Tag: arts and crafts

Taking walks, taking pictures, making a mess, and drinking coffee

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list, friends! January seemed to go by pretty fast, but here we are in February, and it seems to be dragging slowly by at times. It’s probably partly due to the cold. I’m a summer girl. I’m not a huge fan of the cold and having to bundle up. Don’t get me wrong. This is an important season, but I would rather have sunshine and flipflops. I’m looking forward to the summer, and I hope time starts to pick up a bit and then slows down again when the summertime gets here. I have big plans for the summer so I have to stop my spending for a while to save up and that is already frustrating me. Anyways I should probably stop ranting and get on with the post. I started this post so I could write about what I did yesterday. I had the day off yesterday, and I stayed home for most of the day. I posted an article on Vocal Media. ( You can read it HERE ) I was also watching my neighbor’s dog, so we went on a walk. On our walk, I took a bunch of photos, including one of a deer. It is not a very good picture because the deer was kind of faraway, but I’m happy I got to see it. Walks are good for my health, so I was kind of glad that the dog made me get out and walk. Later on in the day, I got a craft kit from my room and brought it up to the table. It was a craft kit where you put colorful gems on plastic figures. I ended up getting frustrated with how hard it was to put the gemstones on that I just ended up dumping the gems on the plastic figure that I had chosen. It made a big mess, but I’m ok with how the project turned out, but I won’t be buying any more kits like this in the future. The highlight of yesterday was going to Starbucks. After Starbucks, I went on another walk. It was an okay day overall, and I’m glad I learned more about what kinds of craft kits not to buy!

Thanks for reading!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

I built a kaleidoscope with a vintage Lisa Frank art kit

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list, friends! It’s time for a blog post about a really awesome art kit! I got this art kit as a gift, and I love it. My top three favorite things I love about this kit are 1. It’s Lisa Frank brand 2. It’s a kaleidoscope, and I have never had a kaleidoscope art kit before 3. As far as I can tell, this kit is from the 1990s,and since I was born in 1990, it’s a nostalgic time period for me. It took me two days to finish this kit. I didn’t realize that you need tape for this kit so the first time I worked on this kit I chose the items that I wanted to put it the small container that goes at the end of the kaleidoscope. The kit came with beads and a colorful string. However, I ended up just putting some of the beds into the container because the container would not close correctly with all the beads inside. I decided to leave out the string and some of the beads. I hope to my leftover items on another project. There was also a part of the kaleidoscope that had to be tapped together and put inside. Once I had tape, that was a pretty easy thing to do. When it came to the outside of the kaleidoscope, there were four pieces of paper that you could hose from to cover the outside with. They had different designs on them. The kaleidoscope was big enough to fit one paper of each size. I chose to do the horse and roses. I used the markers that came in the kit to color the pictures. I made the pictures very colorful because when I think of Lisa Frank, colorful is one of the first words that comes to mind. Since the makers had been in the kit for a long time, some of them were a little bit dried up, but all of them worked well enough. After I put all the parts of the kaleidoscope together and colored the pictures. The last thing I had to do was tape the pictures on the outside of the kaleidoscope. Once that was done, I had a beautiful Lis Frank kaleidoscope.

Thanks for read about this art kit adventure!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Another super fun Melissa and Doug craft kit

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! It is no secret that I love doing craft kits. I’m always buying them and I having been trying to actually make more of them lately. On Monday I opened a craft get that I had gotten at a Goodwill back in August. This craft kit is from Melissia and Doug one of my favorite brands for craft kits. This kit had two magnets that your decorate with stickers and glitter glue. The two magnets in this kit were shaped like a firetruck and a train. I decided to make the train magnet first. This kit was pretty easy to do. It was also easy to figure out where the stickers were meant to go because there was a picture on kit. However, you can put the stickers wherever you want. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to putting the stickers on. After the stickers it was time for the glitter glue. There were two tubes of glitter glue in this craft kit. One was red and one was sliver. I didn’t use a whole lot of glitter glue for this project but I did enjoy outlining the firetruck with it. I also had fun making dots with it. I had fun doing this craft kit and I look forward to doing more Melissa and Doug craft kits in the future.

