* Royal Wedding Kleenex and Napkin Wedding Dress Design!

We, along with the rest of the world,

got up at an insane hour this morning to watch the Royal Wedding!

We started our morning with a

Royal Tea Party 

wearing Pajamas and fancy hats.

And...Yes, it was still dark outside.

I even let the girls use a couple of my "fancy" paper napkins.

"C" was fascinated with them and remembered 

using them for our decoupage eggs at Easter. 

She wanted to save them for a craft.

Later in the morning, after big sister "E" was off to school

and "C" and I had finished our morning walk,

"C" asked me to turn on the wedding again and said she wanted 

to make wedding dresses for "Rosie Cat" and "Lilly Tiger".

I love it when she comes up with her 

own project ideas!

She gathered her supplies and got to work

while mom queued up the DVR.

Napkins, Kleenex, 

Tape, White Yarn,

Doilies,

Mini Ruler, Pencil, 

Hot Pink Jelly Pen, and Scissors. 

First White Tiger got a fancy Tiara

and a new moniker...

"Princess Lilly Kate"

Then, after scraping a few knuckles on the tape dispenser (ouch!) 

Lilly got a cape too.

Then, it was time for Rosie Cat 

to get a fancy hat like the ladies on Television!

How do they look?

Then, "C" trashed their outfits and put them in recycling

and started over. 

This time, "Princess Lilly Kate Tiger" 

needed a long veil/train. 

So, she added pink polka-dots with a jelly pen to another

 piece of carefully trimmed kleenex 

and taped it to a piece of string.

Here's her final creation. 

I like the hand-cut lace doily accents

and bits of pink.

The earrings really bring the whole outfit together!

Happy Crafty Celebrating!

Fondly,

pink and green mama

Experimenting With Texture: Homemade Paint Brushes and Texture Tools!

I've noticed sets of nifty textured paint brushes at the craft store. 

I've never bought a set because I'm too cheap

and I was worried their novelty would be over as soon

as we used them one time. 

So, we did what any crafty and frugal family would do....

we made our own!

We made a homemade set of "texture" paint brushes

(and scrapers)

out of re-cycled/re-purposed materials. 

Here are some photos of ours to get your creative brain juices flowing!

We gathered our materials:

Pipe Cleaners 

(chenille stems, as Martha would say)

Rubber Bands

Yarn

Craft Foam

Sponges

Wooden Clothespins

Old Toothbrushes

Wooden Handles 

(I saved from those little disposable foam craft brushes!) 

Cardboard Scraps

Then, we got to work cutting-up and rubber-banding different 

various materials to the wooden handles to make "brushes".

By cutting different designs in pieces cardboard

we could make different designs

when we scraped and dragged it through our paint. 

When they get soggy and floppy, just toss them in the recycling!

(Psst.... Plastic hair combs are fun to do this with too!)

I set out blank sheets of office copy paper

and some bowls of washable craft paint

and asked "C" to show me how we should use these new tools.

Here's "C" making textures on her paper.

We used Clothespins for a few handles too!

It was fun to cut loose for an hour yesterday 

and experiment with the different tools. 

Think we might just do it again this afternoon!

We ended up with all kinds of pretty and funky papers.

(I see Eric Carle-inspired collage-making in our future!) 

Wine corks make good circle stamps 

(think: homemade dot-a-dot markers!)

Fingers make pretty neat "texture tools" too! 

Happy Texture Making!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

Mommy and Me Pink and Green Mama Rainbow T-Shirt Giveaway!

Because Mother's Day is right around the corner,

and because I have a wonderful NEW Spring Blog Sponsor, 

Custom Ink., 

I'm hosting a little giveaway!

Custom Ink made Custom T-Shirts 

just for you, my lovely readers!

Woot! Woot! Who doesn't love a free (CUTE!) t-shirt?! 

Their awesome art department designers worked with me 

to convert my daughter's Rainbow-Painted Coffee Filter Mandala

into a beautiful T-shirt.  It was a painless process and very fun.

I'm so happy with the shirts and the colors are exactly like the original! 

