Valentines: Felt Hair Clips and Bracelet

Lucy and I had a lot of fun making these fun Valentine accessories together. I found the inspiration here and bought my supplies at our local Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

This project was also one of our February Advent Calender activities.

Felt Heart Bracelet

Materials:

Felt bracelet 

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Felt hearts

Arrange them how you want, then hot glue them on!

So stylin'!

Heart Clip

Materials:
Stiff felt glitter heart
Hair clip
Scissors
Red and white felt
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Snip small hole for hair clip to slide through.

Slip clip through and set aside for later.

Cut a small square of white to make lace trim around heart. Use scissors to create bumps all the way around the heart.

Use hot glue to glue white backing onto glitter heart.

Get clip with the plain heart back and glue felt hearts together using glue gun. 

Rose clip

Materials:

Hair clip

Felt rose

Green felt

Scissors

Hot glue gun and glue

Popsicle stick for pressing felt into crevices of clip while gluing 

Start by cutting a strip of green felt that matches the width and length of the entire clip. Glue it to the starting spot and slowly hot glue it to the clip a little at a time so that the glue will be smooth and won't cool too soon for you to press the felt into it.

Use the popsicle stick to press the felt into the hot glue in the tight corners and trim any extra felt off with scissors.

Clip should be entirely covered with green felt and able to open and close. Now hot glue the felt rose onto the clip and you are done!

February: Activity and Service Advent Calendar

Since Lucy and I had so much fun our December Advent Calender, I decided to make one for February too.

Unfortunately, so far we have had to rearrange most of the activities because Lucy got RSV and we have all been under the weather.

I made a simple paper chain again and if we don't get to the activities on that days link we just set it aside and eventually we accomplish it and throw it away once we have. 


Here is the list of fun activities and acts of service for the month of February!

		Activity	Service
Fri.	Feb. 1	XOX necklace	Give dad a massage
Sat	Feb. 2	Make popcorn- watch movie	Put clean clothes away
Sun	Feb. 3	Make cards- TP roll heart stamps	Sing Lucy a song
Mon	Feb. 4	Write love letters	Sing dad a song
Tue	Feb. 5	Make heart apples	Switch linen and game closets
Wed	Feb. 6	Make heart hair clips	Make all the beds
Thu	Feb. 7	Homemade Heart Pizza	Put away dishes
Fri	Feb. 8	Cupid's Floats	Organize Lucy's bathroom
Sat	Feb. 9	Family Dance Party	Dust the living room
Sun	Feb. 10	Play a game with dad	Give dad a kiss
Mon	Feb. 11	Hot Apple Cider Tea Party	Wash glass door windows
Tue	Feb. 12	LOVE: Large Artwork	Sing mom a song
Wed	Feb. 13	Paint Nails	Put away games
Thu	Feb. 14	Have breakfast for dinner	Give mom a massage
Fri	Feb. 15	Blanket Fort	Clean the fridge, oven, etc.
Sat	Feb. 16	Go on a picnic!	Clean side of bed
Sun	Feb. 17	Sing Primary songs	Give mom a kiss
Mon	Feb. 18	Make chore chart	Clean out car
Tue	Feb. 19	Plant a garden!	Organize shoe rack
Wed	Feb. 20	Decorate marshmellows	Put away shoes
Thu	Feb. 21	Sidewalk chalk	Wipe down toilets
Fri	Feb. 22	Scrapbook	Organize coat closet
Sat	Feb. 23	Go to the park	Empty trashes
Sun	Feb. 24	Hide and Seek	Give Lucy a kiss
Mon	Feb. 25	ABC Blocks	Clean bathroom
Tue	Feb. 26	Make homemade bread	Give Lucy a massage
Wed	Feb. 27	Butterfly Dome	Wipe down door handles
Thu	Feb. 28	Donation Drop Off	Clean kitchen chairs

Snow Day!

It seems like it has snowed at least once every winter since we have moved to west Texas, and I love it! 

This was our annual snowfall for this year. I love how much brighter it makes the inside of our home with all the light reflecting off the white outside. 

Chalkboard Art: January

Here it is! My first attempt at chalk lettering. 

Board primed and ready to go.

Staring it off, trying to get spacing and lettering right.

Using my computer for references. 

Chalk and white chalk pencil from my head and figure drawing classes. Is it nupastel?

Taking it's rightful place in our home.

Things I learned:

1. While drawing use a rag in your non-drawing hand to brace against the board, so that your hand/fingers won't leave prints/dark spots.

2. Use references for fonts and drawings- duh.

3. Use a ruler.

4. Plan letter and word spacing better next time.

5. Take a picture and look at it on your computer before deciding if it is really done yet or not. It was easier to see the imperfections in a picture than in real life because it gave me some distance and I could see all of it at once.

How To: Make A Framed Chalkboard

For my list of fun goals for the year I revisited one I never accomplished last year and tweaked it a bit. I was inspired by one of my friends from my college art classes and really look forward to drawing more this year as I loved doing my sketch book 2-day draw last year.

Here is the first step to accomplishing it!

"#2:  Chalkboard frame and drawings:

This is a re-visit of a project I wanted to accomplish last year, my "create a masterpiece". Because I could never decide what to paint over the thrifted painting I bought, I finally decided I want to paint over it with chalkboard paint and do chalkboard drawings on it throughout the year. This also gives me the chance to exercise my drawing skills, which I am excited to do again."

Here are the steps to making your own framed chalkboard!

Materials:

1. Framed thrifted painting

2. Chalkboard paint

3. Foam rollers and tray

4. Butter knife

5. Paint stirrer

6. Chalk and rag for erasing

Buy a large framed art piece at a thrift store.

Use butter knife to bend staples on the back away from the backing so that you will be able to remove the painting.

Set up painting area. Read directions on chalkboard paint can to make sure you are in the correct temperature recommended for painting etc.

First coat of paint

This is the first coat drying. Read directions on paint can to know how long to wait between coats.

Second or third coat. I would recommend using a wider sponge roller than I did so that you can paint each coat quicker and have less areas of texture where the paint started to dry too fast. 

After letting the paint dry for three days (as per directions on can) I conditioned the board by covering it with chalk, using the wide side and then erasing it all off. This leaves a coat of chalk that provided for the best erasability. 

After being conditioned and erased- ready for a drawing!

Frame waiting for it's new chalkboard.

Insert chalkboard face down and use butter knife to press back down the frame staples to hold board in place.

Ready for a drawing!

Things I learned:

1. If the chalkboard paint looks uneven while drying- it is. Repaint it if you want it to look smooth.

2. For smoother paint job, get a bigger sponge roller.

3. Sanding the dried paint with fine grit sandpaper didn't fix the problem of unevenness. But maybe it helped?

4. Once board is conditioned and a drawing is on it, you don't really notice the board imperfections.


I am excited about this project and am really looking forward to doing some drawings!