Fall Leaves Craft for Decoration

This is a fun and easy craft that the kids can help with. It creates a cute fall decoration for your house as well. Give your child a bucket (I used a pumpkin Halloween bucket for my daughter) and take them on a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood for fall leaves. Let them pick up all the pretty leaves and talk about the different colors as they collect them. Once you get home go through the bucket and pick out the best leaves. Find an old book and place the leaves in between the pages. You can use wax paper if you are afraid the leaves will hurts the pages of the book. I used a large, heavy craft book but if you don't have a heavy book you can place a heavy object on top of the book to apply pressure. Once you have your leaves in the book set it aside for a few days (I did 6 days, only because I forgot about it). Then find an old picture frame or buy a new one (I used an 8x10 frame) and lay the leaves out on a white piece of paper. You can use a little tape rolled for the back of the leaves to stick them in place. Once you have the leaves the way you want insert the page into the frame and hang or set in your house. Let your child pick which leaves should be dried and they can also help arrange them on the paper for the frame. Your child will be excited when you hang up their leaf art.

Cardboard Box Dollhouse

I woke up this morning wanting to make something fun for Addison. I have recently put us on a tight budget so I've been looking for fun things I can make at home to entertain Addison. Today I decided to make a dollhouse out of old diaper boxes. If you are a mom you know how many diaper and wipe boxes you end up with around the house. Ours usually end up in a heaping pile in the garage. My Cardboard Box Dollhouse was super easy and fun to make and I was able to use things I already had around the house. Here are my step by step directions...

Supplies: 3 medium size cardboard boxes, scissors, duct tape, white glue, water, paint brush, wrapping paper, construction paper & fabric (optional), ribbon, hot glue gun.

1. Cut the tops off of two boxes (try and get two boxes the same size). Using the duct tape tape the boxes together. This makes the two main stories of the house.
2. Cut the third box to make the roof and tape it to the top of the other two boxes. Should look like a triangle on top.
3. Once the frame of the house is tapped together you are ready to decorate your house. I used wrapping paper for the outside and construction paper and fabric for the inside. You can use whatever you like to decorate the house.
4. Mix together your glue and water to make a paint texture. With your paintbrush paint the glue/water mixture on the back of your paper and begin applying to the walls. 
5. Once your walls are all covered you can use ribbon to cover the edges of your house so it looks cleaner. I used a hot glue gun to apply the ribbon.
6. Once the house it all decorated let it dry before giving to your child to play. 

Here are the before and after pictures of my house!