Valentine Crafting Party- For Moms!

As we prepare to launch the new Art Pantry website, we decided to hold a focus group for a few local mamas to get some feedback. With Valentines day coming up, we had the perfect excuse to get everyone's creative juices flowing. I set up some materials with a couple of cute sample themes and let them go to town, hoping that it would inspire them to offer their kids the same creative freedom for their Valentines.
With some basic supplies and a little effort, kids can create one-of-a-kind cuties that will fill the hearts of their peers! Well, maybe not quite as much as a box of candy, but still- friends will be impressed.
Here's some of the tools and materials that we used, but you can make a Valentine out of a scrap of paper and a marker if that's all you have!

This "you're sew..." card was a hit with the ladies, but the sample below was done by Karuna (my 4 yr old). I traced a heart with pencil, then I hole punched around it before giving it to her to sew with yarn and a plastic child's needle. Older children can poke holes with a thumb tack and use an embroidery needle to pull the yarn though.

I didn't feel right doing only red and pink heart valentines for moms with boys (and not so girly-girls), so this was my idea of an easy alternative.

At the end of the night, the moms left with a goodie bag to take home to their kids. If we inspired even one mom to facilitate handmade Valentines this year rather than buying them, I've done my job :)

Secret Admirer Heart Rock Valentines

Inspired by The Artful Parent's heart rock valentine decorations, I suggested to Karuna the idea of making fabric heart rocks. We talked about what to do with the rocks once we made them. Giving them as Valentines was a definite, but since she already had card valentines that she had made earlier, we came up with the idea to leave them around the neighborhood as secret admirer surprises.
Supplies to make rock valentines:
-Smooth river rocks
-Fabric and Scissors
-Mod Podge
-Paint brush
Steps:
1) Cut fabric into heart shape  2) paint Mod Podge onto rock  3) Place heart onto rock  4) Paint over heart with Mod Podge

After letting the rocks dry overnight,  Karuna set off to deliver her secret valentines to friends' houses around the neighborhood. At one neighbors house, she even found a fairy door- the perfect place to leave a valentine rock!

On Valentines Day, Karuna will deliver more heart rocks with her name on the back, to reveal the secret admirer. Until then...

Secret Message Valentine Gift Experiment

Karuna recently discovered these cute mini paint sets in the toy store. I didn't know if they would paint very well, but I thought they were the perfect size to give as gifts with a secret message Valentine (one of my many "Pinspirations"). We first cut out a heart from watercolor paper, then used a white crayon to draw a hidden Valentine message. The white crayon on white paper keeps it invisible until you paint over it with watercolor. The crayon will then resist the watercolor and you will see your message!

Karuna was so excited to find out what her secret message was, but sadly this little paint set was not up for the challenge. The small brush created scratches in the paper and the paint trays couldn't hold enough water to lose their opacity.

So we started over and tried a real watercolor brush and some better quality paint and... voila! The secret message was revealed!

 

With the success of our new paints, Karuna couldn't be stopped. If I hadn't convinced her to take a lunch break, I think she could have gone all day making secret Valentines. I'll remember this next time I need to do some work around the house :)

I'm still intrigued by the idea of giving a secret card with an attached watercolor set.  With a nice set, this little baggy would be an awesome goody bag, thank you card, or birthday present. Just write an invisible note and gift away!

 

Pottery In Action

Have you heard of Olive Us? This collection of videos gives you a peek into the lives of blogger Gabrielle Blair's (Design Mom) six adorable children. This "Pottery Lesson" is my favorite...


Pottery Lesson from Olive Us on Vimeo.

Holiday DIY Gift- Succulent Terrarium

This holiday season, I wanted to come up with a gift for teachers, party hosts, friends, etc. that I could make in multiples without breaking the bank. Inspired by Karen Kimmel's Crafting Community, I decided that mason jar succulent terrariums would be perfect!

As I began creating my first jar, Karuna (my 4 yr old), asked if she could make one too. Of course, why didn't I think of that! These little layered terrariums are super easy for kids to make on their own. They always come out beautiful, which make them the perfect kids' crafting gift for family, friends, and especially teachers.
Supplies: 
Small succulent (garden store)
Mason jar (pack of 12 from General store, hardware store or Bed Bath & Beyond)
Decorative rocks (from garden store and/or pet store. The blue rocks are for fish tanks!)
Moss (from garden store)
Colored sand (from craft store)
Dirt (from yard or garden store)

Steps:
1)Layer the rocks, moss, sand and dirt into the jar any way you want!
2)Put some dirt at the top and make a little hole to pop in the succulent roots.
3)Scatter decorative items on top if you want and drizzle a bit of water over the top.
Done!
For a gift tag, wrap some twine around the top and tie on a tag. Easy Peasy!

Spiderweb Printmaking

For some creative Halloween decorations, we decided to try out these styrofoam spiderweb prints, seen over at Tinkerlab. We started off by cutting out two circles of foam from our Make+Believe Magnificent Monoprint Supply Kit, but you could also use a Styrofoam plate.
Karuna and I weren't sure exactly how to draw a spiderweb, so we looked up a photo of one online and talked about the lines and shapes in the web. Then we each took a stab at it, and drew our version of a spiderweb and spider onto our plates. 
Next we used a ball point pen over our drawings to make deep grooves in the foam. Here are our finished printing plates:

To make a print, we used a brayer (a foam paint roller would do fine as well) to roll out paint onto the foam plates. In addition to black paint, we were excited to try our glow in the dark paint left over from Karuna's birthday. We had fun swapping plates to ink and print over and over again.

After rolling out the paint, we pressed a piece of paper onto the plate, rubbed it carefully, then peeled it up to reveal our print. For an added pop of color, we used a small paint brush to paint in the spider with the opposite color.

And here are some final prints, taped to our doorway for Halloween! I haven't yet seen whether the glow in the dark one acually works, but the yellow looks pretty cool anyway.

Happy Halloween!

Update and Cutie Pie

Hello! This cutie is part of the reason I've been an absentee blogger recently. I have also been hard at work revamping my online shop. The new site will be much more user friendly and totally awesome!  Another big change that has occurred over the summer is the sale of my children's art studio. Being a stay at home mom, running a studio, and running an online shop was spreading me too thin. I made the tough but exciting decision to sell the studio to Jhaya Warmington, the incredible teacher who worked for me. If you are in the Mill Valley area, check out her new website for the art studio here.
Karuna continues to take art class and loved making these butterfly wings in her garden art workshop! 

Now I can finally breath, play with my kids, and focus on creating a great online shopping experience for your children's creative needs.
You can still use the coupon code save40 to get 40% off of our entire stock before the relaunch!