A Gift for Nolan

Marina's cousin Nolan was celebrating his first birthday 2 weeks ago, so we bought him a Sophie Giraffe. My sister had it on her baby registry and left it on Nolan's wishlist. I knew no one would buy it thinking it was too small a gift (or too expensive for a teething toy, or whatever). My sister was more excited about getting it than Nolan. I think that's what first birthdays are more about anyway, getting toys mom wants baby to have.

I didn't have any baby appropriate wrapping paper, so I had Marina color a sheet of brown Kraft paper to wrap his gift.

For Marina it's all about the process.

 The final result tied with some colorful raffia.

A Crayon, A Piece of Paper and A Baby

About a month ago I decided to let Marina try drawing with crayons. I've never let her use crayons up to this point because everything she held always automatically went into her mouth. She started to get the hang of it before deciding to try and eat them. Then I put the crayons away.

A Common Baby Keepsake

Just about one year ago we wanted to do some baby foot prints with some molding plaster. If you attempt any such project be sure you are getting molding materials intended for skin.

I didn't capture the process, but we made a mold with a gelatin/ rubber-like material to mold the foot, then poured the plaster into the mold. When the plaster hardens the rubbery mold is then peeled away and you end up with your object. It took a few tries, but eventually we got one we were happy with.

 A few small bubbles got trapped.

 And now just a little over one year later, at 17 months old. She still curls her toes like that sometimes.

We also stamped her foot into a dish of the plaster. This was our best result with such squirmy feet.

Hello!

My name is Brittany. I am Marina's mother and I'm starting this blog to showcase the progress of Marina's art throughout her lifetime. She's just an infant right now, so most of her art in the coming months will have been done by her dad and I, with her involvement. Much of this art contains foot and hand prints. I can't wait for her to be old enough to create projects entirely on her own!