father’s day

crafts, create, easter, father's day, gift ideas, halloween

10 of the best Arts & Crafts Ideas for any Holiday
rudolph-reindeer-christmas-cards

Arts and crafts have long been a beloved pastime, offering a way to unleash creativity, create personalised decorations, and make heartfelt gifts. No matter the holiday, from Christmas to Halloween, Thanksgiving to Easter, crafting can elevate celebrations with handmade charm. In this article, we explore some of the best arts and crafts ideas that suit any holiday, along with tips to make your projects stand out.

1. Personalised Holiday Cards

There’s something special about receiving a handmade card. Personalised cards let you tailor designs to specific holidays, whether it’s Valentine’s hearts, spooky Halloween scenes, or festive Christmas trees. You can use:

  • Watercolors or Acrylic Paints: Create unique designs with vibrant colors.
  • Calligraphy or Hand Lettering: Add elegant, custom messages.
  • Stamps and Embossing Powders: Bring texture and dimension to your creations.

If you’re short on time or want professional-looking designs, using Christmas SVGs free templates can add flair without the effort of drawing from scratch. Simply cut the designs with a Cricut or Silhouette machine, and voila—your cards are holiday-ready!

2. Holiday-Themed Mason Jars

Mason jars are versatile and can be transformed into charming holiday décor. Here are some ideas:

  • Halloween Lanterns: Paint jars with spooky faces or wrap them with gauze for a “mummy” effect. Add a tealight candle inside to create a glowing lantern.
  • Christmas Snow Globes: Fill jars with faux snow, mini trees, and small figurines. Seal the lid and shake it for a magical effect.
  • Easter Treat Jars: Paint the jars in pastel colors, add bunny ears to the lid, and fill them with candy.

Mason jar crafts are not only decorative but also make great gifts, especially when filled with homemade goodies like hot cocoa mix or cookie ingredients.

3. DIY Wreaths for Every Season

Wreaths aren’t just for Christmas! With a little creativity, you can design a wreath for any holiday:

  • Spring/Easter Wreaths: Use pastel flowers, greenery, and egg-shaped decorations.
  • Fall/Thanksgiving Wreaths: Incorporate autumn leaves, mini pumpkins, and burlap ribbons.
  • Patriotic Wreaths: Use red, white, and blue elements for holidays like Independence Day.

Creating a wreath is simple with a basic grapevine or foam base. Add elements using a hot glue gun and hang it on your door to welcome guests in style.

4. Handmade Ornaments and Decorations

Making your own ornaments allows for a personal touch during the holidays. Here’s how you can customize them:

  • Christmas Ornaments: Use clear ornaments to fill with glitter, paint, or miniature scenes. For a rustic look, try wood slice ornaments with painted designs.
  • Valentine’s Day Décor: Create heart-shaped garlands with felt or paper. Hang them over doorways or windows for a festive touch.
  • Fourth of July Décor: Craft stars from paper or fabric and string them into garlands for a patriotic celebration.

These handmade items are perfect for adding a personal touch to your home or giving as gifts.

5. Holiday-Themed Candles

Candles are a timeless holiday craft, adding ambiance and warmth to any celebration. You can customize them in a variety of ways:

  • Scented Candles: Add holiday-inspired scents like cinnamon, pine, or peppermint.
  • Decorative Candles: Use stencils or decals to add festive designs to plain candles.
  • Layered Candles: Create multi-colored layers that reflect holiday themes, like red and green for Christmas or orange and black for Halloween.

Candle-making kits are widely available and make the process simple for beginners.

6. Painted Rocks for Every Occasion

Rock painting is a fun, budget-friendly craft that works for all ages. You can create:

  • Easter Egg Rocks: Paint rocks to look like Easter eggs and hide them for a unique egg hunt.
  • Spooky Rocks: Design rocks with ghost, witch, or pumpkin faces for Halloween.
  • Holiday Messages: Write inspirational or holiday-themed quotes on rocks and place them around your garden or give them as gifts.

Seal the painted rocks with a weather-resistant varnish to ensure they last.

7. DIY Table Centerpieces

A festive centerpiece can transform your holiday table. Consider these ideas:

  • Thanksgiving Cornucopia: Fill a woven basket with gourds, leaves, and seasonal fruits.
  • Christmas Candle Display: Arrange candles of varying heights with pinecones and holly.
  • Springtime Floral Arrangements: Use fresh flowers and pastel-colored candles for Easter or Mother’s Day.

Centerpieces can be as simple or elaborate as you like, making them a versatile option for any holiday.

