The Discovery Channel Store Blog tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-370432 2012-04-20T14:02:01-07:00 DIY projects for parents and kids, plus cool toys to discover TypePad DIY Felt Rosette tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452f16e69e201630482f87e970d 2012-04-20T14:02:01-07:00 2012-04-27T09:57:37-07:00 The mind boggles with design possibilities when gazing upon the fun, easy-to-make DIY Felt Rosette. Attach one or more to a sweater, or shoes, or a denim jacket or a throw pillow or picture frames or a hat! Rosettes turn... Beth

The mind boggles with design possibilities when gazing upon the fun, easy-to-make DIY Felt Rosette. Attach one or more to a sweater, or shoes, or a denim jacket or a throw pillow or picture frames or a hat! Rosettes turn ordinary objects into luxe objects with just a few stitches.

Follow this tutorial to create rosettes in any color and size you like using the Crazy Craft Kit, scissors and a hot glue gun.

Roses1

Choose a piece of felt from the Crazy Craft Kit and draw a spiral on it with a regular ball point pen. You'll have to use a silver sharpie on the dark colors. You can also wing it—just keep the line evenly parallel as you circle around. The size of the felt square will determine the size of your rosette.

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Use your scissors to cut the spiral out. You'll end up with something like this:

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This straight-edge style will get you a bud that looks like a felt peony. To make a felt rose, cut a curvy line on the spiral and you'll end up with wavy, rose-like petals. IMG_0574

Next, starting with the outer end, roll the felt up tightly, around and around, keeping your eye on what will be the center of the bud.

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To secure the end, leave just the tip unrolled. While holding the rosette tightly, add a dollop of hot glue to seal it.

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Before the glue cools, fold the unrolled tip over the bottom of the rosette and press into the hot glue. This gives the rosette a neat, closed end that is secure enough to attach to whatever you're decorating.

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A good tip to keep in mind when you're arranging rosettes is alternating size. Make three smalls and two larges etc. Use a needle and thread to attach them to whatever you're decorating. You'll be able to hide the stitches underneath.

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Now take your roses and peonies and run! Sew them to something, STAT! You'll soon be holding beautiful DIY rosettes that turn anything they touch to decorative gold.

 

 http://discoverystore.typepad.com/discovery_store_blog/2012/04/diy-felt-rosette.html DIY Tie Dye Eggs tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452f16e69e20168e91ed456970c 2012-03-22T17:27:16-07:00 2012-03-26T09:42:06-07:00 This easy-to-follow tutorial will show you how to make DIY Tie Dye Eggs using special transferrable tissue paper. Simple enough for kids to get really creative, all you need is the Giant Activity Box and a few white eggs! First... Beth

This easy-to-follow tutorial will show you how to make DIY Tie Dye Eggs using special transferrable tissue paper. Simple enough for kids to get really creative,  all you need is the Giant Activity Box and a few white eggs!

First things first. Get the kids and yourself in old clothes because this fun project is a messy one! You will get some tissue paper dye on your clothes, but it easily washes out and won't hurt little fingers because it's completely non-toxic.

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Supplies you'll need:

• Transferrable tissue paper squares from the Giant Activity Box

• White eggs that are hard boiled or blown

• scissors

• 1/4" artists' paintbrush

• water in a small bowl

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First, prepare your tisue squares. Cut them into all shapes and sizes. Triangles and strips give you a lot of options.

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Next, brush water over the egg.

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Try to keep your fingers in the same place–at top and bottom–and turn the egg while you place layers of tissue on the egg's surface. Layer the lighter colors, like yellow, for more impact.

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As you go along, brush the tissue with water and press gently to help it set. It will dry–and dye–quickly. After you've covered your egg in tissue, set it aside in the egg crate it came in and let it dry. The tissue pieces will peel off easily after they dry.

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After you've peeled all the tissue paper off, you will have on your hands (besides a bit of dye!) a beautiful set of Easter eggs like you haven't had before.

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Ta-Da!

 http://discoverystore.typepad.com/discovery_store_blog/2012/03/diy-tie-dye-eggs.html DIY Spring Chick Cup tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452f16e69e2016302c10157970d 2012-03-12T11:08:37-07:00 2012-03-16T14:12:56-07:00 These adorable Spring Chick Cups are great for Spring birthday parties when they can be filled with party favors, or for collecting candy on Easter. All you need is the Giant Activity Box from the Discovery Store and a medium-sized paper cup! Beth

These adorable DIY Spring Chick Cups are great for Spring birthday parties when they can be filled with party favors, or for collecting candy on Easter.  All you need is the Giant Activity Box for kids and a medium-sized paper cup!

 Our tutorial will show you how to put these clever Spring Chick Cups together in a few easy steps.

Supplies option 2

Supplies you’ll need:

• A plain paper cup

• Giant Activity Box from the Discovery Store

Cutting Paper option 2

Your first step will be prepping the crepe paper. You’ll be gluing it to the cup to create chick feathers. Cut your crepe paper in half horizontally so you’re left with two long, skinny strips with ruffles on one side.

Glue option 2

 Your next step will be gluing the ruffled crepe paper to the cup. Start with coating the paper cup in glue by running a glue stick all over the cup.

  Wrapping option 1

Next, wrap the crepe paper around the cup. You’ll do this one strip at a time, beginning with the bottom strip.

Trimming option 1

 

Cut the crepe paper strip to just the right size, then press the strip into the glue gently. Repeat this process until you’ve glued strips all the way around the cup, covering it from bottom to top. You might want to reinforce the end of the crepe paper strip with one final dollop of glue.

