AN EASY CRAFT THAT ROCKS. LITERALLY.

We think owls are adorable and fascinating animals  to look at. They were even depicted in cave paintings in France 15,000 to 20,000 years ago and appeared in Egyptian hieroglyphics. We are not cave-painting today but we are rock painting! I first made this craft with my aunt Frances and friends Elizabeth and Mason for our friend Markala’s baby shower. All you need are some smooth rocks. Black or white RIVER ROCKS seem to work best and if you don’t have any in your garden you can usually find them on Amazon, at Home Depot or at Michaels.  SEE VIDEO HOW TO.

CRAFT TIPS:

TIP ONE: Make sure your rocks are clean and dry. Smooth river rocks work the best. You can use regular sharpies but we find that Sharpie Paint Pens (white, silver & gold) and Sharpie Neon Pens (yellow, blue, pink, e.t.c) work the best. We’ve found these pens at Amazon, Staples and Michaels.

TIP TWO: Start by using a white, silver or gold paint pen to make the EYES first. Make sure your eyes are pretty BIG. They look great when they take up to 1/3 to 1/2 of your entire rock.

It’s all about the eyes!

TIP THREE: Now that you have the eyes drawn, make a nose by drawing a diamond shape or a “v” shape just under the eyes, right in between them.

TIP FOUR: Draw patterns or designs around the eyes in any colors you want. Think polka dots, scallop shapes, flower petals, dashes, triangles, etc.

TIP FIVE: Make a wing or two. We made ours by imagining what a big feather would look like. See our pics and our video for ideas.

TIP SIX: Color in some of the patterns or designs you made.

And, voila, you should now have a very cool owl rock! You can use it as a paper-weight, party favor, place setting, door stop, lucky charm and more. Wanna make these in person with us? If you are in LA on May 4th, 2014, my friends and I will be volunteering at the LILY SARAH GRACE FUND KIDS ART FAIR and showing kids how to make these.

We had a hoot.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO REAL LIVE OWL SOUNDS! 

INTERESTING OWL FACTS

If you see a word highlighted you can link on it for more info or pictures or to give you a definition of that word. I found the facts below on About.com and edited them for this post.

1.Barn owls have a heart-shaped face, long legs and powerful talons. Barn owls are medium-sized birds with a wingspan of about 3½ feet..3.True owls are more diverse than barn owls, with nearly 190 species in about 23 genera. Some better known true owls include screech owls, horned owls and saw-whet owls. True owls vary in size from the tiny elf owl to the bulky Eurasian eagle owl. Their pattern is mottled, helping to conceal them from both predators and prey.4.Owls are depicted in cave paintings in France that date back 15,000 to 20,000 years. Owls also appear in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Only 19 owl species are found in North America.5.An owl’s eyes are supported by bony eye sockets and they cannot turn their eyes. Instead, owls rotate their heads up to 270 degrees, but they cannot turn their heads all the way around.An owl has three eyelids: one for blinking, one for sleeping and one for keeping the eye clean and healthy. 6.For most owl species, females are larger and more aggressive than males. The female is often more richly colored than the male.7.Not all owl species are nocturnal. How often an owl is seen during the day depends on the seasonal amount of daylight and darkness, food supplies and the habitat.8.Owls have been found in the fossil record up to 58 million years ago. The largest recorded owl fossil, Orinmegalonyx oteroi, stood about three feet tall.

This post is dedicated to baby Owen Comfort. Welcome to the world. It’s gonna rock!

Social Media Fun Bonus:
We are going to release some of our “owls” into the world by leaving them behind in little hiding spots with the hashtag #owljoy or #LSGlove written on the back of the rock. We love the idea of someone finding them once we have left and our owl rock bringing a smile to someone’s face. If your parent or friend is on twitter or instagram they can add one of those #hashtags and soon we will be able to see where our owl rocks have traveled and we will make a post to share their adventures with you.  #LSGlove is to show our support for the LilySarahGrace Fund in honor of the memory of three little girls whose favorite thing to do was create art.

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