{Tutorial} Kids' Artwork as Gifts

Do you remember the toddler artwork I featured earlier on this blog where my 2-year-old niece painted the background of four canvases and I added LOVE to them?  This is the same concept, except using both of my nieces!  They worked together to make a beautiful painting for my sister for Mother's Day - a very special gift that she will treasure.

I bought a pack of 16 x 20 canvases at Hobby Lobby (my favorite craft store) for super cheap.  Loaded up on acrylic paint, brushes, palettes, and water bowls. We were ready to rock.  The 2-year-old used three shades of blue for the background and went to town painting.  Once I convinced her painting her knees wasn't a good idea - to just stick with her hands - we got things moving.  Baby niece used a large craft paint brush and her hands to cover the canvas.  We flipped it around a few times to get all the white area covered (and helped just a little).

While baby niece was painting, teen niece used the back of wrapping paper to draw an artistic Palmetto Tree.  Next: cut it out, dry the massive amount of paint baby niece used on the canvas, and use the wrapping paper tree as a template, lightly tracing the tree onto the canvas in pencil. CAREFUL: you don't want to poke a hole in the canvas or make too dark of a mark.

Teen niece painted over the outline with dark blue...

Filled it in and then got crazy artsy with it. By mixing colors she had shades of blue for dots inside the tree.  She added a crescent moon in the corner, and gray "moonlights" to one side of the tree.  White/yellow dashes in the gray just to make it interesting.

She did such a good job, I love all the fun and unique things she added that created texture and movement to the piece.  Love it!

Since teen niece will be at her mom's house for Mother's Day, we celebrated a week early and surprised my sister with this coolness! She's a SC History teacher and she LOOOOOOOOVED it.  (For you non-South Carolinians, the Palmetto Tree is part of our state flag.  We are very proud of it!)
The best part is this gift is nice enough to be displayed in the living room; both girls feel a sense of pride and "ownership" in seeing their talents displayed in the house and for creating something so nice for their mom/stepmom; and my sister treasures a gift from her girls.

I really do encourage you to try it and share your experience with me! I'd love to see what you create.  Please don't think it has to be perfect - that's part of the special uniqueness of the artwork! Just let them go for it and see their pride when it's all complete. :)

Wanna pin it? Use this:

Beachy Scrapbook for Teen

Isn't life funny the way it works out?  One of my blog friends mentioned the other day she was helping out with an auction to help her local women's center purchase an ultrasound machine. This sounded pretty important to me and I had just uncovered a gender neutral baby scrapbook I had finished and never gifted/sold. I shipped it out to her to be a help to the auction - I figure every penny is one step closer!

Then, I visited my brother and sister-in-law this week for dinner one night.  Before I left, my SIL gave me this bag filled with stickers, paper and a scrapbook.  Her teen niece had bought all these supplies and never used them, so she asked my SIL to pass along to me if I would use them.  SCORE! Of course I don't turn down all this free scrapbook stuff! But as I went through it at home, I could easily see what she had wanted to do - make a beach themed scrapbook.

I haven't scrapped in a while (quite a while!!), but since I was home sick the next day anyway, I put together a beachy scrapbook that I'm going to send back to her.  There is a ton of stuff left over for me to use and I know starting your first scrapbook can be intimidating sometimes.  This will give her a place for the tons of beach photos I know she has (because I see them on instagram! haha).

There are most of the pages.  I hope they are teenish enough to catch her attention!  I do miss scrapbooking but became a bit overwhelmed with all the supplies and such.  And I have the attention span of a rabid squirrel so I'll move on to something else pretty quickly (lately it's been quilting and sewing).  

Isn't that funny?  I've been out of scrapbooking for ages and I get several reminders back to back like that.  It's like a secret message that I'm missing or something. :) 

Well, there you go - a beachy themed scrapbook for teens - enjoy!

DIY Gift Ideas

Ya'll know I started this blog as a play to show my scrapbooks for my Etsy company, Pressed Clovers.  But then I started doing other crafty things and putting pics up here, so it's turned into a crafty blog. 

