A Special Back-to-School Project for Mom

It seems like we’ve all experienced a very hot summer this year. If you have kids, that means they’ve probably spent more time inside than usual, slowly taking over areas that were once tidy: the coffee table, kitchen table, the bonus room where you craft…

Good news! Relief is in sight! By September 6th,  most kids will be back in school!

So, what’s a mom to do once the kids are gone for eight hours a day? Reclaim the house! After taking those areas back from the clutter, spruce them up with these fun topiary projects from Patti Gorman.

Add a small punch of color to a room with a Felt Tabletop Topiary, or make a statement with a Felt Wall Topiary. Both projects can be easily tailored to your taste and décor by using different colors and by creating them at a size that’s perfect for your space. Best of all? Once you complete these projects, they’ll look great all year long with no pruning!

Click here for complete instructions and the pattern to make the Tabletop Topiary.

Click here for complete instructions and the pattern to make the Wall Topiary.

Getting Ready for School

If you have little ones in elementary school, their art teacher may ask you send a smock in for art day. Instead of sending in a ratty old shirt, why don’t you whip together one of these adorable aprons designed by our own Patti Gorman? Get your kiddo in on the project by letting them choose the colors and patterns and making the designs for the pockets. Best of all, these aprons are reversible, so you can get doubly creative with the embellishments.

Once done, your kids will probably want to wear their apron all the time! Can you blame them?

Click here for complete instructions.

Designer Craft Tip

Blending Colors on Unfinished Wood

Last week we told you about using acrylic paint on wood. This week, we’re taking our painting tips one step further – blending! You may remember this relaxing “At the Beach” project we featured back in May. As you can see, the colors blend subtlety into each other. There are several ways to achieve this look.

Drew, the designer who created this project, simply used a tissue to blot the colors where they came together.

Another way to blend your colors is to take the colors you want to blend and put them side by side on a paper plate, or other surface that you can use as a palette. Once you have the paints side by side, take a flat paint brush and brush it back and forth between the two colors, mixing them together. You will still have each individual color to see on either side, so you can blend as much or as little as you like, using the originals as your guide.

Finally, you can use sanding to blend your colors. That’s right, sanding. If you are using the stain from our Kelly’s line or even acrylic paint, you can still use this technique. Simply let your paint thoroughly dry and then lightly rub a fine grit sandpaper over your wood surface. You’ll see the lines between your colors begin to soften and you’ll also smooth out your surface for the next step in your project.

Try each method and show us your results!

Designer Craft Tip

Tips For Painting Unfinished Wood Crafts

There are many different types of paint you can use to paint on unfinished wood. Although you can use that leftover latex paint you painted the walls with, latex paint isn't guaranteed to hold up under duress.

Acrylic paint is the best choice for unfinished wood crafts. Craft stores like Michael's, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, or Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts carry several inexpensive brands of acrylic paint in a tremendous range of colors. Depending on the color of the paint, it will cover better and take fewer coats if you basecoat the wood first with a primer. Let dry, and then paint. After the paint is dry, you should coat your painted surface with an acrylic sealer unless you are using a gloss paint, which has a sealer built in.

Happy crafting!

Fun with Felt

Even though it's summer and temperatures are soaring across the country, there are still plenty of fun crafts you can do with felt. Don't believe me? Then take it from my friends over at FaveCrafts. Their every expanding list of things to do with felt is amazing and will get your creative juices flowing. Check it out!

Designer Craft Tip

Designer Susan Philpott loves experimenting with her craft supplies. Here is a little something she figured out after painting a few suncatchers.

Craft Tip for Different Ways to Use Suncatcher Stain

Did you know Suncatcher stain can be used on other surfaces than our Kelly's Suncatchers?  Suncatcher stain can be used on clear acrylic rhinestones or  beads in a variety of craft projects.

Stay tuned for to this blog for craft projects like making jewelry or rhinestones using suncatchers stain! 

Girl Scouts Get Crafty with Kelly's Suncatchers

Recently a Hobby Town USA store in Cumming, Georgia, hosted a local Girl Scout Troop for a day of crafting. What did the girls do? They painted suncatchers, of course! Here's Keith Pruitt's article about the event from Hobby Merchandiser magazine.

Kelly’s Crafts offers several lines of craft projects that provide inspiration, creative fun and a bit of education while entertaining kids of all ages. One of its lines is Suncatchers. These are a type of stained glass window decoration made to “catch the sun” and allow the sunlight to bring out the brilliance of the colors and shapes. Kelly’s Crafts’ Suncatcher Kits are made of clear plastic and include brushes and transparent liquid stains that allow kids and adults to create beautiful craft art pieces to hang in their windows.

Recently the HobbyTown USA store in Cumming, Georgia, hosted a craft workshop for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, Troop 10881, in which the girls painted Kelly’s Crafts Suncatchers. With the wide variety of Suncatchers available, each girl had the opportunity to paint several different ones. They were able to choose from animals, cartoon characters, fairies, sea creatures, pirate paraphernalia and 3-D butterflies.

Girl Scouts is an organization that enables girls and young women to exercise their talents, gain new skills in leadership and practical applications and have fun during the process. There are several types of projects that Girl Scouts perform, including outdoor activities like canoeing and horseback riding, as well as various forms of arts and crafts. Kelly’s Crafts Suncatchers were a natural fit for their arts and crafts endeavors.

On a sunny spring afternoon, Troop 10881 arrived at Hobbytown USA ready to have some fun and promptly went to work. As the girls began to paint the Suncatchers, their conversation varied from an obstacle course the girls had recently completed to “World Thinking Day,” a festival about globalization and world cultures. They also discussed the Suncatchers, deciding which colors to use on the different designs and what they wanted to do with them after they had finished. They considered donating them to the pediatric wing at the local hospital or perhaps to the convalescent home to brighten up the rooms of the elderly patients living there.

Kelly’s Crafts Suncatcher Kits each include multiple containers of paint in various colors, allowing mixing and matching of colors on the various pieces. These kits, many containing multiple Suncatchers, make a workshop like this simple, inexpensive and easy to perform in any hobby shop. The Suncatcher Kits also make an excellent choice of afternoon or evening activity for any family at home. Obviously, the young ladies of Troop 10881 had a blast painting the Kelly’s Crafts Suncatchers, and it was great fun watching them.