Tag Archives: crafts

Mar17

Puzzle Place Pt. 3

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Puzzle Place Pt. 3

Hello! I got my parents hip to 5 Below as it’s the perfect spot to pick up little treats for the grandkiddos. About a month ago they took a trip there and my dad returned with two puzzles. One of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Sunflowers. Although they were very challenging, it was such fun to complete them with my dad! I had a vague recollection of 5 Below carrying a puzzle of one of my personal favorite paintings, The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, and was so happy when they still had it available. We just finished it this week and it looks fantastic! Check it out:

Between the three puzzles we have just completed, I would rank them in difficulty with Starry Night being the easiest, The Great Wave coming in second, and Sunflowers being the hardest. Sunflowers was a massive pain in the nads because the color palette was so limited. While The Great Wave does feature a minimal palette, it still provided a lot that we could work with like the squiggly lines, speckles, boats, and the gold tips on the waves. We tackled this puzzle in sections with my dad starting on the boats. Then, I tapped in to work from the top down on the tan areas. All that was left was the wave smack dab in the middle which is where we ran into trouble because all of the remaining pieces looked like they could fit anywhere. It took a lot of twisting and turning of the pieces to find their happy home and it felt amazing to put that final piece in!

There truly is nothing like that last piece of the puzzle feeling and it was exciting because the next step is easily the best. My dad glues it, frames it, and hangs up the end result as wall art. Of course, I wanted this puzzle painting simply because I love it but I thought it would look so nice next to Starry Night! As anyone in my family can testify, my dad is a total and complete hoverer when puzzles are involved and I sometimes had to shoo him away lol! However, it has been a blast to have these puzzle projects to tackle as a team. With three under our belt since the end of January, I’d say we make a pretty damn good one. ❤

I’m not sure what puzzle is next on our agenda, maybe some Monet? Whatever we go with, I am already looking forward to it!

What is your favorite hobby? What is the maximum size of puzzles that you can do (Anything over five hundred is a hard no from me!)? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb21

Puzzle Place Pt. 2

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Puzzle Place Pt. 2

Hello! Doing puzzles is a past time that I really enjoy. However, I don’t get to do so very often as Johnny isn’t a fan and it’s no fun to put puzzles together by yourself. I was SO happy when my dad purchased a couple of puzzles that featured images of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings for my family to do together. We had a fair amount of difficulty completing Starry Night but once we got in a groove, it was relatively smooth sailing. By the time my family and I were done, all I had to say was bring on the Sunflowers! I was so confident in our skills that I figured it would be a breeze. I was also very excited as Sunflowers is one of my favorite paintings. A breeze this puzzle was not but after painstaking work, we made it through and have another amazing puzzle to glue together and display as wall art. Check it out:

It was truly a fool’s errand comparing the difficulty between Sunflowers and Starry Night because they are polar opposite paintings. Starry Night in puzzle form was hard, yes, but it provided the opportunity to put it together based on all of the different shades of blue. Sunflowers, on the other hand, was a whole lot of yellow and it proved to be a huge challenge. Every piece looked like it could have belonged anywhere! What’s more, pieces that did fit together and looked right weren’t actually right upon closer inspection, meaning we had to backpedal to find out where we went wrong. Puzzles are supposed to be relaxing and this one was straight up annoying lol.

For all of the irritation this puzzle gave us, it was the biggest sigh of relief once that last piece fit in perfectly. We also didn’t have the stress of a missing piece like when we did Starry Night which was very nice! A five hundred piece puzzle might seem like child’s play to some but it is the maximum of what my family can do while still having a good time. Was this puzzle a good time to put together? Hard no!! Does it look awesome now that it’s finally done? Hard yes!! I cannot wait to see it glued, framed, and hanging proudly above the mantel. Team work definitely made the dream work and we have a beautiful display of Sunflowers to show for it!

The next puzzle painting we are going for is The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai. It is one of my other favorite paintings and will look phenomenal by our Starry Night puzzle!

