"Initial" Inspirations

Last Mother's Day, my husband and son gave me a really sweet gift.  It's a frame containing side by side images: one of Noah's original fingerpaintings, and one of my favorite photos with my little man.  Awwww!

After giving it to me, my husband sheepishly admitted that in the process of preparing the gift, the white mat on the original frame he bought got a mark on it.  He tried to fix it with white paint, but that just made it worse.  So, he went back to Wal-Mart and got a second frame to complete the project.  He told me that the other frame was in the craft room and I could use it for whatever I wanted.  Yipee!  The only problem was the odd size of the frame itself.  Once the damaged mat was removed, the opening measured 9x13.  I don't have any 9x13 photos, and while I've been known to frame some scrapbooky-type projects in the past, like this cool silhouette of Noah, the biggest decorative paper I had was 12x12.

I know I could have pieced together multiple papers or done any number of things, but I was just stuck.  I felt uninspired and couldn't think of a "wow" project.  So, I set the frame aside.  Over the past almost-year,  I've shoved it in a closet, pulled it back out, tripped over it, grumbled at it, measured it again, and returned it to the closet.  Until today.  You see, yesterday, as I was surfing around looking at crafty blogs, the answer fell in my lap!  I saw a post where a lady named Kate had bought one of those odd size frames on purpose (!), used fabric as a mat, and printed out an image on white paper to center on the fabric.  Genius!  Here's a link to her blog, The Gaines Gang, where you can see the original.  In any case, that brings me to today's featured project, which I adapted a bit. 

FRAMED INITIAL

Materials:

- picture frame: I think any size would work, really, you just have to trim your inserts to accomodate it

- fabric scrap

- white cardstock

- colored cardstock to coordinate with fabric

- computer paper

- computer, printer

- scissors, pencil, adhesive



STEP 1: Choose your fabric.  Noah saw me drag out my bin of scraps, and he immediately pulled out this brown piece left over from when I made his pillowcase and patchwork blanket.  I thought it was a great choice since I intended for the finished product to go in his room...this way it coordinates with his bedding!

STEP 2: Iron fabric.  Trace frame backing onto fabric and cut out so that fabric is the size of your frame opening...in this case, 9x13.  Set aside.

STEP 3: Choose an initial and one or more words you'd like to feature.  I chose the letter "L" because it stands for our last name, Noah's middle name: LeRoy, and the word love. In a Word document, scroll down about 3/4 of the way on a blank page and type the words, separated by dots.  Don't type the initial yet.  I used Georgia font, size 48.  Print on white cardstock and set aside.

STEP 5: In a new Word document, type the initial as large as you want it to be and print on plain computer paper.

STEP 6: Cut out letter.  Place upside down on colored cardstock, trace, and cut out.  This part was my idea...the sample I saw just had the letter printed in black above the smaller words.

STEP 7: Adhere colored letter to white cardstock just above your small words.  Trim cardstock if desired...I took about 1/4" off of each side so more fabric would be visible around it.

STEP 8: Layer pieces on frame backing. (I took out our full last name in the pic for privacy reasons, but you get the idea).

STEP 9: Place in frame and hang as desired!

Noah was really excited about this, no doubt because he's obsessed with the alphabet these days.  He was running around saying, "da letter L, da letter L..."  He really liked that it matched his blanket too.

This was really quick and easy...so much so that I was able to do the whole thing while Noah was awake.  I think it took about fifteen minutes, and some of that was due to printer issues (grrr!).  It could easily be done with any fabric, any size, and for any letter or even combination of letters.  The example I saw initially (pun intended) was three side by side frames spelling out "NYC."  I think it would make a neat wedding gift, using the couple's last name for the initial, or a great baby shower gift if you know what the baby's first name is going to be. Hint, hint, Matt and Jess, you better tell me... 

Blankets, Buddies, and Bunnies

One of the best things about being an artsy person is when you can use your hobbies to bring joy to others.  Recently, our Bible study group decided to take on a new project: making fleece tie blankets to give to patients in a local nursing home.  We're getting together next Friday to make them, but today was fabric shopping day...yay!  Four of us girls plus our combined six children, ranging in age from 7 months to 4 years, descended on Jo-Ann fabrics with a mission.  An hour and forty-five minutes later, we emerged with enough fleece to make sixteen blankets, and a receipt for $240.83.  (Gulp!)

