3D Hand Drawings

I saw this cool 3D Illusion Hand Drawing on pinterest. The actual pin doesn't even have written directions, just step by step pictures, but don't worry, that's all you'll need! 

So my kids and I sat down with some paper, a pencil, and some markers and got to work.

It was awesome. And by IT, I mean the quiet that consumed the dining room as my kids worked for a good half hour creating their 3D hand drawings. The hand art turned out great, sure, whatever, but it was The Quiet that was MAGNIFICENT. And, therefore, I strongly recommend this art project.

Peyton is 8. He ran out of steam before he could color the bottom two rows, but still it looks pretty darn cool.

                    

Ella is 6. She colored her fingers different colors, "So they'll stand out more!" Geez. Maybe it's not as strong of a 3D effect, but we'll pretend it is anyway because we love her. For only being 6 years old, I'm still pretty impressed.

Both Peyton and Ella LOVE their 3D hands. They are totally proud and amazed at what they accomplished. It was a simple project with only few supplies and no mess at all. And the QUIET! Did I mention the quiet?

This next one is mine. I think it looks so cool! 

Art project success!

I'm Back!

A little bit. I'm trying to back into the swing of my blog. I know I was never really in full-force before. I mean, c'mon! Once a week blogging? It's for blogging wimps.

I am a blogging wimp.

I love my blog, I love sharing things with you, and I LOVE reading your comments, but sometimes blogging is a little bit of a labor of love. I kind of enjoyed my summer off. I may do it again. Watch out!

Anyway! Let me start off with a super short post about what we've been doing a lot of lately:

Which is, mostly, laying around this house in different places, trying to find the coolest place possible in this UN-RE-LENTING HEAT.

Because we moved! Yay! But we have no air conditioning! Boooo!

Today was ONE HUNDRED. AND THREE. Because just one hundred degrees is just not enough. So nature threw in an extra bonus three degrees. Damn you, nature.

Anyway, Penny has found her perfect spot. On the cool stone next to Norman the Meditating Gnome. I may kick her off soon because that most definitely looks cooler than my place on the couch.

Tomorrow is only supposed to be 94 degrees. Don't be jealous.

Stained-Glass Butterfly Craft Kit

My Stained-Glass Butterfly Craft Kit got revamped! Oh, the colorful sparkliness of it all!

So now the craft kit makes even more butterflies! It contains supplies to create FIVE butterflies with lots of mix and match decorations - colorful tissue paper for the wings, preprinted decorative paper butterfly bodies, iridescent chenille stem antennae, and lots of sparkly sequins!

I'm pretty proud of that rainbow butterfly. I ripped the tissue paper into long strips and just went for it. Then I matched the sequins going down his body so he's extra, extra rainbow-y. I love him so much that I made him my etsy shop avatar. And then I was inspired to change my shop banner, too. Go look! He's my own little fluttering muse. 

Ready for some behind-the-scenes glamour? Now, I'm not a professional photographer. But I'm pretty sure any professional photographer would have taken the butterfly pictures EXACTLY like I did.  

Which is by lying on my back on the dirty cement while giggly, squirmy kids held a backless, glass-is-taped-to-the-wood-and-it-might-fall-out-and-shatter-at-any-moment frame above my head so I could take pictures.

They could not, for the life of them, hold that frame level.

Do you see what I go through? It's a very dangerous line of work I'm in. 

Oh, look! That kid there thinks holding the frame with his 8 year old thumbs is perfectly safe.

I could not get out from under there fast enough.

But anyway!

Big news! I've changed my craft kit packaging! Slowly but surely, I'm going to be switching over from the bags to these extra fancy looking things:

I loved the bags, but boxes are much more sturdy. 

It also might have something to do with the fact that when I had a booth at an outdoor craft fair recently, the craft kit bags kept blowing over and it was really driving me bananas. BANANAS! I just don't need any extra crazy in my life.

And, seriously, this box is a gift giver's dream! It's colorful and pretty enough to give as is, or you could easily wrap it up in decorative paper, or you could just slap a bow on the top and call it a day.

Anyway. Look how cute the back is! Why, yes, I do feel a little extra professional right about now.

Did you notice how the rainbow-colored blocks on the packaging match the banner in my etsy shop? I'm pretty excited about all the changes going on around here.

The butterflies look best taped to a window, but you could also hang them up on your child's wall, like so...

Or go for a simple framed look...

Cute! Cute! 

                         

Happy crafting!

2012 Summer To Do List

Yeah. So I'm thinking this summer might be a little blog-lite. Because I've made myself quite a list of stuff to do, yo!

And that's just the Family List. My personal list could fill another 2 pages. But that one is full of really dumb things, like clean the freakin' refrigerator. Which I happened to do today and let me just tell you! It is BREATHTAKINGLY SPARKLING in there! 

This list is much, much more fun! Places to go, people to see, kid crafts to make that I saw on Pinterest and Lord help me I WILL NOT continue to add to my Kids pinboard without doing something about it.

Making the list was easy. I just made a Word table, filled it with stuff, changed the font to something cute (Shadows Into Light from dafont.com - my favorite font site), printed it, stuck it on some cute paper and displayed it on the fridge for the world to see.

I even left a few spots open for things we forgot to add, like make some more "delicious" baked goods with Ella's Easy Bake Oven. 

I'm not going to lie. I had an Easy Bake Oven when I was a little older than Ella is. Even then I knew that shiznit WAS NOT what baked goods should be. But I love Ella, and there you go. She bought that Easy Bake Oven with her allowance and she is just the sweetest little girl ever in the world when she is in the kitchen with me. So, I'll eat anything that comes out of that little oven and I'll gush on and on about how amazingly yummy it is. Because good mothers lie to their children. I'm pretty sure that's in the mothering manual. Where it SHOULD BE is in the Easy Bake Oven manual. Just sayin'. 

We've been busy!!!



And, seriously, how cute are those magnets? My mom got them for the kids - you know, for artwork on the fridge purposes. Adorable!

Soon I'll show you some of the cool things we've done. And by soon, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I can't be making any summertime promises. I like my summers open and schedule free and obviously full of lists. I can never give up my lists.

Happy Summer To Do Listing!

Garden Caterpillar Classroom Kit

I know you've probably seen this cute little guy before. You can find him here.

But you've definitely never seen him like this! Getting all mass produced in a classroom kit!

This classroom kit is for 10 kids, but you can also order a classroom kit for 20 or 30 or 10,000! Although the standard 3-5 business day turnaround may not apply to that last number.

Here's what you get! Styrofoam balls that craftily become caterpillar heads and tails. And bright yellow paint and colorful chenille stems and crayons and lots of other goodness. Like colored toothpicks. For grown-up use only! You'll poke your eye out, kid!

And lots of rainbowlicious craft foam and circle templates to make the caterpillar bodies. Mix and match style! All packaged so you can easily pass out the materials and create garden caterpillars with ease. Because I care. Oh, and also, because I care, I always include extra craft foam color pieces. You don't want the last kid in line to be stuck with zero options. That would suck. We've all been that kid.

Even though this is called a classroom kit, it can most definitely also be used to create party favors or for play dates or summer camps or to decorate your neighborhood! Because, c'mon! Adorable! 

Happy Classroom Crafting!