Art Project for Kids: Painting on Canvas Bags (WFMW)

For lots of great tips and ideas (this week is the "Mom, I'm bored" Edition!), be sure to visit Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!

When my bigger kids were little, I saw a fabulous idea in Family Fun Magazine.

It was to take a canvas bag (you can inexpensivesly find them at W*l-Mart) and mark off a square in the middle by making a large duct tape frame.

Then, let the kids have at that square with paints. They can paint a picture or if they are little, just paint some abstract art.

When they are done, pull off the duct tape frame, and all the paint should just be in the square in the middle!

We then put the little one's name and the year under the picture, and it was a wonderful Christmas present for grandparents! But, this could be a great project for sitting around in the summer time too!

(If you're looking for another fun and cheap craft idea, check out my post yesterday about decorating plates that you buy from Goodwill for less than $1 each!)

25 and 50 Percent Off Store Closing Sale in My Etsy Shop

As I posted before, I'm planning to close my Etsy shop later this summer. So, I have just launched the closing sale. All photographic pieces and embellished items are now listed at 50% off and all Rosaries and Catholic jewelry are listed at 25% off.

One quick thing to note -- although you will pay a priority mail price to have a photograph shipped, there is only a very small additional cost (around $.25) to add another piece for shipping! So, if you're thinking of a piece, you might want to consider a couple, if the shipping cost is a concern to you.

Getting Ready for Craft Night (Tackle It Tuesday #10)

My tackle from last week was a big one (redoing our laundry room), so this week, I went with something quite a bit easier.

I'm having the girls from our social club all over to my house soon, and so I had to get my craft stuff ready for the party.

We are making quote plates like the one pictured. (The party hostess gets to pick the activity or craft, so all they know is to bring some of their favorite quotes with them.) So, I went to Goodwill and found a whole bunch of cool plates with a variety of color schemes and designs. (This is so everyone can pick what will go in their house best.)

So, after getting the plates, I had to peel off all the price stickers (which they mostly put right smack dab on the front of the plate!) using both Holy Cow first, and then had to use Goo Gone to fully remove it. This doesn't sound like much work, but considering that I did it with over 20 plates (so everyone can make a couple), it did take a bit of time.

Then, all the plates went through the dishwasher, and now they're ready for all my friends to go to town with using some Sharpie markers!

WooHoo!

Too bad I still have yet to totally plan the menu for the party. Oh well...I hate to rush into things.

These are just about the coolest pouches ever!

I just love it every time I can pick up something on Etsy! Not only is it just fun to shop in general (this is, perhaps, why I have a hard time with a budget), but I love shopping on Etsy because I know that the sellers there are handmaking their items. So, I'm more often than not buying a one of a kind piece. How cool is that?

My latest Etsy buys (a few weeks ago) was from the shop Fried Okra. Now, even though I was once forced to try actual fried okra and did not care for it at all, I didn't hold it against this shop with a cute name, and even cuter stuff!

I initially checked out her shop and put several of the bags in my "favorites" on Etsy. Shortly after that though, I knew I couldn't just let the cute zippered pouches sit in my favorites -- they needed to be at my house instead!

Unlike many things that you have time to think about on Etsy, both of the mini zippered pouches that I had in my favorites had been sold in the short time I had them in my favorites! So, this meant I had to keep an eye on this shop to be ready the next time pouches came up that I really liked.

I was thrilled when she listed several pouches, but then just couldn't make up my mind. So, I finally went with a "Crafty" pouch and a "Dork" pouch. And, I was thrilled when they not only arrived quickly, but they were SUPER cute in person! (Even cuter than they look in the pictures, believe it or not. Hey...thanks to Fried Okra, by the way, for permission to use these pictures for my blog post.)

I just thought these bags were SO cute that I had to write about them to share this awesome shop with others. Of course, if there comes a time that there is another bag I just can't seem to live without, then just back away, my friends.

Oh, and look at me -- I didn't even mention that there are very colorful Sock Monkeys at Fried Okra too!

So, be sure to stop by and check out the pouches and sock monkeys! Not only are the items totally cool for you, they would make great gifts as well!