My friends say I'm foofy... and yet when I'm elbow deep in 50 pounds of tomatoes destined for the canner, I don't feel very foofy. So, there it is... Foofy * Not Foofy.
Make your very own Mustache Valentine using PicMonkey online photo editor.
Step One: make or buy a mustache. We made ours out of black, sticky-back felt. This was TERRIBLE on my scissors, but was relatively cheap and easy to do.
Step Two: have a photo shoot.
Go ahead and include the little sister while you are at it.
Step Three: pick your favorite picture and head to www.picmonkey.com. Hover over the "Design" button and select the custom size. Enter 1800 x 1200 for printing to a 4x6 print. If you accidentally click the button without hovering first and selecting custom size, select "Resize" in the options on the left of the new screen to change the size to 1800 x 1200.
Step Four: click Canvas Color and select the background color you want.
Step Five: click Overlay in the far left menu (a butterfly icon). Click "Your Own" in the 2nd column menu and upload the picture you chose. Drag and the drop the image where you want it, resizing by dragging the corner or sides of the image as needed.
Step Six: if you want to add a frame, click Frames in the far left menu (a little frame icon). Select the frame you want.
Step Seven: click Text on the far left menu (a Tt icon). Choose your starting font. You can select the ones that PicMonkey provides or the fonts already on your computer. Type your text in the text box then resize the box as needed. You can highlight then change text color or font type as you wish. For the heart symbol ♥, you can use Alt code 3 (press and hold the Alt button, then the "3" button, release together).
Step Eight: Save your creation somewhere you can find it on your computer. Send it to your favorite photo lab for 4x6 prints. You can regularly find 4x6 prints for $.19 each and often can find deals for them cheaper. Tada! Easy peasy, fun Valentine. If you are feeling REALLY spunky, you can attach a fake mustache to each.
From the MUCH younger kids you see in those pictures, we made these a few years ago. It's still one of our favorite Valentines.
Even with all the space I have in this house... and the, um, (cough, cough) dedicated craft room in the basement (cough), I still struggle to keep my craft supplies tidy and where I need them, when I need them. Just like everyone else. My homeschool room / office / art class studio is FULL of books, paint, brushes, paper and all the myriad other items I need to educate my two children and all my art and music students. It's not a place conducive to pearl jewelry supplies and all the tiny bits and baubles that go along with that.
Enter my antique sheet music cabinet.
My darling daughter gave me a new bead organizer and beads for Christmas. I moved into the new organizer and tidied up my supplies, storing everything in this unused cabinet. I'm looking forward to a lot more organized design work ahead.
The cabinet sits in my dining room. The craft room in the basement sits unused because I'm a social crafter. Even if someone isn't specifically crafting with me, I like to be near other people while I'm working. Having the supplies near where I hang out with family and friends already is ideal. The beautiful cabinet makes it easy to hide a potential cluttered mess in plain sight.
Now, my yarn stash - that's a story for a different day. I'm still working on the ideal solution for that. Where do you store your main project supplies?
My dear friend, Melanie, over at The Knotty Elf, had a birthday last week. We most often are working on our handcrafts when we're spending time together so last Saturday, instead of JUST taking her out to lunch for her birthday, we also spent time shopping at Joann and taking pictures of our jewelry pieces for our respective Etsy stores.
We're still getting the hang of good pictures for online. We really want to take some outside, natural light pictures, but right now, the weather in Kansas City is just way too cold for spending any amount of time outdoors. So we got creative with some cardboard, white fabric and my Ott light and set up a light box. Melanie took some "process pictures" as we worked. Toward the end of our marathon session, I had my daughter pick up Melanie's camera to make sure Melanie was in some pictures too. This is what Melanie found when she checked all the pictures.
So you've found your way to Foofy Not Foofy and you are wondering who is behind this blog, these art and music classes, the handcrafted thises and thats? That'd be me! HeatherAnne Norbury. As my sidebar up there reads (assuming you aren't on a blog reader... if you are you should click through to see the pretty orange on my blog)... so anyway... as my sidebar reads, I am a homeschooling, crafting, cooking, canning, reading, overly busy but trying to keep it all together mama writing a blog. I teach art and music classes in the KC Metro and I also make handcrafts, such as jewelry and crocheted goods, that I sell in my Etsy store and at local craft shows.
