APRIL FLOWERS


Kinley and I are so sick of being stuck inside. The few days of awesome weather we have had have done nothing but made us hate all of the other cold, wet days even more. 

We just had to get out of the house today, so we ran to our favorite random store, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, and picked up a couple of books, a canvas for the permanent Bunny in Negative Space project, and a few more things for Kinley's Easter basket. I'll do a post about that tomorrow in case anyone needs Easter gift ideas for toddlers, as long as you promise not to tell Kinley. :)

She loves shopping and insists on putting everything in the cart herself. It used to be that if we just said, "Put it in, Kin." she would, every time. Now, she is getting choosy and only "puts it in" if she wants it. For example, candy and toys always make it into the cart, but Scotch tape and shampoo don't have a prayer. She just holds them back out to us and grunts until we take them from her. Stinker.

Today, I was dumb and gave her an inch by letting her walk around in Ollie's like a big girl and she took a full mile and then some and ran around like a crazy person, touching everything, knocking stuff over, running in the opposite direction of where we needed to go and standing and giggling at me when I told her to come back. In other words, she had the time of her life. Good thing we were the only ones in the store because I would've been so embarrassed. How come my wonderful one year old is acting like a terrible two all of the sudden?! Must be the weather.

When we got home, and SuperBaby was all rested up from her nap, we finished the art project we started yesterday. Working with cute little felt flower stickers made us both happy and reminded us that sunny spring weather will be here soon.

This project involves shaking and sticking...two classic toddlers faves!


You will need:

Diluted green paint (I used both of the greens, but they all blend together, so not really necessary)
Bouncy balls (We used six.)
A box with a lid (I used our plastic container again, but you could use a shoebox or any other container that will hold up to being a little wet and can be closed up tight.)
White construction paper (Trimmed to fit in your container.)
Flower stickers (I found these felt ones in the Target One Spot, but you can use any flower stickers you have.)
Scotch tape 


This project is a lot like the Bouncy Ball Process Art we made with Jody and Cate on our St. Patrick's Day play date, but this time I watered down the paint and dumped it all (along with the bouncy balls) onto the paper that I had taped down inside the container.


Next, I just snapped on the lid and handed it over to my SuperGirl. She shook it for a second while sitting on the bench, but quickly decided standing up and shaking it to the music was much easier and way more fun. 


Speaking of shaking it, *Funny Kinley Fact* If you holler "GET YOU SOME GIRL!" in a southern accent, Kinley goes bananas, dancing and clapping her hands. It reminds me of when someone has been hypnotized and a keyword makes them do something crazy and hilarious. I'm not sure why this happens, but my best guess is she was listening from the womb while I watched the entire Friday Night Lights series during my last couple months of pregnancy, and was born knowing all things southern are fun.

Back to the project, so now your construction paper is soaking wet with paint and needs to take the night off to dry out. I just peeled ours carefully out of the container and laid it flat on the counter to dry.

See how the ball tracks make the whole paper look kind of like a field of grass? In an abstract way? Haha.


Okay, so after your field of grass has dried completely, it's time for the flower sticking. Our little dollar bin felt flowers came with a felt glue dot on the back of each one. You could just use regular flower stickers or cut flowers out of construction paper and glue stick them on if you don't have a Target near you. 



Here's her finished April Flowers in the Meadow masterpiece:


It looks so happy hanging up in our Kitchen Cabinet Gallery. If I did it again, I think I might not water down the paint so the ball tracks would looks more like wispy blades of grass. We might try that tomorrow because we have plenty of flower stickers leftover. If we do, I will definitely post a pic of the results :)

Fingers crossed that the weather tomorrow is a lot brighter and a lot less depressing...we've gotta get out of the house and I don't think I can take two retail therapy shopping trips with Crazy Kinley back-to-back.

As usual, if you and your little try this and want to share your creation, just shoot me a picture and I will put it up in the Virtual Cabinet Gallery for everyone to see. 

Easter basket ideas tomorrow! :)





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