Frankly, I think the staff and our fellow customers were glad to see us leave since we held up the line at the cutting counter for quite some time...we had a ton of fleece, plus we'd mistakenly thought some things were on sale for $4.99 a yard that were actually $14.99 a yard.  Which meant we had to regroup and re-choose some things.  But I'd say it was a success! 

All of our kids held it together really well and we got what we needed to bring cheer to others in our community.  Special thanks to my girls April, Jess, and Jess (both are Jess S.'s, so we resorted to calling them 'short Jess' and 'tall Jess') :)  There aren't words for how much I love you guys!

Well, after all that was said and done, I figured I was crafted out for the day, but not so for Noah.  On the way home, he started saying, "Noah wants to make a craft please, Mama."  What's a mama to do?  I asked him what he wanted to make.  He said, "a bunny.  A brown bunny."  Um, ok...  So I did a mental inventory of our craft supplies already at home.  What could I use to make a bunny?  Then it hit me; years ago my parents used to do craft shows and my mom made all kinds of cool things, one of which was a boo-boo bunny!  If you've never heard of it, it's a cute little rabbit made out of a washcloth with a hole to put ice in.  When your child gets a boo-boo, you pop some ice in and let the bunny be a little comfort object while it numbs the hurt.  Here's how we made it:

BOO-BOO BUNNY

Materials:

- washcloth

- thin ribbon

- googly eyes

- scissors & glue

- pom-pom for tail (and for nose, if desired)

STEP 1: Turn washcloth so it resembles a diamond instead of a square.  Starting with the bottom corner, roll up until you reach the middle of the washcloth.  Then, starting from the top corner, roll toward the middle until rolls meet.

STEP 2: Fold rolled washcloth in half so that remaining corners meet.  Grab from bottom and push part of washcloth up to form head and ears.

STEP 3: Tie ribbon around head to hold it in place. 

STEP 4: Glue on eyes and tail.  They're really cute with noses too, but we didn't have any of the tiny pom-poms on hand and the big ones looked goofy.

The finished bunny is ready to use as soon as the glue dries.  You can stick a small plastic egg in the hole until the bunny is needed for medical purposes, and it makes a cute Easter decoration too. :)

The actual forming of the bunny and bow-tying are a little complicated for younger kids, but even the littlest helper can assist with rolling the washcloth and gluing on the eyes, nose, and tail.  Noah loves the finished product...I just hope he doesn't actually need to use it anytime soon!

Well, this artsy mama is exhausted for today!  Hope you all have a great one!

Peeps to the Rescue

This morning, as we do every Tuesday, Little Crafter and I prepared to go to Story Pals at the library.  Each week, there's a different theme and the librarian, Miss June, reads books and leads the kids in songs and games that go along with it.  And there's always a craft...which I think is the major reason why LC loves it so much.  But unbeknownst to us, there was a special Kindergarten program going on today that superceded storytime.  LC was crushed and I was left with the job of making it up to him.  What's One Artsy Mama to do?  Make our own storytime, of course! 

First, we needed a theme.  Noah has been fascinated with birds, particularly robins, lately and he'd also pointed out a nest craft in the newest Family Fun magazine, saying, "I want to make dat."  So, we decided our theme for the day would be Birds and Nests.  A storytime has to have books, so we found a few of his stories that incorporated our theme.

The Berenstein Bears and the Real Easter Eggs by Stan & Jan Berenstein - Sister finds a robin's nest and the cubs watch the baby birds hatch.  Noah is obsessed with the B. Bears right now!

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman - A baby bird hatches in his nest and goes to search for his mama.

D.W.'s Color Book by Marc Brown - D.W. finds robin eggs and a hatching duck while on an egg hunt.

Then, it was craft time!  We talked about the things birds use to make their nests...twigs, yarn, dried grass, and pretty much anything they can find.  I told Noah we were going to make a nest of our own (he said, "just like a birdie") using the same things.  Here's how we did it:

PAPER BAG NEST

Materials:

- 1 paper lunch bag

- twigs, dried grass

- glue

- paper plate

- nest stuffers: plastic eggs, hardboiled eggs, Peeps, or any other egg/bird you choose

STEP 1: Gather the twigs.  Little Crafter loved this part. 

STEP 2: Open the paper bag and scrunch down the sides to form nest base.

STEP 3: Put a puddle of glue on a paper plate.  Dip twig pieces in glue, then stick them all over the bag.  Noah was a pro at this!  It's big-time messy, but fun!

