It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Even without the cold and snow, I'm making it look like Christmas around here a little at a time. I started today with my fireplace mantle. I've never had one before to decorate and make pretty. So, it's been fun today.

I started by making my teenager drag all my Christmas boxes out of the garage. That was really the hardest part!

I have too much fabric lying around and never enough time to make something with it all so I found a fun printed one with trees and snowmen to hang on the mantle. Then, I rearranged our family photos on one side of the mantel and sat a big Christmas canvas on the other side, leaning in front of the mirror. I spaced out the stocking hangers and alternated a shiny silver one with a rustic bronzed one. I found a hanging etched glass ornament that we received last year as a Christmas gift and sat it in front of the painting. I also added some red netting, dotted ribbon and white sheer ribbon around my Woodwick candle. Then, I added the stockings. Magical.

I'm sure as the season progresses and I give Thanksgiving time to come and go, I'll add some whimsical art done by the kids, the tree will be up in the corner next to the fireplace, lights glowing...this place will be a winter wonderland fit for Santa.

It's been a while but I've been busy

Sorry folks but I've been really busy since school started back. I miss not having time to give you craft ideas and projects to do with your children. But, then again, most of you probably don't have the time either.

Fall is upon us, football season has begun, and Halloween is just around the corner. I love the Fall! It's my favorite season.

I've been doing crafts and art projects with the kids at church and one project we are going to start this week is making paper mache pumpkins.

Supplies: newspaper, liquid starch, a bowl for the liquid, balloons, a large workspace, and a place to put your project to dry overnight.

Pour liquid starch into a bowl and shred or cut the newspaper into strips. Blow up a round balloon. Begin dipping newspaper strips into the starch, sliding your fingers down to shake off the excess. Layer the strips onto the balloon leaving an opening at the top. It is best to put a couple of layers of newspaper on top of each other. Let dry overnight or for 2 nights.

When dry, pop the balloon and pull it out of the paper mache "bowl". If necessary, cut the opening to make it more even and pumpkin shaped. Paint the paper orange and let dry. Using black paint, make a jack o'lantern face on the pumpkin. Coat the inside and outside of the paper mache pumpkin with clear acrylic paint or spray.

You can use heavy jewelry wire or scrap fabric or ribbon to make a handle for your pumpkin basket and use it to store candy for trick or treaters or as a treat bag for your little one to carry and gather goodies in.

Christmas in July!

What a fun project - make Christmas ornaments or gifts in the middle of July to mark the half-way point. So many things you could do here.

1) Peruse thrift store shops for wooden candlesticks to paint in red, white and green. Or find old spoons, bend the handle so it will hang, and paint it with snowmen, Santa, or trees. Or keep it simple and paint stars in traditional (or non-traditional) colors.

2) Go ahead and make a Christmas tee or sweatshirt. Paint a green triangle. Let dry. Paint a gold or yellow star on the top. Use red, blue, and yellow to paint balls on the tree. Let dry. Outline each ball, star, and tree with black paint that has a pointed writing tip. Let dry.

3) Use scrapbook paper to make Christmas cards. All you'll have to do is insert a family picture, sign it, and send! No more spending money on boxes of cards and your recipients will appreciate a handmade gesture so much more.

So...happy early holiday season and happy crafting!
jen

Cloud drawings

I recently took a little day trip with my hubby. On the way home, there were so many white puffy clouds in the Alabama sky that we began picking out what they looked like. Some were animals, others were random objects. My daughter and I saw a Yoda shaped cloud one day last week when we were out. I love doing that. So...it got me thinking how fun it would be to take the kids out with just a sketchpad, some markers or pencils, and sketch what we see in the sky. Simple. Fun.

Another thought was to take a digital camera and actually photograph the clouds before drawing them. Sometimes they change so quickly you need to capture the moment before it becomes something else. That way, you could have 2 craft days - one to photograph the clouds, then another (maybe a rainy day) to sketch the photos onto paper.

So, the next time you see those little puffy white clouds in the sky, grab your kids, art supplies, and spend quality time together. You never know what might be up there.

Happy Birthday America!

Well, it's finally here. Independence Day! I love this holiday - sun, lake, pool, red, white and blue, BBQ, and my favorite...FiReWoRkS! I don't know what it is about fireworks that I love so much but I could sit and watch a good fireworks show anytime. They make me happy. Maybe I'm just intrigued with the fact that you can light a fuse and this thing explodes and paints pretty pictures and shapes and colors across the night sky. I just love it.

Things have been pretty busy this week and I didn't have time to post a craft but I'll be back on it after the wonderful weekend and fireworks extravaganza...hopefully a bit inspired.

Craft Time!

Well, I've been thinking about what craft project to give instructions for so I think a good 4th of July painted tee shirt will do just fine. The holiday is coming up next weekend so this gives you plenty of time to gather supplies and have a fun painting party with the kids...or adults!

Supplies: a plain white tee shirt - you should have plenty of these lying around. It's OK if there's a spot or two because you're going to paint it anyway; red, blue (2 shades if you'd like), and white acrylic paint - not the expensive stuff, just the kind in the craft section that is under $1 a bottle; a black writer tube of paint - again, in the craft section but it will have a pointy tip that is used for writing or outlining (see post on crab bag craft for a picture of this); scrap cardboard to put inside the shirt; clothspins or clips to hold the shirt in place if you desire.

Front of shirt: Paint 3 big red stars on the front of the shirt and some random red polka dots, if you'd like. While that dries, paint dark blue smaller stars and polka dots randomly in the white spaces. Use the lighter blue to fill in all the white areas, but not too heavily or it will take a long time to dry. Let dry. Use white paint to add stripes, plaid, or polka dots to the big red stars if you want. Using the black writing paint, outline all the stars and polka dots on your shirt and let dry completely. This could take about 2 hours or you could leave it overnight.

