Don’t look now, but there’s only 18 days left ’til Christmas and 24 days until 2017! In need of some quick party attire to ring in the New Year? I’ve got your family noggins covered with the 3 free printable hats I designed for Project Nursery this month. Click the link or photo for all the details!
Go ahead and play with your food.
Kids will go nuts over this special Thanksgiving Day breakfast surprise! Find the full tutorial over at Project Nursery.
Surely by now you know I have a *thing* for cardboard. I kinda love that it’s free (hello, Amazon Prime), easy to work with, and has almost limitless potential when paired with a little hot glue and paint.
Around Sept I started saving boxes. By early October the kids placed their Halloween costume orders and I got to work.
Bug crushed the trick-or-treat scene as Optimus Prime from the Transformers series.
Arm guns included. Duh.
When he laid down flat, the whole costume transformed into Optimus’s signature semi-truck mode. Be sure to scroll to the end of this post for a video of him in action as well as some behind-the-scenes clips…
And then my animal lover: Songbird, the elephant. The entire headpiece was fashioned on the fly: cut, fit, re-cut, glue. Old-fashioned trial and error.
Little plastic snaps and straps of elastic kept all 4 “feet” secure, while still allowing full range of motion. A small loop of cardboard glued to the back of the tail easily attached it to the hoodie with a kilt pin.
The night prior to Halloween, I stayed up past my bedtime to make myself a cardboard hat. I feel a kinship with the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland; we both frequently feel as though we’re losing our minds, have large heads that look great in hats, and think that wanting to sit and sip (sweet) tea in peace is really not asking for much.
Some people might wonder why I would spend so much time and effort on something that’s worn for just one night. It’s the same reason people spend thousands of dollars on a wedding dress that’s worn once: love.
The love of a making my kids’ dreams a reality and shaping their childhood memories. The love of succeeding at a challenging project. My love for changing up the daily routine and a great excuse to dust off my paintbrushes.
As an artist turned homemaker, I’m not going to see my work hung in a fancy gallery any time soon. For now I’ll just enjoy it hanging on my kids.
Be sure to watch the video for Bug’s awesome transformation!
This past weekend we celebrated Songbird’s 8th birthday!
She decided on a party themed around her favorite animal: elephants. So we planned a painting party where I would lead her friends in creating a pachyderm piece of art to take home. My studio was set up with mini tabletop easels and 12″ x 12″ canvases, on which I had pre-drawn the basic design.
In lieu of “goody bags,” her guests got to take home their paintings, easels, painter’s palette and brush set.
To protect everyone’s party attire, I sewed each girl an art smock — made from those big TJ Maxx reusable shopping bags: waterproof and adorable. Win!
We kept the rest of the decor fairly simple. A few Martha Stewart accordion lanterns that were gathering dust in the back of my closet made their way out into the sunshine — strung up among the kitchen pendants. The balloon elephant was courtesy of a carnival entertainer from the elementary school fair the night before. And did you know that Coldstone will pop whatever trinket you want atop a custom ice cream cake? Mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, YUM.
Once everyone was suited up in their aprons, we got to painting. I showed them each step on my own canvas as they followed along. We used acrylic craft paint and talked about proper brush size/shape for different strokes. The colored brushes really helped with this… “For the teal background, we’re going to use our purple brush.”
Half way through the artists took a break for gifts and cake.
In all the years that Handsome has traveled for work, this was the first of our kids’ birthdays he wasn’t able to attend. But he made sure to join in via Skype for awhile.
Some girls finished sections quickly and others really took their time. It was cute to watch them walk around complimenting and encouraging each others’ progress.
The party lasted about 2.5 hrs, which was long enough to get most of the paintings dry with the help of a hair dryer. In the end, everyone’s project turned out fantastic. They were excited to show them off to their parents and siblings.
Handsome and I are so proud of the young lady that Songbird is growing into. Lover of all the animals, singer of made up songs, reader of real chapter books, fluent in emoji, puppy snuggler, friend hugger, expert swimmer and adventure seeker. Lawfully old enough to ride without a car seat and half way to a drivers license. We love her to pieces. Happy 8th Birthday, sweet girl!
I'm Hayley. Wife and mother by day, DIY enthusiast by night. Fueled by sweet tea and jelly beans, I own power tools and know how to use them. Consider yourself warned.
