Original Paintings by Us and for Us

We just redecorated Ava and Landon's bedroom, and part of the plan was for them to have their own original artwork on the walls. So, yay for 50% off canvas' at the craft store, 67 cent bottles of paint, 1 inch sponge brushes, and a pencil. These 20x20 pieces of artwork ended up costing us about $10 each and roughly 2 hours each. We are so happy with the results!

 

The kids each chose their own subject matter and we selected paint colors that would match their bedding. When it was all said and done, I did want it to look good with their room.

 

Landon is 3, so I drew the train and did most of the painting, but he did do the selections of color and did some painting in the larger areas.

Ava is 5, and she did the painting. I just drew the butterfly for her.

I decided to add an additional piece to Ava and Landon' room. The tree. It has a simplistic version of their family tree (going back to their great-great-grandparents) on it. My husband's side of the tree isn't complete yet, because I'm in the process of confirming some names with my mother-in-law, but soon it will be complete!

 

If you want to create your own original artwork, but you and/or your children aren't very artistic, remembering to only use colors that are in the room, will help you out - a lot! Also, if you are wanting to do something more than stripes or color blocks, you can search Google Images for "_______ drawing" and you'll probably find some inspiration that you can recreate with pencil onto the canvas before painting.

Happy painting!

From Box to Basket

We needed a quick, affordable, thoughtful way to give our neighbor some Easter candy and share the message of Jesus - and we came up with this! An empty graham cracker box almost made it to the trash before we rescued it and turned it into a handsome, sturdy basket.

It's perfect for tossing in some candy, eggs, money, or any other little gift. It would also be a cute way to present a small Mother's Day gift.

Just follow the photos below, and I believe you'll get the idea of how we did it!

Pretty Jar, Tasty Treat

Decorate a glass jar with Glass Permanent Paint Pens (or in our case we used Elmer's Paint Markers), and fill them up with a treat for someone dear. Pretty cute.

 

Cross-stitch for Young Children

Ava has been learning about Colonial times, and in one of her favorite books, Mary Geddy's Day, A Colonial Girl in Williamsburg, Ava saw Mary Geddy working on her stitches. It was the perfect opportunity to teach her, and I jumped right on it. She did a terrific job!

I found the materials at Hobby Lobby. I am assuming that you already know how to cross-stitch, so I'm just suggesting some kid-friendly materials (Ava is five years old).

• Plastic stuff: I don't know what you call it! But you see it pictured here. I deliberately chose a sheet of it with the largest holes.
• Needle: This package of needles can be found with the other ones, but these are larger and MUCH more blunt.
• Yarn: I recommend solid-colored yarn, not the variegated type, because it easier for your child to see the pattern of their stitches and understand where the needle should go next.
• Scissors: For cutting the "plastic stuff" and the yarn.
• Marker: For marking any patterns you may want to make for you child.
  

 

 

If your child is still too young for learning actual cross-stitch with a metal needle, try our Preschool version: Sewing 101: Preschooler Style

Gingerbread Ornaments from Cardboard

 

 

The most important materials you need for this project are cardboard, scissors, and paint markers (great for lots of projects). You can also use glue and googly eyes, string or ribbon, and stickers. If you have mod podge/decoupage glue, you can also coat the ornaments at the end.  Remember to turn them over and decorate that side, too!

We made these for Christmas, but I think they would be cute hanging in the kitchen any time of the year. We also have plans to make some "gingerbread" houses. Cute, huh?

Update:
Below are the "Gingerbread" ornaments we made next... Christmas Tree and House

Jingle Bell Bracelets

A dear neighbor and friend of ours made these Jingle Bell Bracelets/Shakers with Ava and Landon last year. They are so cute! To make one of your own, all you need is two pipe cleaners of different colors and jingle bells (these had four). Run your jingle bells onto one of the pipe cleaners and space them out evenly. (Depending on the size of your child's wrist, you may want to cut the pipe cleaners length down.) Twist the ends together to close the bracelet. Next, wind the other pipe cleaner around the first in a spiral around the bracelet and jingle bells. Yay! Now you're ready to sing "Jingle bells, jingle bells..."

Message Dinner Rolls

Thanksgiving or any dinner time can be made special by putting a message inside each person's dinner roll. Write the messages on small slips of paper, roll them into tiny scrolls, and insert them into the rolls before baking. Here are some message ideas...

• Find Bible verses that focus on praise and promises from Jesus. At dinner, have each person break into the roll and read his "thankfulness fortune" aloud.
• Have each paper contain one letter from the word "Thanksgiving" or "Thankful" and when the rolls are broken open, ask each person to say something for which they are thankful that begins with the letter from their dinner roll.
• Write a different conversation-starting question on each paper.

* Idea taken from the book Queen of the Castle by Lynn Bowen Walker.

Tree of Thankfulness

A friend of mine creates a Thanksgiving Tree with her family every year. They create a paper tree on the wall and then write on silk fall-colored leaves what the are thankful for. Then they attach the leaves to the tree. I was inspired by the idea, but I didn't have the gumption to create a big tree on the wall. So, we made a small version, which I can keep for years to come. In fact, it's been hanging up since last Thanksgiving! It's a wonderful reminder of where we were, where we are, and all that we have to be thankful to the Lord for.

We used white and green construction paper and a brown marker. We also needed scissors, a glue stick, and a pen or two. I cut out a stack of leaves for each family member to write on. After all the leaves had been written on, we glued them on the tree.

We created this at Thanksgiving, but you could make one any time of the year (ours actually looks more like a tree during spring or summer, doesn't it?). And it doesn't have to be a tree. Write on snowflakes for a winter scene, blossoms for a spring scene, fish for an underwater scene, or whatever your family is into. It's just about taking some time to reflect and be thankful.

"Always give thanks to God the Father for everything." - Ephesians 5:20

(This Scripture is written across the grass in our picture. Also, we included a leaf with the year on it and another leaf with our family members' ages.)