I have two wonderful children and a loving husband who puts up with being the sole breadwinner even though we both have law degrees. Our home is a menagerie of pets (two dogs, two cats, two rats, one fish and two snails) and friends (rarely a day goes by without friends over). I am organized by nature so I continue to shovel in the blizzard to try to keep our home tidy and neat. I started Foofy Not Foofy to share craft ideas, canning tips, recipes, book and product reviews and other news, factoids, funnies and tidbits that come my way. The Foofy Not Foofy business has grown to include my art and music classes and my handcrafts. Here are a few more interesting things about me. Please comment with your own answers to some of these questions! I'd love to hear from you.
1. Do you go by a nickname? Not anymore but for the majority of my life, I was Choo-Choo. My grandmother started calling me that when I was only a few weeks old because some noise I made reminded her of a train. It stuck. I was Choo-Choo until high school when I stopped using the nickname publicly. I used it again through college and law school, though it was shortened to just Choo. When you see me use Hawchoo on things, that is a combination of my maiden initials (HeatherAnne Welch) and my nickname. Some friends still call me Choo, which is fine. Just don't call me Heather. It's HeatherAnne... all one word.
2. Who is the most famous person you ever met? Ted Williams. He was a close family friend of my grandparents.
Me playing piano for Ted at my grandparent's house. Circa 1982 maybe?
3. What book has had the biggest impact on you? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is my favorite book. It definitely opened my eyes to how completely messed up race relations were (and are) in this country and sent me on a path of trying to understand and help make a difference so that all people can be treated with respect and dignity. It also has one quote that I go back to again and again in my life. I even had a band named from it for a time. "It's when you know you are licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." -Atticus Finch.
Band Logo - Artwork by my lovely and talented friend, Heidi
4. Are you a dog person or a cat person? Both, obviously, though I am currently owned by a 15yo Maine Coon named Maggie. So right now, I'm a cat's person.
5. Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? Coke and only Coke. It's the only soft drink I like well enough to drink empty calories for. I try to limit myself to one Big Q from Quik Trip a week... sometimes it's two.
6. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving or Halloween. I really like Thanksgiving and it's relatively low stress levels, but I also really enjoy helping the kids make costumes and taking them around the neighborhood with friends for trick or treating.
7. What is your favorite cereal? Fruity Pebbles. I haven't bought a box in YEARS and YEARS because I will eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until the box is empty. Not really a healthy choice. So I just don't buy it.
8. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? The first thing I remember wanting to be was a ballerina. I may have been in 1st grade. After that, it switched back and forth between architect and veterinarian. My daughter wants to a be a veterinarian. As homeschoolers, I love that we can focus on things that inspire her passion. We do a LOT of science and a LOT of unit studies on animals.
9. What was the last movie you saw? My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks. We might be a family of bronies and pegasisters.
10. If you could pick any actor to be president, who would it be? Morgan Freeman
My kids love to fight. I'm not sure if it's the four year age difference, the gender difference or just a deep desire to drive their sibling-inexperienced parents CRAZY. I have a sister ten years old and Jason has a half brother nine years younger so neither of us has ANY experience in sibling rivalry.
When we were planning our big trip to Disney World last month, I knew I was going to have to pull out all the stops to keep them occupied and minimize arguing on the long drive to Florida (and back). I stalked Pinterest, Google, my Feedly blog feed, everywhere to gather together ideas for how to keep them busy.
All told I spent maybe $70 on everything, including extra special snacks. Once I was done shopping, I gathered everything together and wrapped each project in plain paper (I used bulk Uhaul wrapping paper leftover from our move). I numbered each package and kept notes so I knew what was in each package before they opened it. Some packages required daylight and some were better for evening so I wanted to guide those choices. In addition, there were some duplicates and I didn't want them to open the same things back to back. I stored everything in the "hole" in the floor of our minivan.
They also had their 3DSs, a DVD player with lots of movies and half the library worth of books but those have already proven to not be enough to avoid the fighting on road trips. At every stop, I would let them each pick out one package. Most of the projects would keep them busy for an hour plus. And the best part, the only fighting was when they were playing their 3DSs together and one was upset that the other was "cheating" (i.e., winning). Since it was really easy to take the 3DSs away, the fighting was kept to a minimum.
To help keep everything more organized, I gave each kid a small cookie sheet (also from the dollar store) to use as a (magnetic!) lap desk. We also picked up and put away things at every stop.
