Cousins, Monkeying Around

I issued a challenge to my SIL Karley to do a LO using pictures of our kids at the playground. For me, it's easy to fall into the habit of always organizing my scrapbook supplies (traditional or digital), because most of the time, I need to start a LO with a clean slate, meaning that my scrapbook area has to be free from clutter, and everything in its place. On the computer, it means that all my files need to be tagged and organized before I feel that I can scrapbook. The beauty of doing digital scrapbooking, though, is that my "desk" is virtually clean. All the time. So, all I have to do is stop organizing the files and get right to it! So I challenged Karley and myself to do just that. And here is my LO of the cousins. All said, it took me about an hour to complete. Love that. And when you use one kit to get the job done, it's a breeze! (kit: Just Jaimee, Spring Freebie Collection. You can grab your own on her site here. She has some really cute designs. Shadows from here: Gennifer Bursett, Toolbox Shadows V.1 found here.)

My Dino Box {or Dinos in a Tin!}

When we visited the Royal Tyrell Museum this spring, we picked up these tiny adorable pocket dinosaurs. They were perfect in the quiet bag for church and of course, Otto was over the moon for them, he thought they were so cool. I've had an idea in my head to create a landscape for them. Originally I thought I'd make it out of fabric and felt and have it fold in on itself, but then I found this tin and it was perfect! It would hold a tiny landscape and the dinos themselves, and would be sturdy enough to withstand two little boys playing with it. Perfect. I used scrapbook paper, some stickers, letter stamps, and felt inside for the sun, lake, and volcano. I mod podged the outside of the tin where I stuck paper. 

I love having boys. Sometimes this means that I don't have to frill things up - I can just leave them plain and simple and know it will be well loved.

Paint in a Bag

We made paint in a bag last week and it was super fun. I got two recipes for making your own paints from Family Fun crafts here and a different recipe to try another time here These recipes would also be great to try as finger paints. I loved this recipe because the colors aren't so transparent, and you can make it yourself without having to buy expensive paints from the store. We mixed up some primary colors and Otto smooshed them with his tummy and hands to see what colors they would "turn into". This was really fun, and the bags are still here and paint is still soft, almost a week later. The only thing I'd do differently is put the paints in bigger ziploc bags or put less paints in the smaller bags. Because if I'd have done that, we could use these not only to squish the paint, but to continue to do mess-free paintings like here. I think I'll transfer some paint over so some bigger bags this week to do some paint writing like that.

Pom Pom War

A little while ago I let the boys have at 'er with all the mini pom poms I've been hoarding saving. If I remember correctly, I just wanted them to be doing something so that I could be doing my something. Totally worked.  At first, they had fun filling and dumping and refilling the five or six empty containers I had given them (ideally for sorting, but I'm a Mama to two very active boys. Who am I kidding?!) Then it became all-out pom pom war, then rolling in the pom poms, filling dump trucks, and so forth. Our family room looked like a pom pom bomb had exploded! Then the boys very diligently helped me pick up every.single.mini. pom pom. 

I'm still finding random pom poms to this day.

My Brother My Friend Subway Art

Last week I was in some kind of funk and just couldn't motivate myself to do much of anything. But I was feeling bad for my boys. We just weren't doing all the usual stuff. I decided that we needed to do something creative. I've been seeing some cool subway art around the internet lately and thought maybe we could make our own. I got so excited that I skipped a step I should have done, then payed for it later on.  I will tell you how I made this and include the step I should have done!

1. I used a plain old 16x20 stretched canvas from Michaels. This had been sitting in my basement forever, with grand plans in my head of what I might do with it. But, plans are better carried out and I decided that my brain was taking too long for those other plans!

2. PREP YOUR CANVAS. Okay, so I didn't do this and had to go back later to touch up the letters because the paint bled under the vinyl letters! So. Very important to prep - use white paint, gesso, whatever. Just don't skip this step!

3. Cut vinyl letters (or get them cut). The bold letters I printed off my computer, then cut them into the vinyl with an exacto, the fun font I cut with my cricut. Stick the letters on your canvas how you want them. Make sure they are well sealed.

4. This is the fun part. Let your kids have free reign with paint, brushes, fingers, and hands! If they are littles like mine are, point out all the "white parts" to cover.

 This is what it looked like when the boys were finished.

 Atlas: "My work here is done."

5. Allow to dry. When paint is dry, you can spray the whole thing with a lacquer spray for more of a sheen. I used acrylic paint, and I thought it ended up looking a little dull, but the lacquer gives it just enough of a shine. 

6. Carefully peel off your vinyl letters. You can do this before step 5 if you want to spray everything, letters and all.

 As you can see here, there was a bit of bleeding. I ended up touching up the bold letters, but not the names. The letters would have been much crisper had I only been a little more patient and did #2!

So there you go. Totally easy, Totally do-able, Totally Cool art for your home.

Zoo Fun

I took a template challenge from Sahlin Studio and came up with this. I love how digital can be so fast in completing and then sharing. And I didn't have to wait for weeks to get all my crap together to order (and pick up!) photos from Costco or Walmart. I actually did a traditional LO on the weekend, but I probably won't ever get around to taking a photo of it... because I'm lazy like that. So I'll share this one with you instead.

If you are into digital scrapbooking, go check out Sahlin Studio, where I got the template, papers, and most of the elements I used here in her new freebie, Fleetwood. Thank you Sahlin Studio! You can find her August monthly template challenge, with free template here. And while you're there, check her archives for past template challenges.

Thanks for stopping by!

This is an exciting time for Calgary - to have a temple of our own. Make a date to view the open house with your family, you won't be disappointed!