A new twist on Childs handprint...

I see ideas all the time on Pinterest of cute crafts to do with your child's hand. They're all adorable but I always think of how hard that would be to dip my child's hand in paint and carefully place it on an ornament, or even flat on a piece of paper! Older children would be easier but a 20 month old...not so much.

 

I seen a photo similar to this particular craft. It was using an adult hand and it was a little more sophisticated looking. I wanted mine to be simple and raw.

 

First you must always sharpen a new pencil, because in this house sharpened pencils run away....so do pencil sharpeners. Oddly enough though, pocket knives seem to multiply.

Luckily I had two pieces of sketch paper left from way back when I use to draw.

 



Next I showed my child how much fun it is to hold your hand in place! This step took several tries (hence my hesitation to purposely putting paint on those wiggly little things!)

 



 

After tracing the paw lightly, I then started drawing lines across the paper. Rulers run away from this house too so I stole my sons wooden puzzle to use. He wasn't happy about me borrowing it so I had to move to the dining room table.

 

 

Here's where it starts to get tricky. Where the lines are of the paw you draw a curved line. I wish I had taken this step more seriously and really curved the crap outta those lines! You'll see why later...

 

 

Obliviously the paw didn't want me to center it on the paper, so I just measured best I could to center it to be an 8x10.

 

 

Next I traced over the pencil lines with sharpie.

You can see the paw coming to life...

 

Next I choose to do Rainbow colors, so I counted out how many spaces there were and divided it up so it was evenly across the paw.

If you look closely from the last photo to the next, you'll see I ended up adding lines in between. The paw wasn't sticking out as well as I'd hoped, this is why I'd wished I'd emphasized the curves.

 

Its not as perfect as I'd like it to be. If only I had curved the lines more it'd really make that paw stand out! If I do another, I'll definitely CURVE more!!! But I really like it. It's unique and different, plus colorful much like the owner of this adorable little paw :)

On the back I wrote his name and the date. Soon I'll frame it and hang it in his room.

Dr. Seuss Themed Party!!

 

I'm already planning on being one of those mothers who throws ridiculously over the top (yet cheap) parties. With that little disclosure, here's my son's first birthday party....

 

 

 Dr. Seuss themed parties are not very common so it's a little hard to find party supplies so I had to come up with creative ideas...

 

 

 

For table decorations I took yellow and green deco mesh and made little Seuss-esk puff balls. All I did was take Styrofoam and staple and poof, staple and poof! I figured they didn't need to be uniform or perfect, that's the beauty of Dr. Seuss, the stranger the better!

 

I made his cake the day before the party, I wish I had gotten an inside pic of the cake, I made it so there were polka dots inside it! Super cute and easy! I had never used fondant before so of course I must go all out and have my first time be trying to create Dr. Seuss characters, took a while but I got it figured out. I also put sweedish fish on the cake... one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish ;)

 



 

Super cheap and easy decoration idea: I went to Google images and printed the book cover art to several of my favorite Seuss books and quotes. We have a photo printer so I just used 8x10 photo paper and they turned out great! Then pinned the photos to a string with mini clothes pins. I hung them above each doorway and a string across the living room. They were extremely simple yet really dressed up the party!

 

We have a large living room so I decided that would be the "main" room. On one wall I hung two of those cheap plastic tablecloths you can get then throw away. Then I quickly hand painted (the night before) a truffula tree scene. I also laid another tablecloth out to protect the carpet under the highchair. I used a red tablecloth to wrap around his chair to minimize on cleaning too.

 

We had just gotten a new dishwasher a few months before the party so I took large pieces from the box and painted these life size Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. It's amazing what you can do with cardboard! For those of you thinking, I can't paint, yes you can! It's only cardboard, who cares if you mess up! Just go for it! Or find a friend that loves to paint and have them do it (cough, cough, me!)

 

 

This is the front door where all the party guests entered, I wrapped the door in an orange tablecloth then cut out of yellow craft paper the mustache, eyebrows, and eyes.

