Musical Valentines
how-to:| Handmade Charlotte
Pinecones have been a minor obsession at our house for the past few months. We always end up bringing some home after walks so despite using them for quite a few crafts lately, we still have a good amount of them left. I was looking at a box of them and thinking about the pinecone moths I made last year and I thought they’d be really fun as butterflies too! I used small pinecones for these, but if you only have the jumbo ones, you could instead make larger butterfly wings and write the mess...| Handmade Charlotte
Today we’re sharing another fun craft inspired by a vintage craft book! This project comes from Crafts for Kids: A Month-by-Month Idea Book from 1984. Originally called Ten-Circle Pumpkin, we instead made smaller circles and only used eight. We also painted the orange paper first and then used craft paper and wire for the pumpkin’s stem. The finished craft almost reminds us of honeycomb pumpkins but simpler!! We like these as table decor but they’d also be super cute strung together a...| Handmade Charlotte
Scrap paper & pipe cleaners make the best butterflies! This idea comes from book 14: foraging in the 1974 series Creative Activities Program. We scored the whole series at a library book sale and the silly & clever titles of the crafts in these books alone are so worth it – “teddy burs” are little teddies made of sculpting burs!| Handmade Charlotte
Several years ago now, Natalie shared a super fun pasta noodle skeleton puppet on the blog – it’s the best! I was thinking of this project when I made this paper straw version to post on Instagram last week. After a few followers commented asking for instructions to make their own, I made a new video showing this process! The video can be seen right here. This is such a fun puppet to operate – he swings around so naturally, he really looks like he’s dancing. We hope you’ll make one ...| Handmade Charlotte
Repurpose empty macaroni boxes into a play purse, stamped to look like a quilted bag! We are in love with all of the quilted purses, coats, bags, hats, you name it that we see, so thought we’d use them as inspiration for this craft! Macaroni boxes are the perfect size for a kid’s play purse, but granola bar boxes or similar work well too! Or maybe a cereal box could be turned into a quilted backpack?! Before stamping, do an online image search for traditional quick block patterns for insp...| Handmade Charlotte
Grab some pantry staples and make this oven-bake clay! We had so much fun experimenting with this recipe. I’ve long admired speckled pottery, so making it at home is so satisfying, and a little addicting too! I first made baking soda-cornstarch clay a few years ago now for some Christmas ornaments and I loved how they turned out. The clay was really easy to work with, the materials are super cheap, and they’ve lasted beautifully over the past few years. It’s been a while since I’ve tr...| Handmade Charlotte
Fall is right around the corner, and we couldn’t be more ready for it. You might recognize these frames from a blog post several years ago now – they were inspired by a method included in a vintage craft book that we’re sharing on Instagram Reels today, where you can see the full video tutorial. This time, we used neutral tones and added on a few pressed flowers for a more natural look. We found these woodland photos online and love the cozy fall feeling they give – scroll to get the ...| Handmade Charlotte
Has there been an easier Halloween craft? Grab some paper doilies from the cabinet, along with some scissors and a hole punch and these extra special ghosts are seconds away!| Handmade Charlotte
Looking for a cute place to store your treasures and trinkets? Of course you are! This secret snail storage is a playful way to upcycle an empty canister while also creating a hidden place for bits and bobs on your desk, or anywhere in your home. Check out the video tutorial here on Instagram Reels!| Handmade Charlotte
We’ve been in a bit of a breakfast rut lately, but no more! These tasty peanut butter and jam breakfast pops have been a tasty addition to our mornings especially as we soak up these last few weeks of warm summer weather.| Handmade Charlotte
For the ribbon: You could use cardstock, wood slices, cupcake liners, or paper as a circle base for your ribbon. Use glue to attach one or two ribbons to the back and cut triangles in the bottom of the ribbon(s).| Handmade Charlotte
Easter is usually the time for making colorfully decorated eggs, but how about making these playful fried egg cards? They’re a fun way to wish your friends and family an EGGcellent Easter, and can you tell what they’re made of? Dried lima beans and yellow split peas! Over the years, I’ve made a few fried egg DIYs (these brunch invitations and these sunny-side-up Easter eggs) but these bean art eggs are definitely my favorite of the three.| Handmade Charlotte
A little while ago, I got thinking about blind taste tests. Growing up, we would do them every once in a while for fun to compare different brands, versions, of flavors of various foods. I’m not sure exactly how we got started doing this, but part of me has to wonder if the TV show The Shopping Bags must have played at least a small part in it. I’m not entirely sure if this show aired outside of Canada, so if you aren’t familiar, the show essentially focused on Anna and Christina settin...| Handmade Charlotte
Cookie jar looking a little empty? Today’s post is just what you need to fill it right back up again. These recipes are so tasty though that your cookie jar surely won’t stay full for long, so you’ll want to pick out a couple of recipes to bake once it’s been emptied.| Handmade Charlotte
I’ve started to save all bread tags and recyclable lids, even if I don’t have a craft in mind for them just yet. They always end up coming in handy! Today I used a whole bunch of old bread tags (and a few milk carton lids) to make these simple rainbows! The colors of bread tags are perfect for mixing and matching to make slightly untraditional rainbows, so you don’t have to worry if you don’t have quite enough of the “right” colors.| Handmade Charlotte
We had so much fun last year making these long-distance valentines, that I thought it would be perfect to use the same painting technique for St Patrick’s Day! This time, I cut cardboard into large four-leaf clovers and used shades of green and glittery gold paint. At first glance, these clovers look like they must be messy to make, but since everything is contained inside a plastic bag, it is virtually mess-free! Once the paint was all dry, I wrote this short St Patrick’s Day saying on t...| Handmade Charlotte
St Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, so why not get into the spirit with these upcycled dioramas? I had so much fun with the winter dioramas I made last month and since I still had some lids leftover, I thought they would make perfect four-leaf clovers. This time I also used a couple of tofu trays that I painted blue to look like the sky – you could also use those blue produce trays and skip the painting step! I kept it simple and stuck with clovers and rainbows, but you could als...| Handmade Charlotte
I love baking with oatmeal – granola, baked oatmeal, snack bars, and of course oatmeal cookies! I’d been thinking of baking a batch of oatmeal cookies lately when I remember this simple gift idea I shared on the blog a few years ago now: making homemade granola and attaching a punny tag on top. What better time to give the gift of cookies, along with a pun of course, than Valentine’s Day? This project is super simple and can be adapted in a ton of ways to suit whatever you have on hand ...| Handmade Charlotte
