I finally got to some painting….

Well, I finally got some painting done!  My niece loves owls…so I decided to paint a couple of cute little owls for part of her Christmas present!

Materials needed:

• Gesso
• Canvas
• Pencil/eraser
• Acrylic paints
• Paint brushes
• Water
• Paper towel

The method to my madness:

It's the usual steps to creating any type of acrylic painting….

1. First, I primed the canvas with a little gesso.
2. After the canvas had set for 24 hours, I sketched my little owls onto the canvas.
3. Then, I painted the owls and let them dry.
4. Lastly, I completed the touchups.  

Here they are!  I hope she likes them!

One little owl…

The second little owl…

Both little owls, side by side.

Have a great day!

A.A.

So here's what I made for the kids in my class this year...

So I decided to make a little something for all the kids in my class this year.  I decided to make snowmen mugs and filled them with "Snowman Soup."

However, I decided to follow something on Pinterest that I had wanted to do for a few months…but it's definitely something that I DON'T recommend doing.  I wasted so much time!!!!

I decided to make the Sharpie mugs that you bake in the oven that are apparently "permanent."  Folks, don't waste your time!  I did a bunch of research on them and followed the tips provided by others who had similar problems that I did, and it still didn't work properly!  Parts of the snowmen faces continued to chip off.  Instead, I had to re-do all of them 3 times…and I ended up using ceramic paint instead (this can also be used on glass).  So don't go the Sharpie route (I even tried the oil paint Sharpie pens….still didn't work).

What you need:

• White ceramic mugs (Dollarama - $1 each)
• Black & orange ceramic paint (I used Folkart Enamel Acrylic paint)
• Thin tips that you can place on the top of the paint bottles so you don't need to use a paint brush (I bought a pack of 6 and used my 40% off coupon at Michaels)
• Oven
• Hot chocolate
• Marshmallows (optional - a lot of my kids can't have gelatin)
• Small candy canes
• Black construction paper
• Clear baggies
• Snowman soup label (I used this one: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/sites/christmas.organizedhome.com/files/image/pdf/gift_tags_snowman_soup_swirl.pdf)  

What to do:

1. Take any stickers off of the mugs.  Ensure that they are clean.  Use some rubbing alcohol to clean the surface you will be painting.
2. Take the lids off the black and orange paints and replace the lids with the thin painting tips.   
3. Draw the eyes and mouth onto the surface of the mug.
4. Draw the carrot nose onto the surface of the mug.
5. After drawing the snowmen faces on all of the mugs, let it dry.  I believe they need to dry for an hour before cooking.  
6. Place all of the mugs on a cooking sheet (or two in my case).
7. Place the cooking sheets holding the mugs into the oven.  Turn the oven on and up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 30 minutes.  Once the 30 minutes is up, turn the oven off and leave the mugs in the oven.  If you take the mugs out of the oven right away, they can actually break from the drastic change in temperature.  
8. Once the oven is cooled down, take the baking sheets with your mugs out, and place on top of the oven.  I let my mugs stay out overnight (it was late when I cooked them).
9. Now, put together the little baggies of Snowman Soup.  I took a little baggie, put in a pouch of hot chocolate, small candy cane, marshmallows (for my kids who can have gelatin), and a little tag with the snowman soup verse.  I then topped each baggie off with a little snowman hat (I cut them out of black construction paper).  I also have a couple of kids who are lactose intolerant, so instead of putting hot chocolate pouches in the clear baggies, I put hot apple cider baggies in theirs, along with 2 candy canes.
10. Place the baggies inside of the mugs.

A final mug after cooking

Snowman Soup!

The final product!

It makes a cute, cheap gift for anyone.  Guaranteed to be a hit!

A.A.

Just a cute little ornament!

I was planning on making more of these…I still have a plain wooden moose leftover.  So, I'll save it for next Christmas.

This is super easy to do & makes such a super cute little gift for a friend or family member.

Want to make one?  Here's what you need:

• A wooden moose (or other creature)
• Some scrapbook paper
• White paint (or black)
• A sponge (or small piece of a sponge)
• Modge Podge
• Pencil

Here's all you need to do:

1. First, place the moose on top of the scrapbook paper (paper face up - otherwise it will be backwards), trace, and cut out.
2. Next, use the Modge Podge as a glue and glue the scrapbook paper on top of the moose.
3. Let it dry for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
4. Take a little bit of paint and put it on the sponge.  Gently (and carefully) sponge paint around the edge of the moose.
5. Let dry for about 45 minutes or so.
6. Lastly, use the Modge Podge as a sealer/varnish and coat the ornament in several times.  I only did one on the back and several coats on the front.

See how easy that was?!  And it's so cute!

My little moose before the sponge paint.

The final result!

So easy to do & super cute!

A.A.

Only a month until Christmas!

Hard to believe isn't it?

So in the spirit of Christmas, I decided to make a couple of snowman Christmas bulbs for the tree.  They're super easy to make for little gifts and really don't take a super long time to make.

