A Blog Hop with Heart(s)

Welcome to the Blog Hop with Heart(s). This month's theme is, of course, hearts! You might be arriving here from BECCA'S BLOG. You can find a complete list of blogs at the bottom of this post. Let's hop!

I have the simplest little project this month. When I heard the theme was hearts I made a lot of plans, but today Mac came home from school complaining that he needs his Valentine's Box for his classroom. Ahem, what do you mean? I guess a note was sent last week, but moving is killing my last brain cells, so I missed that part. We duct taped a small box (something we aren't lacking around here right now, lol) with shiny silver duct tape. Then we used scrapbooking cardstock and more red duct tape to create a Harry face and scarf to fit on the top of the box. Everything was eyeballed and handcut, because dinner had to be made and time was of the essence, YKWIM? We filled his glasses with acrylic hearts, which I attached with strong glue so they won't pop off. Then I sawed a mouth into the face (sorry, Harry) so kids can stuff the Valentines in. Max is thrilled, we are all caught up, and Harry is pretty darn cute. We even wrote "alohamora" on the back where he can open the box to get his goodies out!

Next up on the hop is SHELLY'S BLOG. I'm sure you'll {HEART} all the projects, so be sure to keep hopping until you end up back here!

Amie

Stephanie

Jayma

Katy

Becca

**Wendy** You are here!

Shelly

Day 342: Harry Potter Wall Decor

Speaking of Max's Harry Potter obsession, a little side project we've been working on this week for his new bedroom after the move are these awesomesauce Harry Potter style letters to add to his wall over his bed. He wanted them to look like the Golden Snitch...

I ordered our custom letters from an Etsy Shop called Ally's Custom Art. The price was reasonable, and she shipped out out pieces super fast! I had Max help base coat the letters with some gold acrylic paint front and back. I filled in the sides for him, and then added three coats of Gold Extreme Glitter acrylic paint, and two coats of Glossy Mod Podge. I love Extreme Glitter paint - the sparkle is outstanding, and it doesn't shed glitter everywhere.

I may retake these pics after we get moved in my shiny new Shot Box to see if that helps to capture how sparkly and gorgeous they are. Max was ready to hop in the car and drive to Oregon that night just to hang his name in his room. I'm sure it'll be mentioned as soon as we get out of the car at our new place Saturday night, lol. 

Day 341: Harry Potter Painted Bag

Ok, so this is the bag that started the whole project ball rolling. Totes adorbs, right? Max was like, "Mom! I need that bag, please." I said, "Max! I need to not have my card charged and then never see the product shipped, thanks." And off to Hobby Lobby we went...

These bag projects were fairly easy and inexpensive. I already had most of the paint colors we needed, so all I bought were the canvas totes (which we upgraded and got these string backpacks) and the fabric medium to mix into the acrylic paints (plus the correct red for Gryffindor as per Max's choice). I used a ruler to sketch in the Harry Potter face and scarf stripes. I used a mason jar lid ring to make his glasses, tracing inside and out to get the thick black frames. I left his eyes the color of the canvas tote and free handed the green pupils, because the books are always better (Sorry, Daniel, we still heart you). Max is over the moon thrilled about his new Harry Potter tote bag, and I only wish we'd found this project before Max's Harry Potter party. It's definitely a Keeper. Have a Ronderful day, Stampin' Friends!

P.S. hee hee...three hours sleep makes puns ever so funny...#sorrynotsorry #harrypotterforlife #idon'tevenknowwhyI'mhashtaggingthisblogpost #don'tletthemugglesgetyoudown  

Day 340: Lego Miniman Painted Bag

Today I'm sharing Gabe's bag, which was by far the fastest and easiest of the three painted totes we made. Gabe could not stop giggling when I showed him the freshly painted bag. 

You can see that my ironing skills leave a bit to be desired, since he looked more wrinkly after I ironed him than before. I was worried that I needed to use a pressing cloth (which are who knows where in my boxes) or a layer of packing paper between my iron and the paint, but after a bit of messing about I bit the bullet and just went iron onto the paint directly and it worked just fine. I didn't slide it back and forth, just did a press and hold for a few seconds motion moving bit by bit to ensure I got every bit of the painted area. My iron was just fine, no clean up necessary, and the design didn't smear a bit! Tomorrow I'll share my favorite of the three bags we made.

Day 339: Yoda Painted Tote Bag

So couple weeks ago Max and I saw the CUTEST tote bag on one of those Facebook ads, and they were offering to give it away for free. Score, right? Except when you looked at reviews for the company making the offer, lots of people were complaining about a variety of issues, and I didn't feel comfortable at all with handing over my credit card details to a company with such a shady reputation. Good thing we are crafty round here, eh? 

