Getting crafty with the kids

Gettin’ Crafty with the Kids!

Posted by: Kristen Swain · Edit

Hello Circlets! Kristen here today with a post for you for older kids. I think there are many crafts out for younger kids, but as my kids have gotten older, finding crafts and quick and easy crafts has gotten harder and harder. Older kids tend to have more patience and mine listen better to instructions. Although sometimes they tend to want no help from mom, it’s still nice to supervise and make sure they are safe and following directions.
We ended up with this personalized mug set to give to a friend, grandparent, or teacher. I love that with my Cricut machine, I could change this to say anything, and really personalize it to the recipient.

What I have to share with you today is an etching craft. Now, while the bottle does say over 18, I found that my 10 year old Annalise was able to wear gloves and safely do the etching. I took the task of removing the cream, which is where I found the smell to be a bit stronger.
To begin, you need a clean glass, I simply rewashed this pretty mug and dried it with paper towels. I used my Cricut Expression and Cricut Craft Room to open a new file and create this I heart Coffee saying. I cut it out using Cricut Vinyl in Red, because it’s very valentine-y. When you have your cut done, pull the vinyl off the cutting mat, then peel off the backing paper. I made sure to cut in the center of the vinyl sheet to leave plenty of room to cover the rest of the glass.
This is what that looked like..

I love that the font was separated so that I didn’t have to worry about the center of the O. If you get any bubbles, since the glass is curved, just smooth them out with your finger. I did have too much at the C, so I cut into the C and overlapped the edges.

Now, cover your work area with newspaper, and wear some medical gloves and old clothes. This Armour Etch is so thick, Annalise didn’t even drop any at all.  Here she is beginning to layer on the cream.

Instructions on the website say to layer on the etching cream thick. I advised her to dab it on so it would stay thick.

Here it is finished, you can see how thick it went on. Now, let it set for 1 minute.
I took the mug and sprayed the cream off in my sink.
Then let I gave it back to her to peel off the vinyl.

here it is, dirty but complete.

I hand washed the mug once again and dried it.

Now to make it into a gift.

Fill a candy bag with their favorite candy, then tie the top of the bag with twine.  I added a tag and small heart ( will tell you how to do that in a moment) a button and sticker.
Then I made a matching card to send along to show our appreciation to her teacher  (Annalise decided that she wanted to send the mug to her teacher)

After we cut out 12 hearts, Annalise was able to do a basic stitch, layering three hearts together and stitch down the center of the hearts, then bend them up to create these 3 d hearts.  I layered on several papers, and cut out the scalloped piece and trimmed it to fit across the card. After printing the title out, I popped it up with some foam tape and added two gems to the sides. I completed the card with a twine tied button.

That is our gift set for you today! I hope you will try this with your older kids and see what magically beautiful craft items you can make!


Designed by: Kristen Swain
Cricut Machines Used: Cricut Expression 2 Electronic Cutting Machine, Cricut Craft Room, Cuttlebug
Cricut Cartridges Used: Botanicals Lite, Love You a Latte Lite, Life’s A Party, Something to Celebrate
Other Supplies: Mug, Armour Etch, Cricut Ruby Red Vinyl, Buttons, Twine, Patterned Paper (October Afternoon), Gems (KaiserCraft), Computer & Printer, Font (Century Gothic), Sewing Machine & thread