Anthropologie Style Snack Jars for Teacher Appreciation

 We made some sweet snack jars for our teachers this week. Just a small way to say thank you. I can imagine teachers barely have a moment to grab a snack in a day filled with 20+ children. So, we decided to avoid the chocolate and go for some healthy bars and fruit leather that would be a nice pick-me-up in a long day. Bonus--we (handy husband) added these knobs to the top of each jar making a very Anthropolgie style canister for them to keep.

 The kids helped me fill the jars (and you don't need to buy jars, just recycle them from tomato sauce, pickles or whatever comes in your glass jars.) My husband drilled a hole in the top of each lid and did some other stuff that I really can't explain well, to get the knob to stay in place (sorry!)
I planned on having Emma write those little notes to attach, but her 5-year-old time limit was up, but her heart was there! We chatted about what teacher appreciation was and why teachers are so important.
Remember to thank all those teachers this week. They are truly angels on earth!

School Replica Fairy Garden for Teacher Appreciation

 I was first introduced to Fairy Garden's from the fabulous (blog crush of mine) Pink and Green Mama. That's one of hers above, isn't it sweet? And guess what that beauty is planted in, a salad bowl! Genius! Since being inspired over on MaryLea's happy blog space I have been really enjoying (OK, more like addicted...alright, alright a little obsessed) with my fairy garden building. I mean really who doesn't love all things fairy, miniature and sweet as can be?

 I hosted a fairy garden workshop party to benefit Emma's school and well, of course I needed a sample garden for the kids to see. I decided a little replica fairy version of their school would be fun. And who better to give our fairy school garden to than Emma's wonderful teacher...oh and teacher appreciation week is around the corner...perfect!

I drilled holes in a large salad bowl (thanks Pink and Green Mama!) and we got to work making all the details of Emma's school very very small. Our school is pretty awesome, it has chickens and a climbing rock, but what I love most about this fairy school is the tether-ball, holy cuteness! We used one of those paddle ball party favors for that gem.

 Grayson has some pretty great teachers, too! He loved helping me place the rocks on the little tiny path to his school house.

It's amazing all the miniature findings you can find at the craft store now. Who knew? This new hobby can get a little dangerous!

 And here is one that stayed in my yard. 

Teacher appreciation week is this week! Be sure to tell your teachers how amazing they are. Be sure to thank them for teaching, guiding, watching and loving your children.

Thank you to the special teachers in my children's lives. These are the teachers that are setting the bar high for years to come. 

Thank you to my amazing brother and sister-in-law(s) who teach with all they got each and every day.

Thank you to all who teach with love each day. I admire you all so very much.

Papel Picado for Cinco De Mayo

 Have I told you I love celebrating....everything?! Not only is it fun for the kids, makes wonderful family memories, but it is also an opportunity to teach the kids about different places and cultures. Cinco De Mayo is this Sunday! Start the celebration by crafting some Papel Picado's to decorate for the occasion.

 There are many ways to make these beautiful paper banners, but we kept it very simple so that both kids could be included in the process and we could all craft together. We used Tissue paper and scissors and used the "snowflake" technique to create our banner.

 Some twine and tape put all our tissue flags in place.

Simple, but beautiful. Check out my full tutorial at Kiwi Crate.

Pond Themed Playdough

 Emma's class has just started a pond study (I know, pretty cool, right?)  To go along with this fun theme I made some pond inspired playdough for her to explore with after school today. She was thrilled and had so much fun building little ponds and showing me all the things she has been learning.

 What does pond playdough smell like you wonder? That was my dilemma at first and then...of course! Tea tree oil! Perfect to give the dough an earthy sort of smell. Tea tree oil is also anti-viral and a natural lice repellent...oh yea, tea tree dough is looking good for a kindergarten classroom!

Recipe for Pond Playdough

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

3 tbs oil

4 drops of tea tree oil

1 cup boiling water

liquid watercolors

1. Add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, tea tree oil and oil to a large bowl.

2. Add the boiling water and quickly mix everything together. The dough will be sticky and seem too wet at this point.

3. Dump the dough to a flat surface and slowly add a little bit of the remainder flour at a time while kneading. Once the dough is a nice soft texture and no longer sticky stop adding flour.

4. Divide dough into 3 balls and knead watercolors into each ball. We did brown, green and blue to keep with our pond theme.

Flowers, flowers and more flowers!

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day at the Tulip Festival. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It's one of those places you wish you could take everyone you know because a picture can never do such beauty justice. It was a wonderful day, even at the moment Grayson completely lost it over Emma asking if he needed help picking the one and only yellow tulip that he wanted to bring home. Yep, he threw himself down in the middle of the yellow and orange tulip rows and screamed and kicked and screamed some more, but I gotta say a two-year old melt down is much more tolerable when spent in the middle of this. 

He recuperated pretty well and decided on a purple tulip to take home. Good choice, Grayson! They were my favorite. With his new favorite tulip in hand and a ride on the cow train we were back to blissful peace out at the Tulip Festival. 

