Spin Art/Shaving Cream Marbling Valentine's Cards

So, this blogging stuff takes time. I was aware of that when I started the blog, don't get me wrong. What I was unaware of was that I would literally have only 45 minutes to an hour most days of kid free time-- which happens to be how long it takes me to write a blog post (before you think I'm the slowest writer on the planet, that includes uploading and editing pictures). Sometimes (most times), I just want to crash on the couch with Lucas and watch whatever we have on Tivo...until the baby wakes up, of course. I keep reminding myself that he will eventually sleep (Lincoln did it, despite my severe doubts...), but the fact that it is most likely another 12 months away makes me less likely to spend my free time blogging.

That being said...here is a new blog post! Just in time for Valentine's Day, should you need ideas for your children's' school friends/cousins/neighbors/siblings/imaginary friends.

First up, shaving cream marbling. I did not come up with this idea, but I also didn't really read a tutorial for it before trying it either. We first tried it at art group on Thursday and all the kids loved it--and my house smelled really clean afterwards, so that's always a bonus. Most of the kids dove right in with their hands and turned the activity into a giant swirly-finger-paint...except for Lincoln, who requested I keep a "wet paper towel" handy at all times lest a dab of shaving cream get on his hands. As important as cleanliness is to him, I will say this: had that tray been full of melted chocolate and some got on his hand, I would have NEVER been asked to get a wet paper towel. I do believe he would have dove in, head first. That's my boy!

 For shaving cream marbling:
1. Fill a shallow tray or pan with a layer of shaving cream. I bought the cheapest kind available (Barbasol, original).
2. Squeeze drops of paint onto the shaving cream. We used washable tempera paints, but I will say that tempera paints do tend to crack if you fold the paper after it dries. If you aren't worried about stains, go with acrylic paints.
3. Swirl!
4. Lay your paper down on the shaving cream and press lightly. I recommend using card stock because the paper will get pretty soggy.
5. Peel the paper off and let it dry a few minutes. Then, you can either leave the shaving cream on and let it dry completely, or scrape it off and let it dry that way. Either way is fine, they just make different effects. The shaving cream does tend to flake off if left to dry on there, but it does look cool. Since we were going to use these to make cards, we scraped it off.

 (above you can see what it looked like right after we scraped it. I used a frosting spatula the second time we did this. The first time we used some cardboard, which worked pretty well, but with the spatula, you can run it under water and clean it between cards...)

 Next! Spin Art.
1. Get a salad spinner.
2. Cut a piece of card stock to fit inside your spinner.
3. Squeeze paint onto your card stock, put the lid on, and SPIN it!
4. Take the lid of, remove your art, and repeat (at least 20 times, if you are like Lincoln...)
(a note: we determined the best patterns appear if you splatter your paint in a circle or spiral before spinning. random dots were cool, too, but tended to just spread out to the edge instead of covering the paper...see below for an example)

And finally...here is what we did with our art! Valentines for Lincoln's friends at Mother's Day Out. He is in the "Fish" class at school, hence the "to: my fish friend." No actual fish will be receiving cards this Valentine's Day (from us, anyway...who you give cards to is your prerogative...).