Gnomes on a Log

Do you love garden gnomes as much as we do? I thought so! Well now that we have been outside so much in this beautiful weather, those little guys are popping up everywhere to welcome us. Gabriel & I created & painted four cuties sitting on a log to keep inside our home. It was so easy & fun!

And they are "playable"... They come off the "log" & are their own little figurines.

Materials:

1. 2 paper towel tubes
2. 1 piece of paper
3. paint
4. scissors
5. school glue

Cut one of the paper towel tubes into four equal pieces. On the other tube, trace four circles uses the end of one of the tube pieces (the bottom of a to be gnome). Carefully cut out these traced circles- you have the "seats" for the four gnomes. 

Take the piece of paper & cut out four circles for the "hats". Turn them into cone shapes & glue one onto each of the four "gnome" pieces. Cut out four "faces" out of the same paper & decorate them. 

Paint your gnomes & the log; allow to dry. Glue the paper faces onto the gnomes. Seat the four little guys in their log & play! 

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my Food Blog: DeLish

Bottle Cap Magnets

Recently a friend of ours gave Gabriel some very much appreciated hand-me-down clothes along with a stack of magazines… Ranger Rick, Highlights & Nick Jr. from when her son was younger. Gabriel took to each magazine like each was a new book. And I was surprised to see him focus on the Dora the Explorer items most of all in the Nick Jr. Magazines. Why? Well, we limit his TV time to mostly Sesame Street & Jack’s Big Music Show. Television is sensory-overload for our tot.  So I am not sure if Dora’s cute face beckoned Gabriel from the pages or what, but I allowed him to watch the show. And lo & behold, in his little rambling voice… he “answered” her questions. Whoa. This was a huge step for us… Needless to say, I have become a Dora fan.
 
Saying all that, you’ll know why I chose this “A-Dora-Ble” craft to highlight her. I was Pin-spired by The Creative Salad’s bottle-cap magnet post (are YOU on Pinterest? No? You should be especially if you are reading a craft blog!)  And I had already been collecting bottle caps… so this came about…

Bottle Cap Magnets

Step~X~Step

Self-adhesive craft magnets! I love these because they are easy to cut with scissors & they are thin. They also adhere well. Parents, PLEASE glance at this article on the danger of magnets for children.

& Good 'ol bottle caps. Mine are a collection from our office, where in our lobby, Think Coffee sells Boylan soda:

Small stickers... Ours, starring that famous bilingual gal of the small screen. Place one sticker inside the cap. Then, "paint" over the sticker using homemade

glue/sealer/finish (see below, also known as "modge podge")

Did you know that homemade "modge podge" is a 50% school, white glue to 50% water ratio? I did... 2 "drops" of water + 2 "drops" of white glue=

Allow to dry well... 

Almost done!!! Uh oh... Watch out for Swiper!

Time for GLITTER FUN! Yes, I said glitter & fun in the same sentence. Yes, I am a mom... ha ha... Want to lessen the mess? Use glitter glue pens like these:

Dab the glitter glue on top of the sealed stickers & around the fluted edge of the cap... Allow to dry, AND...

Now you have a new, fun, one-of-a-kind set of magnets... Oh, again, watch out, ¡cuidado! ~ Swiper!

Teacher Appreciation

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week!

So please show those teachers in your life, past & present, how much they have affected you! I want Gabriel to always be thankful for the good in his life & I try to instill this gratification by example. I always thank people who mean a lot to me, as should he… And I am very thankful for the teacher in his life now…

So over the weekend we crafted this Popsicle Stick Flower Box for Mrs. V. We sure hope she loves it as much as I love the way Gabriel giggles at the feel of the tackiness of the school glue on his fingers! 

Popsicle Stick Flower Box

 

MATERIALS NEEDED:  

Popsicle Sticks, buttons, craft “grass” or Easter basket grass, a small box or plastic planter & letters. Many times  I repurpose anything I can find for these projects.  

For each flower, you will need 4 popsicle sticks. We used pre-colored sticks but of course, you can also use wood-hewn ones.

Step~X~Step

 Take the first 2 sticks & make an “X” . Where the 2 sticks meet in the middle of the “X”, dollop a spot of school glue, then affix the 2 sticks.

On the middle of the “X”, dollop another spot of school glue, then affix the 3^rd stick.

Allow the “Flower” part of the craft to dry…

When thoroughly dried & adhered… dollop a spot of school glue to the middle of the back of the flower then affix the “stem” popsicle stick (we used a green one here). Allow to dry.

When affixed/dried, place a dollop of school glue in the middle of the FRONT of the flower, then affix a craft button… Decorate with glitter glue!

For the box part,we re-purposed this cool piece of cardboard (it inspired me to begin with because it looked like a flower box!) from the packaging of our Ipad:

 

  For the “grass” we used this scrunchy craft  tissue but you can also used scraps of shredded paper painted green or Easter grass. 

Then we (school)glued the stems of our flowers CAREFULLY to one side of the box.And allowed it to dry. Then glued it AGAIN.

Finally, we added a personal touch using adhesive felt letters.

We think it is beautiful.

What do you think?

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my food blog DeLish for some yummy recipes.