Clay Pot Christmas Tree

A friend of mine did this craft with her children and I thought it was the cutest idea to make a Christmas tree out of small clay pots, so I headed to the craft store and made my purchases.  The best part about this is that I think the biggest pot was only $1 and they went down from there, so it was really inexpensive!  These are pictures from my trial-run with Alexandria to see how it turned out and it came out so well that I bought an extra set of materials for her and Emma to make another one while we're on holiday next week.  We gave this one as a present to the woman who watches Alexandria during the day and she loved it!

Things you'll need:
 - green and red paint (with or without glitter)
 - paint brushes
 - glue or glue gun
 - bag of various sizes of glitter pom-pom balls
 - 1 big clay pot (1st level or bottom of tree)
 - 2 medium clay pots (2nd level of tree and tree stand)
 - 1 small clay pot (3rd level of tree)
 - 1 extra small clay pot (4th level or top of tree)

First things first are the clay pots.  I was afforded this being easier for me in the store since there was an example of this craft on display right with the clay pots.  All you have to do is stack them up with the various sizes to make sure everything fits just right.  They pretty much should only sit about an inch or less of overlap when you stack them up.  The one for the red base shown above should be sized so that it hits directly on the ridge of the pot that is sitting upside-down on top of it.  It didn't matter if the pots were different colors since you're painting over them anyway.  Keep in mind that the base and the second layer of the tree are the same size pot.

I had Alexandria paint all of the clay pots while they were still separate so that she wouldn't get drips of paint stuck under the ridges that would drip down and dry that way.  We only did one layer of paint (green or red depending on what pot) on each pot and then I actually used a colored glitter paint as a second coat to add some shine.  Below you can see the pot on the left that has only a layer of green paint (I used Crayola washable paint) and then next to it is another pot that has a layer of green paint and another layer of green glitter paint.  I really liked the shine that the glitter paint gave to the pots, so I'd definitely recommend using it!  I did let the pots dry for quite awhile in between coats and before I moved on to the next part.

Next was the trickiest part; stacking the pots and figuring out a way to glue them together!  I used a glue gun for this and after a bit of trial and error, I found a way that worked.  First I'd stack two of the clay pots together and see where on the inside of the one sitting on top was rubbing the other so I knew where I had to place the glue.  Then I applied a large dot (size of a dime) of glue with the hot glue gun at 4 various points around the inside of the clay pot going on top where it was going to hit pot that it was stacking on top of.  Hold the pot so that you can see the inside while you're applying the glue and then quickly flip it over onto the other pot it's stacking on top of.  Because of the large dot of glue, it doesn't dry right away and will drip down to hold the two pots together once you stack them.  Make sure to quickly make any adjustments if it's crooked or sitting odd before the glue dries!  I tried other various ways to put the glue onto the pot and try to get them to stay together and nothing else worked.  Again, I let the tree sit for awhile to make sure that the glue dried fully before moving on to the final step.

Using the glue gun, Alexandria would point to where she wanted to place a glitter pom-pom ball on the tree, I'd put a small spot of glue on the tree and she'd stick the ball to the glue.  Obviously, be very careful with this since the glue is extremely hot; you may just want to have your child point and then apply the ball yourself.

I was stumped for what to put at the top; I considered trying to find a small ornamental start to put on top, a snowflake pin, and various other ideas.  It ended up that the first place Alexandria wanted to place a pom-pom ball was smack in the middle on top!  I thought she had a great idea, so I found the largest yellow glitter pom-pom ball and we used that as the topper; worked perfectly!

We both really enjoyed making this craft and Emma is extremely excited to be making one of her own next week.  For how inexpensive this is, it would make a great long-lasting decoration or even a good Christmas gift!

Hand-Painted Wall Decals

When deciding what I wanted to do with Alexandria's room before she was born, I knew I wanted to keep the blue wall color that I loved, but wanted to add some sort of 'girly' touch to the walls.  After picking out the perfect bedding, I kept trying to figure out a way to incorporate the bird/tree print onto the walls.  I actually bought curtains to match the set so that I could frame the print part of them in the corner and hang them on the walls; still a good idea that I have yet to do to date!

At some point, I noticed that the print on the comforter was a perfect size to add some detail to the walls.  If only I could figure out how to easily re-create the print!  So many people have asked me how in the world I did this, so I figured it was a good craft to post about while stuck at the house in the snow for what feels like the 20th time this year.  Here's a picture of a bit of the stenciling and the comforter on the back of the crib that I used as the template.

