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.

4th of July Party Ideas for Kids

 Here are a few fun details to add to the party this year and make July 4th extra special for the little ones. This is a super easy way to make a cool and festive party cup without using disposable cups.

 Grayson helped me decorate some small mason jars with red, white and blue felt star stickers.

 We added a fun paper straw and some strawberry lemonade and he was as happy as could be!

 No one wants to be baking in July! For an easy special treat we cut stars out of an ice cream sandwich using a very small cookie cutter. The kids quickly rolled them in sprinkles and we laid them on wax paper to go back into the freezer. So easy and my kids loved making them (and eating them!!)

 You can easily change these up for any party theme with all sorts of shapes and colored sprinkles.

 These disposable tins are great for crayon making. Add your old broken crayons and pop into the oven for a few minutes (300 degrees.) Once melted just pour right into a candy mold. We used stars for this 4th of July.

Pop into the freezer for about 10 minutes and your crayons fall right out of the molds. If you would rather more prominent colors--melt each color in separate tins.

These would be fun to have at the kids table and also has a cool party favor.
I shared these ideas and many more over at Kiwi Crate. Head there to check out more.

Happy 4th of July! Make wonderful memories, eat great food, laugh, love and be safe!!!

Red, White and Blue Tie-Dye for The 4th of July

 That's my cutie patootie nephew above, eating ice cream in his red, white and blue tie-dye. Is that photo just screaming the 4th of July or what?! Yes, tie-dye is a necessity for the 4th and really easy to do!

 You need a t-shirt, (did I just state the obvious? Sorry!) plastic gloves, rubber bands, plastic bag and red and blue dye. If your dye does not come with those great squirt bottles then you will need those, too.

 With a damp t-shirt you will pull up from the center and start to twist. This is for traditional style tie-dye. You can also just twist in random spots to create small star-bursts all over the shirt.

 Start to rubber band the shirt as you go.The more bands the more design you get. I usually use about 8-10 per shirt.

 OK, this is a must do outside part of the project. Once your shirts are all twisted and secured with rubber bands you can start dyeing. Squirt the dye right onto the shirt using enough to saturate the shirt. Try to keep the colors separate. They will blend quite a bit if they touch too much. Once they are covered well with dye place the shirt into a plastic bag over night. The next day cut the bands off and wash (alone) in the washing machine.

 And now you got yourself some pretty cute 4th of July gear! For more details I shared this tutorial over at Kiwi Crate.

Happy 4th!!!

With Love,

Em, Gracie, Neh-Neh and Jewels

Easter Bonnet

 Sometimes you may notice in photos of Emma, large flashy rings, several strings of beads around her neck, sticker "earrings" on her ears and clothes that only a five-year old with an early opinion for fashion would choose. Yes, she already has an eye for the runway. Often, we are told "you are going to be in trouble in a few years!" But, I love her creative eye and her love for style already at five years old. I'm sorry, I just find it adorable! I'll get back to you in ten years!

 On to our sweet Easter bonnet (styled by Emma.) Can you believe this hat started as a paper bag? Yep, we just rolled it down until we had a hat. This technique could work for so many different hats. I think I may make Grayson a pirate hat soon. He would love that. Yes, while Emma loves fashion, Grayson is more of a pirate loving kid and yes I am embracing that one too and hoping that in ten years there is no need for further addressing of the issue. Hehe...imagine that!

 With some paint our paper bag started to turn into a hat. Emma mixed a few colors to get this perfect shade of lavender. Pretty, right?

 A few details and some hot glue and we were set. I am working with Emma on learning to use the hot glue gun. This makes her smile from ear to ear. Any kind of grown-up step and she is in absolute heaven.

There you have it! Our homemade Easter Bonnet. For more details on this project check out my full tutorial on Kiwi Crate!

Pet Frog

 Since the weather has warmed up here we have been hearing a chorus of frog friends singing melodies each evening to us. It sounds as if there are a thousand frogs outside our home, but have still yet to see one frog. We decided to make our own!

 My favorite crafts require a little nature walk. We took a nice long walk and collected things that the kids thought would make good frog building materials. Rocks and leaves seemed to be the best nature goods among the two!

 

 With a little glue, googly eyes and felt feet our rock became a new pet for the kids to play with.

This guy got well taken care of since everything in our house gets a name, a bed and of course some frog food. Although, Emma made this one a vegetarian since she was not willing to collect bugs for her new pet.
My full pet frog tutorial is over on Kiwi Crate.

St Patrick's Day Painting Fun

 Remember that paper roll heart stamp I shared for Valentine's Day? Well, stamp it three times to make a simple little shamrock and a wine cork makes a great stamping tool too! Yes, you must sacrifice and finish that bottle on wine for the sake of your children's St. Patrick's day art fun. Someone has to do it, right?

