Get Creative with Armstrong Garden Fall Classes #DIY

Armstrong Garden brings creativity and fun to DIY projects big and small this Fall!

Fall fun with Armstrong Garden is on now... Huge thanks for having me out to experience a class.

Have you ever felt like you want to create a centerpiece or combine your artistic side with your gardening side?

Armstrong Garden Centers to Host Community Gardening Classes

Armstrong Garden Centers to Host Community Gardening Classes

Special seasonal educational workshops will be held in February and March 2017.

Armstrong Garden Centers invites California gardeners of all skill levels to its upcoming community classes!

Each workshop will encourage attendees to nurture their green thumbs with a wide range of topics to get ready for the new year. Classes will be held at all store locations, except the Irvine outlet. 

No registration required for these classes.

How super cool is this. I am always up for workshops and the variety of workshops that will be offered looks so fun!

Hope to see you at one of the Armstrong Garden Center's Classes!

Here are all the deets....

Pumpkin Painting A New Fall Family Tradition

Pumpkins!! Carve or Paint - Old Tradition Meets New Crafty Way to Celebrate Halloween!

We have ALWAYS carved pumpkins for fall family fun. This year we decided to try something a bit different. 

Pumpkins are still in the mix but the creativity has gone crafty!

Painting our Pumpkins was super easy and less of a mess.

Steps and Tips for a painting pumpkins family time crafty party...

Non Toxic DIY Homemade Play Dough So Easy So Fun

Fun Kid Friendly Activity - Make Play Dough! 

Summer is always fun but sometimes the kids get "so bored"! This year I have been doing a lot of crafts and things out doors but it has been so HOT lately... I had to bring it indoors a bit too. 

This is such a great way to combine time together, measuring, simple ingredients, involving the kids in every step, fun colors and creating something you can all play with after. 

Mini Easter Themed Chocolate Cream Pies EASY to Make

Cute, Easy and the Best Part So Tasty!

I love sweets and what I love more is making them but...what I love most is when the process is easy enough and your able to make a lot in a little time!

The Easter bunny is headed this way and my daughter always wants to make sweets she can share. This year we decided to make these adorable chocolate cream mini pies.

Valentine's Mason Jar Gift Idea

Valentine's Craft Ideas with Mason Jars and some Creativity 

It's always fun to get a little creative with gifts especially around Valentine's!

We love to bake and make so for us these Mason Jars come in handy all year round but are super cute to stuff with fun or yummies.

We got the idea from a craft we were shown at Orchard Supply Hardware last year.

We got all of our supplies at OSH and Michael's. Always download the apps and use the discounts to save.

Here are the steps we took to create these, we will be doing this again this year and filling them with some sweet treats we make!

Stick your stickers on where you want them

When done with stickers, turn upside down and evenly spray with the color of your choice, then let dry.

Thank you! 

Will Need:
Mason Jars
Spray Paint Color of Choice
Stickers of Choice
Ribbon for top decor
and 
Something to set jar on while spraying and drying

Here are a few more to show off some of the fun we had with different stickers and colors! Personalize each Mason Jar with the colors and stickers you know your loved ones will like.

We were having so much fun we made a few extras!

        

 We always have so much fun doing this DIY craft, it will be a favorite of ours forever! I love that it can be changed up with stickers to accommodate any occasion.  

The Cost was under $15 for 10 mason jars, multiple stickers, two colors of paint in small jars and some clearance ribbon. Used coupons on the apps for Michael's.

Another fun time spent with my kiddos making something for someone else... WE LOVE IT!

#Craft #DIY #MasonJar #SprayPaintMasonJars #ThankYouGifts #DoItYourselfAtHome #MasonJarCraft #TeacherGifts  #WeddingDecor #OCMomBlogger #KidsFun #FunAtHomeWithKids #Gifts #HomemadeGifts #madewithMichaels #OrchardSupply 

Beautiful Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival

Santa, Art, Crafting, food, drinks and more, the Winter Fantasy at the +SawdustArtFestival has something for everyone!

We have loved visiting the Sawdust Art Festival for years. Since I can remember my parents have taken us and now that I have kids we attend too. It is kind of tradition!

This year was the first year that we went to Winter Fantasy. The celebration of the Holidays has been going on for 25 years! 

