Heidi Boyd's Blog, page 4

How To: Mermaid and King Triton Craft

If you spend time with little girls you've already seen first hand how tales of mermaids capture their imagination. This easy mermaid craft project is inspired from the flower fairies I created for my Fairy Crafts book ten years ago. There's nothing like creating magical beings to ignite a child's imagination. I've been eagerly anticipating this workshop all summer long and was excited to share it with my library friends this week. The best surprise was watching how much the boys enjoyed maki...

Groovy Guitar Pick Bracelets: How To

Fridays guitar pick workshop was pure chaos. I found myself surrounded by thirty teens instead of the usual fifteen. The turn out was great, just wish I'd knew it going to happen. We avoid preregistration to encourage more last minute attendance, I brought enough supplies for twenty five teens which is ten more than usual. After a frantic head count and some quick math I switch the two banded bracelet design to a single band, and realized that I would have to limit the girls to two guitar pic...

You grab a line I'll grab a pole...let's craft a fishing game.

This morning fifty children joined me to make a fishing game craft.  I had wonderful high school helpers and the materials on hand but hadn't planned a book selection. Nothing like having the library director pitch in to help me with a search minutes before the program began. We stumbled across a great book entitled 'Piggy and Dad go Fishing'. Father and son don't want to hook smiling worms so they bait their hooks with  pieces of their sandwiches. When they do catch a fish they fall for his ...

Waterless Aquariums - Free Tutorial

Monday found me toting my bag of tricks to the library to make a magical project for the 'Splash into summer reading' program.  Fifty children arrived with jars and matching lids ready to create. After reading the classic story Fish out of Water by Helen Palmer, the kids were inspired to make clay fish that would never need feeding.


We spread a tarp of blue water over the center of the floor to create a protected community work surface.  The first step was to have the children form fish around...

Sea Monster Sandcastle

This past weekend we enjoyed two glorious beach days that make living in a place called 'Vacationland' a joy. The sun was shining, nothing but bright blue skies above. Lowtide was in the middle of the day offering a huge expanse sand. Recent erosion on Popham beach has made it practically non existent at high tide.  A constant cool breeze blew in from the Atlantic, making us forget the heat of the sun's rays and sparing us attacks from the dreaded green head flies.


I come from a line of seriou...

Teens flip for flops: free tutorial!

This is the time to hit summer sales and stock up on flip flops, you can pick up a pair for a dollar or two! They're so many ways to craft them into something spectacular. I did a web search and found a plethora of ideas: from tying water balloons and fabric strips around the straps to applying rhinestones buttons and beads. I loved the inspiration but the reality is we live in Maine and one soggy downpour would completely destroy fabric or feathered footwear. I also wanted to avoid eating up...

How To: Summer Earrings!

Last week a made a fresh batch of lightweight summer earrings with a great group of teenagers. I chose ornate findings and a simple jump ring assembly.  My hope was that the girls would be successful and enthusiastic about exploring new jewelry techniques. In the past I've had trouble teaching groups how to turn and wrap headpins, I carefully chose this project avoid that problem. Earrings make great inexpensive bead projects for large groups as they use significantly less beads than bracelet...

I SPY game bottles, rainy day craftiness.

After two weeks of drying out bags of sand I was anxious to make 'I Spy' bottles with my friends a the Curtis Memorial Library. A hundred children arrived ready to create with plastic bottles in hand. We began the event with a lively story entitled 'Surf War'. Next I acted out the steps and intentionally made mistakes to both entertain and keep the kids attention.

I had the children walk around the room collecting one of each of the objects. We had a great assortment of parts left over from o...

Imperfect Father's Day card brings Perfect Results!

a little typo mom son discovered we actually met a decade earlier in '88.I'd like to say that on Father's day morning I'd planned a perfect gift, that involved the enthusiastic participation of all three children. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead I came downstairs with Celia in search of coffee and a plan. Time was on our side as it would take hours for the men in our house to wake up.

After enjoying coffee and sufficiently awaking to consciousness  I grabbed some white paper off th...

Fairy houses in the Maine woods

  One of the joys of having children is the chance to relive the wonders of childhood. Building fairy houses with my daughter is a great escape from work and has brought fantasy and creativity to our playtime. We've developed a system first we select the spot usually at the base of a larger tree. Then I build the structure with large sticks while she collects shells bark twigs acorn caps and pinecones. She loves the role of interior designer selecting where the beds tables and swimming pools s...