The Little Gold Nativity Ornaments

Mollie and I wanted a little surcie

 (Surcie: Definition (n): word used in the South to mean a small, thoughtful gift, unexpected gift, just because.)

for the guests at our Ladies Christmas Brunch

 that we hosted at the beginning of December.

This is what we decided on...

A little handmade Nativity ornament.

We needed to make quite a few so something we could mass produce was key.

We started out with a 4x4 canvas from Dick Blick.

I drew these free hand but you could trace pencil lines or even use a stencil. 

This is just white glue. Plain old Elmer's or something equivalent to that. 

Practice on a scrap of paper to get the feel for the flow and line consistency. 

Then just draw your image on your little canvas and let it dry completely.

Then we chose to spray paint ours with our favorite gold spray paint that we have talked about here and here and here.

I glued a little gold ribbon hanger on the back.

I love cello bags ( which I order from Nashville Wraps)

 so we packaged them up,

 put them in a bamboo basket on our doorside bamboo cart,

 and handed them out with a hug as our guests left!

Frothy, Frosty Peppermint Floats and Felt.

Every December my UMYF kiddos want to have a  Christmas Crafting Day 

where they can get creative and make gifts for friends and family. 

We've painted, made sugar scrubs, decorated candles, etc.

 I can't tell you what they worked on this year

 because they are surprises for Christmas morning!

However, I can tell you about our delicious holiday treat that helped us craft all afternoon.

(Do you remember the glittery Snow Guys from a couple of years back??) 

We had frothy, fluffy, frosty peppermint floats. Yum!

We used Publix Peppermint Stick ice cream. 

If you are in the South then you know how good their holiday ice cream is. 

The Eggnog Ice Cream is ah.maz.ing, too!

Scoop the peppermint ice cream into your cup.

 Then pour Sprite (or you can use a non flavored carbonated water but the Sprite tastes great) over the ice cream. It will froth and fluff and create a creamy, frosty, minty float.

Add cute straw. 

And you could add whipped cream 

and sprinkle crushed peppermint candies on top 

for a fancier treat.

It's just so refreshing and festive.

And, felt.

Since I was hanging out while they crafted and they only needed me for questions and not for non-stop guidance I started trying my hand at a felt project.

I cut the letters free hand from some felt we had- no drawing or tracing.

 Non-traditional Christmas colors.

It was fun but I'm more of a paper crafter, I think.

I will not be going into the felt letter banner business any time soon.

I glued it down this morning and I'll try to remember to post a "finished" picture on Instagram this week!

So that's my felt-y, frothy, fluffy update on holiday happenings around here.

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas now.

Christmas Painting Party!

A couple of weeks a go we had a little painting party at church.

 Just ladies, 6th grade and up. People brought friends, sisters, mothers, etc. 

We painted and chatted for 2 and 1/2 hours.

I offer a little instruction and guidance plus provide all the supplies 

and then they just get creative!

  There's always a glitter option when working with youth girls!

#pinterestsuccess

It's good to relax and be creative with a group of ladies!
Have you painted with friends lately?

Sometimes I Wonder and Bob Dylan

Sometimes I think about projects I want to try. 

Just to see if it will turn out like I think

Sometimes they do. 

Sometimes I don't even finish.

Often I have zero idea what I will do with it once I finish.

If it's really BIG, like this project, then it's a bit crazy.

Someone gave me a huge frame with a big ugly canvas in it and a small pucker in the canvas.

Like about 3 x 4 feet big!

I was really in it for the frame and then... I started thinking. 

So I painted it black.

The whole thing. Canvas. Frame. Liner. All of it.

This was over a year ago and I was binge watching Parenthood on Netflix cause it was Winter and I don't function well when it's gray every.single.day.

So I had this rolling around in my head.

And BTW, I preferred a little Dylan (watch this - awesome!) at the beginning of the show. #dontchangethethemesonghalfwaythrough

And since I've had this blog post sitting in "drafts" a while

 and now Bob Dylan is a BIG DEAL Nobel Prize Winner I decided to post it!!

I started cutting out letters using my Cricut cutter. 

I wanted to create a gradation from cool to warm.

And have lots of texture.

And just see if it would 'turn out."

I just cut and spaced the letters and then used Mod Podge to glue them down.

It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

It's currently homeless as I have moved it around a few times at the house but it really hasn't "stuck" anywhere.

I'm thinking it may go to the office with me. 

I've been in my office 4 years and I have one personal item in it. Shocking, I know.

*No sponsorships by Cricut or Mod Podge. Just what I happened to use to do this.

And Yay for Bob!

We Were Out of Doughnuts Saturday Morning.

