6 Summer Decor Crafts and Activities for the Whole Family

 Summer is around the corner and what a relief! With the state of the world right now, your family needs every bright moment it can get to have fun and enjoy more time together. And that’s exactly what the sunny and relaxing summer season brings with it. Of course this summer your family might not jet off to a far off land for a vacation, but who says you can’t have fun in your home?

While summer is the idyllic time to relax and have fun, it can quickly become monotonous if you’re not creative enough. You can only play so many lawn games or visit the beach as a family. What about those sweltering hot or rainy days when you can’t venture outside?

The last thing you want is for your kids to go back to their gizmos and lounge on the couches all day long.

With some creativity, you can get everyone busy with the following summer décor craft ideas. Here are fun activities that suit the whole family and the best part is that you give your house a touch of warm summer décor style while also bonding. So, here you go.

Outdoor Wall Art

Love painting? Well, maybe you don’t have a potential Picasso in your house but who said you can’t have some with colors? Kids love working with paint and you can bring some summer fun to your outdoor walls with colorful art. Homeowners have always welcomed summer with a proud display of art and this is a fun DIY idea for your home.

Get a large DIY wall board and brainstorm what to paint. This is a simple yet exciting idea to bring everyone outside. Let everyone have a go at the brush and create a welcoming message to display on your lawn. When you have a cookout or a get-together, this becomes the highlight of your outdoor space.

Glass Jar Flower Vase Garland

The applications for glass jars in your home are endless. Summer is synonymous with splashes of color and you can bring your house to life with your favorite summertime flowers. Collect glass jars in the house or even buy some and line them up.

Tie the jars together in a garland, put some water in each jar with your favorite flower cutting. Hang these indoors on your windows, dresser, or anywhere else to bring some life to your living space. 

Decorative Leaf Garland for Your Book Stand

If you love books, the bookstand is hallowed ground where you always find yourself when looking for peace. And what better way to appreciate this space than with a simple but decorative leaf garland. You can work on the leaf garland and create any design that your family suggests.

Remember, any décor craft ideas are only fun if everyone chips in. At the end of the DIY project, you’ll bring some rainforest vibe into your living room. This will easily turn into the focal point of your home’s décor.

DIY Summer Wreath

What better way to prepare your home for an exciting summer than with a colorful porch wreath? This is a classic summer craft idea, and it gives your home a touch of beauty and elegance. The best part about a summer wreath is the fact that it requires all hands on deck.

Source the right flowers to bring color to your home décor. This is where your family comes in handy. You also need some simple items from the dollar store to add some fun to the wreath and to personalize it. Whether you want a wire wreath, branch wreath, or any other type, you have all the time to prepare.

Milk Carton Birdhouse/Bird Feeders

If you have a nice garden, chances are you have beautiful guests from nature throughout the summer. Birds also love their summertime out. Why not create some fun activity from this? Birdhouses and bird feeders not only add some beauty to your garden but also attract more birds to your compounds.

You can create some fun activity out of DIY birdhouse or bird feeders using recycled milk cartons. Bring everyone outside for some fun. Design how to build the birdhouses and feeders. Your kids will love the idea and you’ll add some color to your lawn. This DIY project might not be permanent but it sure is fun.

Decorate With Your Kids’ Art

You have to agree that summer brings out the artist in everyone. The kids especially have a go at creating amazing stuff every time they go out. Whether you’re at the beach or in the park, kids are always making stuff.

From seashell crab magnets, ice cream cone key chains, shell people to crayon drawings, you can collect all these pieces and use them to bring your living space to life. Think of a board on the wall where each piece goes. It soon becomes a competition where the best piece of art competes for space on that all-important board. This is one of the fantastic decorative ideas for your home.

The opportunities for summer décor craft projects are limitless. You’ll have so much fun and bring the family together while at it. Whatever idea you have in mind, you can always make it work if you bring all hands on deck. To move from crafts to interior design, visit Home of Cozy for furniture reviews and get started! Go on and add some simple family fun to your summer.

12+ Fall Mason Jar Crafts

Mason Jars are fantastic for storage, but did you know they are also a favorite supply for crafters? 

This collection of 12+ Fall Mason Jar Crafts has fabulous ideas. I have a feeling you are going to love these ideas for how to use mason jars in your fall crafting sessions.