 

I wish I had been better about taking photos of everything but I suppose I was a little busy. For his party invitations I went online and found a free printable for Dr. Seuss themed invites. For party snacks I had bowls of Sweedish Fish, and watermelon "bowls" full of colorful fruit.  I used colorful paper plates and colorful solo cups. I figured above all just make sure it's colorful and fun! Hope this helps give you ideas for your next party you plan!

Another solution to help prevent leaving babies in cars~

I had to run to town today and as I was driving I couldn't help but realize how quiet my sleeping baby was, that got me thinking of all the poor mother's who have lost their children due to forgetting them in the car and then babies overheating. I started thinking about all the solutions I have heard of people talking about to prevent this. Of course these are good solutions for some people but for people like me they're not so great like the purse in the back seat, I don't carry a purse. Or the teddy bear in the front seat, I hardly ever look at the passenger seat. Then I remembered the posts I have seen recently to Ford and Chevy about making a sensor if something is left in the seat heavier than 10 or so pounds, that seems like a good idea. Only problem I could see is for people who use their seats for things other than children, oh and the base you would like to leave strapped in. I know everyone wants to find a solution and a lot of these are great and work for most people! I though of one that will work for me and I hope it will work for a few other Mommy's. I know it's not pretty and there will probably be sticky stuff left over after you take it off but that's what goo gone is for! Now of course I plan on making better looking ones later I just wanted to make quick ones so you could have a visual:)

For me this will work great because when I'm getting out it's in my line of vision, no way of missing them!!!

If this post saves at least one baby it did it's job:)

Oh trash can, why must you be so difficult....

No who'da thunk it! I came up with a brilliant idea to cover my baby's trash can in his saffari room with giraffe print fabric. Of course I though, psht, easy peasy!!! I'll be done with this hour tops!! RIGHT! So here's my THREE DAY PROJECT!!!!!!!

Yeah you heard me right!!!

Now it's not all the cans fault, my baby did steal the logical side of my brain and hasn't returned it so I'm only runnin on my craft side so several things I do are completly messed up and you will probably think to your self, "Self, why didn't she just do this, that would have been so much easier!" Well I didn't!!!!

Okay here's my can I purchased for around 2 buckaroos... There's my Marley, she decided on day one she'd help, sad to say she gave up on me on day two. She didn't sign up for a three dayer.

Here's my Giraffe fabric(I splurged a little:) a yard and a half for $10 somethin but I wanted heavey stuff cause it's going to be washed several times), some left over black sheet fabric from when I had done the curtains in the safari room http://lunaslovelylife.blogspot.com/2012/03/curtainsgrrrrrrr.html  This can is actually for his cloth diapys:)

I took the fabric and held it around the can then cut it that way I could get a close guess on the inside measurement, because I don't do numbers well(remember, logic side..GONE!) Then I held it inside and figured out closer to size and cut it down more.

You can see my tiny pins...I pinned where I needed to sew then went to town!

After that I took some more fabric and set the can on top of it and cut around for my bottom.

Now for the Raffie! This was the really hard part, this can is odd shaped and I didn't want to waste fabric but I also didn't want it to be sloppy, well if I would have realized, like I did later, that the fabric has to be loose because of the can being tapered! Ugh, PLEASE logic come back to me!!!

Anyway, so I cut two different sections because I just couldn't get the fabric to wrap around right without wasting a lot. Then I pinned it.

Here's a shot of what the inside looks like after I had sewn all of the inside lining together. Sorry that's out of order...

Then I sewed the lining with the outside fabric..

 then flipped it! So cute!!

Now you may be thinking, "This took three damn days?!" YES, it did! We're getting to that part, all of this was easy for the most part, a few small hiccups but not bad!  Now after I flipped it I thought ooo I'll bunch the sides and put some elastic around the bottom and bam! I'm done...NOPE! Cut the elastic out start again....OOoo I'll fold the sides in and pin the bottom and each time I need to take it off I'll just unpin it.....NOPE, can't even get the damn pins to go through!!! Ooooo I'll roll the sides and, and, and, and well what will I do to the bottom...NOPE!!! I know I'll burn the MUTHA @#$%*#!!!!!! Finally this morning I came to my senses and realized ok Luna, you need this can, you can't burn it, that's silly! So I looked and I and realized, oh yeah, I can't have it tight because I have to be able to slide it off to wash it! So how bout I sew the sides nicely but loosely, then just bunch the bottom under!