Things you'll need: - Image of whatever you'd like to re-create at the size you would like to re-create it at.  I was lucky and the comforter's print was the exact size I wanted to use.
 - Clear plastic roll or anything that's large enough and transparent to trace your image onto (I found the roll of clear thicker plastic at ACMoore, but I can't remember the exact brand.)
 - Piece of poster board (get two in case you make a mistake!)
 - Exacto blade
 - Permanent marker
 - Pencil
 - Tape - I used painter's tape just to make sure it would come off easy
 - Paint in all of the colors you'd like to use - I bought sample sizes at the paint store to use and they were more than enough paint for what I was doing and I got the benefit of being able to pick from tons of colors to match the original print's colors.
 - A few paint brushes - I got a few from a craft store that were a bit better quality than the Crayola kids paint brushes I had around the house!  No need to spend a ton of money though.

The first thing I did was lay out the comforter (or whatever image you've chosen) onto a table and placed the plastic sheet over the image.  I used a permanent marker to trace the pattern onto the plastic sheet from the comforter.  After I was done, I cut out the image pieces so that it created a stencil I could trace onto something else.  If your image is easier to trace onto poster board, then you may be able to skip these steps and just trace directly from the image to the poster board.  After making a plastic paper stencil, I traced that onto the poster board so I had a more sturdy stencil to trace onto the walls.  Again, I cut out the images (see below) so that I could use it as my stencil.

*Note: You need to make sure that you pay attention to where you need to leave pieces of the stencil in so that they connect the patterns.  If you cut out too much, then certain parts of the pattern will fall through and you'll lose site of them.

As you can see in the picture, the next step was to position the poster board on the wall where you would like to trace the image and secure it with the painters tape.  My stencil had a lot of things going in and out, so you'll see I have tiny pieces of painters tape throughout the branches to keep them from flopping away from the wall.  At this point, I simply traced the stencil onto the wall with pencil (easy for fixing mistakes).

The next step was to start painting the base colors (if your image has multiple colors like mine).  I thought it would be easier to paint the entire flower one color and simply go back after it dried to paint the middle circle and to place the dots on the image.  You can do this however you think it's easiest.  I did 2-3 coats of each color depending on how well it was covering.  I had 4 sets of the stencils on the walls, so I rotated around the room while everything dried.

In the above picture, you can see that I've finished the base color of most of the images, left the branches and leaves for last since they're the darkest color, and started adding pencil traces of small stencils I made for the bird's wing and the flower centers.  I made those cut outs using the cello to poster board tracing technique used for the full stencil.  Next up, I filled in the flower centers and bird's wing that I had just traced on.  Again, 2-3 coats were needed to get good coverage.  Then I painted in the branches and leaves while adding in some dots to some of the flowers.

The original image had a lot more 'activity' going on with the dots and colors.  As I was progressing, I made some executive decisions about changing some colors or not adding in everything.  This is of course something that everyone will have to decide based on their own image and personal preference.  Below is a picture of the final corner with two stencils.  There's another one on each of those walls, one in the opposing corner that you could see in the first picture in the post and another coming off of the trim around her door.

It adds a really neat personal touch to the room and really incorporated some 'girly' stuff onto the blue walls that I loved.  I'm going to be very sad to leave these behind when we eventually move, but Emma has already requested an image of a beagle in her room, so I'll be using this technique again soon!

Sharing a Little Love

My neighbor sent me a picture message with a 'not so crafty mama' craft and I decided to take a stab at it for myself.  In the end, I think her version came out better, but it's still capturing the memories that is the most important part of the craft.  I asked for her copyright permissions for the craft and to post!  (Thanks Marla!!!)

Things you'll need:
- Red paint & paintbrush
 - Pink paper (you'll need red paper and glue if you'd like to do layered hearts)
 - Pen
 - Tiny hands

The first thing you do is make a heart.  You can do this the traditional way by folding a piece of paper in half so that both sides are even, by tracing something that it heart shaped (possibly printing out a big heart on your computer to trace), or taking the really easy way out (as long as you have a Cricut) and just popping in a cartridge and having it cut out a perfect heart for your with a few button touches!  Regardless, as long as you have a heart, then you're good for this step.

