Firework Crafts

 This is it, my last 4th of July post for the year. I didn't realize how much we have done over the course of a couple weeks. The anticipation was just too exciting, I guess. These last two firework crafts are simple and great crafts to do tomorrow afternoon while waiting for all the festivities to begin.

 This Firework Drawing was done using oil pastels on black paper and then going over them with glitter glue. If you don't have oil pastels, chalk will work well, too. They both give that great "pop" effect on the black paper.

 We started our Popsicle Stick Fireworks by gluing four sticks together to create a star look. Tacky glue works best for this. We added ribbon strands to the back using the same glue.

Next, just decorate. We used dot painters, but just about anything from paint to glitter will get the job done.

Now, I must sign off for a bit. We have dear friends arriving in just about an hour. Wine is chilling, grill is ready and the kids are soaking each other with water balloons as I type.
From our creative space to yours--I wish you a beautiful day.

Treasure Hunt For St. Patrick's Day

 My fellow crafty and very good friend, Gwen, sent us golden nuggets at Christmas time. They were filled with sweet treats and little treasures for the kids. When these arrived in the mail I hid them in the yard and Emma and Grayson went on a golden nugget hunt. They thought this was wonderful and so did I!
These adorable little gems have been on my list of art to-dos for months now and I knew I would find the perfect reason to make them. I think a golden nugget hunt is the perfect activity for some St. Patrick's day fun.

materials needed:
walnut shells (remember to try and keep the shells in tact when cracking)
gold paint
hot glue gun
tiny treasures and sweets

Once you have shelled all your walnuts, lay the shells out on some newspaper and paint them gold. Let dry completely before filling with your goodies. The kids helped me paint these gold, but I had them get into some clay while I filled them. I used some teeny tiny figurines, charms, coins and of course some sweet treats. For the unwrapped edibles be sure to wrap them in a little piece of tissue or wax paper before placing in the shell.
Now to close the shell add a few drops of hot glue on the edge of the shell and close. This will be just enough glue to keep it closed, but also to allow those little fingers to easily pry the shell apart and giggle with excitement as they find their little treasure.

Thank you Gwen, for this great idea and even more so for your great friendship!

New Year's Eve Party Masks

 I love DIY party accessories. It's great to see what each child creates. For New Year's Eve you can't go wrong with some fun masks.

 I grabbed these basic eye mask cut-outs for our New Year's Eve party (you could also cut a simple eyes mask from card stock or a paper plate) and I will provide the kids with dot paints, glue sticks, sequins, feathers and confetti to decorate. They can add a simple craft stick to the back with masking tape to hold over their eyes.

 There is so much that can be done with these. It would be fun to challenge the grown-ups as well!

 This one is just dot paints with confetti on top. So colorful!

 You could use the craft stick or even an elastic band.

I might have to pull these back out for Mardi Gras.

Happy New Year! See you in 2014!!

DIY Swirled Ornament

When you think kid-made ornament you probably think of salt dough stars and hand-print reindeer, but this year we wanted to step out of that box and try something new and "fancy" as Em says. Yes, I am in trouble with that one!

 I came across these glass balls and thought we could definitely use these for our traditional ornament making night.

 I added a drop or two of all surface arcylic paint to each ornament and placed the top back on.

 Shake. shake, shake!! This took some good shaking to get the paint to splatter around. I think I might water down the paints next time we do this to give it more movement. We dried these over night with the top off.

Look how pretty they turned out!  The perfect fit for our "fancy" tree!

Corn "COB" Doll

Don't you just love when you create something on accident?! These corn cob dolls were not at all intentional or planned. It was just one of those magical creating moments that always makes you wonder why it took so long to discover.

 We grabbed some Indian corn from the market to make our traditional November Indian corn jewelry. It's actually a lot of fun to pop the kernels off the cob. Look how beautiful that corn is! It amazes me every year.

 So, back to the dolls. When G started running around the house with his now naked cob and talking like of course any corn cob would--I got an idea!

 We pulled out a few knick-knacks and the hot glue gun and got to work. Em got silly by giving her doll a pony tail.

With some fabric scraps and buttons these corn cob dolls were turning out pretty adorable. Again, why did I not think of this before?? Oh, all those sad cobs that got tossed into my compost each year. 

 Here is Em's creation! It is one of my favorite things she has made. I love that she used a rubber-band as a mouth. It's a keeper!

**Stay tuned for our Indian corn jewelery, coming soon!!

Patriotic Rocks

 OK, summer is already moving way too fast for me and it's not even July yet! Since moving to a place where summer is so celebrated (rain, rain go away....) I just want to dive in and embrace every little wonderful thing that makes up summer. Watermelon slices (Yes, I always cubed it in the past, big difference,) barbeques, road trips, beach weekends and lemonade stands! I want to do it all and I want it to go as slow as possible. Too much to ask?

 Independence Day is just around the corner and we are getting ready for it. We made these fun Patriotic Rocks and I have to say it was one of those crafts that I really got into as well. Love when that happens! We painted our rocks using red, white and blue acrylic paints. The colors really stood out nicely.

I think we will scatter these on our tables outside during our July 4th barbeque.
Happy Summer!!

Dying Easter Eggs Naturally

 

I knew there had to be a way to naturally dye our Easter eggs without spending an entire day boiling onion skins and pureeing spinach. I spent an afternoon experimenting with several different staining type foods. The best results I had were with coffee, beets and turmeric.

