DIY Memory Board

Welcome Back!

It's a Momma Craft day!

I'm always looking for ways to use the odds and ends around my house, so I'm delighted that this turned out as well as it did. I didn't have to purchase a single thing to make this, and it's going to look great in Hannah's room! This picture really does not do it justice.

What you need:

Cardboard (or any sturdy solid lightweight piece - I used foam core, I've also heard of people using styrofoam)

Fabric large enough to cover the entire surface of the board and wrap to the back (I used one of Hannah's old baby blankets)

Various ribbons

Scissors

Glue Gun

1) Cut your board down to desired size (you can make these small for inside of lockers and attach magnetic tape to the back)

2) Using the hot glue gun, glue one entire side and let set. Pull the fabric taught, and glue the opposite end, repeat with the other sides so that the fabric is pulled and there are no wrinkles or bumps.

3) Glue on the ribbon strips in whatever fashion you'd like. I did one entire angled row, and then did the opposite angles so I could see where everything was going to intersect.

4) Find a few intersecting points, and glue them down, but don't do all of them, that way you can slip in different sized photos and momentos. I glued on iron on appliques to these spots to cover the glue and give it more personality.

That's it! If you used styrofoam, you can put nails in the wall, and then push the board into it. If it's a small locker board, attach some magnetic tape to the back. I don't plan on mounting mine to the wall, but instead resting it against the wall on top of her short but long dresser.

If you have any questions on this project or any others, just let me know by using the comment boxes.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit often!

-Lisa

DIY Straw Toppers

Welcome Back!

This is a fun, easy and inexpensive project that your children will love!

What you need:
Straws
Scissors
Small Printed images - (we did an image search on Google for one of Austin's favorite character's)
Hole punch

1. Find and print out your images - square and rectangle shapes seem to be easy, but get creative here

2. Cut out your images, leaving enough room along the top and bottome to put holes

3. Put a hole at the top and the bottom of each piece, and then insert the straw threw each hole starting at the bottom of the straw (you will probably have to squeeze the straw at the bottom to make it fit), and then push to the top.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this project!

-Lisa

Why Children Need Art Education

Welcome Back!

Everyone in our house is sick right now, and no one wants to do much but sleep :)

That being said, I thought it would be a good time to cover the art education topic. This is under a lot of debate right now, as more and more schools across the country are eliminating the arts in school in order to save money. This is a topic I feel very strongly about for a number of reasons, and was shocked when it sparked a debate between my husband and myself. He didn't feel it was an important part of the educational system "at least for little kids" to use his words exactly. So I started looking up information on the topic (becuase for some reason he can't take what I have to say about the subject as truth because I'm "too emotionally involved with it" to use his exact words again, lol).

Well, I came across this article and I think it does a great job of explaining exactly why children thrive from art education in grade school.

Here's a small portion from the National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign talking about some of the benefits of art education in grade school:

(your child is) "4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement


3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools

4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair

3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance"
 
Please visit the site for a more compelling list of reasons your child needs an art education: http://www.artsusa.org/public_awareness/

This is what my site is all about, and part of the reason I upload a new project each day. I hope that this can be used as a resource for many.

Would you like to share something on this topic? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

-Lisa

ABC Valentine

Welcome Back!

This is a great way to practice begining reading skills with younger children. Just write someone's name vertically, and then horizontally next to each letter, find an adjective that describes that person. Austin and I had a great time coming up with words that describe his "Nana".

What you need:

Construction paper
Scissors
Marker
Any extras you'd like to use to decorate the heart

1. Fold the sheet of construction paper in half, and cut out half of a heart along the fold so that when you open it up, you'll have a symetrical heart.

2. Write the person's name vertically, then you and your child can think of adjectives for that person that start with the begining letter.

3. Decorate!

That's it, and I'm sure the recipient of this Valentine will absolutely love it :)

Thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to come back soon, I publish a new craft or art project every day.

-Lisa

DIY Wooden Bookmark

Welcome Back!

Sometimes when I'm flipping threw a magazine, I come across something that catches my eye because I have one of those "I could do that!" moments. That's where this project came from, and I thought it was a cute idea - the real ones sell for about $6 I think. This one set me back about $.82 with tax because I had everything else on hand. This project is definetly for older children, and would make for a really cute gift too.

