Kid Craft: E is for Egg and other crafts

We have been doing a lot of painting (i.e. less work for mommy), so I only have a few crafts to update.

We have been working on the letter E, for EASTER and EGG.

Print out blank egg oval shapes. 

Let your child color the eggs, while you cut out an E shape. 

Cut out the eggs and glue them in place. 

Another easy craft includes drawing (or printing out) tulip shapes, stems, leaves and grass.

Surprising Information!

I first mentioned meal planning in this post.

I don't participate in the sense that I sit down on Sundays and plan out the next week on paper, with mycoupons and with the sale paper of choice.

Instead, I shop with my head, and I cook by theme. 

I read on one of the blogs I follow that a lady is trying a new theme night idea she found in a cookbook. 
Basically, each night you have a "theme" - mexican, american, comfort food, whatever....and this is supposed to make your life easier. 

I already do this. 

Each week, we have a pasta night, a mexican night, a pizza night, a comfort food night (2), and the rest is for leftovers. 

So you can see my surprise, when someone wrote this in a book and is making megabucks. 

Really?

Could I really have written a book covering something that seems so simple and effortless TO ME? 

And people would have bought it?

And read it?

And loved it?

And thought my words were golden?

So from now on, I will share every detail with you.

I don't want to miss my big break. 

First Wood Project: Picnic Table

A few months ago, I found this AMAZING site called Knock Off Wood.

Ana had designed plans to copycat so many things I had torn out of magazines to make one day...

She gave me a starting point to create, and I started to make a list of all the things I wanted to build, and the schedule of when Richard and I would be able to tackle them. 

Then one day last week, she posted plans for a miniature picnic table! 

Something about that post inspired me to get my feet wet and tackle a large project NOW- much larger than "designing and building" a jewlery holder for Meredith.

We bought the FIVE PIECES of wood on our trip to the Build and Grow Session at Lowe's.  (A grand total of $18.01)

They will STRAIGHT cut for free, so Richard had them cut to size, while I searched the store for the other necessary supplies. 

Let me tell you, when your husband tells you to go pick out screws - it is HARDER than choosing a color of nail polish. 

There is a two-sided aisle dedicated to various screws.  After about 10 minutes of searching, I returned to the wood desk with a very impressed husband. 

With the wood in hand, I was ready to begin!

After putting the kids to bed, I put on my pj's and got to work in the living room.

Richard stayed to "supervise"  and snapped a few photos before he went upstairs to read.

I took special care in countersinking all of the screws.

This means that the screws are driven into the wood and then covered with wood filer so you cannot see them on the finished product.

I had to welcome my Mere downstairs, after a bad dream.

She carefully assisted in the final drilling.

And happily tested it out!

I am so excited about it!

I think it is incredibly beautiful. 

Something about making something yourself gives you such a great sense of accomplishment!

I will post full photos after I finish it. 

I get to test out my sander that Richard gave me for Christmas, and paint this baby!

Thank you Ana for your wonderful inspiration!
My children are in heaven! 

Copy Cat

Children immulate everything that you do. 

I have tons of photos that show this occuring with cleaning and being in the kitchen. 

But lately I have noticed a trend in the craft department...

There is scrapbooking...

and glue gunning

(no worries, it isn't plugged in -- plus my hot glue gun is not really hot anymore.)

 

For the record, I have always HATED ironing. 

I begged my husband to buy me a dryer with a steam feature.

His answer was to take the clothes out when the dryer was done and fold them immediately so they wouldn't wrinkle. 

So despite how I don't really do this either, I do have my iron out for SEWING. 

So believe it or not, there IS ironing.

and standing on things you shouldn't so you can reach in the kitchen...

and my Mere has already learned about sanding...

Out of Control

My house looks absolutely insane right now.
Things are worse than any wrath of my children. 

Instead it was created by me! 
Imagine my home like it is suffering from the stomach flu, and projectile vomitted THINGS all over the house. 

I have projects that have taken over rooms. 
And to make matters worse, we have company coming on Sunday! 

I can't wait to share a lot of the things I have in the works! 

I am busy planning my Mere's 2nd birthday party, which includes lots of crafts I will show you!
I am going to begin a full-scale wood working project.
I am thinking about paint colors for a couple rooms in the house.

In prepping for the upcoming party, I tested out this recipe from Bakerella.

Source

They took a lot of patience and were somewhat calming to me.

I absolutely believe that I will be doing the balls (without a stick or dipping) again in the future.

I enjoyed the taste of the cakeballs a gazillion times better BEFORE they were dipped in the candy melts.

The dipping added too much sweetness, and took away from the flavor of the ball.

The ball was everything a cake should be. 

Icing was evently distributed in every bite.

The cake was moist and delicious. 

Definately try them. 

Use them as an excuse not to clean your house.  You won't regret it!

Kid Craft: Paper Plate Animal

I love Paper Plate Crafts. 

They are easy for children of all ages. 

We made a paper plate duck. 

Here is how you do it....

Supplies:

 Yellow Paper Plate (the dollar store has different colors for cheap)

                  ***Other alternatives: use a white paper plate and have the child paint it the desired color

                                                                                           OR

                                                    cut a large circle out of cardstock/construction paper of desired color

TWO pink circles

ONE orange triangle

TWO wiggly eyes

        ***Other alternative: cut TWO circles out of paper

FEATHERS (find these in any craft section!)

      ***other alternative: cut a feather shape out of paper

For my children, I prefer to let them follow their natural reaction of placement.  I never tell them where something SHOULD go. 

For my 2-year-old Mere, I put glue down for her after she tells me where she wants to put her shapes.

