Paper Towel Roll Kind of Day

This has been the hottest summer in Raleigh I can remember.  I think it has been near the 100 degree mark for at least three weeks.  Therefore the ton of rain that started last night was very needed....but made for a boring day indoors.  I look forward to the weekends since I work during the week and try to spend as much time as possible with the girls.  I love taking Emily on "trips" to the grocery store, library, mall (Disney store is the utmost treat), or just to the local park.  I do really well with enriching the children's life with great books, travel, outside play, and just silly fun but I don't do alot of art.  This may seem like a no-brainer since I like crafts so much but until recently, she wasn't really at the age to participate in much other than putting crayon to paper.  Even though I want to use this blog to inspire others, I am also hoping that it will make me more diligent with sharing my crafting love with my daughter.  Should be a win-win, right!

Since we were stuck indoors, I decided to make use of all of those empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls I have lying around.  A couple of months ago I decided that it was just silly to throw those away as there had to be like a hundred different things I could do with those with Emily.  They could be a totem pole, a snowman, a kaleidoscope, binoculars, a snake, cut up for a necklace or practice with lacing, the list goes on and on.   We decided to try a kaleidoscope and even though I did the putting together, she had fun decorating the construction paper that went on the outside.  I should have added a lot more beads to the end but it turned out pretty good and Emily like it.

I used a piece of cardboard (you could use stiff cardstock) and wrapped it in aluminum foil.  Fold it to make a triangle and insert that into the paper towel roll.  Trace the end of the paper towel roll on another piece of cardboard and cut that out as well as a small hole in the middle to peer through.  You could use a hole punch if using cardstock.

 I wrapped cling wrap around the bottom and taped it and then put beads and sequins and taped another layer of cling wrap on top of that.  

 The finished product!