Seriously Crafty Treats | Cupcakes and Commentary

Learning with A & J, Seriously Crafty Treats

Black cats and 3-D ghosts

October 6, 2020 No Comments

It’s been quite awhile since we could spread out and paint, and I am so excited that we can! I found two wooden ghosts at Target for the boys to paint and I completed a little canvas I have been working on. My canvas was a black cat that I sketched:

Did an initial painting:

And then completed with the boys during their project:

And the boys enjoyed painting their ghosts:

They painted one side that night and then completed the other side the next day:

However, they dry pretty quickly (if you use thin layers of paint), so you could paint them and wait an hour or so and then paint the other side. They have made for fun new Halloween decor:

The boys enjoyed it so much that I picked up wooden leaves from Target online and I have a decoupage idea for November!

Learning with A & J, Seriously Crafty Treats

Kandinsky and 2D Shapes

May 26, 2020 No Comments

Now that we are in Summer mode we are still working on some “learning things”, but at a much slower and more creatively driven pace. We did a Kandinsky art study about six years ago (it didn’t seem that long ago, but it’s true I looked it up), and it was one of the boys’ favorites. I found a Kandinsky project on Momfessionals and decided it would be fun to revisit the artist with a new project. We watched several of the videos Andrea references in her post, and then completed our project while listening to different classical music songs on Spotify.

We also watched several Khan Academy videos on 2D shapes while we worked, and we went through story time readings of Michael Hall books (The Perfect Square, My Heart is Like a Zoo), and books about crayons (The Day the Crayons Quit, Red by Michael Hall, The Day the Crayons Came Home).

The boys decided to do different shapes other than circles which were really fun:

We kept the crafting going by making Hey Clay snails with cool spiraled shells that are reminiscent of Kandinsky’s circles:

We had such a fun time revisiting art study, I’m already working on some other projects for the upcoming weeks!

Learning with A & J, Mini Cupcakes, Seriously Crafty Treats

Hey Clay Art

May 18, 2020 No Comments

I bought this weeks ago when I saw it on an Instagram post and J finally noticed it in the box of educational and art supply items I have at my parents’ house. He got it out on Friday and is already asking what box we can get after he finishes all of the clay models in this box, so I definitely think it’s a hit. Here’s a little bit more about it…

Each set comes with the clay you need to make all of the characters on the front of the box. You do need to have a tablet or phone to download the App to get the instructions for making the characters. There is a code in the box that allows you to access all of the character models for your box.

The App is very interactive and takes you step by step through the process of making your selected creation.

The clay is a bit of a hybrid between Play-Doh and foam. It is not as messy or sticky as Play-Doh.

Once you complete your creation you just leave it out to dry (no baking, etc.) and it will harden into a toy structure that can be played with.

It’s a fun activity for a rainy day, or when you are taking a break from pool time!

Adventures in cub scouting, Learning with A & J, Seriously Crafty Treats

Camp-out cooking and leaf crafting

November 19, 2018 No Comments

At A’s den meeting this week, he learned about first aid, safety, and how to grill a hamburger/hot dog, which are three important things!

He was very excited to eat the hamburger he made all by himself, and he even tried it with an onion on it!

While he and B were hiking and cooking, J and I worked on a leaf craft project at home. This is a super easy project that requires minimal items, all you need is a hammer, watercolor (or other heavy weight) paper, paper towels, and freshly fallen leaves.

You want leaves that have some pigment left in them because it will transfer color better to the paper. All you do is arrange your leaves on the paper…

And then cover them with paper towels, and hammer (carefully, with adult supervision) all over the leaves…

And the imprint of the leaves will transfer onto the paper!

Super simple, and a great weekend afternoon craft!

Learning with A & J, Seriously Crafty Treats

Current favorite art supplies

August 28, 2018 No Comments

The boys go through cycles of art interest. Sometimes they are doing many projects, writing books, drawing pictures, etc. and then other times things are in a bit of a holding pattern. I keep quite a few supplies on hand, so the boys have items whenever they decide they need to draw, color, or write a story. I thought I’d share some of our current favorite supplies:

My on going struggle is where to store everything so they can easily get to it, but it’s not sitting out all the time. I typically store it all in our kitchen hutch, but my dream is to have an area of the house where all of this can be out and they can leave projects out while they work on them.