From lovely luminaries to mason jars that look like Indian corn, this collection has ideas for everyone. I can't wait to hear which is your favorite. 

Fall Leaf Mason Jar Luminaries by Create Craft Love
Fall Pine Cone Mason Jars by Pillar Box Blue
Fall Mason Jars by Crafts by Amanda
Hanging Fall Mason Jars by Live Laugh Rowe
Fall Leaf Mason Jar Candle Holders by Creative Homemaking
Fall Mason Jar Centerpiece by DIY Beautify
Plaid Painted Mason Jars by Daily DIY Life
Mason Jar Centerpiece with Burlap Rosettes by Oh My Creative
Fall Themed Mason Jars by My Turn For Us
Glittery Pumpkin Mason Jars by The Best Ideas for Kids
Scarecrow Mason Jars by Easy Peasy Fun
Fall Harvest Corn Mason Jar by Thrifty Jinxy

You can find more mason jar ideas here.

Some of our favorite fall crafts include:

Apple Tree Window Clings

Easy Ombre Pumpkins

Apple Desserts to Fall For

Queen of Hearts Bookmark

These easy no sew queen of hearts bookmarks are perfect for making and sharing! Give a few as a gift, or keep a few near your bookcase.

Summer is here and I am loving the lazy mornings by the pool. As soon as the kids get up they are want to jump in and spend the day there. We often joke they are going to grow fins if they don't come out and dry off for a little while. I don't mind sitting pool side, observing the kids and reading a book.  So, in the warm months, book marks are essential to my life.

I wanted to make something a little bit fancier than a paper bookmark so I checked out my craft supplies and decided to make a few of these. They were so easy and required no sewing, but are substantial enough to not fly away on a windy day.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I will earn an advertisers fee.

Supplies:

Wide Ribbon

Hot Glue Gun

Jump ring and clasp

Charm

Directions:

Cut a section of ribbon that is twice as long as the average book.

Fold the ribbon in half and liberally add hot glue.

Fold the ribbon over on to the hot glue and press.
At the end of the ribbon, insert a necklace clasp so that it just  barely hangs out of the ribbon.

Secure with hot glue.

Attach a jump ring to the clasp.
Attach the charm to the jump ring.
Secure with hot glue.

These are great for stashing around the house, where ever you like to relax and read.

These no sew bookmarks are also awesome to share. My husband is a school librarian and we love to make bookmarks to share with the kids, so I have a stockpile started for the day our kids can return to school and enjoy a visit to the school library.

You can find more craft ideas here

Reader favorites include:

Mermaid Tails

Paper Pizza Craft for Kids

FREE Unicorn Coloring Page for Adults

I made a pretty to share with you! This patterned unicorn coloring page is perfect for teens and adults!

Print one or a hundred, but please, only use them for personal use. Don't sell them please!

My daughter Harp loves to color. She often grabs our dual coloring book and asks me to work on a page with her. She had a unicorn themed birthday party so we made these to share with the grown ups who patiently waited during all of the fun. 

I decided to share a little whimsical fun with you too. Harp and I have a stack of these leftover, and we like to pull them out here and there. We have quite a few coloring pages on site here. Make sure you check them out and print some for preschoolers or elementary aged kids. 

                                                Print this FREE Unicorn Coloring Page for Adults 


I don't have many printables for adults yet, but I have tons of abc themed worksheets and coloring pages to print. Find some of them here

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Check out these unicorn fine motor bins!

4 Ways To Get Your Crafting Business Taken Seriously

Crafting is more than just a fun, therapeutic and rewarding pastime. It can also be a highly lucrative
business that can either become a profitable side hustle or even liberate you from your day job. Selling
your own handmade crafts harkens back to a simpler time when people made an honest living from
their hands. And in this increasingly tech-savvy and fast paced world, there’s a great deal of appeal in
that both for skilled crafters and the people who buy their wares. 

Image by Pixabay via Pexels

But building a business of your own from scratch can be extremely challenging… especially if you’re
running it in your free time out of your spare room / studio. It’s very common to suffer from impostor
syndrome and feel that everything you do marks you out as an amateur. You know that you need to
adopt the mindset of a business person… but you’re not quite sure how. 

