Canvassing (plus a bonus)

We're deeply in the throes of potty training around here (I'm determined that Jack will poop in the potty before preschool starts tomorrow), but here's a quickie for you with a bunch of pics. I've been on a bunch of really fun, polished mommy-blogs looking for craft ideas, and I found a great idea for tape-resist canvases. There's big, bare spot next to our stairs that I had been thinking about filling with some canvases anyway, so I figured this could serve a dual purpose. I didn't promise the kids they'd be displayed that centrally, though, in case of aesthetic disaster. ("Hey, that's GREAT! Wouldn't it look fantastic on the inside of your closet door?")

So a trek to the craft store ensued, wherein my youngest, for whom I could not find a cart, became drunk with freedom and ran wild all over the store. We managed to gather all our supplies, but by the time we got to checkout (where I had to just hold him) he had dissolved into writhing and screaming to the point where I became that mom. The one everyone is looking at with varying degrees of amusement or disapproval. When this happened with my middle one a few years ago (in this very store...paint fumes, maybe?) I was a whole lot more upset about it. I'm a tiny bit more seasoned now and have decided that anyone giving me a judgmental stare can just...well, it doesn't bother me as much anymore.

The histrionics had subsided by the time we got home, so we took all our stuff outside and got started. Joy decided to apply her tape in a diamond grid, while Will went for classic stripes.
Jack wanted his in a striking minimalist pattern evoking stark tree limbs. And he wanted all subsequent pieces directly on top of the first ones.
I had chosen some paint colors at the store, but I let them choose a few more from the paints we had on hand, so there was plenty of variety. While I was trying in vain to open the plastic seal on a new tube of green for Will, Jack said, "Mommy, look! I painting!" I looked over to find he had emptied about a third of a bottle of bright red into a big puddley pile on his canvas.

"Wow, Jack! Look how red it is! Good job," I chirped loudly as I raced to scoop up some of the excess. In the end we mostly just spread it around his canvas.
They painted for a LONG TIME. Like, probably 45 minutes, which in my world is an eternity. And in the end, the red on Jack's canvas became a subtle layer of added depth to his mostly-brown finished composition. He may or may not be some kind of prodigy.
We let them dry for a little while in the sun. The one with the swirly stuff in the middle is mine.
Once they were dry we pulled the tape off to reveal our finished masterpieces.
Finally, I used a small roller to paint the edges black (Joy did her own edges and did a lovely job) and hung them on the wall. I'm thrilled with them.
I figure that if I keep buying 14x18 canvases with those 40% off craft store coupons, we could do something new every few months and have a ready-made place to display them. Of course, in a couple of years we'll have to rent a storage unit to accommodate all the canvases I can't part with, but that will be another blog post entirely. :)

BONUS: Joy and I put together a few felt flowers on 1" brooch pins. (Got the idea here.) We have the materials to make more, but for starters we put together these three for her "winter purse."
Just one more and I can cross the crafting off my list!