Three Crafts for a Snowy (or Rainy) Afternoon

So, yesterday was a SNOW DAY for the girls (cue ear-splitting screams of joy), and I took it as the perfect opportunity to try out some of the ideas in this terrific book by fellow blogger www.soulemama.com. I got it from the library, and I have to say it is by far my favorite craft book that I've come across in a while.

I love it because of the beautiful, softly lit photographs and the fact that many of the projects are super easy and can be completed in an hour or two. There are some really cool, larger-scale projects that I want to try, but for now I picked three I thought the girls and I could handle in a day: papier-mache bowls, a fabric mouse pad and a "family heart" (AKA the cutest craft ever...scroll down to see what I mean).

I hadn't done papier-mache with the girls at home before and it turned out to be so much fun and way less messy than I anticipated. We made a homemade paste with a 1/2 cup of flour, 2 1/2 cups of water and a tbsp of salt heated in a saucepan over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, then allowed to cool down, and it was ALMOST enough for three medium-size bowls. As per the instructions in the book, we first wrapped our bowls that we used as molds in aluminum foil (making sure to smooth out wrinkles), then covered them in four layers of newspaper strips dipped in glue (covering the outside of the bowl only). For our final layer, we used a decorative paper. Then we left our bowls to dry in the sun.

By the end of the day, they were still not completely dry, so we will have to wait to paint the insides! Once they're dry, all you have to do is gently remove the aluminum foil from the bowl, and then peel it from the papier-mache. Stay tuned for those results!

Next up was this sweet little mouse pad. I had been looking high and low for one of these darned things, but who knew you can't find them anywhere anymore! (Oh, I'm sure Staples carries some basic black ones, but I wanted something prettier.) And for some reason I never thought of making one until I saw the instructions in this book. It's a great, simple project for a beginning sewer and a handy accessory for people like me who are allergic to the built-in touch pad on their laptop. ;)

The project I was most excited about is this "family heart," which I think is the cutest thing ever! The idea is that whenever a family member goes away on business, or for a sleepover, or whatever, they can take this little heart pillow with them and know they are not alone. Sigh. Isn't that awesome? I stuffed mine with dried lavender so it smells lovely and decorated it with this iron-on deer, but you can decorate yours however you like. (The book suggests sewing a tiny woolen pocket to the front--to hold a love note, perhaps?)

Amanda Blake Soule's book gets five big, shiny stars from me. There are so many more projects I would like to try that I'll be renewing this one, fo shizzle! Till next time, friends...