Crafts
Paper Rainbow Butterfly Art
An alternate title to this post could be, “How to Turn Birthday Decor Into Art.” Or, I could have titled it: “The Time I Spent 50 Gajillion Hours on a Silly Project.” Before we moved to Georgia, my daughter had a “Rainbow Butterfly” themed birthday party. There might have been unicorns in there too. It’s hard to pick just one favorite thing when you are turning six. Anyway, I had this brilliant idea to make it look like a swarm of butterflies were passing by our window. It wasn’t a hard project. It involved construction paper, tape and a butterfly hole punch. I did severely underestimate how long it would take…
Cookie Cutter Stencils and Embellishing a Brown Bag
I thought I’d share a fun trick for embellishing a plain brown gift bag. My secret is using cookie cutters as a stencil. I will confess… my cookie cutters see far more use outside of the kitchen than in it. These are the supplies I gathered to embellish gift bags for my children’s teachers. Ignore the snowflake cookie cutter. I was considering using it for my stencil, but switched to the tree. I insert a small cutting board inside the brown bag so that I don’t cut through it. I then trace the shape of the cookie cutter with a pencil on the brown bag. After that, it’s pretty easy to…
Jazzing Up a Fake Wreath
The house we are renting has a double front door. Cool, right? I have been very proud of myself for resisting the temptation to paint those things. Anyway, I don’t have two wreaths, let alone two matching wreaths, so I was on a mission to somehow dress up those front doors this holiday season. My first inclination was to buy a fresh wreath. Well, they were more than I wanted to spend. Big, surprise. Then I saw a fake wreath at Target and they wanted $25. For a fake wreath! Sheesh. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and their Christmas stuff was 50% off. I found a fake wreath for $5.00, originally…
Using Contact Paper to Make a Deer Silhouette
I’ve fallen for the animal silhouette fad – especially around the holidays. I can’t help it! I have not fallen for the vinyl cutting machines, like the Cricut, which would make creating a silhouette so much easier. I just haven’t been able to stomach the price tag on those puppies. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have one, but then I’d be afraid to waste the vinyl, so then it wouldn’t get used like it should. It’s a vicious cycle, people! It’s often these moments of cheapness frugality that lead me to get a little desperate creative. So, I came home from preschool drop-off last week, did my happy dance…
Holiday Footprint Art
My most treasured piece of holiday decor is not the tree topper or the ornaments from when I was a baby. Nope, not even close. It’s actually this piece of footprint artwork my daughter made when she was 5. Mistletoes? It doesn’t get any cuter than that. And you know I’m a sucker for hand and footprint art. There’s something so compelling to me, as a mother, to have a snapshot in time of their little feet – especially on canvas. If you are looking for a homemade gift idea this year. I thought you might like that one. It’s as simple as letting your child paint the background and…
Santa Belt Magnets
Last year I got on a magnet kick. Don’t ask me why. Sometimes you just get a wild idea and before you know it, your fingers are covered in Mod Podge and you forgot to start dinner. Am I right, or am I right? The result was a whole bunch of these ridiculously cute Santa Belt magnets. Don’t worry. No humans starved during the making of these magnets. We totally had cereal for dinner that night. Problem solved! Here’s what you need to make them: wood discs of some sort, magnets, glue, small paint brush, Mod Podge, tape, craft paint and rhinestones or gems. You may want to sand the wood…
Diary of a Not So Wimpy Girl Free Printable
Recently, my daughter became obsessed with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Have you heard of it? I discovered that she had also started to make her own “diary of a wimpy kid” at the craft table using good ol’ computer paper and a stapler. I love it when books inspire you to do something productive. It gave me an idea to make her a more official-looking cover for her book, with my own spin on the title. Of course, when I had this idea, it was while waiting to board a flight and I had about 10 spare minutes. So, professional and perfect, it is not. Actually,…
Easter Egg Acorns
I so wish I was the original one to come up with a way to repurpose plastic Easter eggs into acorns. Alas, I am but one of the many, many imitators. I made these last year and I still love them this year. I’m predictable that way. Do you remember when nylons came in large plastic eggs? You kids out there remember what nylons are, right? I hear Princess Kate is bringing them back in style. Anyway, when I was little I would put those in my shirt and then laugh hilariously at the lop-sided boobs. Clearly, I was not proper princess material. Moving on… All you have to do…
Painted Pine Cones
I love a good mindless craft. Who’s with me? By the end of the day, my mind is mush. My emotional well-being is exhausted. There’s nothing I want to do more than sit and veg out with an episode of Scandal on Hulu. But, sometimes, my hands like something to do while the rest of me is zoned out. It’s a contradiction of mass proportions. My yard is over-flowing with huge pine cones. I’m kind of enamored with them since I’m used to those itty-bitty pine cones. Clearly, I know my pine cones. Or is it pinecones? Just call me the tree whisperer. The first thing I did was enlist my…
Clever Preschool Art
My son is in 4-year-old preschool or as it is called in Georgia, Pre-K. Let me just say, God bless preschool teachers. Seriously. Bless them for teaching, encouraging and putting up with these young, spirited children. Last week, I thought my son’s teachers really hit it out of the ballpark with the artwork he brought home. Especially during Halloween week when gross and gory is the norm. Perhaps their ideas all came from Pinterest, but I’m still going to give them the credit for pulling it off. How clever is this artwork about the Itsy Bitsy Spider? Why didn’t I think to put a spider ring on a “waterspout” straw?…
