Category: Projects

Yes, be a pineapple, because pineapples are cool, and they would be even cooler as a Halloween costume right?

Studio DIY posted a killer tutorial for a pineapple headband.  Follower her easy instructions HERE

Yellow Tutu: Taylor Joelle Designs (get $10 off with code snowwhite)

Leotard: The Leotard Boutique

Necklace: Jane Stone

Shoes: Mini Melissa

Sunglasses: unknown

A perfect easy craft activity that the kids will love!!  We did these today and it was definitely a success.

I’ve been inspired by these awesome J Crew animal necklaces, and decided that I need to make some with the kids.

So here’s our kid friendly DIY project.

Materials:

1.  Plastic Turtles (you could also use dinosaurs, zoo animals or whatever they have available.  I have seen lizards that would be cute too).  Amazon sells them HERE

2.  Screw Eyes – I bought mine at Joanns (with my 40% off coupon)

3.  Paint and Brushes.  We tried a few acrylic paints out, and surprisingly my favorite brand was the cheap brand “craft essentials” that I picked up at Joanns.  It covered really well.

4.  Clear Sealant.  This is optional, but if you want a nice shiny coat and protection from chipping, it would be a good idea.

5.  Cord. We used stretchy cord similar to this

If you want to match the jcrew necklace closey, you can buy ball and chain necklaces suppliers from ETSY

Step 1:

Paint your turtles (don’t my shirtless boys, they were ready for a swim.

Step 2.  Once your turtle is dry, screw in the screw eye.  This was hard for the kids to do, so I did this step for them.  Simply decide where you want to have the ring, and then poke the sharp end into the toy and screw it in until it’s tight.

Step 3.  If you want to add the clear sealant you can do this now (or before the screw eye goes in, it doesn’t matter.

Step 4.  Cut the stretchy cord long enough so it can fit over their head and tie a single know like this:

And all done!  My kids really enjoyed this.  Taylor has a friend participating and she said she loves her necklace!

Summer’s coming, and it’s time to start thinking of some fun projects to keep the kids busy!  When I was little, before google and Pinterest, I loved to whip out my “make and do” book that was filled with arts and craft ideas.  Now it’s a whole new game with Pinterest.  Here’s some of my favorites that I have seen recently

1.  Magazine Face Art

Cut our a face from a magazine or a book you aren’t using, glue it to a paper, and complete the picture.  Love this Mona Lisa one!

2.  Opt-Art

What a cool idea this is!  I have never tried it, but I am definitely going to give it a go with the kids!  A tutorial can be found at The Frugal Crafter

3  Watercolor Squirt Gun Painting – Why Not?

It seems kinda messy, but if it keeps them outside, I think it’s a win.  Plus you may end up with some modern art masterpieces.  Tutorial can be found HERE.

4.  Rock Painting.  You could have them decorate individual rocks to place around your garden, or try this pretty cool Cactus centerpiece.  Tutorial HERE

So there ya go!  A few fun projects to get you through some of those upcoming summer days.  I can’t wait to try them with my gang.

xoxo

Jenny

So happy to have a husband who enjoys building, and who also has the tools to do it.  We needed some new bedside tables and I found these super cool ones on Pinterest by Ana White.

Our bed is pretty big so I needed them to be a little taller and wider.  So pleased with how they turned out.  Give it up for Jason!

Left shoes: Target
Right shoes: Old Navy
Bow: Shop Maizie Baby
Purse: Totes Adorable
Rompers: Coming soon to Taylor Joelle

Say what??  You can chalk paint fabric?  Yes, yes you can, and it’s pretty incredible.  In fact so incredible that I am currently addicted and need to do some thrift shopping so I can do more more more! This was so fun, and so easy!

So this chair, wasn’t aloud in my house.  It was sitting on my porch because I loved the shape and didn’t want to toss it, but I didn’t fit well with my decor.  Now it might just be my favorite new piece

To prep the chair for painting I washed it with a damp rag and used a spray bottle to get it wet.

We then mixed our Annie Sloan chalk paint with about 20% of water (mixed it in a paper bowl).

You will need to play with the consistency.  The blog post I read said it should feel like tomato soup. I then went to work painting away.  I didn’t even need to tape the wood part of the chair since I used a small brush around the edges.

I purposely only did one coat since I wanted the stripes to peek through.  Then I did 2 coats of Annie Sloan’s white chalk paint on the wood.

Super easy and simple!

So people keep asking me “isn’t it super uncomfortable,  and doesn’t it crack?  Well, so far so good.  It’s not softest piece of fabric you have ever felt, but it’s not super rough either.  I am very happy with how it turned out and would do it again and again.

The tutorial I used was from Chalk Worthy  Love the way here chairs turned out.

Have a great weekend!

xoxo
Jenny

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