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Birch Winter Tree Art Project

November 13, 2018 by Sarah 24 Comments

I was given some lovely magazines lately – and I have really been enjoying them.  But, like anything that stays in my hands too long, one of those magazines has been sacrificed to our crafting.

This time as a birch winter tree art project! 

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

I must say, this winter art project turned out even better than I had imagined it would.  It looks great!  And we learned quite a bit along the way, as our first attempt was a major fail.  And so was our second.

Two things we learned while creating this birch winter tree art project:

1.  Electrical tape does NOT come off of paper the same way that painters tape does … please do not use electrical tape

2.  Some lovely new magazines use recycled ‘greener’ pages … these do not mix well with painters tape.  For this winter art project you need the glossy magazine paper.

And finally, on our third (and final … this was it – now or never) attempt, we succeeded!

Please note that these pictures are a mixture of all three attempts — you may see electrical tape (DO NOT USE IT!), you may see recycled, dull magazine paper (DO NOT USE IT!) …. you see I try to balance taking pictures of our activities with actually enjoying them with my little ones.  So by our third attempt I was needed heavier on the, “It will work this time, we can do it!” side of the camera.

And now, with by far the most warnings and precautions I have ever given prior to introducing a SIMPLE art project, I bring you that simple winter art project!

For this birch tree craft we used:

Painters tape (eventually)

A page from a glossy magazine with lots of text (eventually)

Blue, purple, and white acrylic paint

A sock (or sponge) and a paint brush

To begin, we glued the magazine page to a piece of construction paper.

Next, we cut skinny strips of the painters tape and arranged them in ‘birch tree like’ configurations on the page.

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

Then it was time for painting.  We didn’t have a sponge on hand, so opted to use a sock.  I actually really liked using a sock with my 4 year old for this art project – he could hold it well, and it gave a great texture.

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

They dotted some blue and some purple all over the page until it was completely covered (except for the area under the trees where the snow as going to be)

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

After, they sponged on some white paint at the bottom.  My 12 year old daughter stated that it really needed some snow …. some splatter painted snow none-the-less.  I cringed, but agreed.

Once the paintings had dried for 20 minutes or so, we carefully peeled off the tape.

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

Madeline decided hers needed a little cardinal … it did add a lovely touch!

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

This winter art project took some trial and error.  But that in itself was a good learning experience for my little ones – to persevere with a positive attitude (well, relatively positive, I am human).

Tape resist magazine art. Such a pretty winter art project for kids

And we were rewarded with success, and a lovely winter tree painting to display as well.  And a story of Mama crumpling up the second attempt… with a positive attitude though.

Please consider following us on Facebook so we can share more creative ideas with you!  Or join over 300 000 other readers on the How Wee Learn Pinterest Boards!  Thank you!

Thank you for reading friends! I hope you are having a wonderful week.

 

Filed Under: Art, Create, Grade School, Mama Creates Too, Playful Art Tagged With: painting, tape resist, winter art ideas

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Comments

  1. Marilyn says

    December 1, 2014 at 9:28 am

    A beautiful, wintery scene. I’m a grandma, who still enjoys crafting, so I’m going to try this.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      December 1, 2014 at 8:37 pm

      Oh this is a fun one Marilyn! And there is certainly no age limit for crafting (I hope!) I hope you enjoy it,

      Reply
  2. Kate Williams says

    December 9, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    Love this! Have scheduled it for my blogs FB page too 🙂 Thanks for sharing with Tuesday Tutorials #pintorials

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      December 9, 2014 at 9:30 pm

      Thank you very much for sharing Kate! And for hosting as well!

      Reply
  3. Dianna says

    January 6, 2016 at 10:12 am

    Love this idea! Am doing it today with my daycare group! Had a really hard time finding magazines with a page that didn’t have pictures and wasn’t an ad for medications on it!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 8, 2016 at 9:27 am

      Yay! Have fun!

      Reply
  4. Dem says

    January 6, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    Did you also use acrylic paint for the dots of white snow on the blue and purple?

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 8, 2016 at 9:27 am

      Sure did!

      Reply
  5. Lori says

    January 18, 2016 at 8:22 am

    Has anyone tried tempera paint? Also, I’m assuming painters tape would stick to newspaper. Any experience on this?

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 19, 2016 at 9:46 pm

      Hmm … good questions – I’m afraid not me, but hopefully someone can help Lori

      Reply
  6. Cathy says

    November 28, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    It is a great project Thank you for the do not tips

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 4, 2017 at 9:58 pm

      Why reinvent the wheel, right Cathy?! So happy you like the idea. Thank you for taking the time to let me know.

      Reply
  7. Sau Myaw says

    November 22, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    Thanks a lot for uour sharing.I get another connection from Canada today!
    Tahnks a lot for your very new idea.

    Reply
  8. Stacy says

    February 5, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    Tried this today and had a great time with a beautiful piece of art that I actually really like (not that I don’t LOVE everything my child produces). 😉 😉

    We added some glitter for extra girlie fun.

    Thank you!!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      February 24, 2018 at 8:05 pm

      What a fabulous idea to add glitter! Glitter makes everything better. Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
  9. H. Christian says

    February 12, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    May we use this project as a fundraiser for a Relay for Life parent’s night out event? 100% of the money raised would be donated to cancer research.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      February 24, 2018 at 8:03 pm

      Of course! Have fun and what a great cause!

      Reply
  10. Roberta says

    January 26, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    Hi,

    How do you prevent the painter tape to stick to the paper?

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      March 22, 2019 at 9:49 pm

      Hi Roberta, I found that the painters taped peeled of nicely, as long as it was the right type of paper (be sure to check out my top tips in the post!) Hope this helps!

      Reply
  11. Debbie Denyer - Squidgydoodle says

    January 28, 2019 at 3:48 pm

    Brilliant! I’ve never thought of using a whole page from a magazine and masking it. I’ve always just used strips from a magazine. We will give this a go. Thanks for the top tips too!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      March 22, 2019 at 9:48 pm

      Thanks Debbie!

      Reply
  12. Sarah Conley says

    February 7, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    I LOVE this crafting idea! So cute and the pieces your children made came out beautiful! I will have to save this one on my Pinterest boards :).

    PS: I just responded to your comment on my first blog post – https://happylittletadpole.com/wooden-abc-blocks/ sorry I didn’t see it until now! Anywho, I’m not sure if you’ll see my reply there, but I was thinking that we might have an opportunity to cross promote our sites! Let me know if you’re interested!

    -Another Sarah

    Reply
  13. MWoo says

    October 4, 2019 at 1:04 am

    How did she paint the cardinal?

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      November 16, 2019 at 4:32 pm

      Thank you for your question. She just added a touch of red paint with a paint brush – a little dot for the head and bigger for the body with a small stroke for the tail. An orange dot was used for the beak.

      Reply

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