diy – kerricreates

Natural Christmas Centerpiece DIY

Published on December 13, 2023December 31, 2023 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

Wondering what to do with those leftover faux florals from Fall? How about using them to make these elegant natural Christmas centerpieces? You can’t go wrong with this easy DIY, whether you are making one to add to your own decor or several to put on each table for a holiday party. They would also make stunning centerpieces for a Christmas wedding.

Here’s what you will need:

wood rounds (about 4 inches each)

clear plastic ornaments

rubbing alcohol

white acrylic paint

1.5 inch gold ornaments

mini wooden Christmas trees

#commissionsearned

Start your project by pouring white acrylic paint into your clear plastic ornaments. Tip: Before adding the white paint, swish a bit of rubbing alcohol inside of each ornament and then pour out the excess. Let it dry before adding the white paint. This will help the paint adhere to the plastic. Believe me when I say that this step is important! I ruined several ornaments by skipping this step, and ended up with a blotchy paint job.

Once the alcohol has dried, pour a bit of paint into each ornament. Swirl is around so that the entire inside of the ornament is coated with white paint, then turn each ornament upside down to drain the excess paint out. I left my ornaments like this overnight, and then turned them right side up for another 24 hours to make sure that the paint was fully dry before moving onto the next step.

Once the paint is dry, cut a piece of twine to loop around the top of the ornaments. I added a dab of hot glue to the back to keep the twine in place and then tied each in a double knot. Trim the twine to your preferred length.

Use floral tape to secure the stems of the faux florals together to form a small bouquet. Make sure to wrap the stems tightly and to keep it small enough to fit inside the top hole of the ornament. Leave out 3 small pieces to place inside of the tiny gold ornament.

Now you just need to use your hot glue gun to secure everything in place. I put a tiny dab of glue on the stem of the gold ball that I added to the gold ornament before I slid it into place to hold those florals in the right place as well.

I’ve included a short video tutorial so that you can see, step by step, how I created these gorgeous Christmas centerpieces.

Let me know if you decide to make some for your home or for your holiday gathering. You could even change the colors and florals to coordinate with any color scheme. And if you missed my last blogpost, you can see a peek of my Floral Embroidered Christmas Tree in the last picture on this post. You’ll find the instant download PDF pattern and printable instructions in my new Etsy Shop, thistles and rainbows.

Merry Christmas from Kerri Creates!

Easy DIY Thanksgiving Place Cards

Published on November 15, 2023 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

If you are searching for a simple, yet elegant way to personalize your Thanksgiving table, look no further. These beautiful DIY place cards are the perfect addition to your tablescape and you will not believe how easy they are to make.

Here’s what you will need:

Thanksgiving Place Card PDF

Fall florals (I found mine on clearance at Walmart)

glue gun and glue sticks

#commissionsearned

I’ve included a video tutorial to show you how to create these little beauties, and my instant download Thanksgiving place card PDF makes it easy for you to put together as many as you need so that each of your guests has a personalized place setting.

I’ve also included another simple place card idea that requires very little prep for those of you who just want to add name cards to your Thanksgiving table without any crafting.

How cute are these mini wooden easels!?! For this look, you will just need to order a set of easels and print off my Thanksgiving PDF. The rectangular cards are included in the same link as the circular ones, so you will get both options in the same download. Simply print as many as you’ll need, cut on the dashed line, write the names of your guests in the center, and place each card on an easel. #commissionsearned

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the feasting and the fun with those you love!

Easy Fall Wreath

Published on October 21, 2023 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

I love Fall!!! The crisp cool mornings and the beauty of leaves changing to vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange. The changing of seasons is always a great time to incorporate some seasonal touches into my home. I am not much of a wreath person, but last year, I wanted to add something with an Autumn vibe to my front door, and this simple floral hanging added just the right touch I was looking for.

I already had a large wooden embroidery hoop and a ball of twine, so I just needed to purchase a few faux florals. I found these at my local Walmart, but you can order some similar yellow flowers here and orange berries here. #commissionsearned

I started by tying the twine to one side of the hoop, just above the center. I wanted to be able to reuse the embroidery hoop for something else, so I did not use glue to hold my twine to the hoop. If this was going to be permanent, I would have put a dot of hot glue on the hoop to secure the twine in place.

Wrap the twine as many times as you would like to get the desired thickness you are going for. I tied my twine off in the back where it wasn’t visible and then added some scotch tape on the back of the sides to secure the twine to keep it from slipping down the hoop.