What is one of your favorite past times? What is the maximum size of puzzles that you can do? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan30

Puzzle Place

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Puzzle Place

Hello! My clients got me hip to shopping at 5 Below and I am obsessed. I am an avid van of “little treats” and it is the best place to do so while ballin on a budget. Over the holiday season my parents visited 5B to get a few new games for the grandkiddos. My dad also made a treat yoself purchase by getting two puzzles. Both feature the work of Van Gogh with puzzle versions of Starry Night and Sunflowers. I have always enjoyed doing puzzles and haven’t done so in a while so I was so excited when we busted Starry Night out a few weeks ago. It turned out to be a massive pain in the butt but, my god, was it satisfying when we finally put the last piece in. It’s a beauty and we plan on gluing both the puzzles so we can display them as wall art. Check it out:

This puzzle was five hundred pieces and that is the maximum of what I can do. Any more just feels like torture and I could never imaging doing a one thousand piece puzzle! This Starry Night one might as well have been one million pieces because holy cow was it difficult. Even just getting the border right proved to be a feat as there were countless pieces throughout the puzzle that fit smoothly and looked right. Upon further examination those pieces were, in fact, wrong and it was back to the drawing board. After the border was done correctly, I decided to move onto the sprawling treetop or whatever is in the left of the painting lol. This was much easier but everything afterwards was a challenge!

The next logical step after the questionable tree was the village. This is a part that I thought would come together quickly but it was a lot harder than my dad and I originally thought. Once again, pieces that did fit mislead us and we had to backtrack to get the town just right. However, when we did start expanding to the sky it had me wishing for more of the village because it was a piece of cake in comparison. The most helpful thing that we did to finish this puzzle was color coordinating the pieces and following along with the reference picture. Yes, it’s a lot of blue but all of the shades were different and went in specific areas. This allowed us to focus on one portion at a time rather than trying to find the piece we needed in a sea of other blue pieces.

Once we were down to maybe forty pieces, we organized them to their shape because you could tell at that point which shape needed to go where. The entire time we worked on this puzzle, I couldn’t help thinking to myself “wouldn’t it suck if we were missing a piece?” The answer to that question came back with a resounding YES when I realized that we were. There was one lone piece missing smack dab in the middle. My dad and I scoured the table, looked on the carpet, and shined flashlights under furniture to find it. We were out of luck. Until I moved my feet and saw that I was standing on the missing piece the whole time SMH!!! It was a glorious revelation, though, and it felt awesome to put the last piece in and admire our hard work!

Even though this puzzle was a pain in the nads, it was so much fun to complete it with my dad. Bring on Sunflowers next, baby!

What is the maximum size of puzzles you like to do? What is your favorite indoor hobby? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec2

Crafty Holiday Gifts

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Crafty Holiday Gifts

Hi!! Crafty gifts for the holidays are a great idea for kiddos and adults alike. It is perfect for the crafting enthusiast, someone who is interested in starting the hobby, or simply offering a pleasant way to kill time. There are also countless places that offer wine and paint classes, pottery lessons, or flower arranging tutorials that can turn a crafty gift into an experience one too. Let’s explore some different options to get everyone on your list fully utilizing their creative side:

Craft kits for kids:

I am extremely partial to gifting crafty presents to my nieces and nephew because they absolutely love it. Their favorites are the paint your own pottery figurines and I have to concur. They are so proud of their creations and I am so happy when I am lucky enough to receive one of their masterpieces. From jewelry and slime making to mini pottery wheels and coloring books, there is surely a crafting kit to fit your little giftee’s interests. It will also be a bonus gift to the parents while their kids are focused on creating museum worthy art!

Experience crafts:

If there is a style of art that your giftee would like to learn, sign them up for a class! Community centers, libraries, and even community colleges all offer crafting classes to provide both the gift of knowledge and creativity. You could take the class too for some fabulous quality time! Studios that offer candle making, glass blowing, or crafting scents could also be a fun way to spend a day together. Top it off with a dinner or happy hour out – craft cocktails, anyone? *See what I did there!*

Diamond art:

I don’t know about all of you, but I am amazed by diamond art! If you have a giftee with a steady hand and laser focus (Both of which I have not!), a diamond art kit could be a great way to go. These crafts create an image out of tiny rhinestones and the end results are simply brag worthy. Such a cool hobby and your giftee will have a work of art made by them proudly displayed in their home.

