Fall Glitter Fun

*Happy Halloween 2012*

 to all our readers!!!!

I wanted to share my latest fall decoration projects, just in time for some of  those last minute decoration ideas. This one is great for Halloween all the way to Thanksgiving!

One of my favorite things to use is glitter. Even at 30 I love things that glitter. Although when using it in most projects you usually have to use it sparingly, so not to make your project to over the top. Well if you love glitter as much as I do then I have an awesome project that will make your fall decorations just POP from a Glitter EXPLOSION!

So first I went to the local grocery store NOT with the intention on getting these cute little gourd pumpkins. However for $1.00 for 5 I couldn't pass it up. Now first let me tell you where I first saw this project. I don't mention her much mainly because I don't have any TV stations. (Yes we have a TV but we only have netflix)

So anyway I saw this project on Martha Stewart about 3-4 years ago. Ever since I have always wanted to do this, However I could never find orange glitter unless it was in a kit. So finally I splurged on a glitter kit that included the orange and black glitter that you see in the photos. 

For those of you that have not seen that episode of Martha Stewart or have not scene this technique before. I am going to run you through it. It is so easy and even the kids can do it. 

Supplies Needed:

-Little gourd pumpkins

-Tacky glue

- Paint brush

-Orange,Black, and/or White glitter

-Wax Paper

-Printer Paper (To catch the glitter on)

-Baby Food Jars (Something to place the pumpkins on to dry)

So first I pre-washed all the little pumpkins and towel dried them. the next thing I did was place a piece of wax paper on the table where I would be working. I also placed my paper to collect the glitter right next to my wax paper so that it was handy when I needed it. I also placed my baby food jars out and the lids so that I had a place to set the pumpkins when they were wet. 

Next you will brush your glue just the orange part of your pumpkin so that you can remain holding the stem without getting full of glue. I left a half dollar size clean on the center of the bottom so that when you place these down for decorations it will minimize on the amount of glitter than will be left behind when its time to put it all away. 

After the pumpkin is full of glue it is time to start pouring your glitter over all the parts that are covered in glue. You man need to set it down and turn it to get to all of it before the glue starts to dry. After you have covered your little pumpkin in glitter and had shaken the access glitter off over your glitter catch paper. You can then place your pumpkin on the rim of the lid or the glass and leave it to dry over night. 

Then take your glitter catch paper and pour the remaining back into your glitter jar. 

After you have done this for all your pumpkins just crunch up the wax paper and throw it away. wipe away any left over glitter that may have exploded onto the table and that's it. Now you will have some BEAUTIFUL fall decorations.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Stephanie

Sunday Craft Day (part 2)

If you are just tuning in last week we had started our first kid group project with our kids. We got together and our 2 boys had cut out their ghost and bats out of the Crayola Air-Dry Clay and some Halloween Cookie Cutters that I have. If you would like to read from the begining here is a link to the first post.

Sunday Craft Day (Part 1)


So this past Sunday we got together to do our family photos and let the kids paint their now dry clay Halloween cut outs. Both boys knew right away what colors they wanted. I have to admit they were pretty clean about their painting skills.




We used regular Folk Art Acrylic Paints to paint the clay projects. For the bats both boys used black and some neon green for the eyes. Then for the ghost we used white mixed with some Folk Art Metallic paint to give it a sort of shimmering luster. They finished the ghost by adding some black eyes and a black mouth.


  To keep the clay and paint from getting damaged I am going to spray them with a nice heavy coat of Folk Art High Gloss Glaze. This is another product that I love to use. It gives everything such a nice glossy finish.

The boys were very proud of how their Halloween projects turned out. I know us moms are excited to put them up for many years to come. I will post a finished photo as soon as I can get them sprayed and dried.

Stay tuned during Christmas when we bring the clay back out for another great holiday clay project for the kids.

Happy Crafting,
Stephanie & Crystal

Sunday Craft Day

This past Sunday, Crystal and I had our first group craft day. The kids got a play date while us moms went through our latest projects. We all need a day with our best crafting buddy. Crystal and I share many things that are alike to the point where some people think is freaky, we just think its fate. Anyways, our boys are a year apart to the day and get along GREAT!!!! During her little ones nap time I came up with a craft for the boys to do so they weren't tempted to wake the little one. I pulled out one of my sons favorite crafts, the Crayola Air Dry Clay and some of my Halloween cookie cutters.

We set up the table covering it with some garbage bags for easy clean up

Next the boys flattened out their clumps of clay. They had a blast hammering their tiny little hands on the clay. I wish one of us had a video but at least we have a camera HAHA.














