Last Thursday morning I was standing in the kitchen dealing with two delimmas:
- The natives were getting restless and I’d yet to make a plan for entertaining them.
- Our fridge, which is not enclosed and thus has a big, ugly exposed side, was making me twitch. (This is actually an ongoing dilemma, not especially specific to last Thursday but it was extra annoying that morning… possibly because I’ve recently given up my morning iced coffees?)
As I saw it, I had two options:
- Channel my inner Ana or Mandi, haul the kids to Home Depot, and get supplies for doing something akin to this.
- Go the lazy route and enlist the kids to help create some massive Valentine art to cover the eyesore.
Guess which option I chose.
(Hint: there’s a code for $1 off any method all-purpose cleaner at the end of this post, which is appropriate because we ended up making a bit of a mess – spoiler, the code is: APCBLOG)
I’m crafty and all but let’s not get carried away (especially without my beloved coffee) – massive art it was.
Task #1 was to find a suitable canvas. We have rolls of craft paper in our new play/art room setup but the idea of making kid graffati was already forming in my head and I wanted something a bit more urban. So I deconstructed a paper bag from Trader Joe’s (admittedly this choice wasn’t a lot more urban – but we use what we got).
Then I broke out a few rolls of washi tape and made a quick design – I’m kind of diggin’ arrows for Valentine’s Day 2013.
Task #2 was to arm the kids with paint and brushes. We chose from our stock of tempera paints (we have these but I also love the price of these) – yellow, pink, and purple.
We started with normal paint brushes but it soon became clear that this was a job for the big guns – Little Hands Funky Brushes.
Yep, that’s the stuff.
When the painting ceased it was time to lift the tape.
Tip: I find relief painting works best when the tape is removed while the paint is still wet. We actually had some issues with the paper tearing in some of the parts where the paint dried. Of course that just added to our urban chic aesthetic.
Ta-da!
There now, isn’t that better? Of course I’m going to have to come up with a new plan in about two weeks when the love motif is no longer seasonally appropriate (sigh).
*post contains affiliate links
Bonus:
We’re big fans of method products for cleaning up our messes and we have lots of them (“messy” is literally our middle name). Even with the vinyl on our table, we still had paint on the tile floors, chairs, and even a little on the kids’ faces to contend with this time around.
But we like our messes (we’re growing kids’ brains here!) and so does method, who’s sponsoring this post and kindly offering up a $1 discount on their powergreen all-purpose cleaner for times like these.
It’s all part of their “clean like a mother” campaign (does anyone else think that’s a hilarious turn of phrase?). So go claim your savings using the code: APCBLOG and try out a pretty bottle of one of their all-purpose cleaners in a fun scent like clementine or ginger yuzu.
Ok, ready for the question of the day? Here it is…
Question of the day:
Let’s talk V-day for the grown ups (don’t worry – this isn’t about to get R rated). How does it work at your house?
a) It’s all about the ladies – you get to sit back and enjoy being spoiled.
b) You do your share of the romancing too – getting to be surprising and creative is part of the fun.
c) The big day will probably be celebrated quietly at home with take out and a movie.
d) None of the above (please elaborate in the comments!)
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