Use scissors or a wire cutter to trim the length of your florals so that they are hovering above the inside of the hoop. The pieces closer to the sides will be shorter than the pieces in the middle.

Weave the stems of the florals back and forth a couple of times through the twine. I secured each stem with a piece of scotch tape on the back to keep it in place. I spaced my florals apart and put them at various heights to give dimension. You can group yours closer together or overlap some depending on what looks beautiful to you.

The last step is to add a piece of twine to the top so that you can hang your Fall wreath. I just looped mine on the screw at the top of the embroidery hoop.

I got so many compliments on this simple little wreath and it made me happy to see the vibrant colors every time I looked at my front door.

Tooth Fairy Bags

Published on October 1, 2023February 25, 2024 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

Etsy Shop

Sometimes, I miss the days when my kids were little and life seemed a bit more simple. Everyone was tucked in by 8:00 and the house was quiet for several hours before my bedtime. But other times, I am so grateful for this season of life with older kids. There are joys to be found in all of the stages of parenting.

One of the milestones that we just said goodbye to is the season of lost teeth. Sometime this past year, my youngest lost her last tooth. Bittersweet for sure! I remember when my middle son lost his first tooth. He swallowed it while eating a pretzel and he was so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn’t show up. We reassured him that she absolutely would come and he wrote her a note explaining what happened to his very first missing tooth. Another time, the tooth fairy accidentally forgot… but wouldn’t you know that after searching around my son’s room we discovered that she actually did come, the money just “fell behind his bed.” A little parenting hack for those of you who may need to put this nugget in your back pocket just in case.

Even though my kids have outgrown the tooth fairy, I have several friends who have littles. I thought it would be fun to make them tooth fairy bags with some adorable SVGs that I found on Cricut Design Space. I have had my Cricut Maker 3 for over a year now, and if I am being honest, I feel like I am just now getting the hang of it. I was pretty intimidated at first, but now I feel confident that I can make a variety of projects that turn out AMAZING. These little tooth fairy bags are just one example.

Cricut Design Space has thousands of incredible SVGs to choose from, so it was hard to narrow it down to just a handful. I purchased a set of little canvas drawstring bags from Amazon and a bundle of HTVRONT vinyl with a variety of colors. I also invested in a mini heat press to make it easy to heat the vinyl. It took a few tries to get the sizing just right, and I added ovals behind the designs to give each bag a pop of color so that the white tooth really stands out. #commissionsearned

When you think about it, putting a bloody old tooth inside of a bag is kind of gross, so I ordered a set of tiny plastic containers and used permanent vinyl to make a little tooth sticker for the lid. This way, the kids can put their lost tooth in the container, and put the container in the bag.

I also created a little tooth chart so that kids can color in the tooth they lost and write the date. By the time they are done losing teeth, they will have a record of how old they were when they lost each tooth.

I’m getting ready to package these little kits up and send them off to my friend’s kiddos. I think they are going to love them!!! #commissionsearned

If you would like to use this tooth chart for your own child you can find the printable PDF on my Etsy shop thistlesandrainbows.etsy.com and the full Tooth Fairy Kits are also now available for purchase in my shop.

DIY Valentine Wooden Hearts Craft

Published on February 7, 2022January 31, 2024 by kerricreatesblog1 Comment

Valentine’s Day is just a week away and I have slowly been adding a few pops of pink and red to my mantel. I decided that I was lacking something tall to balance out all of the little nicknacks I picked up here and there. After looking at several different stores, I realized I wasn’t finding what I wanted. I already had planned to purchase some wooden X’s and O’s to paint pink and red, but inspiration struck when I saw a bag of little wooden hearts. I knew that I had an old frame somewhere in the garage that would be perfect for my project, so I went home ready for a fun Friday night of crafting…and the best part is that I only spent $4.50. #CommissionsEarned

I pulled out some pink, red, and white acrylic paints, sanded down the frame, mixed up several different shades of pink, cut a piece of white poster board as the backing, and went to work on this super simple, but adorable wooden hearts craft. The only glitch was that I should have sanded the frame a bit more, because it took about 15 coats of paint to cover the old ugly brown stain. Other than that small annoyance, the project was actually quite simple and I am thrilled with how it turned out. It’s the perfect addition to complete my Valentine collection on our mantel, and I plan to use it for years to come.

This is a little trick I used to keep all of the hearts lined up straight, and the clear tacky glue worked perfectly for securing the little wooden hearts to the poster board. #ComissionsEarned

My daughter said that she wanted to pop them off and eat them because they look like Brach’s Conversation Hearts.

