Kids Craft Week-Marble Painting

This week the kids and I played around with paints. One of our favorite mediums, under close supervision of course, is paint. Finger painting, vegetable painting, plain old paint brush painting, we love it all. We tired something new this week using marbles to paint. I have to say this was one of the most fun forms of painting, if you get into it.

We shook and danced our way to beautiful pictures. And the kids LOVED it.

Here is what you need:
-a plastic box (or any box but plastic washes easily)
-paint, washable prefered
-paper
-marbles
-active children

Start with your paper in the box.

The add your paint. We experimented with three different paint configurations: dots along the top, strips along the top, and strips along each side. All 3 worked fine.

Add your marbles and shake shake shake it. The kids had a little trouble at first getting the marbles to go across the paper (they just winded around the box at first) but once they got the hang of it beautiful creations were made. We danced and they even made one together.

 

So much fun and relatively less messy compared to other painting techniques. My favorite part had to be watching them paint together, a mother's dream.

Easy Belt Transormation

Last week I started looking at clothes to wear at the SNAP conference.  I found a few things I liked but was having difficulty finding a belt for a pretty spring dress.  I had a vision in mind but couldn't find anything while sticking to my budget.  I was so excited when I went to Ross and found a perfect belt for $3.99.  Unfortunately it was the wrong color.  Completely!  It was cheetah print.  I was looking for something bright and springy.  I picked it up and decided I would try and paint over the cheetah.  Best decision ever!

The dress I wanted to wear with the belt had so many pretty colors - turquoise, pink, yellow, blue, and coral.  I had a tough time deciding on a paint color!

I mixed red and yellow fabric paint to make a bright shade of coral.

I used painters tape to mask off the areas I didn't want the coral paint to touch.

I was careful to apply thin coats of the paint because I didn't want to see brush marks on the belt.

Two coats of paint later and I had a new belt!

The paint dried for a couple of hours and then I slowly peeled off the painters tape.

I used a small brush to touch up the edges and then tried out the new belt on my dress.  Perfect for SNAP next week!

I'm linking this post here.

Earrings Painted with Nail Polish

Yesterday at Target I noticed a few pairs of bright colored earrings.  I didn't purchase any but couldn't stop thinking about the accessories.  Instead of going out again to buy the earrings, I raided my own jewelry box.  I had a couple of pairs of inexpensive earrings that could benifit from a color change.

I wasn't sure if I should use acrylic or spray paint.  I looked through my paint inventory and didn't find any exciting colors to use on my earrings.  In trying to decide on a color I realized I have so many bright colored nail polishes.  I picked two colors that would make great earrings: Sally Hansen's Blue Streak and Elf's Fire Coral.

I used pliers to remove the hardware on the jewelry.

I painted the earrings with the nail polish brush.  They took several coats of polish to be fully covered.  I was careful not to apply the polish too thick because I didn't want to cover the pretty details.



after first coat

I love how they turned out!  Now I just need to find the perfect clothes to pair them with before the SNAP conference next week! 

I'm linking this post here.

Working on my To Do List - Yellow Paint!

Last month my birthday inspired a big to do list, my 30 while I'm 30.  This week I crossed a few things off that list!  We finally purchased a big piece of furniture for our living room.  I had less than one week from the time we bought it to the delivery date.  I made some quick decisions and painted.

Before the project started the wall didn't look very inviting in our living room.

I couldn't decide between yellow or purple for the color in this room.  I went to Lowe's and found the perfect shade of yellow - Valspar's Saltillo.

I woke up early to move the furniture and tape the wall before my little assistant was awake.  I had one full coat of paint on the wall before she stumbled into the living room and said, "you're painting with out me?"  The wall was finished and dry by the end of the day.  It looks so pretty with our new furniture!

While we had the paint out I decided to tackle another thing on my list - paint the bench.  We purchased it from Razmataz years ago.  Originally it was in a sitting room but has been in almost every room of our home at some point.  Most recently it was against the wall in the living room.

