DIY Kids’ Bouncy Balls

My Emma is ALWAYS (and I mean always) asking me to buy her a bouncy ball. Why wouldn’t she? I’m sure we all remember playing with them and loving them so. There’s just something special to a kid about a ball that can bounce higher than their head and then fly into oblivion never to be caught. (Okay, admit it, you know what I mean here…) That’s why I love, love, love this diy project! You can’t get any better than Diy Kids’ Bouncy Balls! They’ll love it and you’ll get the pleasure of some extra quality time with your little one!

You Need:

• 1 plastic spoon
• 2 plastic cups
• 2 tbs. Warm water
• 1/2 tsp. Borax
• 1 tbs. Cornstarch
• Food coloring, optional
• 1 tbs. glue (white glue will make an opaque ball, clear glue makes a translucent ball, and glitter glue makes a sparkly translucent ball…oooooo sparkly)

This makes one bouncy ball. If you use the whole box, then you can make a bazillion bouncy balls. (Okay, maybe not a bazillion but you will end up with a high number of them.)

1. In one cup, add warm water, Borax, and food coloring if you have chosen to add any and stir well. (If you’re using glitter glue, don’t use food coloring. Your glue will already be colored so it’s not needed)
2. Pour your glue into the other plastic cup. Add the cornstarch and 1/2 tsp. of the Borax mixture you just made. Count to 15 before stirring your mixture then stir with your plastic spoon until the mixture becomes thick and difficult to stir.
3. Remove the mixture from the cup and roll in a ball with your hands.

Tada! You have a homemade bouncy ball and one (or more) very happy kids!! When not in use, store in an air-tight container so that it doesn’t harden and lose its bounce. Also, feel free to make your bouncy balls really yours. Add glitter, confetti or whatever to your mixture to give them a more “exciting” look.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” ― Albert Einstein

That’s the quote planted at the top of the About Me page on Cluttered Genius. A former face-to-face high school teacher, she now stays at home with her kids, and works as a virtual English teacher. Her claim is that we don’t have mommy brain because we’ve been come dumb and scatter-brained, it’s because we’ve learned so much that are brains are cluttered with genius! She’s over here today to show us how she makes super cute customized letters for her friends when they have babies!

Crafting is one of my favorite, therapeutic activities. When my friends have babies, they simply give me more of a reason to get out the craft scissors and Modpodge. This past fall, three of my good friends welcomed bundles of joy into their families. I wanted to do something special and personalized, so I decided to make them a personalized letter.

I knew that Matthew had his room decorated in monkeys, Brooklynn’s mama was all about girly stuff, and Macie’s mama already had two boys and was excited about bringing home her first sweet baby girl.

Let me show you how I made them, and then I’ll show you what each looked like in the end.

• First, I outlined the letter that I was going to cover on the BACK of a piece of scrapbooking paper. I also did the letter backwards on purpose. This way, it all matched up in the end. Make sure to keep your pencil as close to the edge of the letter as possible. TIP: I used scissors when I cut it out. It was tedious, but the straight-edge razor I was using hated me.
• I painted the edges of the letter. For Brooklynn’s, I used white to contrast the paper I’d chosen. For Macie’s, I used pink. I left Matthew’s alone because I thought it looked really cute with the natural wood color.
• When I made sure that the letter edges on the paper matched up to the letter edges on the wooden letter, I used Modpodge to glue it down.
• Then, I painted the small letters for their names. I chose colors that contrasted against the paper.
• I glued down each letter.
• For each of the babies, I chose a wooden figure: Brooklynn, a butterfly; Macie, a flower; Matthew, a monkey.
• Once everything was on, I Modpodged over the paper and letters to get the same sheen all the way across.

Here’s Matthew’s:

Here’s Macie’s:

Here’s Brooklynn’s:

Easy! Will you be making one of these for a special someone?

How adorable are those! And they seem SO easy to make too! Make sure you pin this post to Pinterest!

Not mine. If it’s yours, please email me so I can properly credit you.

