Crafting with Kids: Baking Soda Clay Ornaments

Every year I choose a special ornament that goes with something special that happened that year to add to our Christmas tree.  My mother-in-law did this and wrote the dates on all my husband's ornaments from his childhood and when he and I got married, I wanted to carry on the tradition.

This year has been an especially hard year for us and trying to find an ornament has proven quite difficult.  While scrolling through Pinterest, I found the answer to my dilemma...

make our own ornaments! Perfect. And with all our Mother Goose Time supplies, this would be fun, easy, and hopefully a family tradition!  

It started with this Pin (follow it for the BEST recipe...pure white clay goodness!)  

 

Once we made the clay and added a few drops of Peppermint Essential Oil to our recipe to trigger all the senses, we gathered our supplies, including our letter cookie cutters and shape stamps from Mother Goose Time.

Sweet Pea and I would make balls of clay. Afterwards I would press them flat with the bottom of one of our glass plates.  This allowed for a great circle shape that was equal in thickness and smooth in texture.  Sweet Pea would then get to work with her stamps and cookie cutters.  

We really wanted an ornament that was an "A", since Sweet Pea's name starts with "A".

Do not forget to use a straw or toothpick to make some holes to lace ribbon into your ornament!

Our ornaments needed drying time, so I put them on a cookie sheet and placed it on the counter for a few days, rotating them to help with the drying time.  The recipe made a ton of dough that keeps when wrapped in damp paper towels and in a plastic ziploc bag with hardly any air in it.  

It's sitting on my counter now, a full week later.  

Sweet Pea loved doing this activity so much that the next day she asked for her "White Playdough" to make some more ornaments.  So we used our "O" cookie cutter to make some wreaths.

After a few days of drying, it was time to paint our ornaments.  I put some red, yellow, and blue tempra paint into some cups for Sweet Pea and she grabbed her paintbrush. 

Mother Goose Time has given us so many opportunities to paint and work on fine motor skills, especially in their Invitations to Create!  I was so impressed with Sweet Pea's painting technique as she held the paintbrush.

     

Finger painting always wins out eventually, of course! 

After the ornaments dried, I laced some ribbon through the holes and put some glitter glue on the star.  I painted the "O" green and added embellishments to make our wreath ornament.  The pine cone pressing that Sweet Pea added to the "O" made the ideal texture for the wreath.

All of the ornaments are so beautiful on our tree and they are perfect to commemorate something great that happened this year:

all the learning, painting, and fun my girl and I have had with Mother Goose Time. 

     

What I Made This Past Week...

Today I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to tell about what I made this past week.   She does a linky party every month for people to share about what they've made, whether it is for the home, classroom, or just for fun!  It's a great way to see what other bloggers have been up to.  

So this past week, this is what I created....

By BFF from high school broke her ankle about 2 weeks ago, and she had to have surgery to put a metal plate and some screws in there.  We live many states away, so I made a care package for her with some books and this homemade journal.  I plan on blogging about it, just haven't yet.   

 I used water color paper to make the flowers, then used some scrapbook paper to glue on the other side.  I cut it down to the size I wanted, and used my cutting tool to score the fold.  I then printed lined paper and cut it to size, scored it, and then my husband nailed 5 holes into the binding.  I then used a big needle and some bakers twine in orange to stitch the binding closed using a saddle stitch. This video was a huge help.  I then wrote in blue sharpie "You Are Loved" and "You are His".  I love how it turned out, and I hope she does too.

 I tutor a 2nd grader in art every Monday.  He is very talented in art, but unfortunatly the elementary school doesn't teach art.  Therefore, each Monday we work on some skills.  We started a new project on Ton Schulten based on this lesson by Paintbrush Rocket.  We are working with tempra paints, making tints and still covering simple shapes. It really is a great lesson for him.  We aren't done yet, and I am hoping we will finish this coming Monday.  This is my example I did before he came over.  It was so nice to just do an art project.  I've missed painting on a larger scale.

