Upcycled Party Gift Box

We made this gift box for a friend's birthday party the other day. It is made from a cereal box. I have seen this done using gift wrap to cover a box. We covered ours with white contact paper and decorated it with permanent markers.

Cut the top flaps off a cereal box and wrap in contact paper.

Poke two holes on the top, both sides, for handles. We fastened a pipe cleaner handle to each side.

We tied tulle and ribbon to the handles to make it fancier, then Hollin drew birthday designs on each side with permanent markers.

We added the gift, which was a lovely assortment of art supplies, some tissue paper and a little card.

So sweet and personal. We gave new life to an old box, and saved $ on a gift bag.

Valentine's Day Shirts

I had been planning to make doily print shirts with Hollin since I saw the idea a few weeks ago over at The Artful Parent.

While inking up the doily, we could not help but notice how nice the stencil effect of the doily looked on the paper underneath it, so very impulsively, we put the doily on the shirt and rolled over it.  I think it came out cute. It was hard to hold it perfectly still, but between the two of us we made it work. So instead of making doily prints, we ended up using the doily as a stencil.

I am not opposed to boys wearing hearts and pink, but I thought a pink doily shirt might be a touch too much. So, I jazzed up an old shirt with a cute boyish Valentine design using freezer paper stencils.

I really like heart art. There. I said it. We have been doing a lot of lately and I will try to get some more up before the big day.

Painting in a Real Painting Studio

What's a mom with two sick kids to do on a cold Sunday morning?

They were not sick enough to stay home (or I was not willing to stay home another day), but sound way too terrible to go to church or to any other public place (really nasty cough). I am taking a painting class this sememster so I decided to take advantage of the big beautiful painting studio. I had some work to do and I figured we could bring some paints and let them get messy. They were so happy and had such a great time. We were alone the entire time we were there, three hours! I even got a good chunk of my own work done.

 I packed liquid watercolors, droppers, huge sheets of watercolor paper, salt, a spray bottle, shaving cream, trays and sponges. Snacks, drinks, and a portable dvd player ensured that after they painted, I would be able to paint.

 Hollin found a doillie and went right to work creating with it.

 They were all smiles and giggles. It was so nice to play and get messy with the materials and not worry about it. Waylon actually sang while he worked.

I usually do not give them such huge sheets of expensive paper, but once in a while it is nice to splurge. I just ordered some new art supplies for myself and felt I could part with two sheets.

 After a little while (or as Waylon would say, after a couple of whiles) the shaving cream got out of control as it always does. It was time to clean up and have a snack.

Creating art in a space designated for art making was a great experience for them. I know I work better when I am there. There is great light and so much to look at. Paintings everywhere, tools, strange things like bras dipped in plaster and plastic doll legs. What's not to love? I see this becoming a weekly adventure.

Fleece Doggie Scarf

Recess at minus 20 can be pretty chilly with or without a good scarf. We rarely attempt it without and wanted to make something new and special. This was fast and came out really cute. My little sweet girl loves it and it gives her face a place to hide when it is really cold. I wish I had taken more pictures of the process, but I was on a role as it was a total impulse project on a school night.

 I did take this one picture once all the pieces were cut. There are two pieces for every one you see in the picture (2 bodies, 4 ears, 8 legs). As you can see it is a long body piece with the head and tail included . The legs and the ears are separate.

I stitched up the ears and legs first and turned them inside out. I put a tiny bit of stuffing into the legs. Next, I pinned them to the inside of the body (right sides together) and stitched the body leaving a place to turn the entire thing inside out. Hmm, I think I sewed the blue collar on before sewing up the long body pieces. Once it was all together I embellished it with button eyes, a nose and a pink heart.

Cute easy project. Fleece is perfect for this as it is so easy to work with, I find it is great for experimental projects. I can see making all sorts of animal scarves. The next one I plan to make is going to be a long tractor trailer for my truck lover.