Painted Pots

We used Decoart Patio Paints (I bought a sample pack on clearance in the flower section at our craft store.) on dollar ceramic pots to make pretty pots that can stay outside all summer and sit on our windowsills when winter comes. Supposedly with Patio Paints you don't need to seal the art once the pot is painted. If you can't find patio paints you can use acrylic craft paints, but you might want to put a coat of exterior varnish (such as Ceramcoat) on them. I was surprised at how long this project kept my 4 year old son entertained, and the 2 year old did a bang-up job (thankfully not literally!) too. They also really enjoyed picking out their own plants to put in and potting them.  I think I'm going to have the kids paint some of the rocks in my rock borders next to add more color to our yard.

Easy Pea-sy Garden Markers

It's planting season here in New England. Sometimes it's hard to remember where you planted what. We made these cute little garden markers to remind us using just a little patio paint (I bought a sampler pack on clearance in the flower pot section at our craft store) on some leftover shims (you can get a bunch at your local hardware store for a couple dollars.). Now, I do actually know what and where my strawberry plants are especially since they are actually growing actual berries (and poison ivy, too, color me upset!) but they were so much fun to make and came out so cute, I made a marker for them anyway. And my tomatoes too! If you know what grows in your grandparents' gardens, they'd make a great  Mother's Day or Father's Day gift too. Cheap, cute and easy peasy.

Magnets for Mom (or Anybody!)

Mother's Day is right around the corner. So you know what that means. Us Moms wrack our brains for crafty, useful ideas that little hands can do to give to the OTHER Moms in our kids' lives. (If we're lucky, Dad will help them do something for us, right?!) This week my octupi and I crafted these nifty magnets. They were super easy and, I think, you can never have too many magnets. After all, you need SOMETHING to with which to hang all the other artwork the kids give you!

 

What You Need:

• wooden plaques. I found a package of 6 business card sized ones in the wood crating aisle at Michael's.
• primer (we do so much room-painting in this house I have a can in the basement almost always)
• magnets. Self-adhesive ones are even better. Use hot glue if they aren't self-adhesive.
• acrylic craft paints. Yes, it's messy, make sure you have smocks and paper lining your work surface.
• water in a jar for rinsing
• paper towels for drying rinsed brushes
• paper plate for paints.
• water-based polyurethane.
• brushes for painting and brushes for sealing.

What You Do:

1. A day ahead, prime the wood plaques on one side.
2.  Next day, get your work surface ready for mischief by covering it with newspaper or brown paper. Drip some paint onto a paper plate palette.  Get out your jar of water, paper towels, brushes. Lay out your primed plaques.
3.  Call in the beasts to paint. Let the artworks dry overnight (or for another day if you have a paint blobber like I do.)
4.  Brush on two coats of poly, leaving them to dry in between coats.
5.  When dry, stick magnets on the back. 
6. Give away on Mother's Day. Or on ANY day. And maybe even keep one or two.

5 on Friday: Paint

Of course you can use brushes to paint but beyond them there are a lot of other fun and different ways to make a neat painting. These are all cheap ideas you can dispose of afterward. Makes clean up a lot easier.

1. Q-tips.
Put one in each color to prevent too much mixing and brown paint. It really bugs my 4 year old when my 2 year old dips his red-covered paint brush into the yellow paint, then the blue, the green, the purple, the orange, making 6 different cups of brown, brown, brown.

2. Sponges
Cut them into different shapes and use them as stamps in paint.

3. Cotton Balls
Dip into different colors and press onto paper to make dots.

4. Toilet paper rolls
Either dip the ends in paint and stamp to make circles or dip the sides in and roll it onto paper to make blocks.

5. Potatoes
We used to cut potatoes in half and then an adult would cut a star shape out of the cut face so it was like a stamp. Then we'd stamp stars allover brown paper to make our own wrapping paper.