 

My daughter and I also painted outside using some watercolors I made about a week ago after finding an amazingly simple non-toxic recipe.  The recipe comes from the blog Happy Hooligans ... and it was a good thing it was non toxic, because Sweet Pea started drinking that water going "mmmmm"! Crazy girl.  We had a blast!  Her art work is now hanging on the wall in her playroom, and she loves to point at it.  

I also made an Easter sensory bin for her using all items from the Dollar Tree (I LOVE THAT PLACE!)  And I only spent $5 on it!  The bin has 2 green Easter basket filler bags , a stuffed rabbit, bunny shaped eggs, and carrot shaped eggs.  The flowers I already had and I just stuck them in the grass.  She loves to dig out the rabbit eggs and place them in a basket I already had.  This sensory bin will stay up through Easter, and I might add/take away some items to it in the next month and a half.

The last thing I created this week was an entry into my Sweet Pea's Legacy Journal.  This is Bible Art Journaling, but I just make sure that I am writing to her about what I want her to know. This artwork is based on 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, about gifts, the body, and love.  I wrote a blog post about it here.

I absolutely LOVE doing these entries.  I learn so much from studying the Word and reflecting on what it is that I truly want to write to her.  It takes me awhile to finally do an entry, but once I actually sit down to make it, it doesn't take too long. It's the preparation for the entry that takes a while, but it is so worth it.

So that was my week!  Whew!  It is normally not that filled, but I count my blessings in the fact that I get to be able to create and have fun with my girl.



Be sure to go check out Tara's Link Up to get some more creative ideas from others!
Happy Creating!

Craft Time... Baby Elephant Pictures by Busted Button

Isn't this this most adorable gift ever!!! Yes.... Yes it is..... So naturally I had to make one because this isn't mine.  And I have about a MILLION friends having babies.  Does anyone else feel that way... like everyone is having babies????  Couples turning into bunnies???  I digress...

This too-cute elephant is a PIN from the most wonderful PINTERST but more importantly it is made from the blog BUSTED BUTTON. She even has a tutorial on there that was really easy to follow. Click on the links to check out her tutorial, and also her site!  It's AWESOME!!!  Check out her Art Portfolio... she does some great artwork. 

I did have to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby.  Side note:  wait to buy your frame when they go on sale for 50% off.  This happens usually every other week.  I took lots of picture when making it, so I will go through real quick and tell you how to make this gift.

Grab your wallet.... and go to Hobby Lobby.

Buy this 3 pkg of canvas boards for 6.99.  You'll find them in the canvas aisle.  Use the 8x10 size--- you need this size for your fame and how big the elephant is.

I had to buy buttons.  Unfortunately buttons are one thing I don't hoard collect.  Ok..... honesty is the best policy.....hoard.   But believe you me, I will now.   I sorted my buttons because I am psychotic and love to see organized colors.  But this also helped me see that I can not make another yellow elephant.  

If the frame is on sale, buy it.  If not just wait til next week.  Also if you are not a hoarder of paint, you will want to buy some acrylic paint while your at Hobby Lobby.  Now go home.

And make a stencil of an elephant.

I drew out mine but you can maybe find one on the Internet???  Its not hard to draw... YOU CAN DO IT!

Trace your stencil.  Try to keep your elephant either a little off to the left or in the center.  You will have balloons that take us some of that space on the right.

Paint your elephant the color of your buttons.  You can add some water to make it a little less thick.

I put my buttons in baggies so now they will stay organized.   Get out that hot glue gun... LOW temp!!  You will get glue on yourself and we all know what those high temps do to our skin.  No bueno.

Place your buttons... I liked using my bigger button on the bottom.... don't worry we are going to layer this elephant.

See... Its layered with buttons.  And that stupid hot glue string.... start pulling that off.... and layer some more until you cant see much of your paint anymore.

I don't have black buttons, so I used a dark purple one for the eye.  Also you see that little line of darker pink buttons??  That's his ear... or her ear.... I would feel sorry for him if he was pink.... poo

Use a sharpie.... THIN.... and draw some lines for the button balloons/flowers/ whatever circular thing you want to call it.