  Fluffed Cup

This is how your Spring Chick Cup should look after gluing the crepe paper strips. You might want to ruffle the feathers of your cup to get this look!

  Folding paper 1

Now you’ll be adding the distinctive characteristics of your Spring Chick! To make the beak, fold the orange squares from the Giant Activity Box in half, and then in half again.

  Gluing beak 4

Glue this triangle down below the first row of ruffled crepe paper. Hold your finger down on the triangle for a couple moments to set the glue.

  Placing eyes

Then, choose eyes from the Giant Activity Box, and stick them on the cup directly above the beak.

Feather 2

Next, you’ll add additional feathers to the baby chick by gluing them in place halfway down the cup on either side. You’ll want to angle the feather away from the face.

Handle 3

Finally, you’ll make the Spring Chick Cup handle.

Handle 4

Use a single-hole punch, or a sharp object like a pencil, to make holes on both sides of the cup, near the top. Poke your yellow pipe cleaner through the holes, leaving a little on the inside to twist up and around the handle to keep it in place.

Throw some brightly colored, shredded paper as stuffing into the cup and fill with candy.

Finished cup 2

Your Spring Chick Cup is done!

 http://discoverystore.typepad.com/discovery_store_blog/2012/03/diy-spring-chick-cup.html DIY Designer Cupcakes for Spring tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452f16e69e20168e7eeb0a7970c 2012-02-24T15:05:23-08:00 2012-02-24T16:55:49-08:00 We’ve created three adorable, yet easy DIY mini-cupcake designs that are perfect for corralling the kids into the kitchen for a new project. All it takes is the Babycakes Cupcake Maker from the Discovery Store, and creative topping ideas to... Beth

We’ve created three adorable, yet easy DIY mini-cupcake designs that are perfect for corralling the kids into the kitchen for a new project. All it takes is the Babycakes Cupcake Maker from the Discovery Store, and creative topping ideas to fully engage their attention and get the family working together.

This tutorial will teach you how to make three cupcake designs: Baby Chick, Spring Grass and Little Lamb!

Final cupcake design

Supplies you’ll need:

• Chocolate chips

• Mini-marshmallows

• Shredded coconut

• Chocolate eggs and/or mini jelly beans like Jelly Belly brand

• Sticks of bubble gum

• Yellow and green food coloring

Ingredients for spring cupcake design
Use any batter you’d like in any flavor. We used a vanilla box mix. Spoon the batter into the Babycakes Cupcake Maker using a cookie scoop: it measures out the perfect amount. You want to be sure the batter does not overflow. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, a regular spoon will work. Parents: Be sure you don't let kids touch the Babycakes Cupcake Maker - it can get very hot. But little hands can help decorate!

Spooning batter into babycakes cupcake maker
Follow the directions on the Babycakes Cupcake Maker from Discovery and get cooking!

Cupcakes in babycakes cupcake maker
After your cupcakes are baked and cooling on a platter, you can get started preparing Baby Chick toppings. First, you’ll fill a baggie with shredded coconut and add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Mixing the food coloring into the coconut is a fun job for the kids. Hand them the baggie and ask them to mash it all up together. Every piece of coconut needs to be yellow!

Coloring coconut for baby chick cupcake design

Next, cut triangles out of the sticks of gum to make the Baby Chick’s mouth.

Cutting gum for beak for baby chick cupcake design

After spreading your favorite buttermilk frosting—or frosting from a can—place the yellow coconut on top of that. We recommend white frosting so you’ll have a basic background upon which to build your Baby Chick cupcake design.

Your final step for the Baby Chick cupcakes will be placing the chocolate chip eyes along with the bubble gum mouth! Push them into the frosting a bit so they stick.

Baby chick cupcake design

CUTE!

Next up: Spring Grass Cupcake Design!

Make your green grass frosting by adding a couple drops of green food coloring to the frosting bag. Use the star tip for the desired effect. You’ll then squeeze out little grassy stars all over the surface of the  cupcake.

Piping grass frosting with star tip from babycakes cupcake maker
Place your chocolate eggs or jelly bellies on top!

Spring grass cupcake design

Last but not least: Little Lamb Cupcake Design

First, cut the mini marshmallows in half horizontally. These will become the lamb's wooly face.

Cutting mini marshmallows for baby lamb cupcake design

Then you’ll spread a thin layer of frosting across the surface. Place your cut mini-marshmallows on top—you’ll make two rings of marshmallows to create the face.

Applying mini marshmallows to baby lamb cupcake design

Leave a space for two chocolate chip eyes, and a bubble gum nose. Cut the marshmallows in half vertically to make little lamb ears!

Baby lamb cupcake design

NEXT WEEK’s DIY PROJECT:

Making Baby Chick Cups using the Discovery Kids Giant Activity Box!

 http://discoverystore.typepad.com/discovery_store_blog/2012/02/diy-designer-cupcakes-for-spring.html DC Cupcakes Easy Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452f16e69e20168e785ff6e970c 2012-02-17T10:42:47-08:00 2012-02-17T10:45:52-08:00 Get ready for Spring and Easter baking with this super-simple recipe for vanilla cream cheese frosting by Sophie and Katherine from DC Cupcakes. You can make this frosting with ingredients you probably already have in your house! Watch the instruction... Beth

Get ready for Spring and Easter baking with this super-simple recipe for vanilla cream cheese frosting by Sophie and Katherine from DC Cupcakes. You can make this frosting with ingredients you probably already have in your house! Watch the instruction video, then scroll to get the recipe so you can make this delicious frosting the next time you have a craving for cupcakes.