Annual Holiday Special: Nifty Thrifty Gifty

We interrupt this list of app reviews to bring you details about this year's Nifty Thrifty Gifty -- an annual craft event where I choose interesting, yet simple crafts that are great for gifting to friends and family.

The craft in the title photo is from the"DIY Friendly Pendants" tutorial.  See some kid-made versions after the jump

We also made these sewing cards/ornaments.  I should have considered sewing yarn through one of the shapes so the kids could envision some different stitching design patterns (or printed out the inspiration photo from the website), but they did pretty well anyway.  Note: the tricky part is punching the holes that aren't near the edge.  To achieve that, I instructed kids to lightly fold the paper on the dot to be punched and punch half-a-hole on the fold.  It was a bit tricky, but I think kids mostly got it.  This was probably the least commonly completed craft.

 These greeting cards were just too cute an idea, and I had plenty of washi tape and blank notecards and envelopes, so everyone made their own variation.  I printed out the free printable versions to inspire participants, but let them know that they were free to develop their own design ideas if they wanted to (although I did ask them not to just cover the entire card with yards of washi tape.  I know, I know... I am SUCH a wet blanket).

There are so many variations on the idea of decorated magnetic clothespins, but since I already had the washi tape out, I thought I'd mash up the craft at the link above with this one or participants could mix it with this one (made even simpler and less messy with some leftover glitter ribbon in my craft stash).

And that circle thing beside the clothespins up there in the photo?  That's the next craft--duct tape magnets! Super simple idea, and so many possibilities!

(This crafty crafter was making letter-shaped magnets.  Be still my literacy-loving heart!) 

The final craft table of the day was ribbon trees. A great way to practice tying simple knots! I didn't get many photos of this one, but there were some.... creative interpretations.

So there you have it!  Apparently I skipped blogging this program in 2013, but you can see the 2012 crafts here!