Geometric Butterfly

Hello, all my fellow crafters! Sorry I have been MIA this summer. It's been pretty a pretty busy season! Anyway, I will be posting a few more posts in the near future. I will also start posting DIY ideas for wedding stuff as well, as I am now recently engaged. With that being said, let's get started.

This afternoon's DIY project is a great one for kids. It crosses Math with Art and is fun for the kids without them realizing they are doing Math. I did this with my students during my second placement at Teacher's College. It is easy and turn out really pretty.

Things you will need:
- white construction paper (this will be the wings)
- black construction paper (this is the body and head)
- crayons, markers and/ or pastel
- geometric shapes (squares, rhombus, triangles, hexagons etc)
- a pencil
- a template for butterfly wings (optional)

Step 1:
Kids will receive one piece of black construction paper and one piece of white construction paper. Tell them to fold them both in half. Demonstrating this might be helpful. Once the pieces are folded, have students draw out a body and head on the black piece using a pencil. **Note: Make sure they are aware to have the body and head attached.

Step 2:
Next, take the white folded construction paper and while folded, draw one half of the butterfly wings. They may want to use scrap paper first to practice their wings before drawing it on the construction paper.

Step 3:
Once the body and wings have been drawn, keep the construction paper folded in half and cut out the wings and the body. Next glue the body of the butterfly where its fold meets the fold in the wings. Let this dry.

Step 4:
Once it it dry, it is time to draw the shapes on. Take the shapes and trace them where you want them to sit. It doesn't have to be symmetrical like mine is in the picture. This was for a culminating task for my students who had a critera for their butterflies. Yours can be done however you like. Once you are done, start colouring them in.

Step 5:
Once you have coloured in all the shapes, you may want to colour in the area around the shapes. This helps the shapes pop. You can also decide to leave it white. It's up to you. Get creative! Happy Crafting!

4 Seasons Canvas Painting

Hey All! Sorry I've been MIA for a bit... It's been exciting couple of months. First off, I graduated from university with a degree in Education. So I am now officially a teacher.. well, I still have to get my license but I have the degree. Secondly, I am newly engaged. My boyfriend (now fiance) proposed on a little weekend vacation we took to Montreal. I totally was not expecting it. He was pretty sneaky about it. Thirdly, I have been volunteering at a local school, helping out in the Kindergarten room.

So much is going to be happening this summer. It's going to be a busy one. I hope you all can bare with me. I hope to get more published as I have a bit more time now that school is out. Okay, so on with the project.

This project is a 4 seasons canvas painting. I made this for my mom, whose birthday was at the beginning of June. My mom really likes trees so I painted a tree depicting all four seasons on it. Let's get started!

Things you will need:
-Canvas
-paint
-paintbrushes
-sealer spray

Step 1:
Divide the canvas into 4 sections. If you can't find a big canvas, use four small ones that are all the same size. (Make sure to put them side by side for this part).  Draw lines to depict the four sections (ignore this is you are using four separate canvases). Next draw your tree. (Note* if you are using four different canvases, you will want to put them together so you can see the whole tree and not just pieces of it. You want things to line up)

Step 2:
Use paint (I used water colours) to depict the background of each season. I used green for spring, orange for summer, red for fall and blue for winter. You can get creative with this is you want. Once that dries you are ready to paint the tree.

Step 3:
Paint the tree any colour you want. I went with black because it's my favorite color and I wanted the emphasis to be on the seasons and not the tree. Make sure to fill out branches especially where the branches meet the trunk of the tree.

Step 4:
Decorate your tree, once it has dried, to depict the different seasons. (See my picture for ideas). Let it dry once all four seasons are complete.

Step 5:
To protect the painting from moisture etc, spray the canvas with a sealer. You can buy this at places like Canadian Tire or Walmart. I have a gloss version which I purchased at Canadian Tire.

Happy Crafting!

Dreams in plans canvas

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have not been posting as often as I said I would. I have been kinda busy the last few weeks, but now that things are starting to slow down, I'm hoping to get back into posting again. Today's post is something I made for my little sister for Christmas this past December. Here is what you need...

- Canvas (size doesn't matter)
-Paint (in colours you prefer)
-Markers
-Stamps
-Glue
-Printer and Printer paper
-Scrapbook paper

Step 1:
Paint the canvas in your desired color. I have painted mine purple because I wanted the figure of the girl to pop. You can decide on your own what color you wish to paint the canvas.

Step 2:
Choose a font and font size to create the saying "She turned her cant's into cans and her dreams into plans". Next, cut each word out and glue to the dry canvas.

Step 3:
Find some sayings you want to include on your canvas. For the one I made for my sister, I wrote, in purple marker "Suivez votre coeur" (Follow your heart) and "believe". I also wrote some numbers down the sides. Next, take a lighter color of the color you painted the canvas and blot it onto the canvas. (see picture)

Step 4:
Once that is dry, you can start putting the girl onto the canvas. To do this I printed out a picture of a silhouette and traced it onto the canvas. Next, I painted it black. Once that was dry, I took some scrapbook paper to make the shirt and hair. For the skirt, I googled sheet music and just printed some off. I crumpled it up and ripped it into my desired length of strips. Glue all of these on in the desired areas. If regular glue doesn't work, use a glue gun.

