Autumn Luminaries

 It's art time in the little house.

  Today we made autumn luminaries.

  I made these way back when, with a different bunch of kids...it was the first time Kim and Luke made luminaries.

 From 2008

 This is a very low cost project with a big payoff.  You just need modge podge  (or watered down white glue...much cheaper than modge podge).  A glass "candle holder". Today we used real glasses that were $.99 each. Tissue paper.  Everyone has tissue paper in the craft closet, and  beautiful leaves from a Central NY autumn. 

 We glued the leaves onto the glass first.  Put a layer of glue onto the glass before placing the leaf on the glass. Once the leaves are set.. begin adding tissue paper. 

 Cover the whole glass with tissue paper. We used three autumn colors, but in the past we have used one color and that also turned out pretty.

 I had to add this photo because I want to remember what Luke thinks of touching the glue!

 We added beaded stickers to the glasses after all the glue had dried.  I found with at Walmart for $2.87,  The stickers were the most expensive part of this project. 

Add a votive candle to the glass...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall.

Tomorrow we have a weather forecast predicting 2 inches of snow.....winter is on the way!

Google Eyes---Boo!!

 Kim and Luke made very cute Halloween picture frames for about $4 for both....you can't beat that!

We got the wooden, unfinished frames at The Dollar Store.

 We had the paint...Kimberly painted her frame orange...

 Luke picked black for his frame.

 I did buy wooden letters at Walmart.  

 Luke painted his letters with orange and black....you can't see the black letter on the black frame, but I couldn't talk him out of this choice.  (He did put google eyes on the black eye to help it show up)

 Go to town and glue google eyes everywhere....we also had these already....What crafty house doesn't have google eyes?

 I think they are so cute!!!  The frames are cute, too!

 I simple printed out pictures of the kids onto cardstock....we didn't have any photo paper, but you can't even tell the difference. 

BOO!!!

An Anniversary Gift

I haven't had the chance to share the anniversary gift I made for my son and his wife.  

Monday was their 2nd anniversary--all it took was a precut piece of wood, paint, numbers, modgepodge and tiny nails and embroidery thread.

I think it turned out lovely...sunflowers were at the wedding and the brown and yellow (which doesn't show up here as much as it does in real life) remind of that beautiful day. 

We love you, Matt and Alexis!!! 

Luke's Melted Crayon Ghost Pumpkins--Halloween decorating

 Luke got started on his melted crayon pumpkin by hot gluing the crayons to the top of the pumpkin.  (we learded to let the pumpkin warn up...it's been in the 30's at night around here..The cold temps make the hot glue dry so quickly it couldn't allow the crayons to stick to it.)

Luke getting started

It takes some time for the crayons to start melting, once they start it's great fun to watch the little wax trails.

The Kimberly photo of the day

Luke did a great job...he spent a lot of time working on his pumpkin.  This is just about the point where he passed the blowdryer on to me to finish up. 

We also made some grocery bag ghosts to hang on the apple tree.

Gracie made some foamie bats...we used daddy's fishing line to hang everything to the front trees...shhhhhh.....

Our decorations wouldn't be complete without Luke's gourd in the tree...(I'm not sure why, but we are not to move this per Luke's orders)

Luke's apple tree

Spooky!!

Kimberly and Luke's finished pumpkins.

Happy Birthday, Roman Catholic Church!

Tomorrow is the Feast of Pentecost...the birthday of the Roman Catholic Church. 

We were inspired to make a Pentecost windsock from over at Shower of Roses. 

You should spend some time at Jessica's Blog...it is full of wonderful ideas of how to live your faith with your children day by day. 

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

Our Homemade Birdbath

I look at Pinterest occasionally ....(cough, cough).. and I saw cute terracotta bird baths.  I ended up combining several examples to complete a project completely our own. 

We used three terracotta planters....10 inch, 12 inch and 14 inch.  The base is 14 inches.

 Any craft or home paint will work for this project because you seal it with a spray on sealant.

Colorful jewels, dry grout and Liquid Nails finishes this project. 

 Laura and Kimberly were happy to paint.  Luke brushed a few strokes of paint on the base and then was done with this step. 

 We dotted our red pots with blue paint and foam "dot" brushes.  These were only about a dollar. 

 Our craft paint was MOSTLY washable!

 All stacked up...but not yet finished.

We sealed each pot with a spray on outdoor sealant. We used about three coats of sealant. 

This step is best done outdoors.  I had various "jewels" in our craft supplies, using Goop glue, I placed a bit of glue onto the base and then the kids put a jewel on the base with a Popsicle stick.  The glue has a very strong smell, so do this step outside or in a very well ventilated area.   

Continue gluing down jewels until the

 base is covered as much as you wish. 

We left the base to dry for 2 days, making sure the glue was totally set. 

 Mix grout in a throw away container. 

 Smush it between the jewels.  We had a container of fast drying grout so we had to move pretty fast. 

 After completely covered, using a sponge, gently wipe away the excess grout.  

We then allowed the grout to set for 2 days.

 Kim and Luke enjoyed polishing the jewels.  

 They used a paper towel, a tiny bit of water and a lot of elbow grease. 

 Daddy taught the kids to use Liquid Nails and a caulk gun.

 This was also allowed to dry for a couple hours. 

 Filling the birdbath!

 I planned on having it out back with the bird feeders, but it came out so cute, the big kids insisted it remain in the front yard. 

Ready for the birds to take a dip!