Spruce up your fairy garden with these lavender field fairy houses made with my printable and a toilet tube. Spread mystical fairy dust over these little charming abodes and make them unique! I've made a bunch of these fairy houses in different designs, you can find them in the shop at The Art Dream! But this lavender house you can try for free and visit Aleenes.com to find a full video tutorial on how to put it together.

Remember to download below!

Wouldn't it be so nice to have a whole bunch of these to make a little fairy village? You can add all sorts of envirmental details too like trees, bridges, ponds and knomes! I also love how there's a toilet tube underneath, it makes the project so much more sturdy and sets up the proportions just right. Also be sure to add your own details to the house like flowers, bugs and butterflies. Use sequins, tissue paper, pom-poms and gems to glue on the outside! Oh and you can totally draw or color on top of these printables even though they're colored.

See the full list of materials and a video tutorial for assembling this lavender fairy field house tube craft printable at Aleenes.com!

Shark week is a fun time to learn all about the great predators of the sea! Rock out with this shark craft printable who's ready for an under the sea party! Did you guys watch Michael Phelps race the shark? I did, it was pretty exciting and quite interesting, but overall a very unique experience! So in order to prepare for the rest of shark week you can make this easy rocking shark craft. How fun would it be to have several of these movin' and groovin' to the beat of the ocean waves!

Download the free printable in this blog post below! And if you like making printable crafts then check out my shop too!

I've partnered with the fantastic hellowonderful.co again on this one, we just love how this little... eh hem, big guy, turned out! He's a fierce yet friendly shark we believe, haha! You can see how hellowonderful.co transformed this create your own printable into a colorful and proud looking shark! Visit hellowonderful.co to see a video tutorial on how to put this king of the sea together.

The files I provide for you are black and white for the kids to color or decorate however they like, I suggest crayons, markers, colored pencils or even tissue paper to color your shark. I don't recommend painting on cardstock because it's a little too wet and harsh for cardstock to tolerate, stick to the drier materials. I also recommend you print all of my printables on cardstock paper!

Please right click the files and save them to your computer before printing. If you are having trouble with the printed size of the images, make sure that you select "fit to page" or "print actual size" in your printer options window. Do not print from the open window of your internet browser after clicking on the file, your printout will be very tiny!

Get sharky and take a bite outta this awesome craft to make in celebration of shark week!

I am so happy to be sharing my first giveaway at The Art Dream! I thought you'd all like a chance to win some crafts handmade by me plus a whole lot of fun and awesome craft supplies to get you started on making your own projects thanks to OrientalTrading.com!

​Please keep in mind that this is an Instagram giveaway and that if you'd like to enter do so by visiting me at @_theartdream, you can also easily be linked to my landing page by clicking the Instagram icon at the top of the side bar to the right of this page or just click here to take you there.

A huge shoutout to OrientalTrading.com for giving us the opportunity to win some fantastic supplies! Be sure to visit OrientalTrading.com and browse through literally tons of arts and crafts, party and teaching supplies, I just love how many of their items come in bulk along with incredible prices. Their products are phenomenal for the classroom and especially for teachers on a budget!

To enter visit @_theartdream on Instagram! And if you've been inspired by The Art Dream then show me your crafts and projects by using the hashtag #theartdream, I'd love to see all of your creations!

Ok, here's a list of the prizes! There'll only be one lucky winner to receive the following, check out the photo below.
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Along with the two mermaids pictured above you'll get...

• Pink, purple and yellow tissue paper, each pack containing 60 sheets.
• Tissue paper squares, 4,500 squares total!
• An 8 pack of .34 oz. bottled fine neon glitter.
• 200 pack of assorted pastel self adhesive gems.
• 12 pack of Crayola assorted color markers.
• 10 pack of Crayola washable paints.​
• A ton of iridescent sequins!

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See the rules for entering the giveaway on Instagram at @_theartdream. Giveaway is open to U.S residents 18 years or older only. One winner will be selected by July 25th 2017 at 9:00 p.m Eastern time. *Disclaimer: All products were sent for review and opinions are my own. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Instagram.

A couple of paper circles and some paint are all you need to make these symmetrical, transforming butterflies! I've shared this idea a few months ago on my blog here at The Art Dream. I made a whole bunch of bugs with paper circles, some wiggle eyes and pipe cleaners. Here I'm focusing on the transforming butterfly which is so stinkin' cool. This craft inverts from a caterpillar to a majestic butterfly. Visit my blog post about the bug craft to see a tutorial on how to make these little guys and download a template to get you started right below in this post!

