Cocktails & Crafts, May Edition

The sunshine arrived just in time for one of my favorite monthly reasons to celebrate:  Cocktails and Crafts, May Edition!  If you're not familiar with Cocktails and Crafts, head up to the tab above or just click here to learn more about it, but I'll give you the short version.  Cocktails and Crafts,

is a fabulous monthly excuse to get together with friends and be creative!  In my group's case, we let the kids be creative and we supervise while enjoying a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail as the case may be).  I try to concoct a tasty beverage for my friends to enjoy as a thank you for participating and crafting something sweet for our kids.  This month it was sangria!

The recipe was courtesy of Martha Stewart, and it goes like this:

4 cups of non-aggressive red wine, like a Gamay

1 cup of orange liqueur, like Triple Sec

1 cup of seltzer

1 lime

1 orange

Enjoy!  I definitely did.

So, we had our cocktail, what was the craft?

My friend Katie (you may remember her as my party planning friend who organized the perfect modern baby shower) is crafty incognito.  She pretends that she's not crafty, but she totally is.  Her idea was to create windsocks (like a cross between a kite and a windchime, minus the music) using a brown paper bag and crepe paper.  They looked a lot more complicated than they actually were.  They were easy, and turned into a lovely kid creation.

She got the idea from this website, but stick with me.  I won't steer you wrong.

Materials:

* brown paper bag

* single hole punch

* fishing line, ribbon, yarn, thread, etc.

* crepe paper

* decorating materials

* scissors

Directions:

First, cut the bottom of your paper bag off, so that you have a big paper rectangle with two openings.

Guess whose windsock this is...I'll give you a hint.  His name begins with a J and ends with an AX. 

aka Alphabet monger.

Jax and I didn't follow this in the correct order, but next you are supposed to fold the top over and make a cuff and THEN decorate it.  But you know me.  God forbid I do a craft correctly.  So cuff it first, decorate second.  Use stickers, summer-time pictures like suns and flowers, markers; go crazy.  Jax wasn't very interested in coloring.  He just wanted to cut with safety scissors.

So now you have a paper bag with two holes (one on each side), cuffed on one end, decorated to the max.  Now you must bust out the crepe paper.

 

It may seem counter-intuitive, but the next step is to cover your child's beautiful drawings with crepe paper.  Use varying lengths and colors to create the tail-of-a-kite-feeling when the wind blows through your windsock.  When your windsock is blowing in the breeze, all your kid's art with shine through the rainbow ribbons.  So go crazy with the crepe paper.  The kids love it.

Next, punch two holes across from each other in the cuff of your bag.



Then loop your fishing line, yarn, ribbon, etc. through both holes so your windsock hangs straight.  Make the length as long as you want, and you have your finished windsock, ready to hang and share with the world!





Ta Da!





A great creation the kids can be proud of, with little fuss.  My mom has already called dibs on Jax's.  I may have to make more to meet the rising demand.

Then, in true Cocktails and Crafts style, you eat, drink, and be merry!

 



Jacob and Sebastian couldn't be bothered. 



Don't worry; the girls took care of that.  Three little mamas just itching to get hold of a baby!

Time to go play, kids!









 


 

Oh, sunshine, how we've missed you!  Welcome back!



Cheers to great friends, great times, good food, and drink!

Here's to spring!

* * * * *

By the way, still waiting for the first group to start a Cocktails & Crafts group in their neighborhood! It's a date, set in stone every month, to look forward to.  I can't wait to hear that someone else has starting C & C in their neck of the woods, too!  I promise I will make a big fuss and feature you here, on this blog, when you do!