I didn't take the time to create an 'inner' heart to give extra color or depth, but my neighbor did and I think her's looks sharper than how ours turned out.  After you glue the layers together (if you have them), you're ready for the hand prints.  I prefer to use the paintbrush to apply the paint to Alex's hands.  She's becoming much more interested in this process and spent a lot of the time playing with the bristles on the brush while I was covering her in red paint; very cute!

Right hand on the right, left on the left and you've completed your hand prints.  I had Alexandria do hers one on each side; Marla's however looks neat with the thumbs overlapping...to each is own!  Add a little personal message as a touch and your quick & simple valentines are done!  Alexandria left one of these on her changing table to surprised Daddy with in the morning and then gave one to her teacher at daycare.

Child Designed Bookmarks

Being an avid reader (well...more so when I wasn't chasing after a 1-year old) and having multiple book lovers in the family, we really try to instill a love for reading in our children.  Emma loves to read and does amazingly well in reading at school.  Alexandria already opens her books and babbles as she turns the pages.

Because of this, I thought it would be neat to make bookmarks for everyone in the family that likes to read while occupying Emma during an uneventful day.  We had done this in the past, so I definitely have some lessons learned, but wanted to make some more for the holidays (and because Uncle Jason directly requested a new bookmark).

Things you'll need:
 - Paper - I use the white scrapbooking sheets that come pre-filled in the clear pages since I have a bunch of that extra, but you can use any kind of paper/color you like.  I'd recommend something thicker than printer paper in case you use markers so it doesn't bleed through to the other side.
 - Scissors
 - A few sheets of laminate (more on this later)
 - Pencil, pens, markers, crayons - whatever they want to draw with
 - Ruler or straight edge of some sort

First things first is to decide how big you'd like them to be.  The first time, we made them about 6 inches by 2 inches (worked well cutting the 12x12 scrapbooking paper into equal pieces).  I liked this size much better than when we made them this time about 6x3 inches.  You'll see why later when we laminate them.

One trick that we learned after the first time was to write the name of whoever the bookmark was for on the back before drawing a picture on the other side.  When mass-producing bookmarks, it definitely makes life easier to remember who's was who's when you're staring at 8+ bookmarks with similar designs!

After all of the pictures have been drawn, it's time to laminate them.  I purchased sheets of laminate in 8.5x11 inches sizes that had a hard clear front and then a less sturdy (sticky) clear back.  This way it gives the bookmarks some support so they don't bend and is easier to laminate than if you had two flimsy sides.  I will say that they were more expensive than I originally assumed, so you can decide for yourself.  Line up the bookmarks on the non-sticky piece of laminate so that they're about 3/4's of an inch apart.  You'll need the extra in between for the edges of the bookmark so that they don't come undone.

I also try to use the nice edges at the end to line them up against so that some sides of the bookmark won't have a 'hand-cut' edge to them.  Now here's the tricky part, you have to peel the paper off of the sticky side while at the same time using the ruler as a guide to press the sticky side to the non-sticky side.  Slow and steady wins the race with this one!  This is why it's also good to position the bookmarks towards the edge so that you can start sticking the two sides together before you get to the bookmarks.

You want to keep sliding the ruler along the page so that it presses the two sheets together.  Absolutely pause and re-align the bookmark edges when you get close to starting to laminate over them so that they don't shift.  After you're at the end, take the ruler and rub all over the laminate to make sure it's together and that all air bubbles are out.  I also make sure to go around the edges of the bookmark a few times to ensure that there's a good seal.

Once they're fully together, you can cut them apart and leave however much you'd like of the clear laminate as a border.  I'd recommend to not cut too close to the actual bookmark so that the two sides of laminate don't separate with wear.  I'd also suggest from experience to round the corners; our first set were like daggers on the corners!

The finished product!  Emma's this Christmas were a penguin sliding theme with her newly learned dialogue bubbles! :)  They make cute personal gifts from the kids that every book-lover can enjoy.  We use them all of the time at our house and could probably use a few more!  Happy reading!

Hands & Feet Rudolph

When pondering what to get/make for Alexandria's teachers at daycare, I figured a cute little arts and crafts project would be perfect to give them along with a more traditional gift card.  I ran across the idea for this somewhere along my internet travels and wanted to give it a try.