So I painted some.

 

 

Plain.

 

Glazed?

 

Frosted Strawberry?

 

Chocolate Glazed?

 

What's your favorite doughnut?

 

Waiting for one with sprinkles?

Got it!

 

 

I didn't really paint doughnuts because we were out on Saturday.

This painting was for a favorite graduate.

We have an inside joke about her love of doughnuts.

 

She says it's going to hang in her dorm room next year!

 

It might make her hungry to look at it every day.

 



A "Girlie" Party for Confirmation

 

This year our entire Confirmation Class at church was girls.

So we had some freedom to be a bit "girlie" in the things we did

and for our celebration at church after our Confirmation service.

 

I made each of them a 'banner" which in actuality was a canvas.

They hung in the Sanctuary.

I used a 12 x 12 canvas that I got in a package at JoAnn's using a coupon.

That made them very affordable.

 

I wanted them to be neutral enough that they could hang them in their rooms

no matter what colors they had.

I used grays and creams.

It was all done with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.

I printed out our verse that we used throughout the process.

It's on our t-shirts, etc.

Late night banner making!

 

And then I set out to make the reception afterwards girlie, fun and

spunky like these 6th grade girls are :)

 

Oh, and on a budget and the reception is going to be where all church activities happen -

 in  the largest room at church and usually not super attractive décor.

In our case it's the gym which I love but not really a party atmosphere!

 

I found these super cute flower plates at the Dollar Tree months before our big day.

I bought black and white striped napkins at Wal Mart.

They had gift wrap to match the paper plates so I bought 1 roll of that

 and used it to make a table runner in the center of the tables.

It's narrow so it worked perfectly.

I do this all the time - just cut the ends in a big V like you do ribbons and it looks great!

 

 Then I made big balloon bouquets for the center of the table using balloons,

 black and white polka dot, chevron and striped paper lanterns from the Dollar Tree, and streamers of crepe paper and plastic ribbon. easy and inexpensive.

And I could do it a few days ahead!

 

 

If you've been reading the blog for very long then you will remember these "props" from some of my workshops I've led for teachers.

I brought them in and used them to decorate one of the side tables.

This table had a big photo collage of our time together

during the Confirmation classes, retreat, and meals.

And the gift bags held little photo albums I put together for each girl and a little gift that was from an inside joke from our overnight retreat - notice I didn't say SLEEPover!!!

 

 If you want to cheer up a big, boring gym

then I recommend black and white  polka dots and stripes!!



Just Plain Crabby

Not  me.

 The artwork.

Yet another catch-up post.

This one is from the beginning of the Summer. 

School started today in the Atlanta area even though it's just the beginning of August.
 Some see the start of school as the end of Summer. Not me.
I will hold on to Summer until the bitter end.
So this beachy, crabby project fits the bill.

This was a guided project in that we all did our outline work together 

and then we got creative and gave our crabby guy some serious personality.

This is the best kind of project.

 After the basic shapes are down the artists get busy adding color and texture.

 We talk about color and tools and they get so into the painting process. 

They just paint and chat and it is so fun to be in a room full of creative children. 

Aren't they awesome and fun?? 

Love the polka dot water.

And this guy?? He cracks me up.

 I can just see him shifting his eyes from side to side before he takes off down the beach.

Actually, it's hard to be crabby when you are laughing at these fun paintings!!

Daisies Are The Happiest Flowers

Do you know what movie that's from??

 I love Meg Ryan and I agree.

 I love cheerful, roadside daisies.

 I also loved, loved the show "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" when I was young.

 ( That'll date me, for sure.)

Someone dropped off an unwanted canvas - a large one. Yay!!

I spent a couple of cold, wintry afternoons painting a giant stylized daisy on the canvas.

It was red, so first thing - a turquoise base coat.

Then some basic shapes to create a stylized daisy.

 ( This is what I use my kitchen tools for!)

Outline in black.

My go- to Sherwin Williams paints.

Just filling in with cheerful daisy-ish colors.

 This color is Pickle.

 I want to have the job where I sit around looking at fabulous colors 

and thinking up their names.

SW, call me. I'm available.

Someone at church gave me the canvas so back to church it went.

The next daisy inspired project was painted at

 a little art camp with my favorite 4 and 5 year olds.

They made these canvases for their Moms :)

Then at the beginning of the Summer the stylized daisy painting

 inspired a project at another art camp.

The artists ranged in age from kindergarten to 4th grade 

and they created some pretty amazing line work.

Again, each one is so unique.

They definitely got creative with their colorways.

Aren't these fun? Didn't they turn out great?

I like them better than mine!