Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 13:43:33 -0400 From: Donna Subject: Re: Father's Day Craft MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > I have a troop of 1st and 2nd grade Brownies. Any ideas for what we > can do for a Father's Day craft...easy and inexpensive? I just attended a class last night on making cards using stenciling and nature prints. One of the samples the teacher had for us to look at was rock paper weights. They were really beautiful and I can't wait to try it myself. I did ask her about it and she said to do it just like the cards....... Materials: Smooth surfaced rocks (the ones she used were dark colors) Acrylic Craft Paint (she did say that Apple Barrel Brand has less pigment that other brands and dosen't work as well as Delta Ceramcoat). Small Brushes Cups of water (to wash brushes in between different colors) Newspapers to protect table top Paper Towels - use a brand that has as little texture as possible Leaves, Flowers (make sure not to pick anything that is protected, endangered or toxic) (You might want to choose things from your own flower beds) Apples, mushrooms, etc. If possible pick leaves and flowers the night before and place in a ziplock bag with a little water, store in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator overnight. This "crisps" them up and makes them easier to work with. If you can't do this, don't worry about it - just picked will work as well. Cut apples & mushrooms in half, making cuts as straight and even as possible. Pour a little paint on your palette ( we used styrofoam plates, but well washed meat trays or plastic margarine covers would work just as well). Most leaves have more texture on the backside, so apply paint to that side and lay in place on your rock. Use a folded paper towel as a blotter to press your leaf down and make a print. Remove the paper towel and carefully remove the leaf (you may need tweezers for this). For the apples and mushrooms, just apply the paint and press down like you were using a rubber stamp. She had us paint the center of the apple cream, and the outer edge a deep red. Later we added seeds and a stem with the tip of the brush handle and added an apple leaf print to the top. Let dry and you have a beautiful paper weight. NOTE: You can also do this with dried pressed flowers and leaves if you want to di this in the winter time. Line a tray with very damp paper towels and lay the dried material on top, until it has moistened up a little bit and then continue as above. This would only take a bottle or two of paints and a few brushes - not a lot of expense and wouldn't take up much room if you wanted to try it at camp. Have fun! YIGGGS, Donna *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Donna Haggerty Older Girl Advisor, Co-SUM, Outdoor Consultant, Organizer, Program Consultant, Parade Co-ordinator, Experienced Trainer & Lifetime Member .................... GS of Genesee Valley, Western New York State, USA Cadette & Senior Group 3033 http://geocities.datacellar.net/EnchantedForest/9092 mailto:DHaggerty@cyberjunkie.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*