Painting 101

So I have to be honest, the idea of painting is one that I love for our little people, the creativity that it promotes, the bright colours, the fun and mess that can be made – in my mind are all ingredients for a really fun time! The problem is that I just don’t do it enough because of the mess that it brings on! Baaaaad excuse I know…

Our little monkey got a very special and creative birthday present from a friend – a set of poster paints and a canvas, with a paint brush with a bow tied around it. I just LOVE this pressie – it even came with a suggestion that her first ‘masterpiece’ could be used in an artpiece for her brother/sister’s room that we need to get cracking on. Before we get started with her work of art on a canvas –  I saw this side walk paint the other day and thought I must try it – so this weekend, that’s what I’m going to do… no excuses.. I do also just love the colours of course, and I’m sure my little monkey will as well. Both the recipes in the paints below look easy and quick enough with no surprise ingredients that you won’t have (that’s coming from me who didn’t have any vanilla essence in the cupboard when making my monkey’s birthday cake two weeks ago, seriously – who doesn’t have vanilla essence in their cupboard!)

This recipe from Domestic Charm is for the sidewalk paint

And this recipe for puffy paint is from Get Your Mess On is…

Happy painting everyone… hope you enjoy the master pieces that are created.

Flowers, especially for you

I haven’t received a bunch of flowers for a little while now, and you’ve got to agree with me, there’s nothing nicer than a bunch of flowers… from the moment they arrive through the door in the hand of someone you love, to putting them in the vase and them brightening up your home for days to come… Thought I’d brighten up this Tuesday with some flowers for you all 🙂

Tutorial to make your own bunch of these flowers here.

Now you might not believe me… but this pot plant is edible! You can get the recipe over at Babble

Pop over to All things Simple for this lovely tutorial for this balloon flower.

Cute cake toppers, from Etsy, to brighten any occasion..

Make your own flower baby mobile using this tutorial from Create Loves

Cute party hats for a flower party from Inchmark

Hope you enjoyed the flowers 🙂

 

Seriously, this is my kind of tree!

So I know I posted just a few days ago on Christmas trees, but seriously, that was before I came across this tree!!! And you know how much this gal loves a rainbows… so

And if you’ve got some felt to use… how cute is tis rainbow Christmas tree?

 

And then here’s some ideas for some rainbow decorations!

I’m a little bit head over heels in love with these, not sure how easy to make, but they look easy enough… And perfect for our very  Christmas tree. See how  to do it here…

 

You can dye some pasta to make pasta chains for the tree (or pretty necklaces) – see how they do it here

Baa baa black sheep

How cute are these cup cakes from Martha Stewart

How cute is this craft activity from Krokotak

And if you’re looking to make an adorable sheep costume (who knows.. I’m sure there are heaps of sheep roles coming up in nativity scenes at pre schools). You can find out how to make this over at Parents.com

And if you’ve got problems getting your little one to fall asleep, this mobile would be perfect for counting some sheep

(From Pinterest)

Another cupcake from Cupcakesallthetime

Send a sheep along in the kiddies lunch box

And then you have these cake pops from Bakarella!

Rainbow crafts

Going to do this immediately… well as soon as I’ve got the balloons! Love this idea of filling balloons with play dough for an awesome sensory soft and squishy sensation. (originally seen on Play Create Explore)

And while we’re on the rainbow scene… how cool is this rainbow mobile from Etsy

I’m thinking that I don’t need to wait for a party to make these rainbow origami cubes, first seen on Hip Hip Hooray, but originally from Annily Green

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Hot Air Balloons

I’ve never been in a hot air balloon, but do think it’s something I’d like to do! And if I don’t get to go in a real one any time soon, these will be a more than good enough start for now!

How adorable are these ‘hot air balloons’ made by the lovely Helen from Curly Birds for her two precious daughters… Visit her blog for the link on how she did it!

