Artwork + Frame

About a month ago, my 5 year old daughter painted a landscape picture that I just love. I wanted to frame it and hang it in our living room. When I found the frame at the thrift store, I was a little leery. It was big, hideous, and big. And hideous. The thing that I liked was that it was like a 'real artwork' frame. I took a $7.99 chance and took it home. I was able to pry out the linen inner frame before I spray painted it. When it was dry, I put it all back together and hung it up. I love it! 

P.S. What should I do with the original painting? Chuck it? Do something cool with it? It is oil on a thin wood board.

Stained Glass for Kids

My friend had some plexiglass scraps and the idea to make 'stained glass' with our kids. We used a glue stick to glue down the tissue paper scraps. Then we added the top section of plexiglass and taped it together with washi tape. Fun, quick and very colorful on a dreary day!

Shoebox Blanket

Every year, our family participates in Operation Christmas Child. It is a program that sends shoe boxes filled with toys, school supplies, toiletries and other gifts to kids living in poverty around the world. I am always on the lookout for things to fill our shoe boxes, and the other night my daughter and I decided to make a simple flannel blanket. There is obviously not a ton of room in a shoe box, but I always try to put something soft and snuggly in each box. We embellished it with a yard sale find crocheted flower, and some zigzagged topstitching.  I think we will be making many more of these!

Potato Print Penguins

We made these penguin prints last week in preschool, and they were a big hit. They involve everything kids seem to like: glue, paint, and googly eyes! To make some penguins with your kids, you need:

construction paper
two large potatoes
black and white paint (we used acrylic craft paint)
glue
salt in a shaker
orange construction paper
googly eyes

Cut one potato in half lengthwise. This will be the body. Cut the other potato in half horizontally. This will be the belly. Brush the large potato stamp with black paint, and stamp as many penguins as you like. While the paint is drying a little, brush glue underneath the penguins and sprinkle with salt for snow. Brush smaller stamp with white paint, and stamp bellies (black paint does not need to be completely dry). To finish, cut beaks and feet from orange construction paper and glue on. Add googly eyes, and voila! You've got yourself a whole herd of happy penguins!

Bakery Box

To complete the bakery set, my son and I made a bakery box. He got bored with this project after about 3 minutes, so I ended up making it mostly myself. I had a sturdy hinged box which we covered in fabric and hot glued the edges on the inside. Then we lined it with scrapbook paper and trimmed it with rickrack. The window of the box is two layers of contact paper, sticky sides together. I am not sure how long it will last, but the gift was a huge hit, and has gotten a lot of use already!

Easy Kids Craft

Here is an easy craft I did with the kids before Christmas. It could be easily translated into a craft for any season. I saw a similar idea here and used that as inspiration. Begin by cutting the desired shape(s) out of construction paper. Cut a sheet of contact paper the same size as your construction paper. Peel backing off and adhere to one side of the page. Using strips of tissue paper, fill entire 'window,' pressing down to make sure they stick. We added glitter and sparkly yarn to ours too. After the space is filled, cover the back with a layer of contact paper. Hang in the window and enjoy!

Child-made Christmas Present

This year the kids made a few handmade gifts of their own. For this, my son drew a creature on plain white fabric with colored Sharpie markers. Then we cut it out and I sewed it together. He stuffed it all by himself. He was pretty proud to give his little brother something he had made himself!

Salt Dough Landscape

My son and I made this landscape for him to use with his growing collection of animals, pioneers, Indians, cowboys and pirates. The base is plywood, and no, it is not square. We just raided my husband's scrap pile and used what we found. We made armatures out of foil for the cave and the mountains, and hot glued them to the base. Then, we mixed up a large batch of salt dough and went to work. After the dough dried, my son painted the whole thing with acrylic paints. The pond was made by first coating the adhesive side of sticker paper with glitter, then using spray glue to adhere it to the base. On top of the glitter, I used some sort of glaze stuff that is supposed to be for scrapbooking I think. It creates a nice, raised water-like texture. After we did all that, I sprayed on a generous coat of varnish. The hardest part was waiting for the various stages to dry. That seems like an eternity for a five year old!