Beauty crafts:

There is nothing better than homemade skin and bath and body care. How about setting up a crafting workshop to make them? Invite your friends over, have the supplies like essential oils, coconut oil, and beeswax ready, and make your new favorite products. Once everyone has their creations ready, you could have a pseudo spa experience with candles, mint tea, and calming music. Take a vote on whose product you like the best for a prize and have a blast with your besties!

Craft gifts are engaging, unique, and just pure fun. Even if you’re a far cry from an artist, it’s always nice to try something new!

What is your favorite craft? What is on your holiday gift wish list? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct25

Crafty Halloween Home Decor

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Crafty Halloween Home Decor

Hello! It is no secret that Johnny and I live for Halloween decor and our apartment is decorated for the happiest season of all all year round. At work, my Johnny is definitely the elder emo of the bunch and his work station is decorated with Halloween goodies too. Earlier this week, he sent me a picture of a craft that one of his coworkers made just for us. We were so genuinely surprised at how thoughtful this was and have it proudly displayed in our living room. I am absolutely in love with it and wanted to share it because it’s something that could be easily replicated. It can also be made to fit the upcoming holiday season too. Check it out:

Johnny and I were aware that his coworker makes crafts like this bottle nightlight and never expected to have her make one for us. It honestly came as a shock and we are just so appreciative for it because it’s so totally us! His coworker claims to not be crafty but we most certainly say otherwise. There are countless fun little details to this display. The spider, skeleton beads, and eyeball flowers took a simple craft into something really special. The bottle of Witches Brew set the tone and it bloomed from there!

A craft like this would make a fabulous gift and I can picture it perfectly for the holiday season. Start with a bottle of sparkling grape juice, Christmas ale, or a seasonal wine and add some twinkling fairy lights. For the flowers, I’m thinking poinsettias with sprigs of holly and a spray of glitter or fake snow. Then, it could be decorated with tiny ornaments, icicles, peppermints, or snowflakes. Any holiday staple that speaks to you! There is nothing better than a homemade gift and this is a great route to draw inspiration from. ❤

This Halloween craft was the perfect treat – no tricks involved. What a kind, generous, and wicked cool gesture! ❤

Have you made any crafts recently? How did it turn out? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug17

Bluey Paint Kit

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Bluey Paint Kit

Hello!! One of my nieces is almost a birthday girl and I can’t wait to celebrate! Last year, she was all about Gabby’s Dollhouse (And still is!) but this past year, she has turned into Bluey’s number one fan. TJMaxx always has beaucoup Bluey in the children’s department so I knew just where to go to pick up her prezzies. I got her new Bluey duds, an interactive Bluey toy, and a light up Bluey figurine to paint. Upon further inspection of the figurine, I thought that it might be too involved for her to do so I decided to paint it really nicely myself. I worked on it all of this past weekend and thought it turned out so good minus when the light is turned on. It looks like garbage then, which is kind of a bummer! Check it out:

^^^ UGH -_-

Painting this figurine was truly a labor of love and I mean that very seriously because it took for freaking ever lol. When I first started applying the acrylic paint, it was going on really thin and chunky. I also learned that it would be necessary to paint it in parts so there was always a place with dried paint to hold onto. Once the first layer was fully on, it was obvious that I would need to repaint it again… and again… and again. I ended up repainting this statue of Bluey’s loving mom and dad FOUR times in total and it definitely needed it. The areas that specifically had darker colors like the deep blues on Bluey’s dad didn’t even come close to being how it should look until the fourth attempt.

I was so happy I was satisfied with the end result by the time my fourth go around was complete because there was literally nothing else I could do. All of the paint was long gone at that point! I hate to toot my own horn, but I think that my weekend painting project turned out fabulously. Even Johnny was impressed and I was just pleased as punch. The real kicker, though, was when the batteries were in and the green and red lights began to alternate. Because WTF?! You can see Every. Single. Paint stroke and then some. It’s sort of creepy actually lol. On the bright side, sans light it looks just right and that’s good enough for me! 😀

As time consuming and sometimes frustrating as this project was, it warmed my cold bitter heart to make something special for my niece. I hope she loves it!

