Are you basking in mid summer where you are or trying to get through the dog days of winter? Here in the barn summer is in full steam but whatever the weather and temperatures outside this super EASY and MESS FREE project is sure to brighten your day. But before we get on with the project I'll let you into a little secret, I absolutely LOVE Kwik Stix, they have been a favorite art supply of mine for a while now; you can see a few projects I've used them for here and here. Or go check out The Blue Barn Instagram feed for even more ideas. Anyway, given that I'm a HUGE Kwik Stix fan I was super excited to receive an email from the Kwik Stix team, asking if I'd like to receive a few freebies to use in a project and share it on my blog - YES PLEASE! So that being said for full disclosure I have been gifted Kwik Stix to write this post but I totally LOVED them already so was not bribed in anyway to gush about these fabulous paint sticks.
So on with the project, this banner is perfect for summer days especially if like me your looking for some fun 'camp mom' ideas. Best of all, if you use these Kwik Stix for the banner it can be totally mess free - so perfect for indoor rainy days or if you are hosting a group of children (or entire classroom) but really don't want your space splattered with paint!
To get started you will need:
Kwik Stix
Fabric - I used some untreated canvas but an old cotton pillow case or similar would work too
Wooden dowels
Sculpey Clay in various colors (optional but nice to finish with)
Paint brush and water (again another optional addition)
Step 1
Cut your square of fabric and lay it out for your child to decorate, I recommend putting something under your fabric just to project your work surface although kiwi six are washable. I like to cut the fabric in a rectangular shape and have them decorate with the short side along the top so it hangs down like a banner. We used our Kwik Stix to design summer memories onto the fabric. The Kwik Stix are great because they glide on super easily, are vibrant and best of all dry really quickly so there is no wet paint to clean up.
Step 2
So the next step is totally optional because Kwik Stix glide on easily without the need for paint brushes and water (why they are mess free). But the kids and I wanted to see what would happen if we got out our regular brushes and water and used them on top of the paint six. We played around with blending the colors and drawing some of the paint out into other areas of the fabric. We had fun watching the colors bleed together and creating a few new colors as they mixed.
Step 3
Put your painted canvas over to one side and get out your oven bake clay. We like the colorful range of Sculpey clay that we can buy here. Breaking off two small lumps have your child roll them into two little balls.
Then taking a long wooden dowel push the clay onto each end. Be careful not to push too hard or you'll push the dowel right through the clay and end up with a bead instead of an end piece for your wall hanging. Once you have a lump of clay on each end bake the clay on a dowel as per the package instructions for your clay.
Step 4
Once your clay has hardened and cooled off, you need to glue it to the top of the reverse side of your banner. We used our low temperature hot glue gun but if you don't have one regular glue will do you'll just have to wait a little longer for it to dry.
And voila a pretty summer banner with no mess thanks to Kwik Stix.
What evokes your favorite summer memory?
A dessert Island...
An English soccer game...
A sunset?
If you'd like to get your hands on your very own set of Kwik Stix you can buy them online from Amazon or Target or find them in the US in store at Walgreens.