Create-Celebrate-Explore

Holiday Bake, Craft and Sew Along {and a giveaway}

I am over According to Kelly guest posting today for the Holiday-Inspired Bake Craft Sew Along.

As part of the Holiday Bake, Craft and Sew Along I have two special treats for you.  To begin with, I get to help start the holiday season off with a bang, & treat you to an absolutely amazing giveaway as part of our crafty series (details below).  Once you have entered the giveaway, head on over to Kelly's blog to check out my tutorial for DIY reindeer tea towels, which make a fabulous handmade gift this holiday season.

We are giving away a fabulous Prize Package worth more than $700!

One lucky winner will receive...

• Silhouette Portrait: this is Silhouette's newest electronic cutting tool for personal use. Like a home printer, it plugs into your PC or Mac® with a simple USB cable. However, instead of printing it uses a small blade to cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric and more up to 8" wide and 10 feet long. The machine also has the ability to register and cut printed materials.
• DecoArt Glass Paints & Stencils: non-toxic and enviromently-friendly, DecoArt has one of the widest selection of paints and finishes for arts, crafts, and home decorating, which includes over 25 brands of paint and finishes.
• $100 Michael's Gift Card

Simply wait for RaffleCopter to load and enter there! Be sure to check out all the fabulous craft projects shared this month for this Holiday-Inspired Bake Craft Sew series going on all month long. & don't forget head on over to Skip to my Lou & A Southern Fairytale for more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Multiples and More: St Patrick Day Crafts

 

 

Come over to Multiples and More for the instructions on how to make these fun St. Patrick's Day t-shirts with your kids.

AS SEEN ON:

The Crafty Crow ... Red Tricycle ... Babble

Kidzui Blog: Penguin Potato Stamped Shirts

Happy Feet 2 comes out tomorrow.  The kids are super excited to go and see it.  I thought it was a great excuse to make a fun potato stamped shirt with them that they can wear to the movies. 

The full tutorial for making this fun project is over at Kidzui.

A stamped vase cozy (and a giveaway)

UPDATED:  The winners of this giveaway drawn via random.org are no.12 Sabirah and no.32 Kate Dunn.  Congratulations, I will be emailing you shortly.

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I recently received some fabulous Faber-Castell Mix & Match products to try out.  After days and days of procrastinating as to what I should make with them and perusing every single page of the design memory craft blog, I was doing dishes one afternoon and happened to be washing out a large crushed garlic jar to pop into the recyling bin when I finally had an idea.

The jar was just too big for me to give it up that easily, I knew I could re-purpose it and I had remembered reading that the Mix & Match products could be used on canvas, so I decided to make a jar cozy and turn this great jar into a funky vase.

The products I received were these Mix & Match Mixed Media Sampler and Color Gelatos & Clear Stamp kit.

With the various products in the Mix & Match collection you can create some absolutely stunning pieces of work.  I came across this gorgeous artwork on Scrapscene and then this fantastic bird banner (scroll down a bit) on Art Talk (you may want to turn your volume down, there's music).  

Here are the instructions to make the vase cozy:

Step 1:

Using a tape measure, take the measurements of your jar and cut out a piece of canvas allowing an extra 5mm all round for a hem.

Step 2:

Choose a clear stamp and attach to a stampers block.  Fill in the detail on the stamp using the Color Gelatos - you can brush over these with water to create a watercolor effect.  I used 3 colors on mine: The metallic pink gelato around the outside, orange just inside that and yellow toward the center of each wing.  Stamp onto your canvas.

I then used the Art GRIP® Aquarelle Watercolor Pencil in red to highlight the details around the butterfly.  These pencils are permanent, but again, if you brush a little water over the top it creates a beautiful watercolor effect.

Step 3:

Color over a worded stamp using the Metallic PITT® Artist Pen and stamp just underneath the butterfly.  I did this in two stages as the phrase was quite long and I wanted to separate it over two lines.

Step 4:

Using a Yellow Gelato in a downright position stamp a few scattered circles around your design.

Step 5:

Create a frame around your design using a PITT® Pastel Pencil.  Add highlights using the Metallic PITT® Artist Pen.

I had a cardboard scrapbooking frame that I used as a stencil to create the frame around my design.

Step 6:

Sew hems on the top and bottom of your canvas using a zigzag stitch to prevent fraying.  Stitch the open side together using a straight stitch to make a sleeve and very carefully wiggle it down over your jar.

The possibilities truly are endless with these amazing products. 

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And with that, I have a GIVEAWAY!

2 winners will each receive the same kits that I did to create their own masterpiece: the Mix & Match Mixed Media Sampler and Color Gelatos & Clear Stamp kit.

It is very simple to enter, just leave a comment below, ensuring that you leave details on how I can get in contact with you if you are one of the winners.

This giveaway is open to all residents of the United States over 18 years of age and will end on Thursday May 5 at 10am PST when a winner will be drawn via random.org.

To keep up with the latest design memory craft news, please follow them on Twitter and Facebook

 

Disclosure:  I was provided with product for the purpose of this review

Foam Stamps

Hands up if you have a set of interlocking foam alphabet, number or animal play mats.  The twins haven't played with theirs for at least a year.  We are gearing up to move house so I have been tossing and donating left and right. 

Side note: I should also probably be banned from entering stores between now and our move date because I seem to bring home two bags for every one I get rid of.  

During a toss-out vs donate frenzy on Monday I found an entire box full of foam play mat pieces.  I studiously set to work piecing it back together so I could clean it and donate it.  Of course there were at least a dozen pieces missing.  I eventually gave in and tossed them in the trash.  But I felt guilty.  I hate throwing things away. I always try to find a way to re-use items.

Last night when everyone was in bed the light bulb finally went off.  And dumpster diving style I went into the trash bin and retrieved as many pieces as I could.   Thank goodness too because the trash truck arrived this morning.

I dug up some scraps of wood in my craft room and a bottle of Elmer's Craft Bond and set to work making stamps for the kids. 

Then I tested out a couple before the kids came home from school.  The verdict: these work great if you pour a little paint onto a re-usable plate, similar to what we did for the Spring Memory Book project.

Or you can hand paint them and create something like this:

These would make a lovely handmade Easter card for someone special. 

Tire Track Printing

or tyre tracks as my family back home would say.  Somebody is sure to yell at me for spelling it 'wrong'. 

Upon receiving an invitation to a little friend's birthday party over the weekend and finding out that he likes cars and trucks I had the kids make very special wrapping paper for his gifts.

That's right, tire tracks.  So fun.  I purchased a pack of Cars tire stamps from Target for under $4 (4 per pack - located in the party section). 

Another idea I had was to tie another little gift onto each parcel. 

So here is a fun little experiment your kids can do at home.   I call this the "Tire Track Experiment".

Take assorted tires and ink pads and let your kids explore the different patterns tires can make.  The tires we used were from a Lego set, a random tire that had fallen off a car (I put a lollipop stick through the center), a toy car and the Cars stamp.  I'm sure if you have a little boy in the house you have a lot of odd tires laying around in the mountains of cars and trucks they have collected.

This would make a great (shhh and educational) party activity for a cars or trucks themed party too.  Or even just for your kids to play at home.  Don't we all love rainy day activities.  Use assorted stamps and print tire tracks on paper.  The child who matches them all / the most tire tracks together with the stamps wins and receives a small prize.