Here is the list:
Pre-packaged Items
Items from this list may vary for you. These were pre-packaged mostly complete. I found these at the Dollar Tree, Big Lots and the Dollar Spot at Target.
Magic Kits - There were two different sets and I wrapped them together so each kid had one to play with. These were simple rope tricks, disappearing ball tricks, etc. with instructions.
Classic Activity/Coloring Pages pads (I think they are the same ones I had as a kid)
Learn to Draw workbooks from the school supply section
Science Trivia card game
Lanyard jewelry making kit
Toys & Fun Snacks
Candy jewelry - this didn't last long as an activity but it's not the sort of thing the kids get often so it was still very popular.
Squishy critters - those rubbery, squishy toys that stretch a LOT. These had lights inside them. My kids LOVE playing with these things.
Glow sticks - These made for GREAT after dark fun during those last few boring hours. I let them listen to the dance station on Pandora and they had their own mini "dance" party in the backseat.
Light-up Rings - Same concept as the glow sticks
Craft / Creative Projects
Post-it notes - to make art. Canvases for post-it note art can include the cookie sheet lap desk, blank paper or even the car windows.
Pipe cleaners - I don't know about your house, but at mine, I have to hide any pipe cleaners I don't want acted upon by children. They LOVED having a large supply to play with to their hearts' content.
Colorful paper clips - to hook end to end for all sorts of creative, imaginative play.
Aluminum foil - probably the most popular item of the trip. A whole roll to sculpt as they wished.
Balls of yarn - my kids love finger knitting and used up many balls of yarn knitting away.
Travel Scavenger Hunt - Found at free.puzzles.net. I printed on card stock but these could also be laminated to use over and over.
Sticker Story books - I made a half dozen mini books (out of a single sheet of paper, instructions found here). I wrapped them with sheets of Halloween stickers for the kids to make story books with the stickers.
Fruit Loops & Yarn - I found Fruit Loops cereal already packaged in round bowls at Big Lots. I paired those with balls of bright orange yarn for cereal jewelry making.
Origami books from the library & a stack of origami paper
How to Draw books from the library & new drawing pads from the craft store
Play dough & a few play dough tools
Legos - we made travel containers out of old wood wine boxes a few years ago. We cut large Lego plates to size and glued them to the slide out top of the wine box.
Seat Back Supplies
Both of the kids have seat back organizers. I stashed the following supplies into each of their organizers before we hit the road.
Scissors
Colored pencils & crayons
Tape
Pens & pencils
Erasers
Pencil sharpener
Water bottles
Snacks
Headphones
Gum
Bonus Ideas
I thought of these but didn't have the chance to organize them for this trip.
Marshmallows & pretzel sticks - snack and engineering project in one
Lacing cards
Embroidery books from the library plus fabric, floss & other supplies
Finger puppets
Funky scissors, construction paper & tape
My kids enjoyed everything. I had them rate each item out of 5 stars and most things got 4 or 5. The preteen boy gave the sticker scenes from Dollar Tree only 3 stars but that was the only thing that didn't get good reviews. We didn't get to everything I had packed so I have put everything left away for our next road trip. I hope these ideas help you keep the peace on your next road trip!
If you've missed me these last couple weeks, it's because I have been up to my eyeballs in Girl Scout cookies and cookie booths. My daughter is a Daisy this year with the only homeschool troop in our council (which was surprising to me, given how many homeschoolers are in our council area). The fun thing for us is that we get to have cookie booths at times when other Girl Scouts are in school. Every Friday this month, we'll be a popular lunch spot selling Girl Scout cookies and helping our daughters develop all the skills that come with that.
I am the Troop Cookie Manager. I am SO thankful this is our first year and we are a small troop (only 18 girls). I cannot imagine how the cookie managers handle the big troops. Our 18 girls pre-sold 165 CASES of cookies and we've already picked up another 50 from the cupboard. As troop manager, I am in charge of organizing the booth times and locations AND decorating the booth. Two weeks ago, I had girls and moms over to our house to make the booth decorations. We made a cute sign (instructions below), a felt pennant banner that reads "Cookies" and painted flower pots to hold "cookie flowers". I apologize for the lack of "in process" pictures. It was a bit hectic.
#1 Favorite Cookies - Thin Mints Wearable Sign
Materials:
Large piece of cardboard - need to cut circle with 20-24" diameter.
