August 2015 – Our Beautifully Messy House

Coffee Can Stilts

August 27, 2015October 22, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

A few weeks ago a family friend called me up to ask if I had a use for a bunch of old coffee cans. While I was a little afraid to tell my husband that I had said “yes” to accepting such a large bag of junk, taking up more room in our house, I was over-the-moon excited to be acquiring these cans! I knew just what we’d use them for…COFFEE CAN STILTS!!! These are so quick and easy to make and are so much fun for the kids! Walking on stilts is all L wants to do these days!!! “I can almost touch the sky from up here, Mom!”

Materials needed:

2 coffee cans
church key can opener
rope
scissors
paint (optional)
acrylic sealant (optional)

First, if you want your stilts to be colorful, have your little ones paint the cans with acrylic paints. After the paint has dried, spray on a coat of acrylic sealant to give the cans a glossy finish.

Next, using a church key can opener, make two holes on the bottoms of the cans. The holes should be opposite each other. Try to bend the metal all the way back inside the can, so no sharp points protrude out. (Your kids shouldn’t have their hands inside the cans at anytime, but you never know when the curious ones may take off the lid while playing and reach inside…so, better safe than sorry!)

Cut two pieces of rope. To find the correct length, have your kid stand on the rope, holding both ends in his or her hands pulled up to chest-level. This is a good place to cut it. After the stilts are assembled, the rope handles should reach your child’s waist.

Thread the rope into the holes of the can from the outside. Once both ends are pulled through, tie a knot in each end. Repeat on the second can.

Place the lids back onto the cans and flip them over. Having the lids isn’t a necessity, but it may save your floors from being scratched up while your children walk around inside. Now, time to play!!!

As your little ones practice, they’ll get better and better at walking on their stilts and they’ll be oh-so-proud!!! Future circus performers, anyone?

Talk about good hand-eye-FOOT coordination! Enjoy!!!

White Picket Fairy Fence

August 18, 2015September 24, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

Well, I couldn’t show you how to make a Craft Stick Fairy Door without telling you how to make a WHITE PICKET FAIRY FENCE to go with it! The fence is simple to make and looks adorable out in the fairy garden!

Materials needed:

small craft sticks
regular-sized craft sticks
wood glue
Q-tips
white acrylic paint
acrylic sealant

First, lay out your sticks…4 small craft sticks in the middle with 2 regular-sized ones on the ends. If you don’t have small craft sticks, just cut some regular-sized one’s in half. The two craft sticks on the ends are left long, so that you can easily stick them into the ground, keeping the fence upright!

Next, think about where two craft sticks that will lie across the other ones will be and use a Q-tip to put wood glue in those spots across each stick. Lay the craft sticks on top of the glue and press to secure.

After the glue has dried, paint the picket fairy fence white.

Finish up with a coat of acrylic sealant spray.

Now for the fun part…while sneaking a fairy door into your neighbor’s garden, add a little white picket fairy fence as well! Gently push the ends of the fence into the soil. Enjoy!!!

Craft Stick Fairy Doors

August 16, 2015September 28, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

It’s no secret that we LOVE making fairy/gnome things at Our Beautifully Messy House…fairy houses, fairy furniture, fairy doors, gnome doors, flower fairies, fairy folk…need I go on? We just can’t help it! What I love the most about making fairy doors and gnome doors is surprising people with them! L and I made an abundance of CRAFT STICK FAIRY DOORS this week as we prepare to spread them around the neighborhood. Of course we enjoy surprising our friends and close neighbors, but what I really love is putting them on strangers’ front porches and sneaking them into their gardens! We rarely get to see people discover the fairy and gnome doors, but the surprise, the magic in it all makes L and I giggle for days! We’ve had a great time making these craft stick fairy doors…aren’t they the cutest!?!

Materials needed:

crafts sticks (big, small, colored, any or all)
wood glue
Q-tips
buttons

Optional materials:

acrylic paint
sealant spray
wire & nails

First, lay out your craft sticks in a door shape. If you have colored sticks, your kids will enjoy playing with patterns!

