Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

Posted on December 12, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Gingerbread House Play Date

Fridays are usually the days that we schedule outings or play dates with friends. The Bird, Meebs and I were invited to our friend Kim’s house yesterday to play with Lydia and Thomas and work on gingerbread houses for the girls. Kim provided us with Wilton Gingerbread Kits and added some store bought candy to decorate with. The whole process took about 4 hours, with drying time for the structures and then the fun part, decorating. Both girls enjoyed embellishing their cottages and sampling the materials as well. Here are some snapshots of the girls and their creations. Thanks Kim!

Posted on September 29, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Where The Wild Things Are Puppets

And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.

This week we have been celebrating the release of Where The Wild Things Are. The Bird and I picked a copy of the book and then decided to make puppets to use while reading the story. To make a Wild Thing puppet you will need:

1. Brown Paper Lunch Bags
2. Construction Paper
3. White School Glue
4. Scissors
5. Markers
6. Cupcake Liners
7. Large Googly Eyes

First cut out your big and small shapes – we started with the fur, for around their faces. Then we worked on the horns, the stripes for his shirt, his nose and teeth, and finally, the tail. When everything is cut out, then glue all of the shapes, googly eyes, and cupcake liners to the bag. The cupcake liners we used for scales, and if you have the small ones, they’re fine as is. You can also just cut out some circles instead of the cupcake liners.

The fun thing with these puppets is that they’re monsters, so they’re not SUPPOSED to be perfect: claws, fangs, horns, fur and other bits can be placed wherever to make them unique.

After our puppets were complete, it was time for a puppet show. We used a baby gate, and blanket to create out stage. Here’s The Bird’s presentation of “Where the Wild Things Are”.

Here’s a look at all the steps and some of the fun we had making them.

Posted on September 23, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Back By Popular Demand- Book of Colors

I woke up this morning with several comments in my in box about a post I made from December 30, 2008. It was a book of colors, The Bird and I made with lunch bags, construction paper and magazine clippings. This was the first documented project I posted after getting the site as a Christmas present from Slade. The project is still popular here at the house and one that we still seem to be making every so often. I wanted to thank The Crafty Crow for putting a link once again to my site and sending me my “Featured On ” button that now graces the side bar of Hearthstone House. It was a great treat to read all the comments and makes me feel happy to know that other people were inspired by our crafting. Thanks again!

Posted on June 3, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Zoom Art

I wish Slade would have been here for this project today, but I took some video so I could share this with everyone. Art and cars join forces! Two things that Slade loves and two girls he loves even more.

For this project you will need:

• Heavy Duty Masking Tape (we used Slade’s gaffer’s tape, which is awesome)
• Markers (washable!)
• Toy Cars
• Large Sheets of Paper or Butcher Paper

Here’s some video of us playing with the cars, and the final result of the project.

Zoom Art from Julie Waters on Vimeo.

Slade found this video last week which is a art project that’s similar, but using a full sized BMW, and an airplane hangar. I am sure that he’s trying to figure out how to do this with the Hondas…

Posted on June 1, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Lollipop Art

This project is simple and just the right speed for little ones who need practice tracing shapes and cutting with scissors. I found this project on the Crafty Crow under L is for Lollipop and click here for step by step instructions. The Bird made four of these in about a half an hour and was so proud of her paper confections.

Posted on June 1, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Elephant Sock Puppet

Hearthstone House is in a full on crafting blitz, summer has started and little hands need to be busy. I came across this idea in the June issue of Your Big Backyard. The Bird subscribes to this magazine and it is the little sister of Ranger Rick which you might remember from your childhood.

What you will need:

• paper plate
• gray tube sock
• newspaper
• white paper towel
• school glue
• stapler
• black magic marker

What to do:

1. Cut a 3″ hole in the center of the paper plate.
2. Glue torn pieces of newspaper onto the bottom of the plate to give it a gray color.
3. Glue three sheets of newspaper together and let dry. When dry, cut out two ears for the elephant.
4. Glue or staple the ears to the sides of the plate.
5. Roll and twist the paper towel into two tusks for the elephant.
6. Staple the tusks on either side of the hole.
7. Draw eyes on your elephant with a marker
8. Put the sock on your child’s hand and push it through the hole in the plate to make the elephant’s trunk.

This worked out pretty well with The Bird’s attention span she liked ripping the newspaper into shreds and gluing them on the plate, this step alone kept her busy for about 20 minutes. Very cute. They say elephants never forget, but neither do moms.

Posted on May 26, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Up-Cycled Penguins

At Hearthstone House we are constantly creating and I don’t always blog about it because I think well this is something you probably have seen before. Today’s craft project was different though. I had been saving these Gerber Graduate Puff Containers that Meebs my youngest really likes and had planned on making a bowling set out of them. But today when I came across them, I thought about penguins. So The Bird of course wanted to make them as soon as I shared my idea. We had such a fun time creating them. We used construction paper, scissors, glue and markers to transform the white containers into three little buddies. My favorite is the Macaroni or as The Bird said,”We need to make one with the spikey hair.”

Posted on January 27, 2009 - by Estate Manager

A Very Happy Friend

Do you ever have moments where you think this is the absolute coolest time to live. I mean we live in a time where we can have friends that live across the country and we can communicate with them in multiple ways. I am closer with some of my friends and family now that I am further away just because we can communicate through email or the Hearthstone House site. And even better than that is having friends you have never met but having an instant connection with them because of technology. I never thought I would say this but “I love technology.” (Slade is probably beside himself for me saying that.)

I have been commenting and browsing on a site for a couple of months now and have started an online friendship with a fellow blogger. It is so encouraging to see other woman who are creative finding an outlet for what they do and having a community of others who can appreciate it. I just wanted to say thank you to Very Mary and tell her to keep on inspiring others through her crafting and art. I wanted to share these cute collages Mary sent me. They came in the mail today and completely made me smile. She wrapped them in vintage sewing patterns and tied them up with red twine and a vintage tag. I love the attention to detail she has.  I think they will look great in Meebs room and I will take a photo when they are up. Please stop by Mary’s site and Etsy store and say hello!

Posted on January 21, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Post Modern BIRDHouse

Here at Hearthstone House the family has a special affection for the Aviary Kingdom.  The mother has always been fascinated by birds and curious about their behavior. It was no surprise that this morning the oldest daughter wanted to make a birdhouse to supplement the one that already hangs from Hearthstone’s deck.  She felt as though they needed a secondary space for entertaining, relaxing and congregating. Fortunately, no permits were needed for the addition and the team went right to work. The materials used in the construction of the birdhouse are as follows: empty tissue box, cardboard paper towel tube, ribbon, construction paper, glue stick, markers. Design Historians, Architects and Hipsters all agree that they have not seen such a thought provoking design in the suburbs for quite sometime and compared the structure to other post modern buildings such as The Disney Concert Hall, Falling Water and The Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.

Upon completion the team had a small but emotional ceremony dedicating the new space to neighborhood birds and their families. Bird seed and refreshments were served.

Posted on January 15, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Valentine Mail Box

When I was in grade school I made one of these every year. My teacher would ask us to bring in an empty tissue box and a few days before our Valentine’s Day party we would decorate the boxes. Then we would place them on our desks and the day of the party we would go up and down the rows of desks and deliver each valentine to our classmates. Today The Bird did not want to me to throw way an empty tissue box. She demanded to make a craft with it. So I told her my story. And of course this idea was intrigued her imagination. She immediately turned the box on its side and said, “It has to have a red thing like the one outside!” I had some metal brads so we made a red flag for the side and then she started decorating her mailbox. The results are nothing short of amazing.