weeds away.” Ladybugs might just be my favorite insect of all time; they’re tiny, but their bright burst of red adds a wonderful dash of color to my summer flowers. Plus, ladybug crafts like this Paper Plate Ladybug are super easy for kids to make! Ladybugs are thought to be good luck, so get extra lucky with these super cute summer crafts for kids:

Buzz-worthy Bumblebee Crafts

These adorable summer crafts are sweeter than honey! Now in real life, I admit it: I’m absolutely 100% terrified of any kind of bee, no matter how harmless. Thanks to these bumblebee crafts, though, I can enjoy one of the most familiar faces of summer without the fear of getting stung. Whether you nest a few of these Bumblebee Garden Stones in your yard or make some Pool Noodle Bumblebees to entertain the kids, these charming little creatures are sure to brighten your day.

Beautiful Butterfly Crafts

I’ve saved the most stunning summer crafts for last: butterflies! I’ve never seen a butterfly that I didn’t instantly love. When I was a kid, I loved making projects like Monarch Butterfly Symmetry Art, turning my seemingly-random paint splatters into beautiful butterfly wings. Invite your little ones to spread their creative wings and make these butterfly crafts come to life.

Would you rather craft a ladybug, a bumblebee, or a butterfly?

Butterflies, Flowers, and Hearts: Creative Romantic Ideas with Easy Paper Crafts

January 18, 2014 by AllFreePaperCrafts 2 Comments

Just because we’re in the middle of winter doesn’t mean we can’t think of spring. Try a few paper crafts ideas that were inspired by warmer weather, and you’ll stay cheerful even in these chilly temperatures. Now that it’s past New Year’s, the countdown to Valentine’s Day begins. This year, we at AllFreePaperCrafts want to give you a head start on your Valentine’s Day to do list. We’ve put together a sampling of some of the most adorable homemade valentine cards and homemade valentine decorations you’ve ever seen. These simple paper crafts are an inexpensive and fun way to show your sweetheart how much you care.

Whimsical Wings: How to Make a Paper Butterfly

Test out some of our butterfly craft ideas to keep a smile on your face when the days are short. Check out some of our easy tutorials and learn how to make paper butterflies. You can use these adorable accents on almost anything from greeting cards to home décor. Plus, we have some super cute valentine treat ideas that were inspired by our fluttery friends.

Forever Florals: Making Paper Flowers, Rain or Shine

Learn how to make paper flowers that will never fall victim to a cold snap. Homemade paper flowers come in all colors, shapes, sizes, and textures. We have a great collection of DIY paper flowers, and, like our butterfly craft ideas, you can use these floral embellishments all year. You can make flowers that will lay flat in a scrapbook, or 3D blooms with folded petals for a fancy card. These projects may look intimidating, but they’re actually as easy as they are elegant. When you start cranking out enough paper flowers to fill your snow-covered garden, the world of Valentine’s Day crafts won’t know what hit it.

Happy Hearts: How to Make a Paper Heart

Most people learn how to make a heart out of paper in elementary school. Give yourself a refresher on this childhood skill with some heartwarming paper craft ideas for all occasions. You can use these embellishments to make garland, cupcake toppers, and more decorations for Valentine’s Day. After all, there’s no quicker way to say “I love you” than with this iconic shape.

Which of these crafts would you like to try?

Paper Crafts of Flight: How to Make Paper Butterflies and More Embellishments!

December 1, 2013 by AllFreePaperCrafts 2 Comments

Birds, butterflies and dragonflies all have something in common: they all can fly! Believe or not, these creatures of flight are some of the most popular paper crafts right now on AllFreePaperCrafts.com. These beautiful creatures can be used in a variety of paper craft projects. If you love to craft embellishments, wearables, handmade cards, or DIY home decor, you are sure to find a craft in this collection perfectly suited to your tastes.