STEP 4: Wait until glue is completely dry, then fill nest with your choice of eggs, birds, etc.  We put eggs in, talked about how they hatch to reveal baby birds, then replaced the eggs with Peeps.

Here's how it looks with a real egg: the au natural look!

Here's the plastic egg alternative:

And LC's favorite: the Peeps! (which are on a super sale at Safeway!)

Post-Crafting Reflection: I give this craft an A+!  It, unlike the lion, was totally easy enough for a 2-yr old to do "all by hisself" since he's a pro at dipping things in glue and sticking them somewhere.  The only thing I did was help a little with the bag scrunching and stick on a few stray twigs.  He felt very independent, which is his primary goal in life at the moment, and I liked that it  encouraged him to get out in nature and to search for something specific.  And the bonus factor is that the Peeps came in a package of five, which obviously wouldn't all fit in the nest.  What to do, what to do...

By the time we accomplished all that, it was naptime for Little Crafter (and possibly for Mama too).  When he wakes up, we're going to show off our creation to Daddy and then dance to Rockin' Robin.  What started out as a disappointing day turned into a fun adventure after all.  Whew...thank you Family Fun and marshmallow Peeps!

The Green Grocer

These days, there's a lot of talk about being "green."  Which is a good thing...we only have one Earth, so it's in our own (and our children's) best interest to take care of it the best we can.  In our home, we try to do our part; we recycle, we plant flowers, we grow tomatoes and other vegetables, and we use the nice reusable shopping bags you buy at the grocery store.  The ones from Weis have a picture of the earth on them with a quote, "The earth thanks you."  Because of that, on the occasional trip when we forget to take our eco-friendly bags along, we joke to each other, "The earth hates you."  I do, however, confess to not always taking the car with the best gas mileage when both vehicles are available (I love my SUV), and I draw the line when it comes to diapers.  We've filled our share of the landfill with Noah's disposables since the day he was born.  All in all, though, it's good to find ways to reuse, to create less waste, and to be economical.  Which is why Noah's latest obsession is one we've been encouraging.  What's he doing?  Playing with trash.  More specifically, ever since our trip to Hands-On House, he has wanted to do nothing but play "grocery store."  He already owned some pretend food that goes with his kitchen as well as a set of fruit and veggies that you pretend to slice.  We used some of that, mostly the produce, for his store, but what he really wanted was real, life-sized groceries to pretend with.  So, here's what we did:

I went through the recycling and pulled out a Pasta Roni box and the gingerale bottle Dan bought on the way home from the museum.  Then, I went through our cabinets and refrigerator looking for things that were almost empty.  A PopTart box with just one sealed pack left inside.  A box of snack bars with one left, a bag of goldfish that had gotten outdated, an almost empty popsicle box, and a carton holding just two eggs.  I stored the remaining food, either in its own inner packaging or in Ziploc bags, and gave Noah the outer containers.  It wasn't long before he finished a half-gallon of milk and the soap in the upstairs bathroom ran out.  He was thrilled to add those containers to the collection too.  Every day it seems like there's a new box or two to add; Mama's ice cream carton is his latest addition.  We store it all in our cool cube organizer in his playroom downstairs, and try to organize it by section: dairy, freezer, bread/bakery, dinner, snacks...he's quickly learning where things go. 

He loves to come over to me and have me tell him what to buy.  Sometimes I give him a specific "list": "I need pasta, ice cream, and crackers."  Sometimes I say, "Buy what we need for breakfast," and watch him figure it out.  When his cart is full, he goes over to the toy cash register that used to be mine and rings up his order.  He thinks everything is 99 cents.  I wish.  On a whim, Dan started imitating the voice of the self-check lady the other day: "If you are finished scanning, please touch finish and pay."  "Please select a payment method."  "Thank you for shopping at Weis Markets.  Please take your change and your receipt."  Now, of course, Noah has decided this has to happen every time.  Then he pays, either with the three one-dollar bills we gave him or his "credit card", my full sized "My Panera" rewards card (which he only got because I have one on my keychain too).   He puts his purchases in one of our green eco-friendly bags, brings it over to me and makes me pretend to eat each thing before reshelving it. 