So I started with one bag for the youngest child, and then, as these things do, it snowballed into three bags, because every boy needs his own bag. Today I'm sharing Ben's bag. Ok, don't judge me too harshly, because I have never claimed to be an actual artist. I like cutting up pretty paper and gluing it back together - like quilting, but less work! I don't draw much, or even paint much unless you count splattering watercolor paint everywhere, but when your child looks at you with the big blue eyes, and you just finished packing all his toys into big boxes and are prepping him for a big unexpected move, then you get creative for him real fast. So I found a simple Yoda cartoon that thrilled him to pieces. Then I sketched with a pencil until my Yoda sort of looked like the cartoon Yoda. Did you know you can use an eraser on a canvas tote bag?

Once Ben had approved the Yoda, I painted him with standard acrylic paints mixed 2 to 1 with fabric medium. He was supposed to be on a white background, but them someone dropped yellow paint onto Yoda and he ended up hovering over a lake of (tie-dyed) fire. Luckily, Ben thought that was awesomesauce.   After you've finished your painting, you let the project dry for 24 hours and then iron it to heat set the painted areas...now you can imagine these canvas totes draped over moving boxes all over my living room... Although the project was a bit of a departure from the packing I was supposed to be doing, they will be useful during the move, as each boy will be carrying his own car toys and books for the long drive to Portland in their sweet new totes!

Day 328: Lego Wall Letters

My second Lego related project for the oldest child is a set of 3-D letters to hang on the wall in his new room in our new house in Oregon. I have already ordered these awesomesauce Harry Potter letters from Etsy for Max, which we will work together to cover with gold chunky glitter! And I found some amazing 2 foot tall metal Star Wars Letters for Ben's wall, but I couldn't find anything Lego related for Gabe that I a) liked, and b) wanted to pay for. So a trip to Hobby Lobby was made...I know, the sacrifices we make for these children...

I got some big chunky chipboard letters and painted them silver. Then I convinced the child in question to GIVE UP A SMALL BAGGIE OF LEGO PIECES PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE, which sounds simple when you know he has literally thousands of Legos, but in actuality was the hardest step of making these letters. I coated the top of each letter in E6000 glue (Phew!) and pressed the hard-won Lego pieces in place. I do have letters for each letter in his name, but Grumpy McFarland didn't want me to photograph his name either, so you get to view the "A". I'll post a pic of them when we get them mounted after our move to my Instagram when he's not looking if y'all promise not to rat me out. All lined up they are exactly what I was wanting, and now I don't have to pack my bottle of E6000, since I've used every last stinky drop. Two birds with one stone and all, because I think that makes this project part of my moving the studio project, am I right? 

Day 327: Lego Crochet Scarf

In the midst of moving, packing, sorting, my oldest son's Lego Robotics team is preparing for state competition this weekend. So in my "spare time" I've been working on a couple of Lego projects for him, including this Lego scarf, as seen on Pinterest. 

Now I am a capable, if slightly indifferent yarn worker. I can crochet fairly competently, and I can knit a bit, but most of the time I'm kind of watching TV or chatting over coffee and not really paying attention. So I was a bit nervous taking on this Lego brick project using the bobble stitch (which I'd never heard of before). Luckily, the instructions and video link on Deb's Blog: FitzBirch Crafts were excellent, and I could whip out little yarn Lego bricks whenever I had a spare few moments. When I presented the finished scarf to my offspring, he was thrilled, which you can totally see in the picture he let me take of him before school today (not). He actually does like it, he just did not want me to take his picture wearing it.  They grow up so fast!

Day 276: 3-D Snowflake Kid Craft

So yesterday I was telling y'all how I was so happy to have our power back. I went out and re-grocery shopped and bought a turkey for Thanksgiving...and this morning, good bye power. It had snowed last night, and someone slid off the road and took out the power for our neighborhood. Luckily everyone was ok, but I was positive that we were once again powerless along with 18,000 other households. I spent the morning stocking up on easy to cook gluten free foods and googling how to cook a turkey on the stove top instead of in the oven. 

I also grabbed this Snowflake kit (and some other craft items) to help with another round of no power with three energetic boys. It looked a bit complicated, but I figured that might help keep Gabe's interest while I helped Ben and Max.  

The boys didn't need my help at all. It was such a fun little craft kit, and everyone easily and happily completed a snowflake while singing a few holiday songs plus their current favorite Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Max kept adding more and more of the pretty "Sequence" to his snowflake (we've been playing a LOT of board games). Once we had completed the crafting kit, we cut out a few more tissue paper snowflakes. My dining room floor is covered with bits of tissue paper, but it was the calmest evening we've had since last Tuesday.

Thankfully, the power came back on about five hours after it went out this time. I'm not sure why, since there are still so many without, but I'm very grateful that we aren't camping in the living room again. I'm also glad that instead of working on a new stamping project today that we did these snowflakes. Ben usually hates crafting, but he is digging our snowflake project. He told me he loves crafting with me, which I never thought he'd ever say, since he basically does anything to get out of drawing, coloring, and painting. Then he asked if I wanted him to scrapbook with me, so I see an Instalife book coming soon in his future!