keeping your kids busy--marbled paper

A friend told me about this project this morning, and thank heavens she did!  I was at a loss as to what to do with my kids today (something crafty).  Yesterday, we did not do a craft project or go to the pool and I have never had such a long day in my life.  So when she mentioned "shaving cream and food-coloring paper marbleing" I was all over it.

After a quick trip to Target for 4 cans of Barbisol, we were in business!  It worked like a charm.  Take a look:

 

First, you take your ickiest cookie sheet (you know you have one) and make a paper-sized blob of shaving cream on it.

 

Smooth it out with the back of a spoon so there are no holes.  It doesn't need to be thick, just solid...

 

Drop your food-coloring in spots all over it.  We started with two colors, because it took us a while to realize that we were allowed to use more than that (I don't know why)...

 

Bend over the tray and get your hair in the shaving cream if you need to.  Placement is that important (not)...

 

Okay, now for the fun!  Take a skewer, or a toothpick, or a fork, or a pencil for heaven's sake, and swirl it throughout your dots...

 

Try different ways of annoying your sister...go v-e-r-y slowly, go through the same spots several times so that things start to look really muddy.  Pause a lot, to consider your work.  Drive her to distraction!...

 

Once you've done that to your satisfaction, take a piece of cardstock and lay it over your design...press lightly but do not rub...

 

Lift the paper away from the shaving cream, and lay it flat on the counter.  It looks bad, but hold steady, it will be lovely!...Scrape away the shaving cream (with your old Blockbuster card because your mom can't afford to go there anymore, so it's on its way out anyway)...

 

And you have a lovely piece of marbled paper!!!

We did lots:

 

Close-ups of our faves (we did eventually make our way up to four colors!):

 

 

 

Oh!  I forgot to say that you can make more than one impression on each set-up.  They just won't be as dense, after the first one.  And don't forget to wear old clothes, because colored shaving cream ended up in the strangest places...

My kids gave this project a thumbs-up.  It's messy, but very quick to clean up, and totally fun.  Best part is, now we have some super-cool papers to make our Father's Day cards (yup, that's Sunday). 

Cheers, and happy coloring!

Comments

[magaly ohika]

fun and ooh so beautiful!!!!!!!

[nicole boe]

This was a very cool idea - thanks so much for sharing this one.

[sarah]

Very very groovy idea. Can I be one of your kids?

[gem]

Looks fun and easy! I like that you're making Dad day cards outta yours - they will smell like shavecream :) I need to make some quick BG papers and will def. try this idea, thanks Amy ... I've saved all those "faux" credit cards that come in the mail, and NOW I finally have a use for them - I KNEW this day would come! :D

[marion]

Haha, you are soooo funny!

[Karen Salva]

Very fun, I have always wanted to try this. Saw it someplace long ago and made a mental note to do it someday. HA, I should know better...mental note...I crack myself up!

[Amanda]

What a great idea- gotta try this with my kiddos today which happens to be another rainy day!

[Kristin]

Love the idea! Will definitely be doing with my kiddos. Love your funny commentary too. ;)

[grandma sally]

I love this idea and now that it is finally warm, I can let my grandsons do this out side and clean up in the hose. Thank you...

[Amy Hanson]

Doing this project outside is a great idea! Good luck!

[Mamanutt]

You can also use washable liquid watercolor!! Doesn't stain!!

[amber d.]

We are making these tomorrow! The post came up in perfect timing for us on Crafty Crow.

[CillaH]

This is just amazing. I WILL try it with my craft club!!!

[faye]

I won't claim that we invented it, but FamilyFun magazine included just this idea in its August issue--food coloring, shaving cream, toothpicks and all--along with other great ideas, such as the patterned paste paper in the "Backyard Crafts" feature. As a member of the staff of the magazine, I'm obviously biased in its favor, but FamilyFun has loads of ideas every issue that are as much fun, or more than this one. And our website, FamilyFun.com has an archive of easy, simple, fun ideas to keep boredom at bay.

[Amy Hanson]

Well, Faye, I'm not sure if this comment was supposed to be implying that I took the idea from your magazine, or not. It's hard to tell, but just in case that IS what it's implying, I will point out that I posted this idea in June, and your magazine came out in August. I, too, in NO way claim to have invented this idea; my friend just mentioned it to me as something she had heard about, and I tried it. That's it! It was fun, so I shared it. I posted it in the hopes that it saved another mom from a long day at home with the kids, when perhaps her "bag of tricks" was running low. I usually love to find a project that another mom has done, because of the feedback it provides. Thanks for the tip about your website, I'll check it out!

[Sue]

Wow that does look good.

[Meaghan (bonafyde)]

Awesome post and I love this technique it's always so much fun and the results are always unexpected!!!

Ummm.....Faye this is an OLD technique, I remember doing this with my GRANDMA as a kid... a form of Mono-printing (as is the gelatin method)...it's something I still do for fun in my mixed media work. On that note I agree that FamilyFun is a great magazine and website but there is enough room in the world for other people to share and create.... so there is no need to feel threatened by Bloggers who are doing just that. I am a bit skeptical that you are indeed an editor because it would seem you would have sent an email instead.. .trolling (if that is the case) is never a good look.

[Holly Keller]

Right on, Meaghan. I totally agree. Amy is one of the kindest, MOST EAGER TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE bloggers that I know. She rocks.

Faye--get over yourself.