Tie-Dyed Stationery

Well, it's Kid Craft week over at The CSI Project!  What a great time to showcase kids savoring the last few days of summer vacation with some cRafTY fUn!!! 

Daughter A had the opportunity to nanny 3 days/week this summer for a great family with 2 kids!  Being older *11 & 13* they are pretty self-sufficient but benefitted from having a few days where they had a referee, chauffer, nutritionist, mentor & cheerleader.  At the beginning of the summer they brainstormed ideas for what they'd like to do during the course of the summer.  One of the things they wanted to do were some crafts.  So, daughter A happily obliged and one rainy day they had some fun tie-dying stationery! *with lots of pretty colors for 'her' and with just the right amount of messiness for 'him', as A put it*  : )

You start with a modest mound of shaving cream on a moisture resistant paper plate.

Add a few drops of food coloring...

Using a plastic knife, gently swirl the colors into a rainbow.

Place an index card on top of the colored fluff and push down ever so gently.

Using the flat side of your mixing knife, scrape excess cream back onto the plate and set the card aside to dry.

Add new colors & more cream as needed to prolong the fun! : )

No two cards will be the same!

Just look at how much fun the kiddos had!!

Don't freak - this pic was taken pre-washing!

*caution: their hands did remain a little tinted even after washing*

But now look at what they created!

Click to enlarge for more detail.

The kids were happy because they each got their own plate and mixed their own colors and they stayed engaged for a good long time!  They loved this project so much they asked to do it again. 

Daughter A was happy because clean up was easy - it all went in the trash!

Mrs. D was happy because on the next sunny day the sneaky babysitter had the kids write *so very sneaky! : ) * little friendly notes to the neighbors and popped the postcards in the mailbox as a random act of kindness!  You could definitely jazz these up by framing them out with a piece of cardstock & adding ribbon... buuut you'd probably lose the 13 yr old boy's attention at that point!
Now tell me, WHO wouldn't smile if surprised with one of these?
And the kids were smiling thinking about the neighbors smiling!! Win-Win
Who says kids are lazy good.for.nothin's?!!  These kids know how to Pay It Forward!!


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