No-ouch Cacti

My longtime crafting buddy (Cece) and I got around to doing an EASY and fun art project one rainy afternoon last week. This project  is too heavy to put on the fridge, but can be displayed anywhere in our house! 

There's plenty of different versions of this on Pinterest, but really all you need is clay pots, craft paint, brushes, large (preferably smooth) rocks, and smaller rocks to fill your pot.

 (We got our large rocks from outside so they are more textured.)

 Paint your larger rocks green and let dry. Then use white paint to create designs (spikes, swirls, stripes, etc.). Once everything is dry, fill pots with rocks and arrange your painted rocks in a way that pleases you!

Aside from getting all of the supplies set up, I sat back for most of this project. I contributed by painting the pots white. Cece then took this picture of me with my camera... Artsy shot, right? I love it!

I love how these turned out!

Succulents and cacti are really having their moment right now, which makes me happy because we always had these in our house growing up (courtesy of my mom, the plant lady.)

Although with these non-prickly ones, you can't dare your siblings to touch them or anything. (Not that we would ever do that...) I hope my mom enjoys getting one of these as a gift for her upcoming birthday!

Lastly, I just need to say that Cece has really been such an enthusiastic buddy about doing creative projects together and I love it. She loves planning projects, shopping for supplies, and turning on some good tunes while we get to work. I hope that never ever changes!

Inching closer to spring!

Hi, all! We are inching closer to springtime and that's what continues to inspire me to get out of bed and join the world every day. That and lots of fun upcoming events (like Cece's dance recital this weekend!). Here are a few other phone-captured things we have been up to lately.

I've mentioned this before, but I still feel like a substantial amount of my time is being spent trapped beneath a sleeping baby (or at least a fiercely snuggling one). I should probably stop referring to Rosie as a baby since she will be two next month. (WHOA.) The snuggles sure make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it sure is hard to get motivated to,like, pack up the kids in the 10 degree weather and head to the gym when you can just be all cozy on the sofa .

Can't resist throwing in a shot of my V-Day mani. Over the top or just enough?

Last week, I joined Cece for her Valentine's Day party at school last week. So fun! The parent helpers and myself assisted in games, treats, and card creation. It was a solid morning!

Instead of doing Valentine's Day cards, we melted all of Cece's old and broken crayons into 24 multi-colored hearts and passed those out to her classmates (complete with complicated ribbons and wrapping per request of Cece.) I'm so glad we did this as it now has emptied that container of old crayons that was bothering me since no one wanted to use them!

We've been back to Good Times Park a bit lately too for the indoor fun of it all. (Always best to go not on the weekends.) We were joined by the Olsons this morning and the girls (as usual) loved bouncing, building, playing, spinning, and sliding with their cousins.

So... now that these are all posted here, I can make some more room on my phone again! Whoop whoop. Almost springtime, everyone! Hang in there! 

Trying my hand at modern calligraphy!

I am one of those people who finds true enjoyment in things like hand-writing thank you notes and addressing Christmas cards. Ever since grade school, I have loved inky pens, writing in cursive, and that satisfying feeling of dropping a stack of letters in a mailbox.

 It's just another opportunity to feel fancy and add a personal touch to communication. You know, beyond emojis and emoticons ; )

Thus, I was thrilled to find out (via Instagram) that calligraphy workshops are a thing!  Instead of just scrolling on my phone and thinking it would be cool to try, I made it my mission to sign up for one. As luck would have it, I found and attended an Introduction to Modern Calligraphy held by Shasta Bell over this past weekend.

Everything looked almost too pretty to touch!

 After literally years of texting and typing, it felt refreshing to get back to letter basics. (And by that, I mean really fancy basics.) I also found it to be a relaxing exercise for my  fast-scribbling, heavy-handed self to really slow down and then approach calligraphy with the mindset that this is drawing more than writing.

We got a brief introduction to the history of calligraphy, learned about our tools, assembled our pens, and then got to start practicing.

Above are my first strokes, swirls and letters. Kind of wonky, but everyone needs to start somewhere!

Towards the end of the workshop, we got a chance to dabble in white ink. I think at the present time, my favorite letter is "H" and my favorite word to write over and over is "hello!"

I happened to be working alongside some very skilled people. I mean, seriously. That is not my envelope.

I'm so glad I got a chance to meet Shasta. She is one of those people who seems so cool on the Internet and Instagram and then just so happens to be even lovelier in real life. I'd love to take some time to practice the skills I learned and then attend another workshop in the future. My only wish is that I had done this before I sent out my Christmas cards!