There was a lot to see and do inside the festival grounds where there is always art to be seen. 

What can you expect to do and see?

* Santa - right in the middle of the festival there is a little house and if you time it right the snow flurries start and you can see both the big man himself and some snowfall. What I loved about this Santa, he looked and played the perfect part. My son was not listening to his best and started to jingle the bells, Santa told him to shake them and let the reindeer know that he was there. It was so sweet to see. He asked my 8yo what she wanted and when she said an American Girl Doll he said that those were super special for very responsible and nice girls. LOVED HIM! This was the first year my son did NOT cry with Santa. Score. 

* Art - There are two awesome Art stations to craft at. The crafts change each session and are super fun for all ages to do. Most are free but the ones that did cost were a dollar or two. at most. Both of the kids loved the Art spot. They made  snow man and were able to take their time doing so. My son got the help he needed and was let free to create his own version of rainbow snowman. My daughter loved the sticks and acorn she used for arms and a hat. So fun! This was a very sensory friendly activity and took up about 30mins. Parent is allowed to help. 

  

 Also a second location for art that was available is also where art is done regularly with kids for art classes. You can get all that info here!

 Both kids were able to do what they were comfortable doing. Zoe made a 12 piece hand drawn memory board game and Mikey was sitting coloring freely. Again, perfect for both kids and very sensory friendly. 

* Clay Station - On site there was clay molding. Pottery stands are there and with help, you can make a creation on the wheel. There are different costs depending if you wan to take what you make free un fired or get it fired for minimal cost. Very fun and again sensory friendly. All ages welcome. 

* Food and Drinks - there is plenty to snack on and plenty to drink. From BBQ to Mediterranean, wine to beer, you can fill your tummy if you want to!

 * Items for Sale and on Display - of course we loved looking at all the different art. Paintings, crafts, hand made jewelry, hand made ornaments, paintings and so much more. There is plenty to see and buy this year and it is all unique and beautiful. This is where I got my first toe ring in 1997. Talk about nostalgic. 

* Train Village display - check out what both of my kids and my husband could not get enough of. A super cute village where a train goes around and the WDW Monorail makes it's rounds too! So fun to see the different houses in the display too!

Everything was very cute and very full of creative spirit. You can tell that everyone displaying their wonderful items does so with passion for the arts. It really is a unique experience to see and show my kids.

Did you know that Zoomars Petting Zoo is on hand too. This was a huge help for my daughter when her brother decided to throw a fit. She was able to go in and have some animal fun. 

Thank you to Sawdust Art Festival for the invitation to attend and we will see you very soon!

Get more information on the Winter Fantasy in it's 25th year HERE!

#WinterFantasy #LagunaBeach #SawdustFestival #SawdustArtFestival #WinterFun #OC #ThingsToDo #Beach #FamilyFun #SensoryFriendly #AutismFriendly #StudioOne #Art #ArtClasses #pettingzoo

Halloween DYI Crafting Fun

Get into the Halloween Fun with Crafts!

I love crafts that we can do together. My kids like to make a mess and I like to let them.

Last Saturday we spent a few hours of down time crafting.

It was really fun to let the kids get creative with bright colors. 

Here is a step by step to make a colorful pumpkin wreath and a mini pumpkin! 

* Cut your shapes from cardboard, we used an old water bottle case box. 

* We used the cut out from the circle used for the pumpkin as a mini pumpkin.

* Scrunch tissue paper, the color of your choice and stick with glue or double sided tape like we did.

* Paint your second craft - the pumpkin. After it dries a bit then add the layered curved lines in with more coats of paint to give the pumpkin look to it. 

* add any accessories to your crafts - we added tissue paper to the tops of both pumpkin wreath and mini so that the stem was more vibrant & stands out. 

We got the tissue paper our of our bag of gift bags and tissue paper stash and we used tempra paints that my kids paint with. 

We taped a little piece of string to the back and looped it so that it would hang. 

Have fun with it!

If you craft up some fall fun I would love to see it. Please share on my FB or comments below. 

Happy Halloween

@irvineparkrailroad @michaelsstores #madewithmichaels #diy #crafty #craftitup #wreath #halloween #decor #decoration #halloweencolors #fallfun #fall #beattheheat #tissuepaper #doublesidedtape #cute #fun