With flowers on the mind I thought I would share some wonderful flower crafts we have been enjoying this spring.

 Starting with Egg Carton Tulips seems appropriate! Isn't it amazing what you can do with an egg carton. They must be one of our most used recycled art good. I can never bare to toss them into the recycling bin.

 With a pipe cleaner stem and a button center these sweet flowers came together pretty nicely.

We used watercolor to add some color, but tempura paints would probably give you a better "pop" of color on your tulips. 

 Speaking of egg carton awesomeness, check out our Egg Carton Spring Wreath!

We started out with a cardboard ring and added egg carton flowers all around it. I just love the way it came out.

 Last summer when I brought home these beautiful white hydrangeas from the store Emma asked if the flower fairies had missed this batch when out adding color to flowers everywhere. I told her they must have and this sparked a new craft in our house and a very important job for her.

Eager to help the fairies out Emma painted each petal of our white hydrangeas with watercolors. Painted Hydrangeas is a new favorite in our house.

 Paper Towel Flowers are pretty fun to make by painting with watercolors right on a paper towel. The colors spread and blend to make a really beautiful creation.

With a clothespin these colorful towels become a sweet little flower perfect for adding on top of a gift.

 More hydrangeas! These Coffee Filter Hydrangeas are so beautiful and easy to make.

OK, a pattern is happening here. I guess when flower crafting we tend to pull the watercolors out. Interesting. A pipe cleaner stem was added to these to make a sweet little bouquet.

 We started our Newspaper Flowers out by painting sheets of newspaper with colored glue. When the sheets dried they were easy to cut into petals and put together to create these fun flowers.

I love that you can still read them! Very cool looking flower.

 This was an Emma idea inspired by her love of creating with q-tips. What I loved about it is that it became a really great fine motor skills activity for Grayson and they could enjoy this one together.

For these Q-tip Flowers I helped by cutting the q-tips in half and they stuck them into different sized styro balls. With a little paint (yes, watercolors!) and a pipe cleaner they became flowers. Very unique flowers, if I do say so.

 Magical Dandelions sprouted up in our yard recently and what a pleasant surprise they were! You can't go wrong with wishes and glitter!

Rose Print Napkins--for Mother's Day

 As summer is approaching I will be slowing down on my little happy place I like to call Green Owl Art. We will still be creating art and memories and I will try and share as much as I can, but sometimes you need to just un-plug!
With that said I am beginning the first Mother's day homemade gift today. I have quite a few to share, maybe I will do one big post if I don't get a chance to share them all.

 We made these super simple and super sweet, rose print cloth napkins with...celery! Very cool through the eyes of a five and two-year-old. They also snacked on (you guessed it) celery, while we created. Healthy snack and fun art...yippee!!

 We used fabric paint to stamp right on some basic cloth napkins. So easy!

A few additions with some green puffy paint and we had a pretty great gift...for me! Yes, she gave them to her dear mama, what a sweetie! Maybe we will make a few more for the dear Grandma's in our life, too.
I shared this over at Kiwi Crate, you check out more details there.

12 Recycled Crafts for Kids

Earth Day is April 22! Perfect time to spend the weekend creating with recycled goods. Several years ago Emma and I created a box to add to our recycling center. We call it the ART BOX and use it to recycle anything we may want to use for art one day. This has been a wonderful addition to our home. It gets the kids thinking in creative ways and always looking at trash as treasure!

I made this Stamp Set for Emma last year. She loved stamping her name and I loved how easy it was to make with some wine corks and foam stickers.

Got shoulder pads? Here is a much better use for them. You can make a fun Jelly Fish or any creature your little one can dream up.

I have to say....Emma and I had a little too much fun with these adorable empty mint tins turned Tin Box Monsters! They are great for holding the kids found treasures now.

Yes, I purposely made a bell with my children. This Homemade Bell is a recycled yogurt container and has been a kick start to several fun games of imaginative play. It is surprising what a child can dream up with just a bell.

While you're saving those yogurt containers, here's another one, these Recycled Party Hats are made from various recycled goods including small yogurt cups and berry baskets.

We made some fun Bottle Top Magnets by just adding paint and googly eyes to a bottle top. It's fun to see them dry and transform into silly little creatures.

 

Got five minutes? Then you can make a super cute no-sew DIY Apron from an old pillowcase!

Emma thought of this one on her own! I loved the idea and she loved pretending to be working hard at her Egg Carton Computer!

 

These very cool and stylish bracelets were made from a plastic water bottle! Make your own Water Bottle Bracelet with just a few simple materials.

Who needs to buy pretend food? Just dig through those recycling bins! My kids always prefer the real stuff over the toys, so to make these packages kid durable I cover them in clear heavy duty packing tape. Check out my Pretend Play post for more details.

Are these cute or what? Oh the things you can do with a paper roll. The mini pom-poms on our Paper Roll Octopus were definitely the perfect finishing touch.

Hope you enjoyed a few of our favorite recycled crafts. It is a wonderful thing to give new life to something that would have just been tossed out. I love that my children can look at an old milk carton and see so much more. 

Happy Earth Day!