Sidewalk Paint

So this is probably the easiest craft yet.  It took me (with some help from Avery) about 10 minutes to measure and mix the paint.  I used mason jars with lids so we could save any unused paint, but any small container will work.

Here's what you need.
Cornstarch
Water
Food Colouring (I used wilton, but liquid would work too)
Containers

Cornstarch - I used 3tbsp.  You need 2x the amount of water, so I added 6 tbsp of water.
If you want more, try 4 tbsp cornstach, 8 tbsp water etc.

I added the cornstarch and water to the mason jars.

We chose basic colours, but should have added a black or brown because we made a bit of a mess trying to mix colours.

Here's our colours all mixed up.  The paint and water will settle a bit after time, but we didn't notice any difference while using them.

Now head outside and begin your masterpiece.  The kids LOVED this paint and we spent about 4 hours over 2 days playing with them. 

This was Spencer's ladybug. (It is wet, but will look like chalk when it's dry)

Avery and my Rainbow.  We had to be creative with colours :)

Here's how it looks dry.  So fun.

I'd love to see any sidewalk art you come up with.  Send me an email and I'll add some of my favourites to the site.

Happy Crafting
Ginny

Sharpie Tie Dye

Okay, so anyone who knows me, knows I'm ADDICTED to pinterest.  A new craft fad I have been researching was tie dye.  Another awesomely crafty mom and I had teamed up and thought about a way to teach this craft as a year end craft project for our kids class.  This was perfect, and it was a great way for the kids to show off their drawing skills.  We thought about shirts or aprons, but I offered my services to make each of the kids a white pillowcase to decorate as they please.
Okay, so here's what you need to get started.

You don't need everything, but markers, something white (or light coloured) and rubbing alcohol are a must.
Decide whether you want to place a cup and elastic to draw your design in a circle formation or if you want to freehand your design directly onto the fabric.  If you decide to draw freehand, make sure you have something between the 2 layers because the marker will go right through to the back. 

The kids had large pieces of cardboard in between theirs.

Here's the pillowcases the kids used to draw on.

Here's some of the magic happening :)

I did a couple to show the kids, some ideas, but most of them just wanted to draw pictures.

The next step is to use either a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol, or medicine dropper.  The spray bottle worked great on the pillowcases, and the dropper on the cups.  A couple of drops is all you need for the cups, but it is trial and error.  The more you use, the more running, and it will continue to run even after you have stopped.  I have learned from experience, that the alcohol has to be at least 70%.  Because of this reason, I had to take the pillowcases home to spray, we couldn't do it at the school.

If you wanted more spreading, you just had to tilt the cup a bit.

Each design smudged differently, but I didn't notice too much difference between the Bic markers and the Sharpie markers.  I did notice that different colours did run differently though.  Red, green, pink and purple were the most.

Here's an example of a rainbow.  Looks cute if you ask me.

Ladybug

Everyone was thrilled with their pillowcases.  I think they turned out great.  I wish I had remembered to take my camera back to school when they took them home because they looked great.

Here's my kids pillowcases that they sleep with everynight and they take with them everywhere we go. 

Super easy project for all ages, and most likely you'll have everything already at home.

Happy Crafting
Ginny