Cute Bedroom Art

I was lucky enough to have some kid-free time today to have a browse of the shops.  One store I love to have a look in when I am unhindered by children is Typo. It has great stationery and homewares and is very well priced.

After picking up some great pens on sale to do my Project Life journaling, I was drawn to their range of freestanding letters and letter canvases.  It is ridiculous how much I love typography.

I couldn’t leave without picking up these cute little canvases to pop into the master bedroom, which is getting a little bit of a revamp at the moment.

The letters and symbols are printed on burlap and strung on a canvas frame.

I picked these three up for $10.  I probably couldn’t make them for this price.  However, what a fun project it would be to make your own if you had leftover materials and supplies on hand.  Print or stencil your letters or symbols on your fabric and staple it to canvases or frames.

Until I find the perfect home for these, they will sit on the low boy in the bedroom.  Cute.

 

Easter Craft: Thumbprint Easter Egg Gift Cards

I came up with this cute card design to accompany my kid’s teachers’ Easter gifts.

The kids were able to get involved and we had a lot of fun completing them.  Give them a go yourself.

What we used:

Blanks cards – we purchased ours or you could make these from card stock

A variety of acrylic paints

Paintbrush

Coloured textas

Green paper

scissors

How we did it:

Taking the first colour, I painted each child’s thumb and got them stamping.  I directed the kids to stamp away from the very bottom of the card – you will see why later.

Before we used the other chosen colours, we washed and dried our hands.  This helped to keep the colours crisp.

Once the thumbprints had dried, we used textas to decorate the eggs and to add a greeting to the card.

Taking a strip of green paper, I cut out a zig-zaggy section of grass.

Using some glue, we secured the grass to the bottom of the card.  As we had positioned the thumbprint eggs further up the card, they appeared to be hiding in the grass.

And that is it.  Relatively quick and easy to make and they look gorgeous.

We have attached these cards to a bundle of mini eggs for each of the kids’ teachers.

As we had such a fun time doing this, I have dreamt up other uses for fingerprint Easter eggs. Tune in tomorrow to see them elsewhere.

Under the Sea: Kid’s Artwork Design Shirt

Here is a cheap art activity you can do with your kiddies and they will feel pretty proud of themselves doing it.

Pick up cheap cotton t-shirt.  I picked this one up on clearance at Target for $1.73. Bargain!

Using a dressmaker’s pen, get your child to draw their t-shirt design onto the fabric.

After placing a piece of paper in between the shirt’s front and back, trace over your child’s  drawing with laundry pen.

Wash the shirt to remove the dressmaker’s pen marks and its ready to wear.

You of course could skip a step and allow your child to use the laundry pen to draw the picture.  Just be aware that there are no ‘do overs’ and that on some fabrics the pen can bleed quite easily.

To keep with our Under the Sea theme, Master O drew some sea animals – fish, jelly fish and sea urchins. So cute.
Linking up with some of these fun parties
Monday: I should be Mopping the Floor, Cherished Bliss, The Gunny Sack, Skip to my Lou, Craftomaniac, It’s so Very Cheri, Keeping it Simple, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Alderberry Hill, Its A Blog Party, A Pinch of Joy, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts,  Sew Can Do, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, New Nostalgia, Ladybug Blessings,  How to Nest for Less, Watch Out Martha, Clairjustinexoxo,

Tuesday: Coastal Charm, Today’s Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons , DIY by Design, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, Hope Studios, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Organising Homelife,  Carolyn’s Homework, The Blackberry Vine,   A Little Tipsy, Gingersnap crafts,   The Thrifty Home, Its a Very Cherry World,  Cornerstone Confessions,   Rae Gun Ramblings, Clean and Scentsible, Creatively Living , Ivy and Elephants, Romance on a Dime,   The Real Housewives of Riverton, DIY Dreamer,  Primp, JAQS Studio, 

Wednesday:  My Girlish Whims, Uncommonly Yours, Creations by Kara, Raising Homemakers, The Thrifty Home, Twin Dragonfly Designs, A Creative Princess, Sugar and Dots, Seven Thirty Three, Fabric Bows and More, Someday Crafts, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Trendy Treehouse, Women Living Well, We are that Family, The Mommy Club , Raising Homemakers, Sew Much Ado,t Simple,  Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Free Pretty Things for You, DIY by Design, Bloom Designs, Mom on Timeout, We Like to learn as we Go,  Family Home and Life, Savvy Southern Style, Fine Craft Guild, Embracing Change, HandyMan, Crafty Woman, Polkadots on Parade, No Minimalist Here