8. Handmade Gift Wrap and Tags

Why buy gift wrap when you can make your own? Custom wrapping paper and tags add a special touch to any present:

  • Stamping: Use holiday-themed stamps and ink to decorate plain kraft paper.
  • Hand-Drawn Designs: Doodle festive images directly onto wrapping paper.
  • Natural Elements: Incorporate sprigs of pine, dried orange slices, or cinnamon sticks into your wrapping for a rustic look.

For gift tags, cut shapes from cardstock and embellish them with stickers, ribbon, or calligraphy.

9. Holiday-Themed Tote Bags and T-Shirts

Personalized clothing and accessories are not only fun to make but also useful:

  • Fabric Painting: Use fabric paint to create holiday-themed designs on tote bags or t-shirts.
  • Iron-On Transfers: Print designs and apply them to fabric using a heat press or iron.
  • Embroidery: For a more advanced craft, add embroidered holiday motifs to clothing.

These items make fantastic gifts and can also be used to carry holiday essentials.

10. Baking and Decorating Cookies

While not a traditional craft, decorating cookies is a creative activity that doubles as a delicious treat. You can:

  • Use Royal Icing: Create intricate designs on sugar cookies shaped like holiday symbols.
  • Make Gingerbread Houses: Build and decorate miniature houses with candy and icing.
  • Themed Cupcakes: Decorate cupcakes with fondant or piped frosting in seasonal colors.

Hosting a cookie decorating party is a fun way to engage friends and family in holiday preparations.

There You Have It

No matter the time of year, crafting is a delightful way to celebrate the holidays and add a personal touch to your home and gifts. Whether you’re painting rocks, designing wreaths, or making personalized candles, these arts and crafts ideas will spark joy and creativity. With just a few materials and some imagination, you can create beautiful decorations and keepsakes that make every holiday memorable. And don’t forget to explore free templates for added inspiration and ease in your crafting projects!

This is a collaborative post.

father's day, gift ideas

Gifts For Dad: 5 Great Options That Aren’t #1 Dad Socks

With the festive season fast approaching, you’ve probably (!) sorted many of your gift purchases already. However, Dads are notoriously difficult to buy for. Whether treating your own father or looking to help the kids spoil your partner, the socks and mugs look very tempting.

In truth, they are practical presents that will get used. Still, they aren’t the most creative or exciting gift ideas. Here are five superior solutions to make it a memorable day for the big guy.

Experience Days

While the luxuries above will be appreciated, men will buy most of the items that they need throughout the year. Likewise, the majority are not materialistic, which is why you should focus on experiences instead. This could mean planning a family trip to a city’s top attractions in the new year. Alternatively, you may opt for a track day experience of another solution that is all about him. Either way, the chance to create magical memories will be appreciated. Not least because he’ll have something to look forward to.

Shed Accessories

Whether it’s a storage facility or a man cave, the shed is a man’s peaceful place. Therefore, any gift that enhances this space and the activities he enjoys there will go down well. Garage or shed accessories like flooring and temperature control systems are ideal choices. It creates a more comfortable, functional, and inviting setting. It also lays the foundation to make other design features, from entertainment setups to wall decor, shine. The fact that you are supporting his need for hobbies or a place to decompress is another major benefit.

Home Tech

As with shed accessories, home tech features can be very exciting for a man. Dads love cool gadgets while adding convenience to their daily life is a wise move too. Whether it’s voice-activated lights, a robotic vacuum, or a home cinema screen will depend on the person. Whichever type of product you opt for, you may also want to consider themed items. This could mean choosing a design based on his football team or favourite film. Even sticking to his favourite electronics manufacturer shows you’ve thought about the purchase.

Toiletries

At a glance, toiletries won’t sound too exciting. In reality, though, they can make a great gift to your partner from the kids or your own father. Picking up a bottle of his favourite aftershave is always an easy win. However, you could also consider luxury soaps designed for men. It could level up his daily grooming routine, making him feel fresher while also smelling better. Of course, this will restore his confidence, which is truly one of the best gifts you can give him. Variety packs are a good option to help him find his new favourite product too.

Photo Gifts

It’s often easy to assume that men aren’t sentimental. While they don’t always like to show it publicly, they are. Not least when it comes to family and the relationships with their children. Having a favoruite photo turned into a canvas or other photo gift is ideal. It could brighten up his man cave, the living room, or his home office. Even smaller gifts that he can carry in his possession make a great gift. If you think about that episode of The Simpsons where Homer keeps photos of Maggie at work, you’ll see why this is a great gift.

This is a collaborative post.

crafts, father's day, FREE printables, kids

Tin Can crafts – savings tin

How about a Tin Can Savings Tin?

With Father’s Day looming, we decided to do something a bit different for Dad and as one of his foibles is collecting coins. *Saving* £2 coins in piles around the house, particularly on shelves… So we came up with a genius tidy-up plan…tin can fathers day savings

We decided to tidy up the favourite shelf for Mr.KidsChaos, our bedroom mantle piece.To assist with the tidying, we made him some Savings Tins, and they look nice too don’t you think?

