Easy Easter Crafts for Toddlers

A HUGE thank you to Melissa from Never a Dull Moment for guest posting for me today! She's a crafty mama with a knack for children's activities, especially around the holidays! Enjoy some Easter toddler crafts!!

For the past month or so I've perused Pinterest and searched Google for some options Easter craft options for Lexie {2 1/2 years old}. There are many out there as I'm sure most of you know, but some of them are a little complex, some a little tacky to me; and some well I couldn't do them on my own no less with my toddler "helping"! Then I found a few I could do, and a few I knew we'd enjoy. 

We did the turkey hands at Thanksgiving, the Santa hat's at Christmas, and the loVe at Valentines day; so it was no surprise that I found a hand-print/footprint craft I loved. 

1. The foot-chick 

Lexie is so used to having her hands and feet painted she actually request's it now. This one was nice and easy though I will admit we called Dada in to assist when she tried to run around with a painted foot. We used a yellow finger paint, let it set over night then I added the eye, beak, and feet the next day. Makes a great gift for the Grandparents, or the front of an Easter card to family. 

2. Striped Easter Egg

This one was a lot of fun, with only a little prep work I cut pieces of colored paper we had on hand, and placed double sided tape on one side of the strips. Then took a white piece of paper and had Lexie lay them out covering the entire paper. Next, I took a second piece of white paper (we used card-stock)  and cut an egg shape out of the middle {this was honestly the hardest part for me, I won't mention the numerous time I had to re-cut it}. Then you adhere the top to the bottom, I simply taped them together. 

 3. Chalkboard Eggs
At first thought you may not think Chalkboard eggs are a good toddler craft but if you give me a moment I'll explain. First the prep.

I'll be honest, I've never used Chalkboard paint and was wondering if I would ruin the thought of it by starting with this project. However, that wasn't the case at all; I honestly looked around the room after I did the eggs thinking of what else I could paint! The directions call for two coats, painted an hour apart, one vertically, one horizontally. For the eggs I only did one coat but I did apply it thick and allowed it 12 hours to sit. Then I showed Lexie...

The paint is very forgiving (and yes, I painted the paper plate too- told you I was looking for "things"!)  Lexie really enjoyed drawing on them, and she cracked quite a few and you wouldn't know it unless you felt it! 

Can't see the BIG crack can you? 

oh yeah, I did one too! 

Happy Easter! 

Hi, I'm Mel from Never a Dull Moment.I'm a Coffee Drinking, Social Media Lover, "Woober", "Mom-mom" and 30 something trying to get healthy! "Never a Dull Moment" sums up my world, as the saying goes "if it’s not one thing it's another!" Join me and my family through that day to day life with a crazy toddler (who's very photogenic) and an extended family who thinks one more should already be on the way {which we are NOT ready for yet}. Oh and then there's me, the matriarch of our little family who is double the size she should be and is trying to figure out how to get healthy without losing my mind in the process!

Easy DIY Valentine's Banner

Last year for Valentine's Day, I surprised my husband with a red meal....red wine, steak, red potatoes, salad with red peppers...and even whipped up some pink sugar cookie sandwiches with buttercream frosting.

To decorate our table, I made this really cute LOVE banner which would make an excellent prop for photographers {hello, engagement and maternity!}, on a dessert buffet, or just to put in the window like I did.

I simply printed out the pages onto cardstock, then mounted them on black cardstock and strung them all together with ribbon. Super simple and easy, but really sets the tone for a lovely meal with my two favourite guys.

Download the banner panels for free!
LOVE Banner

{Guest Post}: Frosty Winter Wreath

 Since I'm still in vacation mode and don't have access to my studio to do a home decor DIY, I asked my pal Shizz from Baby Shmizz to whip up a little something for you all to enjoy. Per usual, she didn't disappoint!

Its a new year, so time for a new wreath!  January is one of those kinda boring months without a theme, besides well, SNOW.  Depending on where you live of course, those of you with palm trees just be quiet, mmkay?

Supplies:
wreath form (I used straw because its cheaper)
2-3 white feather boas
2-3 wooden stars
25 yd roll of white tulle
1 ft length of white ribbon for hanging
1 sheet white craft foam
1 sheet glittered white craft foam, with self-stick adhesive side
white acrylic paint
silver glitter acrylic paint
paint brushes/foam brush
pen or pencil
scissors
hot glue gun
aerosol hairspray (yes, you read that right)

First you're going to want to prep your stars and your snowflakes.

