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 Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Tuesday Tutorial: Party Flashlight

By: Candie Cooper - To see more projects from Candie check out her blog, Candie Cooper's Journal.




In case you and your kids are still looking for another craft to celebrate the New Year, we you are in luck. Turn up the tunes and get ready for an extra fun project because we are making party flashlights!!  This is also a great project to have your kids make for parties, and sleepovers.



You'll need some Plaid Folk Art Enamels in your favorite colors, a flashlight, painters’ tape, soft bristle brushes, a flashlight and cotton swabs.



Tape off the flashlight with painter's tape to create a striped effect.  Or--you can cut pieces of tape however you like and stick them to the flashlight to create your own design.



Use a soft haired brush to apply the Folk Art Enamels to get a nice and smooth coat of paint.  It's worth mentioning that the Enamels are ok for kids to use, as they are non-toxic.  Yay!  Also, the paint will fully cure after 21 days, but you can still handle it before then.
 


Use a hair dryer to speed up the drying time in between coats of paint.  You can see I peeled away the first round of paint on the big flashlight and filled in the stripes with orange paint.



Doodle some dots using the end of a paintbrush or cotton swab end.  Polka dots are always a good choice in my book!
 


You could leave the flashlight alone or add some bells and whistles with some left over bows or whimsies from the dollar store.  This blue streamer piece came from a table centerpiece I disassembled.  Wrap it around the end of the flashlight and tack with a dot of glue or rubber band even.
 


Add some batteries and you've got a party light!  I love the crazy shadows it makes on the wall.



Don't stop here though!  Add some flat back crystals with Mod Podge and more ribbons if you like!  

Here's to a happy, safe and fun New Year!!!

P.S.  Dear Mom's, While I'm thinking about it, I believe a painted flashlight would be an excellent Valentine's Day gift for dad from the kiddos.  Just pick out Dad's favorite colors and let the kids doodle away.  Make a paper Valentine with a "light" sentiment and you've got a sweet little gift.


#  Posted in: FolkArt | New Years | party-ideas | Winter Comments [9]   Trackback

 
 Sunday, January 01, 2012
 Friday, December 30, 2011

Freelance Friday: New Year's Eve Ball
By: Candie Cooper - To see more crafts from Candie, check out Candie Cooper's Journal.



2012 is almost here! I can't believe it either! Like many of us, I grew up watching Dick Clark celebrate in Times Square (rarely awake to actually see the ball drop though). This New Year, you and your kids can bring the famous Times Square tradition to your home with this easy project.

 


You'll need a foam disc in desired size, paint and a stiff brush. You can use any color of Folk Art or Apple Barrel paint you like.  I opted for classic Apple Barrel White in Gloss. I've mentioned this before, but Apple Barrel rocks for painting foam surfaces!



I like to squirt out a spiral of paint directly onto the styrofoam and then dip my brush in water while spreading the paint around. The water helps the paint to seep into the foam pores even more, creating a nice coat.
 


Fiskars and Martha Stewart punches are handy to create polka dots and snowflakes on the ball. I used old wrapping paper and scrapbook paper in layers. Tiny mirrors and crystals can be added for sparkle.



Use Mod Podge to glue the layers together. To glue the final pieces onto the foam, use cool temp hot glue. Also if you look just next to the Mod Podge, I hot glued a hook into the foam so it can hang.




Find some sparkly ribbon and tie it to the hook and hang it up! You could also set it in a book shelf if you've no great places to hang it.



I added a little bauble above it from the dollar store just for fun. Stay tuned for another fun project to light your New Year's Ball up! And just for fun, here's an article about the history of the New Year's Ball via TIME:  
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1867116,00.html









#  Posted in: Apple-Barrel | FolkArt | Mod-Podge | New Years | Winter Comments [16]   Trackback

 
 

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