3D Perler Bead Pokeball

This post is long overdue but here are the instructions on how to make a 3D perler bead pokeball as promised.
(Find our 3D Perler Bead Pikachu instructions HERE.)

The colors can be arranged to make other designs too. My 10 year old informed me that pictured bellow is a greatball, pokeball, and ultraball.

Here are all the pieces ironed and ready to start building. The key to making your pokeball come together easily is to iron the pieces just enough to have them melt together. If you use too much heat and pressure so that the pieces get too flat it will be hard for the pieces to fit together easily.

Putting your pokeball together is kind of like building a 3D puzzle. The pieces fit and lock together. Follow the visual instructions below to build your pokeball.

These come together pretty easily. You can really get carried away and create all kinds of designs with these (I know my kids did!). Let your creativity soar and have fun!

Find our 3D Perler Bead Pikachu instructions HERE.

Young Women Values Magnets (Includes Free Download)

We had a successful activity at our church youth night recently. The young women created a bucket list of things they wanted to complete in the next year or two and then they made these cute little pebble magnets to remind them of the Young Women Values. They're a fun size and can be used in their school locker, on a memo board, or on any magnetic surface in their room. The girls seemed to enjoy the activity and the magnets came together nicely in the hour we were together.





The girls had two choices to pick from. They could have a colored background with white lettering or a white background with colored lettering. The clear pebble stones I got where between 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch. They can sometimes be found at Dollar Tree but most craft stores should have them also.

To make the magnets I found it works best to place the pebble on top of the paper, centering it on the lettering, and trace around it with a pencil. Cut out the circle just on the inside of the traced circle. Brush a very thin layer of mod podge onto the flat surface of the pebble and place the paper on top, lettered side down. Allow to dry an few minutes and then apply a magnet. If your magnet does not have self adhesive, glue on the magnet using a hot glue gun. Using another kind of glue will cause the ink to bleed and ruin your whole project. (Trust me on this one. I know from sad experience.)

Hopefully these cute little magnets can act as a reminder to the girls of the values they hold and also to be working on their Personal Progress.


Feel free to download my template to make your own pebble magnets.
(For personal use only. Thanks!)


DOWNLOAD FREE YOUNG WOMEN VALUES TEMPLATE HERE

DOWNLOAD FREE YOUNG WOMEN VALUES TEMPLATE HERE



I made a 4x6 memo board to display the magnets on by using this fun frame from IKEA and a scrap piece of sheet metal. It worked well to temporarily to show off these little gems.

If you have any questions be sure ask! If you give this project a try leave a comment and let me know how it went.

Have fun!

Paper Snowflakes with Hidden Names

I love to make snowflakes with my kids during December and keep them up through January.  One really fun way is to cut your names out!

It leaves a really unique design.  My oldest son is named William . . . can you see his name?

Here's how you do it. First, fold your paper like you would for any snowflake.  (Here's a refresher).

Next, you trace out your letters with the bottom of your letters along the folded side of your snowflake.

Cut your letters out making sure to leave space between each letter.

If you want, you can add some embellishments around the outside of the snowflake.

Unfold your snowflake and viola!  You have a fun snowflake to hang in your house with your hidden names!

3D Perler Bead Pikachu

My kids went back to school this week. I feel like we start so much later than most of the country since we don't go back until after Labor Day. We had such a great summer that it was hard to send them off. My goal is always to give my kids somewhat of a good ol' fashioned summer. I want summertime to be a chance to slow down and explore life. To keep their eyes away from screens and give them a chance to get plenty of fresh air, go on bike rides, catch fireflies, carve soap, chew gum and learn to blow bubbles, swim, play at the park, read a lot of books, do arts and crafts, and hopefully have enough free time that they actually have a chance to be bored once or twice.

One thing my kids had fun with over the summer was creating things out of perler beads. My kids love these things! My nine year old got really creative and figured out how to make a 3D Pikachu. He then went on to make some other Pokemon characters and then my other kids started making them too and before you know it we had a house full of Pokemon!

My son thought other kids might like to learn how to make a 3D Pikachu too so he suggested we could put the instructions up on my blog. So here it is:

How to make a 3D Pikachu out of Perler Beads

Follow the pattern below to create the pieces to build your Pikachu. As you can see the feet on the green plate need to be on a plate that has pegs at an angle.

Here are all the pieces ironed and ready to start building. The key to making your Pikachu come together easily is to iron the pieces just enough to have them melt together. If you use too much heat and pressure so that the pieces get too flat it will be hard for the pieces to fit together easily.

Putting your Pikachu together is kind of like building a 3D puzzle. The pieces fit and lock together. Follow the visual instructions below to build your Pikachu.

All done! Isn't he cute?

Using the basic design of the Pikachu it's easy to create other Pokemon. Here are a few favorites: Wartortle, Charmander, Pikachu, Minccino, and Charizard.

Learn how to make a 3D Perler Bead Pokeball HERE!

Now go create 'em all!

Washi Frame and Free Printables - "Let's Get Crafty" Party

Last month I shared my daughter's "Let's Get Crafty" birthday party. It was so much fun! (You can find all the details here.)
One of the crafts the girls made at the party were these washi tape frames.



It ended up being a great craft for this age group of 9-10 year olds. I was worried that I might have chosen a craft that was too difficult or frustrating for them, but was actually surprised how quickly they were able to design their frames and how much fun they had doing it.



I picked up my frames from Michael's. I really liked this frame design. It's a cute style. I actually bought a variety of styles for the girls to pick from but every single girl picked this style frame. Go figure. These frames are such a good value at only $1 a piece. I had a coupon for an extra 30% off my entire purchase so they turned out to be a really good deal.



I bought a bunch of washi tape and the girls enjoyed picking out the patterned tape that match their rooms and to make their frame unique.



Here's how to make a washi tape frame:

Decide on what colors and patterned tape you want to use. Then place strips of the tape across the frame leaving a little extra hanging off each end. I started the tape on my frame at the top and moved downward. If I were to make another one though I would start in the center and moved outward to each end, this way the pattern will end up the same on the ends.

Once you have all your tape on the frame flip it over and use an exacto knife to cut off the excess tape.

You can see the exacto knife does a great job of making a crisp/sharp cut.

Here's the frame with all the tape placed on and the excess cut off.

I then applied a thin layer of  Mod Podge over the entire surface of the frame. This keeps the tape in place so none of it starts to peel off.

Here it is all done!

These are a few of the the frames the girls made on the day of the party. I loved the patterns and designed they chose to do. I did all the cutting with the exacto knife so this project kept me pretty busy during the party. Somehow I was able to get them all trimmed, covered with Mod Podge and dried before it was time for the girls to go home.

Here's the birthday girl with her completed frame.

I made a few different printables for the girls to choose from to put in their frame. They had fun picking out the saying they liked best. One the girls was excited to see the one that said, "Be so happy that when others look at you they become happy too." She told me it was her life motto!

Below are your free printables. Simple click on the image to enlarge then copy and paste into a word document. Enjoy!