Formula Can Art Supply Organizers

My 2-year-old has taken a recent liking to doing art projects: watercolors, coloring, drawing, cutting, gluing, putting stickers on paper...she likes it all right now. And I like it too. I love watching her be creative and make her own little masterpieces. Al this art-making poses a bit of a storage dilemma, however. This is our old "art box". The "art box of craziness" I like to call it.

Everything was just thrown in there and it was hard to know which supplies were actually living in there. And, every time Little Peanut wanted to color, or draw with markers, etc, out came this whole big, honking art bin and then her two-year-old little brain would want to get out all of the art supplies, and things sometimes got a little bit out of control. That's where the formula canisters come in. I always have a hard time throwing these away because they just seem like they could be so useful for something. So, on one of my days off last week I dug the canisters out of the basement, got out some scrapbook paper, tape, markers, and scissors and went to work. I just measured the scrapbook paper and cut it to fit each canister. Then, I labeled each piece of paper with a marker, wrapped it around the canister and secured it with tape at the seam. Done!

I think they look kind of cute sitting up there on the shelf. And...it makes it MUCH easier when we do an art project. If we are working with markers, we just take the "marker" can to the kitchen table with us and the rest of the other art supplies aren't their distracting Little Peanut from what it was she wanted to do in the first place :)

Ribbon Clip Holders

Do you ever have an idea of something in your head, and then it turns out even better than how you had pictured when you actually make it? Yay! I love it when that happens! Anyway, this was one of those projects for me. I made these ribbon clip holders for all of my daughter's bows and flowers about a year ago. I know there are a lot of versions of these clip holders out there, but this is what I came up with...

I am pretty excited with how they turned out and they were pretty inexpensive and easy to make. Here's how if you want to give it a try:

What you will need:

plain wooden plaques (I got mine at 'Michael's' for $1.29 a piece)

ModPodge

decorative paper of your choice

foam brushes

plain wooden die-cut shapes ( .25 cents a piece at 'Michael's')

ribbon of your choice

glue gun or other heavy duty glue like 'E 6000'

acrylic paints (about a dollar a bottle at most craft stores)

1. Trace the outline of your wooden plaque onto the scrapbook paper and then trace a that outline again just about 1/4" inside your original line.

2. Cut out paper along the inner line and set aside.

3. Paint front and back of your wooden plaques with acrylic paints and let dry.

4. Paint your wooden cutouts with a contrasting color and set aside.

5. Once your plaques are dry, adhere your cut out piece of paper to the plaque using 'ModPodge'. (spread 'ModPodge' to the back of the paper using a foam brush, stick the paper in place on your plaque, smoothing out the bubbles, then cover the entire thing with 'ModPodge' using a foam brush).

6. Coat the entire top of the plaque and paper with 'ModPodge' a couple more times, letting it dry between each application.

7. Once 'ModPodge' is dry, glue your painted wood cutout to the center of your plaque using glue gun or other strong glue. Let dry.

8. Coat the entire plaque with a few more layers of 'ModPodge' and let dry.

9. Cut your ribbon to desired length and glue to the back of your plaque. (you may also need to attach a hook or loop of ribbon to the back so you can hang your plaque on the wall).

10. And voila! Now you are done. You can also make this project much easier and faster by just buying an already painted wood cutout (I know they have them at some craft stores) and just gluing your ribbon to the back of that.