Paper Butterflies and Dragonflies

Learn how to make paper butterflies with these great butterfly crafts! You can use butterflies in crafts to express springtime sentiments. Create birthday cards for friends born in Spring, scrapbook layouts to document Easter memories, or even interior decor during the spring season. The great thing about butterflies, however, is that they aren’t just used for springtime projects anymore. Add butterflies to your summer decor, autumn scrapbook layouts, and winter handmade cards. Choose seasonal colors and add these paper butterflies to any of your paper projects!

3D Butterfly Birthday Card

Paper Flower Petal Butterflies

Stamped Butterfly Paper

Butterfly Scrapbook Layout

Tissue Paper Dragonfly

Paper Feathers

Paper feathers are absolutely gorgeous paper crafts. The great thing about feather embellishments is that paper naturally lends itself to beautiful completed feathers! Follow the simple instructions in either of these paper feather tutorials in order to create realistic and beautiful DIY feathers. Even though they’re made of paper, these feathers look soft to the touch and absolutely lovely!

Recycled Paper Feathers

Ruffle Your Feathers Wreath

Paper Birds

Can you believe this Quilled Bird Necklace is made of paper? Birds are lovely embellishments for any paper project, and you can create them in a variety of ways! Whether you’re a paper quilling aficionado or you have an array of paper punches sitting at home, these DIY paper birds are lovely crafts to make.

Birds of a Feather Card

OWL-Fully Cute Paper Punched Owl

Quilled Bird Necklace

BONUS! If you love these fluttering embellishments, check out our collection of DIY paper flowers. Flowers and butterflies go together like paper and glue, so be sure to check out this collection: How to Make Paper Flowers: 10 DIY Paper Flowers.

What crafty embellishment would you make out of paper?

Camping Crafts for Kids: Have an Indoor Camping Expedition

July 21, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

I’ve been camping in every corner of this country and have such great memories because of it. My family has always taken the road less traveled, opting to spend a week in the woods rather than at a resort. Sometimes if it’s raining, the wrong season, or campgrounds are too far away, it’s just not practical to go camping, but have no fear! You can still have an amazing camping experience in your own home with camping crafts for kids, edible crafts for kids, and even bug crafts for kids to make the experience authentic.

Turn your living room into a tent, your kitchen into a river, egg cartons into ladybugs, and don’t forget about the essential campfire! Here are some great camping crafts for kids from AllFreeKidsCrafts to do indoors on your own camping expedition.

If you have an entire weekend to spare, try this awesome Indoor Camping Expedition craft. It has food, crafts, and even a skit to perform so that you can get the whole camping experience.

Campfire Craft Projects for Kids

The first thing you need is a toasty campfire! No campsite is complete without one, and you will want something to warm your feet while you are stargazing. Try this great Glowing Campfire Craft to create the effect of a real fire that kids will love. If you’re getting hungry, then the sweet treats in the Edible Crafts Campfire is a camping craft for kids that will fill your tummy. It even looks like real red and yellow flames, but I promise that they won’t burn you when you take a big bite.

Other Campfire Crafts for Kids:
Starlight Tin Can Lanterns
Twirling 3D Star
Rockin’ Tic Tac Toe Homemade Game
Dreamy Dreamcatcher
Campfire Hats
Painted Walking Stick

Edible Crafts for Kids

Next you’ll need something to munch on. S’mores are a classic camping treat, but if you’re in the mood for something different, then I have just the snacks for you. Try the Cutest Cookie Campers snack to create a realistic camping scene with a tent, little campers and a campfire all made out of yummy food. Sweet treats always go over well with kids, so make Campfire Cupcakes as a camping craft for kids with a sweet tooth.

Bug Crafts for Kids

When you go camping you are staying in nature, and that’s where lots of little critters live. Spiders may seem creepy crawly when you see them on the ground, but once you make them yourself, you will realize that they aren’t so bad. Try making the Creepy Bottle Cap Spiders project and you will see that spiders aren’t so much creepy as they are cute. Cute Carton Ladybug Crawlers are another great way to introduce kids to the outdoors through camping for kids.

