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DIY Peacock Fan

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Mother Nature really got it right when she designed the peacock color scheme. For this fancy fan, take inspiration from the designer herself, or go out on a limb and create your own color palette.

Here’s a tip: When painting your feathers, lay them out on a paper towel and create your stripes one color at a time across all of the feathers. Then move on to the next color. This way, you aren’t using 6 paint brushes!

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Painted Pennant Portrait

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I always get asked what the inspiration for this project was, and all I can really say is that…

1. I’m obsessed with pennants.
2. I’m crazy for silhouettes.

I love that campy pennant look, and I thought it would soften the expected aesthetic by adding a child’s silhouette.

(FYI…The little boy is my son Oliver on New Year’s Eve, 2012.)

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Mushroom And The Snail

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To me, there is nothing more satisfying than combining a bit of nature, a touch of felt, and a few items from the recycling bin. With a jar lid, a cork, moss and a few easy-to-find craft supplies, you can bring a little piece of an enchanted, woodland forest inside your home.

*Bonus lesson* Show your kids that the stuffing and sewing technique that makes the mushroom cap is actually how pillows are made. Next on the craft agenda? Make a tooth fairy pillow, or pillow for a doll, or better yet, a lavender-filled relaxation pillow for mom!

 

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A Toast…to PROJECT KID!

| Everyday Crafts, Food, Me Time, Parties

MILKSHAKEMost people celebrate with champagne, but me, I’d much prefer to celebrate with candy-coated milkshakes like these featured on A Beautiful Mess. What are we celebrating? Well, for one, we are celebrating the launch of my first ever craft book, Project Kid. And secondly, and hardly unrelated, we are also celebrating the birth of ProjectKid.com, the website that will feature everything from book signings to press mentions to new and exciting craft ideas for you and your kids to enjoy.

So please join me in raising your milkshake to kids and their creativity! I’ll take a Twizzler straw over bubbles any day!

 

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The Art of the Valentine’s Day Cookie

| Food, Gifts, Holidays, Valentine's Day

Valentine-cookie-art

I love a pretty cookie. I really do. But I come up against a very confusing battle of the senses…a stand-off between my eyes and my stomach.

I want to eat this, says my tummy.

I want to admire this, say my eyes.

Tummy wins. Sorry, sense of sight. You’d win at the museum.

Check out these amazing cookies over on my other blog, Everyday Fun on Parents.com.

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1 Day ’til Christmas: Glossy Christmas Tree Trunk Stands

| Christmas, Decor, DIY Home, Everyday Crafts, Gifts, Grown-Up, Holidays, Nature

Tree-stump-candle-stand

One of the best parts about living in New York City during the holiday season are the sidewalk Christmas tree vendors. Every few blocks, you walk through a tunnel of yummy pine air, over a temporary, trampled carpet of green needles. And you see people walking home with a tree slung over their shoulder, just ripe for the decorating.

To give the tree it’s best chance at a lasting through the month, the vendors will slice off the bottom of the trunk (kind of like cutting your roses before putting them in water). So the sidewalks are often littered with small tree stumps that are just tossed out with the trash. Tree trash is a crafter’s treasure.

To make these lovely, glossy candle stands, I primed then spray painted pieces of tree trunk with bright spray paint, and then topped it off with a gloss varnish. (Here are the colors I used: Ketchup and Frozen Strawberry by Montana Gold, and Prussian Blue by Liquitex) Use these as place cards, food markers, candle stands, dessert stands…you name it!

Well, dear readers, this craft marks the last in my 10 day series of projects leading up to Christmas. I hope you were able to keep yourselves (and your kids) busy with creative pursuits over the last ten days. And if not, I hope you will pin them for next year!

Have a very merry and bright Christmas!

xx

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