A Review of the "American Girl Crafts" Mosaic Frame Kit

The American Girl dolls are pretty popular in my household and we have been blessed with another opportunity to test out one of their kits.  The "American Girl" line of craft kits by "E.K. Success" can be found at local craft stores, online and other retailers.  They vary in price and are geared to specific ages.   This particular kit is recommended for "American Girl" fans ages eight and up.  This "Mosaic Frame Kit" retails for about $19.99.

The "Mosaic Frame Kit" comes complete with:

• A project & idea booklet
• Acrylic Frame
• 142 Patterned Shapes
• 1 Green Square Stencil
• 1 Pink Circle Stencil
• 24 Clear Plastic Bubble Stickers
• 16 Self Adhesive gems
• 3 Ribbons
• Adhesive Foam Squares

The instructions include some drawings that make it fun for the crafter to follow, without having to stop

and read the whole booklet.  However, the booklet does offer some great tips and ideas for personalizing the projects.  There is even instructions for creating a fun scavenger hunt game to entertain the kids.
The colorful papers in the kit are actually pre cut shapes that the kids can use to decorate their frame

The clear bubble stickers are pretty neat and a nice finish to the pictures and/or die cuts used in the project.

The frame itself is really cute, it is made from acrylic which is safer for the kids to craft with.

Making the project is pretty easy, just choose some pictures.  My girls found it easier to hold the photo stencil to decide which pictures to use.

Or you can use the frame to see how the pictures will look.

Once the kids have picked out the pictures, then they just need to cut them out.  The pictures are pretty small so if you are working with younger children, then I would recommend cutting the pictures out for them.  If you have one of those fun inch sized square punches, then those will work too.  The project took about 30 minutes total to make and came out great.

You can also add pins and other mementos as embellishments onto the frame like my daughter did below.

The American Girl Mosaic Frame Kit  with embellishments

If you are looking for a fun quick and easy craft for your "American Girl" fan, then this kit will not disappoint. It is super easy and a fun memory project for your own "American Girl" to do.  The finished project is so cute.

Tips:

●  Lay everything out so you can pick your colors, shapes and photos.

●  If you are using the kit for younger children, you can help avoid frustration by using either the enclosed adhesive foam squares or use glue dots (my personal favorite).

●  Use up those fun stickers and buttons you  have around the house to use as accents for this fun frame.

Disclosure.

Review of the American Girl Crafts - Funky Felt Pins Kit

With summer quickly approaching it is a great time to plan some creative activities for my kids.  It is always wise to have some fun and easy crafting supplies on had to entertain the kids, especially on those hot summer afternoons.

Since, the American Girl dolls have always been popular in my household,  the idea of crafting with the the American Girl craft kits was met with a lot of enthusiasm.  These kits are available at local craft stores and online.  We wanted to try something portable and not too messy, so we choose to try out the American Girl "Funky Felt Pins" kit which is recommended for children eight years old and up.  The kit retails for $12.99.

The packaging on the "Funky Felt Pins"  is very colorful and a bit deceiving in a positive way.  From

the outside of the package, it does not look like you get much in the way of supplies.  However, I was

happily surprised to find it was jam packed full of enough supplies for my girls and their friends to give this kit a try and learn some basic embroidery skills.

This kit comes with the following:

● Project & Idea Booklet

● 12 yards of embroidery floss in 4 colors

● 33 plain felt pieces

● 5 embroidered patches

● 12 adhesive pin backs

● 10 sequin flowers

● 1 piece of white practice felt

● 1 needle

● 1 needle threader

The instruction booklet does have some nice colored simple instructions for their versions of the following stitches and knots:

● running stitch

● applique stitch

● cross stitch

● french knot

● finishing knot

The kit is color coordinated with enough materials to create at least 12 pins, which is great for an easy to do scout troop project.  However, you would have to pick up extra needles for each girl, since this kit only comes with one needle.  You can pick up pins at your local "Michaels Craft Store" or "JoAnns" fairly inexpensively.

The first thing I did was to lay out the pieces and then pick out a few different shapes to sew together.

Then I sewed the small floral sequin onto the green felt flower using white thread to make the stitches stand out.

I then sewed the green felt flower onto the orange felt flower.

Which was followed by sewing those pieces onto the darker felt flower.

The kids took a vote and wanted to add some bling to the flower.   So I added beads to finish it off the piece.

As you can see, the steps are very simple and easy to follow.  However,  I did find that it was a little bit challenging for little fingers to negotiate the needle and accomplish the smaller stitches.   However, even

with that frustration, the project certainly kept her attention.  A different size needle did make the 

difference for her .

 Here are some other projects we made with the die cut felt pieces provided in the kit.  The first is a felt

owl pin.

The second is a funky felt ring.

The third is a funky felt hair band.

The fourth is a funky felt  hair clip for their American Girl doll.

These projects are so fun and easy for the kids to do.  They also provide a great base surface for adding beads, buttons, rhinestones, and more.  This make room for some creative self expression allow by each child.

Tips:

●  Lay everything out so you can pick your colors and shapes.

●  If you are using the kit for younger children, you can help avoid frustration by using white glue to adhere the pieces together.  Let dry.  Then sew together with simple stitches.

●  Use up those fun beads and charms you  have around the house to use as accents for these fun pieces.

Disclosure.

Recycle ...... Bird House Makeover!

If you have an old birdhouse around or even a newer one in the wrong color scheme or perhaps you just want to use it in your home decor, a little paint and a little hard work is all you need.  Below is a way to update or just change a colorful birdhouse to use in your home decor.

Start by cleaning up the birdhouse, then give it a good sanding to prepare it for painting.  Make sure to remove any dust and particles.  The cleaner the house is....the better the surface will be for the paint to adhere to.  Use an old box as a work station to control possible over spray.

I love using "Krylon" indoor/outdoor paints.  It coats well and is true to color.  It also has the lowest amount of "scent" than the other spray paints.  What little it has, seems to disappear fairly quickly.  I found that spraying the lightest colors first, seems to work best.  Don't forget to let the piece dry between coatings.

After you paint it, then just add some ribbon, a faux plant spray or two.  To add snow, then place some Plaid texture paint where ever you think snow would look good.   If you want to give the faux snow some bling, add a small amount of glitter to the paint and mix it.  It gives the snow some sparkle that reflects light to add more fun to your birdhouse.

Let the texture paint dry according to the manufacturers direction.  To protect it,  you can spray it with a sealer or Krylon's Crystal Clear Acrylic.  There you have it.

A simple and fun craft project that makes an old bird house new again. With a few adjustments, this can be an easy kids craft project or an upcycled project.

Remember to recycle responsibly.