Party Paperminties - Light Blue and Lavender Party

 

I was so excited for paperminties' second party paperminties project - a light blue and lavender party!  Quite a bit of a challenge to work on the theme since designs were limited to circles and stripes - anything overboard would have veered from the central theme.  But though it had this challenge involved, the girly color theme and freedom to work on the project were great incentives!

As promised in my previous party paperminties post, I'm posting the newest party project so here are the pretty photos.

Large Wall Decor - Mommy and birthday celebrant approved the first mock-up of the fence, mailbox, tree with circles and buntings so it was a cinch from there!

Circle table centerpiece sticks with paper bows.

Circle table centerpiece sticks with paper bows and circles as table confetti.  The adorable bears in these photos were the party giveaways.

Circle table centerpiece sticks with paper bows and circles as table confetii.

See the difference the paper bows make.  The table centerpieces look a bit plain without them.

Circle buntings.

Large Wall Decor.

Really fun party theme for a not-so-little girl that turned 11! 

Watch out for the next party paperminties project!

Homemade Elephant Stamp and Gift Paper

I eagerly made this homemade elephant stamp for the son of my very good friend but was pretty delayed in delivering it.  So to make amends, I added a little extra surprise on the side - homemade, elephant-stamped gift paper!

I made the gift paper out of mahjong paper - when I finally purchased it!  Amidst the school-time shopping rush, I braved the school supplies section of the bookstore to look for mahjong paper and with hubby's help, happily went home with the heavy pad with 40 sheets of potential gift paper.

Mahjong paper is perfect for making homemade gift paper as it's sold flat (not folded) so if you want to stamp an image away, you could just go at it, line of sight undeterred!  Plus, when it's used as gift paper, you don't have to worry about the visible creases.  Also, compared to kraft paper, it has a more ideal width at 33"x 33" and has a better shade of brown.   A bit of a downside though (which I don't mind actually) is that all sheets are sealed with padding adhesive on all sides (hubby says it's because after a game of mahjong, the topmost sheet is meant to be torn off).  I used a cutter to separate the first sheet of paper from the rest of the pad.

Here's a shot of the homemade elephant-stamped gift paper.

So cute, isn't it?!

I found it so nice that I hesitated to give it away for a moment!  Hahaha!  Shhhh...

I can't wait to make more homemade gift paper with the 39 remaining mahjong sheets! ; )  I'll definitely post the finished products when I get the time! = )

Painting with Marbles

Today's art activity was really fun! 

We painted with marbles!!!  Painted with what?!?!  MARBLES!!! = )

We did this a couple of times at the preschool where I used to teach.  Painting with marbles evolved from 'painting with rocks.'  Painting with rocks was a bit more difficult as the rocks tumbled about awkwardly, almost always missing the paint streaks on the paper so we ended up experimenting with painting with marbles.  The results were amazing!

So since we had marbles (as I posted on Cereal Box Marble Run), we tried the activity this afternoon! The girls picked out the paper and the different paint colors, and we watched how the artwork turned out when the marbles rolled over the paint streaks.

The end result: nine (9) mini Jackson Pollocks!

Here are the materials we used:

Tubes of paint
Marbles
Plastic tray that could fit 8.5x11" paper
8.5x11" paper

First, we put the paper into the plastic tray then we applied the paint streaks.  For the sample, I used the primary colors.

 

And the girls rolled the marbles about in the tray.

Our first finished product.

Really neat, huh?!

Here are the rest...the girls took turns choosing paper and paint, and tilting the tray from side to side.

Blue and silver paint.

Purple and gold.

Gold and silver on speckled black paper.

Blue, orange and gold on speckled black paper.

Light blue and gold on speckled black paper.

Trying out as many colors.

Trying out as many colors on purple paper.

After all nine works of art, the marbles were thick with paint.  Since we used acrylic, I washed them off right away with soap and water.  The paint came off quickly with a little bit of scrubbing.

These works of art make great gift-wrapping paper!

Or when framed, a nice, homemade Father's Day gift to brighten up daddy's office wall!

So, mommies, try and make little Jackson Pollocks out of your little ones with this simple yet really fun painting activity! = )