paint cut paste

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 novi’s art board, using artist’s tape around the borders to create white mats or frames later.

then novi 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!

there’s something so satisfying about peeling away artist’s tape from borders of paper when a piece of art is finished. i always tape off the edges of my paper when i watercolor or use chalk pastels in my own art, and i’ve discovered that it really bumps up the sophistication level of kid art, too.

novi made this at 14 months old (i did the rainbow at the bottom)

just wanted to share the technique, as it creates a wonderful container for the scribbles of your wee littles. using watercolor tape ($$$), blue painter’s tape ($$), or masking tape ($), you can tape around the border of a piece of paper, or divide a large sheet of paper up into several sections. (you’re paying for a gratifying peel-away without ripping your paper.)

setting boundaries. ah, what a metaphor for parenting a 2-year-old

let the coloring begin! coloring up to and across the borders makes a really great effect. here, novi colored with crayola washable markers and crayons.

scribble fest!

once the tape is peeled away, the results are so satisfying!

clean edges

it’s as if they’re already matted. all you need now is a frame (or a clothespin!)