Handprint Tree Paintings

If you've ever seen my Pinterest page, you know I have tons of recipes and crafts and inspirational pictures that I want to try. More than I could possibly actually do, but that's the great thing about Pinterest! Whenever I get the itch to do something different or crafty, or try a new recipe, I have an endless supply of inspiration that I already know I want to try.

This weekend, I decided it was time to try out one of the kids art projects I've had pinned for quite some time now; the Handprint Tree. I found it on Pinterest, but the pin only links back to an image so I have no idea where this idea originated from, but you can see the pin HERE.

The original project was done on canvas, but when I got to Hobby Lobby, I happened to see these awesome burlap frames that were painted white and they were fairly cheap so I snatched them up. Make these on whatever medium you happen to have or want. I think they'll turn out great on anything.

You'll need brown paint as well as two other complementary colors, something to paint on (canvas or something else), a brush, a pencil and possibly a stencil if you plan to write on the painting.

I let the kids choose their colors so of course Julia went immediately to the pink and purple. Damien tried to negotiate with me for a while, saying he'd only take one color so that we could get brown for the tree trunk. It took a while, but I finally got him to understand I was going to buy a brown paint anyway and he should definitely get two colors. What a sweetie. He ended up choosing autumn colors: yellow and orange.

When we got home, we went immediately to work. First up, tracing their hands and arms. Use a pencil and trace a light line around their forearm and hand. You'll be able to erase this later.

Once you have your tree traced out, you're ready to start painting. We went with Burnt Umber for our tree trunks and I think they turned out great. I did the tree trunks myself to ensure they were fairly true to the handprint and then I let the kids go crazy with their fingerprint leaves.

I let the tree trunk dry before I let the kids begin their painting, just to make sure nothing got smudged. Don't worry too much about being perfect. I think the imperfect, hand-painted look is part of the charm of this project.

Once the trunks are dry, I let the kids loose. I tried to encourage them to make beautiful patterns and evenly spaced leaves, just like the picture. I soon gave up and let them do whatever they wanted which is, of course, much better in the end.

After the leaves dried, I stenciled their name and the year on the painting. Let me just say that I am NOT a fan of stenciling. I had to let each letter dry before moving on to the next to make sure it didn't get smudged and the letters didn't really turn out as nicely as I'd hoped (mostly due to lack of patience I'm sure.) But in the end, I'm really very pleased with the result.

Damien had originally wanted me to alternate the yellow and orange paint for his name, but his mischievous little sister ruined that for him by smearing the wet paint and making it impossible for me to use the lighter colors, so I just finished it up with the brown. 

Julia's name ended up being a little crooked, but I'm ok with that too.

Here's the breakdown of how much this project cost (all from Hobby Lobby):

Burlap frame: $4.99
3 acrylic paints: $0.79 x 3 = 2.37
Stencil: $2.99
Total: $10.35 or less, if you already have paints and/or stencils.

Overall, a very easy project that I think will look great in their new rooms eventually =).

Girls Night In and Rag Wreaths

So I haven't written anything in FOREVER. But that's ok. I was busy. Busy making wreaths. Or something...

Two friends and I decided it would be fun to have a crafting night. Like many people, we have tons of craft ideas pinned to Pinterest, but haven't really gotten around to doing them. Well, last night was the night. We gathered our supplies, headed over to Nicole's house, ate pizza and crafted!

Our first project actually turned out really well. We made rag wreaths and I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how good they looked. You can find my pin to the original tutorial HERE, but I'm going to share our step by step as well.

You'll need:

A wreath form, any size
Several yards of fabric, depending on the size of your wreath form and the bulk of the fabric.
Ribbons, bows, flowers, etc, to embellish your wreath.


In preparation for the big night, I went to Joann's to pick out my fabric and wreath form. I knew I wanted my wreath to be Christmas-y, but I was a little daunted by all the different types and patterns of fabrics. I had picked out a nice green and a red/white polka dot fabric when I found the Christmas section. So I put those two back and picked an awesome Christmas plaid. However, when I got to the cutting station, the girl asked me what it was for. When I told her we were making rag wreaths, she said she'd made them before and I might have trouble with the knots holding because the fabric was so slippery. She suggested burlap, so off we went to look at the burlap. Ultimately, I decided on a pricey burlap with a silver sheen. I loved it but man, I definitely was not thrilled at the price ($12/yard). Luckily, I only needed 3/4 yard, but still...I was realllllly hoping this wreath turned out!

The first thing we did was cut our fabric into strips. With the burlap, the girl at Joann's suggested pulling out a string and then cutting along the empty space in order to prevent the burlap from fraying. After about 10 minutes and a few broken strings, I decided I really didn't care if it frayed and I was just going to cut it normally.

The tutorial suggested cutting it into 2 inch strips, but with how bulky the burlap was, there was just no way that was going to work, so I cut mine into 1 inch strips, and then I cut the strips into quarters. At this point, I began to realize the second downside of working with burlap, besides the price. It shed. A LOT. Not just frayed strings, but tiny particles that created a fine dust over the entire work surface. Burlap looks great and I'd use it again, but I would definitely be more prepared for the mess!

Nicole used a really nice off-white cotton fabric and Chrissy went with tulle and a green fabric.

Once all our strips were cut, it was time to start assembling the wreath. It's really easy, but time consuming. You basically tie all the strips onto the wreath form until the entire form is covered. Just fold the strip in half, loop it around one of the wires on the wreath form and pull the ends through the looped fabric. It's hard to explain, but easy to do.

