New home

Wow, it's been a while since I've been here. If you haven't noticed, I'm no longer updating this blog.

But you can find me at my new website mrsricefield.com.

I'm keeping this blog up so you can still check all the tutorials and ideas, since my new website focuses on art and leaves baking, crafting, etc, behind. I hope to see you there.

St Patrick's Day watercolor illustration

Oh March, you craft-tiful month you. With every crafting opportunity you already offer, you bring yet another that almost slipped my mind: St Patty's Day. It was almost too late to make something.

Although I'm not even remotely Irish, I still love this holiday. There's something cool in making everything green. Oh, and rainbows and pots of gold, how can you not love that?

And oh yes, and when you lack frames, use whatever you can find. Like unused embroidery hoops. I can't be the only one with those around...

cheeky little fella

Why is it so hard to get good natural lighting at home? Oh yeah, we live in Portland now...

Want to join? Grab some watercolor supplies, draw something easy (like a shamrock), let your kid paint it or do it yourself, and frame it with the hoop. Have fun trying this out and let me know what you come up with.

I hope you have all the luck of the Irish this week. Happy St Patrick's Day!

Easy egg garland for Easter }{ crafting with kids

 Ah, March. You're such a lovely month with so much to celebrate. There's Easter Sunday this year on March 31st, and the Vernal Equinox (the first day of Spring) on March 20th. And if those two weren't enough, you're national craft month.

With so much going on during March, how could I choose just one theme for the month? Impossible. So, we're doing them all. Since this is my crafting blog, national craft month is celebrated every month around here. Then there's Easter and Spring. I'll be alternating crafts related to both this month.

The first tutorial I want to share is for a very easy and fun craft to do with the kids. These are rough guidelines and you can do so much with it - change the materials, the presentation, the educational content. Start with this blueprint and let your imagination run wild. 

Materials:

1. felt (cut up in egg shapes)
2. glue
3. tapestry needle and twine or string
4. buttons, ribbons, glitter, or anything you want to use to decorate

Steps:

1. If you haven't yet, cut up the felt in the shape of eggs. Place all the decorations and the stack of egg shapes on a tray for the little ones to have easy access.

note: if you want to add some fun education activities here, cut up the decorations in different geometric shapes and ask the kiddos to identify them as they decorate for example. Or have them count the eggs, or sort them by color. The possibilities are endless.

2. Give them the glue and let them go wild. Always remember that with kids it's the process, not the product that matters most. Having said that, you'll be surprised at how cute these turn out even with a 4 year old.

3. Once the eggs are dry, thread the needle with the string or twine and connect all the eggs into a garland.

note: you don't have to make a garland with these eggs. You can keep them as an activity to do over and over, just don't use glue. Or make a big collage on poster board with all the eggs and display that on the wall. Again, the possibilities are endless.

4. Display the garland somewhere everyone can see. In our new apartment, it was over the fireplace.

What are your plans for March?

How to make an egg carton chick for Easter candy

This whole month of February, I've been keeping a theme going of organization and repurposing (see the following posts - blog organizing, recycling a box into a wreath, and repurposing a belt as a headband). Today's post will be the last, for a while, on this theme.

This post recycles in two ways. First, it recycles a common household waste product into a craft. Second, I'm recycling the craft/post. I had published it a couple of years ago on a website which no longer exists. It made me sad to think that one of my favorite little crafts had disappeared into the nether regions of the web. So I decided to bring it back right here with brand new instructions.

Now Let's get to business. 

Have you ever looked at your empty egg carton and imagined all kinds of little critters you could make out of it? Maybe I'm crazy, but that's all I see! The possibilities are endless, I'm telling you. With Easter coming up, here's one that would make nice little additions to an Easter get together. 

Materials:

• cardboard egg carton (I like them better than the styrofoam for crafts)
• construction paper (green or brown)
• yellow craft paint and a paint brush
• glue
• scissors
• yellow tulle
• orange craft foam
• small circular jewels for the eyes
• a small yellow pom pom

Steps:

1. Cut out the egg cradling parts of the carton, both top and bottom. Each pair will be one chick.

2. Paint the top half yellow and set it aside to dry.

3. While the top dries, cut a strip of tulle and one of green or brown construction paper. Cut thin lines until about 1/4 in from the bottom across the strip to make the grass for the nest. Glue the bottom of the strip on the inside of the bottom half of the egg carton.

4. Glue the small yellow pom pom (the head) on one upper side of the yellow painted carton. Then cut a small square piece of yellow tissue paper and scrunch it up for a tail, then glue it.  

5. Cut a small triangle of orange foam and glue it as a beak, then glue the small jewels as eyes. That's it, you're done!

When you put them together, you've got a cute little chick on a nest where you can store small candy. Just make sure you put some clean tissue paper at the bottom before adding the candy.

Filled with Easter M&Ms and jelly beans!

Have you ever done a craft with your old egg cartons or recycled containers? What was it?

Valentine's wreath }{ tutorial

My daughter's favorite color is pink. No surprise then that she goes crazy around Valentine's day, specially if we happen to stop by Joann. And we did.

She begged me to buy half of the seasonal decor on display at the store, but instead I promised her we'd do our own. Lucky for me, she loves to do craft projects. Thus, today's post was born.

As I mentioned in the last post, this month's themes are organizing and re-purposing. After unpacking quite a few boxes we're surrounded by empty boxes, so I decided to use some cardboard for the project as a way to recycle it and save some money as well.

Materials

• cardboard (or whatever you have that's easy to cut but still sturdy)
• scissors
• gesso/paint (optional)
• paint brushes (optional)
• glue
• tissue paper (or other decorations like pom poms or buttons)
• ribbon

Steps:

1) Draw the heart shape on the cardboard. It doesn't have to be neat since it will get covered up.

2) Cut out the shape. If you'd like a wreath like backing, cut out the middle as well. We ended up using both parts.

3) Paint the backing with gesso/paint. We did this in case some showed through the tissue paper. It turns out you need a couple of coats and my little one was not that patient, so some of her heart has the box' original paint showing through. It didn't matter to her (reminder: crafting with kids is all about the process, not the product).

4) Dry it with a blow dryer (much quicker, helps the wee ones stay with the project)

5) Spread some glue on a medium sized area (~4 inches), rip tissue paper a little at a time, scrunch it up and attach it to the backing. This will go a little faster if you use larger pieces of paper, and if you don't put them super close together. I did (so it took much longer), but the little miss did not. She also decided to cover her middle with the tissue paper.

6) Repeat step 5 until the whole wreath is covered up. This is where you can let your creativity run wild. Use buttons, combinations of colors, glitter, pom poms, whatever. See what you come up with.

7) Cut a piece or ribbon and glue each end to one bump on the back of the heart (to hang it up). Done! After it's dry just go hang it up. The little miss' went outside for everyone to see, but I took a picture of both so you can see them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do you make projects inspired by what you see at the store? I'd love to hear examples.