When I started thinking of ideas for homemade gifts, I realized I had quite a few tutorials or ideas already posted on this website! Here are a few reminders and links to things I've posted in the past.

1)  The Christmas Scrapbook.  I make my mom one for her birthday on January 4th and print dozens of photos from Christmas for her to put into it immediately.  This way she hasn't forgotten any of the details and can have it ready for the next holiday season.  Don't forget to include the double sided stickers for the photos! (more photos in the link). Basically, each page has a place for a photo and is already decorated. All she needs to do is put in the pictures and write her memories.

2)  Photo Flower Pots.  While I made these for Mother's Day, I think it would be nice for Christmas, too. There are still flowers in the winter!  This isn't difficult at all and is completely personalized.  Print pictures on plain white copy paper and mod podge them to your flower pot. Easy Peasy!

3)  Monogram is all the rage! Many of us have tons of buttons laying about - buttons in jars, buttons in drawers, or in my case, buttons from a yard sale.  Tons of buttons. A quick run to my local craft store for a burlap canvas and some hot glue can turn buttons into beautiful monograms. Loved this gift idea! So quick, can finish it in an hour. 

4)  Teenagers! What about them? I wondered the same thing. Which started another one of my traditions - a scrapbook for my preteen niece.  With her, however, I buy lots of fun teenagerish stickers for to her decorate the book herself. I provided the book and basic layouts, tons of printed photos which all included her, and the double sided tape squares. She really impresses me with her creative ideas! This year, I'm giving her all the supplies pre-cut (mats for the photos and decorative strips of paper and tape, and stickers, of course) and letting her design the actual pages!

5) Toddler Artwork  This is my most favorite DIY project I've done to date.  Having my baby niece participate by "painting" four canvases and then I hand lettered the word LOVE on top. This is currently hanging in my bedroom.  Not keen on something that large? How about a small canvas or cardstock even, let them add a little paint and you add a monogram with a sticker!  Make it your own creation! :)

6) Baby on the Way.  New mothers or mothers-to-be... even grandmothers! love having these premade scrapbooks for the newborns most stellar moments.  The delivery day, the first day home, the first bath, baby sleeping - this provides a place for all those photos and will become a gift to the baby one day.  While baby boy is featured, just think pink for a girl.


I hope some of these ideas may inspire you to try a handmade gift this Christmas or into the New Year. Share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear them!

Boy to Teen Scrapbook

I will always stand by this:  My customers come up with the coolest ideas - much more creative than what I could think of on my own.  Here is a great example! A grandmother is giving her grandson this cool scrapbook that follows him from birth to his teen years.  What a treasure! Love it!

All the photos from the book are featured on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/pressedclovers.  You should follow- I post coupon codes and giveaways on my facebook page.

Admit it, this is a neat idea.  I added extra lines and space for journaling so grandma has plenty of space to share her thoughts with this special child.  I want to squeal every time I look at it! Love it!

Teenagers!

What on earth do you make for one almost teenager that she doesn't already have?! One of my scrapbooks, of course! My niece has experienced quite a bit of excitement this year and I thought a scrapbook would be a great way to capture those memories.

I found the perfect album, hot pink and black covered in neon peace signs, and it came with quite a bit of paper! I found neon solid paper to match up with it and we were ready to go!

I wasn't crazy about all the black, so the colors help pop the decorations within the pages.  I'm giving her a selection of fun stickers (groovy words, peace signs, sock monkeys, rhinestones) so she can decorate her pages however she would like.  I'm also printing out lots of pictures so she can pick the ones she wants in the scrapbook and which she'd like to keep in a traditional album.

How do you like my hot pink foot in the picture?

I tried to break away from my structured tendencies so it would be more youthful - but I'm just a straight-laced gal. The stickers will help give it the "cool factor" that it needs to be her personality! :)

I can't wait for her to see it! But if you know her, shhhhhh... don't tell! :)