Itty Bitty Kitty Stencil

This is the face of one of the cutest toys in our house. I thought I'd make a quick stencil tonight. It was simple!!

I made a sketch of the little kitty on plain paper. 

Then I covered it with clear contact paper, trimmed out the right pieces, and taped it to a shirt of my Munchkins. Some fabric paint, a stencil brush, and voila!!!!

 I love the simplicity of stencils. More specific, I love to make **simple** stencils. And, they look so great. This is one cool cat. :-)

Some Great Link Parties I Joined:

Paint Chip Pointillism

 Alright, I'm no Georges Seurat either. This is my lazy almost-spring-ish day response to his masterpiece of pointillism, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. This little paint chip craft was a lot of fun to do. It's also a painstaking project (well, my estimation of painstaking is anything that doesn't produce immediate results in a few minutes....yeah, I'm not known for my patience). It might not even look like it took me a long time, but it IS a very time consuming craft. And, I didn't even have to mix any paint!!

 Imagine Seurat with his Grand Jatte taking TWO YEARS to perfect. He began this work at the age of 25 in an attempt to prove a scientific **ahem** point ....that painting with dots (known as pointillism) would make a more powerful, striking color than painting with brush strokes. I'm not sure I agree with his premise....but, I love his art. 

So, the simple directions to this craft is to grab some paint chips from your local hardware store (I picked up a variety of spring colors with the help of my Munchkin ), your trusty paper punch, some glue, and some paper and a paintbrush. There are so many things you could do with this craft: cards, picture frames, wall art, you name it. Or, more appropriate, you imagine it. 
I've linked up this post at Everything Etsy, Skip to My Lou, and Today's Creative Blog. Check it out and I promise all the ideas you find there will inspire!!

Prehistoric Art

On a trip to the local (make that the only??!!) Maine aquarium, I noticed a craft they had for young kids. It was a plywood board with puffy paint drawings on the suface of many different kinds of sea life: just about everything from lawnmower blennies to lobster. Seriously, there is actually a fish called a lawnmower blenny. I had to mention it. Anyway,  the Aquarium also had a stack of different colored papers and a plethora of crayons with which to do some rubbings of the surface. I probably lingered at that table for twenty minutes and brought home a stockpile of miniature art. Needless to say, I was inspired.

Just the other day, I was gifted a large box of unused miscellaneous crafts (there really can't be a better present for the mom of a preschooler) and in the box I found a package of 3d fabric paint....and I finally remembered my inspiration. My daughter has been really interested in Dinosaurs recently, so I thought something along that topic might be just the ticket. I even added in a little scenery (that's a volcano btw). It took about a day to dry. By the next morning, we were making some dino drawings!!

 

St Patty's Day Sprouting Irish Derby Tutorial

After some deliberating over an Irish craft I came up with this doozy-a doozy of a derby. And it satisfies some of that planting instinct that seems to affect people (or maybe just me??) this time of year. It's a pretty easy little derby you can create with your own munchkin buddy or by yourself. 

You'll need:

Small Flower Pot

Medium size Saucer

Emerald Paint

Flathead Screwdriver

Rock (or hammer) ;-)

Green Glitter

Coffee Filters 

Wood Glue

Elmer's Glue

Potting Soil

Clover Seed

Start with your clay pot and base and knock out a large hole out of the bottom using the screwdriver and your trusty rock. I honestly use a rock more than a hammer when pounding things in.....they seem to be much more available in my house. I did things a little backwards and painted first, then knocked out the holes....so I had to do a little touch-up painting.

Next, you need to put a little hole for drainage in the middle of the saucer. I had attempted to use a drill and a nice large drill bit the first time through but it turns out that I kinda suck at drilling things. I couldn't seem to get it to work. No doubt, you may be more handy at it than I am.....however, with the clay pots, it's super easy to chop a little hole using simpler tools. Either way works!!

Now it is *glitter time*. Once the pots are dry, make a mixture of glue and water and a bit of the emerald paint and paint your pots with it. While they are still wet, sprinkle some glitter as evenly as you can over the whole thing.

 

Then, use the wood glue to attach the pot to the saucer (that you have drilled a drainage hole in). Let it dry. Then douse the finished project with the glue mixture and the glitter.

  

Now, it's time to use the coffee filter. Take one coffee filter and put a little bit of soil in it then stuff it gently into your flower pot and place it over the drainage hole in the bottom. This will help to keep the soil from draining out of the pot when you water it (it's a great trick for any potted plant). Open up the filter and press it up against the insides of the pot as wide as it will go. Then fill it up with the rest of the soil and water it (you'll want it sitting on a folded paper towel). No doubt you will need to add some more soil and water to make it close to level with the top (you don't want it to be higher than the lip or it will spill over when you water). 

It's time to put the seeds in as well!!  The clover should sprout fairly quickly over the next couple of weeks!!

  

And, there you have it, your St. Patty's Day Sprouting Irish Derby. This should be a really fun (if a little extensive) kids craft!! 

Putting my Money on Monet

Over the weekend I finished the Herculean task of organizing my crafting supplies and moving them from the Munchkins closet to a new space. Once I saw the wall space available, I started to envision what kind of mural I could paint to transform the space into something more likely to inspire imagination and play. In the summertime, I like to plant a large flower garden and assign the task of caring for it to my daughter and I. We stick with all of the non-toxic varieties (it's really important when gardening with children that you are all aware of the toxic nature of most flowers and many plants....be sure to check out this link). We plant mostly batchelors buttons, cosmos, sunflowers, pansies, nasturiums, torch tithonia (mexican sunflower), zinnias, etc. She adores it. We all do!! I try to plant it so that it creates a special space for her and her friends to enjoy nature and pretend. 

 

  The garden started slow this year, not because we were slow to plant, but because of about a month of rain. 

  

 

The cosmos *loved* the rain and grew so tall. It waited to flower until the rain had stopped....and by that point it towered over even me!!

  Long story short, that garden is what this mural is based on. The Munchkin is pleased with it, my husband is pleased with it....I am a bit of a harsher critic. Well, I like how the stamps all turned out. Here's how I did it. 

 

Sponges trimmed to all different shapes and sizes!!

I based the shapes on the images of the flowers I had from the garden. 

Enough. I think I'll leave the murals to Monet and stick to gardening.