Paper Bag Pumpkins - Revisited

{This was originally posted in October of 2009 but is one of my posts that generates the most hits! I thought I'd share it again, for anyone who missed it last year :)}

This was such a simple and fun craft to do with my 3 yr old and would be a great craft for kids of all ages. Here's how we created these adorable fall decorations.

Supplies:

- Orange Paint (I buy large bottles of Tempera paint in primary colors and then just mix the paint to create the desired color -- in this case we mix the red & yellow in a muffin tin to make orange)

- Paint brushes

- Scissors

- Paper bags (2 bags for each pumpkin) - I used lunch bags but you could make large pumpkins with paper grocery bags.

- newspaper

- rubber bands (at least 1 for each pumpkin, but I used 5 for each pumkin - explained below)

- Green cardstock (I used 1 sheet of 12x12) you could also use green paint instead.

Tear newspaper into strips.

Open a paper bag and insert a second paper bag into the first one so you bags are now doubled up. This makes them more durable and if one bag tears it won't show.

Fill paper bag about 1/2 - 2/3 full with newspaper. Press the newspaper down as you go, so that your pumpkin will be "full".

Gather the top of the bag and wrap a rubber band around the top several times, to create the stem of your pumpkin.

Now wrap another rubber band around the top 1 time, then pull the rubber band down around the bottom of the bag as shown. Optional: Continue doing this with 4 more rubber bands and arrange them somewhat evenly around the bag to create the ridges of the pumpkin. I like this step because it gives the pumpkins a more realistic shape and look when finished.

Paint the base of the bag orange.

Leave the pumpkins to dry overnight. Once dry, cut the stem of your pumpkin to the desired length.

Tear a strip of green cardstock and wrap it around the stem of the pumpkin. Glue the end of the paper to the stem. Then tear or cut out a leaf shape and glue it to the stem. If you are using green paint, you would paint the stem green.

Proudly display your new fall decorations!

Easel/Art Station

Here it is...This is what I did with that polka-dot vinyl. When most people are laid up with the flu they sleep. They worry about what e-mails and unfinished tasks await them when they return to work. They worry about housework piling up. But, when craft addicts have the flu, they lay in bed and plan their next craft project. That's what I did when I was hit with a flu bug a few weeks ago. And when I shared my idea with my husband, he rolled his eyes. When my ideas became more elaborate, he went to Home Depot with me and helped with the construction of the art station. And Taylor LOVES it.

I've always wanted her to have an easel, but I just couldn't justify the cost and the space it would take up. Creating an art station with storage for art supplies and a table top easel was the perfect solution. The white shelf and cubby are from Target. The tabletop easel is from Michael's. It's $19.99 and of course I used a coupon and got 40% off. The easel comes unfinished, so I had hubby spray paint it a sunny yellow. I'm really loving yellow, lately. such a happy color!

This is a drying rack that we added for her paintings. It's made from a wire shelf from Home Depot that was less than $5. Hubby attached it with hooks and then created the bar mechanism to hold it up.

Handmade storage boxes using foam core covered with the vinyl to hold her paper.

The folded vinyl beside it is a drop cloth.

And more storage boxes to hold pads of paper and other supplies.

It will live in our kitchen but the lighting is better in this area for photos.

Hubby added casters to the bottom so it can easily be rolled from room to room and even outside. The casters have brakes to hold it in place when in use. The vinyl makes everything wipeable for easy clean-up and worry free creating!

I'm linking to Show off Your Stuff at Blue Cricket Design

Art Supplies for Preschoolers...

pssst.....this post is a little bit of a hint as to what I'm creating with that polka dot fabric I posted about! We're working on it and hopefully it will be ready to post in the next few days! Stay tuned!

Looking for an awesomely inspiring blog to get you creating with your kids?

Check out Pink and Green Mama! I've come across her blog before and I was reminded today of how much I love her blog and her creative ideas.

She has a post on her favorite art supplies for preschoolers (and she also has one for toddlers and one for school aged kids, too!)

I've been doing a lot of crafting on my own lately while Taylor does her drawing. I need some fresh ideas to get us crafting together again, and this blog is exactly what I needed today!

What are some of you favorite blogs to get your creative juices flowing with your kids?

My little artist!

Taylor is becoming quite the little artist with a love for drawing. The picture above is a "dinosaur that flies" (her words!). Thus, it's a drawing of a pterodactyl. I think the inspiration for this piece was an episode of Caillou. She drew it in early January (just before we moved, hence the big pile 'o stuff behind her).

She drew this a couple of weeks ago. This is her first drawing of a person with both a head and a body. Prior to this, she was drawing people with their legs and hands coming out of their heads. This is the typical progression of children's drawings, but I think her drawing is a little advanced. Color me impressed.

