So, these aren’t the kind you are thinking they are. I am talking about recipes to keep your children entertained this summer. Here in Canada we still have a month until School starts-School starting will always be the end of summer for me. Regardless of where I am or what I am doing as a job.
The first I’d like to share is for chalkboard paint.
I was very excited to go to the store and buy paint. I actually thought standing in front of the paint cards, “I wonder if I can buy one of those fan-card stacks for paint sample?” (Just looked online-apparently I can…hummmm or I stand at the sample area and take one of each in order of their display and attach them together myself….risk of embarrassment or risk of getting something for free that should be) Anyway..
So I settled on 4 colors. Pink, Green, Blue & Aqua. But I had to buy the 1 gallon size, since they didn’t have any tester sizes at my small town hardware store. I ended up going over to Canadian Tire and getting samples of a “Valentine Pink” and “Night Magic” (purple).
Materials:
1 gallon (or less) of paint. You will mix it 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time. (More than three coats or you are doing a wall, use 1 cup)
Unsanded Grout
Measuring cup
1 tablespoon measuring spoon
Recipe:
1 cup of paint + 2 tablespoons of grout = lots of chalkboard paint
1/2 cup paint + 1 tablespoon of grout = chalkboard paint (enough for a 8×10 frame, 3 coats)
(idea from www.marthastewart.com)
So this was quite the adventure. I really wasn’t sure it would work. The first batch I mixed up with the purple. I painted one coat on the glass (I painted the glass from a frame the end result being a chalkboard frame respectively) and waited for it to dry. Here’s the hard part. Homemade chalkboard paint doesn’t keep well. You have to put it in the fridge if your coats take longer than 30 minutes to dry. Mine did because of all the distraction at my house. If you have kids that sit and talk to eachother and read instead of running around the house, then you will be able to stay on task. By the way-if you have some of those kids, could they come train my children to sit still? LOL!
Anyway. My purple paint hardened pretty good. But I was able to add some water to it, get it painting-ready and use it. Once the project dried, I am able to write on it and wipe off the chalk with no problem. I imagine if the paint completely hardened, it wouldn’t work.
I also did a light pink color as well. This one, I mixed up only 1/2 a cup of paint at a time. I still had to use water to keep it liquid, but not as much. I also painted much faster this time.
I lightly sanded the surface between coats as well, to get it as smooth as possible. You can’t get it completely smooth, because of the grout. I guess you might be able to if you sifted the grout. But I thought that was too much work:)
Overall, I will be doing this again. And I am hoping to fit it into a wall somewhere in my house…I’m thinking the basement. Sorry, Tommy….man-cave in the next house. 🙂
Here is a some photo of the finished project. Sorry I don’t have any of the process, but I thought painting was pretty straight forward.
I used this as the backdrop to some photos I did of lil’ E. I can’t show you the photos just yet….but I will show you some of my inspiration…
(All found via www.pinterest.com)
The next recipe I played with this summer was Homemade Sidewalk Chalk!
Materials:
1 cup of plaster of Paris
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water (temperature doesn’t matter)
liquid tempera paint-variety of colors
Molds (I used the molds for ice cubes from Ikea. I image anything made of the silicone would work really well, as it pops out the chalk nicely.)
Steps:
1. Mix the plaster of Paris with the water until a paste forms. Do not put all the water in at once.
2. Divide this amount in half or even thirds if you want a lot of colors. From one mix I made two full Ikea ice cube trays
3. Slowly add the paint, until you have a deep color. (You want it to show up on the cement…and brighter colors are more fun!)
4. Pour into molds. This doesn’t really expand too much, so you can fill it right up to the top. I let mine sit for about 3 days before I took them out. They may look dry on the top, but inside they might not.
I had read somewhere that they put them in the freezer. I didn’t think that would help much, as they have to dry out. I put mine in front of an open window and that did the trick. The smaller the mold, the faster it dries.
Hints:
A- DO NOT put it into small muffin tins that are not silicone! I did this. While they took about twice the time to dry, I had to tap them out with a hammer…slightly denting the bottom of my pan. I think that you could put wax paper in them…but you won’t get the perfect shape then. I had thought about using vaseline…but then thought maybe the paste wouldn’t dry. Let me know if you’ve tried that and how it works by leaving a comment!
B- You can not leave this recipe sitting. It will harden. I know, I know, obvious. But I’ve done some pretty obviously wrong things as of late. I blame my mom status….enough said:)
My daughter loves these! I will have to make more colors next time.
And the last recipe is Homemade Bathtub Crayons.
This one didn’t go so well. I have no idea what I did wrong. Actually I think I do. I may have put too much water in. I found it impossible to get the ivory soap to blend with the color. I put them in the freezer and everything. Nope. They came out of the freezer and feel apart like mush. If anyone finds a recipe that they like and that really works, please send me a message and I’ll try it out.
Materials:
1 bar of Ivory Soap grated finely
Food coloring
1/2 cup of warm water (I only added about 1/4 cup the first time. The second time I added the whole 1/2 cup. Both times I had suds everywhere!)
Here is the recipe I loosely followed…
Maybe I should have followed more closely….or maybe just skipped the crayons all together. As much as Lil’ A plays with them, I know once the store bought ones are gone, she will have moved onto another tub toy of equal excitement!
I actually started this post about two weeks ago. I am finally finishing it today, when almost half of the United States is back at school, some Canadian schools go back next week…but hey, there’s always next summer…or a raining weekend!
Krystle