Arts and Crafts For Kids And Adults

This week was quite the crafty week. With the holidays approaching and my holiday shopping budget miniscule to say the least, crafting will become a regular downtime activity for me. I started december off with bang, by (cheaply) redecorating my office, Doing an art project with a classroom of 2nd graders, and having an adult craft night (wine included) with some of my friends.
First, I began working on my office redesign. Here is the before:

Pretty much just a boring, messy office. So i decided to make it more me. When you spend the majority of your time someplace, it might as well be a place you love right? My boss shot me down when I asked if I could paint a wall. but I managed to make it “a little bit Ashley” anyway.

Covered my bulletin board with fabric and got rid of the junk. Made a classy white board by placing fabric under the glass of a frame.

Cleaned off my desk, added some bling and added another fabric covered bulletin board. Brought in one of my black sequined pillows from home! My favorite new addition is the row of clip boards right next to my desk. They keep all my various paperwork organized and easily accessible. Probably covering them in fabric soon.

The bookshelf is still a work in progress. I lined the back with fabric and brought in some things to make it feel more like my space. Friends, Dance, Travel and Love- everytime I look over I am reminded of my favorite things!

Now if only I could have white or black furniture? Yeah right, I work nonprofit!

Then it was time for crafting with kiddos! As a leave behind holiday gift for the fire stations we work with, we decided to make holiday cork boards. Unfortunately we needed to make 56 of them. What better way to get them done quickly than to enlist the assistance of twenty-two 2nd graders! Ms. Novak’s class was a huge help. For a millisecond I thought, “hey it would be fun to be a teacher. Then Lauren told me that one of her students threw a chair at her just before we arrived. Nevermind, I will stick to Communications. The kids did a great job with our little art project! Here are a few of my favorites!

Then it was time for adult crafting. I believe all crafting should be done with good friends, inappropriate conversation and a glass of wine (and a few jello shots). The ladies did not disappoint. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but the food was fantastic (homemade potato soup, greek layer dip with pita chips and pesto stuffed mushrooms). Elisa was a wonderful host and even had our craft projects organized for us and examples pre-made (for the crafting challenged). It was a fun night of catching up!

Hard at work on our ornaments

My cardinal made out of a pine cone, a nut and some ribbon

Felt, a styrofoam ball and pins

I am happy to report I am attending another crafting girls night tonight! I just love the holidays!