Category Archives: Painting

Jan8

Foam Santa

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While A was painting her Christmas wreath I decided to use a foam cone and foam ball to make a Santa Claus figure.

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I wanted to use the cone for the body, so I painted it red. I later added a black belt with silver buckle about midway up the cone. For the head, I used the foam ball, first painting it white. His hat was made from a red felt triangle, and the fluffy edge and pom pom on top are both made from cotton balls, as is the beard. Once all that was dry, I started to add facial features, but I didn’t get any further than placing two blue dots for eyes. I found I really liked the way it looked without a nose or mouth.

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Attaching the head to the body was a bit of a challenge, I tried using a long pin inserted into the apex of the cone, and the bottom of the ball, but it wasn’t strong enough. I fiddled with this for ages, using glue and pins, but still the head fell off. I really didn’t want a spontaneously decapitating Santa, so I used plenty of craft glue and attached a pop-stick as a support rod from the body to the head at the back. I had it lined up so the head was in a good position, and I left it to dry, which took ages, but it worked.

With the head finally attached, I cut two red pipe cleaners in half, and used one piece for each limb. I just stuck the sharp point of the pipe cleaner straight into the foam, and then bent them to give my Santa knees and elbows. I thought my Santa was perfect, but Big L said it looked like something out of Tim Burton’s The Night Before Christmas, anyway, I still like it! And the kids liked him too. He sat up on top of our TV throughout the Christmas period, watching to make sure we were all being good 🙂

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Dec9

Foam Decorations

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Some 3D foam balls, sequins, seed beads, metal pins, paint and Christmas ribbon…. all the ingredients for some great bauble making craft.

My sequined ball...it did take patience to make, but it looks great.

My sequined ball…it did take patience to make, but it looks great.

I started making a bauble by placing a seed bead onto one of the pins, followed by a sequin, and then pushing the pin into the foam ball. I did this over and over to cover the ball. This was a bit too tricky for A to do, first she couldn’t get the seed bead onto the pin, then she dropped the sequin and the pin, and got a little frustrated with the whole project.

A's ribbon bauble.

A’s ribbon bauble.

So we tried for something a little simpler. For her first bauble we used three different Christmas ribbons, and wrapped them around the foam ball. I held the ribbon still while A secured each one with some of the pins. We continued to do this until the ball was covered in ribbons. I then tied a piece of thin silver thread to one of the pin heads (and glued it down)to hang it by. I think the result is quite nice, and it was much quicker and easier than the bauble I made with the sequins!

L working on her sequined bauble.

L working on her sequined bauble.

L also had a go at putting sequins and seed beads on a foam ball. She decided to place her pins randomly over the ball, rather than cover the whole thing because that would take too much time! As it was, she became tired of trying to get the tiny seed beads onto the pins after about a dozen or so. She wants to come back to hers later.

To make some more decorations, A painted another foam ball and a foam star with gold paint. Once the paint was dry she glued sequins randomly over the shapes. We added some Christmas ribbon to hang them up. These were much easier for her to complete on her own, and she was happy with the result.

A's painted star. The other side was red with sequins.

A’s painted star. The other side was red with sequins.

A's painted ball with some sequins.

A’s painted ball with some sequins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids loved hanging their own decorations up on the tree.

Dec4

Christmas Wreaths

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Our first project using items from the Riot Art & Craft Christmas Showbag was a wreath.

The 3D foam wreath shape.

The 3D foam wreath shape.

Painting the wreath.

Painting the wreath.

A painted her foam wreath using red, green and blue paint. She wanted to have coloured sections, so while she painted the majority of the wreath, I helped her by painting smooth edges for each section. Once the wreath was dry, A turned it over and painted the other side to match. the paint dried quite quickly, and we were soon able to come back and decorate it.

First we wrapped one of the Christmas ribbons around and around the wreath, and secured it with a couple of metal pins. I put the pins in because they were sharp, and a bit fiddly for A to get in straight.