Get to know your audience

Before you know how to sell in the kinds of volumes that are meaningful to you, you need to get to know
your audience. What do they want? What do they expect? How do they want to feel? And how can your
products fill that gap for them? Are they looking for something beautiful to display in their home?
Something practical that will stand the test of time? Or something cute, fun and novel? 

The great thing about crafts is the sense of community it provides. So the best place to start marketing
is in your own online community where people know you, respect your talent and see the value in your
work. From your interactions online can help you get a fairly strong idea of what kind of people buy the

things you make. 

Start building a brand

Building a brand is a bigger challenge than you may think. It’s not simply a case of finding a graphic
designer and creating a logo. It’s about establishing a set of standards and qualities that you want your
branding to stand for, and that your customers can rely on. And that takes time and thought. As Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos once said “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”. 

Invest in a business presence

Whatever your branding, you likely want to be perceived as the kind of small, independent homespun business that cares about its customers. But that said, you also want to be taken seriously as a professional. And that means establishing a professional presence. Your own business mailbox and virtual business location service can help with this, as well as ensuring that you don’t need to give your home address to customers. It’s one of those small but important touches that will establish you as a professional. Furthermore, establishing yourself online is the newest and most effective way to ensure your business comes across professionally and capable of providing a good service to its customers. When starting out as a small business it can be expensive however to hire someone to build a site for you, utilising great free online tools such as Wordpress can be the perfect alternative to get a webpage up to discuss your business and engage customers. There are lots of great free resources out there to get started on doing this yourself, one notable example being the createwpsite YouTube channel, which can assist in putting your site together.

Establish yourself online with content marketing

Finally, content marketing is a great way to establish the quality of your products as well as the
experience and insights of the person who makes them. When people invest in their products, they
invest in you, as well. Creating blog posts, vlogs, “how to” tutorials and other forms of content online
not only helps to establish you as an expert, they also increase customer’s personal investment in you. 

Glow in the Dark Galaxy Slime

My kids have been begging to make slime for a while now. I finally caved and made a really pretty glow in the dark galaxy slime. This was easy and fun to make. My kids loved it in the daytime, and at night too!

We loved this slime because it can technically be made with stuff you already have. I happened to have glow in the dark powder at home, so I added it. Use whatever glitter or confetti you have to make this easy slime. 

I am including affiliate links below. If you make a purchase it helps to my site up and running via commission paid via advertisers.

Supplies:

1 cup of cornstarch

Blue glow in the dark powder

3/4 cup of water

Extra fine black glitter

Small silver star confetti

A craft stick

Directions:

Mix the glow in the dark powder with the cornstarch.

Slowly add the water to the blue cornstarch.

Add a generous amount of extra fine black glitter and silver star confetti.

Begin to mix the slime with the craft stick.

As it begins to clump together begin kneading by hand.

Your slime is ready when it is dry to touch but squishy!

If your slime is too runny add a pinch more cornstarch.

This will glow in the dark if left to 'charge' in the sun. You can also use a black light to really bring out the glow in the dark properties.

You can find all of my kid crafts here.
Reader favorites include:
Green Button Trees

Straw Necklaces

January DIY Inspo for You and Your Kids

Image credit - Pixabay

January is notorious for its terrible weather. And it isn’t just getting frustrating for the kids who are stuck
inside. For many of us, the daylight hours are short, and it can feel like we’re stuck in perpetual night
time. Below, you’ll find some home DIY ideas to keep both you and the kids occupied while we wait for
spring to come.

While you might be cutting back in January after Christmas and watching the pennies, there’s no reason
not to use January as the opportunity to get some small things done around the house that generally get
put off the rest of the year. Take advantage of staying in and focus on the little things that will make a big
difference.

Framing – So often we are given or pick up beautiful prints and think to ourselves about how beautiful
they will look when framed. And then they sit in our homes for months and months, gathering dust until
we get round to it. Which is sometimes never. When you’re stuck inside for days, it might be the
opportune moment to get out those prints and devote some time to measuring and ordering frames for
them. With a hobby lobby coupon, you won’t even feel the pinch and will soon have new pictures
breathing fresh energy into your home.

Table and chair legs – These get the brunt of household knocks and kicks and can often become
scuffed. There are some easy ways to get rid of surface scratches though – and it’s something you can
enlist the kids’ help with too. Whether it’s getting a small pot of paint to touch up table legs, or using other
great crafting solutions, you’ll soon have furniture that looks good as new.

