Thankful Challenge: Thankful for my Brownies

This is my third year being the troop leader for Little Red's Girl Scout Troop. While they often test my patience and my own values, I am truly thankful for the impact these 14 girls have on my everyday life. They challenge me creatively, mentally, and emotionally, in the best possible ways.

At yesterday's field trip to the Denver Art Museum, I was inspired by their creativity, and willingness to learn about art and themselves. We spent the afternoon painting, creating African, Western, and Oceanic art. They continually shock me with their insight about community, and world issues. Children at this age are smarter than they are given credit for. I am lucky to have the influence of 14 second graders in my life.

DIY Chalkboard

I had some left over fiberboard (apparently plywood is not the correct term) from a coffee table project. I had always wanted to create a chalkboard to see if chalkboard paint is all that it is cracked up to be. It is.

Here is what you need:

•  Surface to paint (mine is fiberboard)
• Chalkboard paint (Bought at Home Depot)
• Paint Brush
• Newspaper to protect the dining table

According to the paint instructions, two coats are needed with a 30 minute drying period between each coat. Paint the chalk board paint on like you would any other paint except make sure your lines are long, covering the whole surface in one swipe. After the first coat:

Of course Dante (my dog) had to include his two cents by shedding, luckily I was able to remove it before the first coat dried!

 Due to the board, it soaked the paint up like sponge, so I ended up having to do a third coat. So lesson learned, if using fiberboard, more coats will be needed. After the second and third coats:

 Also according to the instructions, once the two coats have been painted, it should be left alone for three days, however I'm an impatient person and drew on it the next day and it seemed fine to me.

I wanted to add a boarder to the chalkboard since the way it was seemed incredibly drab. My parents had some left over tile from their bathroom remodel. I really hope they didn't need it for anything, because for a lack of a better word, I stole it.

 I cut the tiles apart into their single form, with scissors, in order to make the framing for the chalkboard.

Here I made a huge mistake! Hindsight is 20/20, right? I didn't space the tiles out first before hot gluing them to the chalkboard. I know I'm an awful person. The tiles ended up uneven on two sides and were hanging off too much on one side. There were huge gaps between edges of tiles.

 However, luck was on my side when I was able to knock off the tiles with a flat screwdriver and hammer without tearing off any of the paint. For the second time of applying tiles, I did space them out first. The boy, Bryan, drilled a shallow hole into the back of the fiberboard so it could be hung easily on a nail.

Completed project:

I added a cheesy quote, one because Bryan would hate it and two, the chalkboard is now hanging in our bedroom. Lesson learned, spacing tiles before hand really does complete the project!

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." -Winnie the Pooh

I found white and colored chalk on sale at Micheal's, all Crayola products were 50% OFF!! To clear the chalkboard, a damp paper towel works perfectly!

Tile Coasters: DIY

I currently have many projects on the mind, all including tiles. So while at Lowes today, I bought a box of 100 tiles, which usually retail for 10 cents each! I have a few parties this month that I need to provide presents and hostess gifts for and I figured coasters would be perfect!

What you need:

• Four tiles (4.5in x 4.5 in)
• Paper cut to 4in x 4in
• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush
• Piece of Cardboard
• Felt squares
• Hot Glue Gun

I found this adorable paper at the Artisan Center today while browsing the Cherry Creek Sidewalk Sale. I small roll of it was only 50 cents! Using my paper cutter, I cut four 4 in by 4in squares.

First, clean the surface of the tile to ensure the best placement of the paper without bumps. Add an initial layer of Mod Podge.

Second, center the paper in the middle of the tile and smooth onto the surface. To ensure there are no air bubbles, I ran a piece of cardboard over the surface. However, air bubbles and dog hair were inevitable.

In the case of dog hair, remove carefully with tweezers before adding another layer of Mod Podge to seal and glaze the paper. Allow to dry.

Once the Mod Podge has dried, flip the tile over and attach four squares of felt to the bottom of the tile with a hot glue gun.

Wrap with a bow for a perfect gift!

Cost: $0.70!! Time: 40 minutes, including drying time

Rainy Days: More Crayon Art

I've really been wanting to create this piece I am continually seeing on Pinterest. However being the depressive romantic I am (according to my mother, anyway), I settled on a mixture of blues, greys, dark purples, and a few blacks, to rain down on a couple under an umbrella.

Here's what you need:

• Canvas (mine's 12in by 16 in)
• Crayola crayons
• Card stock
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun and Sticks
• Mod Podge
• Paint Brush
• Newspaper
• Hair Dryer

First, I needed the perfect silhouette of a couple under an umbrella. A harder feat than expected, but thanks to Google it was found. I cut out the picture on top of a piece of purple card stock, creating a silhouette. I Mod Podged the silhouette to the canvas, and allowed it to dry.

As the silhouette dried, I complied the pattern I wanted for my crayons with the points facing toward the bottom of the canvas. Once I decided on the placement of the crayons, I hot glued them into place. I used multi-temperature glue sticks so they wouldn't melt later with the blow drier.

 In order to create the umbrella effect, I had to make shield over the umbrella so that the crayon will melt "off" the umbrella. The tape didn't actually hold the shield too well and I ended up holding it in place for the most part.

Now to the melting side of the project. Be sure to protect any surfaces you will be working on. The actual melting took longer than I expected, but went a lot faster once started. It took about two minutes to get the ball rolling. I discovered that with regular Crayola crayons it was best to hold the hair dryer at a forty-five degree angle, half way down the crayon.

Since the shield wasn't the best, I used an Exacto knife to scrape off the crayon from the silhouette. All done!

"Painting" with Crayons

I was in the mood to do some crafting today. Influenced by the idea of melting crayons, I turned them into "paint".

Finished product

Here's what you need:

• Crayons
• Canvas (mine's 5in x 5in)
• Hot Glue gun
• Paper
• Unsharpened pencil

First, Lay your paper to cover your surface area from any damage. Second, remove the paper your crayons being careful not to break them in the process.

Third, insert the crayons into the hot glue gun. Since my crayons were a bit thicker than the opening in my hot glue gun, I found it helpful to use an unsharpened pencil to help push the crayons through the hot glue gun. However, as I pushed the crayons through the colors squirted out faster than anticipated.

Color by color (from darkest to brightest), I added layers of "paint" to the canvas. I am pleased with the result that I got, however I hope with more practice I could be able to make more definite patterns.

Since my hot glue gun had a smaller opening than my crayon's circumference, I waited until the wax melted before attempting the clean it. It's much easier and less painful to pick off dry wax, than hot!