plastic happiness

When your kids are kids, it only takes a little creativity and (sometimes a lot of) patience to keep them entertained. Enter plastic beads. Did you know you can melt them in the oven inside of metal cookie cutters? Just make sure to line the pan with foil first. 10 minutes at 450 degrees and poke a hole in the top as soon as they come out of the oven so you can hang them. Cheap and easy.

Since it doesn't take long to dump beads in a cookie cutter and melt,

you may want to kick it totally old school and buy the pony beads with the plastic trays. We spent all night arranging pony beads in designs and then covering in wax paper and ironing until they melt. It's a classic cold weather,  easy activity. We looked up designs online and that made it more challenging (insert: impossible). 

My kitchen now smells like a plastic factory but the smell will wear out overnight with the help of a plug in air freshener. We had a steady rotation of cookie cutter sun catchers and pony bead magnets or keychains. 

The next craft will be learning how to sew scrunchies. My daughter has been begging. I can pull out my old leg warmers and a crop top for the occasion! Just kidding. Even my 8 year old would roll her eyes at that. The fact that 80's style crafts and accessories are back is pretty amazing and my little divalicious crafter is loving all of it. Who cares about midwest weather when every night can be craft night?!