Thanks for reading about my craft kit fun!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

bird house painting fun!

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! I’m home from work today because I have a ganglion cyst on my foot that makes it painful to walk. I decided to use some of the extra time I had today to do one of the craft kits that I’ve been wanting to do. I bought this bird house craft kit  at Five Below. In addition to the supplies that were in the kit I used some paint and paint brushes that I already had. I decided to do this craft kit outside to avoid any extra clean up. As soon as I started painting I felt relaxed. I loved picking out the colors and deciding where I wanted to put the.I’m very pleased with my colorful  bird house. I wonder what craft kit I will make next?

Rock On- Christina Epperly

Barbie Jewelry box art kit

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! In my last blog post I mentioned that I got a Barbie jewelry box kit from the 90s at savers. It’s a really unique item and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. When I saw the box sitting on the shelf I was so excited about it! I could tell that the box had been opened before but I still wanted to get this kit. When I opened the kit I saw that it had already been painted. However since the paint was pretty light I knew that I could just paint over it. Most of the paint that came with the kit was used up so I decided to use some of the paint that I had in my room. It turned out pretty great. The kit did come with beads but I don’t think most of the beads that were in the kit were the ones that originally came with the kit. The beads that were in the kit were pretty cool so I was not disappointed. This craft kit was really unique I haven’t seen many that are like it. There are lot of paint your own box kits but haven’t seen any that are similar to this one that I can remember. It was a lot of fun to do a craft kit from the ’90s and it was a great bonus that it was also a Barbie craft kit. Have you found any craft kits from the ’90s while you’ve been thrifting?

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Jelly fish craft kit !

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends ! Recently I did a very cute jelly fish craft kit. I’m excited to tell you more about it so let’s get to it!

Jelly fish craft kit !

I got this very cute jellyfish craft kit at Michael’s. when I decided to use it, I didn’t know if I would need glue or any other components to put the jellyfish together. I was happy to find out that  I didn’t need anything extra. The pieces had adhesive on them and I was able to put them together very easily. I loved doing this super simple craft kit! It was easy to put together and the jelly fish are super cute!

Thanks for reading ! Rock On – Christina Epperly

Light Heart book club July 2020 discussion

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I know I’m behind on my book club posts but I’m ready to catch up. July’s Light Heart book club pick was Melanie’s Last Ride by Joanna Campbell and Alice Leonhardt. As always one more thing before we dive into the discussion. The following post contains major plot points ( Spoilers ) for the book . If you want to read the book and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait to read this post until you have finished the book. Now, let’s dive into our discussion.

 

Light Heart book club July 2020 discussion

My favorite part of the book – My overall favorite moment in this book is when Melanie’s father shows up at camp and surprises her. Throughout the book Melanie is upset that her father’s work schedule often prevents them from spending time together. I was so happy for Melanie when her dad surprised her!

My least favorite part of the book – The part of the book I liked the least was when a fire threatened the horses! Lucky Melanie and the other campers were able to get them to safety.

Overall view of the book – One thing I really liked about this book was that it took place at a summer camp. It was fun reading a book that was set in the same season that it was in real life. Another one of my favorite parts was when the campers went swimming and there was a rope swing that you could use to jump into the water. This is actually an item on my bucket list! This book gave me memories of being at summer camp and I really liked that. One thing about the book that I didn’t like so much is that there was a good amount of drama happening but that’s how kids are at that age. If you like horses I would recommend this book just remember it is full of age appropriate drama!

Activities

Art activity – For this book’s art project I knew just what to make. I had gotten this arts and crafts kit at Goodwill awhile ago where you make paper plate animal faces. Since a horse was one of the animals that you could make with this kit. I knew it would be perfect to make for this book’s art project. It was a quick and easy project to make. I was happy with the was this project turned out.  If you are not able to find a kit like the one that I used it’s pretty easy to make this project on your own. You can use a regular paper plate and cut out your own shapes.

