Craft Resources in the Public Domain

I don't know how many of you visit the American Libraries Internet Archive, but I have found some wonderful books there, with a variety of crafts. The books can be viewed in several ways, such as downloaded as a PDF, or read online as a "flipbook", which allows you to turn the pages with a click of your mouse. I will be adding the links to these books onto my Books Online list.

Alison

Shakespeare Clothespin Dolls

Here is an idea from a fellow homeschooling mom, you can take a look on her site, where you can find the instructions:
http://grace2u-s2.blogspot.com/2008/01/alls-well-that-ends-well.html

Thanks for sharing!

Knitting Spool

My daughter recently bought herself a knitting spool and she has plans to make all sorts of neat things with it. So far, she is still working on her first project, it is coming along great!

Make a Clock Together

My son made a clock, when he was eight, with a little direction from me. We bought the items needed in the craft section of our local department store.

Here's what you would need:

Clock parts package
An unfinished wooden plague
A picture from an old calendar or magazine
Polyurethane or other protective coating

Here's how we did it:

We started by finding the center of the piece of wood and drilled a hole big enough for the post of the clock works, to fit through. Then, he sanded the wood. Next, he cut and attached the picture, with glue, in the center. This next part is a little tricky (or sticky), especially if your child is still young. We used the polyurethane on his clock. But if it's going to be something indoors, like a clock, there are other types of coating that is easier to clean up, found in the craft department of your local store. After allowing it to dry completely we attached the numbers, they had sticky backs. We printed out a clock coloring page from online to help with the placement of the numbers. Then, at last, he put the clock works on the back with the post going through the hole, to the front, for the hands.

Introduction to my blog

Hello,

I've decided to do a blog that will have a variety of handicraft activities or ideas in one place. When I first began to research the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling, I found that I liked the idea of teaching useful skills to my children, rather than "throw away" crafts. As I searched the web for ideas, I found that there were lots of places with ideas, but you could spend hours trying to find ones that can truly be called handicrafts. My hope is that you will find activities that you can use, here in one spot, saving you the time of doing the search. I would welcome any ideas that you would like to share also. You can submit ideas through the comments section.

Thanks,
Alison