Adding glitter glue.

Adding glitter glue.

 

The gaps between where the ribbon lay seemed a little boring to A, so she decided to use silver glitter glue to enhance it. She put great globs of glitter glue of each part of the wreath that wasn’t covered in ribbon, and then she used a paint brush to spread it out. We finished it off by adding a piece of ribbon to the top of it so that it could be hung up. A very proudly hung it on the front door.

 

 

Hanging on the front door.

Hanging on the front door.

Nov30

Terracotta Pots

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L's finished pots.

L’s finished pots.

The pot decoration kits we bought from Bunnings.

The pot decoration kits we bought from Bunnings.

I went to Bunnings looking for some terracotta pots for the kids to paint and decorate. There were lots of pots in all different sizes and shapes. And then we came across some kids craft packs to decorate three terracotta pots, including paint and rhinestones. That seemed like a very easy option, so we bought two kits.

The pots were only little, but perfect for L and A to decorate. We turned A’s pots upside down to make it easier for her to paint. She also painted the bottom of each pot. There was only one small brush with each kit, so we got out enough brushes to have one for each colour. That way we didn’t have to keep washing the brush all the time (it also meant we didn’t need a cup of water on the table that A could somehow manage to knock over…) A did some lovely painting on the outside of each pot, covering the entire surface. She used some sponge brushes to paint the little saucers for each pot, making smiley faces on them. L chose not to cover the whole of the pots in paint, instead she painted pictures, swirls and letters.

A painting her first pot.

A painting her first pot.

Painting the saucer.

Painting the saucer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

L painting a Christmas tree on one of her pots.

L painting a Christmas tree on one of her pots.

Once the paint was completely dry (which didn’t take very long at all), the kids got to add the rhinestones. Oh, how they love to decorate with rhinestones! We used PVA glue to attach the rhinestones. There was a mix of shapes, sizes and colours, and they used a variety on each pot.

Adding rhinestones.

Adding rhinestones.

More rhinestones.

More rhinestones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each kit came with some foam flower press outs to make up too. These could be used as a decoration in the pots if desired, but the kids wanted to put real plants into their pots, so the fake flowers were put aside to complete later to add to the vase they made a few weeks ago.

L and A want to give their finished pots (with little plant) to their teachers for Christmas this year, as an alternative to the traditional coffee cup or box of chocolates. The kids had a great time decorating them, and we hope their teachers will like them!

A's finished pots.

A’s finished pots.

Nov15

Scratch Painting

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IMG_3724This is a simple painting activity that can be done with just one colour. First the kids spread some paint across a white piece of paper. The paint needs to be thick enough to make marks in, but not so thick that the paper will take days to dry! Once the paint is spread across the paper with a fat brush, the kids then used the end of a thin brush to draw a picture in the paint. The end of the paint brush scrapes away the paint, leaving a lighter section behind it.

Spreading the paint.

Spreading the paint.

L scratching out her picture.

L scratching out her picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On A’s second painting, she used a fatter paintbrush to draw her picture (well swirls and squiggles anyway).

Done with a thicker paintbrush.

Done with a thicker paintbrush.

L also used this activity to practice her spelling words. It took a while for the paint to dry as L put it on a bit thick, but once it was dry, we stuck the page in her spelling journal so she could show her teacher.

Scratching out her spelling words.

Scratching out her spelling words.

Spelling words.

Spelling words.

Nov14

Name Plate

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A, Baby T and I had a little trip to Bunnings to get a couple of things….. when I left Bunnings, my couple of things had turned into about a dozen things, and we’d spent an hour just wandering about. Some of our extra purchases included a wooden board, wooden letters and a packet of rhinestones to make a name plate for A’s door.

The base board and one of the letters before painting.

The base board and one of the letters before painting.

