Paint-To-Go: Watercolor Tutorial

I love pinterest. It rocks. Except when I spend, literally, hours pinning and repinning all the coolness that is out there.

I have been making a conscious effort to actually make or do some of the things that I have been pinning. I thought I would share this one with, well, anyone who might be reading :)

Today I am sharing how to make your own Paint-to-go activity sheets using liquid watercolor paints and watercolor paper. (Here is the pin that I got the idea from, and here is the website from where the pin originated.)

Materials Needed:
Watercolor paper - I used a 22"x30" sheet and cut it into 25 4x6 pieces. (about $3)
Watercolor paint- The liquid kind that comes in a tube. I bought the least expensive ones I could find (8pk for $5), next time I will splurge a bit for the more expensive ones, but only in the primary colors (we like to mix our own colors).

I decided to add black just because

Put a small dot of the desired colors somewhere on the page.  

As you can see, I do not make perfect dots. 

Allow the paint to dry. We left ours overnight. Then give them a test run. 

Just messing around with the paint. 

I was really impressed with how they worked out. We made up a bunch to give out as gifts. Emma and I also did a few more test pages. You can check that out by visiting us here. 

A few tips to pass along now that we have played with them a bit. 

1. Make your dots as flat as possible. Some of mine looked like little mountains, and that made some of the pieces break off. 

2. When stacking the unpainted pages together, it might be a good idea to layer in a piece of scratch paper or tissue paper between the paint and the page above it. The dry paint will leave marks. 

3. These work best with a paint brush and just a bit of water. We tried q-tips and they held too much water. 

Happy crafting!

High-Five T-Shirt Pillow Tutorial

So, here is my tutorial for making a t-shirt pillow. This can be machine or hand stitched, so it is really great for anyone who wishes to give it a try. It could even be a kid friendly project.

Items Needed:
-Smaller t-shirt (the ones pictured are 2/3T)
-tie dye (kits make this pretty user friendly)
-2 scraps of fabric, one hand print sized, one big enough to close up the neck opening.
-marker
-fabric scissors
-sewing machine or thread and needle

Instructions:
*Wash and dry the t-shirt

*Follow the tie dye directions
While you are letting your shirts sit, why don't you check out some of the other fun things I have on my blog.

*Trace the hand print directly onto one of the scraps of fabric (or onto a cereal box or other stiffer paper, then onto the fabric).

*Cut out the fabric hand print

*Stitch the hand print onto the t-shirt wherever you like it best. (If you are doing more then one shirt for more then one child at the same time, just write the child's name on the inside of the hem at the bottom of the shirt.)

*Use the other scrap and sew it to the inside of the neck opening. I have no great advice on how to do this, just wing it till it works :)

*Sew up one sleeve and the bottom hem. I sewed right over the stitching that was there because I liked that the sleeves "opened" a bit.

* Stuff the t-shirt through the open sleeve, then stitch the sleeve up when you are happy with it's fluffiness.



Take a picture of the happy child holding their cool, upcycled, one-of-a-kind t-shirt pillow, and send it to me. (just kidding, you don't have to send me a picture if you do not want to, but I would love to see them!)

Almost forgot, if you love this pillow but are unable to make it yourself, I would love to make one for you! Check out this page for how to order.

Back with a Bang!

Emma and I have gotten back into crafting now that school has started back up for Jared. We have actually gone a little crazy with it, but we are having fun and the only house looks like a small tornado went through it.

We have decided to try to bring out friends over to the crafty side, so we will be hosting a Craft Party on the 11th. We are so excited!

What is a craft party you ask?

Well, for us, a craft party is an excuse to have friends come over and make a crafty mess.

We will be tie-dyeing. Emma and I first experienced tie-dyeing a few weeks ago at Prairieland Herbs Sample Sunday event.

Here is a picture of what Emma made.

We didn't really have anything to tie-dye, so the morning of the Sample Sunday I whipped up a cute jumper, attached a previously freezer paper stenciled design, and away we went.

We also discovered hula hooping during the same event, but that will have to be a story for another day:)

Tutorial - Homemade Recycled Postcards

Emma loves horses. Like, REALLY. LOVES. HORSES. Anytime I ask her what she would like to learn about, it is always horses. I decided to be sneaky about learning. If all she wants to learn about is horses, that is fine. We can use horses to learn just about everything she needs.

How, you ask? Well, did you know that the first horse was the Eohippus and it lived about 50-60 million years ago? Emma does. Did you know that the Shire is the biggest horse and that it originated in Belgium? Emma does.