If you're using one of those roller cutters, (which I highly recommend; they cut through even the burlap like butter!) be very careful. They're extremely sharp and I have the war wounds to prove it!

Part way done:

Nicole decided to add a pop of color to her wreath, but she didn't have the fabric on hand so she wasn't able to finish, but it's going to look amazing when she does! Chrissy isn't quite finished with hers either, but it's definitely coming together really nicely as well! I love the tulle!

Here is my finished product:

So after a great night of crafting, conversation and...consuming food...I got home. And then this happened...

I definitely recommend this project to anyone who wants something reasonably quick and easy. I think they look great and I'm definitely planning on making more. I really want to use the heart form like Chrissy did and maybe do some tulle with pink and red fabric for Valentine's Day. In the meantime, I'm already looking forward to our next crafting night. I'm probably going to be making a grapevine Christmas wreath and a calendar.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Edited: I've added the cost breakdown for the wreath for anyone interested.

Burlap: 1/2 yard @ 11.99/yrd @ Joann's
Cotton: 1/2 yard @ $2/yrd
Ribbon: 1/3 roll @ $1.49/roll @ Joann's
Pointsetta: $1.49 @ Joann's
Wreath Form: $1.49 @ Joann's

Total: $10.43

Christmas Baking

I'm not exactly a huge fan of cooking, but I love baking. This year, as we were tight on money, I decided to bake for friends and family in lieu of gifts. Well, I suppose I gifted baked goods! I just thought I'd share what I did.

The main thing was a red velvet cake in the shape of a Christmas tree thanks to a tin foil tree-shaped pan I got from Safeway. Honestly, I can't even call what I did baking. It was just too easy.

Yup. I used a box mix. Not only is this mix amazing, but I really, really needed the time I saved not mixing my own.

It's always helpful if you have a little cutie to clean the beaters for you...

Once the cakes are done baking (about 30 minutes in small pans like this), you have to cool them completely. I kept them out on the counter for 15 minutes, then froze them. You can just let them come to room temperature, but not only does freezing them drastically reduce the cooling time, it makes it a lot easier to frost and decorate later on. You don't really need to freeze them solid. Just make sure they're cool and firm.

Time to decorate! I ended up only needing 1 can of frosting, but depending on how much you love your frosting, it's safer to have two cans handy! I used cream cheese frosting and Duncan Hines makes an amazing cream cheese frosting! No cuties were available to lick the spoon when I was done, so I was forced to take the job upon myself. It was awful, but someone had to do it.

I sprinkled the cakes with green sugar to give it some tree-like color. I considered just tinting the frosting green, but I decided that it just wouldn't be a proper red velvet cake if it had green frosting. I also threw on some red sugar for excitement. I used red sparkle gel for the garland and my expensive blue sugar balls that my husband knocked off the counter and into the garbage the day after I bought them. I'm not bitter, but I'm really disappointed I only got to decorate three cakes with them, considering they cost $5! It's ok though. It was my fault for letting him into the kitchen in the first place!

The next thing I made was Peanut Butter Chocolate Almond Bark. You can't really call this baking either because it's so easy! Pour anywhere from a half of a bag to a full bag of milk chocolate chips into a foil-lined pan and then about a half to three-quarters of a bag of peanut butter chips on top of that. Stick the pan into a pre-heated oven (about 350 is what I did) and let it melt for a few minutes. You'll know it's ready when the chips still hold their form, but are pretty shiny. Take the pan out of the oven and swirl a knife through the chips to get your pattern.

Sprinkle toasted almonds on top while the chocolate is still hot and melted and bang the pan on the counter a few times to get the almonds to settle into the chocolate. You can toast almonds really easily by laying them out on a pan and putting them in the oven for a few minutes. You'll know they're ready because they'll start to smell really good. Scientific, I know. Put the pan in the fridge for an hour or so to harden the chocolate, then break it all apart and package it. Try not to eat too much between the pan and the package, even though it's really really hard to resist. 

I just lined a really cute gift box with wax paper. This really needs to be refrigerated, or else the chocolate gets a little soft and you might end up with a mess. Incidentally, you'll want to refrigerate a red velvet cake as well, if you frosted it in cream cheese frosting. You can take it out of the fridge about an hour before serving to bring it up to room (aka, yummy) temperature. 

The last thing I did, which was not baking at all, was make candy sleighs. These are so easy to make (are you sensing a pattern here?) and I think they're just adorable.

I found an image for these on Pinterest but when I clicked through, it went to a blog called Just Say Sew and I couldn't find the candy sleighs anywhere on her site, so I don't know if credit belongs to her or who came up with these clever little sleighs. Either way, it was really easy to figure out how to make simply based on the picture. Glue dots are your best friend here. Don't listen to naysayers who say it's cheating (CHRIS). It's not. Use those little Hershey's Nuggets candy bag, 2 candy canes and a Kit Kat. 

Put glue dots on each of the bottom corners of the Kit Kat bar and attach the candy canes. 

Stack those bad boys in the shape of a pyramid, using glue dots to hold it all together, then wrap it in ribbon. Easy peasy!

Work in progress...

All done! Six candy sleighs all in a row. I really like these little things and I'll definitely be making them again next year. 

So that's what I made this year. I also cross stitched a little Santa Claus ornament for my tree, but never got a chance to finish it, so that will be hanging on my tree next year. I'm debating leaving my Christmas decorations up until after New Years, but honestly, I've had them up since the middle of November and I'm ready to get back to normal, so I guess it's off to tear down Christmas for me!