And lastly, Grayson and my sweetie nephew Nicholas enjoyed stamping with some shamrock cookie cutters. I put an assortment out the next day and Emma made a entire cookie cutter scape. She had fun filling the images in after with markers. This is an easy set-up activity, great for lazy weekend mornings. I have shared this over at Kiwi Crate, join me there.
Can you believe just four more days until we are mid March! This year is flying by.
Happy St Patrick's Day!

Kool-Aid Paint

 My kids think kool-aid is an art supply and that is all. I think it's pretty fantastic, but I am sure someone will burst my bubble soon and fill them in on the joys of drinking pure sugar, but in the meantime we continue to make kool-aid play dough and kool-aid paint with our very common "art supply."

 This is so easy to set-up. All you need is those little colorful packets and water. I usually use an entire packet to about 1/4 cup of water or so. Warm water helps dissolve the kool-aid a little faster.

 That green one was actually a frosting add-in (yum!)

 Em loves to help make these paints and she loves that her paintings smell so good! When we were using these paints the other day we thought this would make the perfect yummy smelling Valentines for friends. I'm thinking red kool-aid painted hearts on card stock. What do you think? It's almost a treat!

 Happy Valentine crafting!

I shared this over at Kiwi Crate. Head over for more Valentine's Day fun!

Homemade Valentine's

 We have finished our school Valentine's today! Hooray! I love making homemade Valentine's with the kids. I'm not even sure they know there is anything different, but man I could certainly use a nap now.
Grayson loves to create just as much as Emma and this being his first school year he was very excited to make Valentine's for his adorable little friends. We went with a rock theme since, well, my boy loves rocks. I just love how our rock dino cards came out. For more instructions head over to Kiwi Crate.

 I change what is on our art table seasonally. For the past couple weeks I have had a "salad bar" style Valentine making station out for the kids to create with however they wish. These are supplies we always have on hand, but for some reason when I present them in a different way they are so very exciting to Emma.

 She has made some really beautiful Valentine's for family and friends. I usually get at least one a day and I love it! Check out my tutorial over at Kiwi Crate for more tips on making an open Valentine station for your kids.

 I know I shared this one with you all already, but after Emma insisted on adding a beehive we added this sweet addition to her school Valentine's. I just love the beehive, it's like it was meant to be all along. We used card stock, yarn and some cute bee stickers we found in our way too big sticker box!

 And I tell you just how to make those darling bees over at Kiwi Crate.

Lastly, finger print heart stamped cards are always a fun one for children to make. I shared this simple and fun Valentine at Kiwi Crate.
I hope you try and make some homemade cards this year. Happy Valentine's Day!
xo
green owl mama

Ribbon Mobile

 The sun was out today in our rainy city and all we wanted to do was to be outside and make pretty things. We painted shells and made nature puzzles, but what I adore most from our afternoon is this ribbon mobile. So many colors and textures, it is simple, but stunning and I made it with my two favorite people.

 Materials:

embroidery hoop

ribbon

twine

 We collected scraps of ribbon from our ribbon drawer and Em cut different lengths using her trusty safety scissors! The more patterns, colors and different lengths--the better!

 We tied them all around the embroidery hoop and watched it slowly become a magical tree ornament for our yard.

We used twine to hang our new yard decor right in our backyard. It makes me happy to look out our kitchen window and see our creation.

I shared this at Kiwi Crate. Head there for more fun family crafts.

Butterfly Print

 Hello Friends! It has been awhile, I know. I am sorry I have not been very inspiring these days. I have a full plate at the moment, but I hope you follow my FB page, as I try to post inspiration from others there whenever I can.
I had a few moments tonight and wanted to share a fun spring craft that I have been doing with the kids for a couple years now. I just love celebrating seasons with my children. Talking about it and opening our eyes to the changes around us really make me appreciate each and every season so much more...especially when you are looking through the eyes of a three-year-old.

 For the our butterfly print all you need is a heavy weight paper, black fabric (puffy) paint and watercolor paints.

 We folded a sheet of paper and opened it up. I helped the kids to draw half of a butterfly using the fabric paint.

 We folded out sheet back up and pressed firmly down to spread the paint to the other side.

 Do I need say more? She was excited by this part. You open up the paper and have a beautiful butterfly. Hard part is to let the paint dry after this step, but it doesn't take too long.

We used watercolor paints to fill in our butterfly. They came out beautiful and both kids requested to make more. I say that is success!

Happy spring! I will be back more often come April...promise!


I shared this over at Kiwi Crate. Check it out!