Fireworks T-shirts

I can't remember in what magazine or book I originally saw how to make these cute fireworks shirts, but I first made them when my youngest was just a toddler.  Now, nearly 5 years later, we decided to make some more fireworks shirts for the Fourth of July!

Don't they look a lot like real fireworks?

They were really simple to make and the kids had a blast (pun intended).

Here's how we made them...

1.  Gather your supplies ~ plain t-shirts, fabric paint in spray bottles and puffy fabric paint.  (You'll also want a piece of cardboard or several sheets of newspaper to put inside your t-shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through and something to cover your work surface with.)

NOTE: I happened to pick up the Fabric Spray Paint with a coupon at the craft store.  However, last time I just watered down regular fabric paint and put it in my own spray bottle  (about 2 parts paint to 1 part water) and it worked just as well.


2.  Spray several bursts of color on the front of your shirt. This will be the bases for your fireworks.

 3.  Next, use the puffy paint to add the lines of color radiating out from each firework.  In some spots, the puffy paint came out a little too fast, so we just used a toothpick to spread it out a bit.

4.  Next, I used some of the gold glitter puffy paint to add just a little more sparkle to each burst!

5.  We waited a little bit for the paint to dry, then did the same thing on the backs of our shirts.  Let it dry all the way and we were ready to go!

Now, I know this post is a little last minute to get ready for the 4th of July, but as I said before, I'm a last minute kind of girl.  We really had fun with it though, so hopefully you can make a quick run to the craft store for supplies and make some tomorrow before you go to see the fireworks.    Otherwise, just  "pin" it for next year! ;)

Sharing our fireworks at:

Craft-O-Maniac 

Celery Printed Roses

Odd title for a blog post isn't it?  But it's true, these pretty flowers were made using only a stalk of celery!  No paintbrush, no stencils, just veggies!  Want to know how long it took me to actually do this project?  About 15 years!  That's right, I first saw this idea more than a decade ago.  I can't remember if it was in a magazine or craft book or what, but I've had it on my "to-do someday" list for that long.  Finally today, the girls and I picked up three stalks of celery and made some cute celery printed placemats.  {actual project time was less than 30 minutes!}

Check it out...

Here's how we did it...

1.  First, gather your supplies.  You'll need a stalk of celery and some paints.  We did our celery prints on some plain white placemats, but you could also do them on paper, a tote bag, a t-shirt, etc.

2.  Carefully make a straight cut across the bottom of your celery stalk.

It totally looks like a flower, doesn't it?

3.  Next, use your celery stump to start printing some flowers.  We dabbed it onto a paper towel to remove any excess moisture, poured some paint onto a paper plate, did a couple test stamps, then got to work.  

4.  Then, use the ends of some of the celery sticks to add some leaves or stems to your flowers.

I opted for leaves only, the girls made a whole stem with leaves.

5.  Finally, we used some more ends of the celery sticks to add a little bit of a coordinating color to our flowers for some extra dimension.  (It also helped to fill in some blank spots where the print didn't leave as clear of an impression!)

That's it!  So cute aren't they?  I think they really look like roses, or perhaps peonies, but definitely pretty flowers!

My son politely declined to make one himself, but he said he'd use the one I made the next time we set the table with them!

Sharing our pretty celery prints at:

Sugar Bee Crafts
Sun Scholars 
Tatertots and jello

Paint a Shower Curtain Mural

We just started our Spring Break and the kids are already itching for something to do.  Today's activity was fun and super inexpensive (I'm talking $1!!).   While my son played downstairs, the girls and I created this fun Spring mural on a shower curtain.  We had a good time painting it and now our bathroom has been spruced up with a touch of Spring.

Check it out...

And here's how our "canvas" started out...

That's right, we used a cheap shower curtain liner from the Dollar Store.  ( I'm sure you could upgrade to a fabric one or a heavier weight one, but this worked great for us and we can afford to make new ones whenever we want!)

I just spread out an old sheet on the floor, spread out the shower curtain liner, and we got to work.  We used a bunch of acrylic paints I had on hand and painted on a whole Spring scene ~ a tree, birds, butterflies, bumblebees, flowers, caterpillars and even a hummingbird!  To personalize our mural, I painted on a "carved" heart with the kids' names on it.

Here's a few "close-ups" of the details.

Isn't it cheery?  It really brightens up our bathroom and the kids love it (and I do too!).  Every time my youngest daughter comes out of the bathroom she says, "That just makes me happy".  At just $1, I know we'll be making more for each season and for different themes.

Sharing our fun new decor at:
I heart Nap Time 
C.R.A.F.T. 
Kids Co-Op 
Craft-O-Maniac

100th Day of School Butterfly Collection

Today is the 100th Day of School for my Kindergartner.  A couple years ago, her brother made this cool 100th Day Shirt.  My daughter decided she didn't want to wear her project, but wanted something she could carry and then hang up as a decoration.  This cute butterfly collection is what we worked on together and what she took to school today.

Aren't all those butterflies pretty? Look at this closer view...

Want to know the technique we used to get all those pretty swirls of color?  

Yes, with just some shaving cream and a little bit of acrylic paint, you can make this pretty marbleized paper.  It's a fun and slightly messy process with really pretty results.  

As you can see in the collage, you just spread some shaving cream on a tray, then add several drops of acrylic paint.  Swirl the paint through the cream with a toothpick, then lay a piece of cardstock (or other heavier weight paper) face down on the swirled paint.  Lift it up and the scrape off the shaving cream with a ruler.  Let it dry and then you're ready to go.  

You can see this post we did last year for the step-by-step details if you need them.

For our project, we used a butterfly paper punch to make our 100 pretty, swirled butterflies.

My daughter painted a piece of foamboard with blue sparkly paint, then added some swirls of a darker blue.   She rejected my suggestion to paint the background a solid color blue so the butterflies would show up better because she wanted the sparkles and swirls.  ("So it will look like the wind blowing!")

I helped her line up 10 different colored butterflies across the bottom and then she used glue dots to attach the rest of them in columns of 10 until all hundred butterflies were in place.

It was fun activity for us and turned out really cute.