And this one totally blew us away! When she finished it, she said it's a dolphin. She later said it's a whale. It definitely looks like a whale, don't you think? I'm just amazed at her level of patience to be able to sit and draw this with a pencil and color it all in. The only time she'll still still for very long is when she's got a pencil or a crayon in her hand.

Thanks for letting me brag a little about my little artist :)

Tissue Paper Decoupaged Picture Frame

Taylor made this picture frame for Daddy's birthday back in September and I'm just now getting around to posting it.

I know I say this about most of my tutorials, but this is a super simple, easy, fun, inexpensive project. My daughter LOVES to play with glue. I have been known to give her a full bottle of white glue and some paper and other bits and have her sit at her table in the craft room, and empty the whole bottle and just play with it however she chooses (keeping it confined to the table, of course). It drives my husband crazy but is one of the best ways to keep her occupied!

Anyway, I knew she would love decoupage with her love of glue! So I decided this was the perfect project to create for Daddy.

Set up: Tear bits of tissue paper in desired colors. Pour white glue or Mod Podge into a small container.

Process: Have your child brush glue onto the frame,

then press tissue paper onto the frame, then brush another layer of glue.

Let dry.

It doesn't matter how "messy" it looks, the finished product will look beautiful!

These are on our holiday gift list, too!

Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft Featured

I'm so happy to announce that my paper bag pumpkin craft is featured today over at The Crafty Crow! I love The Crafty Crow and get sooo much inspiration from the amazing projects featured there. Thanks for collecting all the kids' crafts, Cassi! I hope my paper bag pumpkin inspires others to get crafty, too! If you're visiting me today because you found me through The Crafty Crow, thanks for stopping by!

Sit back with a cup of coffee (or whatever your drink of choice) and take a peek into my crafty little life! :)

Painting with Veggies!

I cleaned out the fridge earlier this week and when I gathered these veggies that were well beyond their prime, I remembered a Toddler Art Party that my mom's group did when our kids were around 18 mos old. The host of the party set up a free painting area and had all kinds of veggies for the kids to paint with. I decided to do this again with Taylor. She loved it!

Basically, I just covered 2 cookie sheets with foil, laid out the cut fruits and veggies on one of the cookie sheets and put puddles of paint on the other cookie sheet. As always, we used our muffin tin to mix our paint colors. Then Taylor chose her fruits/veggies and dipped them in the puddle of paint, then stamped then onto the paper. By the end of her art session she was using the veggies as "brushes" and dragging them in various ways on her paper.

Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft

This was such a simple and fun craft to do with my 3 yr old and would be a great craft for kids of all ages. Here's how we created these adorable fall decorations.

Supplies:

- Orange Paint (I buy large bottles of Tempera paint in primary colors and then just mix the paint to create the desired color -- in this case we mix the red & yellow in a muffin tin to make orange)

- Paint brushes

- Scissors

- Paper bags (2 bags for each pumpkin) - I used lunch bags but you could make large pumpkins with paper grocery bags.

- newspaper

- rubber bands (at least 1 for each pumpkin, but I used 5 for each pumkin - explained below)

- Green cardstock (I used 1 sheet of 12x12) you could also use green paint instead.

Tear newspaper into strips.

Open a paper bag and insert a second paper bag into the first one so you bags are now doubled up. This makes them more durable and if one bag tears it won't show.

Fill paper bag about 1/2 - 2/3 full with newspaper. Press the newspaper down as you go, so that your pumpkin will be "full".

Gather the top of the bag and wrap a rubber band around the top several times, to create the stem of your pumpkin.

Now wrap another rubber band around the top 1 time, then pull the rubber band down around the bottom of the bag as shown. Optional: Continue doing this with 4 more rubber bands and arrange them somewhat evenly around the bag to create the ridges of the pumpkin. I like this step because it gives the pumpkins a more realistic shape and look when finished.

Paint the base of the bag orange.

Leave the pumpkins to dry overnight. Once dry, cut the stem of your pumpkin to the desired length.

Tear a strip of green cardstock and wrap it around the stem of the pumpkin. Glue the end of the paper to the stem. Then tear or cut out a leaf shape and glue it to the stem. If you are using green paint, you would paint the stem green.

Proudly display your new fall decorations!

Flower Prints

I was inspired by this post and knew exactly what I was going to do with some flowers we had that were beyond their prime. I realized in writing this post, that The Artful Parent used watercolors for the prints. We used acrylic paint. I let Taylor use my acrylics a while ago to make a gift (which I haven't posted yet because the recipient hasn't recieved it yet!) and she always wants to use my acrylics now. So, that's what we used. The pictures show the process. She made some really great prints and I plan to make notecards out of them.