Mess Free Painting (Paint in a Bag)

Have I told you about this yet?I don't think I have. Thanks to Pinterest I have found a great way to entertain Bug when I need a few minutes to get something done like the dishes, or make dinner! It's a fantastic way for her to paint (which she LOVES) without the big clean up afterwards. Normally I don't mind a mess but when you just need 10 minutes of distraction, you don't want a 15 minute clean up at the end, so this is the perfect solution.

Here's what you'll need:
A gallon size Ziploc bag 
Paints (we used fingerpaints but you can use whatever you have on hand, Tempra would work great too)
Q-tips
Tape (preferably something strong like duct tape)

I squirted two blobs of paint into the bag, we were working on the color green that week so I thought I would do one bag of blue and yellow to create green and another bag with green in it.

  Smoosh the paint around and try to push out as much of the air as you can (smoosh is a word, right?). After you seal the bag tape it shut to prevent any explosions! I forgot to take a picture after I taped it, sorry!

Then arm your toddler with a q-tip and hand over the bags! (You can see the duct tape in this picture!) You can even tape the bag to the surface where they are going to paint, or hang it up in a window to let the sun shine through!

such concentration!

 She had a blast, it kept her entertained until dinner was ready and she wanted to come back to it after we were done eating!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day to all of you out there! K and I have been busy today making things for daddy!

After breakfast this morning we finger-painted pictures for him.

K thought that was pretty cool! She did really well with it, but I didn't get many pics because I was too busy making sure she wasn't getting too close the edges of the table! I gave her an old BBQ bating brush I never use, some of her shapes from her shape sorter, and a ball to roll around in the paint. She had a blast and made some cute pictures.


After a bath, we made brownies for daddy.

K sporting her V-day outfit from Grammy.

K helped me mix the batter, that was a messy experience! 

Before I mixed in the egg I let her take a lick of the spatula, she thought that was the best part of baking! K also learned that dipping your animal crackers in the batter while mommy turns her back is VERY yummy!

For dinner we made daddy a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and corn. I think we spoiled him lots! Hope you all had a very Happy Valentines Day! I know we all did!

Homemade Fingerpaints

K thinking about the squishy-ness between her fingers!

K got to test out her artistic ability recently and let me just say, she's an artistic genius. OK OK that might be the mommy in me thinking she's some sort of prodigy but we did have a blast doing it and it turned out really cute. Our first batch was a bit "chunky" but it worked perfectly for her little 8 month old hands to get a hold of. Miss K used her lovely paintings as Fathers Day gifts!

How To Make Finger-paints

You will need...

• Food coloring in your favorite colors
• 1/4 cup of cornstarch
• 2 cups of water
• Small saucepan

Mix the cornstarch and water in saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once mixture is thickened and clear, remove from stove and let cool. Pour into separate containers and slowly add food coloring until desired color is reached (I started with 2 drops, stirred, and then kept adding one drop at a time).

All the pretty colors we made!