Three Recipes for Crafts

This fingerpaint keeps at least a week in airtight containers. It's inexpensive, and you can use it on the bathtub or on metal cookie sheets or tins, as well on regular fingerpainting paper or shiny parchment paper.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/3 cup of cornstarch
Water
Dishwashing liquid
food coloring

Combine first two ingredients in small saucepan.

Slowly add two cups of cold water. Cook this over low heat, stirring until the mixture becomes a smooth, almost clear gel (around 5 minutes)

When it's cool, stir in 1/4 cup clear dishwashing liquid.

Scoop equal amounts of the mixture into containers and stir in food coloring or food coloring paste.

Brightly Colored Pasta for Necklaces and Other Crafts

Everybody knows how to make macaroni necklaces, bracelets and garlands. But this is even better with brilliantly colored pasta pieces. The way I use to color the macaroni is to put it in a small container of rubbing alcohol mixed with food coloring. I stir the macaroni in quickly, and then lift it out with a slotted spoon or tongs. Set it out to dry on a bit of waxed paper or plastic.

The rubbing alcohol makes bright, vibrant colors that dry quickly, so the pasta doesn't get soggy.

To make the macaroni creations more interesting, get some bright colored cardboard and cut out interesting shapes. Punch two small holes in the center of each shape so that when strung they will lay flat. Add buttons and old beads to the mixture and let the children string away.

This could be fun for a little girls' teaparty, and then their necklaces would make up part of their costumes.

Obviously, you don't want to do this craft with children young enough to put the necklaces in their mouths.

Glue Dough for Ornaments

We make these mostly during the holidays, but this modeling compound isn't just for Christmas. You could make little brooches with this stuff, beads for necklaces, refrigerator magnets, and small figurines. The star in the picture is approximately 25 years old!

For a small amount (enough for about four to six ornaments)
2 ounces each of glue, cornstarch, and flour

You mix the ingredients completely. If it is too sticky, add more cornstarch, too stiff and liable to break apart, add more glue. It's messy to work with, but very cool stuff once it's all mixed together well. You can double or triple the amounts easily.

You can store the dough in a plastic bag- I have often mixed it in the bag to keep my hands somewhat clean.

To use it, you roll it out very thin and use cookie cutters to cut the shapes you like.

If you're going to want to hang your item, poke a hole in it with a needle while it's pliable.

Leave these out over night (or longer) to dry. They dry hard, and in a nice creamy white color. Once they are completely hard, you paint them.

The paint on this star is a mixture of glue and food coloring. The more food coloring you use the deeper the color, naturally. The glitter is from a glitter pen. I love the bright, clear colors from the glue and food coloring.

For three dimensional images, mold shapes using tinfoil (save foil from baking) and then mold the thin layers of dough over the tin foil, sealing seams with a dab of water or a bit of glue. Let these dry on waxed paper, turning one or twice over a day or two.

These dry hard and impervious to age or mold. If something breaks, glue works very well for mending.