Foreign Currency art projects

I went to my friends house yesterday, and saw this piece of art that her mom had done for her with all of the money that my friend bought back from her travels in Asia. I thought it was such a cool idea - instead of just throwing it away or keeping it in a jar, make a piece of art out of it. I think the piece is really contemporary, and the colors are great - it can go with any other decor - and has a great story!

I thought it would be cool to find some other ideas that you could do with foreign currencies, as a "free" souvenir from travels.

mmmCrafts had a cool idea for a coin charm bracelet. Just drill holes into the coins and get bendable metal to hook onto a chain bracelet.

Instructables.com shows how to turn coins into fridge magnets

AHC arts & crafts, has a ton of great project ideas for children and teens - browse to find some of your own ideas!

Halloween Pumkins for young kids

Hey, Sizzle here.  Todays easy craft for kids is pumkins.  Every kid has to make a pumkin and while carving a pumkin is a classic family activity it is nice to give kids an opportunity to design their own. For even the youngest kids think stickers! 

Don't worry if your kid doesn't make an actual face - he/she is learning and creating something.  I have let my kids put stickers everywhere.  I think it is good for kids to create to decorate and be able to have creative control of something.  Stickers come off, paint  - not so much. 

Craft foam is great for young kids!  You can buy the sticky back kind and cut out your own stickers.  I cut out a lot of eyes, noses, mouths and let the kids go at it.  I also had some other colors so the parents of the kids could design new faces. 

Then all you do is cut out what you want, peel of the backing and stick on your pumkin.  Make sure you wash and dry the pumpkin first so the dirt doesn't get in the way :)

Here are some of the ones our kids and adults came up with:

This doesn't take a ton of time so I let my kids put faces on every side or "erase" and try something new.  It is fun to see all the combinations you can come up with.