Brown felt, 1 yard
White, black, yellow & pink felt, small sheets or scrap
Green satin ribbon, wide
Brown ribbon, wide
White fabric paint
Green pipe cleaner
Ribbons, 8-10" pieces, 2 or 3 styles
Hot glue gun
Glue sticks
Pencil, nail or another pencil & a pipe cleaner for drawing circle on cardboard
Box blade
1) Start with drawing your circle shape on your cardboard. Using a yardstick, find your approximate center of your circle and poke the nail in. Set your pencil on the outer edge of where you want your circle. Connect the pencil and the nail with the pipe cleaner. You might need to splice two together if you are making a bigger circle. I find that pipe cleaner are easier to attach to your center point and pencil than trying to knot string. Holding the nail in one hand, use the pencil to draw your circle. Cut out the circle with a box blade.
Or just watch the quick video I made on how to make the circle.
2) Lay the circle on top of your brown felt. Cut out the felt so that you have a circle about 2" wider than the cardboard. One of the Brownie Scouts did this with supervision but she did a GREAT job.
3) Using hot glue, glue down the felt to the back of the cardboard. Don't glue as you go. It's easier to get a tight circle if you glue every few inches, leaving some loose, then go back and fold and glue the loose sections.
4) Cut out large white circles and small black circles for the eyes and pink felt for the mouth. These were all done by Girl Scouts. A Brownie Scout did the eyes and a Junior Scout did the mouth. For the eyes, we used a a ribbon spool to trace the white and a small bottle of acrylic paint for the black. For the mouth, I had the scout draw out the mouth design she wanted on a piece of scrap paperboard (an empty cereal box to be exact), then cut it out and use it to trace her design.
5) Cut the wide green ribbon in a sash length. Have someone with good handwriting write "Thin Mints" in white fabric paint. A mom did this for our troop.
6) Create a "prize" ribbon for your #1 most popular Girl Scout cookie. One of our Juniors took on this task with scrap felt, scrap ribbons and, with some assistance, hot glue.
7) (optional) Make a big loop bow out of the rest of the wide green ribbon. I should make a tutorial on that too. Another blog post.
8) Once the fabric paint is dry, hot glue on the green sash, prize ribbon, and loop bow. I also glued a length of brown ribbon at the top so the girls can wear this when working the booth.
This picture was taken before the booth was entirely finished. The table cloth edge was serged to finish it. We also glued pictures of the different cookies in the center of each of the smaller flowers (front & back) and added colorful googly eyes. In use, the flower pots didn't like to stay upright in the wind (even filled with marbles). We now turn them over and stick the flower stakes in the hole in the bottom. The girls usually hold the big flowers and wave them to passers-by along with the Thin Mint sign.
We are a crafting family. Okay, well, my son, daughter and I are crafty. My husband is good at building things but he'll say he does moose work. I make it pretty. I always liked a variety of different crafts but during and since the time I managed my grandmother's jewelry store, I started focusing more on jewelry design and creation. My best friend, Melanie, also likes to design jewelry. She does the CRAZY (to me) bead weaving. For both of us, it's our down time... our "me" time and, as often as our schedules can swing it, our "us" time. We can each only wear so many pieces of jewelry though. We are more prolific creators than we are fashionistas to wear our own designs.
So, a couple Saturdays ago, over coffee and chocolate (we'd just been to Downtown Lee's Summit's Chocolate Crawl), we decided to find a venue to sell off some of our creations and maybe fund our habit a bit. Given Melanie's bread winner status and 9 to 5 (more like 7 to 7) job, we decided I would start the store and manage it on Etsy. So... here 'tis. My two kids also hope to contribute some of their crafts. Jasper likes woodworking and will be adding some hand carved plant markers and dibblers soon. My daughter, Risa, is making catnip mice and sachets.
Yes, there is only one listing right now. I managed to get myself into THREE different volunteer efforts that are all requiring my attention at the same time at the moment. I am the cookie manager for my daughter's Girl Scout troop and Booth sales month is next month. This is the fifth year I have coordinated Downtown Lee's Summit Music in the Park and this is the time when I'm active booking bands for all summer. And I didn't RUN the other way when my dear friend Scott asked if I was willing to chair the Depot Stage at Downtown Days... Streets Alive! in June. So I'm eyeball deep in scheduling talent, etc. for that venue right now as well.
