Craftin' and Listin'

 Blogs are fun.  Some more than others.  There are a few that I frequent on a daily basis.  One of which features a lot of fun kid stuff.  John will ask, "Are you reading about that lady you want to be when you grow up?"  And I will say, "Yes".  She has 5 children (not saying I want 5), she loves Roy G Biv as much as I do and we seem to have the same values in life: Christ, Sonic drinks and searching the internet for fun things.  

Sadly, Meg's (that's her name...Meg) youngest two children are girls, so most of her featured crafts are more on the girly side.  Not saying there's anything wrong with girly, but so far, it doesn't fly in this house.  However, about a week ago, she did a version of the following craft that I thought (with some tweaking) could be fun for my crew.  And it was!  So, I thought I would be like Meg (even though I haven't grown up yet) and share a good idea with you.

1.  Start with a blank canvas.  We used 6" squares.

2.  Let the kids pick out paint colors they want you to paint with.

(Or you can be more like Meg than I am and let your child paint their own canvas.  I'm working on relinquishing some craft control and haven't made it to level 2 yet of "Let your child paint their own canvas.")

3.  Paint the canvas and let it dry.

(I used cheap acrylic paint.)

4.  Take a sheet of watercolor paper and let the kids paint the entire sheet any colors that they want.  Let them dry.

(Our girly buddy, Campbell, was over for the afternoon.  She won the award for following directions best.)

Finn went for abstract...

Campbell focused on purples....

And Jack was in a stripey mood.

5.  Use a paper puncher of any shape and punch away! 

(Crab puncher from Michael's = $5 with 40% off coupon.  Meg used a butterfly puncher, but only 1/3 of our crafting audience would have been happy about that.)

6.  Hot glue them on.

7.  Optional: Embellish with wording and ribbon if you wish!

8.  Hang it on a doorknob as a reminder to quit being crabby.  

(Maybe it will go on your own doorknob?)

Yesterday, we made a Summer List.  I have seen these in blog-o-land for the past few summers and have wanted to do one for a while.  With pen in hand and two little guys brainstorming beside me, we came up with some simple ways to mix things up a bit during the dog days of summer.

(Yes, Meg does this, too!  She posted their list today.  Super cute.)

Finn's favorite idea was "Mall Train".  He enjoys riding the train at the mall in Savannah.  Thankfully, we have Jack's eye appointment in Savannah in early July and will be able to mark this off the list that day.

Jack's favorite idea was "Rita's (ice cream) on the May River".  

Happy Summer!  If you make a summer list, please share.  Would love to add some to ours!