She hates being "sticky."

For my 3-year-old son, I let him do the whole project on his own.

The finished product!

You can have SEVERAL variations on this project! 

Here is a bunny....
Don't forget the whiskers (I forgot to put them in the photo!)

Stay tuned for more Easter and Spring crafts!

Egg Wreath

I am in love with these egg wreaths. 

They can be found at Pier 1, Target and Pottery Barn.

But a $40 price tag also accompanies these circles of plastic and grapevine. 

So a trip to the dollar store for an 18" wreath....

(which is WAY bigger since the stores sell a 12",  as shown above!)

and a trip to Marshall's where I bought 2 boxes of these eggs at $6 each...

I heated up my glue gun and ended up with this 2 hours later....

If my kids would have left me alone, things would have gone a lot quicker...

Unfortunately, they insisted on helping with "Mommy crafttime"

Lucas carefully chose which color egg would come next, and held the egg while I applied the glue. 

By the end of the day, we had completed our creation.

What easter/spring crafts are you working on?

Sewing Project: Valance

I made a dinosaur blanket for my son's room. 

I had JUST ENOUGH leftover fabric to make a "valance" to match. 

Since I am still LEARNING how to sew, I was worried how it would turn out.

I followed the basic construction of the old valance, and this is how I did it!

I took a 4" wide section of fabric to use for the top of the valance.

Your length will vary based on several things. 

Do you want it to gather?  If yes, Double the window width.

If you want it to hang straight, use your curtain rod placement as a guide.

My curtain rod was an inch off either side of the window.

36" window + 2 " for curtain rod + 1 " seam allowance = 39 inches of fabric

Fold it in half to create 2" of fabric.

Sew together lengthwise.

I used the presser foot as the guide, to sew as close to the edge as possible.

This created a tube.

Turn the tube inside out.

 For the second fabric, use the same calculations for length, with a 1/2 inch hem.

I folded the fabric in and sewed all the way around.

Once that was complete, I sewed the two fabrics together on the wrong side.

I also sewed a finishing seam on the front to ensure the dinosaur fabric would lay flat against the tube.

Thread the tube through the curtain rod and admire your work.

I love this, because you can easily modify to your own taste.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Tutorial: Jewlery Storage Art!

My daughter has an EXTREMELY innate love of jewlery.

I certainly don't want to take that away from her.

I did want to find a way to help her STORE her jewlery.

The idea was easy access and clean up.

After brainstorming with my husband, I came up with this:
(i.e. brainstorming with my husband = me talking through my ideas so i don't feel like i am talking to myself, while he nods and continues reading his thick law book)

I was so excited about the end product, I wanted to share the steps with you!

I purchased a 12 x 24 piece of Birch Plywood because it was LITERALLY CHEAPER than a 12 x 12.

But I decided it was way bigger than I wanted.

I had my husband cut the wood in half to give me TWO 12 x 12 pieces.

The wood splintered because it is so thin, so I used sand paper to smooth everything out...

and ended up like this.

In searching for the perfect "knob" to hold the jewlery, I initially was thinking drawer knobs.

Classic and Sturdy.

The price of $2 per knob was not what I had in mind though.

I came across these Shaker Pegs at Michael's and knew they would work perfectly.

5 pegs for $1.19.

They had varrying shapes and sizes, but these 13/4 " won me over!

We created a layout of pegs and marked with a pencil.

I went back and used the LEVEL to make sure that they would be in a straight line.

Using a drill and a medium sized drill bit, I predrilled holes to prevent the wood from cracking.

Then I found the drill bit that matched the end of the peg, and redrilled all of the holes to the proper size.

The board splintered a little, so I used the sandpaper to smooth everything again.

I tested out all the holes with my pegs to ensure a TIGHT fit.

After removing all the pegs, I looked through all of my scrapbook paper until I found something I thought would work for Meredith's room. I wanted it to be something that could grow with her.


I chose this damask style paper because it mimicked the lamp shade in her room.

Since scrapbook paper is 12x12, I didn't have to trim to size.

I put a THICK coat of MOD PODGE on the wood and laid the paper down starting at the corners.
To prevent air bubbles, I let it dry for about an hour before I coated the top of the paper.

I ended up using 3 coats on the top for good measure.

While the mod podge was drying, I painted the pegs.

I poked holes in a paper plate to keep the pegs upright.

Two coats and they were beautiful and pink.

Once everything was dry, I used WOOD GLUE and coated the end of each peg before placing it in the predrilled hole.

The glue will ooze out. Use a dry cloth to wipe the excess.

Once all pegs were in place, I let dry for several hours.

I also put a thin layer of mod podge on the pegs to seal them and to give a little more sheen.

We used gorilla glue to attach the picture hanging metal to the back, so the nails would not poke through.

Once on the wall, I knew it was perfect.

It is a piece of art!

Meredith adores it.

Clean up is easier.

And Momma is happy!

Domestically Devon!

Domestic is defined  in many derivations of the same basic meaning:

"a devotion to the home life or home affairs" Source

"of or relating to the family or household" Source

"fond of homelife and household affairs" Source

Growing up, my "dream" was to create a home, a family, and a loving life together.

Many would say that domestic is a word used to describe me.

So, I have turned my name into a verb and will be showing you all things that make OUR home....

I want to use this blog as a forum to share my thoughts and creativity....

I want to share craft projects that my children do for crafttime.

I want to share my craft projects that I do for myself....

I want to share tutorials for how I do things. 

I want to show you how we get organized. 

I want to share my favorite recipes. 

I want you to join me, and I hope you always have a take-away.