The Hills are Alive : February 2015

February 27, 2015

Spending All Day Coloring

http://pinterest.com/pin/200691727120969632/

This pin took a lot of time, colors, and space in my kitchen.

Our school had a snow day, so we spent the morning playing in the snow and watching movies. In the afternoon, I did this. Seriously, unless you have a lot of spare time, just order this on Etsy.

I also used a technique meant to be a craft for a small child, so I knew it was a possibility this could be done by me, one who has terrible luck with all things that involve fine motor skills.

First step, use tape to carefully block off the parts that you do not want to be covered in crayon. My method of being careful is not with measuring tape, but with a crudely cut piece of cardboard. By the way, do you say "cray-on" or "crown?" I say it the correct way.

When you buy a box that has a lot of crayons, you are rewarded with a sharpener. It would be faster with a cheese grater, but after two and a half years of marriage, we have yet to get around to buying one of those. This part takes forever.

Once you get the desired number (and color) of crayon shavings, put wax paper over it and iron. I had to push the crayon pieces around to make sure all of it was covered. Also, I could not find a definite answer for what temperature the iron should be. I went with the second lowest setting.

The darker blues are in the corners and the shavings yet to be ironed are right next to them. I added some white to make sure there was a solid contrast.

Here is the after.

I figured my green would take up the most space, so I made sure to do a lot of shavings. I ended up using a potato pealer. Much faster.

Not looking foward to cleaning this up.

This looks promising. I was really worried about pulling off the tape. I couldn't see a lot of it, so I had to just peel what I could see and...

This is the result! I think I actually like this better than the one sold on Etsy. I love the texture and it has more imperfections, but I think that's what makes it interesting. The husband really likes it, so I'd call it a success.

...and here is what I get to clean up.

Look at me, being able to do a craft meant for a child. I feel like my blogs are a disappointment unless I fail at an embarassingly high level. Oh well, I bought a three pack at Walmart so I have one more chance to not disappoint.

February 21, 2015

I Blow Bubbles When You Are Not Here

Before we begin, here is a little background knowledge for my title:

There was a popular song a while back by Macy Gray called "I try." I felt left out because every person and their dog absolutely loved that song and I hated it. Why? Well in the chorus, she sings

I try to walk away and I stumble

Though I try to hide it, it's clear

My world crumbles when you are not near

Well, I always heard "I blow bubbles when you are not here." It would bring me to an embarrassing level of anger because it never made sense.

Kisstheguy is a website dedicated to misheard lyrics. It is hilarious!

My niece is turning eight Monday. I believe that makes her a "tween," at least according to American Girl, and they have never steered me wrong in the past. I subscribed her to their magazine. I loved that magazine when I was her age and well, what are children for but to relive our fond memories? Along with that theme, my first try with "melted crayon art" will be for her.

Isn't his just precious? Also, looks as difficult as melted crayon art could be. Apparently my philosophy in life is to just jump in the deep end and hope I survive.

I duct-taped some crayons onto part of a shoebox. I went with the colors in the pink family.

This wouldn't be my blog without something not working. (Hello, triple negative). I took a video of me melting the crayons but I can only post pictures, so here are some things I learned.

1. It doesn't matter what direction the crayons are pointed, they will melt in the direction of gravity.

2. Clumps can form but it is easy to fix it with a blow dryer.

3. Duct-tape won't hold the crayons forever but it will get the job done.

4. Husbands get annoyed when you ask them to take pictures all the time, and then ask them to edit the blog afterward (hi, hunny!)

The painting/coloring I am imitating had a lot of spots to look like bubbles. One way to do that is with a hot glue gun. I discovered you can also do it with a single crayon and a blow-drier- I really liked that effect.

And once that is nice and melted, you can smash it into the canvas for larger spots.

Here is the coloring so far. I am pretty proud of how it turned out! To add to it,

I tried doing a rough sketch to see how big I needed to draw.

And sketched it on card stock. It turned out too small.

I tried a new silhouette entirely. I liked the way it turned out better. Decided it was too small.

Drew it bigger.

Decided I like it smaller.

This turned out really cool! I'm hoping my niece will like it. I might add more bubbles and mod-podgy over the girl. Thoughts? Also, how am I going to ship this?

February 17, 2015

Pinale

We have reached the end of my series within a series. As my husband put it, "isn't your nail thing over, yet?" Yes, oh patient one. Oh yes, it is over. So our Pinterest finale, pinale if you will, will be coming from this link http://pinterest.com/pin/200691727120875865/. "Simple" and artsy nail design using tape.

First one requires a base coat with a couple of thin strips of tape layed on top. Paint, and...

Oh, look at the flawless detail. It looks nothing like a smashed fingernail.

Not sure what happened with the last two pictures but it is basically the same concept. Paint a base coat, lay tape, and paint a top coat. It worked so well for the first one.

This nail pretty much sums up my whole experience with trying out pins.

Of course, they weren't complete failures. If I had nail polish remover this one would have been perfect.

Oh no. I don't have nail polish. This lovely teacher is going to show up to work like this...

Okay, time to try one more pin.

February 15, 2015

Pretty Duckling, Obviously

http://pinterest.com/pin/219761656792902570/

This pin was sent to me as a suggestion and it looks so cute, I couldn't resist! By the way, I have one more pin to try out for my nail series before I put away all things related to nail polish up for good, so if you have a pin you would love for me to try, please let me know!