DIY Seed Bead Necklace Tutorial - UPDATED at Design Mom

A few months ago Design Mom put a call out on Twitter that she was looking for DIY contributors.  I immediately sent her a note "applying" if you will.  A couple of months went by and I didn't hear anything so I figured she was looking for more home type DIY contributors, not so much the jewelry type which is what I tend to lean towards.  Well lo and behold she contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I was still interested to which I quickly replied "YES!"  We traded some emails back and forth and we decided to create an updated seed bead tutorial for Spring with fresh colors.  I really love how it came out, and I love even more that this necklace has a much cleaner finished look than the original because I've learned so much in the last 6 months.

So here is a little sneak peek of what I created.  I would be thrilled if you all popped on over to see the full tutorial.  And I am not above begging for comments either, so please please please say hi ;)  Thanks guys! 

DIY Ombre Heart & Striped Canvas Totes

I've had some plain canvas totes taking up space in my craft bin for awhile now.  I bought a few of the 3 packs the last time they were on sale at Joann's and just hadn't had much inspiration for doing something with them until this past week.  With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought some heart totes would be the perfect little gift to have on hand for friends and cousins or even the kid's teachers, so I made these in about an hour using the trusty freezer paper method, and instead of cutting out hearts by hand with my xacto knife, I put my heart punch to good use. To read the rest of this tutorial, please click here to see it on my new blog, For the Love Of. Thank you!

Colored Ice Sculptures - AKA Keeping Kids Busy

My kid's appetite for activity has been unquenchable these last 2 weeks, most likely because mom has not been at her best.  Usually they're content with one semi-exciting event per day, which will hold them off for hours leaving them to play happily amongst themselves or with each other.  But lately it's been a lot of "what's next, what are we doing today, now what?"  It's been exhausting and my creative well has run dry, and so the other day in between rain clouds I set them up with towers of ice in the yard and instructed them to go have at it.

Both kids remember this activity from preschool so for them much direction was unnecessary, but for you, my fellow moms, looking to occupy restless children for at least an hour, here's what you'll need.

Liquid watercolors or tinted water using food coloring (I really like Colorations Liquid Watercolors), rock salt of some sort like kosher or sea, blocks of frozen ice in various forms and sizes using tupperware containers.

The kids start by sprinkling the salt on the ice structure, as little or as much as they like.  The salt eats away cracks and divots into the ice, laying paths for the coloring to seep in.

And then they start pouring/squirting the coloring on the ice.  

The color will seep into the cracks the salt made in the ice, instead of just sliding right off.

The kids become fascinated seeing which way the colors will flow and 

what colors will meld together to form new colors.

I took pictures for the first 10 minutes or so, and then they stayed out there playing for another 45 minutes.  Ahh, the sound of happily occupied kids.  Nothing much better than that.

When they're all done just toss out on the grass or right into the sink for easy clean up.

Obviously this is a fun summer activity, but we found the fun to last even longer now in winter since the ice sculptures don't melt as quickly.  So that's what's been keeping my kids occupied for 1/12th of the day.  What's been keeping your kids busy these days?

Gifts and Beeswax

As of today Syd is officially on vacation, whereas Taylor's been off for two whole weeks already.  To be honest I'm a little scared of what the next two weeks will hold for us.  They say (who is the ever elusive "they" by the way?) that girls are easier than boys when they are younger, and boys are easier than girls when they are older and at this point I'm just praying that "they" are right.  Syd is a bundle of emotions and always has been since the day he was born.  Moody, dramatic, intense and full of passion, no one has ever been able to push my buttons like he does.

 The last few weeks he's really been skating on thin ice and our relationship has been up and down.  Taylor and I spent a lovely morning alone today and within 2 minutes of picking up Syd from his last day of school, drama ensued.  Something about a punching balloon and a Frisbee he brought home for dad, I'm still not really sure.  Ten minutes later he was flailing himself on the ground in the middle of BofA because he wanted the lollipop his sister got.  Bad parenting?  Almost 7 years into this parenting gig I'm wise enough now to know that it's not the case.  Each kid is different, they all have their strengths and different personality traits and I'm just trying my best to figure out how to ride this wild wave with Syd.

Some days I do a really good job at staying calm and keeping him busy and thus, our family stress free.  Other days not so much, and I admittedly do a real shitty job.  Some days are a combination of both, like Wednesday where we spent the afternoon making the rest of our teacher gifts for his preschool teachers and speech therapist.  Overall a very nice day, although a little chaotic when 7 kids and burning candle wax are involved.  He shyly gave each teacher their homemade present today, along with a little glittered poinsettia plant from Trader Joe's, which are quite cute by the way.  He begrudgingly accepted hugs from each of his teachers and then ran to circle time to play with the Lego's in order to escape all the mushy gushy lovey dovey stuff.  I shook my head at him, but of course knew I couldn't expect anything less of him.  After all he doesn't even really let me hug him.

Yup, it's been a rough few weeks, and even though I really don't 100% feel this way right now, still a little miffed from the BofA incident, I know that someday soon all this will pass and he'll be the one sweetly coming home from school to greet me and give me a peck on the cheek while his sister breezes in and barely acknowledges me with an eye roll before slamming her bedroom door.

