recycling project no. 5 - rolled paper strips

I was going to save this project for next week but we were pounded with heavy rain most of the morning so here it is. I think this is the gloomiest summer we’ve ever had!



This is a very simple project that again, uses materials that we probably all have at home. This time we used:
• strips of paper cut out from a catalog (sorry Pottery Barn!)
• a glue stick (used to glue the end of the little rolls of paper)
• Elmer’s glue (the kids lightly dipped the rolls of paper into this glue)
• cardstock for the background

I thought the kids were going to be able to make the little rolls of paper but it turned out that they either didn’t have the patience for it or their little hands just couldn’t handle the task at hand. In order to stop seeing their little frustrated faces (this is supposed to be fun!) I ended up making all the little rolls of paper myself. I would’ve probably made a wider variety of sizes but the kids were going really fast and I was trying to keep up with them. This reminded me a little of the quilling that my sister-in-law taught me last year but trust me this is not a good representation of what I learned. Speed was of the essence - "Mommy, mommy I need another one... quick! quick!"



When we work on these little pieces I never tell the kids to make anything in particular. The only limitation I give them is the pencil line that I draw to show them the amount of space they have to work on. The rest is up to them. Spontaneous abstract art is the theme we seem to be working with. ;)

Little C's - She was going fast!



D's version - after he finished he said he sees a shark!



Mine...



Our art wall with our new project.



By the way, any of these recycled wall art projects that I've posted can be made in any size. I'm soooo tempted to buy a big 40" x 40" canvas and make any one of these projects in a larger format. I think they would still hold up.

Oh... and speaking of the kids I can't leave without telling a little mommy story. I was playing 'doctor' with little C when she decided to take my temperature with the play syringe. That's a cutie thing there but it gets better. She pulled out the "thermometer" to read it and she proceeded to tell me, with a very serious face, that my temperature was 20 cents! She got a tight squeeze and a kiss from me for that cuteness! :)

Thank you to Jeffrey Yamaguchi from 52 projects for mentioning my blog yesterday and 'welcome!' to those of you visiting via his post. If you've never been to his site and need ideas for almost any type of project to work on you need to check it out. Just make sure you have a lot of free time because there's a lot to look at!

Have a lovely weekend everyone! :)