Milestones, Mini Cupcakes, Seriously Crafty Treats

Back to school treats

August 7, 2018 No Comments

For the teachers….

For the kiddos….

We are ready for fourth grade….

And first….

I cannot believe summer vacation is over! The boys were ready to go back to school, I was ready for them to go back to school, but I still had a moment of “woah, did it really end that fast?” We did a lot this summer! We went to the beach and Texas! We had loads of cousin time, ran laps through our “family farm”, spent hours at the pool, went fishing, and saw The Incredibles, Han Solo, Hotel Transylvania 3, and Christopher Robin. We played Fortnite, MARIO, and Kirby All Stars. We read a whole bunch of books (J read thirty Magic Treehouse books!), and we made it to story time at least three times. There was VBS, FCA, baseball camp, and swim lessons. And best of all we slept in (some, my kids get up early), took time to be lazy, and spent some afternoons just doing nothing.

To me that is the best part of summer.

Learning with A & J, Seriously Crafty Treats

Ladybug craft

July 26, 2018 No Comments

I have to share this cute craft and story idea that J came up with for my niece. He decided to make ladybug paper plates and worked very hard on an example. My personal favorite part was the hidden smiley face on the underside of the paper plate! I really think J is going to end up being an imagineer at Disney or Pixar. He starts about every other sentence with “hey mommy, what do you think if….” and then he’ll end it with something like “if butterflies had wheels so they could both drive and fly.” And that will follow with a ten minute discussion of how he could actually make that happen. To support or paper plate ladybugs we watched The Grouchy Ladybug:

And a quick video on how ladybugs fold their wings:

And a lengthier one that they started getting bored about why ladybugs are called ladybugs:

And then we made our paper plate ladybugs:

All you need is two paper plates per kid, some construction paper, glue, scissors, and crayons. You just put the wings in between the plates and glue the plates together. Then color one side like the ladybug, and the inside is the ladybugs hidden face! So fun! If you want even more craft ideas for ladybugs, the boys and I did a ladybug activity day three years ago. You can find it here! Happy ladybug learning!

Mini Cupcakes, Seriously Crafty Treats

Red, white, & blue stars

July 3, 2017 No Comments

This is a beyond simple craft, perfect to do during one of the hit or miss showers today or tomorrow! We gathered plain craft glue, glitter, and chipboard stars from Hobby Lobby.

Then we painted our stars with glue:

Applied glitter:

And then let the stars sit and dry:

Then I shook off the excess glitter (and poured it back in the jars to save for another project):

Then we set them up to display with our other Fourth of July decorations! So fun and simple!

Learning with A & J, Mini Cupcakes, Seriously Crafty Treats

Driveway painting activity

June 28, 2017 No Comments

As the boys are getting older they are playing more on their own, creating their own games and adventures. We don’t do summer activities quite as much as we used to, but when we do I look for ones that the boys are able to do a majority of the steps, as they get bored quickly if it takes awhile to set-up. They also tend to like ones that involve either painting or cooking. A chalk paint activity fits into the create and paint category.

The boys started out by scooping the cornstarch and water into muffin cups and then adding food coloring to each:

Then they mixed up the colors (green was a favorite, ha!):

Then they started painting:

J created this sweet cross:

And when they got bored I dumped everything out and they painted with that:

And then they were done and off to ride bikes after we cleaned up! An activity that was more time doing than setting up was perfect for a summer morning!

Seriously Crafty Treats

Bunny masks

March 16, 2017 No Comments

In the freezing cold of the first three days of Spring Break the boys and I were searching for something to do and they really wanted to create a project. They were inspired by the first episode of Spring Baking Championship (it featured bunny cakes), so they wanted to make something bunny themed. I rummaged through my craft box and came up with paper plates, cotton balls, pom poms and pipe cleaners. And I came up with bunny masks.

The boys began coloring and cutting out ears, while I put holes for eyes in the paper plates: