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New “Art” – Pressed Flower Hearts

Posted by Carolyn on September 9, 2014 2 Comments

A few months ago, I bought some clear contact paper and asked Alma if she wanted to make some art. She did, and we crumpled up tissue paper and pressed it onto the contact paper. Now whenever she sees the contact paper, she says she wants to make art. Apparently, to her, ‘art’ is anything made with contact paper. We might need to work on broadening her definition.

But for this project, it was perfect!

On Hattie’s birthday, we went to visit our friend Marilyn, and her lovely garden. She sent us home with a beautiful bouquet.

We took the petals off the flowers as they started to fade, and made some ‘art.’

I taped the contact paper up on a window and let the girls put the petals on it. We found that throwing the petals at the contact paper was the best, and most fun, way to attach the petals.

Once we were done, I put another sheet of contact paper on it, sandwiching the petals.

I pressed it for a few days, then cut it into hearts.

Ta-da! ART!

How to Create a Secret Message For When it Rains

Posted by Carolyn on July 29, 2014 3 Comments

This is my favorite project ever. Probably because I love rain so much, and it is the middle of summer, and there is no rain in the forecast at all.

It was actually really easy, and pretty fun! And the results were exactly as cool as I expected!

Here’s a quick little rundown with instructions so you can do this yourself!

First pick what you want the message to say. I wanted to use a quotation about rain – that celebrated rain. I also wanted it short enough that it would fit well on my front porch, and wouldn’t be too labor intensive to make the template. I picked “Let the rain kiss you,” the opening line of a Langston Hughes poem, “April Rain Song.”

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.

Exactly how I feel about rain. Perfect.

Next, I found an old cardboard box, opened it up, and drew the letters on. I used a ruler to make sure all the letters were the same height, but just did it freehand. If you wanted to have it more precise, you could certainly print out your quote and copy it onto your cardboard.

Next, I used an x-acto knife and a cutting mat to cut out the letters. We found the Rust-Oleum NeverWet at our local hardware store. It is kind of spendy, but we found it on sale. I think it was about $15. Considering it was the entire cost of this project, it wasn’t that bad.The directions say to clean your surface of dirt and debris. We took it a step further, and Jesse pressure washed the whole front walk. The cleaner the surface, the better, I figure!

I used painter’s tape to tape the template onto our front porch landing. I also used the tape to fill in the letters R, A, and O. There were a couple places where the cardboard was lifting up a little, so I made little tape bubbles and pressed everything down nice and firm. The directions also say that it holds up better if it doesn’t get much foot traffic, so I placed the template to the left of the landing, since people tend to hug the right hand side as they go up the steps. I don’t think it will get a whole lot of foot traffic where I placed it. Next, I just followed the directions that came with the NeverWet. There is a base coat of which I did two coats. Then I did four super light coats of the top coat.

It says that it can leave a light white, frosted appearance, and you can kind of see that. You really have to be looking for it, though. The photo below shows what it looks like when it’s dry. What do you think? Can you tell where the letters are? Maybe a little, but not enough to bother me!You are supposed to let it cure for 12 hours, but I waited almost a whole day. Since there is no rain coming anytime soon, I had to manufacture it. I just poured some water on it to see what it did. It was pretty amazing! The water just rolled right off the letters! And the letters feel totally dry. Super fun! I love it! I want to do this all over the place! I will be sure to post updates during the winter months when it will surely be wet all the time. Here’s hoping it holds up! Let me know if you do this yourself! I’d love to see more of these!

Chalkboard Car Table For Alma

Posted by andthenthey on January 6, 2014 1 Comment

One of the things we did for Alma’s second birthday was make her a fun chalkboard table for her cars.

This project actually started last summer and went through a few different changes along the way. It started with this crazy dirt-and-rock-filled-brick-planter in our sunroom:

This planter has been annoying me since we moved in 3 years ago. I’ve never known what to do with it. Since our bunny lives in the sunroom, I couldn’t just plant some plants in it – he would eat them. For a while he liked to dig in the box, but that ended up making a huge mess. The dirt in the planter is a really fine dust that coats the whole room when dug up. Add a curious toddler and the sunroom was never clean.