I plan to schedule a weekly post on the blog to highlight the new items listed in the store. I have a dozen items sitting on my desk waiting to be listed. I just need to find the time to get them listed while keeping up with my other commitments. Hopefully something will catch your eye in the store.
As you know, we moved the first of November into our dream home. I feel blessed every day that we found such a great house and one that we could AFFORD! However, I recommend NEVER moving right at the start of holiday season. As if we had a chance of ever getting fully unpacked in a timely manner (does anyone ever actually get fully unpacked?), moving right before the holidays means a lot of boxes get stashed in corners or the basement and forgotten. And while my Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and other major holiday decor all was packed in neatly labeled boxes, the less common holidays, like Valentines, wound up having decor strewn through a myriad of randomly packed boxes from our old basement.
In other words... I can't find my Valentine's wreath for the front door. After a quick search for it and a lack of desire to conduct anything more than a quick search, I started nosing around my craft room (still also mostly in boxes) to see what I could come up with relatively quickly and easily.
First a visit to the kids' downstairs play space that is full of cardboard:
Using newspaper to get a sheet big enough, I made a heart template in the good ol' grade school style... half a heart along the fold to make it symmetrical. I didn't measure the size of the heart beforehand, but just went with what looked right to me. It wound up about 15" high.
I traced the pattern on my cardboard. Once the outer heart was traced, I drew another heart inside it and cut both hearts out with a box cutter. This is the ONLY time I have ever liked the tile floors in my kitchen.
At this point, I painted the heart red with basic acrylic paint. Forgot to take a picture of that step. Since the cardboard will show through in the finished wreath, I didn't want to leave it plain.
Time for cutting... my finished wreath took the 5 adult-size t-shirts, two bright red and three red tie-dyed left over from another project. Any combination of "Valentine's" colors would do. I just used from the arm holes down to the bottom hem.
Cut off the bottom hem then cut strips across, about 1.5" to 2" wide. Cut these strips at each end so that you have two strips out of each circle of t-shirt fabric. Start tying. Since I had more tie-dyed shirts, my pattern was two tie-dyed strips, then one red strip. I tied the tie-dyed strips first then the red strip between them so the red sat on top a bit. I used a wider strip of red t-shirt material, cut once into one longer piece, to make the holder.
I got this idea from From Nature with Love: Homemade Lip Balm - made from coconut oil, beeswax, Vitamin E and strawberry flavor oil. I used an old tube of lipstick to add color to some of them.
I gave these to all the women on my list, plus my son, who is constantly suffering with chapped lips... he got one of the uncolored ones.
I got this idea from Show, Tell, Share: Bleach Pen T-shirt - I used a stylized lotus design. I found a design I liked on a tattoo website. I wanted something in all black since the bleach design would be all one color. I just free-handed the design onto the shirt using the bleach pen. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then wash it.
I gave this to my mother-in-law, who is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. The lotus is one of her favorite images.
I got this idea from one of my FAVORITE blogs, Frugal Family Fun Blog: DIY Travel Play Kitchen. My daughter circled nearly every play kitchen in the toy catalog she marked up for her Christmas wish list. We just don't have room in our too-small house for a whole play kitchen set. This one fits over a fold-away tray table so it can be put away when not in use. I got lots of kitchen utensils from friends and Risa's best friend gave her a set of toy food. This cost me $4 for the felt top piece and the sticky felt to make the "burners". The red fleece was a blanket that my mother-in-law gave me.
This is the first of several posts showing off all the items I made for holiday gifts this year.
Painted clothespins with a length of coordinating yarn to hold artwork, photos, etc. On both sides of each, I painted the clothespins with acrylic paint, added a rubber stamp design and glittered the clip end. I used hot glue to add some fake berries and a few tiny silk leaves on one side. I clipped the clothespins to some plain cardboard, using the center two clothespins to hold the 2 yard length of yarn.
I gave these to my mother, my sister and my husband's step-mother. Ama, Auntie Ree & Grandma Lena.
This would be another case of forgetting to take the final picture. These are the flower pots the kids made for their teachers. I got the idea from Giggles Galore: Thanks for Helping Me Grow (Teachers' Gifts). I bought pansies to go in the pots, but potted them with the dirt in a plastic bread bag so the pots could be used as pencil containers or something else. We used white crayon as chalk. Jasper decorated his pot with more than just the words. He even added an owl for his teacher who loves owls. We included gift cards for lunch for all the teachers.