And I know it's Christmas time and everything is supposed to be perfect and all, but just trying to keep it real ;)

By the way, if you're interested in making your own sweet beeswax candles for some gifts next week, they are really easy to make.  My friend Laura has been making them and selling them at local craft fairs for the last couple of months.  I purchased a few from her to begin with but we loved them so much we asked her to come over and teach us how to make them.  All you really need is some beeswax (we used all natural local beeswax from a supplier in Long Beach), a couple of silicone molds and wicking string.  The tree and pinecone is a mold that you just simply pour the wax into and let dry.  The sweet dinner candles are made by dipping the wicking string in wax over and over until nice and thick and the shape of a taper candle.  You can add decorative waxed punches in fun shapes and colors (this was the kids favorite part).  Laura is the absolute expert though and we loved spending the afternoon with her and her sweet girls.  She's the ultimate earth mama and is always a joy to be around.  Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions; I'll do my best to answer them :)

Color

Just some shots I took yesterday as I was getting things ready for Friday night crafting with some friends.  Hopefully it goes smoothly so I can host more.  We'll be making these leather pouches and the rhinestone bangles/friendship bracelets.  I'm really just hoping that my cheap sewing machine doesn't break from all the leather it will be sewing.  At least we'll have Mary's as a backup.

In between organizing, I got the kids set up with a new craft; iridescent watercolor paper lanterns.  The kids loved them, it's sometimes the simplest things like just painting a new object that they always enjoy the most.  I'll share some details of this craft next week.   

Funny, as I was uploading these very "pretty" shots, I got a little self-conscious for some reason after Friday's post.  It just really stuck with me, as well as all your comments.  But I hope you know that as much as I'll try to let go of looking good, I will never fully abandon pretty.  Just like I'll never abandon being real.  I'll just keep trying to walk the line between the both.  In fact maybe that's what my new style blog name should be; Walk the Line.  Nah.  Then people might just expect a bunch of black cowboy hats and Johnny Cash crooning in the background.  Happy Thursday friends!

Group Craft Monday - 3D Art Canvases

Oh my gosh guys, what a whirlwind of a week it has been!  All good, but so full and busy, starting with dear hubby's birthday, then a flurry of activities at Taylor's school; end of year Kindergarten performance, Special Person's Day, Awards Ceremony, Summer Jam, her first ballet recital and then of course Father's Day.  Honestly, we had a really, really good week.  Father's Day was wonderful and we spent the day relaxing and swimming and I felt proud to spend time with a few of the awesome men in my life.  My kid's couldn't be more lucky to have such great male role models surrounding them.  And today's Taylor's last day of Kindergarten.  My mantra for the day?  I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.  We'll see how long I can hold up.

Yesterday, we slowed down just a bit and had some friends over for a little crafting with the younger kids while the older kids were still in school.  My friend Miranda had the great idea of starting a regular craft day during the summer to encourage us all to break out our stash of art supplies and try something new for the kids.  It was her day to organize the first one and we made these awesome butterfly collages from Whatever.

source

Miranda came prepared with the canvases already painted which was perfect since our age range was from 1-4, and she brought some larger butterflies that were already cut out from scrapbook paper from a previous party.  Syd, oh my little Syd is the only boy in the bunch of our 9 kids, so for him she had the great idea of creating a solar system themed art board for him, and painted his canvas black.

You can find the full instructions on Meg's site, but really you don't need much more than a small art canvas, acrylic paint for the canvas, a butterfly punch, watercolors & paper.  Super simple project with a great end result!  To affix the butterflies, you can use a glue gun or in our case we just used those double sided sticky pop dots from the scrap-booking aisle.

 You start by letting the kids paint with the watercolor, 

trying to fill as much blank space on the paper as possible.

 Some use paint brushes, some use fingers.  No big deal :)

 Syd focused on trying to paint circles for his planets.

Once the paper is painted to their liking, use a butterfly punch to cut out the butterflies.  

I used a circle punch for the planets and also did some free style cutting for the rocket ship.

Affix them to the canvas with the pop dots in any pattern they want.

 It was so cool to see the different arrangements the kids came up.  Using their creativity to make a "standardized" craft something of their own.  Some used layers of large, medium and tiny butterflies to make their masterpieces.

 Others used just the small butterflies and scattered them about.

I love that this one looks like a flock of butterflies taking flight.

 Layers and layers of winged creatures popping off the canvas

And of course the boy version of this craft ;)

Syd loves to craft so it was nice to tailor this one a little more to his tastes.  Honestly he would have created a butterfly canvas and thought nothing of it, but the fact that it was a solar system project, 

to fit in perfectly with his room, got him very, very excited.

 Once it was done he zoomed his space ship all around the yard. 

 3, 2, 1...

 BLAST OFF!

 On display :)

Now I've got to think of a project when it's my turn to host.  

Anyone have some fun links or ideas they can share?  Something appropriate for 3-6 year olds.

P.S. I'll announce the winner of the Cord & Chain Friendship Bracelet tomorrow!