Tuesday - Painting

TUESDAY - PAINTING

Today is PAINTING day.

My 3yr old woke up and asked to paint - maybe she had a dream about painting, who knows!! The other morning she woke up and started to describe a butterfly she and Grandma saw the other day - all green with purple spots and a red body - wow, what an imagination, and she's only 3! So I thought today she should get to paint her pretty butterfly.

First, I drew out an outline of the butterfly and a couple of flowers. I googled a butterfly image to copy - it doesn't have to be perfect!


Then filled the paint tubs with some colors and away we go!



I think she is doing a great job coloring the objects - this is the first time she has really done this - usually the paint goes everywhere!


OK - the paint did end up going a little crazy - we had to clean her feet, her arms, wash her shirt, and clean her face (which was a very pretty yellow!), but she had fun!


I'm going to do something special with this picture - seeing as though it is so pretty and colorful I want to display it, and this idea is very unique. I found this in a book "Making Crafts from Your Kids' Art" by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader (Lark Books), that I bought from Half Price Books.

Firstly, we are taking it to Kinkos to get laminated.

Now that it is laminated it is ready to be constructed into a lantern!

We are using:

• Ruler
• Pen
• Craft Knife
• Eyelet punch and two 3mm eyelets
• Hammer
• 5 brass-plated fasteners
• Wire cutters
• Craft wire
• Glass votive candleholder
• Votive candle or flameless battery-operated candles (we used the battery candle)
  

To install the fasteners along the side (to connect it into a cylinder) mark a series of evenly spaced dots along the edge about 1/2 inch in from the edge. Cut a slit parallel with the edge of the short side so when you put the fasteners into the slit they fold out the right way (perpendicular to the edge). Do this to both short sides.

Now bring the artwork together, and push the fasteners through each slot to connect the sides.




Once you have the sides fastened, work out where to put the eyelets - one each side to hang the lantern evenly. Mark a spot about 3/8 inch down from the top and then using a craft knife cut a small X at the marks. This is where you'll install the eyelets for the lantern's handles. (I did mine backwards - installed the eyelets first then the side fasteners, but it would have been better doing as I have explained).


Install the eyelets as per the instructions on the packet.





I then wrapped wire around the glass votive candleholder and hung in inside the lantern, securing the wire ends through the eyelets.


I then used some S'getti String to hang the lantern - securing it through the eyelets as well.



And now we have a beautiful lantern to enjoy on these hot summer nights out on our patio (sorry for the blurry photos - this was the best I could do!). Have fun!