paint cut paste

you may recall that last summer N and i had so much fun marbling paper with shaving cream, and we got beauoootiful results! after recently hearing from a friend that her daughter marbled paper in preschool with oil and water, i decided we should give this method a try.

science: oil and water don't mix

i looked online to figure out how to go about this project, and found this little ditty. so we tried it their way, by mixing one color of paint with water and the other color with oil. however, they used tempera paints and we used liquid watercolors (as i believe my friend’s teacher had.) we got unsuccessful results at first using the instructions because, well, oil and water(colors) don’t mix. see? one of the colors so wasn’t happening.

so then we tried another way. we laid the paper on cookie sheets (the kind with edges) and drizzled oil onto the paper haphazardly. then we poured on pink liquid watercolors (diluted in water) and rolled it around. then some more oil. then blue liquid watercolors (diluted) and rolled the tray around. sometimes we used the eyedropper to drop blotches of undiluted color onto the paper for a vibrant effect, too.

and then we got marbling…

it was fun to see the effects on different colors of papers. the swirls weren’t as defined as the shaving cream method, but random and lovely nonetheless. we hung the sheets to drip dry in the garage overnight.

the next morning, N was pleased with her results…

as was i… the paper made for cute stationery for a little note to a friend.

it’s march and we have pink, white, and yellow blooms all over our neighborhood here – signs of spring!

tree in our front yard

one of my favorite spring blooms are cherry blossoms. i adore their soft pink petals. with spring in our hearts, we went to a friend’s house yesterday for a playdate. N and i brought along some simple art materials: paper, sharpies, and a pink stamp pad. because the kids were going to make fingerprints, i got the water-based, washable, kid-safe stamp pad, as opposed to the dye-based kind. i have to say that it’s not very washable anyway, and i’m disappointed that the pink my store had was more hot pink than the beautiful pale color of a cherry blossom. oh well, next time.

regardless, the girls went to town making lots of fingerprints on small rectangles of white paper.

we noticed they preferred to use just one pointer finger, so we encouraged them to use several fingers at a time to cluster the pink dots, much like the tree would have clusters of flowers. (they didn’t really care about that though.)

the more random the pink splotches, the more full and fluffy the trees turn out to look. after we had several little sheets of fingerprints, the kids were ready to play and dance, so we mommas sat down with our sharpies. we made branches connecting the little pink poufs on the page to create the cherry blossom trees.

must clarify that my tshirt was a happy matching accident - must have really had cherry blossoms on the brain!

after the playdate (and lunchtime and naptime) we gathered up some materials to glue the little tree pictures to cards, and embellish them with rhinestones, sequins, and glitter glue.

the finished cards would make sweet “happy spring!” cards or even nice mother’s day cards.

an alternative to using fingerprints would be to use a paintbrush and some (pale) pink watercolors, but i figured that when making these into cards for family, they always cherish little paw prints.

happy almost spring!

this activity was sort of a blog fusion of several other projects we’ve done with watercolors, tape, and cards… it’s nothing new, but hopefully inspirational in its organic cuteness.

we’ve got a lot to celebrate as winter goes out like a lion and spring is welcomed in like a tiny sheep… many birthdays, pregnancies, new babies, and celebrations amongst our friends and family. when those times hit, we go into full-on card-creation mode in my house. on this particular rainy day, i was feeling watercolory, so i put out some watecolors and heavy watercolor paper. i always tear my watercolor paper with a metal-edged wooden ruler instead of cutting it, so that it has those lovely frayed edges.

i divided the paper up into lots of tiny pieces. i taped them down to N’s art board, using artist’s tape around the borders to create white mats or frames later.

then N got busy painting little scenes and fun colorful abstracts, too…

after the paintings were dry, we chose colorful blank cards (love the boxes of blank cards at michaels for cheap) and fun background papers. we glued them down to make some professional-looking kid-made greetings.

momma made a bunch, too!

happy merry celebration time!!! now we just need a book of stamps!

one year ago, N and i made a bunch of cool valentines to send to all of our friends and family. it was super easy and very cute. thought i’d share this idea with you in time to get yours in the mailbox… (and take a stroll through memory lane with these old photos.)

first (a very tiny!) N had fun painting in reds and purples and pinks all over several sheets of heavy card stock.

then i cut them into heart shapes while she napped (scissors were outta the question. she was just turning 2 then.)

i glued them onto papers that would complement the paint in each one, and cut the backing into heart shapes, too. i wrote little messages on the back of each heart.

we displayed them in our house (awww, our old house) for a few days before stuffing envelopes to send love into the mailboxes and hearts of our friends and family far and wide.

one of our favorite holiday cards this year was made by a dear friend and her little artist, and it inspired this project… painting/stamping with cookie cutters!

first we selected some cookie cutters (mostly stars, moons, and hearts… we were working with a few themes) and some construction paper.

we put a pool of paint onto a paper plate. then N just dipped the cookie cutters in the paint and N stamped away!

N stamped some hearts that i’m sure we’ll use for valentine’s day in some way.

we decided to use the stars and moons to wrap the friend’s birthday present, and it made really cute gift wrap!

N received her first digital camera from her aunt kim and uncle john for christmas this year. photography is one of my favorite art forms, and lately N has been following suit by miming a camera when she wants to take a picture of something. thus, her christmas gift.

N's vtech kidizoom camera

while the resolution isn’t the greatest on these toddler-proof cameras, they make for amazing works of art! i love the abstract ethereal quality of some of N’s very first images, taken over the holidays.

i also love to see through her lens… the choices she makes as to what is important to her in her environment.

the black bear rug at my mom's house fascinates her

her first game - candyland

no doubt, we’ll be incorporating N’s photography into many of our future creative endeavors. say cheese!

while we’re on the topic of personalized cards, i thought i’d share another little idea along those lines. N will be turning three at the end of this month, and together we made the invitations to her birthday party. N is really into fairies, so she wanted a pixie party where all of her friends would wear wings, so of course the invites had to follow suit.

i save all of N’s completed coloring books because they’re full of little gems. she has a fairy coloring book that she completed in the fall, so we pulled this one out and selected a few fairies from it – one for each of her friends. we cut them out and glued them to blank cards with a glue stick.

i typed up the party details and glued them to the inside. (photo retouched to remove our personal info, of course.)

a super simple idea… but just a reminder that you can repurpose those coloring book pictures into invitations, greeting cards, stationery, wrapping paper, and all sorts of sweet artsy goodies of any theme!