DIY Lego Halloween Costume

How cute it this! This DIY Halloween costume is so simple to make! You can make your little one a homemade lego for Halloween so easily that it’s almost scary!

You will need:

• 1 large cardboard box to fit over your child
• 1 smaller cardboard box for hat
• Solo Cups
• Glue
• Paint or Duct Tape in the color you want your lego

Step 1: Cut arm holes and a hole for the head in the larger box and be sure that your child can wear it okay.]

Step 2: Glue (6) solo cups on the front side of the box

Step 3: Paint or tape the entire box and cups the color you chose.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat for the hat.
Guess what? That’s it! You know have a diy Lego costume!

Looking for more ways to get crafty? Check out our other DIY projects!

How cute are these? Personally I think they’re adorable and I’m working on a few pairs for Emma because she fell in love with them! They’re so easy to make too! Just a few items needed and a few minutes to work on them! The best thing? You can use this trick to make that pair of shorts that no longer fits last just a bit longer!

Step 1: Cut the seam of your shorts on the outside of the legs where you’re going to place the lace. How high you cut is up to you, but let’s remember that other people will see you wearing these..lol.
Step 2. Sew your lace piece on the outside of the seam you just cut. Do a layover with the lace basically and sew it onto the shorts vs sewing it “into” the shorts.

Step 3: There is none! That’s how simple these are to do! Wait, step 3…slide those bad boys on and go strut your stuff!

Photo Credit: pauladeen.com

I adore the smell of lemon! It’s so refreshing for me so I can’t think of anything better to use in the tub than lemon salt scrub! Even better? It’s DIY Lemon Salt Scrub! I can’t wait to make this!

You will need:

• 5 tablespoons sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lemon

Step 1: Mix the Olive Oil and sea salt together well. You need to be sure that the salt is coated in the oil so that it isn’t dissolved by the lemon.

Step 2: Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the salt mixture. Mix well and mash to the consistency of your liking. If you need more or less scent, just adjust the lemon juice!

 
Thanks to The Beauty Department!

Photo Credit: Whatever

I love melted crayon art! It’s so pretty in such a simple way! I knew I needed to share with ya’ll how to make it but I admit..I’ve been slacking..lol. These are so simple and so much fun to make and the best part? It’s a DIY project that the kids can help with!

You will need:

• A blank canvas in the size of your choice
• Crayons (start with a 64 count box, remove the colors you don’t want in your art and then add more as needed)
• Hot glue gun
• Hair Dryer

Step 1: Using the hot glue gun, glue your crayons into whatever pattern you’re going to make. Keep in mind that your art will run out of the bottom of each crayon when you place them. Allow glue to dry completely.

Step 2: Sit your canvas upright and with your blow dryer on high heat, blow air onto your crayons.
As you blow the air, your crayons will melt and voila! You have melted crayon art!

So cool and so easy! We did one tonight and I’d have snapped a pic but my camera is still half dead so I want to thank Whatever (yes, that’s the blog’s name) for their pic!

Did you like this post? Be sure to pin it below so others can enjoy it too!

Photo Credit: Inspiration for Moms

So I was browsing Pinterest the other night and I came across this Do It Yourself Canvas Wall Art and I fell in love! It’s so simple to make and it’s so pretty! Inspiration for Moms used white paint, but you could use any color you wanted and I imagine it would turn out great!

You will need:

• (3) blank 11×14 wall canvases
• Wood Letters for whatever words you want to use (13 if you’re going to use the example “Live, Laugh and Love”)
• Spray Glue
• Spray Paint

Step 1:

Measure out your letters and place them where you want them on the blank canvas. It may be helpful to mark lightly where you’ve placed them.

Once placed, spray the backs with glue and glue them to the canvas. Allow time for glue to dry.

Step 2: 

Once dry, spray paint the entire thing with your color with 2 coats giving it time to dry in between each coat.

Step 3: Head over to Inspiration for Moms to see just how much this little gem will cost you!

Thanks to Inspiration for Moms for the pic!