It probably shouldn’t surprise you that our team at Urban Clotheslines are pretty fond of the clothespins. You might not have given the humble and unassuming clothespin much thought lately and for good reason; after all, your average run-of-the-mill clothespin might not seem too exciting because it reminds you of doing your laundry. But as it turns out these common household objects can be an excellent starting point for a wide range of exciting crafts.

Since clothespins are such a blank slate, but a functional blank slate, it is possible to take the simple clothespin and infuse it with a great deal of artistry and creativity. When it comes to creating great ideas with clothespins, there is no shortage of great ideas. In our fun and festive clothespin article, we are going to explore the 7 top crafts that you can do with clothespins. These crafts are easy, fun and truly are great for kids of all ages. Perhaps, best of all is the fact that clothespins are remarkably inexpensive. This helps make clothespin crafts both a winner for decorating as well as for planning fun art projects.

#1-Characters and Clothespins

Clothespins can be an excellent foundation for kid’s art projects. One reoccurring kids’ clothespin craft project is to create clothespin art work featuring favorite cartoon characters. A good example of a fun clothespin craft for kids can be found over at Glue Stick & Gumdrops.

At Glue Stick & Gumdrops, you’ll find everything you need to create our own very fun Minions clothespin art project. Parents will love the straightforward instructions which are easy enough for almost any child to follow with ease. With just a handful of clothespins, a little paint, glue and a googly eye, you are ready to make some truly fun and eye-catching art! Who would have thought you can make a Minion out of a clothespin?

# 2-Clothespins and Christmas Tree Ornaments?

Everyone is always trying to think of how to make their home look festival come December. From the “why didn’t I think of that department” comes an inventive idea for beautiful and inexpensive Christmas tree ornaments. Using just a few clothespins, it is possible to create some magical, rustic and charming tree ornaments. HGTV has easy to follow instructions for how to quickly build some wonderful looking new ornaments for your Christmas tree or just to decorate your house during the wintertime.

These versatile ornaments look like a snowflake when finished, meaning that they are highly versatile and can be used as a general, all-purpose holiday and winter decoration. Click here to get the easy to understand, step-by-step instructions of building your own clothespin Christmas tree snowflake ornaments.

# 3-The Dragonfly

Whether you are looking for a creative way to decorate your home or want an easy craft for kids, you just can’t go wrong with the “Delightful Dragonfly” clothespin project. You’ve probably never thought of making dragonflies from clothespins, but you’ll love the results.

With just a few items such as a pipe cleaner, scissors, googly eyes and paint, you can make your own festive dragonflies. Imagine decorating your wall with a sea of beautiful, differently colored and designed butterflies. This project is a great way to spend an afternoon and your end result, a gorgeous sea of insects, can really transform a room!

# 4-Let’s Put Some Heart into It!

If you are looking for a way to add a little warmth to your home, then clothespins can ride to the rescue. Now you might be thinking, “how can a bunch some clothespins make my home warmer and homier?” Thanks to the Clothespin Heart Wreath, you can add some instant warmth.

The simple but charming design for the Clothespin Heart Wreath can be completed in just minutes. All you need are some clothespins, a wire hanger and a small chalkboard to use as a sign. Like most of the other projects on our list, the Clothespin Heart Wreath is a great choice for kids of all ages.

# 5-The Snowman Clothespin

A perfect match for the clothespin Christmas tree snowflake ornament is the very cute Snowman Clothespin. Kids will truly adore this clothespin craft. It’s another inexpensive way to decorate your tree and you could even make them for gifts for friends and relatives to spread the festive clothespin joy!

Parents seeking a way to keep their children busy on those long winter days indoors or anyone looking for a unique holiday decorating idea will truly love this stellar option. Click here to see the easy to follow plan, so you too can build you own Snowman Clothespins!

#6-Hungry Fish to the Rescue

Do you have a wall that is crying out for a little extra attention? The Hungry Fish Clothespin craft from Crafts by Amanda can help you quickly and easily transform you room. Everything you need to create your own Hungry Fish Clothespin wall decorations can be found at this link.

 
#7-Dinosaur Clothespin Craft

Also from Crafts by Amanda is the very fun and timeless Dinosaur Clothespin craft. There are easy to follow plans for 4 different clothespin dinosaurs: Triceratops, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this craft is that the directions are very easy to follow but the results are quite impressive. Thanks to this craft, you’ll probably never look at clothespins the same way again.

Clothespins are pretty neutral and easy to find, and that means that they are something of a blank slate for your creativity. If you are looking for a cheap and versatile canvas to express yourself, then you’ll want to check out these 7 wonderful clothespin crafts.