Using a Q-tip, put wood glue onto a small craft stick and carefully lay it across your door. If you don’t have small craft sticks, you can always cut a normal-sized one in half! It’s best to put at least 2 sticks across, but you can play with the angles and directions that you put them. Remember, fairy doors don’t have to be perfect!

If you don’t plan to paint your door, you can glue a button-handle on now too!

After the glue has dried a good bit, flip your doors over and smear wood glue all across the back for extra support. Let them dry for a few hours or overnight.

Next, if your craft sticks are plain and you want to, paint the doors. We especially like to add glitter paint to ours…helps the fairies and gnomes find the doors of course.

After the paint has dried, glue on button-handles if you have not done so yet. We like to spray our doors with some acrylic sealant as well…makes the wood a little more durable outdoors and gives them a more finished look.

Now for the fun part, hide them around town…or give them to friends! These would make an adorable party favor for both kids and adults! Enjoy!!!

Spice Jar Stencils

August 11, 2015September 24, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

So maybe I’m a bit obsessed with using everything I find for crafting purposes…but L loves her SPICE JAR STENCILS so much, I just had to share! I usually turn our old spice jars into terrariums, but toss the little plastic lids with holes. Lately I’ve been saving them though, giving the lids to L to use as stencils!

We’ve found that markers work best for this craft. If you color the dots, then rotate the stencils carefully and color more dots, you can make all kinds of flower or sunshine patterns!

You’ll be amazed how quickly your children will perfect the stenciling technique. At first, L had trouble holding the stencil in place while coloring in all the dots, but within 5 minutes of playing with it she had no problem!

I was happy just making flowers, but her 3 year old creativity expanded our flowers into sunshines and even fireworks! I love watching little minds at work!

Really this is a super simple activity, but your little ones will love it nonetheless! Enjoy!

Lemonade Play Dough

August 5, 2015September 24, 2015 Porter Leave a comment

We love scented play dough at Our Beautifully Messy House and summertime is the perfect time to make LEMONADE PLAY DOUGH!

I came up with this recipe a couple weeks ago, while mixing up some play dough to take with us on vacation to the beach. And the kids LOVED it!!! It’s always nice having play dough handy for any down-time whether you’re at the beach with family or you’re having friends over for a play date.

I’ve tried making citrus-scented play dough in the past with lemon extracts and oils, but that summery lemonade scent never comes through. Adding a packet or two of lemonade mix did the trick…it was super-quick and easy and smells delicious! I suggest using a sugar-free lemonade mix (Crystal Light brand works great!) so your play dough doesn’t get super sticky with the added sugar.

When I made our lemonade play dough I wanted to make both yellow and pink dough, so I split the dough and added the food coloring before kneading it. The colors came out just fine! This play dough takes only a few minutes to make, but stored in a gallon-sized bag or an air-tight container, it’ll keep for nearly a year! This recipe makes plenty for 2 or 3 kids to play with!

My tip to keep your kids entertained playing with play dough for longer: Start off with plain play dough. Let them play 15 or 20 minutes, then throw some glitter into the mix. Once their attention starts to drift, add some colorful beads or buttons. Add some measuring cups and kitchen utensils, some lil plastic dinosaurs or army men. Just don’t give them everything at once, instead add to the play dough in intervals…works every time!

Ingredients:

2 cups + 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 cups boiling water
food coloring
1-2 packets lemonade mix

First, put the water on to boil. Add a few drops of food coloring to the water (yellow or pink). As the water is heating up, mix 2 cups of flour, salt, cream of tartar and one packet of lemonade mix in a large mixing bowl. Then add and mix the vegetable oil into the flour mixture. Once the water is boiling, add it to the bowl and mix with a spatula. The dough will be a sticky mess while warm. Mix it as best you can, then let it cool off. After a few minutes cooling off, sprinkle your working surface with some of the remaining flour. Dump the play dough onto the flour, adding more flour to the top, and knead the dough. Continue working with the dough, adding a bit of flour as needed, til the dough is not sticky anymore and you’ve reached the desired consistency. If you like, sprinkle in another packet of lemonade mix to dough! Yum yum, Summer!!! Enjoy!