Soft-furnishing repairs – Again, often so small that they would be overlooked by anyone else, but we all
want our homes to be in tiptop condition and, if you take pride in carefully selecting pieces for your
interior, then it makes sense you want to keep everything well. Accidents do happen though and so
make a day of collecting all the little things that need mending. It might be a cushion cover, a throw or a
pillowcase. Teaching your kids how to mend things like this are great skills to pass on to them and will
serve them well for the rest of their lives. For younger children, how about giving them a sampler, or
even some embroidery thread and cardboard with a thick needle to practice on?

De-clutter – Having a sift through your things at the beginning of the year can make you and your
family feel refreshed and prepared to get stuck into the new year. Start by tackling small areas – you can
even make a de-clutter calendar for a different part of your home to do each week. Talk to your kids
about the importance of passing things on and getting organized. You can even take them with you to
charity stores to donate their old toys and clothes.

With so much to mend and do, January doesn’t have to be boring. Get your kids involved in helping
around the house and you’ll be set for 2020 in no time.

6 Sweet Santa Crafts

He's making a list and checking it twice, and the kids are losing their minds with the excitement of Santa's upcoming visit. To build on the fun of the Christmas festivities, I have found 6 Sweet Santa Crafts for my kids and I can't wait to share these ideas with you!

These are easy and adorable ways to bring the fun of Santa into your craft time this holiday season!
We are a family that loves to create. I am always looking for easy and fun ideas for the kids.


Santa's Sleigh Fingerprint Craft

Santa Handprint Ornaments

Santa Gift Tags

Paper Santa

Mason Jar Santa

Santa's Face Ornaments


Which of these Santa crafts is your favorite? I think they are all as cute as can be, but I am crazy for the Santa Face ornaments! My kid would love to make any of these fun projects.

Find more Christmas Content Here

6 Christmas Tree Inspired Snacks

Silhouette Made Christmas Snacks to Gift

10+ Christmas Tree Ornaments to Make

I have been making a ton of ornaments this year. The kids think it is a lot of fun to get out the glue and the glitter and get creative! Well, let's be honest, I do too! My oldest has been making lots of cute things at school to bring home and share too!

To keep up with the fun of creating at Christmas, I have 10+ ideas to share with you from some of my favorite bloggers! All 10+ of these are easy and adorable! I hope you get a chance to try them, or any of the ornaments I have made live on the Quirky Momma facebook page.

Favorite craft ideas

Felted Wool Christmas Trees

Sparkly Sequin Ornaments

Essential Oil Diffuser Ornaments

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Stacked Christmas Tree Ornaments

Craft Stick Trees

Pipe Cleaner Beaded Trees

Glitter Clay Trees

Easy Accordion Trees

Noodle Popsicle Stick Trees

Easy Button Tree Ornaments

Live Video Projects

Etched Glass Jars
Candy Cane Wreaths
Popsicle Stick Ornaments
Christmas Houses
Toilet Roll Snowflakes
Washi Tape Cards
Toddler Christmas Tree Crafts
Tree Ornaments

If you have an idea for a Christmas ornament, I hope you will share it in a comment!

Nail Polish Ornaments

Nail Polish Painted Ornaments are a great way for tweens and teens to craft up something pretty for the Christmas tree! These are easy and economical with supplies from the dollar tree for a fun decoration to share this holiday season.

I have a tendency to hoard nail polish. I can't buy just one color. I am compelled to buy them all. As I was browsing my collection, I realized I could be doing so many things with my nail polish, and I wanted to try using it for decorations!

I picked 2 pretty shades, specifically one with confetti, and grabbed a 2 pack of ornaments from the dollar store.

First, I carefully removed the top.

Then I poured in a touch of each nail polish.

The first attempt at this craft, taught me an important lesson.

You must allow this to dry before replacing the cap, or the nail polish will remain liquid.

To dry the polish, I recommend blow drying on the cool setting for about 2 minutes, but be careful to not place the dryer right up against the ornament!

This is such a great and easy craft. The ornaments turned out lovely and were so much fun to share! We made red and blue ones!

You can find all of our ornament craft ideas here

You might also want to check out these Christmas tree inspired snacks.