Watercolors To Go!

Watercolors To Go! 

 It is summer vacation season and I was looking for some fun new things that could be taken along in a car to keep the little ones busy and happy.  My kids love to paint so when I came across the idea I found here I had to try it.  With a couple additions to make it my own and to make it so the kiddos could take it with them complete and ready to use, and here you are!

Started with 9X11 sheets of watercolor paper that I cut down to a variety of sizes.
I used the liquid watercolors that come in a tube to add the watercolors to the edge of each piece of paper.
Each paper got dots of watercolor along the left side.  I used smaller dots for the smaller paper and larger dots for the larger paper.
 
After all of the papers had their dots, I had to let them dry...my least favorite step of any project!

I reused a water bottle.  I made a label for the bottle and filled it about half way with water.  Put a plastic paintbrush right in the water and screwed the lid on nice and tight.  After the paints were dry, I punched holes in each one and tied them to the bottle with a ribbon.

How great are these?!?
I am thinking these would make great party favors for an art/rainbow themed party too!

Also, if you cut the paper into 4X6 rectangles you can have your kiddos paint pictures on the road and send them as postcards!

Here are some of the creations from our idea testers!

  
They definatley had fun with it and we will be taking these on the road with us this summer!

Join us and share your summer road trip craft ideas!

Jolly Lollies: A Sweet Summer Treat!

Jolly Lollies: A Sweet Summer Treat!

What a fun and easy way to make a sweet summer treat!
If you love Jolly Ranchers, what could be better than a lollipop you made yourself with all your favorite Jolly Rancher Flavors!?!
This is an idea that I came across in my endless internet browsing but lost it's origin.  This is where I would usually give credit where it is due, but I do not who to give the credit to....
Grab a bag of Jolly Ranchers, aluminum  foil, parchment paper and some sticks (I used trimmed bamboo skewers), and preheat the oven to 275.

Prepare your pan by lining it with aluminum foil, then parchment paper.

Place the Jolly Ranchers as shown below.  They should be touching and there should be enough space around each to place your stick quickly after removal from the oven.  Notice how they are staggered?  Set the timer for 5 minutes.

At this point, this is how they should look.  Continue to watch them melt,

Remove them from the oven when they are evenly melted into puddles like shown below.

QUICKLY, place the sticks and twist them slightly to cover them

Let them cool.  Them remove them from the tray.

 
Watch your little one's eyes light up when they see these great candy treats!!

My kiddos loved them, I hope your's do too!

You can make these and wrap them for party favors, classroom treats, office treats.  Make a candy bouquet......
Super Simple and Yummy, Yummy!

How Pinteresting...Our take on favorite Pins

How Pinteresting...Our take on favorite Pins

I have been a HUGE fan of Pinterest since I discovered it about a year ago.  What a great idea! It was another of those, "Why didn't I think of that?!?" moments.  A visual pinboard to take all of those great ideas you find on the vast space that is the internet and put them all in one place to be able to look back at in the form of images.  Not only that, but it links right to the original source and tutorials where applicable!  WOW! I love it and have used it for so many new ideas.  This week I am going to take a look at the things I have pinned and my creations as a result of those inspirations.

Rainbow Birthday Party

These are the original pins (with links to the original posts) that I placed on my board for inspiration in planning my daughter's first birthday party.

         

         

And here is how I interpreted them to make my daughter's 1st Birthday Extra special!

[caption id="attachment_1180" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Party Invitation[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1167" align="aligncenter" width="591"] Rainbow Birthday Picture: Taken by: Geoffrey Grau Photography[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1174" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Craft Table: Rainbow Rice bottles

Party Craft[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_1173" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Craft Table: Rainbow Noodle Necklaces and Color on Table Cover[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1175" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Rainbow Columns[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1170" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Happy Birthday Penant Banner[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1169" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Rainbow Photo Guest Sign-In Board[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1168" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Rainbow Party Favors[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Treats[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1172" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Drink Table[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1176" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainbow Fruit Tray[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1178" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Store bought Cake[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1177" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Rainbow Cake in a Jar[/caption]

As you can see, often the ideas were altered to better fit the vision I had in my head for a first birthday party.  Pinterest was my drawing board.  I took the ideas I found there and combined some, used, some, and created my own ideas with those as a spring board.  Pinterest is an inspiration!
Check out other great party ideas I found by going to my Party Ideas Board.

Join Us in our Community of Creativity!