Guest posting at Mess for Less today!

I am so excited to invite you over to Mess for Less today! Vicky, a creative mom of 3 super adorable girls, invited me to guest post and share one of my projects with her readers. How awesome and generous of her!!!  Vicky keeps her girls busy with innovative/inexpensive projects ranging from paint crafts to whipping up yummy treats in the kitchen. Come on over and check out her fabulous blog!



                                                               

Mini Snowmen

Happy Monday!  We enjoyed a snowy weekend drinking hot chocolate (with extra marshmallows)  and building tiny snowmen. :)

Materials:
Carrot (cut into mini noses)
Chocolate Chips
Left over Christmas tree twigs
Snow (watch out for the yellow stuff)

We prepped our feature parts and gathered some snow...
 

We balled up our snowmen...

 ...added  features  (the kids loved making different facial expressions) and chilled them outside. 



We had so much fun making these and we love how they look like they are dancing. 

Have a great week! :)

See this project and more at:

WhipperBerry

30 Handmade Days

Chalkboard Makeover

I love chalkboards. The only thing that got me through rainy day indoor recess in elementary school was the free time we had to chalk up the boards. One time, my friends and I decided to cover the entire board with chalk. In 15 minutes we managed to cover two entire boards with some pretty rad doodles. Wonder where the teacher was?  Let’s just say that we probably left school that day with a nice film of chalk dust on us. ;)

I have a small collection of chalkboards that I use for various things. We have a big one outside and I use a lot of smaller slate boards for décor, parties, you name it. I decided to give one of my old fabric covered boards a makeover – so here goes:

Here is an old board:

I found this pretty springy paper at Michael’s and love it so much that I think I’ll mod podge it on everything:

Step One

Trace the board.

Step Two

Cut the paper (I covered both sides of the board with different paper- more décor options!)

Step Three

Glue the paper to board.

Step Four

Paint the edges with some white acrylic. I didn’t mind having some paint run over the edges…it added a bit of a distressed look after smearing. Woot. You can always paint your board first.

Step Five

Plop or hang your board somewhere in your house, give it as a teacher gift…the possibilities are endless. :)

Hope you are having a great day!

You can see this project and more at:
Today's Creative Blog
WhipperBerry
30 Handmade Days
Tatertots & Jello

Attempt at Snow Globing

Snow globes rocked the blog world and Pinterest this holiday season, so I decided to try it out with the kids- Valentine style.  We punched out a bunch of plastic mini hearts (for the snow)...

... dumped them into a small mason jar and filled it up with water. A little on the boring side, ya think?

I sat the jar aside and later that day stopped by to see what Heather was whipping up and found that she made the CUTEST Valentine snow globe.  After seeing her snow globe perfectness, I revisited our project…made and glued in a little felt heart...

...added some mini snow flake hearts and filled the jar with water.

 Bloop,  bloop…it didn’t hold together so well.  

We tried. It’s still fun to shake and to watch the hearts swirl around.  My next attempt (yes…I will try again) will be waterless.  I'll keep you posted on my future snow globing adventures.  I know that you are excited! ;)  In the meantime...check out a simple and fun snow globe tutorial over at WhipperBerry.

Have a great weekend!!! :)

A little bit of this...

...and a little bit of that.  We have a bajillion projects in the works (so much for being organized in 2012! paa haaa!) so here are some bits and pieces of the creative chaos going on around here:   

Be back soon with some finished projects...unless I get sucked into Pinterest again and get crazily inspired by some amazingly cool ideas there. You can check out my boards and follow me on Pinterest by clicking here. :)

Summer Fever

Once January hits, it is not long before spring summer fever kicks in and all I can think about is sitting on a warm beach.  So while I am stuck in this crisp, 10 degree weather…let me take you to my little beach retreat…in my kids' bathroom.  It is a work in progress so I’ll give you a little peek.   

I loved making my daughter’s clubhouse signs so I thought that something similar would be fun for the kiddie bathroom.  We love summertime and the beach so it was easy to go with a beachy theme for their space.  

The boards measure about 5.5 inches x 2 feet and they are lightweight.   First, I coated them with a flat, off-white paint, freehanded the lettering with a pencil and then painted. I painted the edges with a chocolate brown and then used a dry brush method to create a distressed look on top.  

Sailboat tutorial coming soon. :)

Back to reality...time for some hot chocolate. ;)

*Check out this project and more over at WhipperBerry,  30 Days & Tatertots & Jello.

NYE Activity: Pin the Hands on the Clock

We are low-key NYE people but I still like to make things special and fun. I was brainstorming up some ideas to make things more exciting for tonight (to go along with our way cool Times Square ball) and this Pin-the-Hands-on-the-Clock (midnight, of course) idea popped into my head.  

My AMAZINGLY handy hubs made a 4’x6’ outdoor chalkboard wall for the kids over the summer (one day soon I will share my chalkboard obsession with you) so I thought that this would be the perfect spot for our game.  Here’s how I made it:

Step One

Grab some chalk and sketch a handless clock on chalkboard.

Step Two

I recycled some cardboard for the hands. I sketched the hands, cut them out and then applied a coat of white paint (glitter/sparkles would be great, too!) Oh, and used black sharpie for some details.

Step Three

Make a blindfold. I used some scrap fabric.

Step Four

Stick some packing tape on the back of hands and pin away!

**If you don’t have a giant chalkboard, you can always make this using paper or cardboard.  If you use paper, you can always hang it on your refrigerator if you want to get all magnetic. Fun game for ALL ages!  My kids are loving this!!!

 

I just started my blogging adventure in September and I just want to say welcome to my new friends and THANK YOU for all of your support. I appreciate you and I look forward to sharing fun projects and ideas with you in 2012.  Best wishes for a happy, healthy and exciting New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Krista

You can also find this post over @ I {heart} Nap Time & Tatertots and Jello!  ...along with over 1000 other way cool linked up ideas! :)