Boredom Buster- mini picasso's

I wonder if you can get scholarships in paper tearing? My girls would totally rock that degree! I decided to put their paper tearing skills to use and have them make a piece of art with their bits of paper instead of a bigger recycling pile. 8 yr old M is really creative and drew the design she wanted on a 24"x24" piece of very thin wood. We painted it cream with craft paint and it became her blank canvas. She wanted it to go in her bedroom so we used paper that coordinated with her bedding. Both my girls got into the paper tearing and we created piles based on the color of paper. Then we painted on modge podge in small areas over our penciled drawing and added the torn paper, making sure it overlapped each other.
The finished piece of art, still needs to be hung in her bedroom but you get the idea. What I love most about this project is that she & lil sis created this all on their own with very little supervision. They couldn't be prouder of themselves & I love that this project kept them busy for over 2 hours!

How to Make Hanging Bells to "Bell Train Your Dog"

It's summertime and my kids are bored. How do I know? Let's just say my 7 year old watched me cutting up strawberries and told me the way I was cutting them up was "fascinating" "seriously? fascinating?" I said. "Yes," he replied, "this is the most interesting thing I've done all day."

So of course I decided we'd better find a useful craft project...

Over the past couple of months several of my friends have adopted dog's and all of them have been talking about this bell training method. Jack doesn't bark to let us know he needs go out, he moves the wood shutters up and down to let us know he needs a potty break. Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well for for the one shutter he scratches to make his needs known. I thought the bells might be a better idea and set out to make some. Since I couldn't find any kind of tutorial I pretty much made this up with the help of the two little boys and a couple of easy to find craft supplies.

Supplies:
Ribbon (I used about 42")
Bells
Snaps (and snap attacher)
Split rings

I first measured down approximately 11" and then folded the end of the ribbon up 1/2" to hide the raw edge. Next, I folded the ribbon down approximately 5" to make a loop to hang over the door knob. I then secured the folded end with a pearl snap to secure the door loop. This will use your first 11" of ribbon. Next, I measured down approximately about 11 inches and created a snap loop to add my first set of bells. The bells consisted of a split ring attached to two bells to help give it more "jingle." Lastly, I hung the ribbon from the door and figured out about how long I needed to make it so Jack could ring it easily. Then I attached another set of snaps to make the loop on the end and attached the last set of bells so they could easily be rung.

Honestly, this is the hard way to do it. Trying to figure out which way each set of snaps needs to be attached so they're all facing the right way takes a little bit of thinking (not much, just a little). While this may add an additional 4 minutes that it takes to make this it is worth the time because the bells can be removed and the ribbon can be washed. The alternative to adding snaps would be to simply add the split ring and then stitch it closed.

Total cost was approximately $4 which included leftover split rings and two bells. Total time, about 12 minutes. The majority of the time was spent deciding on ribbon.

Here's a picture of Jack. He's very apprehensive of the bells (then again, he's afraid of rain, lightening, rabbits, other dogs...) Since he's a quick learner, especially with treats around, we hope it won't take long until he's using the bell instead of my shutters.

Painting the Solar System

I've always had aspirations to be a great artist. However, sometimes what you hope to be and what you actually are are two different things. I've decided when we're ready to put my little man into a big boy bed that I'll redecorate his room in a space theme. We're not quite ready to give up the comforts of the crib yet, so I'm taking a slow pace at getting the decorations together. I've been looking online for some inspiration when I found this art piece on etsy. Amazing! I just absolutely love it. But I wasn't quite as in love with the price tag when I figure I can make something "just like it" at home.

Etsy's version

Enter the finished solar system. Three weeks of off and on crafting landed me with this puppy. Not quite as spectacular as the etsy find, but I think I'll still stick it up in his new room. Hopefully those wobbley orbit lines won't drive me batty. Click on it to view larger.

My version

Here's how I made it, in case you're curious. I took a 16x20 canvas board ($5) and layered on the navy blue acrylic paint. I used a brush at first, but I was going for a real swirly effect, so I was eventually finger painting. After that dried, I dotted on some white spots for starts. I was trying to use the splatter method I remember doing in 4th grade, but after a few mess-ups, I went back to painting them by hand. The hardest part of this project was choosing the scrapbook paper. I used quite a few scraps I had laying around. To apply, I just mod podged them on. The swirls were obviously my nemesis here, which I hand painted on. Should've used a paint pen or something, but I got impatient towards the end. I searched around a lot for multi-colored, multi-sized alphabet letters, and I actually found these at walmart for a dollar. Score. So instead of paying $156 for the etsy version, I paid around $8 for my homemade, slightly smaller version. Hubby should be proud.

