big sister artwork project tutorial

geographical separations are always hard on everyone. this one has been substantially more complicated than any one we have faced-even his middle east deployments. this one in particular has been the hardest on bella. 

today, when she asked where daddy was, and i told her he was at work, she said, "but i know where his work is! it's not very far!". 

she is such a daddy's girl. through and through. we have been fighting a bit, and fighting with a three year old is much more frustrating than you may imagine. or maybe it's exactly as frustrating as you may imagine. 

so, to keep our minds straight, i've been trying very hard to keep us busy. today, we did some crafting and organizing. sounds really fun for her, right? she actually really enjoyed it, apparently. 

we made some fancy schmantsy art work for cora's room, and bella pretty much did it all. so here is my {big sister artwork} 

tutorial.

first things first, gather your supplies.

-a canvas of you choosing. we used and 18x24 canvas.

-your color palate. we used acrylic paints, because water cleanup, duh.  

-brushes, we used cheap crayola brand ones so bella can do her worst. 

-a sharpie or pen

-contact paper. i thought the lite tack would make it easier to move off of the canvas. in my opinion, it was a little too light on the tack. so i maybe would use something a little stickier next time.

-scissors 

next, recruit the best painter money can buy.

cut a piece of contact paper the size of your canvas. using the sharpie, sketch out your silhouette. we were making rtwork for cora's nursery which is done in elephants, so i sketched out an elephant. the great thing is, you can mess up and it doesn't really matter. 

next cut out your shape, and lay it on the canvas, pressing down to make sure it is stuck well enough to not let paint seep under. (here is where the tack was lacking. i used a little mod podge under the edges to make sure it didn't move much).

then put that helper to work!

at this point, she can kind of go crazy. we let each color dry mostly before we added more paint, so it at least didn't look all brown. 

let the whole thing dry, then peel up the contact paper.

it wasn't perfect, but it looks like an elephant. 

now hang and enjoy. her nursery is coming along. my girls rooms are in a constant state of flux. 

some days.

there are days where i feel like i was born for mommy-hood. i juggle both girls with ease and grace, if not a little sweat. we get up, we get dressed, we get moving. we go on "field trips" and bella goes to art class and gymnastics and we have playdates. cora doesn't cry, because i am cued in. we hit our rhythm and everything just flows.

then there are days like yesterday.

someone hold me....

joel took some time off this week to hang out before he has to go tdy for 9 weeks. wednesday was glorious. joel took bella on a daddy-daughter-date-day while i took cora to mops, where there are always willing arms to snuggle with her. we got home much, much earlier than they did and i cleaned and dusted and ate and watched GLEE! all while cora napped and yes. just yes. it was magnificent.

they got home, we had a nice dinner, lovingly prepared by joel, that was also cleaned by joel. holy hallelujah.

i should have known better.

joel had to go back in thursday for a meeting and we had gymnastics at the same time, so the plan was to spend the morning hanging out and relaxing (by doing laundry and organizing.....wait...is that relaxing?? to anyone??) then at 2 we split to do our respective jobs...err...activities.

we got to gymnastics early where bella ran around like a maniac until she peed in her leotard. the one time i didn't bring back up clothes. seriously. while part of me wanted to make her sit in her pee and watch her friends having fun (we couldn't leave because we were carpooling), one of the mothers graciously offered us her spare and bella went in while i mopped the floor.

when we got home, bella decided she needed to brush her teeth. on the new couch. with a brand new tube of the good stuff, you know, NOT the $.98 tube of colgate. my living room now smells yum yum bubblegum-y.

i send her to her room where she screams.

the rest of the day pretty much followed suit. lots of her doing things she knows not to do, lots of me sending her to her room, lots of her screaming, some of me crying (that didn't happen. but almost.)

then came the coup de grace. bella and her friend went ape ball crazy on her room, which is really no biggie. i have a preschooler and a baby and am therefor very well versed in the life of insane messes. they really don't bug me too bad.

what does bug me? is when her friend leaves and she loses her ever loving mind.

she ran to the bathroom screaming, "i need to go pee pee!!!!!!" then proceeded to pee alllll over the floor. because the potty was too far away from right in front of her.

trying not to lose it (because i would hate for her to associate peeing herself with anything negative. {sarcastic eyeroll} really?! you just urinated on yourself IN FRONT OF THE TOILET! how is that not shameful?) i calmly tell her she needs to take a bath now.

you would think i had pulled out her teeth with my fingers and no drugs.

head back, mouth wide, screaming at the top of her lungs.

i think at this point, i may have been acting out of body. i washed and conditioned her hair, washed the pee stink off of her, wrapped her in her towel, took her into her room and got her ready for bed, then gently placed her in bed, all while she screamed like a banshee. then i walked out.

fuming.

see, this parenting thing is usually not so bad. mot days, we nail our routine and everyone is relatively pleased with themselves. i get pretty proud of myself. so i guess bella has figured i need to be humbled every once in a while. prove to me that i am not, in fact, all that and a bag of chips.

well, hurrah child. you win again.