Snowflake Art Unpinned: The Kids' Version

I found this idea here at Ten kids and a Dog. Head on over there for her tutorial and stay awhile at her cute blog.  It's got some great ideas!

We love to paint here in this house.  This is basically a tape resist on canvas.  

I couldn't find my masking tape, so I used some clear tape that I found floating around.  I don't know what it is designed for, but tape is tape, right?  

We'll see...

So, I got some cheap little canvasses.  I have a ton of them, because I love them.  You never know when the mood to paint something will strike. 

I taped off the shape of some snowflakes.

Can you see it?  Instead of one big one, I gave the girls a bunch of little ones.

Then I told them to paint away.

And they did!

L didn't want me to take pictures of hers, but she got a really nice blend of yellow and white (she chose the colors...yeah, it was basically just light yellow).

O chose blue and red.

It took her a while to understand that we were going to be taking the tape off.  She initially just painted where the tape was and I had to explain a few times that she needed to paint the whole thing because the tape we were putting on the tape was going to be taken off.  She got it in the end, though.

After our paint had dried overnight, we took the tape off.

Then we decided to add glitter.

Everything is better with glitter.

And chocolate.

Anyway...

I gave them a little plastic cup filled with Elmer's glue and they each got their own bowl of glitter.  They were instructed to paint the glue on the snowflakes and then sprinkle the glitter over the glue.

O was very careful about the whole process.

She sprinkled the glitter very carefully and very precisely...but she still managed to get it over the entire painting.  I'm not sure if she did that on purpose or not.

L, on the other hand, was not so dainty.  She globbed the glue on and then dropped the glitter on top in fistfuls.  And look how seriously she took her work.

Here is O's finished project.  

(L didn't want me to take a picture of hers, but it was lovely too, trust me.)

I like it.  I think it turned out very pretty.

Oh, and fair warning...glitter is messy.

Have a vacuum standing by.

-Sarah

Welcome Home

I have this big black filing cabinet sitting right near the entry to my home.  Because of its location, it has a tendency to get very, very cluttered with all the things we drop as we walk in the door.

I hate that!

So, I cleaned it off.

I wish I had gotten a before picture, but that might have been embarrassing.  =)

Anyway...

Now, it looked a little too empty and I had a great excuse to start a new project!

Yay!

I pulled out this framed picture that I found at a dollar store some time long ago.

I pulled out the picture...ripped it off actually.  It was in there pretty tight and I lost the frame in the process of removing the picture. 

That's ok, though.  Because of the way it was put together, the frame wouldn't have worked anyway.  So, I salvaged the glass and the board from the back. 

The rest...well, it gave its life for the cause and I see that as heroic. 

Moving on. 

I pulled out my Cricut and cut out some happy words.

I wanted something that would be welcoming as the first thing we saw coming in the door and also reassuring and uplifting as it reminded us what being home means. 

I laid my words out on the glass in order to see how it worked.

This was my second or third arrangement.  It worked the best.

So I stuck them on permanently.



Next, I got a piece of blue scrapbook paper and Mod Podged it to the back of the glass. 

Doesn't that look better?  

Valentine's Day fun

*Disclaimer*  

Yes, I know Valentine's Day was more than a week ago.  It is still February, though, so at least I'm close, right?

I have always been a fan of Valentine's Day.  Even when I had no Valentine.  I like the idea of a special day to tell the people you love that you love them.  Of course, it is made better when you spend every day loving them, but...I digress.

I was really excited to celebrate this year.  My girls are getting old enough to appreciate the things I do to set the day apart.  We had a lot of fun loving each other.

Here's what I learned:

Sunglasses, while cool every day, just look better on Valentine's Day.

 It is a good day to decorate with hearts.  Get some heart stickers and put them everywhere.

 Everywhere.

 Here is a fun idea.  Stick the stickers back to back with fish line in between them.  Now you have a pretty garland!

 If you have a 1-year-old that can reach the pretty garland, though, it won't stay up for very long.

Food:  It's a fun way to share love.

Pink food coloring makes pancake batter awesome.

So do chocolate chips.

And whisks on the head.

If you put food in happy heart shapes, it is more interesting to eat.

Hamburger patties, loaded with cheese, are a good choice for dinner.  They are easy to shape with a cookie cutter.

But, when you cook them, they will fall apart and instead of heart-shaped patties, you will have...

 

piles of meat.  

Still loaded with cheese, though.

You can fix the lack of Valentine-y-ness with a cleverly placed piece of heart-shaped cheese.

 

And pink mashed potatoes.

Happy Valentine's Day!