Before we get to our collage, I have to tell you a quick story about my kids. If you don't like to hear stories about other people's kids, then please skip down a bit!
Since it's October and since my older kids are getting a bit older, we decided to do a scary movie each weekend. This all started when Kate told me everyone except herself had seen Jaws. Now, I saw Jaws when I was around nine years old and had nightmares for a month! So, I have sheltered my kids from the horror... maybe to their detriment.
To see if she really thought she could handle the move, I let her watch the trailer on youtube first. She thought I was ridiculous for thinking it was scary. According to her, you could totally tell the shark wasn't real and the music wasn't even scary. But, she still wanted to see it and so last weekend Ethan, Kate and myself sat down to watch it together.
You know the first scene, right? Well, Kate's reaction went something like this, "I can't believe they would kill someone this early in the movie. That's horrible. The movie is barely starting."
Remember the scene with the kid in the red shorts, the scary music, the legs under the water. She was totally freaking! It was hilarious! It seems that the music was scary afterall!
And, when the scientist guy goes down in the cage Kate exclaimed, "I don't think that's a machine shark, that is a REAL shark."
This weekend we are watching Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn.... with the lights out of course! I am debating showing them Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1970's verison) because I think that one may be a tad bit too scary, although Kate has told me it doesn't sound scary at all. If you have any for us to consider, we'd love recommendations!
OK, onto the collage. I got a swinging deal on some wooden plaques and decided to give this technique a whirl. This was my first attempt. I have made two others and although they are much cooler, they got stuck in customs in Holland and have never been seen again! So, this one will have to suffice.
I'm going to tell you just what I did and then you can experiment and make even neater things!
Cover your plague in cut up paper bits. This is a great project for using up your scraps. I like to use acrylic medium for the glue and to coat over the paper. You really do need to seal your paper with something before painting on it for best effects.
After the plaque is covered, cut a piece of adhesive vinyl to cover it with. Stick this down over the whole plaque. Now cut away any areas you want to paint. I did one where I cut out the areas around Abby's name. Keep in mind the areas you cut away will end up being painted and the areas that are left covered will end up being your collaged paper. It's the opposite of what you think. If you have a Cricut or some other kind of cutter, you can use it to cut your vinyl into letters, shapes, etc. I prefer to just freehand it though.
Paint the areas you have exposed. I have painted solid black here, but you could paint anything, obviously!
Now carefully remove the remaining vinyl. Ta-dah!!!! The paper now shows everywhere you didn't paint. You can even go back over the paint and add more collage on top, or repeat the entire process. It's super fun and they make great gifts! I hope to be doing more of these, and if I do, you will be the first to know!!