For more Valentine fun check out the following blogposts:

Valentine Felt Heart “LOVE BOMBS”

Valentine Marshmallow Pops

Valentine Paper Garlands

Valentine Craft: Cookie Cutters & Paint

Valentine Words of Affirmation for Kids

DIY Rustic Christmas Tree Banner

Published on December 11, 2021 by kerricreatesblog2 Comments

Each year, I try to incorporate some type of Christmas craft into our Advent activities. When my kids were younger, we would often take nature walks and collect all sorts of natural treasures. My kids are older now, and nature walks are a distant memory, but this remains one of my favorite DIY Christmas crafts that we made together.

This simple and inexpensive Christmas Tree Banner will add a rustic touch to your holiday decor and kids will have so much fun collecting sticks and twigs to use for their creations. You will need to pre-cut white or off white card stock in rectangles or pendants and purchase some wooden stars, gold paint, twine, and glue. Before your nature walk, take a few minutes to paint your wooden stars with the gold paint. #CommissionsEarned

Bundle up, grab a bag, and go on a stick hunt. Look for sticks in a variety of lengths, but try to find ones in a similar width around. Once you get home, hand each child a piece of the pre-cut banner and let them sort through the sticks, breaking pieces off to for their Christmas Tree, and working their way from bottom to top, while leaving a bit of room for a star.

Glue the sticks in place, including a vertical twig for the trunk and add one of your gold stars to the top of each twig tree. Once all of your banner pieces have dried and you have hole punched the top, thread your twine through and find the perfect place to hang your rustic Christmas Tree Banner.

For more fun Christmas ideas check out the following blogposts:

Advent

The Polar Express & Graham Cracker Trains

Turn Dad into A Snowman

Glittery Christmas Silhouettes

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

DIY Board & Batten Feature Wall

Published on November 2, 2021November 2, 2021 by kerricreatesblog2 Comments

It was always my plan to update our front room when we moved into our home 6 years ago, but life is busy and something else always took priority. I finally decided to go with something bold and paint the room navy blue, knowing that the color would really pop against the white shutters and white built-ins. I chose Naval by Valspar in an eggshell finish and the color is exactly what I pictured. My sweet girl offered to help me paint the room, so we tackled it together.

Around that same time we were binge watching the show “Making It” and I saw a quick clip of a board and batten feature wall that was done by one of the contestants on the show. I told my husband that we had to create a similar wall in our front room and thankfully he was on board. I am the visionary in the family for these types of projects, but oftentimes, he is the one to carry out the little details to make it happen. I drew a sketch of what I wanted the wall to look like with rough measurements, and then we took a trip to Lowes to see what we could find to make it happen. I’ll include my sketch so that you can use it as a template to create your own. The middle fold is where the wall meets because my boards cover two walls.

Our unfinished boards measure 1 1/2″ x 3/4″ and were 8 ft long, but you can go with a different size depending on the design you choose. I did have to go back at one point for a couple more boards, so I think we ended up using about 15 total. Because the room was already painted navy, my next step was to add a coat of paint to all of the unfinished boards.

While we waited for the paint to dry, we grabbed our level, a ruler, and a roll of painters tape to map out the placement of the boards along the wall. #CommissionsEarned

The measuring and cutting was definitely the trickiest part. This is where my husband came in with his mathematical mind and precision to detail. He used his compound miter saw for all of the cuts. As you can see from the photo, my rough sketch on paper made it easier to bring my vision to life with the painters tape. My husband used a nail gun to attach the boards to the wall. We started off with the outline along the sides and top, then moved on to the longest ones in the center and went out from there, measuring and cutting each board along the way. #CommissionsEarned

Once all of the boards were up, I added another two coats of paint to make sure all of the nail holes were covered up and to give this “feature wall” a finished look. Our DIY board & batten wall was a worthwhile weekend project that ended up costing us under $75 and it has added so much warmth and texture to our front room.

