Project Playroom: A Family Portrait of Sorts

Let the new house posts commence!

I have decided to start sharing some of my design ideas/projects that I have been working on lately. I am starting small for now (new nightstands, an accent wall, etc.), but have other big things in the mix (recovering chairs, wallpapering and designing the formal living room) that I will happily share with you all, and more importantly ask for your opinion! I have lots of great ideas, but seem to be having a hard time picking exactly which one I like the most in some cases. But for now I wanted to share with you my first project to be hung on the wall.

Behold, our family portrait, of sorts:

From the left it is Marlo the unicorn, Dada J the elephant, Val the deer and Mama J the giraffe.

I remember a few years back my husband said that he had only one opinion about the decorating of our new house - no antlers or animal heads of any kind. So my antler chandelier was out, but I was dying to put some sort of animal head (not real of course) or some sort of antlers somewhere in the house. Shortly after this discussion, I came across these cardboard animal busts, made by Cardboard Safari, on a site called Darby Smart a fabulous website full of ingenious DIY crafty projects. I purchased them last summer before we moved out of our old house, and not until almost a year later did I actually start this project.

I let the girls assign who got what animal, and also let them (help) pick the colors as they come in plain brown cardboard. I took it upon myself to spray paint the front and back of every little piece. After two coats on each side of the pieces, I then assembled them into their bust form (which was not as easy with the extra layers of paint - it took a little extra muscle, but a friend later recommended I should have used an exact-o knife to make the slots larger - doh!).

They all now hang proudly in our playroom for all to see. I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.

Here is a shot to get some perspective as to how big they are on the wall. They are approximately 11 inches in height. 

More photos to come of the rest of the playroom! 

Get Crafty: Christmas Swirly Paint Balls (or at least that is what I am calling them)

Looking for a quick and simple Christmas craft to do with your kiddos? Look no further. This is something that I used to do by myself before kids, but I decided to let M have a go at helping me out this year - and she loved it! All you need are some glass (or plastic) Christmas ornament balls and some craft paint. I got my balls online here and purchased some craft paint at the craft store (duh).

First remove the metal top of the ornament, then squirt some paint in there. Swirl it around and boom! You're done.

Well, it technically is that simple but I have a few tips and tricks.

1. Use only 3 or less colors of paint. If you use more, they tend to mix together and turn brown. No one likes a brown Christmas ball. Ha. 

M had a ton of fun picking out the color combinations
(see how this turned out below)

2. Use less paint at the beginning and then add paint as needed. 

3. Add in a glitter paint to give your ball a nice shimmer. Everyone loves something sparkly. 

4. Once you have swirled the paint around inside the ball so that all the glass inside surface is covered in paint turn the ball upside down and place on top of a plastic cup. This will allow all excess paint to pour out into the cup. 

5. Leave the ball upside down for a good 30 minutes, and then check on it. You might have to turn it around to allow paint to settle in a different part of the ball because sometimes when it is upside down for too long you might get some empty spots again. 

The ball that M started up above turned out to be this gorgeous
one in the front!! 

6. I like to turn my balls (ha- turn my balls :) at least 3 or 4 times because the paint will take 24 hours to dry and by turning it you can achieve different designs. 

7. Experiment with color combinations. Sometimes the oddest combinations turn out to be the most beautiful!

And the last step is to hang your balls!! Ok, enough with the ball talk. 

Pinterest Craft of the Week: Astro goo (as I am calling it)

I have a ton of boards and pins dedicated to crafting on Pinterest - crafts projects for me, crafts for me that are kid related, crafts for kids, crafts for toddlers, etc.. I made the decision that I am going to actually make one "pinned" craft a week and report back to you all with the results. I recently pinned this:

I am a sucker for anything sparkly, so I figured this was a good place to start! It seemed like a very simple project so I figured it was something M and I could do this afternoon while Val was napping. For the full project details, click here to go to the original poster's website. 

