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.

Birthday party }{ Mini tutorial

She's 3. I can't believe it, but she's 3 years old. Oh my.

This weekend we had her birthday party, and in her request the theme was cherry blossoms (sakura), the official flower of Japan.

Between my husband and I, we did all the decorations, food and drinks, party favors, etc. We did rent a bounce house for the little ones. We had quite a few of her friends over, and they all seemed to thouroughly enjoy their time over.

Unfortunately I don't have many good pictures, since I was too busy running around. I managed to get a picture of the cake and of her blowing the candle. (by the way, my husband made that cake....)

And here's a mini-tutorial for the cherry blossoms vase:

1. Using upcycled glass bottles and jars, I spray painted them using the palette of the birthday theme (white, pink, lilac). I got this idea from Creative Jewish Mom.
2. I bought some twigs and dried branches at the local Joann.
3. Using pink tissue paper, I cut a bunch of circles. Adding a little glue in the middle, I scrunched the tissue into a sort of cone, bringing all the edges together.
4. I glued two or three flowers into each twig and put them in the vases.

That's it! Super easy and cute. They're actually still up in our bookcases, and I think I might leave them up for a while.

Does your husband have a secret talent? How did you find out about it?