I also love how the symmetry painting technique is used for this project since butterflies are known for their astonishing symmetrical beauty!

A big thanks to hellowonderful.co for creating and sharing her own version of this irresistible craft project. I love how she and her children made a whole bunch of butterflies in their own unique ways. It's super cool to see this little guy flip around and change into a butterfly right before your eyes! See the tutorial here on how they've made their transforming butterflies as well, you will surely want to make some with your kids!

Download the following template to get you started! Be sure to save the file to your computer before printing, and check that "fit to page" or "print actual size" are selected in your printer settings to ensure the printout is the correct size.

If you'd like to see my video tutorial for assembling this craft then check it out here, I've also provided a materials list!

I thought I'd get on board and spread some kindness with painted rocks! Find some flat rocks, some outdoor craft paint and get creative! Searching for painted rocks "out there" has become a fun activity for the kids and families. Many people are getting involved with the trend. The idea is simple, paint some rocks however you'd like with fun images or even inspirational quotes and then place them in public parks, town villages, bus stops etc and let the locals discover your artwork. Finding creations like this out and about brings joy and kindness to the people around you. A small act like this can make a huge difference.

I thought I'd put my skills to the test and paint some rocks to leave on our local forest trails! I painted two groups of three, one a more modern abstract theme and the other a painterly set of under the sea creatures. 

Visit The Rainbow Rock Project to see some inspiration from hellowonderful.co!

So it has become a "thing" to go about your day and discover a beautifully painted rock placed along your path, the idea is to spread happiness and kindness. Wouldn't it be cool to find one of these gems in a park or even at the grocery store? How would you feel if you came across these following your daily routine? I think I'd be pretty darn excited!

You could take the rock and give it a good home or leave it in its spot for others to enjoy, but if you do decide you want to keep the rock you'll have to paint a new one as its replacement! Encourage your kids to paint their favorite things on the rocks because chances are it's another child's favorite as well.

For this project I purchased the rocks at a Michael's craft store along with the paint which is Craftsmart Outdoor acrylic paint. You could go on a hunt for your rocks or perhaps you already have some, either way make sure you wash them with a little dish soap to get the grease and dirt off. Start with a little primer layer of paint and then go to town!

For my modern design rocks I cut out a sticker using contact paper then stuck it to the primed rock and painted over it, once it was semi-dry I peeped the sticker off and voilà! You also might want to spray on a little varnish acrylic painting sealant to keep the paint from coming off. You can find this in spray form or liquid form! Allow your rocks to dry at least three days before placing them in public places!

Sand castles take you back to those childhood afternoons on the beach, eating sand sandwiches, listening to the waves and building castles! With this project you can take a little piece of the beach home! Use some simple materials to build a small sand castle on an island! How cool is this little sand castle replica, it's amazing what a little sand can do! And what's great is that this castle can't be swept up by the waves!

I worked with Aleene's glue on this project, actually I use Aleene's glue very often, it's my favorite tacky glue! You'll notice that I list "tacky glue" in my materials lists for many of my projects, that's because I love it's thickness, it's strength and ability to dry quickly, it's really the best for papercrafting!

​Visit aleenes.com to see a full tutorial video for making this project!

This was a ton of fun to make and I love the way the castle looks sitting on an island with ocean water splashing all around it. Use an upside down paper bowl to create the island and a toilet tube to make the castle! The craft store sells little bags of sand but you can just take a bit home in a zip lock from your next trip to the beach. Don't forget to add your own little discoveries from the beach like shells or even a starfish. If you have small toys like the little mermaid pictured in my photos you could add those too!

Have fun and be creative, and click on the link to see the full tutorial here at aleenes.com.

This is just a slight variation of my mermaid tube craft to show how you can make each one unique just like the wonders of the magnificent ocean! I was truly inspired by our local aquarium visit last week, the fish, sharks, crabs and even penguins were a delight to see right up close, it all had me wondering "where are the mermaids?" Well of course there weren't any but it got me passionate about making another one of these mermaid tube crafts to show you how different each one could be.

If you'd like to make your own then get the printable in the shop here at The Art Dream!

I had found some awesome chunky glitter in Michael's craft store and thought this would be perfect to cover the fins with! And sure enough I felt like it was a success! This one also has a rainbow of colors for hair. You can see more of this craft in my previous post plus a step by step photo tutorial on how to put her together!

If you like this then check out my other printables in the shop as well!

This post is showing how I used different colored tissue paper and glitter to make this mermaid which is different from my original, the printable hasn't changed, there's only one version available in the shop!

​Be super creative and have fun making your mermaid!