We stopped by Target on the way home from camp today and got all of our supplies: 

- glitter glue

- Borax

- Water

Borax? WTF is Borax? I have never heard of this substance before I read the original post. It sounds like rat poison, or something from the 50s that was used to clean your tile grout. I was surprised how easy it was to actually find in the laundry detergent aisle of Target! I am not going to lie though, I was a little hesitant to even buy the stuff and use it in a craft because it is not something really want your kid handling. I had already told M that we were going to make this goop, so there was no turning back now as all I heard after camp was, "can we make the glitter goo now? Can we make the glitter goo now?
Now? How about now?"

Step One - Empty clue into a bowl (we used all 6 ounces)

Step Two - Add the same amount of water as glue (6 ounces) and stir until mixed

Step Three - Mix 1/2 tsp of Borax with 1/2 c warm water, and then add that to glue mixture and stir. It will become this gelatinous goo very quickly

So we followed the easy steps and made, what Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom calls "Silly Putty" but I would call Astro Goo. It has a gelatinous consistency, not soft like Silly Putty. The whole project took about 4 minutes from start to finish and was fun for the 4 minutes, but once we made the gooey ball of sparkles we weren't sure what to do with it! It now sits in a ziploc bag where it has hardened a bit and actually taken the square shape of the bag itself.

Oh and I should mention that we did 6 ounces of glue to 6 ounces of water in the beginning, and the same measurements of Borax (1/2 teaspoon in 1/2 cup of warm water) and had the amount pictured below.

Overall I say it is a fun experiment to do with your kids (3+), but now I have a $5 giant container of Borax sitting in my pantry. I have a lot of Astro goo to make (or laundry to do as it is a detergent booster)!!

Get Crafty: Pinterest Crafts

If you are like me, you pin things on Pinterest daily, and never do anything with them. From the looks of my Pinterest boards, my life is pretty amazing - I am building a $5m shingle-style mansion that was interior decorated by India Hicks, I am baking and cooking 3 course meals every day, I am sewing my kids clothes, I am throwing lavish birthday parties, I am keeping my kids occupied by incredible home-made crafts, and I am dressing myself in the latest fashions. All of that is false.

Since I was about to host a house party that would have 7 kids running around my house, I thought now would be the perfect time to put one of my "pins" to the test. To my "Toddler Craft" board I went, and decided on the following two projects: a water color and glue creation, and an experiment with baking soda and colored vinegar (here are the original pins).

Source: sweethappylife.com viaJess on Pinterest

Source: indulgy.com viaJess on Pinterest

Both we experimented with before the party to see if they were even worth doing with the kids. The baking soda experiment was an instant success. It took M a few tries to actually get the hang of using the dropper (at first she would just squeeze it real hard and all the liquid would come out at once, instead of just drops like you are supposed to do) but once she figured it out, she was hooked. This was also a big success at the party (for some kids). I set up three little stations of baking soda in tupperware containers and had 8 different cups of colored vinegar (using food coloring) and the kids loved watching the colored drops bubble and fizz when they hit the baking soda.

The watercolor craft is still a work in progress. I didn't end up using it at the party, but we have done it twice at home. The idea is that you cover the canvas with water colors, then drip clear glue on it, and sprinkle with kosher salt. After two attempts, it still doesn't look anything like the original pin - the salt isn't doing much but just look like spilled salt, and the glue just looks like a mistake. Here are our last two attempts:

Still nothing great, but M enjoys using the watercolors a ton. So, out of the two crafts we tried, I would totally recommend the baking soda one to keep your kids occupied for long periods of time. Also, you can buy a gigantic container of baking soda at Costco for $5...so it is a fairly cheap craft!

Enjoy. 

Get Crafty: Fun in the Sun

This is actually something that my sister in law did with her girls after seeing something similar on Pinterest. Of course when H saw the pictures she immediately said "can we do that!?" Unfortunately this was last week when it was raining, but I told her once the rain cleared up we would absolutely do it!

Get Crafty: Fun Mail

H has three girl cousins, two that are almost the same age as her, that she loves very much. One lives in Brooklyn and the other two live in upstate New York. As they've gotten older, they've gotten closer and now have real affectionate relationships with each other. Also as she's gotten older, she's more aware that:

1. she loves them
2. she wants them around and
3. for some reason, they are not always around.