What you need:

Stamp
Ink pad
Thin rectangular sheet of wood (I didn't do a thing to this piece execpt sand the edges)
Ultra-fine sand paper
Ultra-thin tip black pen/marker (I used Micron at 0.2 cm)
Markers

1. Sand away any rough edges.

2. Choose your stamp, and then stamp the image onto the wood lightly. Take your thin tip marker and outline anything you want to show up black.

3. Color in any areas you want to have color in with marker.

That's it! You can also free-form draw your image - I did that with the heart in mine. Don't be afraid to improvise, and be creative. If you're going to give one away as a gift, you could also write a poem or note on the other side.

Don't forget to sign up for a free daily email subscription to this blog so you don't miss a thing!

Let me know how yours turns out, leave me a comment :)

Have a great day everyone!
-Lisa

Primary Color Mixing

Welcome Back!

This is a great project for learning about color mixing, and how combining colors creates new colors. My son loved it, and kept singing that he was a "fantastic artist", lol.

What you need:
Acrylic Paint in Red, Blue and Yellow (the primary colors)
Paintbrush
Dixi cups or plate
Paper sheets
Water to clean the brush

1. Put each color of paint in a seperate cup or in seperate piles on a plate

2. Allow your child to mix and experiment with colors on the paper - explain what different colors are made by mixing.

Did you try this one? Let me know, I love to hear that our projects are being done! Don't forget to subscribe to my free daily emails so you don't miss a thing.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Lisa

Valentine Cones

Welcome Back!

Happy Monday everyone! This afternoon we put together these Valentine's Day cones to hold candy or treats. They are super simple to assemble.

What you need:

1 sheet of construction paper

2 pipe cleaners

Hole punch

Tape

Stickers, markers, paint, and/or glitter

1. Make a cone shape out of the construction paper by rolling it up at a diangle and taping it down to secure.

2. Trim any jagged edges at the top with the scissors, and puch two holes directly across from each other.

3. Twist together the pipe cleaners and then attach each end to each hole in the cone by looping and twisting it threw.

4. Have your child decorate however they please.

That's it!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Don't forget to subscribe to daily emails so you don't miss a thing!

Have a great day,

Lisa :)

DIY Baby Pants

Welcome Back Everyone!

It's Sunday, which means it's a Momma Craft day! I love this one, but can not claim it as mine :) Not too long ago I stumbled upon a great site called makebabystuff.com that's filled with lots of fun ideas. One of them is a super simple, free project to make baby pants. I tried it out and was done in 30 minutes start to finish. You can try it out for yourself here.

I'm putting this up here for two reasons, one because I think it's a great find, and two, because I put my own spin on it. Instead of buying new fabric, I used an old pair of my husband's jeans and added my own details to make it girly for my daughter. For this example, I used one of Hannah's baby blankets (she never grew attached to them, but did fall in love with her raggy pig). I love some of the blankets she has, and I just can't bear to get rid of them. I had left over fabric from her blanket that I'll be turning into a heat/ice pack. Come back again for that project!

The picture at the top was one of Hannah's old blankets, I just finished this tonight and love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Did you like this post? If so, please share it. And don't forget to subscribe to the daily emails so you don't miss a thing.

Have a great night!
-Lisa

About Me

Welcome!
My name is Lisa. I am a wife, mother of 2, designer, personal trainer and waitress - whew! I have a B.F.A. in Design, and once my youngest starts school, I will be pursuing a Master's in Art Education for K-12.

When I first started this blog, my intentions were to provide other parents with art projects for their children. And while this is still true, it has also evolved into all sorts of art projects, green living, recipes, and much more.

Lately, I have found myself completely wrapped around creating something new with something old, worn out, or about to get thrown away. A lot of times, these are things around my house, and many times, these are thrifted items. I love thrift stores, garage sales, and craigslist - and a lot of my projects and inspiration come from these.

At some point (hopefully soon), I will be opening an etsy store to sell some of my projects, as well as patterns that I have designed.

Please look around, and ask questions if you have any. You can reach me directly at lisa_palubicki(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Thank you for visiting, and please come back soon!

Art Board

Welcome Back!

