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!!