Create lasting memories with your child this Mother's Day and make a wall worthy masterpiece with them.
You will find a complete tutorial for this project on my post over at Multiples and More Crafting with kids: Mother's Day art so please swing by there and say hello.
AS SEEN ON:
We gave the twins new paintbrushes for their birthday. Which meant it was probably also time to revamp those old tins I'd decorated for them - they'd been painted on and filled with water and had become quite a mess.
New chai latte tins, some scrapbook paper and a little mod podge later and they were ready to be used.
So once more they are able to put their creative hats on and paint, paint, paint.
Note the matching brushes to paints. One of Marisol's brilliant ideas so they didn't accidentally mix the paints.
One of our favorite summer treats are homemade popsicles and smoothies. We make these weekly. They are quick and easy to make, and the kids love them.
I previously posted about our homemade posicles - which were featured on The Crafty Crow.
As an extra special treat, our kids ultimate favorite smoothie and popsicle is ORANGE. This one isn't quite as healthy as our fruit ones, but very refreshing nonetheless.
Ingredients:
1x Minute Maid Frozen Orange Concentrate
1 x 2lb tub of vanilla yogurt
1 x cup low fat milk
To make:
Put all ingredients in your blender and blend away.
Spoon mixture into popsicle molds.
Top up the blender with more milk (approx 1-2 cups)
Blend again.
Viola. Orange smoothies.
See the container behind the popsicles and smoothie? That was an old Nesquick container (40.7oz). A little mod podge and some rub-on letters and it's now a straw container. I had 2 different packets of straws in the cupboard and both fit in it perfectly.
P.S. I'd like to send a big thank you to Training Happy Hearts for the recent Sunshine Blog Award
Marisol has a lot of trinket boxes. Trinket boxes that are continually knocked over, empty, broken or aren't used to serve their purpose, which was to keep her jewelery organized. So I decided to make her a hanging organizer, which so far she loves and her jewelery remains on it ... for the time being.
This was very simple to make and I had nearly all of the materials required on hand in my stash, which I had picked up on clearance at some time. The only item I needed was the beautiful rose ribbon to hang the organizer - it was also the most expensive item used at $3.99 for this small piece at Beverly's.
Here is how I made it.
The above frame and pegs I had purchased on clearance at (I think) Michaels a long time ago for $1 each.
I glued the pegs to the frame using Elmer's wood glue and then painted the entire item white.
Then using an old loom (which I haven't used since I was in elementary school), I made a piece to fill the center of the frame so that her brooches (pins) would have somewhere to call home.
Then I cut some images from scrapbook paper and using mod podge adhered them to the frame. I then added some hooks to use for bangles, bracelets and rings. Added the ribbon on top. And viola.
Around the time of BlogHer I received an email from Christy Nelson asking if I'd like to participate in her craft challenge. How could I say no. One should never challenge me when it comes to crafting, it's like double dog daring me. So she said I would return from New York to a little box waiting and it would be full of goodies.
This is what I came home to.
I kid you not, I freaked out just a little. What on earth was I going to do with black polyester fabric, paper from Italy, blue glass beads, hardware from Ikea and adhesive squares. I decided to pop it into the too hard basket and contemplate what I would do. Then time seemed to escape me and on Monday I noticed Christy had posted a note saying that photographs needed to be submitted by the next evening. As in last night. I think the color drained from my face at that moment, but I also work much better under pressure. After staring at the box of goodies for 2 hours yesterday morning I decided to drive to the craft store for some inspiration. On the way there though it came to me.
A necklace and a pouch.
The rules of the challenge were that I had to use some of every item provided, but I could use other items too. I could only make 1 item, but could make packaging too (hence the bag).
So here is how the items provided came to be a piece of jewelery.
Step 1: Use hot glue to attach the washer to the black tube (I have no idea what that thing is actually used for)
Step 2: Attach the paper squares to the tube/washer using the adhesive squares. Use a black paint pen to fix up the seam between the 2 pieces of paper. Then coat with 2 layers of mod podge.
Step 3: Thread hemp cord through a fancy jewelery ring and then up through the center of the black tube.
Step 4: I found quite a few black beads in my bead organizer that were the perfect size for slotting inside the black tube. Using a little hot glue I secured them, thus also keeping the cord in place, added a couple of more decorative beads to the top and then tied a knot above the beads and at the end of the cord.
The bag:
The bag was very quick and easy to make.
Cut out a rectangle of fabric and sew 3 sides. Turn over the top and stitch, leaving enough room to thread hemp cord through, then stitch the gap. Tie a couple of knots into the hemp cord, thread on some beads and tie knots at the end of the beads to secure them.
I found a couple of these small unfinished trays on clearance at Michaels about a month ago for $1.99 each.
I thought one would make a perfect condiment tray for our kitchen table.
I used a combination of scrapbook paper with mod podge and paint to make this.
As with most of my mod podge projects, I took a fine piece of sandpaper and sanded all of the edges so you don't get those harsh paper edges and to blend the paint into the wood. Then applied an extra coat of mod podge to the entire tray.
