Kids craft project

If you have twins, triplets...scratch that...

if you have many children...wait...

if you have children close in age...ummm, hang on...

if you have multiple children...trying again...

okay if you have a singular child. 

Yes, if you are in close proximity to any child roughly from about the age of 18 mos to let's say adulthood you are acutely aware of the importance of having your name on things.  It's of utmost importance, their name must be on everything, and once they learn how to (sorta kinda) write it, they must do it.  Names are very important.  Especially to my two boys, Jacob and Nicholas, ages 7 & 4.  The name game is strong in our house, being boys and sharing a group of friends and a room to boot.  "Names" define fierce boundaries around here. 

Over our spring break last week we did two different nameplate kids art projects that were both easy to do, captured their attention and ended up looking pretty cool in the end.

First we did salt art. 

I started off with a color palette that I found pleasing...lets be honest, kids need some guidance in the color department.  As parents we need to look and enjoy these pieces it might as well be something I can stomach looking at over and over again! I just these colors because I'm 1. obsessed with them and 2. this color combo naturally induces peacein my brain (and many times, my boys do not) so it's like a little constant dose of Xanax.  Who couldn't use that?

I used my watercolors to paint 2 whole sheets of watercolor paper.  1 sheet I left whole, the other sheet I tore in half.  I hand tore all the edges of the paper bc I think it looks better than a straight edge.  I also made sure to darken the edges all around the paper to really highlight the texture.

When the sheets are dry, I glued the half sheet on the whole sheet, right in the center.  Next, with pencil I wrote their names and then went over it again, with a darker water color paint color so it would be really easy for them to do the following step. 

Then I had them trace their painted name with glue.  Once they're done, I let them cover the whole sheet with salt- normal cheapo kitchen salt variety is fine. Best to do this step in a baking sheet with raised edges to keep the salt contained.

Give the glue and salt a few hours to dry.  When it's ready, mix up your food coloring, keeping a color palette similar to the colors you painted with earlier.  Then use an eye dropper to apply the food coloring on the salted letters.

When you're done, again wait for it to dry a bit and then use some adhesive spray to make sure everything stays intact once it's hung up.  And there you have it- a customized nameplate for your little(s) to hang and stake their claim (and it's easy on the eyes!).