Do It Now! Crafts—Cool Art Projects & Tasty Snacks

Culled from the creative minds of two zany moms who still remember what it’s like to be a kid, Make Fun Stuff! is the perfect answer to summertime boredom. In its cheerful and colorful pages, you’ll find DIY activities that range from old favorites (marbelize paper, anyone?) to quirky and stylish crafts (such as making a messenger bag out of comic books) to low-tech adventures (like rigging up simple speakers out of used cereal boxes).

Table of Contents

Crafts Chapter

Take aim with a catapult

Fire a pen crossbow

Design a kite

Fly a kite

Fold a paper airplane

Whip out a ninja star

Marbleize pretty paper

Cut festive papel picado

Paste up a piNata

Light paper-bag luminarias

Fill a sea globe

Pour a sand candle

Weave a friendship bracelet

Hook a gum-wrapper chain

Link a daisy chain

Tie-dye a stripy shirt

Tie-dye a swirly shirt

Cover an mp3 player

Roll up a duct-tape rose

Bead charms

Mold clay monsters

Create silhouette portraits

Draw a cat

Sketch a dog

Draft a horse

Draw awesome manga

Flip out with a flip book

Pop out a 3-d card

Sport a comic-book tote

Beautify sneakers

Punk up high-tops

Trick out slip-ons

Fashion a no-sew skirt

Paint one-of-a-kind nails

Make a crazy ponytail

Ink a fake tattoo

Annoy with a balloon horn

Toot a straw horn

Wire cereal-box speakers

Screen-print a t-shirt

Make a compact disc-o ball

Snacks Chapter

Roll candy sushi

Pull tasty taffy

Kick up some ice cream

Make fruity soda pop

Build a jiggly city

Make a dessert aquarium

Bake stained-glass cookies

Separate an egg

Make fortune-cookie dough

Fold fortune cookies

Freeze smoothie pops

Blend a smoothie

Make chewy fruit leather

Roll pasta dough

Fold tortellini

Enjoy purple pasta

Dye rainbow celery

Twist up soft pretzels

Chill refrigerator pickles

Sculpt snack art

Roast veggies in the wild

Grill cheese on a stick

Bake a cake in an orange

Cook campfire candy apples

Concoct chocolate anthills

Make edible fake barf

Sarah Hines Stephens first learned to cook in order to get out of doing the dishes, and she still prefers making messes to cleaning them. One of three creative sisters, Sarah hails from generations of do-it-yourselfers: quilters, artists, writers, and gardeners. When Sarah is not facilitating semiexplosive science experiments and kid-friendly crafts, she writes books for kids. She has written more than sixty books, some for kid-friendly brands such as Gymboree and Scholastic. She lives with her husband and two children in a home filled with glitter, fabric scraps, glue, and power tools in Oakland, California.

Bethany Mann is Sarah’s sister and partner in creative mess-making. With a rallying cry of, “Hey, we could totally make that ourselves!” she has fearlessly led her family and friends in numerous craft adventures. These days Bethany channels her artistic powers for good by using recycled materials and growing vegetables. Her projects have been featured in craft books for adults and on DIY TV. She lives with her husband, teenage son, and a menagerie of rescued pets in Santa Cruz, California. Read her blog at BitterBettyindustries.blogspot.com.