Tutorial: Valentine Foam Heart Frame

 

In February, it is my month to host our neighborhood music/play group, so I have been trying to decide what the crafts will be. We tested this one today to make a sample. It is the cutest little Valentine frame that is so easy and fun! Ruthie loved it, and now I have a handmade frame that I love too!

Here are the supplies I gathered:

• Foam hearts (this box cost about $5 at Walmart, and I'm sure there will be plenty of hearts for all the kids in playgroup)
• Cardboard or foam core
• Craft knife
• Picture
• Thick book for cutting on
• Pen

The first part of this activity must be done by you, the adult. You need to make the structure of the frame, and then the kids can attach the foam hearts.

First I traced the picture onto the foam core to make the structure of the frame. You can use the photo you plan to place in your frame, or a sample photo. I used a 4x6, but any size will work. Trace it so that the board is about 1/2 inch thick. There is not a perfect size, it just needs to be thick enough to hold the picture, but thin enough that it is easy to cover will foam hearts.

Then place the board on top of your thick book and use the craft knife to cut out the rectangle.

 

Next, cut out the inside of the frame. IMPORTANT: don't cut it exactly over the traced line, cut a little bit inside the line. Remember that you are putting a photo behind it, so there needs to be an edge to sick the photo to. It is not crucial to get the lines perfect though, they will be covered by the hearts and won't be seen anyway. - This is good for me because my cutout was less than beautiful! I couldn't find my X-acto knife to save my life, so I had to use a box cutter.

These are foam stickers, so this project is super easy! And the hearts are 4 different sizes.

After you have made the frame structure, let the kids go to town with the foam hearts! And I mean go to town! Ruthie wanted to load her frame up with hearts! I eventually had to stop her, but I gave her the piece that was cut out of the middle of the frame and let her continue sticking hearts!

 

Here is her finished plaque! She said she made the frame for herself, and the plaque for me! We put the frame on the wall in her room, and the plaque on he wall in my room! She was so thrilled with herself!

 

Here is the frame Ruthie made. I did help to keep her from putting all of the hearts in the same place, but she had a blast and I love it!

 

 

We put our frame and plaque up on the wall. I use Command Velcro strips a lot, especially for things that don't weigh a lot. They work perfectly for these Valentine frames.

 

I think this activity will work well with a bunch of 3 year olds, what do you think? They would also make great grandparent gifts.

 

-Anne

 

 

Spin Art

I saw some "spin art" a while back on Pinterest. One of those posts that has a million toddler crafts etc. So, since then,  I've seen different types of spin art all over the place, all of which looked fun and really easy. Easy is good, because Little Miss Ruthie gets distracted easily, so when we do crafts it's best to just get it over with!

 What you need:
paint
paper or paper plates
salad spinner
dropper (optional)
water (we used a spray bottle)
tape

 

Basic Instructions: cut your paper or paper plate to fit inside the salad spinner. You may want to tape it down to keep it secure. Drip multiple colors of paint onto the middle of the plate. The picture will look the best if you make sure to drop it right in the middle. It also helps a lot to use quite a lot of paint. Put on the lid and spin!

 

 

We did a little trial and error and came up with a way that worked great for us. We used Crayola washable paints. I ALWAYS use washable paint with my kids, because they ALWAYS manage to get it somewhere, even if they are covered up. This is why:

I let her paint, ran upstairs, came back to
this! But it all came off in the bath. Thank
you washable paint!

So, after giving it a try, our paint seemed a little too thick to really spin out well. So I sprayed the paper plate with water, and we used the dropper to drop globs of paint onto the paper. We also used the dropper to drop extra water over the paint, this seemed to help get it nice and runny. When we spun the salad spinner this time, we got some great results! Another tip: when I made my own, I actually spun the paint, then I dropped on more paint and spun it again. I liked it that way. I must admit, I was probably more excited about the finished product than Ruthie was, but she had a great time with the process, which is the important part!

 

The blue and red one was he first one we tried, before we
started using the water. As you can see, the paint was just
too thick, and it didn't move.

-Anne

Happy New Year!

It is 30 minutes till midnight on January 1st. I was just about to hit the sack when I said to myself, "Self, is it a good time to start writing a blog?" And myself replied, "It's January 1st. This is the perfect time to start writing a blog!"

So here we go. I'm not one for setting resolutions. Mainly because I'm terrible at following through with them. But I might as well set a resolution for my blog, and that is simply to write it! :) I think I can manage that! My goal is to occasionally post about projects that I finish. The wheels in my head are constantly turning, but I have too many wheels. Too many interests, and I get distracted and I can't finish projects I start. So if I make it a goal to post projects on this blog, hopefully it will encourage me to follow through with them. (And as part of another resolution - to spend less money - my husband kindly suggested I use up some of the crafting materials I already have hoarded stashed away in my "collections")

So let's see what I can accomplish this week, shall we? :) Wish me luck, and I wish you all luck on your New Years resolutions!  

-Anne