They even have an on-line design studio so you can play with your own graphics 

and design custom products like bags, shirts, and re-usable water bottles!

The back, even has my blog address.

So... I'm giving away 3 sets of "Mommy and Me" 

Pink and Green Mama T-Shirts

to THREE of my Wonderful Readers.

Compliments of Custom Ink!

Perfect smocks for getting crafty, 

making messes, 

cheesy photo-posing,

and playing outdoors on warm days!

To be entered for a chance to win, 

leave a comment here telling me what Mommy and Me Activity 

you would wear your matching t-shirts for!

(We wore ours to plant flowers and blow colored bubbles this weekend)

Make sure I have your email address 

so I can contact the winners.

(I'll re-draw names if I can't reach you)

For an extra entry, leave a comment letting me know 

you Follow Pink and Green Mama blog. 

For an additional entry, 

"Like" Pink and Green Mama's facebook page

(come back and leave a comment letting me know)

One More Entry = "Follow" me on Twitter (PinkNGreenMama). 

(leave a comment so I know you follow)

NOTE: This giveaway closed on Friday April 29 at 9pm EST!

Thank you! 

Good luck!

fondly,

pink and green mama

My poor sun-blinded daughters wish you luck!

Homemade Easter Cards

The girls have been working on 

some homemade Easter cards

for grandparents and great grandmas. 

They made an Easter "Wordle" 

and did some marble painting. 

Wishing you and your family a 

Happy Easter and

Happy Spring Break!

Fondly,

pink and green mama

Easy Way To Dye Easter Eggs With Kids!

We recently celebrated my adorable niece's 2nd birthday

with a Cousins-Only Spring Birthday Party.

One of our craftivities was easy egg-dyeing!

"C"s preschool teacher let me know about this little gem

and I WISH I had known about it years ago!

The directions for easy tie-dye eggs come from Family Fun Magazine. 

Start with hard boiled eggs.

Aunt "D" and I hard-boiled a dozen eggs each

the night before so we would have plenty of blank canvases!

Then, set each child up with a colander over a sink

or, in our case, a shallow pan/dish.

Place one hard-boiled egg in the colander

and splash with some white vinegar.

Add a drop of food coloring.

Then, add another drop from one other color,

and gently swirl the egg around in the colander

to distribute the colors. 

Yellow seems to make the best follow up color 

for most eggs if you don't want them to get muddy.

We did have success with a few eggs with 

drops of red, yellow, and blue 

spread out to make rainbows!

Swirly Girls.

Let the colors sit for a minute to dry,

then rinse the egg in your colander under cool water in the sink. 

Big cousin showing little cousin how it's done...

Repeat for your next egg....

how easy is that?!

They'll tie-dye and come out beautifully 

and no two eggs will be alike!

My sweet hubby helping the girls. 

Wishing you and your family an

Egg-stra fun and Easy Easter!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

 Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Kid's Spring Craft: Decoupage Easter Eggs With Paper Napkins

We picked up a package of brown paper eggs

at our local craft store for a dollar. 

I thought they would be pretty with some 

decoupaged napkins from our decorative napkin stash!

Oh, you mean you don't collect pretty paper napkins and tissue paper

whenever you're at a party? Ummm...I might have a paper obsession!

Shhh...I have a drawer in my art studio filled with these. 

We mixed up some water and white Elmer's School Glue

then painted each egg with a generous layer of glue water

(you could also use Mod Podge)

Add torn (or cut) bits of paper napkin or tissue paper.

Paint another layer of glue mixture on top (gently!) to seal it. 

Keep adding bits and pieces until your egg is all covered.

Note: Secret trick for working with decorative paper napkins =

They always have three layers of paper -- 

you need to peel off the two white layers and just 

work with the top printed layer - it will be very thin and delicate.

This is what I use in my own mixed-media work with Mod Podge. 

If we had painted the brown eggs white, 

the napkin colors and patterns would have been brighter 

but I liked the muted colors. 

"C" even made one with "stripes" by adding the tissue layers in strips. 

Fancy eggs for our easter basket. 

Happy Spring Crafting!

Fondly,

pink and green mama, MaryLea