Equipped with just a few dollars of supplies, it is possible to transform an entire wall or room and create an amazing collection of winter and holiday decorations. No matter your age, you’ll find these festive clothespin craft ideas to be a fun way to add some color and life to your space!

Wouldn’t it be great, really great, if you could get your kids involved in the laundry process? If you handle the laundry in your house, then you already know that the laundry can be a very big and never ending job. Like cleaning itself there are always more dirty clothes. And needless to say, if you have children you have even more laundry to conquer each week.

While you can cut corners, you can’t cut every corner. At the end of the day, the laundry has to get done. Finding a way to get your kids involved in the laundry process is essential if you want to keep your laundry time from consuming all of your free time!

Let’s dive in and explore some tips for how you can get your kids to lend a hand with laundry time. Luckily, there is a lot about laundry that can seem fun and intriguing to little ones if you just use a little strategy and present it the right way.

Tip One-Older Kids Can Do Their Own Laundry

Maybe the single easiest and fastest way to reduce your laundry load is to have your kids do their own laundry. Sounds great, right? Washers and dryers may be a little more sophisticated and complicated than they were a decade or two ago, but that doesn’t mean that your kids can’t lend a hand. Even getting your older children and teens to do their own laundry once a month would give you a well-deserved break!

Now, you might be thinking that this idea sounds impractical and maybe even impossible, but with older children and teens there is no reason that they can’t handle this responsibility. And if they are planning to go off to college in a year or two or three, this is something they are going to need to know how to do for themselves anyhow. You’re teaching them valuable life skills while you get a break. It’s a major win-win.

The time you invest in teaching your kids how to do laundry will be time well-spent. Just be sure that you stay consistent with your demand that they pitch in and help with laundry duties.

Tip Two-Make it a Game

A major hurtle in tackling laundry is an efficient manner is collecting the laundry. Having kids means that more than toys are often spread across the house. Is your home full of laundry scattered all about the house? You might not be able to get your children to handle their own laundry (and of course this isn’t really even an option for younger children), but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get your kids to pitch in and keep their own laundry organized.

Each child should have his or her own laundry basket, preferably in his or her own room. In this way, laundry is kept organized and separated. If you have more than one kid, you can even gamify the process of laundry collection. Who can hang the laundry on the clothesline the fastest?  Who can collect and fold the most laundry of a certain color? Who can gather and put all their socks in their drawer the quickest? You get the idea. Kids love games, and they often love competition with their siblings.

Tip Three-Emphasize the Benefits of Helping You

Simply barking orders at children often doesn’t achieve the desired results. While it may sometimes be hard to believe sometimes, kids can use logic just as well as adults, when they want to at least. Keep this fact in mind when trying to enlist your children in the laundry process.

Point out to your kids that the time you spend doing laundry could be spent doing something else, such as playing with them, taking them somewhere they want to go, cooking something delicious, or helping them out in some other way.

Show them how the small amount of time they invest in helping you with the laundry will benefit them later in some way or another. Just a simple statement like, “Let’s see how quickly we can get this laundry done, and then we’ll all go to the kitchen to bake cookies” can be motivating enough to get them to pitch in and help.

Tip Four-Make Laundry Time, Family Fun Time

Yes, laundry isn’t usually fun. But with a little effort laundry time can actually be exciting, especially for younger children. When you approach the task with some joy and zest, they will mirror your attitude.

Children can help you sort and fold washed clothing, for example. During your laundry time together, you can do things such as play their favorite music or have a television show on in the background that they enjoy. Maybe make up a song about doing laundry that you can sing while you work.

Tip Five-Let Kids Personalize the Laundry Process

Kids, especially younger kids, like to personalize not just objects, but also routines that they do. Try letting your children personalize everything from their clothing hampers to the laundry basket and even their clothing storage areas and dressers. If you decorate their belongings, they will have even more love for using them.

Check out this post for “15 Ideas for Stressed Out Moms” including some ideas how you can decorate laundry baskets as a family DIY project.

Chores Really Do Matter

If you can get kids into the idea of helping you do laundry at a young age, then it becomes a standard part of home life. No doubt it is important for children to focus on learning, studying and growing, but it is also important for children to learn how to take care of themselves in both large and small ways.

Learning how to do laundry and participating in the process may not see like a “huge deal,” but at the end of the day consistently helping you with laundry will help your child grow and develop. Doing the laundry can be fun for children with the right approach. You, as the parent, can make that process a fun and even interesting one for children.

