More recycled art

Oh yeah, besides the robot and felting going on....Lil' Mermaid also worked on her recycled art project for Fair. I had found this cool little tutorial for a small tin can art project and showed it to Lil' Mermaid. She showed her dad and off they went out into the garage to pound a coffee can flat.



Then he gave her the glue gun and the drill and away she went....




Here it is completed:




You can see she grabbed little bits from here and there...she says it is a wall hanging vase holding flowers.



Her "flowers" are quite creative, I thought.






My favorite bits are these dolphin beads she glued in a circle and the totally random green die.


What imagination that girl has!

Watercolors on wood

More pre-Fair crafty ideas. We saw these cool wood coins on Fun in the Making, via The Crafty Crow. So I had Ross cut me a few wood rounds from our cherry tree after he did some limbing. Then I thought this might be a cool idea for a nature craft for one of the kids for Fair. So Hot Rod cut some "coins" from juniper branches on his own and decided to paint them.



He used non-toxic Prang watercolors and made a rainbow spiral, a volcano and Scooby Doo (for his little sister who is obsessed with Scooby Doo).



This one is my favorite because you KNOW I LOVE rainbows!



And the aforementioned little sister saw us painting and demanded to paint as well. Her brother found her a chunk of wood and she created this beautiful piece of art:



I had to get in on this too. (Because really, we all know the only reason my kids get to do so much arts & crafts is because I AM OBSESSED). Found me a chunk of wood and made a colorful statement.



Don't you just LOVE simple crafts that turn out beautifully?

Felted Geodes

When I saw some photos on-line at Spin or Dye with these cool felted balls cut in half....I knew that this would be a project for Hot Rod. So, after the robots were done and Lil' Mermaid finished her felted puppet. I introduced Hot Rod to making felted geodes - combining his love of felting with his love of rock collecting (specifically geodes).



We started just by wet felting some balls, adding different colors for different layers - with the intention of seeing these layers after we cut the ball in half.



We also decided to experiment more with the needle felting and I showed him how to do it.





Personally, I never have been as good of a wet felter as Ross and the kids are, so I like the addition of needle felting over your wet felt ball, especially if you want to add some cool spirals and lines of color on the balls.



After we had some balls made, we could hardly wait to let them dry and cut them open. We waited for the next day (we could have also thrown them into the washer and dryer). Then we carefully cut them open. I had read somewhere to use an electric knife, but we don't have one. I just sharpened up our big kitchen knife and we went to work.




The turned out SO cool!





We are SO making these again!

A sweet felted finger puppet

Sometimes I am just amazed at what my children create. Especially when it is an art or a craft that I struggle with and yet they easily accomplish. Such was the case with these felted finger puppets.



I found this wonderful tutorial to make a wet felted finger puppet at Rhythm of the Home. It sounded so easy. I had to try it. I started out okay, making the finger base and then it fell apart. I got very upset and went upstairs to get something. By the time I had come back down, Lil' Mermaid had picked up my discarded, dripping wool and started her own puppet.



She kept working at it diligently, and it soon turned into a mermaid.



We got out our newly acquired needle felting stuff and decided to try it for the first time on her puppet.




She kept working it back and forth and it dried and became this lovely puppet.



I was amazed. She inspired me and I started again and made this simple Waldorf style puppet.



I took a deep breath and tried not to be a perfectionist. Lil' Mermaid came over and rubbed my shoulders while I worked on my little puppet. She gave me encouraging words and gently told me what I was doing wrong....It worked.




And I was pleasantly surprised.

The Tin Men - Completed

Here's part two of the recycled robot saga. They did it. The boys completed the coolest recycled scarecrow/tin man/robot ever!



Seriously, I was a tad doubtful - after my discussion with Ross on letting Hot Rod completely make his robot himself - that it would turn out looking like much of anything. I mean, he's only seven.



But I was WRONG!



It's DANG cool. And did you see his cool little front pack he made from an altoids tin?



I was seriously impressed. And of course, not to be outdone by his seven year old son. Ross went to super cool extremes to finish his scarecrow (he calls it that because he hung it in the cherry tree to scare the birds away from our meager cherry supply this year).




Do you like his grin?



And his bottle cap toes? We won't talk about who drank this much beer to get all these caps.


And look at his safety pin fingers.



My favorite part, however, is his belly button.



I just absolutely LOVE these recycled creations. I've got some creative boys in my family.