Friday 16 December 2011

Christmas Bulbs


The kids and I decorated Christmas bulbs!

I bought a package of 6 ready to paint glass bulbs at a craft store in Vaughn Mall.  I think they may have been primed because they had a cream matte finish.  So I bought red, white and gold acrylic paint and we went to town.


To start I swirled some gold metallic paint around the bulb with my hands to give the bulb a nice background tone.



Oliver's were easy!  And he loved it... he loves anything to do with getting his hands dirty.  The easiest way I could get most of his hand print on the bulb without smudging was if I let him hold the buld in his palms with both hands.  We practised a few times and then he helped me paint his fingers and palms.  I told him to open his hands then I rested the buld in his hands and let him hold it for a few seconds.  I told him to let go and then I set them out to dry.




Opal's on the other hand... were a very different story.  Foot prints for young ins are not easy as it is... try it on a bulb and it just gets harder... try a hand print on a bulb!  It can't be done!  So we did her foot print.  But not without a few failed attempts.  Once with red paint which I swirled around with my hands to blend in and once with white paint.  Finally Hubby had to step in and we pulled it off!

Once they were dry I used permanent marker to write the year and their names on and tied some bronze coloured ribbon in a bow at the top.  We made 6 bulbs, I kept a set for myself and we gave my parents (Nana & Papa) and Hubby's parents (Grandma & Grandpa) a set for Christmas.




They All Loved Them!

Be inspired...

Get Creative!

Saturday 10 December 2011

Reindeer Foot and Hand Prints

The kids and I were busy today creating!  My Hubby brought home a giant roll of brown paper the other day for our Christmas gifts.  I thought it would be cute to decorate the paper with Christmas themed hand and feet prints of the kids.  So to practise we made reindeer faces with their hands and feet and ended up with a keepsake on canvas.




What we used:
13`` by 21`` white canvas
beige acrylic paint
brown acrylic paint
black acrylic paint
red acrylic paint
paper plates
permanent marker

Their feet are the faces and their hands made the antlers.  Then we used their thumbs to make the eyes and nose.  Using only THEIR hand, foot and thumbs for THEIR individual reindeer ensured that the reindeer features looked proportioned.  Then I just wrote with permanent marker the year and their names beside each face.  Simple right! 

I soon realised that hand prints with young kiddies can be tricky.  I wasn't intentionally planning on writing Reindeer at the bottom but my son got carried away with his finger painting and we ended up with a blob of beige paint at the bottom of the canvas.  So I made it into a large R and wrote eindeer beside it and I think it looks really cute! 

Now we have a super adorable painting keepsake that I can bring out every year and show off too our family and friends! 

I hope you enjoyed this quick post...

Be inspired...
Get Creative!