Quite like this idea for a cute photo shoot! (Image from Shannon Sewell)

And love the colours in this hot air balloon (Image from Smatch)

And here’s a tutorial if you want to make some of your own paper hot air balloons, very similar to the image above –  from Brown Accents

Cute 3D wall art from Etsy if you’re thinking of a hot air balloon theme for your little one.

And then there’s always this idea for a fancy dress party – ever thought of dressing the kids up as a hot air balloon!!  You can see how this little guy’s costume was made over here

Cardboard box crafting

One blog award and it all goes to my head – 3 days later and my next post! Apologies for not posting since Wednesday, but I was hit with some germs out of no where and so have been spending as much of my free time in bed sleeping. I’m back, and I think the germs are retreating!

Back to blogging! And it seems that I’m not the only one that’s in love with the idea of using cardboard boxes as toys. Check out these amazing ideas for cardboard box playing!

Love this playhouse from Sweet Paul (with instructions)

How grand is this castle from Parents.com!

Make your own guitar out of cardboard – you can view the full tutorial here at Minieco

And how cool is this aeroplane from Mini Mocha

This is one of my favourites, might have something to do with the colours they’ve used! This little kitchen set was found in Declutter Organize Repurpose  but originally from www.parents.com

Here’s a close up of the oven…

And lastly – here’s a useful post on how to work with cardboard from I Kat Bag which also includes a truckload of links to some amazing projects all made from cardboard… seriously, go and have a look!

That’s all for today folks, I’m off to find those boxes lying around this house!!

Things to Make Tuesday

One of my favourite bloggers Curly Birds was featured in the most recent issue of the Babiekins Magazine  with this lovely tutorial on making a kite.

I recently made some coloured rice for the Monkey to play with as was feeling guilty that I wasn’t doing enough tactile play with her. The rice came out beautifully, but I must confess, I still feel guilty for not doing enough tactile play with her as the rice looks so pretty that I don’t want to mix it together. Pathetic I know!

(Image and tutorial from The Forester Clan)

I have however brought little bits and pieces and once we’ve had a good play with the coloured rice this weekend, I thought I’d make one of these… (ps – I just used liquid hand sanitizer – the one with alcohol in it – 3 or 4 squirts into a bag of rice and it did the trick perfectly)

A nice and easy ‘how to do this project’ can be found on Modern Parents Messy Kids

Will the Easter Bunny visit?

My sister always has such fun at Christmas time putting flour on the balcony for ‘snow’ from the reindeers (we NEVER get snow where she lives, so the kids imaginations go wild). I also remember growing up making fairy gardens and waking up in the morning to notes left from the fairies – so when I saw these footprints left by the Easter Bunny I had to share it with you. (I shouldn’t share the story of when I woke up one morning after the tooth mouse had visited, only to find a dead mouse in the patio outside taken out by the cat – you can just imagine the devastation!)

You can find the instructions on how to make these really easy footprints at Kid Spot

I also thought making this cute Bunny tail was also a cute craft for kids.

(Also from Kid Spot)

Easter Egg Hunts

Well… now that my monkey is crawling (she started yesterday and yes I’m a proud mom!!!) I’ve decided that there’s absolutey no reason why we can’t have an Easter egg hunt 🙂 The only problem is that finding all these gorgeous ideas makes me feel like I need to have at least 3 different hunts throughout the day. Maybe that means more chocolates… which maybe wouldn’t be a problem!

(Image source: Foodessa)

You can even make your own baskets for the Easter Egg Hunt – love these bags made especially for the occasion by PurlBee. (Follow this link for the tutorial)

Follow this tutorial from The Lucky Ladybird Craft blog and use up your plastic bags (which is good just in itself of course!)

Or you can make one of these out of paper! Tutorial available here from Tip Junkie

Here’s another Tutorial from Tip Junkie to make these adorable Bunny Baskets

How cute is this little Easter Package. Kits available from Pebbles in my Pocket, but I reckon they would be so easy to make yourself!

And if you’re hosting an Easter Egg Hunt this coming weekend – how GORGEOUS is this centre piece using tulips. (Also from TIpJunkie)