Be Mine Heart & I Love You Valentine's Wood Painting Kit

Keep your children focused on love for this Valentine's Day with these wood painting shapes. The Be Mine Heart and I Love You wood painting shapes are available at Walmart in a 5-pack kit along with a few other shapes as well.

Walmart Wood Painting Kit Group Package

Cute Critters

With their reputations for making a mess of the garbage, raccoons may not be the most welcome sight in your yard. But these guys will stay exactly where you put them. And maybe even get a little giggle out of you. They are easy to make and could even make for cute and unexpected little name holders at your Thanksgiving table. Click here for instructions.

Getting Creative with Shapes

Someone once told me that drawing is simple – you just put shapes together to create a bigger picture. We could argue that crafting follows the same tenant. And this adorable little guy proves it! He’s made from Lara’s pieces – small beads, spools and a goose egg. Connect it all with pipe cleaners and voila, you’re spending the rest of the summer with a fun new friend. Click here for full instructions.

Designer Craft Tip

Tips For Painting Unfinished Wood Crafts

There are many different types of paint you can use to paint on unfinished wood. Although you can use that leftover latex paint you painted the walls with, latex paint isn't guaranteed to hold up under duress.

Acrylic paint is the best choice for unfinished wood crafts. Craft stores like Michael's, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, or Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts carry several inexpensive brands of acrylic paint in a tremendous range of colors. Depending on the color of the paint, it will cover better and take fewer coats if you basecoat the wood first with a primer. Let dry, and then paint. After the paint is dry, you should coat your painted surface with an acrylic sealer unless you are using a gloss paint, which has a sealer built in.

Happy crafting!

Spring Cleaning Has Never Looked So Cute!

Show off those memorable bath moments with this Bath Time Frame.  And with all this effort of Spring Cleaning going around, it is a fun reward for all your hardwork!

Get all the steps to make this here.

Wood Critters!

Looking for a fun way to use Lara's Crafts Unfinished Wood pieces?  Why not try your hand at making these adorable Wood Animals.

Writing with a Friend!

Pencil toppers are always a favorite project of mine to do with my nieces and nephews.  They are relatively simple and they last for a long time.

I just love that they have so many places to use them and show them off to their friends.  This weekend, I will be surprising my niece and her friends with all the fixings to make this Bunny Pencil Pal just in time for Easter!

Find out how to make it here.

Avoid Getting Pinched!

If you are like me, it always ends up St. Patrick's Day and there I stand with no green anywhere near me- ending up with the inevitable, dreaded pinch.

Here is an easy way to make sure you have something green within arm's reach of you throughout the day.  Try making these clover clothespins and decorate your desk, office, sweater, etc with them.  This way you are definitely covered for showing off your St. Patrick's Day spirit!

Learn how to make them here.

Safari Wall Art

I guess we are in a very jungle inspired mood this February as this is our second safari themed project this month!

All you need is some of our adorable and inspiring Wood & Felt characters and paint to help craft the perfect addition to your child's room!

The great thing about it is that it goes great with the Safari Mobile project from earlier this month!

Race Car Project Idea

Using some wood from Lara's Crafts, some suncatcher stain from Kelly's Crafts, and felt from CPE, you can turn them into a "speed defying" race car that will entertain children for hours.  They are large enough to fit several different kinds of drivers!

Find out how to make one now!

Safari Mobile

Bring the beauty of our Kelly's Crafts Suncatchers and Lara's Crafts Wood & Felt Characters together in perfect harmony with our Safari Theme Mobile.  

This is an especially fun project for big brothers and big sisters to help work on to welcome their new sibling!

Find out how to make it here! 

ABC Blocks Project

This is a fun craft that can be done in sync with your child's classroom or for a fun learning experience anytime!

My niece had a blast spelling out all the different words she knew when she say these laying around house!

Get instructions for the ABC Blocks here!

Choo Choo Train Frame!

This month is National Model Railroad Month.  In order to celebrate, we made this multi-dimensional Choo Choo Train Frame.  It is a great addition to a Train themed room or just to add some fun colors to a room.

Find out how to make it here!

Harvest Frame

There is no better way to show off all those hay rides and trips to the cider mill then with these Harvest Frame.  It evokes all the feelings of the season and is a great way to show off your favorite memories!

Learn how to make it here.

Creative Wood Staining Methods

While out shopping yesterday, I stumbled across the Chartpak Woodcrafter's Marker.  My fellow co-workers told me that these have been around for awhile but they were new to me and I had a lot of fun enhancing the beauty of our natural unfinished wood using these easy to handle wood stain pens!

During this experiment, I also discovered that our Kelly's Crafts glass stain is also a great way to enhance the natural wood look but by adding a little bit of color.  This was just with a simple one coat of our turquoise stain pen!

I can't wait to incorporate this into more of our project ideas!  I love being able to keep the wood grain and add an extra dimension to my crafts.  I hope it is as inspiring to you as it is to me!

Fun Halloween Craft Project

It is getting to be the time of the season when ghouls and witches will be knocking on your door saying "Trick or Treat!"  We have an easy wood and felt based project to help get your house in the spookiness of the season. 

These critters are great to just put around the house or if you are having a Halloween party, you can have the kids make them or make them ahead of time and use them as place card holders. 

Click here to get detailed step by step instructions.

Natural Wood Ideas

Lara's Crafts Unfinished Wood Pieces provide great building blocks for some really interesting and innovative projects.

I really have just started crafting with the various pieces and parts of the Lara's line (I have always felt a bit more comfortable with fabric) but I have fallen in love with the ability to really customize wood pieces and turn them into something truly inspired.

My favorite project I recently completed is the collection of "Learn Your Colors" Wall Art. I used some 5 1/2" Wood Rectangles, 1 1/2" Wood Discs, and our Wood and Felt pieces to bring my idea to life.What is your favorite project? Post it to our flickr page!