Thursday: House of Hepworths Delightful Order, Its a Keeper,  The Frugal Girls, The 36th Avenue,  Thrifty 101, A Glimpse Inside, Brambleberry Cottage, Bear Rabbit Bear, Michelle’s Tasty Creations and Crafty Ideas, Shabby Creek Cottage, Goings on in Texas, Happy Go Lucky,  Raising Oranges,  The Answer is Chocolate, The Taylor House, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Imparting Grace, Made in a Day, 52 Mantels, Loving This Crazy Life, Days of Chalk and Chocolate, Confessions of an ADD Housewife

Friday: The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, At the Picket Fence, Whipperberry, French Country Cottage, Thirty Handmade Days, Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Stuff and Nonsense, Fingerprints on the Fridge Naptime Crafters, While He Was Napping, My Romantic Home, Bacon Time With the Hungry, Hungry Hippo, Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons, Remodelaholic, Happy Hour Projects, Simply Designing, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom,  Young and Crafty, Serenity Now , Life as Mom, At the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Craft Junkie Too, A Little Knick Knack, Blissful and Domestic, Maiden D’Shade, Petites Passions, Bubbly Nature Creations, Here Comes the Sun, Liz Marie Blog, THe Grant Life, Craftionary, Redoux Interior, Common Ground, Just Us Four, Delicate Construction, AKA Designs, Family Ever After,

Saturday:  Be Different Act Normal, The Girl Creative , Funky Junk Interiors , A Vision to Remember, Positively Splendid , Its Overflowing, Natasha in Oz, Shaken Together, Homemaker in Heels, Addicted to Decorating

Sunday:  I Heart Naptime, Under the Table Dreaming, DIY Showoff, Nifty Thrift Things, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Homemaker on a Dime, DIY Home Sweet Home,  Cherished Treasures, My 1929 Charmer

Christmas Craft: Handprint Snowman Family

I regularly take imprints of my boys’ hands.  I love looking back at those paint-splodged reminders of their pudgy little fingers.  So cute!

Our latest handprint has been given the Christmas treatment.

You have probably seen these about the place.  I think they are just to precious for words.

To make these handprints extra special, I purchased some small blank canvas which I painted a background colour.

 

A white hand print, some snow blobs and a bit of texta work later, the snowman family was complete.

These are great as Christmas gifts for the family.  The ones I have kept for myself, I have attached magnets to and hung them on the fridge.  I hope to do a series of these over the years.  They will be a great visual reminder of how they have grown.

 

 

Button Love – Framed Monogram

I am a little in love with buttons right now.  Despite going crazy and buying bulk packs to craft with, I didn’t really have any planned projects.  Lovingly pawing over my new acquisitions, I recalled a cute button monogram a friend had hung in her daughter’s nursery.    I thought I would do a ‘C’ for Charlie to frame and put in my youngest’s room.

Choosing to use what I had on hand rather than purchasing a new frame, I pulled a small white frame out of storage and neatened it up with some red spray paint I had left over from my kitchen art project.  I arranged my selection of blue buttons into a perfect size and shape monogram.  I used the matt board from the frame as a guide to help do this.

Using a hot glue gun I stuck the buttons to the card. 

Popping the card inside the frame, the finished piece looked like this,

Not fancy but I like it anyway.  It has inspired me to tackle something a little more challenging.  I have been madly pinning button monogram projects for inspiration. 

Drop by and have a look if you want to see some awesome stuff. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

 

 

Project Inspiration

I don’t really know how I ended up at the shops, spending money.  It was certainly not my intention.  My plans for yesterday were far removed and much more productive than they ended up being.  Anyway,  I had a ball and  made some great finds. Take a look.

I have gushed before about my love for typography.  You can see it creeping into the Crooked household in some of my DIY art pieces which you can read about here and here.  Yesterday I noticed a whole heap of quote plaques had arrived in homewares store, Earthborn.  I fell in love with just about every one of them but I just had to take home this one.

One of the favourite children’s books in our household is, ‘Guess How Much I Love You’.  For anyone who knows the book, you would recall Big Nutbrown Hare says this to Little Nutbrown Hare at the end of the book.  We love that line and often say it to each other. 

I also picked up this great print from the clearance section in Target. 

I initially bought it for its frame as it  is a  huge shadow box.  There was no way I would ever be able to buy the frame alone  for the price they were selling  the whole print.  I had thought I could use it to put together a collection of the boy’s keepsakes to hang in the play room, but the print is growing on me.  My little brain is morphing another project I wanted to do into this print and frame.  Until I get the time to give it a go, and to show you guys, I thought I would hang it.  I replaced this old triptych in the hall with the print. 

It is all quite fitting as this hall leads to the bathroom and laundry which both have a seaside theme.

Finally, another bargain purchase was this wall sconce at 75% off. 