Can we call this photo a #Shelfie?
Our bedroom ‘Shelf’ is often very cluttered, with our favourite wedding pressie painting from Jill Barker & Jonathan at Middlewick, and the odd pair of his daft colourful sunglasses. His collection of coins tumble constantly, as they get knocked and fall to the floor and it makes me go a little crazy!!

FREE printable tin can printThe kids decided he needed somewhere to save his £2 coins, and told me what the text should read on the tin cans. They picked the colours, and I designed the graphics. Bonus is, you can print these off and do the same thing too, for FREE!

Simply print them off here, and trim them out, and glue them on to your clean tin cans.

Don’t tell him, but I often BORROW the odd coin when we’re dashing off to Martial Arts club, or Cubs…. Sssh, he never reads this anyway, he’ll NEVER know. Perhaps if he saves enough, I could BORROW some of it for a bit of Bathroom DIY…watch this space!

For more FREE printables for tin cans, click here for a fun game for the summer – kick the can.

For more FREE Father’s Day Printables, try our Monster Truck card and Jigsaw Puzzle Cards.

And other uses for bean tins, and soup cans can be seen over on A Greener Life For Us, using up old paint to make plant and pencil pots click here.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, create, father's day

Fimo-Moustache-Jewellery-2-KidsChaos Fimo-Moustache-Jewellery-3-KidsChaosFimo Moustache jewellery

I’ve been using Fimo as a modelling clay for a very long time – back to my Art Student days when I was making rather scary necklaces, with big spiky teeth!

And the husband is bit of a moustache fan, so we decided to make him a Mustache badge from fimo, for a little stocking filler for Christmas.Fimo-Moustache-Jewellery-1-KidsChaos

You will need:

Fimo
Kitchen knife
Grease proof paper
Template

Position the template on the fimo, and cut around with the knife.

Place the fimo onto the greaseproof paper and bake in the over for 25 minutes at 120 degrees.

When cool, glue a jewellery brooch back attachment (or safety pin) to the back of the moustache to create a brooch…

Moustache-Jewellery-KidsChaosclick this link to download the template Moustache Jewellery KidsChaos

Another fab idea is to take the Moustache brooch, and pin it to the front of a folded card, and get your child to draw a face to go with it! I’ve attached another Happy Birthday template KidsChaos template to illustrate just what I mean!

Happy-Birthday-template-KidsChaos-exampleAli also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

 

father's day, kids, life

Robotic Anki Drive race cars powered by artificial intelligence (AI)

My new favourite Futuristic Toy! Launching this Wednesday at Apple Stores in the UK, the Anki Drive racing game was created in 2010 by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute graduates and robotics experts using the same criterion as Google’s self-driving cars.Anki Drive robotic race cars

The cars and the race mat (and the packaging for that matter) are beautifully designed. Pictured here is the yellow ‘KOURAI’ who has his own personality type, and as one of my friends pointed out on Instagram tonight, has a look of the Batmobile about him… Probably due to Boris Sofman, Anki’s CEO’s astute involvement of none other than Batmobile and Iron Man‘s facemask designer, Harald Belker.

So, grab your iPhone, iPad or iPad mini and pick a car! The player can race others cars that control themselves (AI) which spookily respond and adapt to the real player. As you get started racing (either solo with the AI or with friends) the cars’ technology realises where they are on the mat, and navigate the course (without falling off the track, which I do recall with some painful memories of the scalextric slot cars we had constantly falling off the track).

My boys love playing Mario Kart on the Wii… so I can’t wait to get racing with the Anki Drive with them – driving these funky miniature, AI robotic cars with bonkers personalities and upgradable armoury! (and even better, when you’re finished playing, you just roll the racing mat up and store it in its box!)

So watch this space for a review from the boys… I’ve had a great morning playing with these Anki Drive race cars, and I know what Mr. KidsChaos is getting for Father’s Day!

Follow Ali on twitter as @incredibusymum and twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos for more posts like this one… Erm, and funnily enough on Google+, Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

father's day

SmartFlex Card Case for Samsung Galaxy S4

Well, it’s not often I bang on about technology is it? I have to say though, after a month or so of using my SmartFlex Card Case for my Samsung Galaxy S4 I have to tell you…SmartFlex Card Cases for Samsung Galaxy S 4

You ALL have to get one of these! How many times do I drop my phone on the floor? (Every other time I am juggling bags, and front door keys) and HOW many times do I shout *Has anyone seen my Oyster Card?!!* JUST before I leave the house to jump on the Tube…KidsChaos-Phone-cover-review-back

I love that I can just keep my Oyster card in the back of the ‘phone case, and if I’m out on the town, I can pop in a credit card or some ‘folding-money’ (can’t say that without singing the Fall‘s f-olding money).