Question – This next activity is a little different but I has fun with it. Did you ever notice how race horses have really long and sometimes funny sounding names? When I was probably around 12 years old I used to play this horse racing video game. I remember thinking about how silly some of the horse’s names were. For this activity I asked myself if I had a race horse what would I name it ? I think I came up with the perfect name for a race horse and that name is Sunshine City Coffee ! It’s long and funny but also cute! I would love to see your answer to this question in the comment section.

Happy reading !

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

 

Fun with paper airplanes!

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello,my bucket list friends! I had the day off today so I decided to cross off one of the items from my 30 before 30 list. My birthday is coming soon and I hope to cross a few more items off my list before then. Without further delay let’s dive into today’s fun!

Today I decided to learn how to make a paper airplane. This is a pretty simple thing that I’ve wanted to learn for a while now. Back when I worked in childcare. There were times when I would be asked to make a paper airplane and I had no idea how to make one! I tried a few times but I never could get it right. I decided that today was the day when I would finally make a paper airplane. I started off by following some written directions that I found online . That airplane didn’t fly very well so then I watched a YouTube video. I tried to follow along with the video but I got a little confused. That airplane didn’t fly all that well either. Then I tried doing one one my own. Useing the skills that I had picked up from the instructions for the first two planes. I actually liked the way this plane flew. I made another plane on my own and I decorated them all. I had a fun time coloring and putting stickers on the planes. I’m glad I did this activity today. The next time someone asks me to make a paper airplane for them I’ll be able to make something even if it isn’t perfect.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Three craft kits one day !

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I’m very excited to announce that yesterday I crossed another item off my bucket list. The item that I crossed off is #228 do three Melissa and Doug craft kits in one day!  I’m exited to tell you more about my crafting adventure so let’s get to it!

 

Three craft kits one day !

For this bucket list item I ordered three Melissa and Doug craft kits from Amazon. I wanted the kits to be different from each other so I chose a decoupage cat, a wooden race car kit and a sand art kit. The first kit I opened was the decoupage cat. This kit came with a cardboard cat figure,stickers,glue and some items to decorate the cat with one the glue was dry. The first step for this project was to cover the cat with the stickers. The stickers came in a bunch of different styles. I really liked the dot stickers. Once the stickers were covering the cat it was time to cover the cat in the sparkly glue. When I was reading the instructions I noticed that it would take a few hours for the glue to dry. I’m glad I started with this kit first. The next kit I opened was the wooden race car craft. The first step was to put the wheels on the car. The kit came with glue to use for the wheels but when I snapped the wheels in to place they stayed on so I decided to skip the gluing part. Then it was time to paint the car. I used the yellow and blue paints for my car but there are other colors in this kit. The next step was to put on the stickers that came in the kit but I had to let the paint dry first so I moved on to the sand art kit. This kit came with three bottles of different shapes ,lots of colorful sands , corks to close up the bottles and other tools. I found this craft kit to be the most relaxing . There is something soothing about pouring sand in to bottles. I was happy with the way all three bottles of sand turned out but the rectangle one is my favorite. After the sand craft I put some stickers on my race car. Later that night I finished the cat craft by adding the eye stickers and the ribbon.  I enjoyed my little craft kit adventure. I wonder what craft kit I’ll do next !

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Wooden flip flop art

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! The last time I went to the Dollar Tree I got this wooden flip decoration art kit. It’s a very simple kit where you just use the little markers that come with the kit to color the wooden flip flip picture. I found the overall design of the flip flops to be very cute. I especially love the little seashell detail on the flip flops.The markers that came with the kit worked well to color the wooden picture. When I was done coloring  the main parts of the the flip flops I decided to make a bunch of little marks in different colors to give the flip flops a look that was both colorful and fun! I enjoyed this simple summer craft kit .

Rock On – Christina Epperly