Because navy is such a dark color, I wanted to make sure to add plenty of contrast, so I created a large gallery wall of photos of our family on the other side of the room and I updated the decor on our built-ins. You can find similar matts and frames on Amazon, and Shutterfly is a great place for oversized black and white prints. I love that this is the first glimpse people get when they enter our home and I am thrilled with the way our Christmas decorations look in here as well. This room has definitely become my favorite in our entire house. #CommissionsEarned

For another fun and easy DIY project check out one of my recent blogposts : Oversized Scripture Scroll: Ephesians 3

DIY Lemonade Stand

Published on July 20, 2018February 10, 2022 by kerricreatesblog4 Comments

My daughter has been asking to have a lemonade stand since last summer, so it was a must on our 2018 Summer Bucket List. I saw some cute DIY ideas using wooden crates and thought that we would give it a go. I found the best deal for wooden crates at our local Michael’s Store. My husband had a 36″ x 10″ board cut at The Home Depot. I purchased two different sizes of nails, 1-1/4 inches for the thicker parts and 3/4 inches for the thinner wood slats, and went to work. You can watch my video tutorial for more details on the building process. #CommissionsEarned

Hobby Lobby recently had a huge clearance on their summer stock, so I was able to get two giant yellow pinwheels for just $4 each. They made the cutest sides to hang a LEMONADE banner on. I used my Cricut Expression 2 to cut out the letters for the banner and hung it with twine. A few material scraps cut into triangles made for a mini pennant banner to hang along one of the crates. I created an “Ice Cold Lemonade” sign, a price list for some treats that we made, and lemon cupcake toppers that you can print off here Lemonade Stand Printables PDF

My daughter loves to dance, and every summer her dance studio holds a week long dance camp. We decided that selling lemonade & treats would be a great way for her to earn the $125 tuition for camp. On a Friday evening, we made a batch of cupcakes and marshmallow pops. I have included the lemon template I used for the candy melt lemons. Lemon Template pdf (See some of my marshmallow pop videos for instructions on how to create themed mallow pops)

On Saturday and Sunday, my girl held lemonade stands in our driveway, and not only did she have the best time selling lemonade and sweet treats, she earned $129 in two mornings thanks to the generosity and support of our amazing friends and neighbors. I will never forget the joy on her face when she walked into the dance studio on that Monday morning and paid her entire tuition in full with money she had earned herself. Lemonade stand success!!!

I am so pleased with the way our DIY Lemonade Stand turned out, and have been thinking of other uses for it. Of course she can always use it for imaginary play, but I’m sure we will also use it for birthday parties in the future, bake sales, donuts and juice during our garage sale, and of course, many many more lemonade stands.

DIY Magnetic Marble Track

Published on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

At the beginning of this summer, we spent a day at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA. If you’ve never been there, it is such a fun experience with tons of hands on exhibits. One of my daughter’s favorites was a wall with plastic magnetic tubes to create a “marble track” and little balls to test it out on. She spent quite awhile rearranging the tubes to make different tracks and trying them out. As I watched her, I started thinking about how I could make something similar at home, and this idea was born.

I began saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls and waiting for just the right time to create our DIY Magnetic Marble Track. This Saturday was the perfect day! My oldest was away at camp with his youth group and my two younger kids were having a pajama day. My husband was taking a nap and the kids were getting “bored,” so together we created this super fun “boredom buster!”

Check out my daughter’s “Craft Time With Karis” video tutorial (above) to learn how to make these with your own kids. It took some trial and error, but we figured out the best way to keep the tracks up and the best balls to use. Here are a couple of tips:

make sure your magnets are strong enough…we tried some at first that would not hold
use light weight balls: we found my son’s Nerf Rival Bullet Balls to be the perfect balls for this project. Small bouncy balls were a close second. Marbles were too heavy and knocked the tracks right off. Experimenting with different options is part of the fun!
even though we used magnets that were sticky on one side, it is best to hot glue them as well for a stronger hold

For more “Craft Time With Karis” videos click on the following:

DIY Kids Magnetic Puzzles

Colored (RAINBOW) Rice

Tricky Hopscotch (with a twist)

Valentine Craft: Cookie Cutters & Paint

DIY Kids Magnetic Puzzles

Published on April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by kerricreatesblog1 Comment

Coloring pages, painting, and puzzles…three things my girl loves, all combined into one project. This is a super simple craft that your kids can do at home and you only need a couple of items, most of which you probably already have.

To make DIY Magnetic Puzzles, you will need:

adhesive magnetic tape
white card stock
paint, crayons, or markers
scissors or a paper cutter

Your child can print a coloring page from the computer or create their own art. The possibilities for unique puzzles are endless! This activity can be modified for very young children by cutting fewer puzzle pieces, and can be made challenging for older children by cutting a variety of shapes.

Watch my daughter’s “Craft Time With Karis” tutorial (above) to learn how to make some DIY Magnetic Puzzles of your own.