Create something....to mail!

It's so hard to be creative in today's time, what with so little time to actually sit down and do something. So, how have I been trying to incorporate art into my life? By making my own cards!

I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of recent cards I've made at the moment, nor do I have any sequences of me and the kids in my life making any, so I'm afraid you'll be on your own with this art project. ;) Although it's fairly easy, so I don't really think you'll need my help. ;D

As for my cards, I've been making them out of store bought bank cards (which can be found in packets of usually about 50 or more at your local crafts store) and then using my scrapbooking accessories to make the card decorations with. Of course, if you're really in the creative mood and have the supplies handy, you can draw your own pictures right on the card. I've made my share of those, too, just not lately. ;)

The point of this project is to have fun and let your little ones create something that they can really sink their fingers into. It's always a special moment when a child feels they've created something all on their own. So, get started and create a card! Then mail it to someone really special, like their grandmother or to a good friend or neighbor. Or they can even mail it to one of their own friends. Just be creative and let them enjoy being creative with you.

And don't forget to have fun! ;D

Happy 4th!

Sorry I'm late on getting this posted, but I just wanted to say Happy 4th to everyone! Check out my other blog here to see a little picture I came up with to celebrate.

Oh, and if you have a little girl and are looking to inspire her, then check out this website. It's simply awesome and any little diva will love it. :)

And if you have a little boy, they might like the pictures here. Or they'd probably prefer to play some games over here. :) Then again, they might prefer the girls' website and the girls might prefer the boys' website! Either way, just let them have fun and view the wonderful world of art. :)

Create something fun. ;)

I'm finally back. :) I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had time to post anything new. However, I have discovered something fun to do with your kids. Adopt a (fluff) friend! If you have facebook, you can adopt a fluff throught the fluff friend application and do all kinds of fun things with your kids. They can learn to take care of their pet, meet other fluff lovers, and even win some neat prizes (valuable only in fluff world) by creating fluff art. If your child is young, you definately want to sit with them while they play with this application, as anyone can post art, and while most of it is kid friendly, some may not be. Still, this is a fun application and allows you and your child to create art while thinking outside of the box and lets you spend some time with them while doing something fun. For some pictures of my art I've created, click here.

An "I care about you" package

I haven't made anything with my niece or nephews for awhile, so I've decided to send them an "I care about you" package so that they can have something fun from me during the week and hopefully it will let them feel creative, too. So, here's the package I'm getting ready to try and send them. I made the envelope and the little birdies myself out of scrapbook paper, buttons, and yarn. (If you visit my other blog, you'll see that they're similar to the hanging birdy I posted there.) I really hope they like them. If someone had made something like that for me as a kid, I think I would have loved it. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is the day it's okay to be green!

So put on your green hats and mittens and socks

and read Green Eggs and Ham (you can even read it in a box!)

To have more fun when you're done with that book

come over here and have yourself a look!

(There are more St. Patrick's Day things to do there!)

Enjoy being green today!

Oink, Oink! It's almost spring!

Spring is almost here, which means little baby animals and whatnot will be coming into the world. So since I haven't been able to post much lately of any new projects with my neice and nephews, I thought I would post one that reminds me of children. Specifically of children's stories, like Charlotte's Web. I did this picture fairly quickly as a sketch in Corel with my tablet, so it's not the best. But it reminds me of spring, so I thought I would share it until I can post some new projects. :) In the meantime, you can visit this site to do some piggy projects of your own! They look so fun and are really cute!

Magnets?

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted something on here, but I've been so busy after Christmas and we all had the flu in January, that I'm just now back to doing things again that I can post about! :) And one thing I've been wanting to make for a long time are magnets! After seeing Holli's blog, I thought they were so adorable that I wanted to make some for my neice and nephews, too.



So, here's what I started out with. (I made this project by myself since I wanted to make these as gifts for the kids.)






Some tools I used were:

Glue (you will need sturdy glue to hold it all together)

some scraps of paper or pictures of what you want your magnet to show

clear glass stones that are usually used with fish tanks and decorations (which I purchased for $1.00 at the local dollar store) *also, there were other colors that you may prefer to use, just remember that dark colors won't let you see your picture as well.

magnets with self adhesive backing (if the stones are heavy, like mine, you will need very strong, thick magnets)

a pencil

scissors or xacto knife (scissors work best with children :)

some yarn or thin ribbon (optional)

Once I had everything I needed, I set to work. First I placed my glass stone on top of the picture I wanted, drew a circle around the picture and then cut out my picture. Then I took my glue (I used Elmer's cement glue with the brush made on to the lid. Regular liquid glue would work if you use a brush to spread it out.) and spread it on the flat part of the glass stone and then placed my picture face up on that. I did this with all the pictures I wanted to make magnets out of (I only made three) and then I took my magnets, outlined the
shape of each stone again, and cut out the size I needed. Then I just peeled the back off, stuck it to the back of my picture on the flat part of the stone, and voila! A magnet is made!

This picture lets you see how big the stones I used were. They were fairly large, and very heavy. If you want them to look a little more exciting, you can add ribbon or yarn by spreading your glue around the edges, and then just sticking your accesories on.

Above are my finished magnets. The top right one does have a picture attached, but it did not show through very well, as it was a dark picture. You may want to experiment with your pictures before you do anything. The only problem I had with this project is that my magnets weren't stong enough to hold up the glass stone when I put them on my refrigerator. If you plan to give these away as gifts or something, I would recommend using some better quality magnets.

There are plenty of other things you can make with these too. I got a whole bag of them, so I may make many more things. I was thinking about making a homemade checkers game, or a tic tac toe game. They can even be used to decorate something bland, or to make jewelry with, or to set out as a holiday decoration or .... well, the possibilities are endless. :)

I hope you enjoy making these with the kids in your life!