whatever

glitter and glue.

this is the last craft we did over the school christmas break.
it's kind of christmassy but can just be fun for winter too. 

for supplies:
we used photographs, school glue, paint brushes, martha stewart fine glitter, mini pom poms and pre cut wood snowflakes from hobby lobby...they were like $1.50? or something like that.




they came already painted white.


take a photo you like and draw a circle over it with whatever circle shape that fits your sowflake...we used a drinking glass from our kitchen.




cut out your picture.
then cover your entire snowflake (only one side) in glue.
we poured glue into a small bowl and painted it on the snowflake.



after the picture is on you cover everything with glitter.
(the fun part. :)


you wouldn't have to use the martha stewart glitter but it IS amazing.
everything looks so good with it.
it's pricey and regular glitter would still work....but the MS stuff is my FAVE.


when the glitter & glue was dry we hot glued the mini pom poms around the photo.


they were very fun to make.  
glitter is messy i know but all you need is a hose attachment to your vaccum to clean it up.
and honestly...i like having glitter fall off me everywhere i go around my house.  :)


we made some for our friends...




annie made this one for talby.

i think you could just hang these up around your house all winter...it is not strictly christmas that gets the glitter.

creating with glitter makes me happy.

the end.

happy friday to you.

 

 

throw back craft

i call this a throw back craft because it was based from something my great aunt Liza hung on her wall at christmas time... i don't know where that ended up.
i forgot about it until christmas.
hers was velvet and was covered in pearls and rhinestones sewn to it...in an antique frame.
she hung it above her fireplace.

we created a modern version of liza's tree...using craft supplies she gave to me.
she always sent me home with a box of supplies that she wasn't going to need any more.
she loved to hand sew, preferably with felt, seqins and beads.
i have thousands.

first we painted a canvas all one color. (this is a 16x20 canvas..we used acrylic craft paint)

she had bags of scraps of this puffy bright colored yarn.
so now i have bags of scraps of puffy yarn.
:)
i traced a tree shape (cut from paper) on our painted canvas when it dried
and we hot glued the puffy yarn in the shape.



this big bowl of sequins and beads is a teeny fraction of the stash i have from her. 

then we poured glue into the tree shape.
like.... we used almost the entire bottle of tacky glue.

i poured it out and spread it with a paint brush.

then we dumped the sequins and beads on the glue until every single bit of glue was covered.




the girls were LOVING it!!




it was messy.

but what fun is making art if you can't get messy?!


it's like a game of I Spy.



the gold star sequins were in their own glass pill bottle.
it was the perfect finishing touch.

i hope that we will hang this up every year too...for a long time....and that my girls will remember making it.

it is pretty awesome.

different from liza's but perfect for us.

 

SNOW! and crafts.

 

************************************************

finally.
we haven't had snow for way too long.
even if it knocked out my plans AGAIN today...i am still so happy to have snow.


talby was sick yesterday all day.
so sick.
poor baby...waffle tried his best to keep her happy.  :)

she felt well enough in the afternoon to work on a project with me.
she was so bored all day. 

step one for our ripped paper tree is to paint a background paper.
we taped annie's down because with only one arm the paper moves around a lot.

also i painted paper the night before for them to make sure it was dry enough to work on it all at once.

i used acrylic craft paint (you know...the .97 little bottles in all crafts stores)
for all of the painted paper and annie's background sheet too.



just green paint painted over the whole thing.

when your green paper is completely dry...then you rip your sheet into strips about 1-2 inches wide.



when your background sheet is dry you begin shaping your tree.
we forgot to make a snowy ground.... but it still worked out fine.
rip the strips into the right size to form a tree shape.
we used ten strips total.

it's FUN to rip the paper into the shapes you want!
i love how the ripped edge shows, the white on some sides and how all the strips are uneven.



we also painted paper with different colors to  use for the star, the presents and the ornaments.
we made patterns in the paint by using the pointed end of a paintbrush
and making dots with a pencil eraser dipped in paint.


macaroni and cheese break!


you could use a glue stick but i think school glue would hold better in the long run...the painted paper gets heavy.


add some "snow" with a q-tip or splatter it on.
and some yarn bows on the gifts.
and you have an Eric Carle inspired christmas tree work of art!





talby chose a night scene and used water color for her background.












SO much FUN!!!

i found this idea on Artsonia.

 

************************************************

How about ONE MORE IDEA FOR A GIFT???

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you can buy a stove "gift card" to give to someone on your gift list!

how much better is that than another tie?

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY 

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STOVE CARD

mailed in time for christmas!!

you can give it to your dad.
you can give it to your husband.
you can say "it's a gift to me!"  and purchase a gift card.

or two or three or ten.

GO TO The Adventure Project TODAY for information.