Glue them down. 

Gotta add some button grass! 

Place in your frame!  I could not put the glass in first and have everything fit, so I just kept the canvas being the top layer, but put the glass behind it along with the backing of the frame.

I've done 3 so far...

And I have a at least 2 more to go.....
Again.... when did people become bunnies???

Happy Crafting!

Big Lebowski Baby Shower

 My best friend, Marcie, is prego with "Baby Bean," and she is absolutely in love with the movie

 The Big Lebowski. 

If you love Seinfeld, you will probably like this movie (there is a LOT of cussing though), but it's a movie about nothing really.... a man who loves bowling, gets his identity mixed up with another man named Lebowski, has his favorite rug stolen, ends up becoming a hired agent in a ransom deal that goes wrong... and the list goes on. It's pretty funny though. 

Anyway..... I took the bowling aspect of this movie and ran with it for the baby shower.

I even went to the local bowling alley in my town and asked if I could buy a bowling pin.  They didn't have one for sale, BUT they gave me a used one for FREE!!! I just repainted it and had everyone write a little message to the little Bean. 

I forgot to get a pic of the signed pin! Grrr.... but the blocks are the due date.

I wanted a relaxed environment, where guests could mingle, craft, and play games, but didn't have to if they didn't want to.  (and none of the boring baby games...or gross ones.)  We had:

• Wii bowling.  This was especially fun for and with the 4 year old little girl who came to the shower.

• Onesie Making.  This was AWESOME!!!!  A lot of people who came were graphic designers or had some craftiness to them so that helped with the success, but one thing I made sure to do was to bring lots of iron-ons.  All guests could feel successful and decorate easily with iron-ons.  Painting was just an extra option.

Lots of iron-ons and steam a seam! That stuff is awesome!

More iron-ons and stencils I made with my Cricut..which no one needed.... to crafty for stencils :)

 

 

I love this little Viking!  Iron- on that Melissa painted in using fabric pens!

Onesie Making time (lots of space required)

• Bowling Alley Food.  This consisted of Frito Pie, cheese and crackers, cupcakes decorated with bowling theme, chocolate covered pretzels, and little pizzas made on pita bread.  YUM!! Sorry I forgot to take pics of all the food. 

The little trophy was filled with nerds and had Champ written on it.

Loved the fun straws!  Just plopped them into a little paper popcorn holder with permanent markers so everyone could write their names on the cups.

The pins were wood shapes I found at Hobby Lobby.  I just painted them white (except the part that touched the food) and used a red permanent marker to make the stripes.  A gobstopper is the bowling ball.

I need one of those bumper stickers that says "My time and my money go to Hobby Lobby."  Kinda similar to the ones that say, "My son and my money go to A&M."  Yep.... I need that bumper sticker...

Anyway, I was able to buy all the fabric (1/2 yards was PLENTY), iron-ons, paint, onesies, and all the onesie making stuff at Hobby Lobby, along with the carnival looking decorations.  It was the closest thing I could find to a bowling alley. 

By the end of the shower, Marcie not only had a ton of gifts, by 10 new onesies, all hand crafted especially for Bean.  We laid them all out and took a vote to give a prize to the winner:

Iron on and colored in with fabric markers

Fabric with Steam a Seam and iron on letters

Fabric ironed on with Steam a Seam with paint outline

Iron on rocket with paint

Used Create a Monster Iron on but cut the green body to make a tic-tac-toe board.  TOO Creative!!!

Hand drawn and colored in with fabric markers.  Paint outline

 

 

 

 

Fabric ironed on with Steam a Seam

Little Viking hat that went with the onesie! Meant to be!

iron on

Fabric with Steam a Seam and outlined in paint

The winner was the black onesie with the tic-tac-toe board.  So adorable!  It was an awesome shower!! If you are wondering what to do, I definitely recommend doing this!  Iron-on is the way to go for sure!!!

Happy Baby Shower Time!!!