After seeing these pop up on pintrest a few times, I decided they were just too cute to not try! So after a few days of collecting toilet paper rolls (sad to think it took little over a week), I was ready to give it a shot. For this craft, you will need some leftover paper towel and/or toilet paper rolls in addition to whatever you will be using to decorate your bunnies. I made a few of different sizes, in different colors, using tissue paper and construction paper to create polka dots (for the tallest bunny). I also used tissue paper to make the little bow ties for my bunnies and duckies. If I make more of these, I would consider using paint, or decoupaging with magazines or written words, which I think might look very nice.(Also a burlap bunny would be pretty cute--but I never seem to have any burlap) To begin, assemble the cardboard rolls to be used for your paper animals. You can cut paper rolls to make animals of different sizes. Since I did this both ways, I would recommend cutting before decorating (it's just easier when you have the forsight!). Once you have your cardboard for your animals, spray some adhesive onto the entire surface of your cardboard and roll it onto the tissue paper, completing covering the roll. You could probably use mod-podge if you don't have spray adhesive, but be careful, since tissue paper will not be able to be moved once placed ontop of the mod-podge (it may rip if you try to move it!). Alternatively, you could also place a few dots of hot glue onto the seam and wrap the tissue paper around, pressing into the glue seam to hold in place (just don't burn yourself!). Trim the ends of the tissue paper and tuck into the tube. Press the tucked paper into the cardboard, if you've sprayed the tube thoroughly, the paper will probably stick. If it does not, you can use some dots of hot glue to hold the paper in place. Now that your bunnies (or ducks etc) have their faux hair, cut the ears, feet, noses, eyes, whiskers, and wings (for the ducks!). You can use construction paper, cardboard or cardstock paper to make these details. I had some scraps leftover from my paper heart garland, so I used cardstock that had been sprayed and stuck to tissue paper, which gave my ears a fun, funky look, but I realized I wanted a bit more detail, so I sprayed adhesive and stuck a lighter piece of tissue to the ears. I recommend stacking paper to create matching pairs of ears, feet, etc. this helps ensure unique shapes are about the same size and look even. It also allows you to make more decorations, easier. As another time saver, (as mentioned above)I used a lot of scrap material for decoration, including for my noses, whiskers and feet. I suppose they might be cuter with shaped feet (big rabbit feet or webbed ones for the ducks) but I was feeling pretty lazy, and so scraps were soo good enough for these little guys. I did, as an afterthought, give them big bunny teeth and poofy tails that I made out of a bit of cheesecloth I had lying around. If you're really up for a challenge, try making your own pattern using cut up paper and hot glue. You can make polka dots, stripes, or decoupage written words or photos or something to add extra preaonalization. For this bunny, I stacked a few colors of tissue paper, folded it into a square and cut the square into a circle to make polka dots. I then got glued these to my tube. Be careful at this step, since its easy to burn yourself... I guess you could use mod-podge or regular craft glue to stick these (the spray adhesive would work nicely too), but where's the danger in that? Also, I like the way the paper sinks into the hot glue, making it look like buttons. After the tube is completely decorated and has dried, you can cover it in mod-podge to finish it, but know that you will need to let it dry before any other decoration can be added, and really it might make more sense to finish decorating (add ears, eyes etc) before sealing with mod-podge...which is of course not how I did it. Learn from my mistakes ye clumsy crafters... Add decoration to your animals using hot glue. Be careful not to burn yourself, and keep a pair of scissors handy to take care if your glue strings. Try not to overdo it, I constantly use too much glue and end up with a very whiskery end product...but I figure that you don't often pick up nick-knacks and so as long as they look good from the shelf, I am generally statisfied. I think that the animals look better with more detail so I suppose a little hot glue is the price we pay... Add as much detail as you have the energy to craft...my tolerance was pretty low when making these, oh well, they still look pretty cute...and I'm glad I added the tufts of hair to the ducks, I really think it adds something. Maybe next time they will get little tuxedos...I've also thought about making them little baskets to carry out of cardboard. So have fun with these little guys, they're easy to make and soo customizable. Plus you can use them as little containers for Easter candy, and who doesn't love that?!
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The concept is easy enough, an instructer leads the class in painting by example. The company has a selection of paintings from which you can choose (either in a private party or by the night). Our class was a rare example where the instructer was new and hasn't actually done the painting, let alone teach it. We all made it through easily enough, she had a script to read and we diligently followed her instructions. The paintings and style of the class are designed to be done by a person of any skill level. Some steps were a little well...duh...for me and my oh-so-obviously-superior skills (is the sarcasm too drippy for you there?). For instance, one of the first steps for "whimsical fall" was to paint a yellow line, using your medium-sized brush, three-quarters of the way down the length of the canvas. The next step was to fill in the space below the painting with yellow paint, using short horizontal swipes of your brush. I finished these steps rather quickly and had a little too much time to drink wine, which made some of the later steps a little difficult, or sloppy, I should say. After the ground had been painted yellow (think filtered sunlight), we painted a blue sky above it and using the flat side of the brush, painted leaves in purple, red, orange, and even pink so that the colors blended and became lighter from left to right across the sky. (This step seemed to take forever---although maybe that was the wine). With the leaves in place, we all painted three long stripes which would become trees. I got pretty annoyed here and my trees ended up a little "halloweeny" as my friend Lauren proclaimed. The rest of the class was spent adding detail, in my case, this meant a bit of drunken water marks and smears to my as-good-as-it-was-gonna-get version of the painting. All in all, it was a terrific way to spend a girls night, and we got a better souvenir than the regular hang-over (although there was some of that as well haha!). I highly recommend this venture, for anyone considering---it would be a great bachelorette activity or for birthdays! And if you don't have something like this in your area, why not just grab some cheap supplies at michaels and host the party yourself? I suppose if you were investing-inclined, you could open your own franchise! Pinot's Pallet Portrait Library
https://www.pinotspalette.com/fortcollins/Painting-Library Pinot's Pallet Photo Gallery https://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#albumlist/117693561176047603899
So it's a little late, but better that than never-- I've decided to share some of my February decorations (mostly heart crafts). I always love festive linked chains, so I thought I'd try my hand at these little paper hearts. They were surprisingly easy to make, and I love the way that each heart is a little different. I hung some from short chains (below) all over the house. They spin and at quite lovely. ;) As with all my crafting projects, you may notice some clumsy errors, such as the tissue paper peeling from the edges of each strip...this is fixed if you add sufficient adhesive when initially sticking, or afterword, touch up with some hot glue (careful--the paper is thin and the glue is very hot, unless you've been clever enough to get the low temperature hot glue) Also, be aware that the spray adhesive will discolor tissue paper-I kind of like being able to see the tint of the cardstock through the tissue, but it's something to keep in mind when selecting cardstock. I just love the way they dangle! As you can see, I also made a long chain (using fishing line) to hang above my windows in addition to the short vertical chains. These are strung in the same way, using a needle that has been single-threaded through each heart and knotted at the ends. This allows the hearts to move around on the chain unless you secure them in place ie: tie them individually onto the string. If you are like me, and want to minimize effort, pull the fishing line string through several places of the heart...or you could use thicker string, but I like the floating effect of fishing line. Now that I have a plethora of these paper hearts, I can make them into a wreath, and save them for next year--and start on the Easter crafts (chickies anyone?)
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