I got the idea and instructions for these from Craft Whatever: Tutorial: Father's Day Grillin' Towel. I mostly followed her instructions though I used double fold bias tape for the bottom trim and I used Velcro instead of grommets. I also used fabric from thrift store shirts instead of buying new. I wish I'd found the Hawaiian print first. I would've used it for all three! I made two of the plaid with BBQ spelled out on three different iron-on patches and one of the Hawaiian print with BBQ on one patch.
I gave these to my husband, my father and my father-in-law. Dad, Apa & Grandpa.
I long for the days when the children's favorite shows were on Noggin and PBS Kids. Noggin and PBS Kids don't air commercials. Now that their favorite show is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... okay, EVERYONE'S favorite show is now My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... we are a family of bronies... where was I? Right! MLP:FIM is on The Hub. The Hub airs commercials... a lot of commercials... a lot of the stereotypically awful children's commercials that involve every marketing ploy known to entice your kids to want everything they see.
We make it pretty clear that requesting something they've only seen on a commercial just doesn't fly. We show the kids reviews online of products that seem so cool on TV. The reviews almost always point to the product being less... WAY less... than implied in the shiny commercial. Fushigi anyone? Occasionally though one product just sticks with one of the kids and he or she won't drop the desire for that product. The most recent obsession was Risa's and Press Dough. She really REALLY wanted to make sugar cookies like they had on that commercial. The requests for Press Dough have been consistent for several months and were brought up at times far removed from the viewing of any commercials.
Wanting to honor her desire, but not really wanting to pay $20 for over-glorified Playdoh tools that would be used once, I came up with the next best thing... or rather, the original best thing... Playdoh tools! Press Dough is essentially tools for dough. Playdoh makes fun, colorful tools for dough. We already owned a LARGE box of fun, colorful Playdoh tools. After a spin in the dishwasher, they worked GREAT! Risa and I had a fun time making sugar cookies. We used a sugar cookie dry mix. Divided in half and alternated between using the dough and keeping it cold, the dough worked great with the Playdoh tools. We didn't dye the dough though that would be easily done. We had a pleasant afternoon, saved $20 and satisfied her cookie making wish. WINNING!
Supplies needed:
Crafting wire - I used 20 gauge. I used silver because it's what I had in the gauge I wanted. You can get it in gold.
Sheer white, ivory or gold fabric - I used some white leftover from making window sheers
Fabric or other multi-purpose glue - I used Liquid Stitch
Gold glitter fabric paint
Small gold plastic ornaments - found ours at Target, 24 for $5
Hot glue
Metallic gold paint
Gold paint pen, optional
Cut a 6" piece of wire. Make the first bend at 2 1/2". That 2 1/2" length is the top of the wing. Bend the bottom scalloped edge into the remaining wire, twist the end around and snip off any extra. I used a combination of round-nose pliers and chain-nose pliers to shape my wings.
Cut small pieces of the fabric, slightly bigger than your wings. My son used a paintbrush to get the glue onto the wire. Once the glue is on, attach the fabric and set aside to dry.
Once dry, trim the excess fabric. I debated trying to fold it over and gluing more but that didn't look good when I tried one.
Paint the wings with gold glitter fabric paint. I debated getting the Soft variety but it was twice as expensive as the standard dimensional paint. The dimensional fabric paint worked just fine. This took a couple days too as we painted each side twice to make sure they were very glittery.
I strayed from the original directions in two ways with the wings... one, I used fabric and not tissue and, two, I used fabric glitter glue instead of straight glitter. One word for my reason... kids. The tissue would've been too fragile and the glitter was a wee bit more potential mess then I wanted to risk.
Once the wings are dry, it's time to make the snitches! I used hot glue and it worked beautifully. I spread a bead of glue around the coiled end of the wing first, then applied a pea size dollop to the ornament. Attach and hold... you have to wait for the glue to cool and mostly set. Fortunately, with low-temp hot glue, that only takes 30 to 40 seconds. However, if you are making a dozen like we did, that does add up to some time as you hold each little wing individually. Once the glue was fully cooled and set, my son painted over the hot glue with metallic gold paint.
The optional paint pen is if you would like to take a plain gold ornament and mark it with snitch designs. Jasper decided he liked the polka dots, stripes and other designs on some of the ornaments in the bundle we got so we didn't do this.
