Monday, May 09, 2016

Crafting with the Kids

Thank you for all your comments on my post for Mother's Day! I should have mentioned in that post that my mother passed away five years ago, but I still like to wish her a Happy Mother's Day as well. She will forever be in my heart, and it was so kind of some of you to say she looked nice. She was about 82 in the photo, and it was one of the last spring times that she was able to spend at their country property before she and my dad moved into town a couple of years later.

I myself had a wonderful day yesterday, although it is never celebrated as "Mother's Day" here. I guess I've had a few words to say about this to my family in the past, and my very sweet 18 year old son gave me this lovely ink print of a loon for Mother's Day. He knows loons are very special to me.



He had picked it up at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) in Toronto during a school field trip last week. He often is the only one who recognizes the day for me with a card or a gift, which I very much appreciate. My husband and I went for another short walk through Thickson Wood in the morning, and then we took a sandwich down to the lake and sat watching the waterbirds as we ate our lunch. This is often how we spend a nice weekend, but even so, it was a nice day.

Last week I assisted my daycare kids in making a gift for their own mothers. This idea is all over Pinterest, and I was happy for the inspiration!



We used some pre-framed canvas from the dollar store (such a great price compared to the big craft store chain here). These frames are I believe 11 x 15 (can't quite remember now). I used really wide masking tape to tape the letters "L" and "E" directly onto the canvas. To make them a little more rough and juvenile looking, I carefully ripped a thin strip off all the edges of the tape. I got it started by snipping in a little bit on the edges. I think it looked much better than perfectly straight lines. 

We took these outdoors and with small paint sponges I let the kids paint the canvas with just a few colours. We set them aside to dry in the sun for a bit (I used acrylic paints, so they dry in about 10 minutes in the sun). Then the "fun part" came (ugh!!) with painting their very ticklish little feet and hands and getting the imprint on top of the painted canvas. I used white paint to get it to match the letters. I found after the first attempt that it is best to load the paint quite heavily on the child's hand or foot to get a thick coverage stamped on the painting. I also had a bucket of warm water, a soft cloth and a towel ready to get those painted hands and feet cleaned right away before they got paint everywhere! It went fairly well, but there were a lot of orders being issued by me to prevent painting disaster. These kids are both two years old and extremely energetic! Once it had all dried again, I carefully peeled up the masking tape to reveal the white letters. I haven't heard yet if they were a success with the mom's, but I personally would have loved to have a set of these with my kids' little hands and feet! My son now has a size 11 shoe, so I'm not sure how cute that would look anymore ;)

Enjoy your day folks
and thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

23 comments:

  1. oh that is such a wonderful craft!! I'm sure the Mom's loved them! The loon print is beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ink print is lovely, and so are the kids crafts.
    have a wonderful week..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello, what a lovely print of the loon. The artwork is a cute idea for your daycare kiddies. I am sure the Moms were very happy. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a sweet idea! Have a lovely week. x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't tell you how much I'm hoping your son reads this and makes you one of those posters!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great gift to make! Love the loon print your son gave you

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those are just lovely. I had a vague sense that your mom had already passed away, from reading your blog these past few years, but I wasn't sure. I think it's very nice that you still wish her a happy Mother's Day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. How thoughtful of your son to gift you with the lovely loon print. Your kids' crafty Mother's Day gifts are too cute. I'll have to pass on this idea to my friends with new babies. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a thoughtful and great gift from your son. My husband and I often go for walks, but we haven’t done lunch for ages. Thank you for reminding me to do so one of these days. The little story about canvas painting made me laugh out loud, specially the part about “ticklish little fee and hands”. Super sweet :)

    -Soma

    ReplyDelete
  10. They are beautiful. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a beautiful way of capturing those precious hands and feet for those mothers, Wendy. I'm sure they were overjoyed with their gift.
    Your son blessed you with a beautiful gift that I am sure you will cherish for years to come.

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  12. There's a lot of angst around Mother's Day. Sometimes I think it should be abolished. So many hurting people on that day. (Mine was fine.) The craft you did with your charges is great - and took a lot of bravery and patience from you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice to read!. Kids have done a very good job. The tiny toes and hands looks beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love your Mother's Day craft! We made cards with handprint flowers,corsages and teacups with tea!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love your Mother's Day craft! We made cards with handprint flowers,corsages and teacups with tea!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am sure they would have been a huge success... They are fabulous. And what a lovely print from your son. My sons tend to be a bit random about whether they remember Mother's Day!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Wendy! Playing catch up. I love your last post and the beautiful photos - especially of your Mom. I'm sure she shines down extra bright whenever you think of her...especially on those special days. Hope you had a lovely day. ;)

    And I just love this craft idea!! So adorable!! You did a great job helping the kiddos make them so nice. I would have loved them when my kiddos were little too. I'm sure their Mom's treasured them.

    Blessings to you my Friend! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a beautiful gift from your son!! That is so lovely. The canvases you helped the children make are wonderful! I am sure that their parents will treasure them a great deal, it is such a lovely idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. A lovely print from your son. We were in Jordan and both my boys sent me messages without any prompting from anyone, so that was enough for me. I was surprised they even remembered. The LOVE paintings are precious! I would definitely have done this with my kids when they were little. I did lots of hand and foot print crafts even with my kindergarten classes when I was teaching.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a sweet craft you helped the kids make for their mothers. A nice loon sketch you received yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh, what a lovely present for those little ones to gift their mums. I love this idea. The mums will cherish each child's artwork forever.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wendy, I'm way behind in visiting so missed your sweet Mother's Day post and the lovely photo of your mum. We sure miss our mums when they're gone! Mine would be 101 on May 30 if she were still here! She passed at the age of 78 so has been gone for a while now. I like the artwork idea you did with the kindergarteners. I also buy my canvases at the dollar store. Not the greatest quality but then I'm not an artist and just have fun with some paint now and then. ;) Some famous artists would paint on anything they could find so I guess it really doesn't matter. Your son gave you a lovely gift with meaning to you. Have a great week! Pam

    ReplyDelete
  23. Good Morning Wendy,
    Well my dear it has been a whirlwind May, but I am not letting this Monday get away from me without a visit to one of my favorite Ladies.
    Your daycare kiddos are so blessed to have you! What a darling project and I know that their Mother's were delighted to receive it.
    I did not know that you had a eye for Loon's, how thoughtful of your son to present you with a ink sketch of one. I have always enjoyed the stature of Egrets and cranes!
    Well, I am going to read your Mother's Day post now, dear Wendy.
    I hope you are having a good month!
    Love,
    Jemma

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...