For the August issue of Sandbox Press, we’ve created a fun end of summer activity. Splatter paint stationery is fun to make and easy to use for sending thank you notes, making note cards for a gift, or writing home from summer camp! Kids can even make fun posters to display in their rooms.

Supplies:

Spray bottle, acrylic or Tempera Paints in a variety of colors, water, cardstock or other thick paper, small objects, such as seashells, leaves, and other trinkets, and envelopes for mailing (optional)

Steps:

1. Cover your workspace with newspaper.
2. Pour a few teaspoons of paint into the spray bottle. Add about an inch of water.  Add more water for a more transparent color.
3. Arrange your seashells or other objects onto the paper (if using).
4. Spray your colored water onto the paper.
5. Repeat with other colors.
6. Let your paper dry overnight.
7. For stationery or note cards, cut the paper to fit your envelopes.

Try to choose a variety of paint colors and shades of paper.  Thicker paper, such as cardstock, works best but you can also use printer paper.  Stones, seashells, or your child’s hand will create different silhouettes on your paper. Making coordinating envelopes tied with a piece of ribbon makes a nice gift set.

Need a quick way to send some love to your family? You still have time to recruit your child to make Easter extra special!  These Easter cards took less than a day and my 2 1/2 year old was delighted to make a mess with paint!

I used some pre-purchased plain white cards (the same ones I’ve used for St. Patty’s Day cards and sewn Birthday cards – it was a smart purchase!) I had paint in my craft closet and cardstock in my office. We were all set!

For the first step, I had my son paint on the front of each card.

This quickly diminished into finger painting but made it more fun too!

Since his hands were covered, we made him stamp the back of each card as a signature. He landed about a 30% success rate on this part.

Then we let all the cards dry. This was the longest part of the whole process. Some cards were pretty soaked with paint! While they dried, I used a cookie cutter to trace the egg shape onto cardstock (cut to the size of the front of a card) and cut those out.

We wrote Happy Easter on each one and started gluing them to the front of cards. We made ten total and were able to mail them the next morning!

We hope you enjoy great time with family this weekend and try some new fun crafty projects! And Tracy and I wish you all a:

!!!

Meghan is getting married! And the world (well, a bunch of friends and family) need to know about it!

My friends Meghan and Madalyn and I spent an afternoon crafting these sweet Save the Date cards. We started with a basic concept: photo and info on a pretty piece of paper. It was a messy project but came together nicely:

Madalyn was in charge of cutting:

Meghan stuck each of the pictures and text info onto the cardstock with sticky dots. This gave them texture and depth.

Check out that beauty on her ring finger too!

Overall, we made about 40 on different colored papers. They turned out great and one is proudly displayed on my refrigerator!

I decided to try something new for two of my wonderful aunts’ birthdays!

Sew Mama Sew featured a couple cards that were beautifully sewn together. The crafter sewed fabric onto cardstock but I used scrapbooking paper on blank cards and envelopes.

I started and finished the cards within an hour and highly recommend this project!

Our cousin Emily is a talented paper crafter. Last year she got the fabric bug and starting collecting vintage reproduction fabrics, and her mom got her a new sewing machine when she was in town visiting a few weeks ago. I can’t wait to see her first quilt – she is a very talented, creative woman. Maybe we could get her to do a friends and family post?

As a thank you for a Christmas present, Em gave me this spectacular paper quilt handmade card and some wild Elvis print fabric. Each square and heart is individually cut out of decorative papers and glued down to the card. She named it “Cousin Quilt” and it’ll be framed and hanging somewhere special soon. Not sure what the plan is yet for that Elvis fabric… but whatever it is I will be sure to share some photos! Any ideas for what to make with an Elvis print?