The best part is there is more room to add refrigerated condiments when we need them for meals and we can quickly move everything from indoors to outdoors when we eat outside on those warm spring/summer evenings now that daylight saving is here.
You have seen a photo of the kids play room here, but one thing that has been missing is artwork on the walls.
I whipped up this piece yesterday.
Materials:
How to make:
Coat the front of the canvas with a layer of mod podge. Smooth the scrapbook paper over the top. The paper will appear to bubble a little but don't worry.
Paint the sides of the canvas.
Lay the canvas front side (scrapbook paper side) down on a flat surface. Place something heavy into the recess of the canvass on the back side to apply pressure. Wait until dry.
Once dry, trim any overhanging sections of scrapbook paper (I had a few millimeters around that needed to be cut off). Apply the second coat of paint around the sides of the canvas. Leave to dry.
Take a piece of fine sandpaper and very gently sand the edges where the scrapbook paper meets the painted edges. It will blend the paper into the canvas and paint and give it a worn look (see photo below).
Apply a layer of mod podge to the painted sides and over the front of the scrapbook paper. Again, the scrapbook paper will appear to bubble, but don't worry, as it dries it does smooth out.
Once dry, wind the screw eyes into the top of the canvas and attach the ribbon.
This past week I participated in an Ornament Swap hosted by The Crafty Crow. The idea was to send ornaments to 5 families (names were sent to each of us participating) and they send you an ornament in return. The theme was fairytales. I was honestly stumped. I would have thought this was an easy topic for me seeing as I have a princess in the house, but it truly wasn't. After days and days deliberating and tapping my fingers on my desk, I settled on making magical owls. You see, when you add the word 'magical' and add glitter it kinda fits the theme, don't you think!
So these were the 5 magical owls I sent to my 5 families.
These were fairly easy to make albeit a little time consuming. I started off with an unfinished wooden circle. I placed the circle on a piece of paper and allowing approximately 5mm all around drew a circle. To the circle I added owl-like features and then cut that out to use as my template. I punched a hole into the top of the wooden circle and added scrap pieces of wool as ties. Then using the template I cut out 2 pieces of thick cardboard and scrapbook paper per owl and glued these either side of the wood. To the front side of each owl I added another layer of patterned paper for the breast and painted glitter onto the top section. Once dry I added eyes out of scrapbook paper in layers onto mounting pads and then jiggly eyes and a beak. On top of the paper sections I added mod podge to give it a shiny finish.
These are the 5 gorgeous ornaments I received in return.
From: Rachel
From: Amy (and Cole) and included the story of The Gingerbread Boy.
From: piecelove
From: Stacie
From: Sally. Now I just want to say that there's a very good chance that I messed this ornament up. Unfortunately when it arrived some of the blocks had tumbled off the castle and well, construction is not my strong suit so as best as I could I attempted to re-assemble it.
Our family room is actually a playroom for the kids. From a train table and book shelves, to video games and a keyboard, everything the kids need is in that room. There is even another small room off that room where we keep all of their toys. I decided this should also be the place to display the twins artwork from Preschool.
All you need to make this artwork display is:
While I'm showing off a little of the twins artwork, I want to share with you a picture that Marisol drew a few weeks ago.
She told me that it is a picture of her brother Flynn. I totally see that - head, arms, legs, wild hair.
As seen on:
Do you remember the planting kits that the twins received for Easter, but planted for Earth Day:
Well this mummy may have a black thumb, but so far she’s managed to keep a few things alive and kicking … although the carrots are looking a little sad. So even though we are moving house shortly, the twins plants had outgrown their little pots and needed new homes.
What? Doesn’t everyone pot plants right before moving house and hope that they’ll survive the trip to their new home … or in our case, come on a 2 week road trip with us and hope they’ll survive in the car. They are going to need your prayers … and shhh, don’t tell daddy they are coming on vacation with us. I’m hoping to sneak them into the car without him seeing. Why must I be so sentimental.
So instead of packing, or even cleaning the house for daddy's arrival home today, this mummy spent last night decorating paint tins pots ... well they couldn’t possibly come on a road trip looking the way they did, or being stuck in a disheveled old pot could they.
What you need:
Paint tins Instructions:
Turn the pain tin upside down.
Using the hammer & screwdriver (don’t tell your husband) put a few drainage holes in the bottom of the paint tin.
Paint the outside of the tin using the Outdoor paint. I found it easier with a sponge brush as opposed to a paint brush which left lines on the first coat. It took 2 fairly thick coats.
Once the paint is dry attach your scrapbook pieces using mod podge. Don’t forget to apply a coat of mod podge over the top, just for added protection.
Leave for a few hours to dry, then apply a layer of varnish. Set out to dry overnight.
Put a thin layer of river rocks in the bottom of the tin (to prevent the soil from falling straight through the holes) then fill with soil. Put in your plants and spray gently with water.
P.S. To all of you gardeners shaking your heads at me, I’m well aware that vegetables need to be planted in the ground so they can have room to breath and grow, but I couldn’t stand to leave them behind when we move house (these were the first plants the twins grew from seeds) so I think for now until my black thumb forgets to water them, they’ll be quite happy in their new home.
These pots would work beautifully with flowers planted in them.
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