Week seven

We had the boys with us this weekend.  I had a art and craft project in mind so that they could make something useful for their Mom. While rolling ideas around, I spotted the cardboard candy containers I had saved from Christmas candy, thinking to recover them for supply storage. This clicked with the thought of having the littles paint on some patterned paper with removable letters as I had seen on Pinterest. The example I had seen used tape, probably painters, but I thought we would try stickers, and even tested the removability of the stickers as applied to the paper.  In this pretest, they barely stuck, so I thought we would be good.

I measured and cut a polka-dotted paper and after Sam's morning nap and lunchtime got out the paints and them down to their skivvies so Mommy wouldn't be mad at me for ruining their clothes. Well, plans, as you probably know, are well and good.  Sam wasn't in an artistic mood, so I helped him dab some paint here and there and that was it for him.  Thomas, on the other hand, really did get into it.  He likes to paint. His favorite colors are blue and orange and he has no patience for waiting on paint layers to dry so there also ended up being a nice blend and complete coverage of his piece of paper. I didn't get any photos while they were painting.  It took my full concentration to help them out.  Wish I could have, though.

After our painting time was over, we had to have bath time, since they must take after Mimi as far as getting paint everywhere.  Later on after they had gone to bed, I went back to remove the stickers only to find that they didn't want to be removed, especially those on Thomas' paper. The paint and maybe the water had bonded the stickers. Sam's wasn't so bad, but even there some of the top layer came off. Thomas had completely saturated his page and it was really hard to get the letters off.  I felt like saying some ugly words and started to throw them away.  Being as stubborn as I am, I persevered and kept working with it to get it to work, finally ending up with something I could live with.

 

Here are the finished containers, one on top of the other. Glued the papers to the containers, adding a strip of coordinating painted book paper.  This idea is from Anna Corba and one I've used before.  I had to add touches of gesso or marker to make the letters show up. All somewhat messy, but we are going to pretend that is the look we were going for.

Their Mommy said she loved them and put them to good use holding markers and crayons on their game and craft shelves.

And below, some shots of the sweeties themselves.  Thomas loves his super heroes. They have the cutest PJ's for kids these days!  He chose to be Superman on Friday evening. This pic totally exemplifies his personality!  Funny and smart as a whip!

Below is our sweet Sam, wearing a tshirt given him by his Aunt Yaya (aka Holly).  We took them home to Tuscaloosa on Sunday. It was a pretty day, so Emily and I took them to a small local park, while the guys watched the Daytona Race. Here Em was holding Sam up so he could try the monkey bars.

 

Still a few off days left, so we'll see what trouble I can get into before having to get back to work starting Thursday.  Hearing rumors of possible snow and ice predicted for, of course, this weekend when I have to work.  Maybe they will miss this one as I hate to have to worry about getting to work or having to stay over.