paint cut paste

on a sick day home from school earlier this week, N got on a (pre)origami kick. i went out to see art therapy clients in the morning while she and her dad stayed home and created folded paper fortune tellers (and puppets!) did you create these as a kid? oh, it so brought me back to the 80s when i arrived home midday to see them excitedly playing with their creations.

my husband, craig, created one and N created one herself alongside him. (i wish he had taken photos of this!) the one you see above is one she created and colored. craig wrote the color names on it, N did the numbers inside, and craig made up the fortunes.

i love the fortunes they came up with on the inside, like “you will have magic in your hands” and “you will be surrounded by loving friends” and “you will discover a secret cave with treasure” — among others.

hours of enjoyment, i tell ya!

after N folded another one, she colored a face on it to make a puppet. she noted that “it’s hard to color it when it’s already folded!”

later in the day, N emerged from her room with “envelopes” she had created on her own by folding paper and taping it. this is what i found on my dresser as a gift.

and when i opened it, LOVE inside…

we capped off our paper-folding sick day with making origami bunnies that our friends over at tinkerlab happened to post that same morning my husband initiated paper fortune tellers. i love how the collective unconscious works, don’t you?

making our tinkerlab-inspired bunnies

perhaps we’re ready to try out some other origami animals. i was saving it for an older age, but we’ll see how it goes if the interest is piqued right now… at what age do you think origami is appropriate for kids?

with valentine’s day approaching, my daughter has been interested in creating sweet cards for family and friends. she is of the age where she wants some of the creations to remain a secret. (shhh, i’ve found a few strategically hidden in her basket of play silks – one for MOM – but i didn’t peek at it further!) i decided that since she’s taking the reigns on all things valentine, i’d create a DIY valentine supply collection to support her endeavors.

i repurposed a melissa & doug toy box (aren’t they great for drawer organization and tiny toy storage?) into a valentine creation station! (when i read to N what i wrote on the sign on the side of the box, she asked me skeptically, several times, if i made that rhyme up myself. there are these fleeting little moments when they’re so easy to please, huh? hee hee )

i stocked the box with blank cards and envelopes that were in various shades of red, pink, and purple. there are also small pieces of decorative papers, some pre-punched paper hearts (some leftover from our garland,) the paper heart craft punch (because she can do this herself at this age, too! yay!), fuzzy balls, stickers, sparkly gems, paper flowers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, and glue.

N was so excited when she saw the festive box on the coffee table, and she set to work right away on making the first valentine for, of course, HERSELF. you’ve gotta be your own valentine first, right? (that’s some healthy self-esteem right there! you go girl!)

then she moved on to creating a bunch of love notes for family members.

here’s a collection of her lovely custom valentines, ready to address and mail – right under our LOVE sign!

i hearted tinkerlab’s recent post about how she made a valentine buffet for her children, too! do you and your children create valentines in your home? how do you invite them into this process?

we’ve yet to really begin valentine creation over here. generally, we wait for N’s birthday party to be over before we go on to prepare for valentine’s day. but there is one little heart craft i’ve indulged in, because, as my pinboard says, i’m a sucker for garland. and paint chips. and hearts. and easy things to sew.

i pinned this about 6 months ago, originally from ohcrafts.net. so i’ve been psyched to do it for a while, and tiz the season now. i grabbed my trusty heart hole punch and some paint chips from my stash (yes, all of us crafty mom bloggers have paint chip stashes. we’re a weird breed.)

i punched away until there were hearts of many rainbowy colors.

even just this heart confetti is splendid to look at and to play with!

the little one had fun using the punched out paint chips as stencils.

cute as they were on their own, i still took it to the sewing machine and fed each one through while keeping a fairly steady, slow pace with the needle. it was easier than i thought, and the machine was forgiving if i had a few stitches in between each heart. for me, that was an experiment, as i am still learning how to sew.

stitched together

i heart this!

then i got heart-happy and stitched a few more hearts to some colorful paper. i think i’ll add these to some valentine’s day cards soon!

this garland looks festive in our kitchen right now, but notice that hearts are top heavy… expect some twists and turns, or maybe opt for sewing them up double-sided.

this also might make a cute addition to our february mantel, which i’ll share when the time comes (after birthday season!)

strung along

every year, i wrap our holiday gifts in natural kraft paper, which makes them sort of like a blank canvas for whatever ribbons and adornment we select. this year, i’m thinking butcher twine and these wonderful handmade tree tags.

i saw this idea on pinterest (of course because i live on there! wth?!) and had to try it out! i’m always the chick who’s pocketing paint chips at the hardware store, so that part was easy. i have a large stash of buttons and ribbon, and a glue gun, so we were set to go. N was excited to cut the paint chips into triangles together, and was a huge help in doing so.

after she cut these lovely green ombre triangles, i hot glued a loop of ribbon under a button to the top of each one. N instructed me NOT to put a brown trunk on each one, so we left the trees as they were.

they turned out to be so cute! now i just need to get the actual GIFTS made!

paint chips are so naturally amazing — in what sorts of artistic ways have you used paint chips?

this is a crazy-simple post. we love our watercolors around here like nothing else, and we may rival hallmark in the quantity of cards that are created under this roof. so here’s sweet little idea for some greeting cards for any occasion.

before N set out to create her abstract watercolor painting, we placed heart stickers on watercolor paper. (you can use any shape of sticker, of course.) then she enjoyed some time watching the colors ooze and blend together on the page. so relaxing.

we let the page dry completely.

after that, i tore the large sheet of watercolor paper into smaller sections against a metal edged ruler. i prefer this to cutting watercolor paper because it makes beautiful naturally rustic edges.

we peeled away the heart stickers (which came off easily) to reveal a white heart in the midst of rainbowy paint.

N chose colorful blank cards to glue the paintings to (i buy packs of them at michael’s when they offer discounts,) and she sent them out for father’s day and the end of the school year teacher cards in june.

easy and heARTful

just a quick little entry to show one easy idea for homemade valentines…

all you need is a stamp pad, paper, a pen, and your own finger or thumb (well, your kid’s digits to be precise.) we saw this idea for fingerprint valentines on babble.com, and decided to try it. they used thumbs. N chose her pointer finger.

i wrote “happy valentine’s day” on each one, and N signed them all herself.

stay tuned to see the refreshing valentine treat N will be gifting with these cards…

have a sweet one!

i just had to share the sweetest card that came home from preschool with N. again, a great idea from her preschool teacher to do an upside-down handprint santa.

and what’s inside is truly heartwarming.

a picture of us all around the christmas tree

ho ho ho!