Things you'll need:
 - Paint brushes
 - Brown paint
 - Google eyes (or you can draw them on) - I found a large bag at Walmart for $4
 - Red paint (or you can use a red puff ball...which I didn't have for this)
 - Sharpie or black marker
 - Piece(s) of paper
 - 2 hands and one foot :)

First things first, lay out all of the paper in a paint-proof environment.  This time I used the kitchen floor because I had the help of my husband to hold the stamper!  You pretty much just need the brown paint, a paintbrush, and the paper at this point.  I had my husband hold Alexandria's foot in the air while I painted the bottom brown.  (Of course you have to notice the toe curl from the tickle!)

From there, you use on hand positioned at the top of the heel mark to the left and the other to the right.  To be completely honest, I have no idea if it would look better with the thumbs in or out.

I pretty much just grabbed a hand, stamped it wherever it fell and proceeded down the line.  We made four, so it was an assembly line of paint, stamp, re-apply paint and stamp.  One hand at a time, obviously wash in between, and try to keep as tight of a hold as possible on the stamper!!!  My husband was definitely a huge help in this craft.  I will say that Alex does a lot better with the paint/stamp method now than she has in the past.  Here's a picture of the outcome after stamping.  As you can see, they all look different :)

After they dried, I added a little smirk/smile right above the toe line with the black permanent marker, added two google-eyes right where the heel part starts and a red circle nose.  Again, with the nose, I used paint and just applied it really thick so it would cover the brown, but I did see someone who used a red puff ball that also looked cute.  Here's the final product!  The teacher's loved them and we have one proudly displayed on our fridge :)

I hope everyone enjoys the project and has a happy holiday!!!

Personalized Calendars

One of my husband's favorite gifts every year for his birthday is the personalized calendar that I make for him.  While you may be thinking, 'Oh, this isn't all that crafty,' you are correct; however that's why I'm a 'not so crafty mama'! :)

With all of the options available across various websites, I'd have to say that I like Shutterfly's utility the best for putting together the calendar.  I've used Snapfish in the past and that has also worked well.  It also helps that I already upload all of my pictures to that site to share my pictures with family (another not so crafty post to come!), so they're readily available to add to our calendar.

The theory for pictures that I use on the calendar goes like this; for every month on the calendar I'm making I use pictures taken during that month from the current year (ex. for our 2011 calendar, I use pictures from June 2010 on the June 2011 page).  This at least keeps some consistency with the calendar and provides a reflective reminder of where you were this time last year; our 2010 December calendar shows me as 9 months pregnant and pictures from Alexandria's birth!  Now I'm no longer 9 months pregnant and Alexandria is about to turn 1 in a few short weeks; how times change...

Enough nostalgia for now and back to the calendar.  I thought I'd list a couple of the tips and tricks I use to get this thing put together.

• Decide early whether you actually want to see some of the designs on each of the pages or if you strictly want to see all pictures.  I've gotten 1/2 way through and changed my mind, so it's a time-saver if you want it to be consistent throughout to make up your mind early.  Below is a picture from the back of our 2010 calendar where it shows you the picture part of every month.

• Do one month of pictures at a time.  This helps with keeping only pictures from that month on the month that you're focusing on.  Emma loves helping me pick the pictures we should use and figuring out where they should go on the calendar, so even your kids can be involved in the activity.
• Save pictures from the months that you didn't have room for to add to various holiday 'days' on the actual calendars day portion.  I love adding some of my favorites on random days throughout the months.
• Add in all of your family birthdays, anniversaries, and even vacations if you know the dates.  It makes my month in August when I see a week filled with pictures from last years trip from the beach representing the week we're going to the beach on the new calendar.  (I also enjoy putting goofy pictures of my husband on the day of his birthday to give him a good laugh!)  See below for an example of the what the top/bottom of the calendar looks like and how there are images on the dates.

 

• Add other personal dates to the calendar to add pictures to.  I've added dates for Alexandria's due date, my husband and I's first date, Alexandria's 1/2 birthday celebration, Trick-or-Treat night, etc.  Anything you want can be added.
• Don't forget you can zoom the photos so that you make sure you can show the part of the photo that you want to focus on.  This is especially useful for the pictures on the dates since they are small, so you'll want to make sure that you zoom (crop) in on exactly what you want to see.

The best part about all of this is that next year when you go back to make edits, the website saves your dates to reuse on the new calendar which is a BIG time saver!  Some even saves the pictures so that you can reuse the pictures you chose for people's birthday's last year on the new calendar without having to add them all individually again.

Now, I should probably get back to creating the one for 2011 since I'm behind on getting it done!!!  Feel free to comment with any questions if you get stuck.