This summer Anna was invited to join a craft group along with other girls her age from church. We are now on week 4 of projects & playdates and I have to say that this has been the best idea ever.
At the beginning of the summer one mom emailed all the mothers of the 7-11 year old girls asking for interest. We replied Yes!, of course, and were assigned to a group of seven girls all about Anna's age (7-9). Each mom/daughter chose a week to host, which is awesome because now Anna has a built in playdate every single week. It is pretty fantastic.
Two weeks ago it was our turn to host. Anna loves butterflies and I have always loved this project I pinned to pinterest two years ago! Yep, I've been pinning a long time.
Supplies needed: Watercolor paper, watercolor paints, brushes, acrylic paints, glue dots, and this Martha Stewart butterfly punch
Step 1: Set up the table and await the girls' arrival
Step 2: Paint blobs/splotches/circles/squares of watercolor all over a nice sheet of watercolor paper. Some of the girls had fun adding spots and flecks of paint. White space is okay too.
Step 3: Once the watercolor sheets are dry (a hair dryer helps), use the Martha Stewart Crafts All Over The Page, Classic Butterfly Punch to punch out a bunch of colorful butterflies. It really is a slick tool - the magnetized plates are pretty cool.
I loved the way that the paper looked with the negative butterfly space, so we sent those sheets home with the girls as well.
Step 4: While I was punching butterflies, the girls were busy painting a 12x12 canvas board with acrylic paint. A nice solid background.
Step 5: Fold the butterflies in half for a little dimension, and adhere to the canvas board with glue dots. Easy peasy!
Step 6: Stand back and admire your work! I thought the projects turned out so cute! I was oo-ing and ahh-ing over the girls' art . . . I want to make one too!
Can we start a craft group for mom's please?
After our project we bolted out to the backyard for swimming, which turned into a water assault on Mrs. Brown. I hadn't planned on swimming (but wore a suit for safety) and soon their little pleas came, "Mrs. Brown, come swimming with us!" I guess I took a little too long getting to the water because pretty soon they were at me with squirt guns and buckets of water. It seriously reminded of pool parties in my Young Women's days and our many attempts to get our leaders in the water with us!
We snacked on cold watermelon and melted Oreo's. The girls had a great time.