He finds hours, literal hours, of entertainment doing this.  And it's free!  The boxes and containers are just trash!  We'd have recycled every last one of them.  Instead, they're giving our son endless entertainment.  We already had the cube, the bag, and the cards, and the cash register is thirty  quite a few years old.  Everything is being re-used!  And he prefers it, at least for now, to every other expensive, fancy, made-in-China toy in this house.  Which is quite a statement since as an only child and an only grandchild on both sides of the family, Noah is not lacking in the toy department.  I love it because it's encouraging him to use his imagination, teaching him things like food groups, and causing him to problem solve (like figuring out which foods are for dinner or how many things he can buy if everything is a dollar and he has $3).  Educational, free, and recycled: it's the green way to play. :) 

Come On Down

One of my earliest Sunday School memories is the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector nobody liked.  Lonely and curious, he decided it was worth catching a glimpse of the much-talked-about rabbi Jesus when He passed through Jericho.  But Zacchaeus was too short, so he climbed a tree for a better view.  Jesus stopped in front of the tree and called for Zacchaeus, saying, "Come on down, I'm going to visit your house today."  Jesus talked with Zacchaeus, forgave him, and told him to give back all the money he had stolen from the people, which he did. 

Whenever I think of this story, I think of the good old Sunday School flannelgraph, complete with four important pieces: Zacchaeus, tree, Jesus, and "Crowd."  Remember those?  And in my head, Jesus always sounds a little like Rod Roddy, the old announcer from the Price is Right, when he would say, "Joe Smith, Come oooonnnnnnnnnn down!"  It's a great story, isn't it?  Jesus noticing the guy nobody likes, showing love and forgiveness to someone who obviously doesn't deserve it by his own merits.  This was the story we decided to teach Noah today during his "Bible time."  We sang the song, of course, read the story, and acted it out (Elmo got to play Jesus while Amy Duck scaled the chair/tree).  But what to do for a craft?  I took stock of our supplies.  I had some colored tissue paper left over from our tissue paper rainbow adventure on St. Patty's day, and we always have cardstock, glue, magazines, etc. laying around.  So, I decided we'd make a handprint tree and stick Zacchaeus in it.  Here's how we did it:

HANDPRINT TREE

MATERIALS:

- 1 sheet each of brown and white cardstock

- small squares of green tissue paper

- old magazine

- scissors, glue, and pencil

STEP 1: Trace child's hand and forearm with fingers spread wide open on brown cardstock.

STEP 2: Cut out and glue to white cardstock.  This will be the tree trunk and branches.

STEP 3: Scrunch up small tissue paper squares and glue all over branches to make tree leaves.  This was Noah's favorite part.  He's a great scruncher and loves not getting in trouble for it.  He also loves glue.  A lot.

STEP 4: Look through old magazine and cut out a small picture of a boy/man to portray Zacchaeus and a taller boy/man to portray Jesus.  It's even cooler if you can find a picture of someone from the back so he can be looking up into the tree.  Cut out and glue to picture.  If you like, you can always find more people to make the crowd too, just like on the good old flannelgraph.

STEP 5: Cut out magazine letters to spell ZACCHAEUS and glue above tree.  If you have trouble finding a big "Z" like I did, an "N" turned sideways can do the job quite nicely. 

Now you can use the finished product as a prop for helping to re-tell the story!

This same idea can also be used as a general springtime craft; just swap out the green tissue paper for pink, white, purple, or any color you want and let it represent blossoms.  You could cut out pictures of flowers, birds, bunnies, and other animals to put all around it as a nice visual.  It could even become a lesson on seasons if you divide a large piece of posterboard in four sections and make one tree to represent spring, one with red, yellow, or orange "leaves" for fall, one with green "leaves" for summer, and a bare one for winter.  It's super easy and even the littlest crafter can do most of the work independently.   It may not be an old-school flannelgraph, but it just may be the next best thing. :)

Dear Spring: Was it something I said?

I saw a great quote recently: "Dear Beautiful Spring Weather, I miss you.  Was it something I said?"  That's exactly how I feel right now!  It was only in the 20's here this morning and they're calling for snow tomorrow.  Snow!  Thankfully they've revised the original 2-3" forecast and are just predicting a dusting in our area now, but I think I might literally cry if I see snow on the ground this late in March.  So it seems that despite all our wishing and hoping, March plans on leaving like a lion.  Which stinks.  But at least it's a good reason to make a cute lion craft.  I got this month's issue of Family Fun magazine in the mail yesterday and Little Crafter immediately picked out this cute note holder.

LITTLE LION NOTE HOLDER

Materials:

- yellow cardstock                                       - glue

- orange cardstock or colored paper       - scissors, paper cutter

- 2 googly eyes                                            - toothpick

- 2 clothespins

STEP 1: Cut 3" head shape from yellow cardstock.  Also cut 2 ears and a rounded triangle face.  Set aside.

STEP 2: Cut 36 strips of orange cardstock 1/8" wide by 4 1/4" long.  I recommend the paper cutter!

STEP 3: Cut small orange nose from remaining orange cardstock.

STEP 4: Curl each strip around toothpick (this is a great introduction to quilling) to create a flat spiral.  This step was time consuming and was beyond LC's ability, so I did this as part of the prep work before I got him involved. 

STEP 5: Use craft glue to attach quilled spirals all over yellow head shape.

STEP 6: Use craft glue to attach ears.  Assemble face, adding googly eyes and nose, then glue face on top of curls.

STEP 7: Glue two clothespins to the back of lion with the part that opens facing up so they can hold a note.  I used a low temp glue gun for this part.

STEP 8: Add a cute note and enjoy!

My post-crafting reflections: It was a little more time-consuming than I'd anticipated and we got pretty messy glue-wise, but the lion turned out to be really cute.  In retrospect, I would have used orange paper rather than orange cardstock because I think it would have curled easier.  I also think it was a little beyond a 2 year old's abilities, although LC did seem to enjoy participating and he loved the finished product. 

Hands-On Fun!

Today was an all-out Family Fun day for us!  On Superbowl Sunday, Dan got called in to work for an emergency meeting, so he had promised us to take a day off sometime in March to make up for it.  Originally, we were going to visit the zoo, but since it never got past 45 degrees, we decided to try an indoor venue instead.  We settled on this awesome children's museum called Hands-On House in Lancaster, PA.  If you live within a few hours of it, you should definitely go.  If you don't have your own kids, borrow some.  It's that cool. :)

The first exhibit is "In Your Backyard" where you can construct birds and fly them from a treehouse, race cars, catch magnetic fish in a pond and measure them, and paint your face.  Noah wanted to look like a kitty cat, so I gave him a nose and whiskers.  Then we were off to the "On the Farm" exhibit.

On the Farm, you got to play with tractors, barns, and animals.  You also got to pick corn, drive a tractor, milk a cow, and see how chicken farming works.  Eggs would come down for you to put on an assembly line and send to be refrigerated.  Noah said that was his favorite part.

         

         

    

After the farm, there were some really cool blocks to play with (Dan made a great tower) and a dress-up room with a stage, costumes of all kinds, and props so you could act out a story.  Noah wasn't so interested in performing, but he did put together an interesting costume combo: a tiger suit, a fedora, and an umbrella...I guess it was Lion King meets Singin' in the Rain...

Then, we found my favorite thing, the "Corner Store": a huge, kid-sized grocery store where they lined the shelves with empty boxes, cans, and fake food of all kinds.  You could shop, use the cash register, and bag your purchases in earth-friendly shopping bags. :)  The first time through, we just let Noah go at it and put whatever he wanted into the basket, which he thought was great fun.  I was really amused to see his choices: milk, butter, pasta, cereal, donuts, bagels, apples, corn, ground beef...it could easily have been my shopping cart at Weis on any given week.  Monkey see, monkey do!

After he'd done his own shopping, we picked up one of the pre-made lists they provided and had him help me read it - he could tell me the number and often figured out by the pictures just what he needed.

Finally, we headed to the Machine Shop exhibit where Noah got to make "Whatcha-ma-giggles" on an assembly line.  The safety goggles cracked me up.

The whole experience was a ton of fun for all three of us.  I was impressed at the quality of the exhibits and how nice everything was despite the muber of kids using it every day.  It was $7 per person, and they have a family membership deal for $75 which I'm sure we'd buy if we lived closer.  Noah had a ball, and when you add that to our lunch at Panera and cookie date at Starbucks, it's no wonder he told us on the way home, "Noah have fun today."  Mama have fun today too.

After we got home, the only thing Noah wanted to do was "gwocewy store," so we decided to get creative.  I scoured our cabinets and our recycling for boxes and containers we could use to make his own store and we set it up in our fun cube storage downstairs in his play area.  We gave him three dollar bills and a "credit card" (actually my full size MyPanera card) to use when he paid and just today my mom and dad brought over my old cash register for him to play with.  He's addicted to shopping...wonder where he gets that from?