Back of shirt: Using red paint, write "I pledge allegiance" in the middle. You could choose any patriotic phrase or child's name if you'd like. Make a few small stars or polka dots on the back and sleeves. Use the dark blue (if you used it on the front) and make small stars and polka dots on the back and sleeves. Let dry. Using white paint, accent the words by making small strokes on the letters very lightly with the brush. Fill in the remaining white area with the light blue paint. Then, use the black writing paint to outline the stars and polka dots. You could either outline your words or phrase or just write inside it. Let dry for a couple of hours or overnight.

If you only chose one shade of blue you can leave your shirt white or skip adding polka dots and stars and fill in the white space with the blue. It's up to you! Send pics! I'd love to see what you come up with.

Easy to write, hard to get published, harder to sell

I've been writing stories and books for several years now, probably since Triston was born. And he is 13 now. But, getting them published is so much more difficult. The first one, I am a Positive Child, was self-published in 2007, 3 years ago, and has sold a whopping...are you ready?...88 copies. Disappointing. But it is kinda my own fault. I paid to publish it but just did not want to pay them more money to market it for me. I thought I could do it alone. Plus, I really didn't have the money to do that. So, here I am, 3 years later and not even 100 copies sold.

Just this February, I was looking for a Spanish document for school, and came across another little story I had written in 2009. I read it out loud to Jamison and he couldn't believe it. He said, "Wow, that's good. You really need to look into publishing that." So, I did. I found a Christian publisher that sounded really good online. But, they require an author's investment of $4000...if you are chosen. I uploaded my document and sent it in, not really giving it any more thought. Then, about 4 weeks later, I received an email from a representative wanting to know more about my story, why I wrote it, who my target audience would be, etc. Now my wheels were turning. What if I get this major company to publish my book? Where will I get the $4000? Could I be the writer I've dreamed of being?

I answered the questions in a reply email and began to pray, every night. The news came while I was at school. Jamison sent me an email at work that stated UPS had just delivered a contract to my door. I was exstatic! But also scared. Again, the $4000 is still haunting me. After reading the contract, I had 10 days to return it, signed, with the author investment. I had questions, so I emailed the rep that had contacted me several times. Great news. They have a payment plan. So, I wrote a $500 check, signed the contract and dropped it in the UPS box the next morning. Whew!

Now, I am still paying on that author investment. The conflict comes from having to choose paying bills, buying food for the family or pay a little on my author investment so my book can move to the production stage. Easy to write, hard to find a publisher, harder to sell books. The good thing about this company is that they do all the marketing. They are a publishing company investing about $26000 in me. So it's worth it, right? Sacrifice a little now so that in 6-8 months I have a published piece of children's literature and book signings, traveling expenses paid by the company, book fairs.

I keep praying. I know the Lord will take care of me and my family and that ultimately it is His will that will be done. He has the plan for my life. So, when my little book gets published, all I ask is that you buy it. In the meantime, I could use some prayers.

If you'd like to buy my first book, you can purchase it here:

www.xlibris.com/IamaPositiveChild.htm

Getting this started

This has been a little harder than I thought to get this going...for several reasons. I'm still so busy with the boys and baseball. Then, there's all the painting I'm doing at church. It's hard to stay motivated but I know that it will pay off if I work at it.

I need to have an online sale or yard sale to get rid of junk and art so I can make another payment to the publishing company for my book. I really want that to get published but it's becoming very difficult and tricky to find the money to finish paying my author investment. Any help, anonymous donations, sales from Etsy, will be appreciated!

Off to finish another mural at the church...

Well, I didn't finish but I made progress. I don't think I'll work on it tomorrow but maybe. I have to go buy art supplies for the Holy Strokes paint class on Friday night and the boys have baseball practice. I feel a bit sad that Jessalyn doesn't have an activity right now but I just can't find the time anyway. I hope to have her back in baton soon. She really enjoys that.

After spending too much money at dinner, I need to list some more items on Etsy so please take a look and see if there's anything you'd like! I also have a few orders to fill for some friends so I'll be pretty busy tomorrow. I love it but what am I going to do when school starts back?

Craft project - Crab bag

Supplies (you can get these at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart):

brushes, water to rinse brushes, white acrylic paint, paint for your crab (I used fushia), paint for the name (I used turquoise), and black paint with a tip, canvas bag - you can get the small containers of paint that are between $.60-.99 because you won't use much

Before you begin, you may want to put a piece of cardboard inside the bag to prevent paint from soaking through. It usually doesn't on canvas but you can never tell! Also, acrylic paint does not wash out of clothing so wear an old tee shirt or apron.

Step 1: using fushia (or your chosen crab color) paint a large circle and fill it in completely with paint.

Step 2: make 3 stick legs on each side of crab like an upside-down check mark.

Step 3: For top left claw, make a PacMan shape just above the crab body and connect with a line of paint to the crab. Repeat for the right side but turn the direction of the PacMan shape.

Step 4: make two small lines in the middle at the top for the eyes to go on.

Step 5: Using white paint, make two circles on top of the crab for the eyes. You can also lightly accent the crab with white paint by barely brushing paint on the outer edges of the claws, body and legs.

Step 6: Using other paint color, paint your name on the bottom or top of the bag, wherever you have room. You can add polka dots, like my daughter did, or stripes or leave it solid.

Step 7: Using the black paint with tip, outline the crab. Fill in the eyes and add a big smile in his/her body. Also, outline the letters of your name.

Congratulations! You have finished the project. Let your crab dry for at least 1 hour and then take your bag on an adventure! This also looks cute on a tee shirt but you definitely need to put cardboard in side to prevent bleeding through.