Craft Review: Family Fun Magazine "Sandy Vases"

We are finally doing the Earth Day Craft, "Sandy Vases," from the April 2011 issue of Family Fun Magazine. Because I had just taken my glass to the recycling place, we had to wait for the accumulation of a few bottles before we could do it. And I will admit I purchased a four-pack of Yoo-hoos so we could use the bottles when the drink was gone. This is a pretty easy project, and both my girls enjoyed doing it.

You'll need some glass bottles, old craft paint brushes, newspaper, tacky glue,
and colored sand. Dilute 1/4 cup of tacky glue with a teaspoon of water.

Working over newspaper, brush glue onto your glass bottle.
It's important to keep it thinned out a bit... not too clumpy.

Sprinkle sand on the glue, knocking off the excess. We worked
this part over our sandbox, so as not to waste the excess.

You can do solid colored bottles, or make multi-colored designs.

This is what your sandbox will look like when you are finished.

And this is what your bottles might look like.

My question is this... when the glue is dry, is it possible to touch or move your new vase without getting sand all over the place? As soon as the glue is dry, I will let you know.

K. It's dry. I tapped each vase on the deck to knock off any extra excess sand. While I feel it might be important to always pick them up from a place where there is no sand, they do seem pretty stable once they're dry. Some sand may continue to fall off from time to time, but I don't think it's more than I can handle.

"How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!" Psalm 139: 17-18

Fancy Footwear

Decorating flip-flops is not a new idea. But this is my first attempt, and of course I had to add my own little spin. Actually, my Mom put together this craft activity for us and the girls to do while we were at her house this week. But neither of the girls stuck around for it, and it turned into a Mommy/Gran activity. We still enjoyed it.

We started with a pair of $1 flip-flops from Hobby Lobby, or maybe Michael's,
and wrapped a length of ribbon around to give it a striped look.

The ribbon is tucked and secured at each end with E6000 glue.

Then we sewed on some beads.

You saw this coming, I know. I used 2-inch wide gross-grain
ribbon to make fabric flowers.

I sewed the flowers to the flip-flops.

LOVE THEM! And more importantly, so does my daughter.

I make and sell fabric flower hair accessories and rings (and flip-flops?). You can check out my websites to see all of my work... http://jennsbabytags.tripod.com/,  http://www.etsy.com/shop/jenilynn73, and http://www.facebook.com/JennsBabyTags.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7

Craft Review: Family Fun Magazine "Write It In Stone"

The May 2011 issue of Family Fun Magazine has a lot of great ideas, and we tried one out today... "Write It In Stone." For this project, you need...

Letter stickers
Smooth, light-colored, flat stones
Acrylic paint and brush
*Exacto knife (this is my add)
Outdoor sealer

Step One: Adhere the letter stickers onto the clean, dry stones

Step Two: Gently brush on two coats of acrylic paint, letting
the paint dry completely after each coat.

With the stones I used, some were a darker color, some lighter. I tried to make sure the girls painted a lighter color of paint on a dark stone, and a darker color of paint on a light stone to give a little more conrast to the finished product.

 

I got creative and added some extra decoration to our larger stones.

Step three: Remove the stickers...

Now this is where it gets complicated. Because to just "remove the stickers"... well it didn't work that way for us. See the blank spot on that stone? That's supposed to be a letter "M". When we removed the sticker, all of the surrounding paint came, too. Thankfully, this was my practice stone...

So I used an exacto knife to cut out each sticker. Some letters were
more difficult to extract, but with a little patience, I got it done.
Of course, this was a job for Mom, and not for the kids. I did have to
get my paint back out and fix a couple of letters, like putting the
center back into a letter "e".

Step Four: Apply three coats of sealer, letting it dry completely
between applications.

All in all, this was a fun project for the girls. They always enjoy anything that involves paint. Just know that removing the sticker isn't as easy as Family Fun implies it will be. But with an exacto knife and some patience, the finished product turned out really cool. My four big stones, when the three clear coats are applied and dry, will go outside by our vegetable garden. And who knows where I might find the rest.

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety." Psalm 18:2

We Need a Little Personal Space!

I acquired an old school locker. What fun to give it a makeover to put in the playroom for a little personal storage space! The girls each love having their own little space, especially since they share their bedroom and their playroom with each other.

In order to paint on metal, I first needed a primer coat.
For this, I used Kilz Premium.

After the primer coat was good and dry, I started to add the color. I used leftover paint from bathroom and nursery projects, and I got a small can of blue paint on clearance at Wal-mart (score!)... therefore, I used a combination of flat wall paint (blue), satin wall paint (yellow), semi-gloss wall paint (green), and craft paint (pink and purple). I painted the outside of the locker blue, the inside yellow, and the doors green, pink, and purple. I applied about two coats of each color, as needed.

When the color coats were completely dry, my daughters and I decorated it with our flower paint stamps, using all of the same colors.

Then I coated the entire locker with Minwax water-based Polycrylic protective finish to give it protection and a nice shine. I gave it about two days to really dry, then we placed it in the playroom, and for added security, bolted it to the wall. We don't want it falling on anyone!

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21