Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

DIY Cardboard Costumes

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Have you ever looked at your child creating something and thought “how did they think of that?” It happens over here a lot. I am constantly amazed at my kids’ creativity, and it really shows in their cardboard costumes. I love Walt Disney’s quote,

“our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”

This quote sums up the process of my children creating something they need. We try to go as thrifty as we can for Halloween costumes. I love dress up and I love creativity and it feels like Halloween can merge those two passions so beautifully. Cardboard is a cheap material, so they often opt to make a cardboard costume for Halloween.

Do I Buy or Make a Costume?

For the record, I am NOT about paying a ton for a costume that you wear one time. Yet, we had probably a half dozen Toy Story costumes when our kids were younger because they literally lived in them all day long.

So, knowing your children and their interest level is important when deciding how invested you want to be in a Halloween costume.

Now that we have big kids, they wont wear the costume again. Dress up is not one of their everyday hobbies anymore. In that case, we want to have fun, play, and have something to wear and celebrate the day. Cardboard costumes can be quick, resourceful, inexpensive, fun and get the job done.

cardboard costume

What do I need to create a DIY Cardboard Costume?

Big boxes can be the whole costume. I will never forget being out on a walk and seeing Sponge Bob run up to me. It was one of the funniest parenting moments. Who expects to see their child in a cardboard box version of Sponge Bob run up to them!?

A box box can be taped shut, painted and have holes cut for the arms and legs and be pretty amazing.

Our Caleb loves shoes. He buys shoes, he paints shoes, he draws shoes, and he even sells shoes. Do you know anyone like that? You can see more of his love for shoes/art on his YouTube channel. It made perfect sense that he would dress up as a shoe box one year. When we let our kids create their own costume, it can be more personalized and tuned to their individual interests.

Maybe you just have a sheet of cardboard laying around. It ca be turned into a mask. It can be as big as a pumpkin (wearing sunglasses) or smaller like an animal face. I love that the DIY style lets you be as elaborate or simple your time frame and heart’s desire cares to invest.

Our Reagan loves to create, so of course she spent more time on the fox mask than I did on the large cardboard piece we used for a skit.

cardboard costumeWe all are ordering online these days. By having things we love shipped directly to our door, we can have smaller cardboard boxes pile up. Am I right!? A smaller cardboard box can be the perfect addition to clothes you already have at home.

Have you ever been to a stadium baseball game or basketball game where the ushers are going up and down the stairs selling drinks? One year, our Caleb dressed up as a Dr. Pepper sales guy and it still makes me laugh to look at this picture. DIY Cardboard costumes can be hilarious and so fun. Caleb literally gave away some caned Dr. Peppers during our trick or treating that night. You should have seen the kids asking to trade candy for a drink with him!

What do you think? Do you still need a costume for this year’s trick or treating or Halloween party? Have fun imagining the possibilities! You can save a trip to Walmart and some $ by recycling your cardboard box into a creative costume.

cardboard costumeNeed more help tapping into your exquisite imagination? Join me in this 30 day challenge to practice imagining and allow the interesting, rewarding possibilities to emerge!

Recycled Candlesticks From an Old Toy!

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recycled candlesticks

Do you have a hard time throwing some things away? There are lots of things I don’t think twice about. Clothes, pillows, dishes are few that I don’t blink an eye at. Maybe one of those are the thing that’s hard for you? For me, I definitely have a hard time throwing wood things away.

Wood seems timeless. It can be painted, stained and built onto and is such a sustainable product. Recently, my Jeremiah was cleaning out his closet and found this wood marble run toy. He didn’t want it anymore, and I kept looking at it thinking there has gotta be something I can create with this old toy!

I looked at the size of wood. They were perfect fun, block size pieces.

I looked at the texture. They were smooth, already sanded, sturdy pieces.

As I stared at the pieces, I realized I could turn them into a recycled candlestick holder.

Recycled Candlesticks Make Fun, Quirky Decor!

I found a wood circle in our garage to be a bigger base and gave that a quick sanding. I then added a little superglue to hold the pieces together and let them dry. I had so much fun moving the pieces around to see what size and angle I wanted them to be. The candlesticks looked really pretty just left as wood, but you know me. I love color, so I added some acrylic paint to jazz them up a bit.

After the recycled candlesticks were dry, I was ready to display them and enjoy! I love mixing homemade decor into our home. These added a fun element to our kitchen table.

recycled candlesticks made from an old toy

I love how they look in my office too, so only time will tell on where they officially end up. How fun are they!? I made something new from something that was almost just trashed or donated away.

My favorite ways to get creative are often to use something that is not expected. I like to use things we wouldn’t find in a craft store.

Being creative is just a process of pairing ideas.

recycled candlesticks

The Creative Process Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive.

We all have things we can repurpose and reuse to make something new.

One way to see things in a new way is to make sure our tanks are full. We can’t be operating on fumes, lack of sleep, deprived of things that bring us joy to have eyes to see things differently. It takes space to have energy or margin to think differently than our auto pilot normal.

That is the most expensive part of the creative process. It requires us to be more whole to think creatively.

recycled candlesticks

I am so excited about my new recycled candlesticks. Now, my mind is going trying to think of other things that would make great candlesticks. Fall is a great time to light some candles to bring some warm and comfort inside as the world is getting colder on the outside.

So, do you have something you can look at with new eyes and make something different out of it? If you need help with this, join us in my 30 Day Imaginative Journey. We are practicing small, quick exercises to get us thinking and practicing growing our creative muscles! Download your free calendar here!

Check out what my Reagan made for her Halloween costume out of trash, which was from one of the imaginative prompts!

Fourth of July Preparation -with kids!

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Do you love to celebrate the seasons with your artists by creating? Letting your artists help “decorate” is such an empowering, confidence building gift to invest in your child!

