String Art Hearts

I've been seeing String Art popping up everywhere and decided to try doing an art project with the kids using a heart shape for February.  

I went to a home improvement store and they had long 1" X 4" pine boards.  I asked a very nice employee to cut my board into 4" lengths.

Next I created a heart pattern and put dots about every 1/4" for the nails.  Here is the pattern:

Cut out a heart and tack it to the center of the wood square with a nail.  Then go around the heart with the nails.   Hammer the nails into the wood carefully, leaving about 1/2" above the board to wind the string around.

Now the board is ready for the kids to paint whatever acrylic color they choose.

Once dry they will choose a coordinating skein of embroidery floss.

First tie one end of the floss to a nail and then wind the string around each nail towards the outside all the way around to create a border.

Now they can choose how to criss cross back and forth across the heart to create an interesting pattern.  

They may choose to randomly wind the string across, or do a layered pattern on the diagonal.  

This is up to them.  

When they are finished simply tie the end of the string in a knot around another nail.

A fun project that will look great on the wall or on a shelf!

Dollar Store Beach Treasure Box

I found these wooden boxes at the Dollar Tree in March or April and bought 10 of them thinking I'd figure out something to do with them for one of my art classes.

They are small, about 3 X 3", and have brass hinges on the back.  This week I was inspired to go with an Ocean theme.  I went to www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com and did a search in their The Sea section.  I found several images and printed up a page with several then I chose the little beach girl for my example.

First I painted the box with Acrylic paint and let it dry.

Then I trimmed the image to size and used Beacon Fast Finish Decoupage to bond the image to the painted box.  I brushed one coat on the box, placed the image in the center and then put a quick coat over both the box and the image.  I painted the first coat of fast finish quickly so the printer ink wouldn't smear.  After that was completely dry I added another coat of Fast Finish over the entire top of the box.

The next step was to hot glue a couple of shells to the box.

Then I used Mod Podge and painted a thin layer around the edge of the image and to the edge of the lid of the box.  I also painted the sea shells.

Then I used Extra Fine Glitter in "Glitz" and quickly covered all the areas I had coated with Mod Podge, and then tapped the box onto a paper plate to collect the extra glitter.  The extra glitter can be re-used.

After that was dry I put a few stick on rhinestones on for one last bit of sparkle.

The bottom half of the box can also be decorated, but I felt that was enough steps for my class at the retirement center.

Now you have a special place for all those beach combing treasures.

Give it a try!  Fun for a birthday party activity - print out any theme images and use paint colors to match.