Autumn T-Shirts

We made cute autumn t-shirts this past Saturday.

Last year, I bought these large foam stamps from Oriental Trading Co. for a very economical price.

I can't find this particular set, but I did find other sets suitable for t-shirts, especially these leaves.

 I found these bright orange shirts at Michael's Crafts.

Put some cardboard inside the shirts.  I use cereal boxes for this.

 Instead of dipping the large stamps into the fabric paint, Kim paints it thickly onto the stamp.

 Stamp away

 Kimmy's shirt.

 Grace put a lot of detail into her stamps.

 Posing with the finished product!

Toothbrush splatter painting

Our grand finale of Tt week was to make art with toothbrushes.

Splatter painting to be exact---and we didn't just splatter the paper!!
I have Color Splash liquid watercolor---it is the most intense water color I have ever used.
The color is diluted 4 parts water to 1 part water---the colors are very vibraint and very permanent!!!
(I always seem to forget this when we paint!!)
Mommy's splatter artwork---yes---I am stained too!

This is diluted purple paint!!!!!

(and we have a family reunion tomorrow!! Well, they will see us at our best, and messiest.

I love Luke's smile!

Amy's leaf

And here, an amusing look at "art class" at the "little house".

At least it's outdoors.

Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue--Our 4th of July shirts

Our 4th of July t-shirts--circa 2010!!!

I got this year's idea from the Family Fun website.

The process is never as pretty as the final results.

You can see our 2008 shirts on this past post.

Our 2007 shirts at over here.

Thank goodness for my homegrown teenage assistants!!

We Made It: Friday Showcase....water noodle art

This week's fun isn't really a craft, but it was a fun way to explore art.

We took a "noodle" (meant for a swimming pool) and cut it into three inch pieces.

We got our noodles from the Dollar Store--I also plan to cut up some more for "blocks" for building with.

Luke is excited and ready to getting painting.
I simply put a little bit of tempra paint on glass plates. I always uses plates for painting like this, it gives the kids a lot of room to work with, and clean-up is really easy.

All the Dollar Store had were these flower shaped noodles, but I want to be on the lookout for noodles with different shapes.

I love Mark's rainbow!

A lot of concentration!!

Kimberly has been wearing this hat for a few days. The morning temperatures have been in the forties, but I don't really think she needs the winter gear--but I can't make her believe this.

Combining colors looked wonderful, as long as the kids took their time and didn't mix the colors.

This is Kim's work.

I couldn't resist another "hat" picture.

Mark even decorated the plates during clean up time.

The finished products....

I think I will save these to use as wrapping paper.

Check out all of the We Made It entries this week at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.

Reading Theme Challenge-I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More is a book that we were not familiar with, but what a treat it was. It instantly became a classic in our house.

From School Library Journal: PreSchool-Grade 2–"When Mama catches her son "paintin' pictures on the floor/and the ceiling/and the walls/and the curtains/and the door," she sticks him in the tub and declares, "Ya ain't a-gonna paint no more!" Fresh from his bath, the child rescues his hidden supplies and says, "So I take some red/and I paint my…/HEAD!" Subsequent rhymes move from neck down to feet as he adds gobs of color to different areas. Since the last word of each verse comes on the following page, readers get the satisfaction of completing the anticipated rhyme and seeing each newly painted body part with each page turn."

What else was there to do but break open the face (or body) paint and have some fun after reading the book, (over and over and over again).
Mommy painted little people.

Becky painted little people.Even Matthew, hearing the fun, painted little people.

"Don't get paint on the book, Grace. It is from the library."
Kimberly's beginning.

What a face.

Amy then decided to paint little people.

Mark felt that he was too old for such nonsense, but then decided it did look like fun.

This is what Matt did to Kimberly. She wanted the abc's on her belly, he obliged her.

That's a red outy button.

Lookin' tough, Mark.

Ok, I guess it is too much to resist even if you are almost 15 years old.

That's kind of scary, Amy, but pefect for Valentine's Day.

As in the book, when the fun was over it was time for a bath. I bought bathtub fingerpaint just for this occasion.

Looks like some more yucky fun.

The fun day ended, but those kids never did want to get out of the tub.