2013-01-03

Hello all -- and Happy Happy New Year! I hope you had a fabulous holiday. I just did my first load of laundry in a week, and it was nothing but pajamas....a sure sign of a fabulous time off! We are slowly venturing out of the house, and savoring every last moment of this Winter Break.

I have managed to walk to the mailbox though, and was thrilled to find WalMart's new publication, Kids Crafts 1-2-3. The editors were drawn to my addiction of painting plastic animals, and asked me to contribute to this issue.



The challenge was to create two kid's projects, using items found in the WalMart craft aisle. I'll admit, I'm more of a Target than WalMart girl, but I was pleasantly surprised by their inventory of supplies. Since the editors were so smitten with my Elephant Bookends, I whipped up a set suitable for tween girls.



The supplies were simple...craft paint, decorative duck tape, plastic animals, rocks and glue.



Since the craft projects are intended for kids, I recruited a little helper....especially since she caught me raiding her toys. Again.

We gave the horses several coats of acrylic paint (spray paint would be much easier and faster, but not really appropriate for small kids), and wrapped the rocks in bright duck tape.

I couldn't resist painting gold boots before hot-gluing the horses to the rocks.

They turned out even cuter than I'd hoped, and I was sad to ship them off. Babygirl already has a spot in her room picked out for them.

The second project was even easier than the first...and of course, involved more plastic animals.

Paint, glue and empty baby food jars were all we needed. The hardest part was getting the labels off the jars.

After painting the lids, we hot-glued their little feet in place. Aren't they adorable? I can picture them on a boy's bookshelf, filled with nasty sweet little treasures.

So I guess I'm now officially the crazy plastic animal lady, but it was fun to be included in the Kids Craft 1-2-3 Magazine, and I'm so grateful for opportunities like these. I know it's because of them that so many of you have found your way over to this little corner of the blog world.

And a HUGE thank you to my top referrers of 2012, because without them, my mom would likely be my only reader. I am inspired and encouraged by you, and I'm so grateful that you stop by, read, comment, email, and even lurk.

These sweet and supportive bloggers have Hi Sugarplum on their blogrolls, and I welcome their readers everyday:

I Heart Organzing

Honey We're Home

A Thoughtful Place

Designer Bags & Dirty Diapers

Emily A Clark

A Well Dressed Home

Look Linger Love

Our Fifth House

Ten June

Freckles Chick

And these rockstar sites have featured my projects over the past year, and have sent oodles of readers my way.

Young House Love

Thrifty Decor Chick

All Free Sewing

Bower Power

Centsational Girl

Little Green Notebook

CasaSugar

Apartment Therapy

StyleList

Good Housekeeping

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