Step 5:
Once it is completely dry, use a clear gloss protective sealer so it will protect all your hard work. Just a light coat will be good. Leave it to dry and then wrap it up as a gift or hang it some place in your home!
Happy Crafting!!!!!

DIY Dry Erase Paint Chip Calendar

Hey my fellow crafters! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Tonight, I'm going to show you how to make your very own dry erase calendar, using a few simple things. This would make a great gift (I made this for my mom for Christmas this past year) or something unique for your apartment or house. It's so easy you can do this with kids, whether you are babysitting or have some of your own.
LET'S GET STARTED!!

Things you will need:
- paint chips in many colours (depends on what you want it to look like- these are free usually at any store that sells paint!)
-a frame in your preferred size
-glue
-a marker

Step 1:
The first thing you will want to do is cut apart the paint chips (unless they are already separate). Remember you will need enough to be able to cover the whole month. I had 42 squares - 7 across the top for the Days of the Week and 5 rows underneath for the each day in the month.

Step 2:
Once you have cut them out, take your frame and arrange the squares/rectangles. (Mine came out as rectangles). You can change the background color if you have a piece of paper the size of your frame in the color of your choice. I just used the back of the page that comes in the frame. I got the frame at the dollar store for 3 bucks. Once you have decided on an arrangement, start gluing the squares/rectangles down. Drawing lines on the paper in pencil may help with this. ** Also make sure you leave space to write the month**

Step 3:
Once you have completed gluing down the paint chips, you can erase the lines (if you made some) or you can take a black marker and go over them. Put the page back into the frame with the paint chip side facing towards the glass/plexi-glass. Close the frame up!

Step 4:
Now that it is complete, write the month and days of the week on the designated spots. I included a Notes section because I had some extra space! My frame was pretty big. Once you have done that, pair it with some cool coloured dry-erase markers. If you're giving it as a gift, wrap it up in a cool way!
HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

DIY Abbey Road Canvas

Hello all my fellow crafters!

Sorry I've been gone for so long. It's been a busy past few months. Hope you all have kept up with your crafting!
Today's DIY project is fairly easy! Let's get started!

Things you Need:
-canvas (size is your choice)
-paint (your choice) - I chose black and white!
-paintbrushes
-paper silhouettes of The Beatles

Step 1:
Print out the silhouettes in the size of your choice. Try not to make them too big though. You want it to be proportional to the canvas. Cut them out and tape them down to the canvas.

Step 2:
Next take the paint and paint around the silhouettes. Once you have painted around them, splatter the paint on the canvas. Let the canvas dry.

Step 3:
Once the canvas is dry, peel off the taped silhouettes. Some of the paint may have seeped under the paper silhouettes. You will need to touch it up with the white paint. Let it dry. You make need to do a couple of coats.

Step 4:
Once it is dry, seal it with a glossy sealer. Let that dry and you are finished!

I made this for my sister for Christmas. She loved it! Happy Crafting!!!!

DIY Bon Voyage Cake

Hello Everyone!

This post is my first posting about baking. At the end of August, I had a get together for a friend who was leaving to go to Korea to teach. This is the cake I made for the occasion.

Things you need:
-cake mix
-icing (2-3 cans)
-rice crispies square ingredients
-tooth picks
-paper flags
-mini paper airplane
-string
-tape

Step 1:
First thing you need to do is make the cake. Follow the instructions on the box and bake the cake.

Step 2:
Next make the rice crispie squares recipe. With some of the mix, you will need to make a round ball. This will become the earth.

Step 3:
Once the cake has cooled, you can ice the cake in any color you choose. Then take tooth picks and stick the earth onto the cake. The tooth picks will help it stay in place.

Step 4:
Once you have stuck the earth in the cake, you will need to ice it. I dyed white icing blue and then covered the round ball. Then I took the green icing I already had and made some land masses. I then stuck the paper flags in the rice crispie earth. The flags were the flags of Canada and South Korea. I then attached the mini paper airplane with string and tape.

Step 5:
Last, I wrote a Bon Voyage message on the cake! It turned out to be really good.

Happy Baking Crafters!

DIY Miss you card

Hello my fellow crafters! So sorry that I have been M.I.A. since the beginning of September. Having started Teacher's College has taken over my life so I haven't had time to post on here. Anyway, I'm going to be spending my time over the holidays posting ideas on here for you all! Hope you enjoy!

Today's idea is a card I made for a friend when she moved from Ottawa to Toronto to attend Teacher's College there. I found this idea online and decided to modify it a bit.

Things you will need:
-card stock in your preferred colors
-scrapbook paper scraps
-scissors
-sharpie
-string/ twine (optional)

Step 1:
First, you will want to fold the card stock in half. If you choose you can cut the card stock so that the corners are rounded.

Step 2:
Next you will want to draw silhouettes of owls. Cut them out and draw faces and wings on them. Then you can glue them onto the paper. If you would like you can use a string as a spot to place the owls. You can also chose to do something other than owls. It is entirely up to you. If you choose to do the string part, you will need to do this before the owls get glued on.

Step 3:
Next you will want to chose a font and draw the letters on the card. Then go over it with a sharpie. You can get sharpies in different colors from your local dollar store.

Step 4:
Next, write a message inside the card and let the glue on the owls dry. Voila! You have made your own card. Hope you have fun!

Happy Crafting!