Bedroom Bling

I love parties. I especially love the decor of parties. The puff balls hanging from the ceiling, crepe paper stringing from one wall to the next. It's just fun & happy. That's what I wanted my M's room to look like. She's just like me, all about the party! So I made this very simple banner to hang in her room. And when I say simple, I mean easy peazy! Here's what I did:
Step one. Fabric- I bought 4 different fabrics each 1/3 of a yard. This is enough to make 2 banners, but you need the length so 1/3 is the smallest I could buy for my banner to be the size I wanted. I made each triangle 12" wide at the top and 13" in length. After I had one cut out I layed it on top of the fabric and used my rotary cutter to cut the next one. I cut 3 triangles in each fabric, but only used 10 for my final banner.

I don't have a picture of this next step but I used grosgrain ribbon and sewed the triangles onto the grosgrain using matching hotpink thread. I think hot glue or fabric glue would work just as well though. I didn't back the fabric or anything. Unless its backlit by a window, it's not necessary. Here's my finished banner- and let me just say she loves it!
The cost of the project was $8.10 for 1.3 yards of fabric and 5yrds of grosgrain ribbon. It only took around 30 minutes to make & I can't wait to make more for my other two kids. I think this would be great for baby showers & birthday parties too. So easy & fun!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'... Crayon Roll

Ok, I'll admit that my son does NOT like to color, but I've been dying to make a crayon roll forever. Like at least a year. I kept thinking that it looked really hard, so I've never tried. Then I saw this tutorial and realized how super-easy it could be with the right tutorial.(I couldn't get a direct link to the crayon roll tutorial, but just go to her blog, then click on her tutorials, scroll down and you'll see it. I whipped this puppy out in no time. Maybe I'll get super-ambitious and make them for all the nieces and nephews for Christmas this year. Maybe I shouldn't put that in writing... Anyway, go make one yourself and be proud of your super-organized crayons in the bottom of your purse!

Celebrity Encounter

Yep, almost killed my computer yesterday. Those virus people are getting better at their "jobs." Thankfully I stopped it before any permanent damage was done. Whew!
Due to Father's Day weekend, I didn't have much time to fit in any crafts to show you, but I thought I'd show you my latest "celebrity" encounter. In the tiny little college town we live in, we rarely have anyone famous come. So when David Archuleta came last week- BIG deal. I was a big fan of his during his season of American Idol a couple years ago, and it turns out he hasn't changed much since. He's still super awkward when he's talking to the audience, but when he sings- wowza, what a voice. A couple days before the concert, an old friend and I decided to go to his book signing. We waited 2 1/2 hours in the blowing cold wind to get his autograph, but it was totally worth it to act like teenagers for an afternoon. We made friends with all the 13 year olds around us and had a great time! Here are some pictures from the two events. Sorry, they're a little out of order.

Here I am getting my book signed by David. I must be hilarious because he managed a bit of a smile on my behalf.

I had to "use the restroom" while standing in line, and he was in the bookstore doing interviews for the local tv stations.

Here we are waiting in the wind. I didn't realize how cold it would be, so I used a baby blanket to keep warm!

Here he is at the concert.

Here's a picture the hubs took of me while I was jamming out to "Crush." SUPER fun night!

Baby's Room Finale

So we just finished K's room and I'm so excited to be done with it. It's just in time for his 20 month birthday! Pathetic, I know! We cleaned out our craft room and turned it into a nursery right before K was born. With all the painting and "organizing" (aka: shoving all my crafts into 4 different closets) and being 9 months prego- I was exhausted! His room went neglected and unfinished for 19 months. I figured we better hurry and hang everything up before we move him into a real bed and I want to change his decor. I've invisioned this wall of K's for 2 years now. In my mind, it's filled with all sorts of colorful industrial letters found at various flea markets and antique stores. Did you know that the letter K is VERY popular? Well it is- every time I find a vendor who has some vintage store signs- they ALWAYS tell me that they don't have any, and probably WON'T have any. Depressing huh? So here's my make-shift letter K wall. Not quite what I invisioned but I'm pretty sure my son won't care. I've collected as many paper mache and wood K's as I could and modge-podged paper over them. Then, my sister made some vinyl letter k's for me to fill in the empty space. Eventually, I want to find better K's and add to the wall, so for now, it's a work in progress. My husband insisted on making my son a mobile of airplanes before he was born. When I brought home the airplane crib bedding my husband got very excited about the thought of this mobile. I think it finally dawned on him that there would be something more to his life than tutu's, nail polish and purses! I know my baby is awake from his nap when I hear him make the sound of airplanes flying- so cute! Welcome to your finished bedroom K- I'm sure you will grow up to appreciate all the work this entailed and really appreciate the fact I gave up my craft room for you (insert sarcasm). But, you are worth it!
(picture above) This is the wall of K's- a work in progress!

The dresser I just had to buy when I was pregnant with my first child- because I thought for sure I was having a boy! I only had to hold on to it for 8 years!

The mobile my hubs made when he found out I was doing an airplane room.