Other Animal Crafts for Kids:
The Very Cuddly Caterpillar
Carefree Coffee Filter Butterflies
Spidey Cents
Investigating Insect Habitats
Egg Carton Caterpillars
Flower Petal Butterflies
Beaded Butterfly Beauty

What is your favorite part about camping?

New Spring Quilt Patterns to Start Today

March 1, 2013 by FaveQuilts 1 Comment

Spring is just around the corner, but many quilters are still looking for that first pattern to really inspire them to start quilting. The editors at FaveQuilts have been preparing for the upcoming change in season by updating our top spring quilt patterns page, and we’d like to share these beautiful projects with you. Here’s a sneak peek at some of what you’ll see in 24 Sweet Spring Quilt Patterns and Easter Sewing Projects, so take a look and get started today.

Butterfly Quilt Patterns

One of the top trends on our page for several weeks has been butterfly quilt patterns, so we made sure to include some of our reader favorites in our spring patterns page. Even though they all share a common theme, each of these quilts has a unique approach to design. There are free applique patterns that you can use to create a gorgeous cascading effect, as well as projects that use piecing to finish off a quilt with a fresh looking spring border. This section contains patterns for both quilts and smaller projects like mug rugs, so you’ll have a project to work on no matter what your time frame looks like.

Flower Quilt Patterns

You can’t have spring without flowers, and 24 Sweet Spring Quilt Patterns found some of the best just for you. As quilters will be making projects for more than just cribs and couches, we made sure to include some home decor projects and techniques as well. Learn how to design floral-inspired Dresden plates, loopy free motion quilting tutorials for an intricate look, and even an English paper piecing pattern for a traditional design.

Spring Baby Quilt Patterns

Spring has become synonymous with the birth of many new little babies, which means that another way quilters are keeping busy during spring is with some new baby quilt patterns. As expected, we’ve found some adorable and absolutely free baby quilt designs, but that’s not all. Our collection also includes practical patterns to ensure that you can have variety in the quilt patterns for baby that you make.

Easter Sewing Projects

Easter is one of the many holidays quilters will be celebrating during spring, making these free Easter patterns a good choice when it comes to projects to start on once spring comes around. You can design your very own birds, bunnies, or baskets with the help of these lovely Easter patterns. These will come in handy both as decorations and as gifts, and many of them also make fitting additions to your general spring decor.

The projects we’ve featured here are just the beginning when it comes to the new spring quilt patterns and free Easter patterns, so discover all of the top patterns to start on with 24 Sweet Spring Quilt Patterns and Easter Sewing Projects. Our collection has everything you need to transform your home into a spring sensation!

Spring into Saturday: A Bright Butterfly Spring Kids’ Craft

February 16, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

Butterflies, rainbow, pastels, sunshine, flowers, and cheer are the signs of the beautiful season of spring. It may sound corny, but you know that it also sounds wonderful and promising. Though it’s not here yet, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, especially when you hurry it along with adorable spring crafts for kids. Surround yourself with the vibrancy of spring when you take time to relax and craft with your kids and grandkids. AllFreeKidsCrafts is ready to be the wind beneath your butterfly wings with tons of ideas for kids’ crafts for spring that you won’t want to miss.

Spring Crafts for Kids

Chase away the winter blues with this spring kids’ craft that will brighten your day. This fluttery fantasy project will take you out of the cold into the warmth of the sun just because you’ll be thinking of spring. This kids’ craft is perfect for a Saturday afternoon because it’s no stress, but it’s tons of fun. Easy crafts for kids like this make weekends a breeze, and because they’re enjoyed by all they help eliminate fighting and whining. Boys, girls, young, and old alike will love tie-dying the wings of a doily butterfly. Head on over to AllFreeKidsCrafts to check out this fun tutorial!