Today we made an art board for Austin to hang is favorite piece of the week on. We needed to find a way to clear out some of the overload of projects and papers we have, so he and I decided on this. He gets to pick one piece he wants displayed, and once he decides to put a different one up, the old one gets stored away. You can attach a piece of magnetic tape to the back to have it hang on the refridgerator.

What you need:

Foam core - any size (or a large piece of cardboard)

Glitter glue or paint

Crafting glue

Cloths pin

1. Cut down the foam core or cardboard to your desired size and shape, then have your child decorate it however they like.

2. Glue the clothes pin to the bottom of the board and allow to dry.

3. Attach magnetic tape to the back, and you're done!

Did you try this? Do you have another idea you would like to share? Leave a comment and let us know.

Be sure to sign up for our daily emails so you don't miss a thing!

Have a great night!

-Lisa

Valentine's Day Napkin Holder

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone! We finished another Valentine's Day project today - it's quick, simple and inexpensive. This will add a festive touch to any table.

What you need:
Pipe cleaners in red, white and pink
A thick dowel rod (or something similar to wrap the braided pipe cleaners around)

1. Take three pipe cleaners (pink, white and red), and hold them together in your hand so that they are all even with each other, and twist one end tightly to hold them in place.

2. Braid the pipe cleaners together and then twist tightly at the end to secure the braid.

3. Wrap this around the dowel rod to get a good shape, and you're done!

That's it!

Did you enjoy this project? Let me know, leave a comment.

Don't forget to subscribe to the daily emails so that you won't miss a project - we do a new one every day.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!
-Lisa :)

Felt Finger Puppets

Welcome Back!

Austin has been on a huge reptile kick lately, so I wanted to try and incorporate that into a project. We decided to make him a snake felt puppet, and a monster with a mohawk for Hannah. I stuck to just felt for my daughter because she is only one - Austin's had a little more add ons.

What You Need:
Felt squares - any color depending on what you want to make
Needles and thread (or craft glue - I didn't want to wait for it to dry)
Scissors
Any add-ons you'd like - we used blue glitter glue for the snakes eyes
Black permanent marker - for details

1. Cut out a piece of felt for the body of the puppet (3.5 x2.5) and fold in half to sew two of the three edges together. If you want to give your puppet hair like hannah's, cut out a small piece of felt the same width as the folded felt, and as tall as you want for the length of hair. place inside of the folded felt and line up the edges so that it's tucked inside and you can not see it (this way when you turn it inside out, the hair will pop up. To make a mohawk, stitch along both the length (top) and one side of the height - the hair needs to be put in place before you sew the puppet together.

2. Turn inside out and you should have the body. Now decorate however your child pleases, and trim the hair half way down to give it a spiky look.

That's it! It took us about 10 minutes to make the puppets, and the kids had a great time with them.

Did you like this project? Be sure to subscribe to daily emails so you don't miss out on anything.

Please come back often, I'm always adding new projects.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

Valentine Cupcake Flower Card

Welcome Back!

I saw a picture of this project in the February edition of Better Homes and Gardens for this year and wanted to try it. I think it turned out pretty cute, and these can double for both a Valentine card, or a decoration.

What You Need:

2 Sheets of 8.5 x 11 Card Stock in any colors you wish

Paper cupcake liners (I used Valentine themed liners)

Scissors

Decorative edge scissors

Photographs of your children

Green felt

Craft Glue

1. Cut both sheets of card stock in half, then take the two sheets you want to use for the top layer and cut a decorative edge around it. You can do this by hand, or using specialized scissors. Glue together

2. Cut out a stem and leaf shapes and glue to the top sheet of paper.

3. Glue the back of a cupcake liner to the paper at the top of the felt stem to create the flower.

4. Cut out the pictures of your children in a circle shape and glue to the inside of the cupcake liner.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this craft - there will be more tomorrow.

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Thank you for stopping by!

Have craft ideas you'd like to see here? Let me know!

-Lisa :)

MLK Hand Wreath

Happy MLK Day Everyone!

Today we did a quick but fun MLK project. In our hand wreath, we chose three different colors and outlined both Austin and Hannah's hands. Austin glued everything together.

What you need:
Construction paper
Pencil
Paper plate
Glue stick
Scissors

1. Stack sheets of construction paper directly on top of each other (however many colors you wish to use), and then trace your child's hand.

