I  positive my boys were a little bit more excited about this project than I was.

We had the opportunity to work with JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores in the launch of their new exclusive product line, We Made It by Jennifer Garner.

The whole idea behind this product line that Jennifer Garner personally helped create, is to bring out the creativity in children while building memories with their parents/grandparents/siblings/etc.

Aiden is my big boy. My little helper. He’s very detail-oriented and LOVES crafts. He puts together “parties” for us and he’s always volunteering in my Studio.

Keiran is my party 24/7 child. He’s all about the hands-on action. The messier the better. He likes colorful, loud, big and fun. He might not like to plan the “party” Aiden is putting together but he is sure to show up at the end to play.

Because I’m the one with the creative job, they’re constantly crafting with me. For this cool project, I wanted daddy to get involved.

I passed on the “DIY” task to him and I stayed behind the camera capturing the sweet moments.

First thing’s first, the dye is permanent so I had the boys take off their shirts!!

Daddy started off by showing them how to tie the canvas with rubber bands.

Okay, that didn’t last long……. they quickly realized that these canvas panels make great ghost costumes!

I was cracking up, they were laughing and daddy was working.

He was taking his job very serious.

He did four tie-ups per panel.

 Let’s not forget that daddy too is a kid inside. As soon as he realized he had a bunch of rubber bands left over, he started sling-shooting them at the boys.

This was hilarious and they boys were hysterically laughing while running away from daddy.

Back to business….

 

Again, the dye is permanent and will stain anything and everything it touches. We made sure to wear plastic gloves when it was time to handle the dye.

This was the fun part AKA the messy part.

  

After they were done dyeing the panels, we placed them in a plastic bag to let them set overnight.

 

The next day, I pulled the panels out of the bag. I took off the rubber bands and hung them to finish drying.

It was at this point that I realized daddy had no idea how to tie the fabric to create a cool tie-die effect like the picture on the packaging. But you know what? That was okay. It still looked awesome and the boys had a blast making it. That’s what mattered to me!

Once dry, I ironed the canvas panels to stretch them out a bit. Then assembled them into the hoop.

The second I hung the hoop hideout, the boys ran to their room to grab pillows, books and their camping lantern.

I had a different styling idea in mind but I guess they took it upon themselves to re-create the suggested scene on the back of the packaging.

That was okay with me too!

Look at those smiles!!

They absolutely LOVED their new reading hideout.

 I’d say this project was a success!

The purpose of We Made It by Jennifer Garner definitely brought out the creativity in my boys and we had a blast making it together!

I strongly encourage you to check out the whole product line of We Made It by Jennifer Garner.  It has more than 100 durable, high quality kits. These kits range from gardening to costumes to painting to sewing to baking. And here’s another plus, some of the proceeds will go to benefit the Save the Children Foundation.

ALSO – JoAnn will be hosting an Instagram SWEEPSTAKES starting June 21 to celebrate the launch, parents are to share photos, projects and advice about crafting with their family. Check out their IG profile for more details.