Then the boys took the cookie cutters and pressed them into the clay.







Sometimes its a good idea to have an adult around to help take the clay out of the cookie cutter.








Then when all you are all finished you set them aside for a few days to let them dry completely.

After they are dry you can decorate them. We will be getting back together this weekend to finish up our projects so stay tuned next week to see how our little artists decorate their Halloween clay projects.




Happy Crafting
Stephanie and Crystal 

Framed Hand Print

Happy Father's Day!

Have you ever been working on something for a gift for someone and at the very end it did not turn out the way you had wanted and you are literally down to the day of. Well that happened to me last night. My little guy and I had been working on a project for my Husband for Father's Day and it just didn't turn out. Jesse was so bummed. He really wanted to give his dad multiple gifts this year since he had done most of the work.

Quick on my feet I looked around at what my husband calls "my personal craft store" to see what else we could quickly whip up. I had spied a box of picture frames that I have set aside for gifts and projects. All the sudden a little light bulb went off in my head.

Since we already had the paint out from painting our clay imprints I had my Brother (who was visiting) take Jesse's hand and paint it black while I took the opportunity for a photo op.  We had picked out a frame and I took his hand and pressed his hand print on the back of the cleaned glass. (The reason you put it on the back of the glass is so that it doesn't get scratched or rubbed off. Also it will have a nice glassy finish without having to add your own enamel or gloss.) After we pressed his hand on the glass we quickly went and washed the paint off his hand and let the glass dry. The rest of the project was on me.

I paged through my book of quotes that I have been collecting, picked out the perfect one and hopped onto the computer. I set up the text the way I wanted it printing it in a light color that was easy to color over. After I printed it out I took my metallic markers and traced over all lettering. I chose certain words to decorate a little differently with different font type and color. I printed it on 8x11 glossy photo paper trimmed it to size and placed it behind the hand print and securing it in with the frame backing.

If you are one of those people that have awesome penmanship you could probably skip the whole process of laying out your text on the computer and printing it out. The whole process for me took 25-30 min. Now that it's finished I think this is a better gift than the original.

We always love to hear from our readers. Have you ever had a last minute gift to make.

Happy Crafting!
Stephanie 

Kids Clay Gift Idea

 This week was a busy week in my household as we get ready for Father's Day. This is also the first year where my son took a big role in creating his own gifts for dad. Now of course I was there to assist him along with a little help from my brother when he was around. This is just one of a few different projects that we had done during the week.

Other than a few small clay ornaments we made back in February for Valentines Day I had not worked with clay much. I am a big fan of the Crayola Air-Dry-Clay and I will most definitely be going back and buying more. This last week was National Clay Week so I only thought it was fitting to use clay as one of our gift projects.

So to start off my son and I made a big clay ball and then rolled it out into a 3/4 inch pancake. I made sure everything was smoothed out. Yes we had to improvise a bit for a rolling pin and used a smooth pencil to roll  it out. We are not much for baking and recently realized that I don't own a rolling pin. Mind you this is now on my list of things to pick up next time I am at the store.

So after our clay chunk is rolled out nice and smooth I took my sons freshly washed foot and placed it in the center of the the clay piece. I had him shift all his weight onto his one foot and I helped him press down so that we could get an imprint of his foot into the clay.

After we pressed his foot we did the same thing for his hand. Then we poked holes in the top so that we could hang these on the wall. I also stuck in the wooden pegs that I will be using for the key chain holder. After I imprinted the pegs I pulled them out and cut out the shape I wanted and set the clay pieces aside to dry for the next couple days.

After the pieces were all dry we pulled them out and Jesse picked out what colors he wanted to paint them. We went ahead and put the first coat of paint on them and applied a 2nd coat after the first coat had dried.

I wanted the imprints to stand out a bit so I decided to attempt my first "antiquing technique" to the imprint with some black paint and a dry cloth. I dabbed a small amount of paint and gently wiped it throughout the imprint. I then went back with the colored paint to touch up any spots that I had accidentally smudged over. I didn't like the look of the yellow and black so i went back and put a metallic silver on the imprint for the foot.

When all the paint was dried I took them outside and sprayed them with a high gloss enamel to give it a protective coat.

This was definitely a fun project to do with my little guy and I know he had a blast with it. I can't wait to do our next clay project.

We always love to hear from our readers so let us know what you made for Fathers Day or what you made with your latest clay project.








Happy Crafting

Stephanie