Seriously Crafty Treats

Fingerpaint Art

January 5, 2010 No Comments

As it is quite cold here right now, I have been searching for toddler friendly activities and crafts that will keep us from going stir crazy, until we thaw out from this frigid winter! I decided (most likely against better judgment) to let my little dude go crazy and finger paint. Now I have used finger painting in the past, but it has been mostly in a confined since…carefully patting his hands in the paint while he was strapped in a booster seat. Really what is the fun in that when you are little? So, I decided to just cover the floor of our kitchen with a cheap plastic table cloth (left over from his birthday party), and let him go wild. I figured in the meantime I might as well get something memorable out of this rare occasion, so I stuck a canvas on the floor for him to “paint” on. In case you too need an outlet during these winter months, here are the instructions to make the completed canvas that I have pictured below.

What you will need:

Finger paint (I suggest Crayola’s washable finger paint…it’s a bit more of a gel than a paint, but it washes off really well. It does not dry quickly on paper, but dries in about an hour on a canvas)

A 9 x 12 flat canvas (You can use a box canvas…one with sides, but I worried that it might get broken as my child stepped on the canvas several times)

Different painting items (I gave my child an old bottle brush, some paper towels, and a paint brush to make different textures, plus his hands and feet worked well…haha)

A large plastic bag to lay down (or old tablecloth)

Puffy sticker letters (I used two different types both purchased in the scrapebook section of Hobby Lobby)

What you do:

Lay down the plastic tablecloth. Put the canvas on the table cloth. Put small amounts of the paint on the canvas (whichever paint you want, I used only blue and green and a little yellow, so it wouldn’t turn brown) and let your child get creative! After the canvas dries, sticker the letters on the canvas, if you need to add a bit of fabric glue to make sure the letters stick.

Tips: I figured out where I wanted the letters before I began to make sure it would work on the canvas size I found. I also immediately gave my child a bath after the finger painting to make sure he didn’t stay blue…although blue is really in right now, isn’t it?

Here is how it looks!

Lettering choice — The phrase matches his bedroom theme.

Seriously Crafty Treats, Uncategorized

Christmas Crafts Part 2…Reindeer Faces

December 19, 2009 No Comments

On Friday we completed part 2 of our Christmas crafts I mentioned in my previous posts. This craft get together went much better than our previous gathering, with scheduled naps, and plenty of treats to keep the kids happy. And my little man actually colored on the paper this time! So here is what you need to make our Reindeer faces…

Medium size red pom poms

Tan construction paper

Dark brown construction paper

Red or green construction paper

Googly eyes

Glue

Red glitter

Crayons

Safety Scissors (or regular scissors if you are doing the cutting)

So here is what you do to put your craft together…

Trace the kids hands and one foot on white paper. Use these traces to make cut-outs to then trace the hands on the dark brown construction paper, and the foot on the tan colored construction paper. While you are cutting the hands and feet out (unless you have an older child who can do this with safety scissors…we don’t!), let the kids color on red or green construction paper. After completing the cut-outs paste the hands first and then foot on top of the hands on the colored red or green construction paper…as so…

Then add your googly eyes and pom pom with glue, as seen here…

Then add glue around the antlers and let your kids shake glitter all over (tip: place the pictures on a foil covered cookie sheet so when they sprinkle the glitter on it doesn’t cover your floor…completely)

And then stand back and admire your completed craft!

Seriously Crafty Treats

Oh Christmas Craft!

December 16, 2009 No Comments

I missed posting my Thanksgiving craft this year, so I am making up for it by posting several Christmas crafts! My sister and I got together for our annual craft making festivities, but with numerous small children we found we would have to do our crafts in two parts. So part one was marshmallow wreaths. I actually got this idea from food network magazine, but we doctored it a bit to cater to smaller children. So here’s what you need…

1 small foam wreath (get the smallest you can find…trust me, once you start making it you will understand)

1 bag of mini marshmallows

1 bag of large marshmallows

School glue

Glitter

Large ribbon for the tie

Here’s what to do….

Pour some glue on a paper plate. Dip the bottom of the marshmallows on the plate and place around the wreath. They will slide a bit…try to hold each one for a few seconds before moving on. Once they have dried and set, drizzle some glue around the wreath and shake glitter on top. A few tips…cut the large marshmallows in half, and place the wreath in a foil lined cake pan. This is a trick my Mom used when we were small. That way most of the mess ends up in the cake pan rather than the floor, table, etc. Prepare for some mess to end up on the floor, table, etc…haha! It takes the marshmallows about a day to dry, once they are dry use the ribbon to make a hook for the wreath.

Here’s the finished product…

If you want the food network version check out their current magazine. They used toothpicks instead of glue…but it takes a lot of toothpicks and probably a denser wreath to complete properly. In the future I would fill in the whole wreath so the foam doesn’t show…but holding the attention of small children long enough to do this was a good bit of work. Oh and little kids don’t care if some of the foam shows…I think the response we got was…”why it’s the same color as the marshmallows”

Seriously Crafty Treats

So Yummy… A Cupcake Delight!

September 9, 2009 No Comments

Don’t these cupcake bites just look scrumptious! They are done by Bakerella, a fabulous blog of all things deliciously baked.

However if you don’t have the time to make these tasty treats, check out hostess with the mostess for a a great DIY Marshmallow Bite. By the way if you don’t have a local “bakery supplies” type store (as I don’t know of one in my area, except those on-line!), all of the great supplies mentioned in the DIY post (even the candy melts) can be found at Hobby Lobby. I’m thinking about making these for the Candyland party I am in the midst of creating for my little mini cupcake’s first birthday (but not in pink…that would be for my birthday!).