I want to express my immense gratitude to you for visiting this space. I am so appreciative of your support when you visit my blog & my shop. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!
In the meantime, here's my favorite holiday related DIY idea from 2 years ago (DIORAMA ORNAMENT).
MORE PICS and INSTRUCTIONS *DIY Ornament*.
HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES!!!
Recently my mind was abuzz with a bunch of craft project ideas. One of my ideas required 15 empty detergent jugs, another idea demanded 8 feet of high gauge chicken wire, and yet another required the toenail of a dragon. That's right...a real live dragon. Was I flirting with brilliance or on the verge insanity? I searched in vain for these materials. Then I decided I was better off going with a far simpler idea. That practical thought was topped with another practical notion: use materials I had a surplus of like paper bags. WOW!
Before I realized it, I was making a wreath with paper bags!! (That's not true...I had been planning this for weeks.)
Materials:
*Cardboard
*paper bags
*water based acrylic paint
*scissors
*tape
Instructions:
Step 1:
Cut a circle wreath out of cardboard and paint if desired.
Step 2:
Now paint paper bags with various colors / let dry / cut strips in various desired widths.
Step 3:
Place strip on wreath, making sure to bow it out so that that an arc is formed by the paper. Tape it in place on the underside of the wreath.
Step 4:
Repeat this process until you cover the entire wreath.
Step 5:
Now your wreath is almost done; You can add a personal touch by adorning it with paper flower, paper ribbons, buttons, or a written message.
This project was this month's contribution to BKIDS.
Featured in BLOESEM LIVING too! Yay. By the way, check out Bloesem gift guides, which are a great source of gifting inspiration! Irene has a keen eye and excellent taste!
EDIT 12/13/11
Elisa's kids made a beautiful Paper Bag Wreath over HERE: ONE DAY ON THE 2nd FLOOR
April Cole made a bunch of modern ones over HERE: APRIL MARIE COLE
small magazine has just released their *20th* issue. The first issue launched in 2007. In internet years, that's a very very long time! The dynamic duo that is Christine and Olivia were in fact the very first to bring us an online lifestyle magazine for kids. Not just any magazine...but one that had an incredibly refreshingly artistic perspective. They managed to present handmade products, small batch fashion, and indie artists in an aesthetic that honored each and every one of them. Every now and then, I like to curl up on my coach and peruse the Small magazine archives for some eye candy and artsy inspiration!
A few months ago, I was asked to be the craft editor for Small and to bring some DIY ideas to this fab magazine. What an honor! I answered yes without a moment's hesitation!
In the recent issue, you can see the DIY project is a mosaic made from vinyl / linoleum tiles; the easy instructions are RIGHT HERE.
Here are some more pics:
I truly hope you try this project and please email me photos or links with your results!
This season we are making faces that magically tranform right before your very eyes!
For those of you who are parents, it's probably not that big of a stretch to imagine your little angels turn into monsters...not that I'm speaking from experience or anything like that...
Well my girls have been all giggles over these creepy faces that we've made. This one is the least gory of them all:
HERE'S THE DIY:
step 1.
Print out 2 copies of your child's portrait on cardstock paper. The higher the resolution and photo quality, the better.
step 2.
Cut face out of the background. This will serve as the front of this creepy face changer
step 3.
Cut out eyes as well as lower lip/chin with an x-acto knife.
step 4.
Create the pull tab from cardstock in a shape of a "T" and in relative proportion to face.
step 5.
Align the top photo above the pull tab so that the eyes appear in the correct place. Now tape chin to lower part of pull tab.
step 6.
Create the new eyes and mouth/teeth by drawing and coloring them directly on the tab. We created these bugged out eyes and silly teeth using markers and colored pencils.
step 7.
Cut out a back piece from cardstock that matches the shape of the front head.
step 8.
Align pull tab between the front and back pieces so that eyes and mouth all line up. Now that you've sandwiched the tab in between, tape back and front together.
step 9.
Pull the tab to see face transform from cute to....whoa... creepy!
(This creepy face maker is my Halloween craft contribution for Bloesem Kids this month. Check out more of my BKIDS craft contributions here.)
I am so excited to share with you my newest and quite possibly the easiest DIY project!! The idea is to create colorful words or letters with 2 of the most accessible materials in your craft drawer: yarn and pipecleaners.
We had so much fun with this. My girls made their initials and then tackled their names. And I'm graduating beyond single words to actual phrases. (I'll show you this soon.)
By the way, this project is my contribution to Bloesem Kids this month. I love how Irene at Bkids connected this idea with a tactile approach to teaching alphabet letters to young children. My kids are older so this didn't dawn on me, but now that she mentions...yes I think it would be pretty neat for very young preschool aged kids too!
THE DIY:
step 1. connect your pipe cleaners by twisting together and then shape your word.
step 2. Start tying yarn pieces around the pipe cleaner and then wrapping loosely several times til desired thickness is reached.
step 3. Once the pipe cleaner is covered in yarn, it becomes even easier to reshape the word or letter.
We had so much fun with this. My girls made their initials and then tackled their names. And I'm graduating beyond single words to actual phrases. (I'll show you this soon.)
By the way, this project is my contribution to Bloesem Kids this month. I love how Irene at Bkids connected this idea with a tactile approach to teaching alphabet letters to young children. My kids are older so this didn't dawn on me, but now that she mentions...yes I think it would be pretty neat for very young preschool aged kids too!
