Update: High contrast, black and white paintings for baby

Basically, this post is just another opportunity for me to show you more baby photos. 

But seriously, I was amazed that at only two days old, Etta was totally checking out the black and white high contrast paintings Elise and I made for her. We hung them right next to the changing table, and when she's there, she is fixated.

It made Elise feel pretty good that Etta was so interested in something she made. So good that she thought Etta might also be interested in her crayon drawings. Big sister/baby sister relations success!

Stimulating high contrast paintings for baby

We're still getting ready for baby around here! I put together this simple "sibling activity" to get Elise more excited about baby sister and their shared room. Plus, she's always up for any crafty project I can throw at her.

There's a lot of research out there that suggest babies prefer to look at black and white geometric patterns and high contrast images. We decided to make some of our own to hang up near the baby's changing table to give her something interesting to look at during diaper changes.

I bought some small 6"x8" canvas boards at Michaels for a few bucks. We covered them in office supply dot stickers and painters tape, creating different geometric patterns.

Then Elise painted the entire canvases in black. I didn't care that the coat of paint was uneven. Actually, I think it gives it some extra interest. But if it bothers you, a second coat of paint will take care of it.

Before the paint dried completely, I carefully peeled off the stickers/tape revealing the white below. The edges of the stickers came out a more raggedy than the tape due to the texture of the canvas, but that's OK. Handmade!

For the polka dot and striped paintings, that's all we did. Easy peasy.

The diamond pattern was a bit more complicated. Initially, I thought it would only take a couple of layers, but I took over and ended up doing multiple multiple layers of tape and paint. Honestly, I stopped taking progress photos, and I'm not sure it would be worth explaining in detail. Sorry. If anyone is super interested, leave a comment and I will write up an explanation. See below for a photo explanation of how I did it!

p.s. Of course, Elise had to take some project photos with her own camera. My little blogger without a blog.

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Update 03/25/2013: Baby Etta is fascinated by the paintings! Even at only two days old!

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 Added 02/24/2013:

A brief explanation of how to complete the diamond pattern, in photos.









[I don't have a photo of this, but paint the exposed gray diamonds in black, then peel off the tape.]

Recreating a vintage hand-painted sign

I wasn't going to post this because it's just another one of my weird gifts I made for my weird brother, but you're probably not reading this blog for generic ideas. So here it is.

Almost a year ago, my brother and I were at an antique mall. We saw a vintage, hand-painted "haircuts" sign for $40. Although the price seemed a bit high for what it was, I tried to talk him into buying it. Of course, he didn't want it. Then like a month later, he wanted it.

We didn't go back to see if it was still there, though. And I didn't even bother taking a photo of it when we saw it originally, so this is my version from memory (with my own ideas thrown in, of course).

For details on the process, I used the same sort of letter tracing technique I outlined here. The paintbrushy font is called One Direction. My thoughts are it could be a piece of art for his backyard, so I made sure to seal it with an outdoor polyurethane. The wood was leftover from this DVD shelving project and the paint, I already had on hand, so it was a no-cost gift!

Frame that kid artwork!

I have to confess that I have been lazy about art/craft time with Elise. She begs to "actibitees," but most days, I can't be bothered to drag out the mess of paints. Bad mom. Especially bad mom who loves to paint herself and wants to raise a creative child. Bad mom.

But thanks to a recent trip to a local children's museum (St. Louis' Magic House), Elise made a painting, and I was reminded why I should make the effort for more art time at home.

I love her paintings. I don't even think she likes them as much as I do. This one is just tempera on paper. I know every mom probably loves their own kid's artwork, but I just want to gush about her expressive brushstrokes and how she doesn't overwork the paint. When finished, she shouts "done!" and puts down the paintbrush like a timer went off.

I was going to put it in the artwork frame in our dining room, but I still love that painting too much to cover it up, so I folded it and put it in a different frame.

I was searching our living space, looking for a place to put it, when I realized the best spot would be in Elise's bedroom. I put it on a high shelf so she can see her painting while she's falling asleep at night.

Her room still kind of a disaster because I painted her closets and then started working on the adjoining stairway (think, stacks of paint cans and furniture pushed aside), so no whole-room photos right now. But the space is calling for a few more of her paintings and I've got some blank canvasses. Maybe it's finally time for mama/daughter studio hours.

I like you, you're silly painted sign

That's something I've been telling Elise since she was able to stick her tongue out.

I had a couple more pieces of cherry wood hanging around and decided to use them to make some long and skinny artwork to go over the couch.

I sketched out a scalloped border along the bottom. I planned to leave it natural because I wanted part of the cherry woodgrain to show through. I painted the top part in white then layered in some Acra red. I had forgotten how awesome Acra red was. It's a very warm, pinky red. Love it.

Then I used the same technique to do the lettering as I did in the E artwork.

Originally I wanted to do the lettering freehand, but I doubted that I could make it look the way I saw it in my head. I have to remind myself that sometimes the method isn't as important as how it looks in the end. (If a cake made from scratch doesn't taste good, then what's the point?)

I kept the fill of the letters fairly sketchy and translucent. My opinion is if you're going to make something handmade, it should look handmade. If you want something like this to look purely "perfect," it's better to just buy a vinyl wall decal.

After all was done, I covered with a coat of polyurethane to bring out the natural woodgrain along the bottom border.

p.s. The font I used is called Ballpark Weiner. Yep.

Click here to see the finished playroom!