Would you help me come up with some Craft Ideas?? More information inside about who the crafts are for and what type of crafts.

Here are some sites I like with lots of projects:
Make Stuff
Best Free Stuff- Crafts
Craftster

oriental.com had a whole bunch of craft projects. They sell you all the pieces (very reasonably priced) and you put then together.

@Judi
It is fun to browse their catalog :>)

Just a note. I did look on craft sites and found a lot of children’s crafts. I am looking for things that people have done and has been successful or specific craft ideas vs. craft websites I have to sift through to find the appropriate crafts. I need help. Not a page to sift. But thank you for the pages…

I think this is simple enough even for those with slight mental or physical disabilities:
(Wasn’t Earth Day on April 22nd? I’m skipping straight to Mother’s Day.)

Silhouettes (for Mother’s Day).
MATERIALS NEEDED:
• projector
• paper (large enough to trace silhouette)
• pen/pencil (to trace silhouette)
• construction paper/felt/fabric/magazine cut outs/tissue paper/anything you feel like
• your imagination!

DIRECTIONS:
• self-explantory

OPTIONAL:
• materials to create frame
• or cheapie frames from thrift or dollar store
• materials to decorate/personalize said frames

(Optional frame project might be helpful to keep the quicker ones busy.)
PS It’s pretty awesome that you work with lower-income people in this capacity.

@Nimis Thanx for the craft idea!

Oh and Earth Day was in a bit ago but you know I thought it’d still be fun to do crafts for, haha.

A good craft for earth day would involve recycling things for use in the craft, yes? Try decoupage. Cut out images from old magazines and adhere to various objects with watered down white glue, then paint over the whole thing with more of the glue mixture. You could even use empty cans for this project, and turn them into pencil cups, etc.

@augustlan Good one :) I like that idea. It is something adults could get into but it isn’t complicated.

Have you considered making beads? If you have a toaster oven and filo (fimo?) clay, you can make beads fairly easily. All you need is the oven, the clay, some small wooden rods, thicker than a toothpick but not too thick, and something to bake them in. It’s a lot of fun and if any one so chooses, they can make jewelry afterward.

To add to @KatawaGrey idea, they can actually make their own clay from Flour, food coloring, and salt. take 4 cups flour,mix together with 1 cup salt, add food coloring and water until it looks like clay.

I also have some instructions for making re-usable shopping bags, using a lacing method, but this activity costs more.

Beads can be made from colored (magazine pictures)paper. Cover the paper with Elmer’s (or any white glue). Roll a piece of wax paper tightly (for the hole), cover the paper with Elmer’s (or any white)glue and roll it around the wax paper.

When it dries, pull the wax paper out and cut the beads to the size you want. Some instructions have you cutting the paper into bead size strips first, but this is harder to handle.

String on bead string or bead wire for saleable jewelry.

@KatawaGrey I would Love to do that. Thanx!

@YARNLADY Thanx! I am sure I will try that clay recipe at some point.

Also I would like to know, for myself, how you make the reusable shopping bags if you ever have the chance to let me know :)

Reuseable shopping bags can be made out of old t-shirts. Cut off the sleeves. The shoulders and neck are now the handles of your bag.

To close off the bottom, you can sew in and out, in and out lacing, all the way to the left, and back again to fill in the spots you missed, or simply overcast stitch around and around until done.

Or, turn wrong side out, stick a piece of duct tape to one inch of one side, fold tape in half over the other side to tape closed. I also use two more pieces to flatten out the bottom, but you dont have to.

Another alternative, cut slits from the bottom up about three inches, to make a fringe, then simply tie the front fringe to the back fringe.

You can also make a tie fringe by simply using a yarn and needle and sew four inch pieces side by side by side across the bottom and tie them. Or do the actual fringe/yarn thing and sew two loose ends through both layers, then sew them back through their own loop, pull tight.

I could probably do some drawings, or even a video, but it would take some planning.

@YARNLADY Awesome idea! I’m going to try it. I don’t know when but I am.

@RedPowerLady P.S. if they can’t get the hang of the beginnings and ends of sewing to anchor the ends, just have them lace all the way around the bottom and then pull the yarn tight and tie it, for a bunched up bottom. It still works fine.

Check out drachen.org for reasonably-priced kite kits and info on kite culture.

I just found this great idea for making starting pots for seeds.

Why don’t you make some dreamcatchers with them?

@augustlan I thought about it but i don’t want to promote cultural appropriation. It is one thing telling someone online I believe they will do the craft out of respect. It is another thing to know that the people I’m teaching to will likely do it purely for fun and because “it’s cool”. I really thought about it though.

@YARNLADY Too cute!

@RedPowerLady Ah. Makes sense.

Yarn Art – cut 2 pieces of wax paper the size of a placemat, take any size pieces of yarn, dip in homemade flour/water glue, make designs on one sheet of wax paper, if desired, glue sequins or glitter on the design, top with a second piece (like a sandwich, with the yarn in the middle, fold colored tape over edges.

Mother’s Day flower vase – remove the label and cut the top off water or soda bottle. Roll bottle in flour and water glue, then roll in sequins, glitter, colored paper confetti, etc. Place a foam square in the botton, and stick in inexpensive flowers from the Dollar Tree store, or make your own flowers from colored pipe cleaners.

I’ve done this craft with kids and adults – always a big hit since they make great gifts. Check your local hardware store for 4” stone bathroom tiles (they come in packs of 9). Use Stayz-on ink to stamp images on them and color them in with fabric markers. Add some cork or felt circles underneath and you have coasters that absorb like the soapstone ones you buy in stores.

Make cookies. Get a box of Quaker Oats quick oatmeal and use the recipe on the back but whiz the oats in a blender and use all white sugar instead of mixing white and brown. You can substitute anything in that recipe and get a great cookie. Use peanut butter instead of shortening, top with a grape gum drop and you have PB&J cookies. Add ginger and make gingerbread men. Use almond flavor and garnish with sliced almonds. Use rum flavor, top with a maraschino cherry, and roll in powdered sugar. A great way to occupy a bunch of kids for an afternoon is to mix lots of colored frosting and put each color in a baggie with a tiny cut on one corner. Show the kids how to twist the baggie and squeeze frosting out just like it’s a pen. Beat butter with an electric mixer and add powdered sugar until it looks like frosting, perhaps with a tsp of milk to thin it. Divide to desired portions and add food color a drop at a time.

Make gummy bears. Directions here: http://slightlyviral.com/with-4-ingredients-found-in-every-kitchen-he-makes-delicious-lego-gummy-candy-i-cannot-wait-to-try-this/

TIP: add citric acid to make sour gummy bears. Gummy bears are a lot cheaper than cookies, and people can chew them even without teeth.

Make sno-cones. You can get a sno-cone machine at amazon.com for as little as twenty bux. Make syrup by mixing two cups of sugar into one cup of boiling water. Stir until it is all dissolved, then remove from heat and add a packet of Kool-Aid.