Here's what you need:

•  Clear, round glass bulbs (the ones you can decorate yourself).  And just a heads up: You can get a pack of them from Michael's usually 50% off every so often :).
•  Black paint marker 
•  Orange paint marker
•  Fake snow, cotton balls, white glitter, or snowflake sprinkles (I used iridescent ones)
•  Black felt
•  Cardstock
•  Top hat pattern
•  Scissors
•  Glue/Modge Podge 
•  Glue gun & glue sticks

What to do… Start with the snowman face first:

1.  Take the top off the clear bulb.

2.  Fill it with snowflake sprinkles.  You'll either need a funnel or a piece of paper that you can fold into a funnel-like shape.  This was the part that I found took quite a while (especially with a large bulb…..).  Place the top back on the clear bulb like so:

This is what the bulb should look like once it's filled with snowflakes

3. Take your black paint marker and paint on the eyes and mouth.

4. Take your orange paint marker and paint on the carrot nose.

5.  Let it dry for a few minutes.  You don't want the paint to smudge.

Here's one of the snowmen faces

Next up… The top hat:

1.  Take the pattern and print it out on card stock (this is going to be a part of the actual top hat). 

2.  Cut out the pattern.

3.  Place each part of the pattern on top of the black felt and cut out.  

4.  Now trim down the pattern to where it says on the card stock.

This is what it should look like once your card stock patterns are glued onto the felt cutouts.  

5.  Glue down each piece of card stock onto its matching felt piece.  Let it dry for about 1/2 hour.

6.  Roll the body of the top hat up, and glue with the glue gun where both sides line up.  Hold for a minute.

7.  Glue the bottom of the top hat to the bottom of the body of the top hat.

8.  Place the top hat onto the top of the bulb.  Attach an ornament hook to the top of the bulb and pull through the top of the hat.

9.  Poke the ornament hook through the middle of the top of the top hat.

10. Glue the top of the top hat to the body of the top hat.

11. Glue the top hat onto the head of the snowman.

And you're done!  They are ready to hang up on the tree!  Easy, no?

Enjoy!

A.A.

Ah! Life needs to slow down a bit...just a bit....

I'm sorry folks!  I know it's been so long since I've posted something!  I'm horrible!  Work has taken over my life and I really haven't been getting home until after 6 most nights...pretty sad when I'm there super early in the morning, and my school gets out at 2:30 each day.....But anyways...I decided tonight to take 5 minutes to myself and create something for the library at work..it's sort of become an annual thing that the kids expect now....so how could I stop doing it?

Looking for something fast and cute for autumn or Halloween?
Look no further!

What do you need?
-Some small gourds, outdoor paint or paint pens.

What do you do?
1. Wipe the gourds off.  You want all the dirt/dust off of them before you begin.
2. Decide on the faces you want to draw/paint on these little guys.  Think silly and funny.  Kids LOVE them!
3.  Paint the faces on!

I promise, that's it!  Easy right?  Here's what I came up with in 5 minutes....so fast, so simple, and so super easy!

Aren't they cute?!

My fave little guy!

Enjoy!

A.A.

A little something I decided to try and make today...

So I can't say this is my own idea...

But, I decided to make something I saw online.
It's pretty easy to do and they make a cute little gift.

What you need:
-Small candle wicks
-Large sea shells
-Candle wax

These were some of the shells I picked up

I saved wax that had similar scents and mixed some unscented candle wax from some tea lights I had, in with the scented wax as well.  That way it isn't too overpowering.

Here's what you need to do:
1. Melt the wax in a microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals.
2. Once the wax is melted (or some of it is at least - it doesn't need to be entirely melted for this part), pour a tiny blob of wax into the shell, place the wick, and hold in place.  Let it sit and harden for a minute or two.

Here's one of my shells with the wax hardening

3. *You may have to melt the wax more at this point, depending on how much you melted for step #2.*  Pour more wax into the shell until it is filled almost to the top of the shell.  I found that I actually had to pour the wax almost in layers in certain types of shells (I'd pour some wax in, then let it sit.  Once it was almost entirely hardened, I'd pour more wax in, and so on...).  It's also important to note that some shells will want to tip and spill wax out the sides (as I learned...).  So it is possible you'll want the shells leaning into something so that they don't tip over.  You could always use play dough or stick tac.
4. Trim the wick and you're done!

Here are the final candles!  Cute or what?!

This is my favourite candle :)

These are super cute to make from that leftover candle wax and seashells you bring home from trips away!

Enjoy!

A.A.

Another Wood Burning Adventure!

So I really like to personalize gifts whenever I get the chance.  Especially when it's for good friends.  So I decided to create another woodburning project for a wedding gift for my friends Katie and Eric.
So I decided to create a little wooden plaque.  Keep in mind this is only the second time I've done woodburning.  But I have to admit, I'm quite content with how it turned out!

All you need to create something like this is: A wood burner (with various interchangeable tips - mine came as a kit (by Walnut Hollow) and I used a 50% off coupon at Michaels to save some $$$), a pencil, eraser, wood, and varnish.

My woodburner kit by Walnut Hollow

I wanted to create something fun, but personalized, so here is what I ended up sketching on the wood:

Now, here are a couple of things I like to remember when I'm woodburning:

• Take a break every so often (your hands get quite sore!).
• Always pay close attention to how you are holding the burner.  It doesn't take much for the burner to slip and burn your hand! (not speaking from experience whatsoever.....).
• Always make sure when it isn't in use that it is turned off, unplugged, and sitting properly in the holder (away from anything else - the last thing you want is for your house to burn down!).
• Always have a scrap piece of wood handy so that you can brush any ash off, or test any burns/cuts you may want to make.

And here is how the plaque looked as it progressed over time:

*Drum roll please*

Here is the final product! I decided to inscribe the back as well....which took quite a bit longer than I anticipated....along with some extremely sore hands.....

The back of the plaque inscribed

The final product!!!!!! 

Before it was completely finished, I made sure to coat both sides of the plaque in a matte varnish to help preserve it.

I hope Katie and Eric enjoy it!

A.A.