I plan to give this a little makeover and hang this outside when we finish our patio area.

I really didn’t need to add more projects to my massive list but I really couldn’t walk past these bargain inspirations.  Now to pencil in some crafting time!

 

Children’s Easy Seaside Holiday Reminder

If your kiddos are anything like Master O, come holiday time at the beach, shell collection is the name of the game.  He is such a little cutie about it all too.  He loves to show you his favourites and is happy to listen to you explain why another is your favourite.  Each shell collection session only ends when we can’t fit anymore in our hands.

Today we finally got around to using some of the shells we collected last time we stayed at the beach.  It was a lovely activity with Master O all excited looking over his shell booty and reminiscing what we got up to that trip.

For this simple shell picture I used a small shadow box. 

My son picked out his favourite shells, chose where he wanted them put and I used the hot glue gun to adhere them to the backing board. 

Once we were both happy with the result, we returned the board to the frame and  voilá – his little reminder of our seaside holiday.

Linking up with some of these fun parties
Monday: Singing Three Little Birdies, Add a Pinch, I should be Mopping the Floor, Polly Want a Crafter?, Cherished Bliss, The Gunny Sack, Skip to my Lou, Craftomaniac, It’s so Very Cheri, Keeping it Simple, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Between Naps on the Porch, Alderberry Hill, Its A Blog Party, A Pinch of Joy, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts, Sew Can Do, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, New Nostalgia, Ladybug Blessings, My Favourite Finds, Jillify It, How to Nest for Less, Watch Out Martha, Clairjustinexoxo,

Tuesday: Coastal Charm, Today’s Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons , DIY by Design, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, Hope Studios, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Organising Homelife, Raising 4 Princesses, Celebrating Family, Carolyn’s Homework, The Blackberry Vine, The Kurtz Corner, Sassy Sites, A Little Tipsy, Gingersnap crafts, Time Warp Wife, These Creative Juices, The Thrifty Home, Its a Very Cherry World, Reason to Skip the Housework, Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night, Cornerstone Confessions, Naptime Delights, Rae Gun Ramblings, Northern Cottage, Clean and Scentsible, Creatively Living , Kathe with an E, Ivy and Elephants, Romance on a Dime, Tales of a Trophy Wife, Creatively Living, The Real Housewives of Riverton, DIY Dreamer, Primp, JAQS Studio, MercyINK

Wednesday: Oopsey Daisy, My Girlish Whims, Uncommonly Yours, Creations by Kara, Raising Homemakers, The Thrifty Home, Twin Dragonfly Designs, A Creative Princess, Sugar and Dots, Seven Thirty Three, Fabric Bows and More, Someday Crafts, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Passionately Artistic, Trendy Treehouse, Women Living Well, We are that Family, The Mommy Club , Raising Homemakers, Sew Much Ado, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Free Pretty Things for You, DIY by Design, Bloom Designs, Mom on Timeout, We Like to learn as we Go, The NY Melrose Family, Family Home and Life, Savvy Southern Style, Fine Craft Guild, Embracing Change, HandyMan, Crafty Woman, Polkadots on Parade, No Minimalist Here

Thursday: House of Hepworths Delightful Order, Its a Keeper, The Frugal Girls, The 36th Avenue, Raising Mighty Arrows, Thrifty 101, A Glimpse Inside, Brambleberry Cottage, Bear Rabbit Bear, Michelle’s Tasty Creations and Crafty Ideas, Shabby Creek Cottage, Goings on in Texas, Happy Go Lucky, Terpblog, Raising Oranges, Live, Laugh, Rowe, The Answer is Chocolate, The Taylor House, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Imparting Grace, Made in a Day, 52 Mantels, Loving This Crazy Life, Days of Chalk and Chocolate, Confessions of an ADD Housewife

Friday: The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, At the Picket Fence, Whipperberry, French Country Cottage, Thirty Handmade Days, Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Stuff and Nonsense, Fingerprints on the Fridge Naptime Crafters, While He Was Napping, My Romantic Home, Bacon Time With the Hungry, Hungry Hippo, Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons, Remodelaholic, Happy Hour Projects, Simply Designing, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom, Kojo Designs, Young and Crafty, Serenity Now , Life as Mom, At the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Craft Junkie Too, A Little Knick Knack, Blissful and Domestic, Maiden D’Shade, Petites Passions, Bubbly Nature Creations, Here Comes the Sun, Liz Marie Blog, THe Grant Life, Craftionary, Redoux Interior, Common Ground, Just Us Four, Delicate Construction, AKA Designs, Family Ever After, Lolly Jane

Saturday: Be Different Act Normal, The Girl Creative , Funky Junk Interiors , A Vision to Remember, Positively Splendid , Its Overflowing, Natasha in Oz, Shaken Together, Homemaker in Heels, Addicted to Decorating

Sunday: A Rosie Sweet Home, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table Dreaming, DIY Showoff, Nifty Thrift Things, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Homemaker on a Dime, DIY Home Sweet Home, Cherished Treasures, My 1929 Charmer

DIY Laundry Art

While we wait for our cabinet-maker to slot our laundry upgrade into his busy schedule, I have been itching to start making some art for the walls.  Tired of waiting I just did it yesterday.

