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Archive for free art + printables – Page 8

make . Hop Along Theater Finger Puppets [printable]

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As promised yesterday, this morning I’m sharing a printable download for Easter finger puppets to go with our mini banners — the acting company in our “Hop Along” Theater! This made for a fun Sunday afternoon with Baby Girl coloring and making the puppets. When we finished, I was told, “I have some good ideas,” for the photos, so today’s post is very sweetly styled by Maggie! I think she did a wonderful job setting a spring scene, and it’s clear she already has that “creative director” tendency. What a joy to see her little ideas blossom! We’re having a pretty fun Easter season blogging together 🙂

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These are pretty easy to make! Just cut along the yellow lines for the base and cut around the figures at whatever level of detail you like. Once they are colored, you can wrap around a test finger and tape — Presto, theater company!

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make . Easter Mini Banners [printable]

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Baby Girl and I have been working on a few crafty projects for Easter, and today I’m sharing a printable for a cute little mini banner we made. It’s actually part one of an idea I had as I was thinking through spring post ideas. I’ve always loved making things with paper, especially things to play with! The children love to make little paper cut-out puppets using popsicle sticks to create dramas for their puppet shows. So, my thought was to create a little “Hop Along” theater marquee to use along with some Easter-themed finger puppets. I’ll share the finger puppets tomorrow as a printable too, but for now, I’ve included some photos and tips to make the banner below. It can really be hung in any way, but I used some pencils to make our “theater” columns. In the printable download (shown below), I’ve included banner flags for “Hop Along” as well as “He Is Risen,” which would make a neat reminder of the reason for our Easter celebrations on your tabletop of mantle. Enjoy! And stay tuned tomorrow for photos and download for the finger puppets — styling by the one and only, Baby Girl!

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Tips for making the mini banner:

  1. We printed ours on card stock weight paper so it has a little weight and doesn’t wrinkle when glued.
  2. You can hold a metal ruler or straight edge in place in the white gap at the middle of each diamond, and fold against it to crease the row of flags evenly.
  3. Fold each row first, and then cut out each flag. That way, you don’t have to worry about matching up the angles — and the flags don’t have to be exact. [This also gives you kind of a neat diamond harlequin stencil — bonus!]
  4. Keep your glue away from the crease in each diamond when you’re adding them to the string. That way, you’ll be able to slide the flags along the string when you’re finished to adjust the spacing of the words. You may want to go ahead and slide the flags a minute or so after you glue to be sure no glue dries on the string.
  5. We used short sequin pins with balls to top our banner pencil “poles”. They stick securely into the eraser, but leave enough space to wrap your strings to hold up the banner. They’re also kind of festive!
  6. We put our pencil poles in tiny clay pots with straw to scotch, but small potted plants would be cute or even cupcakes for a party table!

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make . Teacher Treat Topper [printable]

Well, we procrastinated, and now Teacher Appreciation Week in the Starkville School District is almost over! My kiddos have six wonderful teachers this year who have given them love and patience and interesting activities and great learning opportunities and so much more. Each year, I’m so grateful for the positive environment my children experience each day in their classrooms. I just don’t say it enough.

Tonight was our first night with no activities this week, and I had the fixings for some teacher happies for the children to take tomorrow. We just needed a fun way to package them up. I found a “thank you” watercolor sketch I painted back in December and decided to use it for a quick topper for some treat bags to hold our goodies. Baby Girl (my continual partner in creative crime) helped put everything together, and now we’re set! If you’re in need of some quick Teacher packaging, feel free to download ours! Just print, cut, fold in half and attach to the top of your bag.

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make . Easter Egg Holders [printable]

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I’ve been getting into cute bunny mode this week since the kids helped me get down the box of our Easter decorations this weekend. I decided to use a couple of the bunnies from this year’s Easter gift tags (plus a few new watercolor illustrations) to create these printable egg holders. Baby Girl and I had a fun time making the samples! Just click the image below to download the printable. Print the designs onto cardstock, and cut along the dotted lines and around the illustrations. Then, cut the slits shown and thread together to create rings. These would probably be cute napkin rings for a little tea party as well! Enjoy!

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October! My Favorite Month is Here! [printable calendar]

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October is here! It’s my favorite month of the year — probably because it hosts my birthday along with all the other fun Fall traditions we love to enjoy! Around the first of October each year, we traipse up the attic ladder to retrieve the boxes of fall decorations. They are filled with various pumpkin-themed artwork from my kids, vintage Halloween happies and jack-o-lanterns from when I was young and things we’ve bought along the way. We don’t go in for spooky around here, but we all look forward to filling our house with ways to celebrate the changing season. We’re saving the front porch scarecrows for this weekend, but I thought I would share a few glimpses of our October happiness. Plus, I’m excited to share a little scarecrow smile in this month’s printable calendar. Download it here or click the image below, and print yours! As usual, it includes a little painted sentiment at the bottom to share when the month is done. Happy Fall, Y’all!

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