I laid some newspaper on the table to protect it, and I pulled out the box of paints. When I asked A what colour she wanted to paint the base board, she answered “All of them!” So all of them it was…. a little of each in random patches to cover the entire board. She seemed to really enjoy this painting, making it a rainbow, and mixing the colours.

Painting the base board.

Painting the base board.

When it came to painting the letters, I suggested she paint each of them a single colour to help them stand out against the colourful background. She chose the colour for each letter, and painted the tops of them, but needed some help getting the paint all around the edges. She put several coats of the paint on the letters to make the colours bolder.

One of the letters painted.

One of the letters painted.

Once all the paint was dry, we had to glue the letters to the base board. A wanted them fairly straight across the board. She used a paintbrush to add glue to the back of each letter, and I placed them carefully in a line on the baseboard. Then she decorated the letters with some rhinestones, and she was finished.

Placing the rhinestones.

Placing the rhinestones.

Gluing the rhinestones down.

Gluing the rhinestones down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to hang on her door.

Ready to hang on her door.

 

Nov11

Plaster Christmas Decorations

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Christmas decoration kits, one boot and one angel.

Christmas decoration kits, one boot and one angel.

I picked up these little plaster decoration kits at Coles whilst doing the grocery shopping last week. The kids picked one each, and sat down to paint them yesterday. Each kit came with a little paintbrush and three paint pots in the primary colours. I suggested they could mix the colours to form new colours. They did a little bit of colour mixing, but mostly they just wanted to paint with the colours they were given.

A painting her decoration.

A painting her decoration.

L painting her angel.

L painting her angel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had fun painting these decorations, and can’t wait to hang them up on the Christmas tree. Until then, A has hung hers up above her bed because she likes it so much 🙂

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Nov10

Stencils with Paint

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IMG_3671A rainy day resulted in lots of craft and art today, so since we had the paints out I dug out our packet of stencils. They are A4 sized plastic stencils, perfect for the kids to use. I put out several sponge applicators, but A decided to use a paintbrush on most of hers.IMG_3670

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One of the stencils has the alphabet on it in both upper and lower case, as well as numbers and some punctuation. L used this to paint out her spelling words this week. It was a bit tricky, as the stencil had to be held up off the previous letters so as not to smudge the paint. There was still some smudging, which might have been reduced if we’d wiped down the stencil in between doing each letter. She used one of the sponge applicators to apply the paint, and had some help from Big L with holding the stencil.

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Oct23

Easel Painting

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Painting, painting, painting, we love it!

A new Lincraft store has opened nearby, so the kids and I went to check it out last week. We bought a number of things, including some new poster paints. L picked out some fluoro paints, and A chose some glitter paints. We put our new paints to good use on our easel, using a variety of brushes (different sizes and shapes). A mostly likes to just slap the paint onto the paper, making streaks, dots, and swirls. L prefers to paint a picture. Either way, easel painting is fun 🙂

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The finished paintings will go into our present box to be used as wrapping paper.

Sharing the easel.

Sharing the easel.

 

 

Oct8

Squishy Press Painting

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IMG_2907These sort of paintings probably have a real name, but I’ve always thought of them as squishy or butterfly paintings due to the way the paint is squished between the paper, and that the final outcome often looks butterfly-ish.

Blobbing the paint onto the paper.

Blobbing the paint onto the paper.

Squishing the folded paper together to spread and mix the paint.

Squishing the folded paper together to spread and mix the paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We like doing these simple paintings. The kids like the way the paint squishes and mixes to make pretty patterns. I pre-folded the paper to make it easier for the kids to see where to put the paint. They blobbed paint onto the paper using paint brushes and then re-folded the paper and pressed down on it to spread the paint. It works best if the paint is near the fold of the paper in blobs of different colours, and don’t let it dry before folding. Pressing the paper away from the fold towards the edge of the paper will spread the paint further, and change the shape of the painting. Open the paper, and there is a pretty painting inside!

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