Finger Painting with Gallery 9 Premium Acrylic Paint

I recently got the opportunity to play with Gallery 9 Premium Acrylic paint set. A complimentary sample of the product was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

Because I'm not much of an artist (I make digital art, but not real-life art) and I couldn't draw a straight line if my life depended on it, we decided to just have some family time with this set and do some finger painting. The seller has assured me that the paint is completely non toxic and safe for my child to finger paint with, so we grabbed a couple of large, thick paper sheets from the art store and got the party started. 

First thing that you notice when playing with the Galley 9 paint is the absence of any kind of odor. It's great for body painting and finger painting with your children, but it's also perfect for all sorts of crafts. This is a water-based paint, made in the USA, designed to be safe and long-lasting, but also very easy to clean up. After we were done finger painting, it took me 20 seconds of washing in lukewarm water to clean my daughter's hands. The paint just kind of flaked off nicely, leaving no trace of color or smell. 

The colors are incredibly pigmented and vibrant. They just pop! They're also very blendable and velvety in texture. You only need a tiny drop of the paint to be able to smooth it out nicely. The thickness of the paint is just right - concentrated enough for extra vivid color and definitely not watery. 

The kid and I had lots of fun with these paints, and there is still plenty left for my little artist to practice her skills. We played with the paint for about an hour and covered one large sheet with colorful splashes, but the bottles seem just as full as before, so I'm pretty sure this set will last us a long time. I'm very pleased with the quality of these paints.

You can buy the paint here: Amazon ($19.99)

DIY: Glitter Mini Jars for Candles

When my lovely daughter turned 6 months and started going through 4-5 jars of 1st Foods Carrots, Apple and Sweet Potato, I've been having a hard time disposing of the jars. In other words, I finally got a good excuse to try one of the awesome Pinterest tutorials I've been salivating over for months. Only today, I'm sharing with you the mini version of the glitter jar tutorial :)

What you'll need:

- Gerber Baby Food jars or any other small jars

- Mod Podge 

- Foam Brush 

- Glitter 

- Strings, Beads, Charms, or anything else you want to decorate it with (optional)

Step by Step Walk-through

1) Peel off the labels from the jars. Don't worry about getting the glue off, it really won't matter in the end.

2) Using the foam brush, cover the jar in a nice and even coat of Modge Pod

3) Apply glitter. Shake it a bit to even out the coat. Use a newspaper or some other piece of paper underneath for the glitter that will inevitably fall down.

 4) Wait about 2-3 hours for the Mod Podge to dry, then apply a top coat of Mod Podge to keep the glitter in place. Allow to dry completely for about 3-4 hours. Side note: Mod Podge goes on white, but it clears up 100% once it dries.

5) Decorate with whatever sparkly, shiny, pretty things you have on hand :)

Personalized Bookish T-Shirt DIY Tutorial | Printable Freebie

This is probably the easiest screenprinted T-Shirt you could ever imagine, it'll take you less than 2h to complete the project, and most of the time you'll spend on it will be the "cutting out your design" part, which - if you're skilled and have a good x-acto knife (I'm not and I don't) - will significantly shorten the time.

What you'll need:

T-Shirt

Freezer Paper & Iron (I didn't have freezer paper on hand, so I just printed the design on a thick piece of paper, worked just as well)

X-Acto Knife (or, I don't know, a scalpel? You know, if you happen to have a torture chamber in your basement).

Fabric Paint (I got my fabric paint at Michaels, but you can get them at Walmart or Amazon, too. Tulip Soft Matte in White, medium bottle will make about 3-4 T-shirts and it costs about $6)

Foam Brush (a set of 4 cost me $2 at Michaels)

How to do it:

1) If you're using Freezer Paper, secure it to a thicker piece of paper and run it through your printer. If you're using just a thicker paper, you just print your design directly onto it. Freezer Paper works better for one simple reason : you can iron it onto your T-shirt and it will stick, allowing a cleaner, more detailed design with no accidental smudges (no worries, after you're done painting, you can pull the freezer paper right off). If it's just paper you'll need to secure it with pins or tape. It's doable, I did that, but I imagine it'll be easier with the FP!

2) Using your X-Acto knife cut out your design. 

3) Iron (or otherwise secure) your stencil onto the T-Shirt. Make sure it's well secured and doesn't move around. 

4) Place thick paper or piece of cardboard inside your T-Shirt (it'll prevent the paint from soaking through to the backside). Using the foam brush, dab the paint carefully onto the cut-out parts of your design. Try not to drag the brush across too much. Use at least two coats. 

5) You can pull of the stencil while the paint is still damp or when it's completely dried. Leave the T-Shirt to dry for about 4 hours. You can run a warm iron over it to help it set after that, though I didn't and it stays on just fine. Wash the T-Shirt no sooner than 72h after applying the paint (washing machine is fine!). 

There, you have your own personalized T-Shirt now! Was that an easy-breeze project, or what? :) 

Free Printable Book Quote:

Click on the image to see the full size. Save to your disc for printing. 

Tutorial inspired by He and I