It's Water Poof!

Here's a fun and easy project we did the other day. We had a leftover paper 'poof' or 'pouf'...or 'tissue ball', whatever you call them! I had picked up a variety colors package at a local craft store a while back (used the colored ones for bedroom decoration)... and we ended up with one  extra, lonely white one.

Oriental Trading Company sells them too. You could also make your own using tissue paper poof, there are lots of DIY tips online to be found.

Since these are made out of tissue paper, I thought using a dropper with water colors would be fun!
We love these water colors from Discount School Supply, they last forever (mix with water).

 

 

Use some droppers, any kind will do (medicine droppers too)!

 

 

Drop lightly on the paper and watch the color absorb/spread!

 

We weren't very patient, when finished painting- we dried ours with a hair dryer.
We then unfold the poof carefully & admired all the colors and patterns. My girl said something like "WHAT? Is this magic??"

 

 

 

We then continued to unfold & fluff. There were areas that tore easily because the tissue paper was so delicate, but we didn't mind!

 

We then attached ribbon and hung from the ceiling in the art room.

Next, we tried to use up the rest of the already poured water colors. These $1 water color pads at a local craft store (Joann's) are a fantastic value and they work great.

Some more dropper fun...a few small drops...

Fold...

Surprise!

 

 

 

 Lots of fun!

 

The Title Says It Doll

I haven't posted in quite a while, so I'm playing a little catch up by posting older projects we've done!  My girl was gifted an 18" doll for birthday (and one for Christmas), so I thought it would be great for her to have some furniture and extra clothing for them.

The American Girl furniture is so nice, but way out of our budget!
I found these gems at a thrift store. An old bathroom cabinet, a foot stool and some doll chairs.
I spent under $20 on all pieces.

 

I was then gifted some wicker doll furniture from a friend, so I used those as well. 

Here's the AFTER picture (below).

 

 I used spray paint, stencil on the stool/table (Zinnias sold at Hobby Lobby), an adhesive mirror (sold at Hobby Lobby), new drawer pulls (found at Hobby Lobby).
I also used an old candle holder and a wood circle to make the dessert stand.

and my favorite part, AWESOME fabric for cushions and a pillow
(from sara jane studios, she has such LOVELY and fun fabric collections)!
Kids at Play, cutest ever!

 

 

Then, on to make some outfits. This ruffle thing WAS my daughters old baby swimsuit
(and baby shoe) turned into a dress and purse. I think the shoe still looks like a shoe, but my girl was thrilled with it as a purse & that's all that matters!

 

 

Here, I simply took an old sleeve (bell style) from a velvet shirt and used fabric glue to attach the shiny silver fabric for tying.No sewing, no zippers, buttons or velcro! Seriously took 10 minutes.

 

I took an old terry cloth hoodie/jacket and made it look like a bathrobe and towel for hair.

I basically just cut and added velcro, that's it.

There are LOTS of inspirational sites for creating your own doll clothing out there.
Doll Diaries is an amazing site with many tutorials on how to make many things for your 18-19" dolls.

American Girl Doll Play is also a wonderful DIY site. Check out this sweet lemonade stand they give instructions for (image belongs to American Girl Doll Play)!

Puttin' Our Spin On It!

I do remember doing this in grade school and have many pinterest pictures of this from various sources, but I saw this more recently on Artful Parent!

Using a Salad Spinner for art fun!

Found this gem at the thrift store for $1 (half price day).

You can cut paper, use paper plates to fit inside, or use coffee filters- which fit perfectly. 
We tried both.

Add paint or liquid watercolors or food coloring/water...and...SPIN!

This was the fun part, my girl loved it! Remove the lid and see what you made...

 
We then played with it some more...added some glitter and white paint!

 Gave it another spin...and...

 

We also did the classic record player spin art. I remember doing this as a kid too! So fun.

We're working on a collection of these so we can string them together and hang somewhere. I love that this captured my girls interest for quite some time (of course, we listened to records too!).

Brush Yo' Chops!

I love the Montessori style of teaching/learning. Didn't think it wise to spend $70 on a fancy dental model. I figured this wind-up set of chops from the Dollar Store would do the trick.

 

We used dry erase markers (yellow and green) to 'gunk' up the chops. 

 

 

Time to brush them clean!

 

Reinforced the  importance of brushing (length of time and brushing method), dentists and what happens when you don't brush your teeth.

She had a lot of fun with the chops and this activity!

Here are some freebie things we used in addition:

Free coloring sheets:

Free tooth brushing chart (customized with your kiddos name!):

http://www.loveyourteeth.net/

Happy brushing!!

Falling for Fall

We've been busy! We LOVE Fall!

Here's a little of what we've been up to lately...

We gathered leaves and pressed  them inside wax paper & made garland!

 A contact paper tree, using real leaves stuck to clear contact paper.  The tree is wood grain contact paper.

.
A little pumpkin bead transfer, counting game. Gotta love the $1 Target aisle (plate).

Fall sensory/sorting activity. Leaves, wood acorns, cinnamon sticks, small pears and apples...with a book read!

 Easy pine cone owls in a nest!

 

Shaving cream/paint leaves. Put shaving cream on plate/in dish and gently swirl paint colors on top. Use cardstock leaf for transfer.

. 

 

A little Fall balance!

 

A little Fall decorating around the fort.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Super Easy Suncatchers

We love suncatchers around here. This blog post is going to be short, but sweet.

We took our pony beads (get at WalMart pretty cheap) and put a single layer of them in a muffin tin and a pie pan. These are pans we use only for art.

We then melted them on the grill. We didn't do it inside because the smell of burning plastic...ewe.

On the grill (325 ish) for about 10-15 minutes. Let them cool (don't be alarmed by the cracking noises, it's just the plastic setting/shrinking from the pan).

 Hang to enjoy! You can drill holes, or loop string through any openings you find. We made several of these and plan to give a few as gifts! So much fun.

If you want to see fancier sun catchers and other artful ideas, check out the Artful Parent!

To Pee around a Tee Pee?

So I really wanted to make a garden tee pee this year. You know, with morning glories and green beans, fun project for the girl.

 

Here's a great image of one that sold me...

 

 

 

 

We planted in the Spring with green bean sprouts that we germinated. They were going great, that is until..deer came and ate the majority of them overnight! My girl was really upset. She had tended to the plants all Spring and half of the Summer, only to have them disappear overnight.

 

Luckily, the Morninglory's that we planted really took off fast & we were able to add more fairly quickly.

Here's the status of our tee pee now...

 

 

I'm really hoping it will fill in more before it gets too cold to get inside and enjoy.

 

 

We used 6ft. bamboo poles and we speng maybe 2 hours setting it up. This is so easy to do & it's something you can do with small kids.

The fun part was adding the string (and ribbon) around the tee pee for the vines to climb & then checking on them each day. It's amazing what grows overnight!

 

Ehow has a great tutorial on how to put one together. A great idea for kiddos and so fun to hang out in and harvest too!

 

We did enjoy a handful of green beans from the tee-pee, we ate them outside frsh off of the vine...they are better that way, says the girl.

 

Now, the title of this post is a bit odd, no? A neighbor told us to put urine or human hair in a parameter around the tee pee to ward off deer. Hmmmm....so many questions about this one.