For the stars, first paint them white (I did 2 coats).  Then after they are dry, apply at least 2 coats of the glitter paint (lots of sparkle is good :).  And because I was totally engrossed in watching My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding while I was doing this wreath, I completely forgot to take pictures of this part.  But its a no-brainer really: paint white, repeat, paint silver, repeat, let dry.

For the snowflakes, I did remember to take pictures :)  You could buy plastic sparkly snowflakes, but I couldn't find any, so I made my own from craft foam.  First I cut out a snowflake template that I could transfer onto the foam.  I got my template from this book.

I just used white computer paper to make the template.

Then, I prepared the craft foam to make the snowflakes.  Peel off the adhesive side on the glitter foam and line it up on top of the plain white foam, and stick them together.

2 layers makes the snowflakes stiffer and better on the wreath.

Now, trace your snowflake templates onto the plain white side of the foam sammich that you just made.  For some reason my house lacks pencils, so I used a pen for this.

Then, cut all the snowflakes out and admire these little pretties :)

Now its time to assemble the wreath.

First you want to wrap your tulle around the entire wreath form.  The tulle provides a white background, and also provides a rough surface which makes it easier for the glue to grab on when you attach the snowflakes & stars.

I used the entire 25 yards on this 12" diameter wreath

Then, you want to wrap your boas around the wreath.  What is great about craft boas is that at each end, there is a small length of string that does not have feathers.  You use this string to knot the two ends together at the back of the wreath so you don't have to glue it.

See what I mean about the knots?

When I wrapped the boas, I wrapped them with space in between each wrap, so that the ends of that boa were tied together.  Then I wrapped another boa filling in those spaces.  So the ends of each boa are tied together, but you aren't tying 1 boa to another boa.  Make sense?

Now its time to glue on all your sparkly stars & snowflakes (make sure the stars are dried!).

First you want to lay them out how you want them arranged, THEN glue them down in place.  Once you have them glued down, go back and glue any floppy parts again.  Hot glue is your friend, you can never use too much :)

Make a loop with your piece of ribbon, thread it around the top of your wreath and hang that beauty up on your door for all to see!

You're probably wondering where the hairspray comes in...

If you happen to have boas that are going through a mid-life crisis and are shedding their feathers, after the wreath is all assembled you can spray the wreath with the hairspray and that will set the feathers in place.  Best to use aerosol hairspray, as the mist is finer (pump hairspray is too wet and will leave the feathers droopy and gloopy).

Have fun making your wreath and brightening up a gloomy winter day!

Disclosure: Affiliate links within this post are used to fund my awesome blog :)

Grandparent Gifts with DecoArt

I've been trying to find the right time of day to take photos of the amazing gifts that Owen and I have created to go under the Christmas tree for the grandparents this year. Today, I finally got the perfect photos!

Grandparents love getting crafty projects from the grandkids, especially at Christmas, so when I figured out that two foot prints will make a heart, off we went to my art studio with my Americana acrylics and two blank canvases to see what we could do.

The results were amazing. Nana's home is very earthy and trendy. Her colors are taupe and black, so whenever I can use those tones in a painting, I know that she will be happy to put it up on her wall. For this project, I used Americana Fawn, Black and Raw Sienna, blended them with a dry brushing technique in the background, then let the fluidity of the paint speak for itself in the foreground.

Once it was dry, Owen got to get messy with the Crimson.

Buckled into his high chair {how else do you get a 2 year old to cooperate?!}, we stamped his feet in the bottom right hand corner to make a heart.

For the second piece {for my mom}, we left the canvas white and stamped  his little feet in the corner.

The Americana paint worked so well for this project. It is light weight, covers evenly and has rich color tones to choose from. There are so many different applications and techniques that work well with this medium as well; sponge, stippling, dry brushing, glazing and washes....just to name a few!

Stay tuned for more awesome DecoArt Projects!

* I purchased the Americana paints and canvases needed for these projects, and received no compensation from DecoArt to complete them. I did receive product from DecoArt, for other projects that have yet to be published to the blog. These opinions and views are that of my own.