Post-it notes

Days 132-138 of Project 365

May 18, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 24 Comments

132-138 of 265

132. Stick it! (After such a beautifully sunny day on Saturday, Sunday saw the doldrums return to the skies over south Wales. The Boy managed a few hours garden play in the morning, then in the afternoon we did some Post-it note art.)

133. End of the day! (A very trying day today. As my car was still poorly with a mahoosive oil leak, I wasn't able to drive to the other side of Cardiff as I wanted to, so we went with my mum. It was a hot and bothersome day, and ultimately boring for The Boy. Mid-afternoon I had a row with the garage who hadn't even started my car, and my dad had to go and help them find the problem. Daddy's girl? Me? Never! The afternoon ended up with a ridiculously elongated dinner time (of well over an hour) and a late bedtime, and a row! Essentially this was all because he was overtired and bored, and it wasn't the best day in my parenting 'career'.)

134. Wet (The garage phoned me at 4.20 to tell me my car was ready and they shut at 5pm. It takes 30 minutes to walk across town to there, it was pouring with rain and The Boy had only just woken up from a nap. Time to test the excellence of the Kiddy raincover. He stayed dry, my Regatta raincoat and jeans were saturated. I made it in time and recovered my car, minus £230 in my bank account.)

135. Sly Fox! (This is a game he's learnt in nursery, a little like Grandma's footsteps or What's The Time, Mr. Wolf.)

136. Sculpture! (I finish work at around 4pm on Thursdays so we've developed a habit of nipping down the beach with my mum for an ice-cream. Today we did a treasure hunt as well for an activity I'm blogging on the 21st May for the '100 Days of Play' activity link-up I'm taking part in.)

137. Rebel! (Just out of shot is a sign saying 'No cycling'. Well I'm sorry but he's 3 and not about to mow someone down so I ignored it. We love this park in Cardiff and took my mum with us, who hasn't been in years, possibly decades. A few drops of rain fell and the park emptied, which I found very sad. We're hardcore and stayed on to see the black clouds off.)

138. Ding Dong ("Mummy, why don't bluebells ding?" The Boy's paternal grandparents came down for a visit today to take us out for lunch, so we took them to Dyffryn Gardens to walk off the pizza and garlic bread after. They were as enchanted as we are with it, and The Boy got to examine some bluebells up close.)

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How To Make An 'Under The Sea' Picture (Using Post-It Notes)

May 13, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 11 Comments

As a teacher I know only too well the worth of a sticky bit of paper for note-making. Before I had The Boy, my desk was organised with coloured Post-it notes, and they are also an excellent resource to use in lessons during collaborative discussion work.

However, I'd never thought of using them to create a piece of art with The Boy until I was asked by 3M to see what I could do with their new Post-it Notes Colour Cubes, packs of Post-it Notes in a range of vibrant hues. They sent me a selection and a canvas and asked me to get creative on a "miserable rainy day when no one wants to go outside!" How fortuitous that today happened to be just one of those days.

post-it notes colour cube

So faced with this wonderful range of bright coloured Post-it notes, mostly shades of blue, The Boy and I decided to make an 'Under The Sea' picture.

First, we layered the different shades of blue all over the canvas (we did have to use a small amount of PVA glue as the canvas was the most resistant surface in the world!)
We also used the smaller packs of Super Sticky fully adhesive Post-it notes to add some variation in the colours.
Next we ripped up the different shades of green to make seaweed and underwater foliage and layered these from halfway down to the bottom, overlapping to add depth.
Finally I used the brightly coloured pink, orange and yellow Post-it notes to create some fish, by drawing a design on the back and cutting them out. The Boy then placed these in between the leaves and swimming freely about in the water.

Post-It Notes Colour Cube
And there we have it; one canvas (or piece of card), a selection of Post-it notes in different colours, one hour and one very happy little boy.

post-it note art
If you're looking for some more ideas on creating art with sticky bits of paper, have a look at the Post-it UK Facebook page, which includes some excellent examples.

This is a sponsored post in connection with 3M.