Grandparent gifts have got the be the easiest for us. All they want is something about or by the kids. Easy peasy. The difficult part is finding a new way to present it. Grandparents can only want so many photo books before it gets old. Every time we make something for the grandparents I scour Pinterest for ideas. This time I didn’t have to. One of my Facebook friends posted a picture, without a link, on her page and I knew right then I just HAD to do it.
What do you get when you put a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and permanent paint in the same space? You call for backup. Thankfully my husband was there because I remembered everything but the wipes to clean up after. Call me crazy, but I actually did the whole project in the living room over the carpet. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. Happily NO paint made its way to the floor. A minor miracle.
I covered a cookie sheet in tin foil to dip their feet in the paint. I didn’t take step by step photos because I was too busy keeping painted feet off the floor, but the photos are pretty self-explanatory. I painted the tin foil with the colors the way I wanted the butterflies to look. I had the kids sit down and I brought the paint to their feet. That way they wouldn’t lose their balance from standing on one foot.
I also brought the canvas up to their feet once the paint was applied. You don’t want them stepping on the canvas anyway. I did all three canvases with one child and then did them with the other child. Then I only had to wash their feet off once. I let the butterflies dry completely and then had them do a border with their fingers. It makes it look more complete.
I’m posting all three canvases to highlight the differences of each. We had smudges, drips, and gaps, but it just gives it more character! I bought small canvases in a pack of seven from Michael’s with a coupon making them less that $2 each. I already have paint. Oh, and a Sharpie for the black because I didn’t have black paint. I used 6 or 7 Sharpies because coloring over the paint would dry them out a little and I’d have to re-cap them so they could recover.
What a great idea, and you are are like me…would be worried about the mess and not the photos, lol.I think i will actually give this a try myself!
Love them!! What a great gift! Very cool!
THESE. ARE. KIDORABLE! I can’t wait to try! You rock!
What a great idea though I am curious how you kept them from moving all over while giggling, that must have tickled, lol. I will be borrowing this for my husbands card from my son!
REALLY CUTE! I am going to do this at the preschool where I work for the spring. Yours turned out adorable…going right now to pin it on Pinterest!
I love it!!! I need to do this with my son – but it will be messy!
Who knew feet made such great butterflies? Nice!
I LOVE this!! Have I told you today how awesome of a crafter you are?