2. Depending on their age, have you child cut out the hands (for younger children, you should do the cutting).

3. Cut out a large hole in the middle of the paper plate.

4. Glue the hands on the plate in whatever fashion you and your child choose.

That's it!

I hope you found this post useful today.

Please come back again tomorrow for another project - we're doing another Valentine.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

DIY Easy Knit Tulip Skirt

Welcome Back!

It's Sunday, which means it's a Momma Craft day.

You will need to know how to knit, but it is a beginner project. If you don't know how to knit, check out this website. I taught myself how to knit in a day following their video demonstrations. And I'm sure with a bit of practice, you'll be able to do this project in no time at all!

What you need:
12 inch circular needle, U.S. size 6
1 skein of yarn (I had just enough with 100g/3.5 oz)
1/4" width piece of elastic for the waistband
Large plastic needle for finishing
Ruler or measuring tape


1. First, you need to decide how large in inches you want the bottom of the skirt to be. The larger it is, the more dramatic it will be. Cast on about 8 to 10 stitches and then measure to see how many stitches are in an inch. Take the number of stitches in an inch and multiply that by how many inches you want the bottom to be, and that's how many stitches you need to cast on total. I think I started at 186 stitches and my daughter is in 18-24 month clothing.


2. Do three rows, knitting in the round, before you start to decrease. After the third row, decreasing by 5 stitches for each row - keeping them spaced out. Do this until your skirt is about 3 to 4 inches in length.


3. Decrease by 10 stitches for the next three rows.


4. Now you will have the flared part finished and you need to start making the body of the skirt. To do this, knit one, then knit two together and repeat until the body of the skirt is narrow enough to fit loosely over the hip and thigh area.


5. Continue to knit in the round (do not decrease anymore stitches) until the skirt has reached your desired length, and then knit about 4 to 5 more rounds to accommodate the waistband.


6. Take the elastic and measure the width of your child's waist and trim to size. Thread the elastic threw the large plastic needle and weave it in between stitches a half an inch from the top. You can either tie the two ends together when they meet, or sew them together.


7. Finally, sew closed the waist band using your yarn and the the plastic needle, and weave in loose ends.


There you have it! A quick and easy skirt that's cute and warm in the winter when paired with leggings. You can get creative with this and add embellishments like ribbons or flowers - anything you want.


I hope you found this helpful!
Let me know what you think, and don't forget, you can subscribe to this daily blog for free by clicking on the link to the right.


Have a great night everyone!
-Lisa

DIY Art Deco Canvas Bag

Hi Everyone!

I'm really excited to share this project with all of you. This is something I used to do with my mom when I was younger. She has TONS of artsy tricks up her sleeve that I'll be sharing with all of you over the next few weeks - I'm sure she won't mind.

To do this project, all you need to do is decide on an image you like (you can draw it yourself directly onto the freezer paper, or you can cut the freezer paper down to 8.5 x 11" and print out a design).

This project is much easier than it looks, so let's get started!

What you need:

Art work - design your own or find some online and print it out

Freezer paper

Exacto knife

Iron & Ironing board

Cutting board, mat or thick magazine

Fabric paint or Acrylic paint

Canvas Bag

1. Decide on your design. For the bag above, I had my son sit down at the computer with me and come up with what he wanted. I used my design software, but you could very easily find a .jpeg image and copy and past it into a word document.

2. Once you have your design ready, cut down a piece of freezer paper to 8.5 x 11 and then you'll be able to print you image directly to the paper (just make sure the side getting printed on is the paper side and not the wax side, or you'll have an inky mess).

3. Using an exacto knife, cut out all of the areas where you want to have color filled in - I cut out all of the shadow sections to make the image above.

4. Turn your iron on it's highest cotton setting, and place the freezer paper design wax side down on the canvas bag so that the paper side is what will be coming in contact with your iron. You don't want the wax side touching the hot iron, you'll ruin your iron.

5. Press firmly with the iron until the paper is set to the fabric.

6. Paint over the image in any color you like. The wax paper is sealed to the fabric, so the paint will not bleed.

7. Allow to dry completely - probably overnight. I made the mistake of taking the paper off too soon with this bag, so some of my edges are not perfectly formed.