Increasingly, experts are pointing to the importance of giving children work around the house as a way to foster their development. Don’t be afraid to encourage your children to help you not just with the laundry, but with other household activities as well. It just takes some creativity. In the end, you’ll be glad that you did.

The bad news is that you’ve been exposed to poison ivy. Obviously this is no fun; poison ivy is a truly unpleasant and painful experience. Its ability to negative impact your life goes beyond the rash. Once exposed to poison ivy, you’ll want to wash all exposed clothing to reduce the chances of experiencing yet more pain!

You are most likely to come into contact with poison ivy or poison oak while hiking or in the woods. One of the easiest ways to avoid poison ivy or poison oak is to stay on pathways, but the simple fact is that when it comes to enjoying the great outdoors you might not always want to stay on the “beaten path.”

Understanding “The Enemy”

Adventuring out into the best of the great outdoors comes with a little poison ivy risk, but there are steps you can take to reduce that risk. At the top of the list is wearing clothing that will protect your skin such as long pants and long sleeve shirts and in some cases even gloves. Of course, knowing how to spot poison ivy and poison oak is an excellent form of prevention. A picture is worth a thousand words. Using an image search tool such as Google Images or Wikipedia to see images of poison ivy and poison oak is very prudent move.

Time for Cleaning

Once you have come in contact with poison ivy that means you’ll want to wash all of your clothing as soon as possible. The first step is to carefully remove and store any contaminated clothing so that you don’t have to touch them. When you do touch any contaminated clothing using gloves is a smart move. Rather shockingly, the problematic compound in poison ivy, urushiol, can stay active not just for months, but for years. This factor also underscores the tremendous importance of properly cleaning any clothing, including boots and shoes that may have come into contact with poison ivy.

Once you’ve removed poison ivy contaminated clothing, you’ll want to wash the clothing in a washing machine; however, it is very important to avoid cross containing other clothing in the process. This means transferring your poison ivy contaminated clothing directly from your “poison ivy bag” directly into the washing machine and then dispose of or wash the bag immediately. Don’t forget to either dispose of the gloves you are wearing or to use disposable gloves when handing poison ivy contaminated clothing and items.

Use Multiple Washings
When it comes to washing the clothing you should absolutely use soap and hot water. Additionally, you will want to be on the safe side and leave your clothing in the washing machine and perform at least three washings, perhaps even a forth washing for good measure. While this may seem excessive if you’ve ever experienced the irritation and pain of poison ivy firsthand, then you know just how memorable of experience it can be. In short, take every imaginable precaution.

Avoid These Mistakes

Next, don’t wash non-contaminated clothing with contaminated clothing. You will also want to keep the loads small as this will allow the clothing to agitate more easily and increase the chances of removing the rather sticky and persistent urushiol. You’ll want to open up the lid to your washing machine, set your machine and pour in detergent before putting on your gloves and removing your poison ivy contaminated clothing.

A failure to adhere to this step could lead to poison ivy contamination of your machine surfaces.  No doubt this is an easy mistake to make, but it is also one that can serve to spread the poison ivy. There are times to worry about water conservation but when it comes to successfully tackling poison ivy doing a couple of extra loads of laundry is most definitely in your best interest. If you are worried about the extra water used, simply skip a couple of showers!

Keep in mind that poison ivy is an expert at lurking in unsuspecting places. Poison ivy can make its way onto your hiking gear, jackets, the bottom of joes, shoe laces, car interiors, your bike seat, your backpack, your home’s rugs, seats or just about everywhere else. This serves to highlight the importance of immediately removing contaminated clothing and then thinking, quite carefully, about any objects you’ve come into contact with while wearing the contaminated clothing.

It May Be Time to Say “Goodbye” To a Few Garments

If you are thinking that the precautions are quite serious, you are, of course, correct. Considering the pain involved with poison ivy, there are many that feel the best option is to simply bag up and throw away any contaminated clothing. While this may feel wasteful, there is something to be said for this logic.

Ultimately the best choice for dealing with poison ivy contaminated clothing may be to simply say “goodbye” to the items and move on. If this is not a financially viable option then you may want to consider washing the contaminated clothing even more times than the 3 to 4 suggested in this article. Poison ivy is a uniquely painful experience and one well worth the price of even a favorite pair of pants to avoid.

Urushiol is oil-based and quite powerful. It doesn’t come out of clothing very easily and once poison ivy gets into your skin you are in for a rough ride. Remember that poison ivy most definitely earned its poisonous name. It must be treated with respect.