Brandy Ink

The "I Love You Because" Tree

For Family Night this week and with Valentine's Day on it's way we decided to make an "I Love You Because..." Tree. What is that? Well, we totally make it up. Check it out...

We started off with a pot that we got at the Dollar Store and filled with foam. Then, the kids shoved some sticks in (which were spray painted silver)...
Then, we filled the rest of the pot with heart candies to cover up the foam and make it look pretty and full of love.
Then, the kids glue-gunned on some cute little clothespins with hearts on them (gotta love that Dollar Store!)....
Then... we each wrote little cards to each person in the family. I wrote "Grady, I love you because...."   "Kienna, I love you because..."  "Keiryn, I love you because..."  notes which were full of the reasons why each one of them are loved.

We all got a chance to write about everyone in the family and then we read them aloud. It was a nice chance to share the reasons why we all love each other by picking each of our best qualities and focusing on them. The kids were absolutely glowing when Grady and I read the reasons why we love them.

When we finished reading them we then put them on the tree and finished it off by hanging some other hearts that we had around the house.

And now, we have a very meaning-full "I Love you Because..." Tree on our coffee table to remind us of why each one of us are loved. The perfect Valentines decoration don't you think?

Tie-dyed Skirts

While we were camping, I surprised the kids with Family Night. Our project for the evening: Tie-dyed skirts!

We started off by soaking the skirts for 30 minutes in a pre-soak. This is suppose to allow the dye to adhere better to the fabric in the end.

Here's what the skirts looked like before we dyed them. I bought two skirts for $12 at Fields. Sweet deal.

After we soaked them, while they were still wet, but rung out well, we put on the elastic bands. The kids just did whatever they wanted for that. No rules.

Then, we mixed up a few colors and let er' rip...

It was a really fun process, as you can tell by the look on her face...

Just a side note: if you try this at home, do it outside. It's SUPER messy!!

Once they were done adding their colors, we let the skirts sit for a couple of hours. Then, we took off the elastic bands and hung them to dry overnight.

And in the morning.... VOILA!

The kids were pretty proud of their creations and so was I. I almost wish I had one for myself!

Photo Challenge Day 3

Family Night

 

For Family Night this week, we made this. I know. I know. It's beautiful right? I can't take the credit for the idea as I found this idea browsing around on my new obsession Pinterest. A girl makes and sells these on Etsy. Find her here.

Unfortunately for her, I'd rather make one than buy one, because it's the process that intrigued me... so, here's what we did:

We bought a pack of 64 Crayola Crayons at the Bargain shop. Five bucks. Heck of a deal. Grady was super excited because he's never seen crayons with a built-in pencil sharpener in his life. Apparently he's been living under a rock?

Then, we glued the crayons onto a canvas with a glue gun, of course paying close attention to the rainbow thing...

Once we had them all on there, we went out to the garage, because the next step is messy. We laid down a sheet of plastic and made sure there wasn't anything close to us that might get splattered... and then we fired up the blow dryer (we're thinking a heat gun would work a lot better if you have one)...

After about 30 seconds, the wax started to melt. The process was slow but so cool...

The kids had their turns holding the blow dryer but I got all " control-freakish" about things because you had to hold the blow dryer at precisely the right angel in order for the spray not to go everywhere. So basically, I wouldn't let them help which isn't really the idea of Family Night. Whoops. My bad.

The good news is, the kids were oooohhhinnng and awwwwhhhiing the entire time because of the ooozing coolness.... well, until they lost interest after about 30 minutes and pretty much deserted me to finish it up. An hour and a half later (and a really exhausted arm)...

Voila! Pretty much the coolest thing we've ever seen in our lives! Well, aside from the built in pencil sharpener in the crayon box ;)

Family Night - Miniature Zen Gardens

I've always wanted a mini Zen Garden but I just never seem to acquire one for some reason. I've always thought they were cute.

I was brainstorming with Grady the other night for ideas on what kind of product I could make with the kids at the Beyond Wild Youth Program I run, and Grady suggested we make Zen Gardens. OMG. What a brilliant idea! We can make them with the kids, and then they can sell them at the local Farmer's Market to raise money for the program. The kids make them, sell them, and reap the rewards. So awesome. Love it. It's an awesome idea on so many levels.

I researched on-line to try and find some supplies for mini Zen Gardens but everything was really expensive. I have to be able to make them cheap so that a decent profit can be made. So, I visited my trusty old friend, THE DOLLAR STORE, after work today and figured out what I needed. I picked up some sand, rocks, beads, sticks, crazy glue, and photo frames.

We tried this project out tonight for Family Night, knowing that if it worked, we'd do it for a summer project with Beyond Wild. Here's what we did.

Before we started, I printed off a secret saying, and put it in the frame. 

 

Then, we glued four beads on the bottom of the frame that will act as cute little legs once it's turned over.

Then, we poured in the sand. We used colored sand but then realized later on, once we raked it, that this sand is too course and the rake doesn't leave cool lines in it. We'll have to find some finer sand.

Check out the cute little leg...

Then, we carefully glued the rake together. This is harder then it looks and if you find an easier way, let me know! We used the glue gun and then reinforced it with crazy glue later on.

Then we embellished with some rocks...

And here's the  finished product:
 

Voila! Aren't they cute? I think this process was successful for the most part and I'm definitely going to make these with the youth group for a fundraiser. I think they'll sell like hot cakes!