Ask A Connecticut Expert: Easy Crafts To Do With Your Kids

Alexandra Wallace-Currie turned to knitting and other crafts to help cope with cancer and recover from chemotherapy. She is now "quite the expert" on all manner of crafts, and teaches others how to knit, sew, quilt and make all sorts of lovely arts and crafts. She does this through her boutique, A Little Square, in Fairfield. Although she sells clothes and accessories for children and infants, Wallace-Currie also teaches her crafting skills, especially to children. In her Pink Pom-Pom Project in particular, she puts together pink boxes filled with crafting supplies appropriate for use by children five to 13 years of age, and helps those children in the class make gifts to cheer up cancer victims, cancer survivors and their families. She also works with The Girl Scouts of Connecticut, The Shehan Center for underprivileged children and other organizations to teach teens not only how to make crafts, but also how to prepare them to help teach other children to make crafts, or to start their own crafting businesses. Wallace-Currie knows crafts, and here are just five of her favorite easy crafts to do with kids.

Alexandra Wallace-Currie
A Little Square Boutique
1981 Post Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203)-955-1099
www.alittlesquare.com

'I Smell So Sweet' Perfumed Sachets

Supplies (most supplies may be purchased at www.alittlesquare.com):

• Sewing needle and thread
• scissors
• 6″ salad plate
• pen
• 1/2 cup dried rice
• perfume of choice
• 14″ of your favorite ribbon and printed/solid fabric (can be an old shirt or sheet too)

Instructions:

1. Put your salad plate face down on the fabric and trace the circle, then cut it out. 
2. Thread the sewing needle, pull the end of the thread to equal parts so the needle is in the middle of the thread and tie a double knot (2 knots in the same place).
3. Start sewing inside of the circle, keeping the stitches inside, following the edge approximately 1/2″ down. Sew until your needle meets the starting point. 
4. Take your threaded needle and pull, slightly cinching the circle into a 'bag' or sachet.
5. Turn your sachet inside out IF the color part of the fabric is inside.
6. Fill your sachet up with dried rice and spritz on your perfume.
7. Now, pull the sachet closed and sew ends to ends making sure there are no holes for rice to get out.
8. Tie ribbon around the middle and make a big bow, and you are finished with Perfumed Sachet. You can keep it on your bedside table or in your bed or even drawers.

'I Am Who I Am' Glitter Letter Canvases

Supplies (most supplies may be purchased at www.alittlesquare.com):

• one 6″ personal wooden initial for each child involved
• one 10″ finished canvas for each child
• glue gun
• glue sticks
• glitters of choice
• Tacky Glue
• pencils
• plastic spoons
• plastic bowls (one for each color of glitter)
• disposable newspapers, paper plates and wipes

Instructions:

Table preparation: place newspapers over table and on floor to catch as much glitter that falls as possible. Each child gets a paper plate too.

1. Start by tracing your letter onto the middle of the canvas.
2. Heat up a glue gun. Please be advised, children under the ages of 8 should not use a glue stick by themselves, always ask a grown up. Burns mostly occur after the glue comes out on to the surface.
3. When the glue stick is hot and ready, push out a good amount of glue on the back side of the ends of the letter. No need to do the whole letter. Remember, once glue comes out, it starts to get cold and harden, so the quicker you move the better.
4. Once glue is on back of letter, place the back side on the middle of the canvas, press down until firm and dry.
5. Where glue goes, glitter goes. Start painting glue on and sprinkle with glitter.
6. To keep the mess down, place glitter in your bowls and sprinkle over.
7. Once you have finished glittering and designing your letter, place it in a safe, dry place.
8. Hang it up in your room and admire you work!

Home-Made Pom-Poms, Medium Sized

(This craft is appropriate for ages 5 years+ and is fun not only for boys and girls but also for adults.)

Supplies:

• Piece of cardboard (preferably from a discarded box) measuring 2.5×4", for bigger pom-poms, measure bigger
• Yarn, color of choice
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. First, start by taking your piece of cardboard and cut out a small box measuring 1×1" in the middle with scissors.
2. Next, take your yarn, and with your thumb, hold down the yarn as you start to wrap it around the cardboard over the cut-out square. *Wrap approximately 70-85 times. Cut yarn off and allow extra string to drop at side of cardboard.
3. Then cut an extra 'belt,' a single strand of yarn about 10" long, to tie around the yarn over the square. Tie it as tightly as possible to ensure yarn does not escape.
4. Then pull yarn off of the cardboard.
5. Slowly cut loop ends on each side and watch your pom-pom come to life. (I usually recommend to kids to give their pom-poms a 'haircut' so they are equal and not lopsided.)
6. To add colors, simply add a color. Switch colors over and over.

*Make as many as you want, they are great for pillow ends, bookmarks and even hanging from shoes or book bags.

Color My Heart Crayola 

Supplies:

• 64-count box of Crayola Crayons
• 1 pencil
• 1 14×14″ (or even bigger) boxed canvas
• glue gun with glue sticks
• lots of old newspapers
• disposable latex gloves (optional)
• hairdryer

Instructions:

1. First, heat the *glue gun.
2. Then slightly sketch out a heart on your canvas. Do not press too hard as the pencil is very hard to erase off.
3. Then place your Crayola Crayons butt-end from the edge of the heart facing outwards (pointy end out).
4. Glue each crayon on with hot *glue gun.
5. Once the crayons are all set in place, turn on the blow dryer. This is where it can get messy, use your gloves if you choose.
6. Point the hairdryer towards the middle of the crayons, the heat will melt the wax, and blow the hot air towards the edge of the canvas.
7. Once finished, allow it to dry.
8. Hang it in a perfect place to admire.

*Hot glue gun must be used by an adult or supervised by an adult. Remember, most burns happen when the glue has been dispensed onto the project itself.