crafters, need your help

[WDWMom]

Every year the fifth grade students at our school have Market Day. They must make a product, market and sell it. There is a specific day all the fifth graders sell - hence, Market Day.

DS10 is in the fifth grade and must come up with a product. Needs to be able to make it on his own (can have some help), and be marketable. He also is supposed to make money on it. He gets a loan from school of $15 to start, then they have a day where they test their product (the other 5th graders) and make more money to make more product. About 400 students come through on Market Day so it is competitive. He can not make any food or drink.

Any ideas???? We have thought of some but none he is interested in. Beaded necklaces sell great but being a boy not thrilled with the idea. DD made notepads stamped (bought the pads at a print shop cheap) and she stamped with flowers, sports balls, and sayings. Didn't sell well, but a friend's DD did the same and made big bucks. So a lot depends on the year. Supplies must be cheap or free to make money.

Help

 

[clh2]

How soon is this? I have an ornament that I did with DD's Jr. Girl Scout troop when they were in 4th grade. Unfortunately - until I get my X-mas stuff up from the basement, I wouldn't be able to take pictures of it. It makes a nice snowman ornament.

The main starting point is an empty soda can. (This sounds really bizarre - and a picture would be better, so please bear with me...) Hold the soda can in both hands, so that a thumb is on each end. Gently turn the ends in to the middle. The idea is to flatten the can, but have both the top and bottom of the can on one side of the flattened can. THAT IS THE HARD PART of the project.

The other materials that you will need are 1 can of black spray paint, and some bottles of acrylic paint. (We had metallic blue, white, black, orange, brown and red) These are the paints you can get at michaels, for stencilling. These paints are about .70 per bottle (each bottle is 2 oz. I think). The spray paint is about $3 or $4. The acrylic paints will last for as many ornaments as your DS would want to make. I don't remember how many ornaments could get painted with the spray paint, I'm thinking about 8 or nine per can of spray paint. (We did this 2 years ago, so I just don't remember.)

Have him carefully spraypaint the smashed soda cans. The "top/bottom" side is the back, so spray paint that side first. When it is dry, turn it over and do the front. We actually needed to do 2 coats on the back - just because of all the nooks and crannies that are on the back.

Then, on the front side of the can, paint a coat of the blue metallic paint. If the paint is taking too long to dry, then use a hair dryer to help speed the process. THE TAB ON THE BACK WILL BECOME THE HOLDER FOR THE STRING< SO MAKE SURE IT IS TOWARDS THE TOP WHEN YOU START PAINTING THE SNOWMAN. Then take the white, and do a snowman. Again, use the hairdryer if needed. Then start to paint the snowman accessories...mouth, eyes and buttons are merely dots of black. Two little lines will become the carrot nose, make a red scarf. Use the brown to paint the twigs for the arms. If your snowman is out on a snowy night, just add some small dots of white in the background.

These end up being real "folksy" snowman, everyone is different. And, they are really quick to do.

Find some old string to tie a loop through the "tab" part of the soda can, and you are done.

(Well actually, we used a varnish spraypaint before ours were done - which is a step we would have skipped if there weren't two cans of it already in the troop stuff from when they were Brownies. Of course, I wouldn't tell your DS that this idea had come from a Girl Scout troop.

If you want a pic of this, let me know, most likely, I won't get to this part of the Christmas decorations until the 1st week in December.

 

[tmt martins]

You could do the BEADED Animals they are easy to make and turn into a keychain.for $15 you could get apack of the pipecleaner things and assorted beads.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

OK, I think I know.........................

Please read all of this before saying no.

Snowman Poop! It's cute.

In a snack size zip lock bag, you put some miniature marshmallows. You attach a piece of paper (I stamped a snowman stamp on mine) and it says:

"Heard you've been naughty
so here's the scoop
all you get for Christmas
is some snowman poop!"

I know you said no food but I don't know that this would necessarily be considered food in the sense you aren't selling it like a dessert........

 

[goofymom/pop]

Bookmarks (use the popular characters from todays cartoons, basketball, football, dance....pics from magazines)

cut the pics out glue them to precut bookmarks, then modpodge them to make them glossy.After the modpodge dries, cover the backs with a nice piece of cardstock. Punch a hole in the bookmark and string some funky ribbons with little charms attached....say basketball charms for basketball...plus the ribbons can match the team color or pic. You can get ribbon pretty cheaply, buy it after you make the book marks so you know exactly what colors you need. Add some of the new funky yarns to the ribbon to make it fun...all fuzzy and stuff. Pictures are free, ribbon is cheap, one jar of modgepodge will go along way, charms are a little more but use a Michaels coupon.....

these can be laminated instead of modgepodged if you have access to a laminator for cheap or free.

You can even print little poems to fit on the computer....and put initials on them.....think grandmas, grandpas etc.

Hope this helps a little

 

[kaylajr]

OK, I think I know.........................

Please read all of this before saying no.

Snowman Poop! It's cute.

In a snack size zip lock bag, you put some miniature marshmallows. You attach a piece of paper (I stamped a snowman stamp on mine) and it says:

"Heard you've been naughty
so here's the scoop
all you get for Christmas
is some snowman poop!"

I know you said no food but I don't know that this would necessarily be considered food in the sense you aren't selling it like a dessert........

that's funny
i am gonna make some for all my co workers

 

[goofymom/pop]

how about pencils with funky toppers....if you do a google search on pencil topper crafts all kinds of things come up.

They also have a new product out from sculpey clay that when baked makes an eraser.....sounds fun, but do not know the cost. He could make all kinds of little shapes and such....they have those crafts listed on google too!

let us know what he picks and how it goes

 

[WDWMom]

Thanks ladies.

He needs to start on these soon. I think he gets his money this week. He needs to have one major item and then can make something else too. The bookmarks are great. He would need to sell a ton of them to make any money because he could not sell them for much, but it is something he could do and I think kids would buy, especially if they had sports, Disney and girlie things on them. I have tons of cross stitch floss so no cost there.


Keep the ideas coming please.

 

[WDWMom]

bump!!!