So I actually have Britmums Live to thank for this case. The lovely people at Speck Products popped an iPhone 5 case in my goody bag last year, and were sweet enough to swap it for a SmartFlex case for my Samsung Galaxy S4. Thank you Speck and Britmums 🙂 It’s an *ace case*…

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! 

father's day, google+ hangouts, kids, monster

A nice quick and easy Father’s Day Monster Truck card for you to download, print off, and add your own touch with these slices of cork… any excuse for another glass of wine eh?!

KidsChaosCork-FathersDay-Card-craft

KidsChaosCork-NailsFathersDay-Card-craft

Simple to do… take a couple of different sized corks, I used a champagne cork, and a wine cork…

Using a carving knife (careful!) slice the corks into Monster Truck ‘wheels’ and stick onto the card, one for the back, one for the front wheel…

Click here for our other VERY popular Jigsaw piece printable Father’s Day card, so you can have one of each!

Printable-www_KidsChaos-Corkcards-FathersDay

click here to print the Monster Truck> Printable www_KidsChaos Cork card FathersDay

KidsChaosLolly-bi-plane-craft-with-cork

We had previously used slices of corks for wheels on our bi-plane pictured here…click the image to read more about THAT craft too!

I hung out on Google+ for a bit of a vlog… with some craft buddies to share these cork crafts, hosted by the ever lovely Maggy from Red Ted Art who showed us several cork crafts, some CUTE Knights and Santas including printed bunting in her book. Pop back later for more links to Anthea, Kelly, Liz, The Fairy and the Frog, and Rebecca.
KidsChaosCorkCraftsHangoutAre you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

 

 

crafts, create, father's day, google+ hangouts, monster

Chaos writes:
KidsChaosJigsawPuzzleFrankensteinSo – the challenge to MAKE something with spare jigsaw puzzle pieces… And I think we’ve cracked it with these greetings cards. The shape of the puzzle piece with the ‘sticky out bits’ inspired us to think of Frankenstein’s monster, with the bolts in his neck, so we drew his body attached his head, with some googly eyes and requisite ‘scars’ and away you go! Ideal for a Father’s Day card, or a MONSTER Birthday card .
KidsChaosJigsawPuzzleAnniversaryCardA second idea is a nod to the two parts of the puzzle making ONE, so it’s great for an anniversary, or wedding card. And equally adding a third piece for a new baby card!
And I’ve created FREE printables here for you:

FATHER’S DAY CARD
MONSTER BIRTHDAY CARD
ANNIVERSARY CARD
WEDDING CARD
Printable-KidsChaos-Jigsaw-Valentines-DayVALENTINE’S DAY CARD

Printable-www_KidsChaos-Jigsaw-cards-FathersDayKidsChaosJigsawPuzzleG+A few crafty types came together on Google+ to discuss our jigsaw puzzle craft idea – watch it here. You’ll also be able to see our host Maggy Woodley’s Coasters, Fridge magnets, trees, snowflakes and trees; Crystal’s Brooches, Kelly’s bird puppets, Lizzie’s Family photo keyrings, Anthea’s puzzle resin crafts. If you’d like to see MORE ideas for Father’s Day click here. And more MONSTER crafts here.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

crafts, father's day, google+ hangouts

Chaos writes:

Oh how I struggle to throw anything away, particularly, if it’s small and sweet like these tiny pencil stubs I’ve been squirreling away for some time! What to do WITH them? 10yo came up with this bright idea…A key ring for Father’s Day in the shape of D for DADDY.

KidsChaosPencilEnd-Keyring1

KidsChaosPencilEnd-Keyring3

You DO have to use a saw, so be careful and ‘get an adult to help’ – but seriously, this craft is SO photogenic, we couldn’t help but take LOADS of pictures!

The beauty of embedding the pencil ends into the Fimo (which we then baked for ten minutes) is that you can push them down to level-off the pencil ends so that you don’t have to panic too much if the sawn-off stubs are not the same height. We also used a hot-glue gun to make sure the key ring stands the test of time in Daddy’s pocket. As Maggy suggested, this would also work as a coaster, so we’ll keep sawing!  Something for his birthday in August 🙂

 

KidsChaosPencilEnd-Keyring2
KidsChaosyoutubeThis craft featured on a youtube google+ hangout hosted by Maggy Woodley at Red Ted Art and also featured Lizzie from Me and My Shadow, Anthea, Kelly, and Crystal (links to follow) click the picture to watch us!

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook andPinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com