Friday, June 5, 2009

messy fun is always best!

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Yesterday we had a project born out of necessity. The boys' art pencil collection is slowly outgrowing the old, fire king diner mug it sits in, but we scoured the house, and just couldn't find a suitable replacement. Tall enough to keep it from tipping over, and wide enough to add a few more.

I remembered all the pinatas my mom and I made for birthdays as a kid, layering strips of sticky newspaper paper mache over giant inflated balloons. We took the same approach, and cut off the bottom of a small dairy bottle, and covered it with strips of the local paper. The kids squealed when they stuck there hands in the slimy flour and water mixture...and Stella frankly just bathed in it. As fate would have it, a friend of my husbands knocked on the door a few minutes into the project, and we all flocked to the door absolutely covered in flour and goo.

We put it outside to dry, which, in the summer heat of Arizona takes mere seconds. We then slid a butter knife around the edge of the plastic form to loosen the paper mache, and slid it right out! Voila! A perfectly sized cup for the pencils!

5 comments:

  1. thanks for stopping by my space...your blog is super cute! love your handmade project and young kids! your batik skirt is super cute too! we just made one last night for a friend's birthday and i think we will have to add grosgrain next time!

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  2. What a great idea. I have art supplies stashed in every corner of our little house. I'm hoping to get them organized in time for summer projects.

    Glad you stopped by the Go Local project. I hope you'll join us in posting about your local meals/CSA experience and then share the posts on Mr. Linky Mondays(you can add a link any day of the week). We'd love to have you.

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  3. Love the action shots! Messy and practical - the perfect summer project.

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  4. What is it with that law that dictates visitors (usually those without kids) come a'knocking right in the middle of chaos and then perch awkwardly on the only unencumbered bit of the sofa, realising too late that they should have claimed to be just popping in and straight back out?

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  5. I know! And then I always feel obligated to stammer out some lame explanation of why we're a mess, just to ensure they don't leave wondering if I always let my 3 yearold run around in his undies, and covered in flour paste with scraps of newspaper pasted to his forehead.

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