Girlie Trees

One more about the GrandGirlies long visit and then I will quit.  We did a lot fun things this visit again.  But because it rained constantly we had to spend almost all of our time inside.  Arts and crafts stuff came out. 

We decided to make a special present for their Mama.  I saw this on a blog somewhere, though I can't remember where and had stashed it in my mental Fun Things To Do file cabinet.  I intended to do this for My Girl's birthday but we didn't get the chance.  Since the Girlies were visiting for a bit longer this time we finally did it.

On March 17th edited to add:  I found the site I originally saw the trees and wanted to give credit for this cute idea.  Missy at So You Think You're Crafty.   I kind of wish I had refreshed my memory because she used burlap and heavier fabrics and I love the texture of hers.  But I would not have missed out on the painting of the skies, grass and flowers for anything!  Maybe I will do a set more like hers for the House on the Hill. 

Here are their masterpieces.  A Family of Girlie Hand Trees or Girlie Hand Family Trees or maybe Girlie Hand Trees Triptych.  I'm not sure which.

I had bought a few 16"x20" canvases at Hobby Lobby,  2 in a pack for 7.99 when art stuff was 40% off.  We put a plastic tablecloth down and donned Papa's old t-shirts for paint smocks.  Each girl got a canvas, a paint brush and a wad of plastic wrap.  We squirted blue and white craft paint on the canvases and I just let them go.

E trying very hard to not paint where the tree would go.

RoRo using the plastic wrap to swirl her sky.

Baby Girlie started off emulating her sisters' serious techniques 

but she soon figured out that hands were the most fun and before she was done even her tummy helped paint her sky.

Blurry cause she almost got me!  Just had to show it.

Then they all painted their own version of grass, leaves and flowers.
 

I drew circles in their skies with 3 different sized plates and brought the Mod Podge and my fabric scrap boxes out.  They picked out the colors for their leaves and then I cut out a few hundred leaf shapes.  I stacked the fabric so it went quick.  Then we Mod Podged the leaves in overlapping circles.  I have to admit, I ended up doing most of the Mod Podging.  Though the big Girlies did a lot of their leaf placing.  Baby Girlie liked the Mod Podge a little too much so we ended up doing most of this part while she was napping.

After the leaves were all on, they each chose their own fabric for their tree trunk and I traced their little hands and arms on the fabric, cut them out and Mod Podged them on top of the leaves.

And there are no pictures of any part of this because Mod Podge, 3 Girlies, me and a camera is just not a good idea. 


Evelyn Grace's

Meredith Rose's

Julianna Kate's

They loved them and so do I.  And Papa?  Well, he tried real hard to convince the Girlies that their masterpieces needed to stay with him.   Needless to say, Mama won.