Buds and Blossoms!
Spring is officially here, but it still doesn't quite feel like it where we are situated. Spring to me means buds, blossoms, and bright and beautiful things. We've wanted to make the warehouse more springlike lately, and filling it with flowers seemed fitting. Fresh flowers are fantastic, but they can cost a lot. Fortunately, we found a fabulous frugal alternative that is also a fun way to fill a rainy (or snowy) spring afternoon. One Ape 2 Zebra Kid loves crafts, but hates to get messy, and a second loves to get messy, but does not always have the attention span to craft. The painting with plastic wrap technique, which we used to produce our flowers, pleased them both! Painting with plastic wrap can produce really interesting, relatively mess free results, and can be done by a variety of ages (Darla is not a kid, except at heart, and she loves it). Squishing and smearing the paint around is a super sensory experience, and it can also be a great way to demonstrate, and start a discussion about colour mixing. Because you can control the colour, and how it is applied, painting with plastic wrap can also be a great technique to try when your tot tends to just blend all the paint together until it turns brown. You can drip just two colours onto the paper to begin with, and drip and mush in additional colours when the first layer of paint is dry. You don't necessarily have to create flowers either. You could just create your masterpiece right onto your paper or canvas.
Plastic Wrap Painted Flowers
Here's What You Need:
Cardstock, or other thick paper such as cardboard
Poster Paint
Plastic wrap (you can use leftover pieces, or even clear plastic bags as well, as long as they are clean)
Wax paper or newspaper (optional, but it helps keep your tabletop clean!)
Buttons
Pipe-cleaners
Scissors
Wooden skewer, a fat needle, or something else to poke a hole in the centre of each flower
Here's What You Need To Do:
1. Cover your work surface with wax paper or newspaper.
2. Trace a number of different flowers onto cardstock. Cut out, and arrange over your prepared work surface.
3. Drip some small blobs of paint onto a flower. We recommend using two colours to start with, and working on one flower at a time, but feel free to experiment. After all, that's an important part of the creative process too.
4. Take a piece of plastic wrap that is large enough to cover your flower, and lay it over the flower you have dripped the paint on. Use your fingers to mush and spread the paint around through the plastic wrap. Pressing on the paint through the wrap feels really neat, and keeps fingers clean.
5. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of your flower, remove plastic wrap and allow the flower to dry.
6. Repeat painting technique with remaining flower cut outs until you have painted them all. You might want to use a fresh piece of plastic wrap for each flower, or at least every time you work with different colours, to avoid the "all colours mixed together make brown" effect, but again, feel free to try out different things.
7. Once all your flowers are dry, you're ready to put your flowers together (tip - if your flowers are curled up a bit after they dry, try gently bending them back into shape, or pressing them underneath a heavy book for a few hours).
8. Use your skewer to pierce a hole into the centre of each flower. Thread a pipe cleaner up through the back of your flower (go ahead and layer a few together if you would like), and pull up a few centimeters of the pipe cleaner up.
9. Thread a button onto the end of your pipe cleaner that is sticking up through your flower. Loop the end of the pipe cleaner through the button, and the hole into your flower. Twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the flower's stem to secure.
Beary Truly Yours,
Theodore Bear and the Ape 2 Zebra Animal Associates
Plastic Wrap Painted Flowers
Cardstock, or other thick paper such as cardboard
Poster Paint
Plastic wrap (you can use leftover pieces, or even clear plastic bags as well, as long as they are clean)
Wax paper or newspaper (optional, but it helps keep your tabletop clean!)
Buttons
Pipe-cleaners
Scissors
Wooden skewer, a fat needle, or something else to poke a hole in the centre of each flower
Here's What You Need To Do:
1. Cover your work surface with wax paper or newspaper.
2. Trace a number of different flowers onto cardstock. Cut out, and arrange over your prepared work surface.
4. Take a piece of plastic wrap that is large enough to cover your flower, and lay it over the flower you have dripped the paint on. Use your fingers to mush and spread the paint around through the plastic wrap. Pressing on the paint through the wrap feels really neat, and keeps fingers clean.
5. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of your flower, remove plastic wrap and allow the flower to dry.
6. Repeat painting technique with remaining flower cut outs until you have painted them all. You might want to use a fresh piece of plastic wrap for each flower, or at least every time you work with different colours, to avoid the "all colours mixed together make brown" effect, but again, feel free to try out different things.
7. Once all your flowers are dry, you're ready to put your flowers together (tip - if your flowers are curled up a bit after they dry, try gently bending them back into shape, or pressing them underneath a heavy book for a few hours).
8. Use your skewer to pierce a hole into the centre of each flower. Thread a pipe cleaner up through the back of your flower (go ahead and layer a few together if you would like), and pull up a few centimeters of the pipe cleaner up.
9. Thread a button onto the end of your pipe cleaner that is sticking up through your flower. Loop the end of the pipe cleaner through the button, and the hole into your flower. Twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the flower's stem to secure.
10. Decorate your house, or surprise your neighbours, with a bouquet of fresh(ly made) flowers, and share your creations on our facebook page too. We'd love to see them!
Theodore Bear and the Ape 2 Zebra Animal Associates
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