We try to focus on one or two horse breeds each week, and we check out a bunch of fiction and non-fiction books from the library on the breed she picks. We learn geography, history, relationships, etc.

We are also learning about math. For Emma's Thursday horse lessons, we decided to make horse biscuits. Measuring is a good way to learn math... This sounds like a future post for my family blog, Ready, Set, J.E.T.

Umm... Sorry. You probably came here for the tutorial on how to make postcards :)

So, after reading about Postcrossing, I thought it seemed like a neat way for Emma to get mail, and also a neat way to learn about geography and languages. We have asked that people write 'horse' in their language on the postcards they send to us:)

Being cheap, I decided to make our own postcards, which bring us (finally) to the tutorial.

Materials:
Cereal, granola, cracker, etc. boxes.
Cutting device (scissors, rotary blade, etc)
Ruler
Blank paper (we use printer paper that has been printed on one side, sticker paper would work well also)
Glue stick

Step 1. Making the Postcard
Select boxes that are big enough to give you at least one flat section that measures 4 1/4" X 6".
(I checked the USPS website before making these, then stopped at the post office to double check that the finished size was ok, it was)

Measure out a 4 1/4" X 6" rectangle.


Cut out your rectangle.

(if you want to, you can use this as a stencil for future postcards)

Step 2. The back of the post card.
You have a few options:
Option A. You like the design on the card.
If that is the case, you can simply fill out the back of the card as you see here (stamp goes in upper right corner, to: address below stamp. Return address can go in upper left or lower left. Write "Postcard" top middle).


Option B. You want to use the blank side to decorate.
If this is the case, I like this site for a free printable postcard template.

Once you download the template, you can delete the business name stuff and just do your own thing (leave it blank to fill out later or fill in as much as you want).

Print the template on the blank paper, cut it out, then glue it (we found a glue stick produced better results then the white glue) to the printed side of your postcard.
(I initially used a different template, but like the one linked better)

Step 5. Decorate the blank side of the postcard.
-Emma used her markers to draw on the postcards. If the material you are using is waxy, I would use sharpies, or even glue another piece of blank paper to the front of the card.


-I glued some of the map pieces from my previous post to the front of my postcards.



Step 6. Mail them!!
As of this posting, shipping domestic postcards cost $.28 and international postcards are $.98. You can buy stamps in both of those amounts. (We did).

I hope you make a few postcards. If you do, please share them with me on my Facebook Fan Page.

We love to send and receive postcards, so if you are interested, send me an e-mail (kaotickrafter@hotmail.com) with your address and we will send a postcard your way!

Journals, Freezer Paper Stencils, and Laid Up but still Crafting

I want to thank everyone who offered their advice on the handmade journals. We are still interested in what you think, so feel free to leave comments.

I was super excited when Gramma came down on Sunday and brought with her the latest batch of journals that Mary had filled and zuttered.

Here is a picture of the box of goodies.


And some specific pics of individual journals. Most of these journals are 8 1/2" X 5 1/2".

Journals filled with recycled manila envelopes.



Journals Filled with recycled paper used for packing and moving.




Journals filled with recycled office paper folded in half.


Journals filled with lined paper from old school notebooks.






I love them all!! I will have them up in the Artfire Shop by the end of the month. If you can't wait, just e-mail me and we will see if we can get the one you want into the shop sooner.

So, onto some more freezer paper stencils.
I realized that I could send the freezer paper through the printer. Opens up the world of possibilities! It also saves paper. Now I don't have to print onto computer paper and then cut out both.

So far the only thing I have printed directly onto the freezer paper is butterflies.

Emma painted the big butterfly, I painted the little one. We will probably end up adding a few more to the back of this tank top to cover up some stains.

I asked Emma to draw one of her creatures on the freezer paper. This is what I ended up with.

I love it:) Reminds me of the Little Miss and Little Mr. characters.

Here are my free hand stencils.


About all I can do right now is sit on the couch with my ankle up. The surgery went well, but I am really kinda sore. Walking around or sitting with my feet down makes my ankle even more sore. So, I have piled a few crafts around me on the couch.

With the X-Box on and netflix running some chick flicks, I set to work. I didn't get a whole lot done today, but I did manage to make these wool beaded coasters.

I saw the tutorial on Resweater and she found it here, at The Lavender Tree. Thanks to both ladies for giving me a project I can do while laid up!

Well, I think that is about all. I have no idea what I will be doing tomorrow, but I am sure you will hear about it :)

Oh, and help make me feel better by leaving me a comment!!