Peep, Peep! Chirp, Chirp!

Easter is next weekend! It doesn't feel like it should be here yet but alas it is. Unfortunately Maddie and I have had very little chance to make any great Easter crafts but we did have an opportunity to break out some paint this week!

This project was based on one we did last year but on a bigger scale this time around. Madison was thrilled to practicing her tracing skills with a small plate before we started painting.

Once again we mixed a little bit of orange, yellow and white to get a nice fuzzy affect on the little chicks!

Madison went crazy with a chunk of sponge painting!

At the moment I am without cool crafty scissors so I went with a quick and simple squiggle effect for the chick wings.

Add a few googly eyes and a few scraps of orange paper and you have an adorable spring chick!

Bird Seed Wreath

A few weeks ago I saw this post on A Day In The Life Of Jack and knew that it was a must for us! With a week of beautiful weather Madison and I headed outside to get a bit messy and mix up a special treat for the birds!

After browsing a few different recipes on the Interwebs I decided we would mix 1 1/2 cups of hot water with 4 packages (one whole box) of Knox Gelatin.

Once Madison dissolved all of the gelatin we started adding birdseed. In total I would say we added about 3-4 cups of seed. Basically we continued to add seed until we had a dry-ish mixture with very little water at the bottom of the bowl.

After you have the mixture to a consistency you like pack it into a muffin tin. Don't forget to add a piece of straw in each cup to leave a hanging hole for later.

To makes things a bit easier on myself I lined the muffin tin with silicone liners to help get the seed cakes out after they dried. Because we were spending the afternoon outside in the sun we let the seed cakes dry outside but I am sure you could also put them in the refrigerator to firm up.

After the seed cakes were dry we strung them up with a bit of yarn!

Snowmen: The Last Installment

I think we are officially done with the snowman crafts! I just don't think I have it in me to do anymore! So with out further adieu the last two! {oh yes I can rhyme in the morning!}

Starbucks Snowman

{Starbucks Frappuccino bottle, cotton balls, sticker paper, hole punch, fleece scraps}

I had a stack of colored sticker paper that I cut the eyes, carrot, mouth and buttons from which made assembly very easy for Madison.

Madison filled the jar with cotton balls, I tied on the scarf and Madison took care of the rest! Super simple and super easy!

Toilet Paper Roll Snowman

{White paint, buttons, ribbon, two pom poms, half of a pipecleaner}

Madison took care of painting the toilet paper roll while I held it.

After a little drying break I clipped the roll to an empty cereal box to help keep it stable while Madison attached all the buttons.

I tied on a piece of ribbon for a scarf and then we glued on pom poms and the pipecleaner for earmuffs!

Here are the other snowman crafts we did this year!

Contact Paper Snowman
Marshmallow Snowman
Cutout Snowman
Paver Snowman
Shaving Cream Snowman
Snow Dough

Ice Wreath

I saw this craft in one of my mom's holiday books last year but never actually got to making it! I was prepared - sort of - this year and it came out beautifully! This is definitely a cold weather climate craft- I don't think an ice wreath would last very long in California!

You can surely use your bunt pan or any other baking dish you have but I used a foil pan from the dollar store. Madison scattered cranberries and Christmas tree clippings in the pan {from our neighbors tree!} before pouring water over everything.

You could definitely add some bird seed too but we weren't that prepared!

After the water was poured in the pan we used a paper cup filled with marbles to make sure there would be a hole in the center of the wreath.

Off to the deep freezer it went! A few hours later Madison and I were able to hang up a beautiful ice wreath! As the ice melts the birds will be able to eat the cranberries - plus it looks beautiful hanging in the back yard!

Of course Madison had to try a fresh cranberry too ~ according to her they are only for birds and not for Maddie's!

Penguins and Snowmen

I have been a little preoccupied lately with my sewing machine {we are becoming friends, slowly} and felt a little bad that I hadn't set up a project for Maddie in a few days. Sooooo.....I grabbed a stack of construction paper, cut out a few shapes, set up two trays and let Madison loose with a bottle of glue!

Perry The Penguin

We actually did this exact project last year but Madison needed help last year and this year she was able to do the whole project all on her own!

The penguin body is made from Madison's foot print and the wings are her hands!

Meet Perry!

Sarah The Snowman

I did the same sort of system here with the snowman. I provided all of the shapes and Madison took care of the rest!

I did add the the glue for the pieces on this one so she could focus on picking out the perfect buttons!

Meet Sarah!

Winter Prints

A few months ago we did a similar painting with water colors and the letter M and I was eager to break out the contact paper again for a winter themed painting.

Materials: contact paper, white cardstock, white and blue paint or light blue paint, fine glitter, sponge

I didn't have any light blue paint in the house so the white paint came to the rescue!

After I traced the figures Madison chose on contact paper I cut them out and stuck them on white cardstock paper. Madison then took care of all of the painting. When she finished we quickly dusted them with some fine glitter and peeled away the contact paper.

I suggest not pressing the contact paper onto the cardstock paper too hard or you may peel away paper. I also suggest peeling the contact paper away as soon as possible before it sits too long.

So pretty!

I LOVE the polar bear!

I have a lots more snowy ideas for the month so our window will be rather snowy rather quickly!

Snow? Maybe!

Graphic from Weather.gov

I woke up super early this morning and was actually able to watch a bit of news and catch the local forecast. To my surprise SNOW was in the forecast! Not even little flakes, we are talking a forecast of 5-10 inches tomorrow night! I was so excited Madison and I did a snow painting at ummm...6am?!?!

You can find the complete directions here on Kraftykid.com.

Magically equal parts of glue and shaving cream make a very puffy paint medium!

I used a pencil and drew and snowman for Madison to fill in.

Before the paint dried Madison added buttons for eyes and a mouth. Then after the paint dried Madison glued on a paper hat, scarf and carrot nose!

:::Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow:::

Look Milo is even ready for the snow!

Snow Dough

It was play dough makin' time at our house and we made snow dough this time around!

This is the recipe I use which I originally found on The Idea Room. The original recipe is for Pumpkin Spice Play Dough so some alterations have been made.

2 cups water
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar
2 cups flour
vanilla extract*
glitter**

Combine all ingredients in large pan on stove. Over medium heat, stir until most of the lumps disappear and it thickens up to a dough-like consistency. Dump out the dough onto your counter top and knead the dough until nice a smooth. Make sure the dough is cooled before handing it over to the kiddlets!

*I probably used about 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and our dough smells nothing like vanilla so add as necessary!

** Madison added the glitter as I was mixing it all together in the pan- add until it is sparkly enough!

Ohhh Sparkly!

After the dough was cooled I set Madison up with a tray of snowman making materials {buttons, beads, bells, popsicle sticks, pipecleaners & ribbon} and the sparkly dough.

She set right to work making snowmen, snowladies, snowbabies, snow angels and snow reindeer!

What a work of art!

And I have to say a big THANK YOU! to The Shafer Family for pointing me in the direction of only THE BEST trays ever! Messes no more!

Cookie Cutter Painting

**My poor little girl looks like she was hit by a bus in these pictures. With an everlasting runny nose and a run in with a baby gate Madison has seen better days!**

We did this project two different days; one with a snowflake cookie cutter and another with a Christmas tree cutter.

We have never done this project before but Madison really seemed to enjoy it!

Before the paint dried with sprinkled it with glitter! We have been a little glitter crazy this month!

This looks great framed above Madison art board!

Next up was Christmas trees. Madison made three different pictures because she wanted to pass them out to her grandparents.

After the tree portion dried we used a pencil eraser and red paint to add ornaments.

Once again time for GLITTER!

How pretty!