Craft Wednesday ~Butterflies~

It's Wednesday!

Time to be crafty!

I know we have done butterflies before...but in our home, you can never have too many of the 

flighty little beauties.

I found the inspiration for this project here while I was surfing around one evening.
 Riley decided it was perfect for this weeks activity.

We didn't have a canvas to paint on so we just used regular paper.  We decided to soften our colors a bit with white (I think mixing the paints is more then half the fun) but we thought a brighter version would be great too.

First we painted the background, then we sketched our designs with pencil (press lightly if you are using pastel colors). Then we added the painted details and finished up with tracing the lines with a black sharpie. {Janey decided she liked the look of hers best without the black lines.}  I think part of what makes this project look so "professional"  is the lines around the edges. We used a 1 inch foam brush to try and get a uniform look. 

This was a pretty easy project and could be adapted to almost any decor in your child's room.
I think they came out simply adorable.

Hope you had a creative Wednesday!
See you next week!

Craft Wednesday ~ 3D Flowers/Snowflakes~

It's Wednesday!

Time to be crafty!

It was Janey's turn to pick this week and boy did she pick a doozie!!

She made this last year in school

and decided she wanted to teach us all how to make them...yikes...

so I did what all good Mommies do...I Googled it

and found it here

this project meant so much to my sweet little girl

so we took a deep breath, read, studied and got busy

of course it being summer and all, our snowflakes became flowers

and quite beautiful flowers too I might add

Hope you had a creative Wednesday!

See you next week!

Craft Wednesday ~ Drawing and Painting Barns~

It's Wednesday!

Time to be crafty!

This week Riley chose another great project from Deep Space Sparkle.

We are just in love with this blog!

We started with a directed lesson and I modeled each step of drawing the barn.

The girls decided they wanted to sketch in pencil first and then go back and trace with the black oil pastel.

Then we used tempera paint for the details.

We loved mixing colors 

and seeing the differences in all of our drawings.

We decided to skip the final step of retracing our black lines with a thin brush and black tempera paint.

We thought they looked wonderful just the way they were!

We just loved this project!

Hope you had a creative Wednesday!

See you next week!

Craft Wednesday ~Flags, Posters and Lady Liberty~

It's Wednesday!

Time to be crafty!

Whew...I just have to say...this was the most nutty crazy craft day yet.

Probably has something to do with this huge crick in my neck (blogging injury??:) ) 
and the fact that Dave has been out of town.

The girls did an amazing job being helpful and rolling with it all...but I need a trip to the spa after this one!!:)

We started out wanting to do this project from Family Fun

but it didn't quite go as planned.

Not sure if it was our paint being too thick or thin, but when we blew it with the straws

it looked more like giant blobs then beautiful fireworks.

So...on to plan B...

Flag Paintings

this was fun and gave us a quick lesson on Flag history

but it left us all feeling kind of "Blah" about this weeks project

So...on to plan C...

and back to our favorite site 

Deep Space Sparkle

Janey chose the Lady Liberty project

I was a bit worried about this 5th grade lesson

but the girls loved it and and did a fantastic job

we started with a directed lesson with lots of great tips from

Patty at Deep Space Sparkle

We drew with pencil first and then traced with black marker

{Blame it on my neck, but I forgot to use permanent markers and the colors bled a bit}

We then added the details with watercolor.

Here are the finished projects

Riley's

Janey's

This is as far as I got with mine
because I was chasing this little "I want to paint too" 
sweetie around

but isn't she cute???

{even out of focus!}

Oh yeah and then we threw in some Welcome Home Daddy Posters

Whew...can you see why I need a trip to the spa????


Hope you have a Creative Wednesday!
See you next week!

Craft Wednesday ~Eric Carle Butterflies~

It's Wednesday

Time to be crafty!

{brief pause for a morning shot of my happy little angels}

This week Riley choose another great project from 

Deep Space Sparkle.

Eric Carle Inspired Butterflies

We just love Eric Carle, don't you??

We started by thinning out the paint with a bit of water.

I think next time I would skip this step to keep the colors more vibrant.

We painted our "Eric Carle" paper with one color per sheet.

We were looking for streaks and swirls to help with the collage feel.

Then we began cutting out our butterflies.

On Deep Space Sparkle she used templates for the butterfly shapes.

The girls wanted to do their own without tracing,

but looking back, I think this would have left more time/energy

for creative decorating of each butterfly and more time/energy to do several more. :)

Here are the finished masterpieces!

This project was loads of fun and we have lots of paper left over for future creativity.

During the project I told them that when I used to teach 

we would make Eric Carle flowers for Mother's Day.

They decided to make a few of those too.

*********************************************

On a side note, I found a great deal on washable tempera paint.

Hobby Lobby had these on sale for $1.59 with 30% off.

I don't think they are quite as vibrant as Crayola,

but the price was great and

the washability seems good too.

And, I am probably the last person on Earth not to know about watercolor paper,

but we bought some of that  today too

and it makes a HUGE difference.

The colors look amazing and the paper holds up so much better.

Hope you have a creative Wednesday.

Can't wait till next week.

Craft Wednesday ~Where the Wild Things Are~

It's Wednesday!

Time to be crafty!

This week it was Janey's turn and she choose

Watercolor Monsters from Deep Space Sparkle

What a fun project this was!

We have the book at home which was perfect and very inspiring.

This was a project very similar to the first flowers we did
but for some reason it went more smoothly.

We started with sketching our monsters with black crayon

{We have guest artists this week...my parents are visiting from GA!}

We added a few details with crayon for the "resist" effect.

Then finished up with the watercolors.

{Did you know there was such a thing as watercolor paper?

We must get some before next week!}

Here are the finished projects

Poppy couldn't resist all the fun so he decided to join in.

you have a sneaky look on your face Poppy....

what on Earth are you making????

WARNING

Make sure all small children look away!

 POPPY!!

Not quite the watercolor monsters we had in mind!

But it was good for a few ghastly giggles!!

Enjoy the day!