Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my beautiful amazing wife, Michelle.  Everyday is more special because of you!  

Here is a cake I made for her, not the best but it is her favorite "mythical" beast.

Easy Easter Sign

So hard to believe that Easter is right around the corner. Hover the past 3 weeks I have been working on a project with my niece and nephew for this beautiful time of year.

Items needed:

Wood (or cardboard)

Glue

White paper with a rabbit pattern

Cotton balls

Glitter (any color will work)

String (yarn, ribbon, or string)

I had two small pieces of wood line around I thought would be fun to use for small project.  A few days before I worked on the project with the kids I painted wood black to help make the project that we were going to do stand out a little better.  

After the wood was painted I had the kids each pick out a color of glitter that they really enjoyed luckily I have a huge selection of Martha Stewart glitter but any glitter color work for this, once they pick out the colors I wrote in glue Happy Easter and then they were able to sprinkle glitter onto that part.  

Next I printed out some egg patterns in addition to two plain rabbits I also put out some plain white paper to let the kids choose what they want to color.  I was lucky that the kids each chose rabbits and I let them glue the rabbits and then we added cotton balls on top of the rabbits to make it look like fur. Glue is fun and my two kids really loved it, so our project took a while to dry.  Once the glue dried and the cotton balls secure, the kids drizzled some more glitter on top of the cotton balls.  And the sprinkled whatever color the wanted.  Then the rabbits were glued to the wood.  I used twine to hang our Easter decoration, but you can use anything such as yarn, string or ribbon.

This was such a cute project, even if you don't have any wood, use cardboard.

Happy Easter!!

Happy New Year

It's hard to believe it is now 2014, where did 2013 go?  I have some big plans for 2014, not only for this blog but also for our website www.seasonalwonder.com.  Stay tuned and Happy New Year!!

Halloween Window Decoration

I hang up a skeleton in my kitchen window that lights up from the kitchen light in the evening. My nephew loves it, so I told him we could make one for his window that is similar.

Items needed:

-wax paper

-orange paint and a paint brush

-scissors

-an optional item is glitter

Lay out some old newspaper on the table just in case the wax paper has a tear in it.  Then lay out a long strip of wax paper.  I squirted some paint onto the wax paper and the kids painted the wax paper. Believe it or not, but the kids spent 20 minutes painting the wax paper.  I then let them sprinkle some glitter on the paint.  It took about 2 hours for the paint to dry.  Depending on the kids ages, either they can cut out a pumpkin shape or you can help them with it.  If you want you can even cut out a mouth and eyes.  These look great taped to your windows, you can see them during the day and night they create a spooky silhouette.

Happy Halloween

Fall Craft / Greeting Card

So of course it's been a while since I have posted anything fun, mostly because I have been busy.  Today  I am going to post two great fall art projects.

The first one is a great leaf shadow art project.  As you are out taking a walk with the kids, search for a variety of leaves.  Out here in Arizona our leaf selection is limited, which is why we pretty much used small leaves.  

Have the kids tape some of their leaves down on a piece of paper and then place another piece of paper on top of the leaves.  The paper they place down on top of the leaves can be any color, however white works the best.

Then I gave the kids fall crayon colors, of course the kids can use whatever they wanted.  As the kids look the sheet the leaf pattern will begin to show up, very clearly including all the veins of the leafs.  You can then have the kids write a special note to a loved one and then let them mail their special greeting. Such a great art project and fall greeting card as well. 

Fun Summer Birdhouse

My nephew has been wanting to make a birdhouse for a while.  So I wanted to create one where he could paint it and yet it could withstand the summer temps out here.  So I saved a gallon water container and let him paint it.  

While it was drying, we went and picked a twig from outside.  When it was finally dry I cut two larger openings on each side where the bird seed could go, and then I cut two smaller holes right below the larger opening so that the twig could go right through.  The twig would become the perch for the birds.

And then to finish it,I attached a small chain to the lid of the water container, of course if you don't have a small chain, rope or even a strong ribbon will work.  Such a great project for kids of any age, and if you don't have any birdseed around the house the neighborhood birds will love some day old bread.

Easy Father's Day Craft

I did something really easy with the kids this week.  At the bottom of some white printer paper the saying, Happy Father's Day 2013.  Then my nephew painted his palm and placed it on the paper, this would represent a trees branches.  Then he took some brown pain and painted a trunk.  The next day my niece did not want to paint, instead she used color markers and made a "rainbow".  When it was completed I placed the finished picture inside a magnetic picture frame, which I purchased at Walmart for $1.00.

This is an easy gift idea from the kids, and one where a dad, grandpa our uncle can hang anywhere and enjoy year round.

Happy Father's Day!