Have I ever mentioned how much I love creating on canvas?

It’s true. I do.

This time around my focus was simplicity. I wanted my scripture verse for JOY on a canvas. I wanted it bright and easy to read. That’s all I knew.

I started with a blank black canvas. I brought out my acrylic paint baskets as well as my foam stamps.

After getting X started on her canvas (that she sadly started probably 9 months ago) I chose a few colors and ran with it.

This is such a fun task for X and I to do together. She loves the creative outlet, it’s something I enjoy teaching and fostering her creativity in, and it’s just flat easy.

E went about his business as we got busy dipping our fingers in paint. At one point, I ran out of baby wipes so I asked him to go into his bathroom and bring me a new bag. He immediately sprung to action, got the wipes, the handed them to me laughing and saying, “do you need them to wipe your diaper”. Not that it made any sense. It’s just some of the normal disgusting boy lingo we hear around here.

Ryan was working late with church stuff and since I had  a case of the I’m-too-tired-to-cook-on-Mondays, we ordered pizza.

The kids were excited to pay him.

They promptly began arguing over who gets the cup of garlic dipping sauce.

This has nothing to do with my JOY canvas. It just happened on the same day as doing my JOY canvas.

Since my ultimate goal was to have my verse of the year on this I tried a couple different ways to get them all to fit. I tried printing the words out, cutting them out in squares, and fitting them in but that just seemed too busy.

I ended up just keeping a few of the words though and writing the rest in white Sharpie Paint Marker (Michaels Craft Store $3).

I adhered the paper with Modge Podge (Michaels Craft Store $5 – 1 bottle lasts forever) and then gave a good healthy coating over the entire canvas.

It gives it a very finished look and feel. I used Matte Modge Podge but you could use glossy as well if you wanted.

It brings me JOY just looking at it.

I’m totally addicted to making canvases. The creative possibilities are endless.

This time around I thought I’d try some spray paint.

X had a scripture that she had been working on memorizing….not necessarily out of personal choice but because of some trouble she found herself in. She wasn’t necessarily punished by us – because the issue itself was punishment enough – but we chose this verse for her to look up in her Bible, draw it out, and memorize.

“Too much talk leads to sin; be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” Proverbs 10:19

X & I started out by using some of the plethora of letter stickers I have for scrapbooking and laying out the words on a black 12×12 canvas (from Michaels Craft Store).

It looked pretty good just like that. We debated modge-podging over the stickers and calling it done but we decided against it.

I had asked Ryan to pick up some white spray paint on one of his numerous trips to the Home Depot. I have no clue if this is the best for the job but it seemed to work just fine.

I was careful to spray straight down onto the letters instead of at an angle so no paint would get under the letters that had started to peel up some.

It took a minute or so to cover it all.

Then we let it sit for several hours.

The letters came up with ease.

We were both super excited with the results. I actually really like how some of the letters did come up a tad on the sides and it has that blurred/distressed look about it.

It still needed a little life as well as the Scripture reference so we got out the aqua acrylic paint and a stamp or two.

So easy. So fun.

And it looks so super hanging on her wall next to her Romans 12:2 canvas I made last year. Our goal is to fill this wall with different scripture canvases.

These Art kits were $2 at Michaels Craft Store on Thanksgiving day. Beyond a good deal – this was practically a steal!

I love to see what my kids can artistically. X loves art, it has always been one of her favorite subjects. Sadly, she does not like her art teacher very much this year and is not having any fun.

E is pretty super at coloring in the lines. I’m not sure at what age that is normal and expected….I only have X as my point of reference and it took her until first grade to get it down.

When I think about the $4 we spent on the art kits versus the $400 we spent on a TV – I think I would have rather bought 200 art kits for kids instead. My kids spent 30 minutes drawing and coloring…so much better than 30 minutes of mindless activity watching television.

It was about time for some crafts around here. It was a crazy hot summer filled with way too much commotion to even attempt some craftiness for the kids – or myself for that manner.