Other Spring Crafts for Kids:

Lucky Lil Rainbow Magnet
Puffy Fluffy Butterfly
Tie-Dye Shredded Seed Starters
Perfect Pastel Spring Wreath
Spring Critter Pretzels

This Week on Cool2Craft TV – Beautiful Butterflies

July 15, 2012 by Tiffany Leave a Comment

This week, the Cool2Craft design team is sharing a beautiful collection of butterflies! Watch your favorite crafters create super cool projects and join in the live on-line chat. Join EcoHeidi Borchers, Tiffany Windsor, Candace Jedrowicz, Linda Peterson, and Savannah Starr for this week’s online episode.

EcoHeidi is sharing the Look of Metal with Foil technique, Tiffany is crafting a Butterfly Garden Tablescape, Candace is making a Glittery Fabric Beaded Butterfly Pin, Savannah is creating a Burnt Brown Bag Butterfly and Linda is crafting a Bent Wire Butterfly Pendant.

It’s easy to watch the Cool2Craft TV Channel right from your computer. Monday July 16, 2012 at 9 am Pacific/ 10 am Mountain/ 11 am Central/ noon Eastern. Watch craft demos and join in the live chat at showtime at Cool2Craft.com. See you Monday!

cool2craft on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Link Love: Butterfly Crafts for Spring

March 1, 2012 by FaveCrafts 8 Comments

Spring is in the air! Get out of hibernation and start crafting things in accordance with the weather. Gone are the days of knitting and crocheting cozy afghans and warm scarves by the fire. It’s time to make spring wreaths, warm weather clothing, faux flowers, and my absolute favorite, butterflies! You can make butterflies from paper, yarn, or recycled materials, and use them to decorate your home. Butterflies are a great motif for kids’ crafts too. What kid doesn’t love butterflies? The best thing about butterflies is that you can come up with any color combination or pattern you want for the wings. Just like snowflakes, each butterfly can be completely unique. Here are the best butterfly craft projects from around the web this week:

Butterfly Wall Collage from The Idea Room
Paper Butterfly Sanctuary from Made
Candy Butterflies from Baballa
Toilet Paper Tube Butterflies from Bo Bunny
Butterfly Wreath from Jasey’s Crazy Daisy
Paper Towel Butterflies from Make it and Love it
Pleated Paper Butterflies from Disney Family
Crochet Butterflies from Little Birdie Secrets
Butterfly Mobile from Bugs and Fishes

Gift Sunday: Wings and Things

January 31, 2010 by FaveCrafts Leave a Comment

This week’s gift feature is all about those winged keepsakes that we have a special affinity for around Valentine’s Day. When did winged hearts become popular? They’re representative of wild hearts and passionate love. Just as butterflies can be representative of friendship and beauty. Try some of our favorite winged crafts for a friend’s birthday or for Valentine’s Day coming up in two weeks!

Winged Heart Valentine Frame

Colorful Butterfly Necklace

Valentine’s Day Fancy Free Tee

Whimsical Hair Comb

For more Valentine’s gift ideas, click here.

When Creativity Knocks FAVEulous Find of the Week: Flight of the Monarch Butterfly

November 10, 2009 by FaveCrafts Leave a Comment

The Fall season brings to my mind the migrating journey of the Monarch butterfly. Tiffany Windsor has created this lovely butterfly plant stake with some Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue, brown grocery bags and a couple other things. The finished butterfly reminds me of the remarkable Monarch.

ANA’S TIPS: Leave out the wooden skewer. Tape a piece of fishing line in between the layers of the butterfly and hang them from your chandelier or on your Christmas tree.

butterfly1

One of my favorite episodes of When Creativity Knocks is: Giving Back, Monarch Butterflies, where Megan interviews Ranger Chris at Natural Bridges State Beach in California about the Monarch. She then reads a poem: “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Pavel Friedman from Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp. We tell you about The Houston Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project, and I teach you how to make a wool felt butterfly.

butterfly3

butterfly2

Enjoy the episode.

“Teaching the world to craft one door at a time”
Ana Araujo