I used the same paint to give the bench some color.  Initially I thought I would completely cover the bench with paint but after only one coat it looked perfect.

Next in line on the list is making curtains, pillows, and a padded seat for the bench.  I can't wait!

 

Painting with Veggies

Lately I have been making more of an effort to do crafts with my kids that have an academic aspect to them. I think that when you involve learning with something fun my kids are more interested in learning. So this week we worked on learning our letters and vegetables. We started with painting with veggies. This is a great way to put a spin on painting and it takes playing with your food to a whole new level.

Here is what you need:
-veggies. I used celery, a cucumber, and a pepper. I think cabbage might be fun to do too.
-paint
-paint brushes
-paper

Start by preparing your veggies. I cut off the base of the celery keeping the stalks for the snack later. Cut the pepper in half horizontally and try to leave as much of the ribbing (the inside) as you can. Cut the cucumber in half. I let the veggies dry on a paper towel space down for about 30min just so the paint would stick better.

Now have your kids put the paint on the open side of the fruit. Ask them questions like what color and what vegetable they are using. Now they are ready to make a print on the paper. We made cards for Grandma. Try to teach them not to smear the vegetable around in order to get a clean print.




The cucumber makes a circle with an open middle, it looks like a cute flower. The celery has different ribs which makes a much bigger and more elaborate flower, and the pepper creates a shamrock shape. Now that I think about it this would be a great activity for spring.



Finish your prints by having the kids add leaves and stems. My kids are 2 and 3 years old and were able to do most of this activity on their own with supervision.

Next we read this creative ABC book, Eating the Alphabet by Louis Ehlert. I love this book because it shows the reader a plethora of fruits and vegetables while they learn their letters. The pictures look like water color images and the whole book is a little abstract but bright and attractive.


Finally we finished with a veggie snack. I made ants on a log from the celery we cut off allowing the kids to add the raisins and asking them to count each on as they put it on the celery.

My kids loved this activity. They were so proud of their pictures they made and my son even repeated the letters after I said each one (he is very reluctant to repeat things unless he wants to.)

Guest Post: Courtney from Between U & Me

Today's Guest Post is Courtney from Between U & Me. Courtney is a mom of two and a home crafter who loves everything from home decor to DIY projects. Her blog has some amazing ideas for simplifying your life and creating a warm home. Just look at some of these great ideas:

Blog Planner Printable

 

 Ribbon Mobile

Go check out her site for some incredible inspiration. (I just spent the last hour browsing through everything on there, hehe)

 TAKE IT AWAY COURTNEY!

Hi everyone!! I'm Courtney and my blog home is over at Between U & Me and I am super beyond excited to be here for the Kids Craft Series! Thank you so much to Heather and Jessica for having me!



I have two little kiddos and we are always whipping out the markers, chalk, paint, glue, and so on for them to make their own little masterpieces. I always think that each creation is as good as any Van Gogh or  Monet (I'm there mom, c'mon) and so when I was asked to do a guest post I knew I was putting my little prodigies to work.



The kids have a blank wall in their bathroom that was yearning for some attention, so we decided to spruce it up with some canvas love.

What you'll need:

Four 8x10 canvas 

Assorted acrylic paints

Paint brushes

Foil adhesive letters

1. Smock-up your kids.

2. Leave out the paint, brushes, and canvas. (They'll know what to do.)

3. Let it dry. (We did 5 because L needed "just one more!!")

4. Apply your foil letters to make cute phrases or maybe just one word for each canvas like we did.

Brush. Wash. Floss. Flush. Yup. That pretty much sums it up in the bathroom. For sure!

So there you have it. One of a kind art made by the kids and it makes L and E both smile when they see it hanging in their bathroom. Super special!

Thanks, again, to Heather and Jessica for letting me share this kid friendly tutorial!

I hope you're having an awesome day!!