What was your favorite show growing up? Do you have any diehard Bluey kiddos? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar19

Airbrush Plush Review

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Airbrush Plush Review

Hello! This past Friday, Johnny and I had the most amazing time celebrating our eldest niece for her sixth birthday. We wanted it to be the ultimate Treat Day for her and she gave us a grand plan of what she would like to do: Dinner at Chipotle, a shopping spree at Target, and a slumber party at our apartment. So that is exactly what we did!! After noshing at Chipotle, we shopped till we dropped at Target. Our niece picked out plenty of toys and a couple of crafts and it was so sweet that she wanted to play with everything and complete the crafts with us. On Saturday morning, we broke out the Airbrush Plush craft kit and it was seriously the cutest little project and the kiddo loved it. Check it out:

As soon as our niece locked eyes on the Airbrush Plush kit, she was all about it lol. Anything that comes with a unicorn plushie is an instant yes so into the cart it went! I was really excited to help her with this craft because it was so delightfully reminiscent of the DoodleBear. The DoodleBear was a toy that I had as a child and it was basically the OG version of the Airbrush Plush. It was a teddy bear that came with markers, you could color all over it, and then wash it and do it again. The Airbrush Plush had all the same sentiments and my niece couldn’t believe I played with something so similar when I was little too.

This kit cost twenty bucks and I consider it to be money well spent based on the fun factor alone. The ease of use and the fact that you can rinse and repeat the process only solidified that and it would be such a great gift or a craft to pick up for a rainy day. The Airbrush Plush kit came with an airbrush, four markers, and plenty of stencils in a wide variety of patterns. All Johnny and I had to do was put two AA batteries in the airbrush and our niece was able to handle the rest completely on her own. She had a solid idea of how she wanted her plushie to look and airbrushed away until she was satisfied, then added stencils to give the unicorn magic powers lol. Our hearts exploded when she said she was giving the plushie “rock n roll” hair!! We have taught her well. ❤

The Airbrush Plush fully dried in under twenty minutes, the cleanup was nonexistent, and I think we were all very happy with this purchase. If you were a 90s kid and unlocked a core memory with the DoodleBear mention, you will enjoy it just as much too. Highly recommend!

What was your favorite toy as a child? What is a really cool toy that your kiddo has? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb6

Craft Night!

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Craft Night!

Hello!! One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to make more time for fun over the weekend. I am pleased to report that I have been doing great on this goal and the best thing of all has been having lots of hang outs with my three niece girl squad. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to get some craft supplies to make Valentines together. I went to Michael’s for the craft fest and was pleasantly surprised! All of their Valentine’s Day items were already marked down to forty percent off and the whole store was almost entirely Easter. It was a total score and I ended up with plenty of projects to keep my big girls occupied. I even got the fixings for the littlest baby to make a Valentine too with help from her big sisters!

This past Friday, my sister and girl squad joined me at Chez Mom and Dad for our crafting extravaganza. My big girls love to paint so I got them a pottery cake and cupcake to decorate, foam hearts to make cards with, and children’s paint and construction paper so baby sis could make a footprint heart. It was such a blast to get situated at the kitchen table and see what the girls dreamed up! After their pottery was to their liking, the girl squad began making Valentine’s Day cards for everyone and anything lol. Of course, they made Valentines for their parents and grandparents but they also made cards for their pets and our family dog! They also each made one for TT too:

My heart absolutely burst when the girls presented me with their creations and I have them proudly displayed in my apartment. We wrapped up our crafting jamboree with another fantastic surprise. My oldest niece decided she FINALLY wants me to teach her how to figure skate!! It was a joy to teach my big girls some jumps and spins off ice and they kind of got the hang of it lol. I can’t wait to hit the rink together!

