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Ramble on little crafter, ramble on….

Posted by :bcjen On : July 27, 2011
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Ok so the TAC was lame.  I know that.  I’m well aware that I should have gone big on the first one.  But to explain a bit….I don’t really want these crafts to be long, drawn out processes.  Most of my friends have small kids and these are basically little quickies they can do with them.  Hence me involving Than (well, that’s when he WANTS to participate. ;)   )

MY crafts are hit or miss.  This site ain’t called badlycrafted because I thought it was a clever name.   Wait…well I DID think it was a clever name, but only because it’s true.  This site is about crafting for real people.  You know…those of us that won’t eventually get a tv show out of our fantastic craft ideas.  Or for people who can end up selling them on Etsy.  No, this is for people who WANT to craft and do it regardless of the outcome.  We’re the people that will never get an invite from Martha Stewart or Oprah to share what we do.

(cue the patriotic music!)

This is for the unsung crafting heroes!  The ones who can’t sew their way out of a paper bag (um, what?), the ones who sew their projects to their pant leg (don’t ask), the ones who can’t cut a straight line even with a pencil line drawn for you.  Yeah.  It’s for people like me who love all things arts and crafts, who try and fail, but keep trying because it’s so much fun.

So craft on little crafters…and don’t let anyone judge what you do.  Just have fun and let that be your inspiration.

Project: T-A-C (Test A Craft) Pipe Cleaner Dinosaur

Posted by :bcjen On : July 27, 2011
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Ok so my lovely assistant, THAN (glares across room at Than who is completely oblivious to the fact that I am glaring at him), decided that he did NOT want to do any crafts today.  So the part of “Test A Craft” where Than’s involvement is required will be conspicuously absent from our testing criteria.

Did that make sense?

Ok, in layman’s terms:  The little goober didn’t want to play with Mommy as his toys are much more fun today. (grumble)

I’ll remember this day, oh yes little Than, I’ll remember….(rubs hands maniacally)…  Ya know this would go so much better if he was reading my mind or reading this page and seeing all of my twisted crazy words.  What he actually sees is me smiling at him and saying, “It’s ok sweetheart, you don’t have to craft if you don’t feel like it.  Have fun with your toys.”

(sigh)  Being a good mommy is hard some days… ;)

Um, where was I?

Oh, so the craft that I had intended to do ended up on the “I don’t feel like doing it” pile.  Along with 134293 other options.  So while trying to entice Than to join me in crafting I found two things he liked:  pipecleaner crafts and dinosaurs.  It still didn’t work.  He did, however, beam at me with that cute little face and gave me some encouraging words, “You can do it, Mommy!  That’s right up your alley!”  Where does he get these words from?  (whistles innocently)

So I went to a Disney site for crafts and found this:

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/pipe-cleaner-crafts-dynamic-dinosaurs-666409/

and since I didn’t have enough of the same color pipe cleaners, I ended up with this:

It was super easy, took but minutes and Than is enjoying playing with it.  Knowing his abilities I’d say that the bundling part of the pipecleaner wrapping would work for as would the coiling.  He could do this craft.  I would just have to put the pieces together for him as he would smoosh the body as he put one piece into the other.  But it is definitely something you can do with your kids.

They also have other pipecleaner animal projects like the duck and the penguin.  Both are cute and look easy.  I’m sure I’ll be making those later today.  If I do, I’ll come back and post pictures.

Online Crafts…Testing

Posted by :bcjen On : July 26, 2011
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Since I tend to look online for crafts for Than and I to create together, I thought it would be a fun idea to share our findings with anyone reading this blog.

Starting tomorrow we will start a weekly (or whenever I remember…rofl) Test-A-Craft (or TAC because I want an acronym that makes me seem professional.  Hmmm what can I come up with that I can use the acronym BITEME?…um, where was I?).

The completely unscientific criteria (use of big words = 10 “I Impressed Myself” points.) used to show a successful craft will be:

1.  That the directions are easy to understand (i.e. in English as well)

2.  That the necessary supplies are easily at hand, or very cheap.

3.  If it says it’s a “kid friendly” craft, Than can follow the directions.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have to coax him into actually doing the craft with me.  That’s a given.  Usually he’s gung ho, but if it is a “girlie” craft I may have to resort to blackmail.  You know, “Remember that picture I took of you sleeping with my pink Webkinz monkey?”  Oops…did I just type that out loud?  Shhhhh…..

and finally

4.  Is it useful in anyway…or fun.  Fun doesn’t have to mean useful. ;)

So there you have it.  TAC once a week.  Let’s hope I remember to actually do this tomorrow.  (I’ve already set out something on my desk in hopes that I will remember).