kid krafting :: paint with bubbles

One of my favorite things to do is arts and crafts.

I don't know if it's the mom, preschool teacher, or child in me that gets me excited about it, but whatever the reason, I LOVE IT!!

On top of my love for crafting, with summertime in full swing and a semi-bored kiddo at home, pulling out a crafty project (especially a "new" one) can be a sanity saver during long days at home.

Today's craft is brought to you via Pinterest.

But of course!

I went and read the original post and then tweaked it to fit what I had on hand in my own trusty craft cabinet.

Please feel free to check out the post and the rest of the Cakies blog. So pretty.

So here's the scoop.

I mixed a bit of acrylic paint (in various colors) with some bubble solution (which thanks to my mom we have a ton of) in some leftover applesauce containers.

Yes, I am that person. The one who keeps everything, just in case.

Of course, you can make the colors lighter or darker depending on how much paint you use.

Then I spread a towel on our kitchen floor, set some sketch paper on it, and let Kid A blow bubbles to her hearts content.

*Be sure to do this somewhere that is easily cleaned, as the bubbles do tend to stray a bit.*

Ready. Set. BLOW BUBBLES!!!

We chose the colors based on what we wanted to see displayed in Kid A's bedroom.

Aqua. Fuchsia. Yellow. Lime Green. Purple.

The purple was a glitter acrylic paint and it actually transferred to the paper.

Got to love extra sparkle!

These art pieces will most likely be displayed in frames on her wall.

I thought this project would also transfer over to gift giving really well.

You could use the same technique on the front of a blank, white card.

Or even do it on white craft paper or a white paper bag for unique gift giving.

Happy Crafting!!

weekend craftiness :: kitchen display

Another home craft project can now be checked off my list!

In a previous post I wrote about us deciding to renew our lease and the fact that I now had a bunch of projects that I want to do to jazz up our place.

Well, here is the latest one:

  

It's a little display crate for my salt and pepper shakers and various other knick knacks.

The idea originally came to me when not only had I run out of space for my (inadvertent) S&P shaker collection, but the space that I did have for them was getting on my nerves.

I used to have them lined up on the back of my stove top and I was constantly having to wash them because they were always getting the splatter from whatever was cooking on them. Yuck!

I have a small apartment kitchen with only one usable wall in the space, which previously housed a small dry erase board.

Going into this I knew that whatever I did would have to be extremely inexpensive, so of course I wanted to upcycle something I had on hand.

Enter a pair of old video/dvd/cd storage crates that I've had for well over 10 years.

Kid A is using one in her room for it's intended dvd storage purpose, but the other one was just sitting in her closet.

A few coats pf aqua craft paint and some scrapbook paper cut to size for the backing and VOILA!

Instant kitchen display!

Eventually I want to change the paint color and the paper backing to a scheme that I like better, but for using what I had on hand, I don't think this turned out too shabby!!

 

 xo

diy :: wall art

Remember this post from awhile back?

Well, I have FINALLY made some progress on my oh-so-sad piece of wall art.

Here are the deets....

The aqua frame came from my baby shower earlier this year.

We used it to take pictures with silly props.

The butterflies in the corners were made using a butterfly template found on the interwebz and scrapbook paper.

Just trace and cut, that's it.

 

The big mum was made using toilet paper rolls.

I cut them in even pieces, painted them with a pumpkin colored acrylic paint, and hot glued them together.

An easy, yet time consuming process.

And last, but not least, the fabric "l" was picked up last week during a birthday shopping trip to Anthropologie.

 

I'm thinking about possibly making the mum bigger, or moving the "l" over some, or putting something else up there to fill in some space.

Time will tell.

design on a dime - makeup brush holder

Today as I was putting on my makeup, I noticed that my makeup brushes needed a good washing. So, after doing just that, I decided that I didn't want to just put them back in the little organizational drawer with the rest of my makeup.
Hmmm....what to do? What to do?

I looked in my handy dandy craft cabinet and grabbed 4 little items to make myself a fun little makeup brush holder.

1. empty (and washed) food can
2. scrapbook paper
3. school glue
4. glass beads

Unfortunately, I didn't take step by step pictures (bad Jen), so you'll just have to do with instructions and a picture of the final product.

Step 1 - measure the length of the can and cut a strip of scrapbook paper the same width (I did this with the hubs' lovely paper cutter).

Step 2 - glue your paper on the can. I just put a wide strip of glue directly on the can and glued one end of the paper on, then wrapped the paper around and glued the other end down.

Step 3 - fill your can with glass beads and then fill with brushes!!