My mom actually suggested that we do something with the planter. I think I had just given up at this point. Her first idea was to dig out all the dirt and fill it with something more fun (and less dirty) to play with. When she came over and started digging, she realized how horrible the dirt was after inhaling the super-fine dust. We started brainstorming again. The next idea was to cover it with a board and paint a scene on it for Alma’s cars. You know those old carpets that have the town and roads on them? That idea, but in paint. After agreeing that this was the perfect idea, I thought it would be even cooler to just use chalkboard paint. I wanted the girls to be able to create their own towns, or whatever, not just be stuck with the town I painted for them. Imagination and creativity are always encouraged here!

Jesse and my mom went and bought all the supplies, and Jesse quickly built the board using plywood and quarter-round strips. We countersunk the nails, and filled the holes with spackle so everything would be smooth. Then the board sat on the planter for a couple months.

Finally, I decided Alma’s birthday was the perfect reason to finish this project, so I sanded everything down and started priming the board.

I used two coats of primer, then sanded it all down again. I wanted to make sure the wood was really sealed because the chalkboard paint is expensive and I didn’t want to waste it by having it soak into the wood. Also, the directions say to prime and sand bare wood.

Then came 3 or 4 thin coats of the chalkboard paint. I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure I did 4. I wanted smooth, even coverage, so I did really nice, thin coats. Below you see what it looked like halfway through the second coat.

Then back out to the sunroom to cure for a few days. I already liked how it looked so much! No more dirt!

I followed the directions on the can to prepare the chalkboard by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk all over the whole thing and wiping off with a dry cloth. Our original idea was to attach the whole thing to the wall, but I sort of love how I can tip it up and brush the chalk dust into the dirt. We might need to attach it if Alma or Harriet start lifting it up all the time, but it’s pretty heavy and I don’t think they know it opens.

I’m not sure who will like it more, me, or Alma. I had a lot of fun writing a birthday message, and drawing a little road for her new cars. I’m excited to work on my chalkboard-writing skills.

Alma definitely does love it, though! She seems to like the drawing part more than the car part these days, but I’m sure she’ll appreciate that it is a fun, versatile toy out in the sunroom. I also have a ton of the paint leftover, so I’m already thinking about what else could use some creativity. Chalkboard all the things! Uh oh….

ps – I am linking up with a link party on I Heart Nap Time!

One Little Word – Gratitude

Posted by andthenthey on December 30, 2013 8 Comments

I have done Ali Edward’s One Little Word project in the past, but I’ve never really done much with it. In 2009 my word was FOCUS because I was in grad school and knew that I needed to focus on my schoolwork, my marriage, my friends, whatever I was doing. It worked for me that year. Since 2009, I can’t remember if I ever picked a word. Obviously it didn’t leave in impact if I did.

Every November, I like to do the 30 days of Thanksgiving, or 30 Days of Gratitude on Instagram. It is fun to intentionally think of something everyday that I was thankful for. It was often little things, but those things are important, too. It feels so good to pay attention to, and acknowledge the things for which I am grateful. I want to feel that way the whole year.

For 2014, I want to really focus (there’s that word again) on being grateful.

Here’s a confession: Being home all the time with Alma and Harriet is really hard. I spend a lot of time calculating how much time until Jesse comes home, we have a play date, my parents are coming over, nap-time… I don’t know that I am the kind of person who thrives being a stay-at-home full time parent.

That isn’t saying I don’t enjoy my kids, or my time at home with them. I really love them, and get a lot out of being with them. While it is hard being home, I can’t imagine how hard it would be to leave them (especially Harriet right now) somewhere else, or with someone else. Whenever I do get a break from them, I find myself rushing back home to be with them again. And boy do I miss them when they’re sleeping. It’s a confusing feeling… when they’re awake I can’t wait to get them down, but when they’re down, I just want to hang out with them.

Anyway… I want to be grateful for this time. I want to be more grateful during the time I have with my daughters. I will never have kids this age again. Alma is so funny, and I love watching her learn new things. Harriet is just waking up to our amazing world. I also want to be actively grateful for other things in my life. I really am very lucky to have such a full life, I want to give thanks for it.

Gratitude. 2014, bring on the things for which to be thankful!

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