No Mess Painting

I've seen a bunch of mommy blogs talking about painting in a sealed plastic bag, taped onto a table.  It looked like fun, and an easy way to paint without worrying about a big mess.  I found a homemade finger paint recipe on Pinterest a while ago, and have hesitated making it because I'm not sure that Colin is ready for it.  This gave me an opportunity to try both. 

First, I made the finger paint.  It's very easy, and you can find it at this website. I was expecting it to be like the photos, but it didn't quite work that way.  I followed the recipe exactly, and got lumpy, thick "paint".  I added some water and it thinned, but it was still lumpy.  I found another website that used this recipe that advised to remove the mixture from heat before it reaches it's desired consistency because it will thicken as it cools.  I found this website after I made it all and had a lumpy, thick mess.  I added color to it anyway, because I wasn't going to stop the project midway through.

This is what my paint ended up looking like:

I put 8 drops of food coloring in for blue and red, less for yellow, and it worked for the yellow, but everything else was still pretty pale.  I wonder how much I'd need to use to get the dark, beautiful colors I was picturing.  Also, if I have to add much more food coloring to get dark colors, won't it stain fingers?  I guess it's a good thing we were bag painting with it and not finger painting. 

After it was all set, and in a bag, I couldn't figure out how to get the air out so Colin could "paint" without a bunch of air bubbles.  I tried several ways, and lets just say it's good there was no video camera on me during this portion of the project.  For me, it was good.  You all would have had a good laugh. 

I taped the bag down on Colin's high chair first, because I was making more granola bars and I thought it would keep him occupied while I cooked and cleaned up my mess.  I was wrong.  He told me "done" less than 2 minutes after I put him in the chair.  After that, I taped the bag to the tile on my kitchen floor, and just let him come back to it when he wanted.  We both played with it for a while, but it didn't really hold our attention. 

I ended up putting paint in a smaller bag, and that worked better.  I had put too much in the large bag, and that plus the air in it didn't create a really workable surface. 

So, if you want to do this for your kids someday.  Learn a few things from me.  1) Don't let your paint thicken so much when it's cooking.  2) Use lots and lots of food coloring, except with yellow.  I used 6 drops of yellow, and that was plenty bright.  3) If you buy painters tape from the dollar store, you should expect that it won't stick really well.  Splurge and buy nicer stuff, maybe it will work better and your kid won't have more fun peeling it up over and over.  4) Only put in a small amount of paint into the bag.  If you use a large amount, it just doesn't smear around as well.  5) This is probably an activity meant for children a little older than Colin.  Not quite 2 is not the ideal age for this. 

He enjoyed it a little, but I expect it to be more entertaining in a year or so. 

Tentative Treats

This week has been tough, so yesterday I decided to try and make my own granola bars because I hadn't done anything crafty or tried a new recipe yet.  I've found a few recipes on Pinterest and decided it looked easy enough.  I was hesitant, though.  Granola bars are my go-to low blood sugar snack.  (Unless it's REALLY low, then it's straight to the juice.)  I didn't want to make them and then not like them.  I'm the one who will be eating them, so I didn't want them to suck. 

The recipe I used can be found here, but I changed it just a little bit.  I used a little less sugar, and added peanut butter chips also. 

Here's the recipe:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rice cereal
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 tsp vanilla
generous, unmeasured amounts of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips

Directions:

Mix rice cereal and oats in a large bowl, set aside.  In a small pot, melt butter, honey, and brown sugar over medium high heat.  After it bubbles, reduce heat and cook for 2 minutes.  Add vanilla, stir, remove from heat.  Pour mixture over dry ingredients, mix well.  Press mixture into lightly greased 8x8 pan, firmly.  (This is key so it doesn't fall apart.)  Pour assorted chips over mix, press gently to set them.  Let sit for 2 hours, cut and enjoy!

I didn't take many pictures, as I was doing this while Colin was awake.  This does not leave a lot of creative time. 

Cooling in the pan

Yummy side view.

Ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Pintervention?

I just made a small batch of brown sugar vanilla body scrub.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, changed it a bit, and made some for me.  It uses brown sugar, white sugar, sunflower oil (I changed it to Coconut Oil, because it smells good.) and vanilla extract.  (Sidebar: I may need a Pintervention.  Lately, all my non child rearing and job hunting activities revolve around crafts and/or foods I've found on Pinterest.)

So, I made up my little batch and used it just on my hands as a test. My hands feel super soft and smell delish!  It's a bit greasy, due to the oil, but it absorbs quickly and leaves hands feeling soft and moisturized.  I recommend using the coconut oil.  It's in solid form at room temp, but melts in your hand.  You have to melt it first, and mix before it solidifies. 

I used a small plastic container that I got from the Family Dollar to store it. (A two pack of the containers cost me $1 so I felt it was a good investment. My crafting budget is small.  Or, nonexistent.)  I don't expect it to last long, since I quartered the recipe, so I didn't feel the need to buy a glass container.  Besides, glass in my shower?  No thanks, I'm a klutz.  If I give it as a gift, I'll probably get some cute containers to give it in and let that person determine if glass is allowed in their shower.  Maybe other people don't have a case of the dropsies like I do, but I don't think I'd recommend it. 

Best part of this project?  Husband asked me if he could put it on toast after I told him what the ingredients were.  I told him to go for it.  Technically, it's all edible.  He'd do it, though, so maybe I should hide it.  After all, I want to use it myself! (Please don't eat this, if you make it. It's not for consumption.)

Here's the link for the real recipe: Brown Sugar Vanilla Scrub
I didn't take any pictures of mine, because I didn't think of it until everything was cleaned up.  Since my container is not as cute, I figured you all didn't need to see it.  :)