When getting ready to leave her NYC cousin this past weekend, H tearfully said to me "But I will miss her!"
"I know," I said, "but we'll see her again in a few weeks."
"But...' she thought hard, "then we'll see her again and then we'll leave again and then I will miss her again."
I could be wrong, but I thought this was a pretty impressive thought train for a 3 year old. This coming from someone who refers to everything in the past (even as long as a year ago) as "last night" and anything happening in the future as "tomorrow."

Get Crafty: Refrigerator Vase

 
When I was in middle school, my mom and I were browsing through a craft fair when we saw some refrigerator magnet vases. We both loved them and thought they were so delicate and sweet. "We can make those ourselves" she assured me (now you know where I get my craftiness from!). She got all the supplies and we made a few of them. There was one on the refrigerator in our house and one on our Cape house for years.

Get Crafty: Egg Crafts

These are a couple of egg crafts that H and I have done recently as we get closer to Easter. H is (still) obsessed with dinosaurs, so that's what we used for these projects but you could easily put little chicks or bunnies or candy into these eggs!
I apologize for the quality of all the pictures - my camera battery was dead so these were all taken with my phone!

Paper Mache Eggs

There's a great tutorial here on Not Martha using water balloons, tissue paper, and liquid starch. We used tissue paper, pretty cupcake liners, and mod podge.

But instead of putting in a little string to open the egg and reveal a prize, we took our inspiration from those sugar window eggs (I have no idea what those are really called! Here's a picture for reference). We cut out a hole, glued some moss onto the inside and tucked in a mini dinosaur. It still needed a little something, so we stuck some little jewel stickers around the opening. Then we strung some embroidery floss through a mini button, glued it to the top, and hung it onto a little Easter tree we found in the bargain section of Target.

Surprise Eggs
Not Martha also has a great tutorial on Surprise Eggs.

Of course instead of using chicks or candy on the inside we used more mini dinos. I also added a little temporary tattoo of whichever dinosaur was going inside the egg. And even though H made these with me - and watched me put each dinosaur inside - she still was delighted to crack them open and "discover" the little dino on the inside. And she still asking me when we are going to make more!

I'm hoping to put togther another post before the end of the week with suggestions for little crafts or non-candy items to put in your child's Easter basket. Stay tuned!

Get Crafty: Oatmeal Container Headband Holder

The growing pile of headbands on H's table have been bothering me lately, so I decided it was time to tackle a project I've had my eye on for a while - the oatmeal container headband holder. And honestly it was so easy I wish I had done it sooner!

Get Crafty: No-Sew Tutu

M in her Yellow Tutu after 5 straight days of wearing it

Mama J here playing the role of our crafty Mama S today! I get asked all the time how I make the tutus that I am always photographing M in, so I figured I would photograph my latest creation from start to finish and share with all of you. Of course I had to make a yellow one, as that is M's favorite color, and she is now obsessed with all things Beauty and the Beast, but unfortunately yellow is a hard color to photograph, so the photos are not the best. I will try to do my best to explain the process step by step...so here goes nothing!

Since this is a "No-Sew" project, there aren't really a lot of supplies needed. For a toddler sized tutu I purchase about six yards of tulle to make an approximately two foot long tutu. You can do six yards of one color, two yards of three colors, etc.. For this one I chose two yellow tulles (one shiny and one matte) and then this tulle-like fabric that they had on sale that M ran over to and said she "needed." It wasn't ideal to work with, as it frays a bit when you cut it, but it worked nonetheless. You also need to choose a ribbon for the waistband. I always purchase two yards, but have a ton left over. You will need enough for the length of your child's waist, plus a foot extra on either side.  

So all you need is 6 yards of tulle, 2 yards of ribbon, scissors.

Get Crafty - Dinosaur Tail

The dinosaur phase is still going strong!
After stomping around in her dinosaur hoodie H asked the logical next question: "where is my tail?"