Art Projects

Last post...Halloween...

This post...Thanksgiving...

...and Christmas.

It feels like I've been busier than ever....and yet have NOTHING exciting to blog about. I get out of the house more than I ever have during married life. I've been LOVING life here in Grand Junction. Amazing people. Perfect size city. We even LOVE the housing place that we live in. Well...Eden would disagree with me about the house...

...Eden tells me EVERY DAY "Mom, we need a bigger house." "One with stairs." We keep trying to convince her that smaller is better and finally today she said, "Mom, we don't need a bigger house...just a small house with stairs."

ANYHOW...on to our holiday craftiness.

We babysat for another couple in our ward and we plan to do a regular babysitting swap with them. They have two awesome kids, Isaac and Madelyn.

Project #1: Painting a Turkey

Cereal Boxes

Paint

Hot Glue Gun

I decided it might be nice to have a fun project for the kids to do part of the time. So I cut up some empty cereal boxes and decided to paint them.

I realized that one of the boxes had a "find out if you won the grand prize inside". So in the middle there was a square that said, "Sorry you are not a winner." Eden ask me what it said and after I read it to her I thought, "man, that's a downer." Eden wasn't so impressed either. So, Eden and I decided it was best to cut out the square.

Then I decided to draw a turkey on it with the empty space to put your face through as if you were the turkey. And then I cut out feathers to paint and attach.

The Finished Product:

Eden the turkey.

Isaac the turkey.

Maddy the turkey.

Isaac actually didn't do any painting. That's when I discovered that my challenge babysitting is that I have NO idea how to entertain a 5 year old boy. Luckily Tyson was playing a game on the computer and he was hooked on watching Tyson and asking him questions and figuring out how the game worked. So I was able to play with Eden, Maddy, and Leila with painting while Isaac remained entertained.

Project #2: Manger Scene Picture

Poster Board

Construction Paper

Scissors

Glue Stick

I recently decided to take on the challenge of Christmas decor.

I'm not into holiday decorating...I just hate storing boxes for one month of display. I don't have the storage. I change what I like year to year. I dunno...it just isn't my thing.

But I decided it would be a fun little challenge this year.

Then I realized it really was a CHALLENGE. My budget....little to none. Our landlord is one that you don't want to mess with...so I don't want to add any more holes in the wall or even put up tape that might scrape paint or something. So I thought it out...

I decided my first project...take a picture that is already up in my living room and change it out with a little art project that Eden could be a part of. I mean, that's half the fun, making it something the kids can do with me, right?.

I used construction paper I already had and cut out basic shapes to make a nativity scene. I glued together the manger, sheep, horse, angel, Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus. Then I bought a piece of poster board and cut it to the size of our picture frame.

Then I had Eden place it all where she wanted them to go.

There was only one problem with her positioning...JOY. Er....YOJ....

I mean, obviously not her fault since she can't read. But we did fix that.

I brought out the camera and told her to pick out her favorite piece and let me take a picture of her with it. She chose baby Jesus. Good choice. Very good choice.
She got to gluing and pasting. I did help quite a bit to make sure pieces didn't get ripped, were secured well, and positioned ON the poster board without pieces coming off the edges.
I admit that Leila's contribution to this project was to stay away at all cost. Anytime she came near we almost lost a member of the nativity. This definitely wasn't Leila friendly.

The Finished Project

It might not be an HGTV designer awesomeness, but I like it. Its a cute little project that was cheap, Eden was able to be a part of, and if it gets ruined or I decide to not take it with me to the next move (or even keep it after the Christmas holiday) it cost about $1 to make.

So, those are my recent projects and I plan to do more to celebrate the season.

I've also been inspired to:

Try new recipes

Re-vamp old recipes

Invite people over for dinner and games

Clean the house more often

Exercise regularly