X and I ran to Michaels Craft store on Sunday afternoon so that I could get a Halloween party planning magazine (for E’s upcoming 5th Birthday party). First of all I couldn’t believe how little Halloween stuff they had left. The entire seasonal section was taken down and Christmas was being put up. For. Real. It’s 2 weeks till Halloween – how could all the stuff be put away??

Anyway, as I scoured the one little Halloween section left I stumbled upon these wooden face masks/plates – not sure what to call them.

Instantly, X wanted to get them. Like me, she knows a good craft when she see’s one. And since there is rarely ever just my 2 kids here I can’t buy just 2 of them. I debated buying 9 of them, and in hindsight I should have, but decided only to get 4 since that was how many kids were currently at the house.

I didn’t initially have the idea for glow-in-the-dark paint but once I stumbled upon it I knew it was perfect for this craft. The kids are constantly running around the yard and often into the dark of the evening.  I could easily envision them running with their masks glowing in the dark laughing and giggling till it hurt.

Each bottle of the glow-in-the-dark paint was $6 so I settled on the green and chose to supplement with acrylic paint I already had at the house for the other colors.  I discovered a Martha Stewart Crafts coupon in this week’s ad once I got the register which made me wish I’d bought more.

Just getting the register took forever because it was Sunday – have you ever been to Michaels craft store on Sundays? It is absolutely insane….kinda like my Walgreens pharmacy line at any given time of the day. The main difference is that people are waiting in line to buy crafts, which inherently make them happy. With Walgreens people are waiting to pick up their prescription, which will inevitably cost more than they want to pay and cause side effects they’d rather not have, thus making them unhappy. Which brings me to this conclusion: I wish Michaels craft store paid better.

If you ever find yourself standing in a long line at a Walgreens pharmacy, just pretend you are buying crafts. Smile and pretend you get to use a 40% coupon on your copay. I’ll be pretending that I’m working only to earn an employee discount on my craft supplies. Guaranteed to decrease the stress of the situation.

Are you wondering why I call it Michaels craft store and not just Michaels? It’s an E thing. He always asks “Mommy can we go to Michael’s craft store today” any time we drive into the shopping complex. You know how kids are – they say it so much that it ends up rubbing off on everyone else in the family. Kind of like, “bezzert”. E still calls dessert, “bezzert”. I catch myself saying, “E, eat your green beans so that you can have some bezzert tonight.”

The boys (E and Jackson) knocked their painting out in no time and were off playing with their faces leaving my little perfectionist.

I mean really, who did she learn this from?

Guilty, I suppose. Not that I consider it a bad thing. It’s not like it’s spilling over into her homework or anything – I mean, then we might have a serious problem. Her beautiful handwriting goes unseen on schoolwork as she concentrates her perfectionism on crafting. Seriously – you’d think she watches every thing I do or something?

Or something.

While she was out there painting the rest of the neighbor kids came over wanting to paint one too. I felt bad. For $1 I could have fostered craftiness among the whole neighborhood. I should have – and will next time. It’s one of those things that not every kid gets to do – unless the parents are crafty themselves.

I have a new mission: Fostering Craftiness.

I figure if I’ve fostered children before this will be a walk in the park.

I just wanted to share some good deals going on at Walgreens for photos this upcoming week.

While I really enjoy Scrapbook Pictures.com, I also really like getting my stuff super fast from my local Walgreens (that I just so happen to work at).

April 3: Free 8×10

April 4: 50% off a 8.5×11 custom cover photo book

April 5: 10 5×7 folded cards for the price of 5

April 6: 100 4×6 prints for $9 (when uploaded on line)

April 7: 75% off collage prints

April 8: 40% off posters (they consider a poster to begin at 11×14)

April 9: $10 off photo orders of $20 or more.

My personal favorite deal is Monday’s 50% off a 8.5×11 photo book. I just recently ordered one of these for our Disney Cruise and it turned out awesome!