Ask An OC Expert: Easy Crafts To Do With Your Kids

If you're a fan of arts and crafts, local Orange County artist Evelina Pentcheva shares some of her craft ideas for kiddos with these simple, fun projects. And, while these ideas only require only a small amount of supplies, they will create a fun playtime activity. Read on to learn how to recreate her ideas at home.

Based out of Orange County, Evelina Pentcheva is the owner of Photo Enigmatic Fine Art & Photographer and also works as a stylist in many of her photo shoots. Recently, she photographed and edited the album cover for jazz recording artist Lyn Stanley as well. In addition to her other talents, Pentcheva can also put down on her resume that she's an experienced web designer and developer who combines her artistic eye, fashion sense, attention to detail, graphic design expertise and creative intuation to make stunning, one-of-a-kind works of art.

Fancy Pebbles
To make these 'Fancy Pebbles', grab some pebbles from the garden or a local store and paint your favorite shapes with nail polish or liquid glitter. To add a little extra fun, get some glow-in-the-dark paint so the pebbles will shine day and night. You can create your shapes free-handed or trace cookie cutter shapes, and then fill it in with colors of your liking.

Interchangeable Flower Necklace
Get a lovely set of flower hairpins and a silver or gold necklace from a craft store and you can make a necklace to go with different outfits. This creates an affordable accessory that can be easily modified to match several wardrobe colors. This simple project requires little instruction so your child can have fun exploring their fashion style independently.

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Paper Boat
This project is perfect for boys and girls. Take a square piece of paper and fold it as shown in the picture. You can make the boat out of a napkin or any kind of paper you may have. Next, apply your favorite colors of paint and decorate with some of your favorite stickers or embellishments.

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Cute Hairpiece
As stated, Pentcheva excels at styling her photographic subjects and is able to develop more awe-inspiring, profound messages by simply adding accessories. Pentcheva notes, "I love creating little pieces to use as props when photographing children. For this project, I bought wire with pearls, crystals and a cute lacy peach flower from a craft store. Then, I attached it with a little pin and voilà!" You may want to bring in your hairpiece to accompany a photo shoot with Pentcheva.

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Pretty Stationary
This is the easiest project of all and may interest both girls and boys. Pentcheva noted, "I use a piece of paper and a border punch set to add some cool designs to the top and the bottom, and I glued my favorite butterfly embellishments to the paper and the pen." Kids can decorate the stationary and pen with their favorite designs, stickers, textures and figures and then practice writing and spelling skills. This is a good way to initiate creative expression. 

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