It is also such a fun way to talk about the upcoming season, by creating together. We designed this project to be all about the process! So, you can have fun being together, as you do all that!

Splatter, drizzle, squeeze, and pour paint to create your one of a kind Fourth of July centerpiece. Use it to hold candles or stick silverware in it for a utensil holder in the buffet line. There’s so many possibilities, when we use our imaginations!

What started as a phone call from Matt saying, “hey, do you want any of these old bricks?” led to such a fun process art paint project! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

If you don’t have any old bricks on hand, I know you can get some at a hardware store for less than $1.00 each. Here are some basic supplies to get you started. Please feel free to use what you have, or if you are local, you can pick this kit up in our shop as well.

Supplies:

brick (with holes)

paints

paper cup

stirrer (like a popsicle stick)

pipette

tea light candles (optional)

Once you have all your supplies out, you are almost ready to have some fun! You might be able to tell that I laid some paper down before I started painting. This project can get a little messy, so protect your surface. I also used washable Tempera paints. That means this centerpiece can’t stay outside for forever. The rain will wash our beauitful colors off, but it also means if paint splatters somewhere unwanted, it will come off too. Once you are set up, you are ready!

1. Splatter

Every kid loves to splatter paint. Use the popsicle stick or any stick you might have to scoop a little paint up and flick it onto the brick. It creates fun splatters of globs and some strains of stringing paint. I love the mix of amounts that get placed and that you can’t really control the outcome. It’s freeing!

2. Drizzle

This is a little bit slower of a technique then the splatter painting. As you scoop up the paint with the stick, you let it slowly fall off the stick, so it creates like a drizzle effect as you move your hand around. This has a bit more control as you can determine how much paint falls in a particular area before you move your hand -thus, moving the paint! I tired to aim for the areas that the dark blue paint didn’t get splattered.

3. Squeeze

Pipette’s are such a fun little tool to paint with! You can also use a small syringe, baby nasal aspirator, or pool toy that does the same technique of sucking up liquid! I used a small paper cup with a little water in it to pour some of my paint in on top. I then used the pipette to stir the water + paint mixture to create a more runny, liquefied paint. The pipette then sucked up that newly created paint and I got to spray it wherever I wanted.

Again, this can be a more controlled painting step then the splatter paint. It depends on how high in the air you squeeze the paint. Play around with squeezing it low to the brick verse about 2 feet high. Talk about aim and the different effects the height had.

4. Pour

How often do you just get to pour paint!? It’s not something that happens a lot as it can be considered “wasting”. I would argue that it is also a freeing step that gives a different look and teaches things like spacing, managing, and control. Pour a little paint and watch it drip down the sides of the brick! it can be mesmerizing!

5. Dry

This might be the hardest step! After layers and layers of paint, the newly created decoration is going to take some time to dry. It might test your young artist’s patience. That’s another valuable skill to invest in! Try to not touch the brick, while this important step happens. It helps if the brick sits in that hot June/July sun to dry more quickly!

6.  Decorate and enjoy

Once your newly created centerpiece is dry, you are ready to enjoy it! Place tea light candles it for a fun decoration or use it as a utensil holder in the buffet line!

We know your artist will get so excited explaining how he/she made it to all your Fourth of July visitors!

Have fun and embrace the process! The best part is this was hopefully a really fun memory with your artist. The second best was it was also really cheap. Throw the brick out after the holiday and create a new one next year! There is no need to store it.

Just get creating memories and fun!

The Encanto, Madrigal’s House Craft For Kids

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Has Encanto been on repeat at your house too!? My Reagan has easily seen the movie over a dozen times. If we are honest though, I love it too.

A movie about family, gifts, color, helping others, culture, and community is a magical mix! We’ve listened to the soundtrack, watched the movie and now crafted to its theme! If you’re a fan of it too, we’d love to share an inspirational project for your Encanto loving artist!

If you treat this project like the movie’s theme, “the miracle is not some magic that you’ve got, the miracle is you”, than you will have a blast. Gather some supplies and have fun!

It’s not what you have that will make it amazing.

It’s the process and using what you have to bring you and your artists’ ideas to life!

It’s no secret that I love to use what supplies we have on hand. The creative process should not be expensive. So gather some basic supplies that are close to what is pictured or listed below and then we will tap into that imagination!

Supplies:

  • base house shape (we used a wood sign board we already had)
  • paint
  • paintbrushes
  • scrap paper, foam sheets, cardboard
  • glue or mod podge
  • scissors

The first step is to paint your house! The Madrigal house is really colorful and several floors, so we picked three bright colors of paint and used each one to represent a different floor of the house.

Our house is a little more narrow then the Madrigal house in the movie, but it is the type of board we had on hand. If your house is wider, than you may be even able to add more windows and details in this next step than we were able to add.

The next step is to cut and glue scrap papers to create a roof and overhang details to the different floors.

We did three different styles of roofs and simply glued the papers in place on the painted boarder seem between the floors.

The final step is in all the details! Add as many layers of paper you want to make your magical house pop! We added trees, windows, flowers, and then drew in a magical candle.

Use your imagination and create as many details as you want to add!

We were inspired by the Madrigal house, but now you are making your own magic house. There is no right or wrong. This is your moment to take an inspiration and play with the process!

Have fun and make the project your own! Do you have supplies that we didn’t mention? Break them out and see what you can do when you experiment and use your imagiantion!

We had so much fun creating and playing with color!

What do you think? Do you know an artist who would love to make their own Encanto House? Go on a scavenger hunt around your house to collect some supplies. You can do this! You just need a few things, an imagination, and a little time!

**Local friends, we will be releasing this fun project as a creative kit in our online store THIS Friday! If you don’t want to gather the supplies, let us do the work and grab the kit from us.