So here below is one side, I should have sewn it on the inside, but again, logic:/ But don't worry the other side I sewed on the inside!

Here it is all done and the bottom just tucked under!

And here it is doin it's job!!! Works just great!!!

Better luck next time logic!!!!! Muhahahahaha!!!!!!!

~Laundry room sign with Chalk Paint~

So I'd seen a sign a while ago on Pinterest that said "The Laundry Room, loads of fun" I thought it was a super cute saying and knew I could make a sign like that someday! So of course I pinned it like all my fifty million other pins that I think someday I'll do but probably never ever will;) Then my mother-in-law told me about this awesome painting class she wanted to go to and wanted me to go to, too. Long story short, I didn't go but she did and we decided to have a craft day and she showed me how to do it!

So here is what we started with...This is a frame I found at a thrift store for $3.99 (for a set of two) but it was half off purple tags! so I got two of these for two frog skins!!!

I'm sorry I forgot to take the pic of the first layer! First what we did, is we cleaned the frame of course, just with a wet paper towel. Then we painted a first layer with the Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan and the color is called Chateau Gray. Let it dry (which doesn't take long) then we did a coat with the color Versailles and let dry. The pic below is that color...

Ok so after the second coat dries you take a rag and get it wet, I'm sorry I slacked on the pictures! I promise on the next project I do with this paint I will be better! So you take your rag and rub the paint off basically, I started with rubbing softly so I could see how much came off. Some parts would come off easier then others so just beware of that. Make sure to be conscience of the entire project! You don't want one area to be bare and another not at all. It's really fool proof though, and extremely fun and addicting!!!

Oh and a tip: My mother-in-law said she had troubles with the low points but not so much the high points, so that would be something to keep in mind on your own projects, but I was thinking on some projects it would make them interesting looking. Best thing about this stuff is, there's no wrong way and if you don't like it you can just go over it again!

Ok so the painting part was done, now you do the Soft Wax finish....

So you take your brush and work the wax into it real well first. Now brush it on the frame, then wipe it off. It leaves a nice protective coat and kind of shiny but not too shiny finish.



This pic is the Chateau Grey (the first coat), it is VERY pretty!!! The great thing about the paint, is a very little goes a LONG way!!! We didn't even make a dent in these jars!

 

We had finished the frame and left it on the stove while we started on the center piece!



Again I slacked on pics!!

I suppose I'll just have to describe as best I can, sorry:/

We painted the matting of the artwork Paris Gray, in the next few pics you can probably see what it looked like before we did the wax. After the paint dried on it we covered it in the Rustic Brown Wax. Again you work the wax into the brush then buff it onto the paint then wipe it off. You might notice this time we used a round brush, this is the type of brush you're supposed to use for the wax part. We only had one so we had to use the flat one for the Soft Wax for the frame, it worked just as good. I suppose for certain projects it might make a difference though.

 ^^In that little space there you can see the Paris Gray^^

 The pictures aren't doing this justice yet so don't judge! Wait till the end:)

After it dried we painted the inside with Chateau Grey then again we covered the Chateau Grey with the Soft Wax.

I let all of it dry over night then this morning I took acrylic paint (color I chose was Linen, thought that suited) and paper and wrote (sloppily) on it for a visual. The very amazing and great part was anytime I would mess up while writing I could just take a wet paper towel and wipe it right off and it wouldn't even leave a mark because of the wax coating!!! It was perfect!!!

Here's the guts before I put it into the frame so you could see it without the glass blocking the view...

Haha, just realised in the picture it looks like that says "loads of Sun" instead of fun, don't worry in person you can definitely tell it says fun;)



And here it is in the frame!! I know it's kind of hard to see all the detail of the frame but trust me this chalk paint is very neat! Awesome stuff to add antiquing, or just some interesting color to ANYTHING! You can use it on any product and it washes off super easy too!

I haven't hung it yet because I have to switch the hangy bobber to the other side and it had to wait so I could blog about it first;)

My mother-in-law and I have SEVERAL projects planned with this paint so expect several posts about it;)