 With these few ingredients and some vinegar I was able to make safe natural dyes for my children to use on our eggs this year. For my full instructions check out my article on Family Sponge.

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

 Boy, am I excited! My brother and sis-in-law are arriving this Wednesday for what seems to be becoming our annul St Patrick's Day visit. Kind of random, but hey, I'll take any visits, anytime from my wonderful and very missed family. Last year we had a lot of fun doing the walnut treasure hunt (see below) with the kids, but what we all will never forget is the big epic fail corned beef and cabbage we made (and smelled like for the next three days.) Maybe an Irish pub is in our future this time around.
I started rambling to say..I will be busy having lots of fun and wanted to get a few things posted so here it goes....
Above is our rainbow crayon I made with Grayson. He thought this was very cool and colored rainbows for quite some time with his great new coloring tool! This one is over at Kiwi Crate.

 I mentioned these already, but all the details are on my post from last year...St. Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt. We did this with some of Emma's school friends the other day and it was great watching all the kids search for the golden nuggets.

 Get the details on this great "pot of gold" party favor over at Kiwi Crate. Emma loved putting this rainbow together, but really loved adding the chocolate coins!

 Last year we made these rainbows after seeing our first rainbow in Portland. It was a nice sign that we had lots of rainbows in our future here. This craft has been a very popular one for me. It was a lot of fun too and every time I see it I think why do we not do that more? I think I may break out the watercolors tonight. If you want to join me, check out last years tutorial on just what we did Coffee Filter Rainbows.

Lastly, my sweet girl and her love of accessories! I had to make a compromise with her (yes, at age 4, oh boy)...no hot pink hair strands, but I did agree to a Rainbow Ribbon Hair Clip. Much sweeter.

Wishing you a creative and festive week!

Hanging Rainbow

 While Grayson napped, Emma and I painted a rainbow together. I love our time spent creating, talking and working together. There is something about sitting at our art table that brings us connected in an easy and fun way. I hope in years to come we will continue to share time like this.

We made this beautiful rainbow to hang in our yard as we approach St. Patrick's Day. For all the details on this craft, check out my full tutorial at Kiwi Crate.

Planting Shamrocks

 We are in full swing St Patrick's Day crafting over here! I think it is one of my favorite craft seasons. I don't know why...maybe the rainbows or the sweet shamrocks or the magical sense you seem to feel when reading stories about the two. Either way...I love it!

 After reading a few St Patrick's Day books we found at the library the kids decided they must find some shamrocks. We went on a "shamrock walk" in search of some luck and guess what? We found a whopping total of absolutely none! Apparently we don't have much luck in our yard or anywhere nearby our yard....that would explain last years garden situation.

 We set out to our local nursery and was pleasantly surprised to find all sorts of little clovers. We picked out our favorite and headed home to add the new lucky addition to our Irish abode (I'm not Irish, but I feel confident to say that because we really have no idea what my husband is and I'm sure there is some small amount of Irish in there somewhere.)

 

 The kids decorated the pots with colored masking tape (our new favorite addition to the art table.) We planted our little plants outside and was surprised by how emotional our new plant was. As soon as we started to move the clover plant all the little shamrocks closed up. It was very interesting to see and a great reminder to the kids and myself of how plants are living things too.

 Although, that didn't stop her from snatching one sweet clover off. It was bound to happen, I guess. At least it made for a sweet photo.

 After we finished planting we went inside and did a little research on our new plants. Did you know....
The word shamrock comes from the Irish word "seamrog" meaning "little clover". For more fun facts check out this page all about Shamrocks!

 

Hope this inspires you to plant some "shamrocks" this St. Patrick's Day!

Paper Roll Heart Stamp

I try to encourage my children to look around and find shapes and colors in everything they see. Since we are just a few days away from Valentine's Day we are on the search for hearts.

 With a simple bend of a recycled paper roll we created a heart stamp. It was easy and fun for the kids to use along with some paints and card stock. The perfect Valentine.

 We shared this fun activity for all ages over at Kiwi Crate.

Chinese New Year-The Year of the Snake

 It is very important for me as a mother to teach my children about different cultures, religions and the world around them. This is what makes our world a beautiful place and I hope my children will always see that with open eyes and heart.
I can't get too deep into these thoughts with my five and two year-old, but what I can do is teach them about the world and the things that we may not see everyday. Help them to see the beauty in days that may not be special here, but somewhere people are celebrating.
The Chinese New Year is upon us, February 10th to be exact. We have learned about several traditions and also that this year is the year of the snake. This prompted us to do some research and find out what animal sign we were born under. Turns out Emma should have personality traits of a pig, Grayson a tiger, Dennis an ox and me a darn goat! This got some silly laughs out of the kids and we moved on to celebrate the year of the snake.

We started with a simple play dough craft. We made some extra special dough which included glitter and used beads and googly eyes to create some fun snakes. Check out the details at The Studio.

 Next, we made a moveable beaded snake complete with rattle! We are from the desert so our snake had to have a rattle, of course! Check out my full tutorial at The Studio.

 And lastly, a straw puppet snake. I can't tell you how much my children enjoy any sort of puppet. This was no exception. The snake hisses and funny snake voice were a riot! These details are at, you guessed it, The Studio!
I hope this has inspired you to embrace each day, each celebration and each person. I know my children will!
Happy Chinese New Year!