Jun. 3, 2007 - Painting Day!

Posted in Arts and Crafts

Yesterday I was feeling creative...there has been a project waiting for me for quite some time. I was inspired to do something after visiting the very talented Bridget at Purity Seekers.   She can do so many things!  Amazing.

The kids and I headed outside and found a nice spot in the shade. They painted their little hearts out. We made good use of our clothes line and hung all their paintings up to dry:

Here are some materpieces up close:
(The first two are by Sugar Bean, the last one is from Little Mister)

I worked on a metal vase that I was trying to "antique". The project is actually from a Mary Engelbreit book. All was going well until the end. One of the last steps was to use antiquing gel over the entire vase. I’ve never done it before so I may have done it incorrectly or else I bought the wrong gel because it was very dark and covered up a lot more than the picture in her book showed. Oh well, at least I was going for the rustic look :)

Here are a few pictures:

The metal vases

With red paint 

 With crackle, yellow ochre acrylic paint and design drawn on

Antique!

It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned but it was fun anyway.  I liked it with more yellow and the red peeking through.  I'll have to see if a lighter antiquing gel is avaiable next time.

Dec. 21, 2006 - Snowflakes

Posted in Arts and Crafts

We made some snowflakes today.  It was fun.  To see the instructions click here

We hung them from the celing fan above our dining table.  It made a cute decoration.


We also turned the fan on and watched them spin!  Lots of fun.

Oct. 5, 2006 - Fairy/Butterfly Wings

Posted in Arts and Crafts

Last week we made fairy wings just for fun.  The kids have had a great time dancing around with them on.  We have even seen some crazy diving fairies and also a few injured faires.  We got together with some friends to make these and it was a great opportunity for SugarBean to practise sharing and taking turns!

Here are the wings:

She likes glitter glue!!

If you want to make some: cut out poster board in a wing shape, punch holes in the middle (like this -  : : ) and let the kids decorate them.  When the decorations are dry, thread ribbons through the holes and tie so that they make loops to go over each shoulder.  Then put on some music and get the fairy to DANCE!!!  They do all kinds of new moves while wearing wings!

That will be all from me this evening.  I am teaching arts and crafts to the Kindergarten class at the Homeschool Co-op tomorrow.  I am a little nervous since this is our first one.  It will be on every thursday for 6 weeks.  We are looking forward to making some new friends.

Stacy

Oct. 2, 2006 - Fall craft update!

Posted in Arts and Crafts

If you read my fall arts and crafts entry you may have noticed that I suggested using a cheese grater or potato peeler to make crayon shavings.  Well, I had a "duh" moment the other day when I saw my daughter use a sharpener on her crayon!!  That is a much easier way to get crayon shavings!  Sorry....my brain is not working all that well lately.  I really did use a cheese grater and a potato peeler on our crayons.

Have a great day,

Stacy

Sep. 26, 2006 - Fall Art and Craft Ideas

Posted in Arts and Crafts

We made this "Stained Glass" leaf this morning. It was fairly easy and lots of fun.
To get the directions click here.

We did modify the instructions a little; here is what we did:

Fold a piece of construction paper in half.

Trace or draw a leaf onto a piece of construction paper.

Cut out so leaf makes a frame.

Place a piece of wax paper on a flat work surface (use whatever size you wish).

Choose crayons in the colors you would like to use.

Shave the crayons with a potato peeler or cheese grater.

Place the shavings on half of the wax paper.

Fold the other half over the top - completely covering the shavings.

Place wax paper onto a tea towel and also cover the top with a tea towel.

Iron over with a warm iron until the crayons melt (my crayons came through the bottom of the paper a little so don’t use your favorite towels!)

Glue wax paper inside construction paper so colors show through leaf cut out.

Hang in window and watch the sun shine through!

I have been surfing the internet looking for good fall craft ideas. Thankfully I found some that are more than just busy work. After learning about Charlotte Mason, I am trying to do crafts or art that are either useful or can be used to beautify the home. There are a number of good ideas in the links below. We plan to make  Salt dough leaf magnets and also a String of leaves

Fall Art and Craft Links:
http://preschoolrainbow.org/preschool-fall.htm
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/_fall.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/fall/
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/AmandaBennett/208128/