Previously, this hung above the counter.

While they don’t look too bad in this photo, they were becoming a little tatty.  They were also too big.  As we are getting new cabinets, the wall space will be significantly reduced, meaning smaller artwork was needed.

I picked up a few plain white frames, some seaside patterned cardstock and cardboard letter cutouts from a craft store, in the hope of making some simple, clean-looking art.

I have written about my love for typography in my kitchen wall art post, so I thought I could easily feed this love by slotting more into the laundry.

After painting the cardboard letters a dark teal colour to match the seaside pattern, I stuck the cardstock in the frame.  When the letters were dry, using a hot glue gun I arranged the letters to spell out, ‘Wash, Rinse, Repeat’  and stuck them in the bottom right corner of each frame.

Even though they will move when the cabinets are hung, and they are positioned a little too high for my liking, I had to hang these already. 

I like that they look neat and clean while being really, really simple to make. I hope I can show you these in their proper home (and my new laundry too) before too long.

Kids Learning with Shaving Cream

Master O and I had a bit of fun practicing his drawing and letter skills yesterday.  I popped some shaving cream in the bottom of a cookie sheet/tray and let him go to town. 

Allowing them to practice letters or numbers in this tactile manner can help with learning.

I suggest you do this outside or in a tiled area like the bathroom for easy clean up.  Our little learning experience deteriorated into a shaving cream fight and resulted in…..

I won.  My prize? Another load of washing, shower and bathroom clean. Yeah!

Little Boys Room Freshen Up. Part 2 – Decorating

Last week I overhauled my 3-year-old’s room.  I posted about improving the storage here, so today I thought I would show you how I have started to decorate it.  It has been quite inexpensive.  I have taken advantage of some great sales and I made some of the pieces myself.

So starting at outside his door…….

I framed and hung a series of pictures of him we took a few months ago. He chose the poses to photograph and which ones he liked best.  This was his idea as he wanted a set of pictures like  the ones that hang outside his brother’s door.

On his door I applied a decal with his name I ordered from online store, Bright Star Kids.  I decided on placing it a little differently than I intended and ran it up the side of the door.  It is lovely and bright  and the quality of the sticker is great.

Inside his room….

I picked up a set of 3 star canvas from the kids bedding section in Target.  I got these quite a while ago so I don’t remember what they cost me but I know they were significantly reduced.

I wanted something to hang above his bed and to tie in with his pirate print doona cover.  After wracking my brain for a while and not really liking anything I came up with, I decided to frame one of the pillow cases from his bed pack.  I picked up a suitably sized frame from Target, 50% off.

I had purchased a large red magnetic board from Ikea to put in Oliver’s big boy room well before he was even out of the nursery. Before I even attached the board, they were discontinued and I picked up another for an even better price.  These were perfectly siz0ed to fit either side of his window and serve as a place to practice his letter and number skills with magnets.  To attach pictures to the magnetic board I picked up some pirate theme pegs from a craft fair and attached magnets to their backs using glue.

I mentioned in the previous post that I wanted to set up a little gallery to hang pieces of Oliver’s art.  Previously, I had pegged his art to a canvas I had painted and jazzed up with wooden letters spelling, ’Look what I did today’.  It was cute but it was starting to be a little droopy and we wanted to have more hanging room.  

On my last trip to Ikea, I picked up some Nyttja frames in a variety of sizes and colours.  These are great for kids rooms because they not only come in a range of bright colours and are reasonably priced, but they are lightweight and have plastic fronts instead of glass.

 I have made the gallery smaller than I originally intended but I know I can always add to it later.  Depending on the artwork I end up framing, a less is more approach may be in order .

To inject a little more interest into the display, I took some the wooden letters I had around the house and spray painted them blue and stuck them to one of the small frames.  I will pop a picture of my little monkey in the ’My Work’ frame.

On his side table I have his Freedom lamp, picked up from the throw out table.  Adding to the nautical theme brought out in the linen, I used some felt scraps and thick cotton thread to sew a sail boat picture and I popped it in a frame that I was no longer using.

So that is what I have done so far.  I will no doubt tweak and add things in the coming weeks and I will share that with you when I do so.