Have you made any Valentine’s Day crafts? Do you decorate for V-Day? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan4

Super Cute Craft

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Super Cute Craft

Hello!! Whenever Johnny and I watch our nieces, we always like to do some type of craft together. The girls are especially partial to painting. Whether it be on mugs, paper, or wooden or clay figurines – they are all about it and we have many of their masterpieces displayed throughout the apartment. This past weekend, we enjoyed using one of the painting gifts that I got for my eldest niece and it was a huge hit. If you have a little who loves art and unicorns, I cannot recommend this kit by SpringFlower enough. Check it out:

unicornIMG_2330IMG_2331

^^^ Photo by SpringFlower

I purchased the unicorn painting kit by SpringFlower off of Amazon for twenty dollars and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. It came with eight felt figurines that were all different from each other (Awesome!), tubes of glitter, paint, and paint brushes. The figurines were sturdy, easy to paint on, and just so darn cute. They were serving MAJOR My Little Pony vibes and, as a total nineties kid, I was living for it! Even my niece appreciated this nod because My Little Pony was her mom’s (my sister’s) all time favorite and they have several of them throughout their house. ❤

As I prepared dinner over the weekend, Johnny and my niece broke out the unicorn figurines to paint together. Before I even had my back turned, they were already laughing and scheming on what colors to use. My heart was bursting, but it simply exploded when I checked back in on them ten or so minutes later. Our niece proudly told me “TT – Uncle Johnny and I are both making rock and roll unicorns!” They created a color palette to use and made matching, concert ready unicorns. Once they were dry, our niece decided Johnny’s unicorn needed to be put by his record player and I couldn’t think of a more perfect spot!

12/10 Highly recommend this painting kit. It is an ideal activity for a day in or even setting it up as a painting station at a birthday party for an adorable keepsake!

What was your favorite childhood toy? Where are all my other nineties kids at? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr15

Slumber Partayyy!

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Slumber Partayyy!

Hello! Johnny and I take our title of “Fun Aunt and Uncle” to our sweet nieces and nephew very seriously. We delight in treat days, outings, and surprises to further solidify that we are the best lol and we have the best time doing it! As often as we can, we like to have our niece, Val Gal, over for slumber parties for an evening of playing music, crafts, movies, and snacks. Surprisingly, I had the day off this past Thursday and was so excited to be able to host our lil BFF. I was SO tired the next day, but that’s a small price to pay for such a wonderful time! Check it out:

image_50429697(10)image_50426881(9)image_50379777(1)image_50425601(8)

When my sister dropped Val off at chez nous, lil buddy immediately went into her overnight bag for a surprise for me and Johnny. She bought us chips with her own money and made an origami bunny with her dad for us too. It was so sweet I could have cried because it’s usually the other way around for who’s getting a little gift! Before dinner, Val wanted to play music with Johnny and he is always happy to accommodate. He got them matching ukuleles for her third birthday and she brings it every time she comes over so they can play together. My heart! ❤

After our music block, it was time for dinner and a show and we watched our all time favorite, Vivo. It is a slumber party staple and it gets me every time. I love singing along to all of the songs with bestie! We noshed on mac n cheese and ice cream sundaes, then we spent the rest of the movie time painting together. I decided to make a picture for Val in a rainbow motif and then I wrote her name on it. She wanted to do the same thing for me and I came in with the assist to help her finish it. I love my painting so much and it has a very special place on my art wall with all of the crafts she has made for Johnny and I.

We spent the rest of the evening holding the bunnies, running around the apartment like crazy people, and watching a bit of Elf before bed. The following morning, I got up extra early so I could work before she woke up. Val threw an adorable wrench in my plans because she got up extra early so she could have more time with me! We finished Elf and before I took her home, we broke out her new diary and wrote an entry and drew pictures together about our slumber partay. It was absolutely precious and I’m not sure which one of us had more fun!

Being an aunt brings me so much joy and Johnny feels the same about his uncle status. We love every minute with our lil besties and we both agreed that this was one of our best slumber parties yet!

Did you have a favorite aunt or uncle growing up? How do you like to spoil your family? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah