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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Stay Cool with Bleeding Art

Keeping cool in the summer is not much of a challenge here in San Francisco. Our summers are mildly warm at best. My biggest obstacle this summer is keeping my 20 month old's attention.

As a young girl growing up in the heat, my mom always provided us with fun activities to keep us occupied and keep us cool. One of my all time favorite activities was tissue spray art. Because I didn't possess a natural proclivity toward art nor a high tolerance for heat, tissue spray art was great as it forced me to be creative and the spray bottle wars with my sister were always memorable. The spray bottle wars momentarily thwarted my incessant whining about the heat, and overall gave my mom a much need break from us kids.

Here’s what you’ll need:

A spray bottle, newspaper, tissue paper, and plain white paper.

***Be sure to buy bleeding art tissue paper otherwise this project will not work***

Begin by lightly spraying your piece of paper with some water. Next, tear up your tissue paper into smaller pieces and lay on the plain white paper.


Continue to lightly spray your paper so the tissue paper will stick. The more water you add the more the tissue will begin to bleed it's colors.


Emi really enjoyed this project and could now get a job for a pest control company, as she is an excellent sprayer.

Have a snack and let your paper dry in the sun.


When the tissue has dried, peel off the tissue and throw away. Voila! You now have a great background/book report cover/greeting card/picture frame/whatever you want, made by your little one!


To check out more ideas on how to beat the heat this summer with your kids, be sure to head over to Carissa's Good N Crazy blog. Her tips and ideas are a must read!

-Kacey

***The aforementioned bleeding tissue paper was mistakenly not purchased by my loving husband, so I'm borrowing a photo from this lovely site.
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35 comments:

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Oh my gosh this is an awesome project!! Just last night my little boy was begging me to come up with a project 'from the computer' to do! And Voilá you came up with one for us! He'll be all over the spray bottle!!!!

WOW thanks for the link to my summer boredom series!

Amy said...

That is so neat. You should share this on my Round Robin on Friday. Can you get the tissue paper any place you want or does it have to be a craft store?

MsTypo said...

What a great fun project! And when you're bored you can spray water at each other!! (Or maybe that's just me. LOL)

Randi Troxell said...

this is very fun and very cool!!

Tabitha Blue said...

Great idea for sure!! I'll have to get the supplies for this one soon!

:)
~Tabitha

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

What a fabulous little project! And she is so cute I can't stand it!

theUngourmet said...

How cute! Why haven't I ever done this? My kids and I must do this fun project! Thanks for sharing it. :0)

Liz Mays said...

Sweetness! That would make actually be really cute framed, don't ya think?

Carin Davis said...

My girls will LOVE this!!!!!!
Thank you!

ck said...

I love that project. I can't wait to try it. I mean, I can't wait for my kids to try it!

Kimberly said...

ooooh - neat idea!

Unknown said...

Great idea! We've done that same project at a fun parent-child center that I take my kids to....I love the fact that it is not too messy, so colorful and easy

Jillene said...

What a fun and cleaver idea!! Thanks for sharing!!

Dawn Parsons Smith said...

This is the perfect project for us today! Thank you for sharing!!!

Paging Doctor Mommy said...

It's raining here today, so we're off to the mall. And now I'll be picking up the supplies for this project while we are there to work on this afternoon when we get back home!

Thanks for the great idea!

Heather of the EO said...

In that first pic, I thought Emi had goggles on! I thought, "wow, they take safety very seriously!" I need new glasses.

This looks like such fun. Love your tips and ideas!

Danyele Easterhaus said...

i was totally on the "bleeding" part, like my kids bleed all the time, who knew it could be art. but this is much less painful and fun!

Grand Pooba said...

How cute! I loved doing art projects when I was little, I bet Emi loved it! (Bleeding tissue paper or not)

Eve said...

What a fantastic idea!

We used to glue tissue paper pieces onto plastic wrap and hang it in the windows. I've never seen this bleeding tissue art before - what fun!!

Fiauna said...

What a great idea! I'm going to have to try this.

Anonymous said...

That looks so cool!

peewee said...

is it bad that I just want to eat emi's arms?? I tried a project like that when I taught preschool. I turned around for two seconds and three of the boys had "papered" their arms and faces and were squirting each other. ugh, boys! (except for Giancarlo and M...hi!!)

Deb said...

Great project idea! And I live in the heat, so I love this idea.

Claudya Martinez said...

So cute! And the art isn't bad either.

Just SO said...

What a fun project! I bet even my older kids would get a kick out of this. I'll have to check my craft store for the bleeding heart paper.

Jen said...

what a fabulous craft. I am so going to have to try it.

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

I love doing these with students. I have never tried them with my sons, but will have to now!

Anonymous said...

that is such a cute idea!

Helene said...

That is just brilliant!!!!! My kids would love that! Thanks for sharing!!

Cindy said...

WOW - I LOVE this. So pretty!

Tara said...

That is awesome!!! what a great idea...have to try that!

amanda said...

my girls will LOVE this. thanks!!

Unknown said...

I LOVE this and will head to the craft store today to purchase said tissue paper!
We have been painting terra cotta pots and plating flowers :)

Alexis AKA MOM said...

Very cool, the boys would love this one. I'll have to try it this weekend. Thanks for the tip :)

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh! We are going to do this next week! fun, fun, fun! Thank you for this fantastical idea! Love it to bits!