That's it! Now you have a completely customized canvas bag that you can use for shopping, to carry books, for the gym, to hold toys and much more. Get creative with this one, you don't have to stop with just one color. You can layer colors and designs, just be sure to allow each color to dry completely before adding the next.

What do you think? Did you try this one? Let me know how it turned out...

Thanks again everyone and have a great night!

-Lisa

Hungry Valentine Monster

Welcome Back!

Our project today is this Hungry Valentine Monster. This a great place for your child to put all of his or her valentine's from school and friends - he'll gobble them up :)

I found this project at familyfun.com

I improvised a bit because we didn't have all of the supplies they called for.

To make our monster you need:

An empty tissue box (square or rectangle would work - one would just have a wider grin)

Construction paper

Tape

Scissors

A pen

Pipe cleaners

White felt

1. Tear out the plastic in the top of the tissue box so that it's just the cardboard oval.

2. Cut out two larger white circles (about 1.5 inches in diameter), and then two black circles much smaller to make the pupils of the monster's eyes. Tape the pupil to the white eye.

3. Take the two pipe cleaners and wrap them around the pen to make a spiral springy pattern and tape each eye to the end of each pipe cleaner.

4. Use the pen to put two small holes in the box for the springy eyes and insert each pipe cleaner and tape inside to secure.

5. Cut out a shape for the nose - we chose a heart because of Valentine's day - and glue to the box, and then cut out jagged white teeth from the felt and glue inside of the oval.

That's it!

I hope you enjoyed this project. Let me know...

Thanks so much for visiting and be sure to come back soon - a new project is uploaded each day.

-Lisa

Snowflake Hearts

This turned out really cute, and was so simple!

I've seen ornaments hung like this around the holidays, so why not hearts for Valentine's day. To make it a little more crafty, and to add some small motor skills to the project, we made snowflakes from the cut out hearts.

What you need:
Construction paper (we used pink and red)
Scissors
Yarn or ribbon

1. Cut out squares from the construction paper - 1 square for each heart, we did 4

2. Stack the squares on top of each other and fold the pile in half, then cut out the heart shape (making half a heart so that when it's unfolded, it will be uniform) - now all of your hearts should be the same size and shape.

3. Fold each heart in half and then edge to edge to form a cone like shape.

4. Cut out small pieces from the edges in any pattern.

5. Open it up and there's your heart snowflake!

6. Measure out a piece of yarn for each heart that you have - all the same length. Thread a piece of yarn threw one of the holes in the heart, and then tie around the top of your window treatment - or where ever you'd like, and that's it.

We did 2 pink and 2 red hearts, alternating in our windows. It's a nice and subtle Valentine decoration that's fun to make :)

Did you try this one out? Let me know, I love to hear back from everyone!

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back again tomorrow for another project.

-Lisa

Homemade Picture Bookmark

Good Afternoon!

So this was one of those "woops!" projects, lol. It didn't turn out as nicely as I had hoped it would. Austin still had fun making it, and that's what's important.

What you need:

Cardboard
Scissors

Hole punch

Yarn

Pictures and/or cut outs

Glitter Glue or Paint

Markers

1. Cut out the bookmark base from the cardboard and then put a hole using the hole punch at the top center.

2. Have your child draw pictures or designs on the cardboard.

3. Glue on the pictures or cut outs your child chose.

4. Paint on the glitter glue so that it will create a nice gloss over the entire bookmark and let dry

5. Pull and then loop threw the yarn to create the tassells at the top.

That's it!

Please be sure to come back often, a new project is uploaded daily.

You can also subscribe to this blog and get the posts as soon as they're published.

Thanks so much for visiting!

-Lisa :)

Egg Carton Monsters

Welcome Back!

We had a great time making these, and my daughter, who's too young to put one together, had fun putting the sparkly puffs in the egg carton and then dumping them out.

What you need:

Egg carton

Googly eyes

Markers

Pipe cleaners

Glue dots (you can use regular glue, but the dots keep it pretty mess free)

Any extra embellishments your child wants - let them get creative

1. Cut apart the egg carton so that you have individual bowls.

2. Let your child decorate them however they want. To make the antennas for our monsters, I made small holes at the tops, bent a pipe cleaner in half and inserted each end in a hole.

That's it!

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Thanks for reading, and come back again soon!

-Lisa :)