Check out Shasta's website here to see her work and also see a class schedule if you are interested!

(And P.S. Those eye-catching floral arrangements were courtesy of Poppy Lane. Gorgeous, no?)

Glitter Leaf Garland

I don't know what got into me (probably too many pumpkin spice lattes), but I thought that a glitter art project would be a great idea and Cece was only too happy to go along with it.

So while Rosie napped, Cece and I moved our art supplies to the backyard and began Project Glitter Leaf Garland.

Now I will be covered in glitter for the rest of my mortal life. As will our backyard and patio tables and chairs. 

What's funny about some of these seasonal art projects is that you can pretty much buy the finished version at any craft store. Chances are it'll look way more polished and you'll save yourself the labor and the mess.

But, Cece was so in love and focused on this project. She declared today the BEST DAY EVER.  I'm all about giving Cece more BEST DAY EVERS. So, I'm hoping to write about more of our projects soon!

Glitter Leaf Garland

Want to give a try? This project is super easy (in theory). Just know that no matter how careful you are, this will probably result in the most gigantic glitter mess you've ever seen.

Supplies:

• artificial leaves (can be purchased from a crafts store or the dollar store)
• Elmers glue
• paintbrush
• glitter
• ribbon

Directions:

• Use a paintbrush to apply glue to each leaf then sprinkle glitter over the top. Let glue set. 
• Shake it off like Taylor Swift. (The excess glitter on the leaf, that is.)
• Punch/cut a hole at the top of each leaf and attach a ribbon. 
• You can then tie to a larger piece of ribbon to create garland. Or you can just dance around with it. 

Original project found here. We're going to hang ours in the kitchen window. Won't Joe be pleased??? He's so lucky he has his girls around to beautify and bedazzle EVERYTHING ; )

Valentine's Day Craftiness

 

A couple days ago we got around to some Valentine's Day projects. Cece had her first Valentine's Day party at school and we both had fun assembling some foam-sticker cards for her class. Cece enjoys making cards for other people so much and she also loves sending things via snail mail. I hope that's something that never changes about her.

 

(I feel like I should also note that Cece ADORED the Valentines and goodies she received from her classmates. She actually slept with her bag of Valentine's last night.)



 

We also made an attempt at that melted crayon craft I've seen on the internets for awhile now. I do not fancy myself a crafty person, but I am skilled at melting things, if nothing else! This is actually a very easy project. The part that is time consuming is removing all of the wrapping off your old crayons. But otherwise, all you do is unwrap the broken crayons, layer inside a silicone pan, bake inside the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes until melted. Obviously let them cool before you try to remove them. Bam, old crayons have a new life, whether they like it or not.
 

Fairies Welcome

With all of the mermaid-loving that goes on in our home, maybe it seems like we don't have the time of day for other mythical creatures. Not true. Cece and I also have a soft spot for fairies. We enjoy watching the Tinkerbell movies, reading fairy books, and playing with her collection of fairy wings and wands. Sometimes Cece asks me if I can get her "real pixie dust, not pretend pixie dust." (And so far I can't find any real pixie dust being sold on Amazon, so the search continues.) However, I have found a LOT of cute examples of fairy gardens online and thought it would be a fun activity to build our own.

 

So, over the past couple of weeks, Cece and I have been collecting things for our garden. We found rocks and sticks around our yard, extra buttons in my jewelry box, and a surprising amount of fairy garden-related accessories at Michael's. While shopping at Home Depot, I made sure to pick up some smaller blooms to add in as well. Then I filled an old bucket with potting soil, hot glued a little fence out of sticks, and (with Cece's help), started arranging the different tiny elements for the garden.

 

Of course, as the project started, it became more elaborate. I found myself awake at night thinking about utterly ridiculous things. (Do fairy gardens need mulch? How do I create tiny mulch? Oooh, we should have a water feature! Etc. I probably should be awake at night thinking of more grown-up things like college funds for the kids and scheduling my next dentist appointment.)

 

Now that it's mostly finished, it's right by our front door so we can enjoy it and so can anyone visiting. This was a great way for me to learn a little bit about landscape architecture (even if on a miniature scale) and it was a cool big-girl activity for Cece. Will let you know if spy any fairies popping by ; )

 

 

(Some other of my favorite past-yard projects here and here.)