Crafting (with caveat)

Drew missed out on a classroom project recently due to my neglect. Wouldn't be the first time I forgot to send in money for something. Ah, the guilt when he was the only student to walk out without a personalized plastic plate to treasure.

Drew takes these things very much in stride and probably forgot in minutes. Even so, I remembered making similar plates myself with my sisters many moons ago. We ate from them for years and had fun disparaging the primitive drawings. Nothing like a little mocking to make good memories.

I looked around online and found some kits. I then tried to weigh the possible evils of melamine against good old fashioned memory making. In the end, laziness won. Or the need to do some dishes.

A week or two later, I saw this craft over at Alpha Mom. Done by one of my favorite bloggers, no less. And it looked perfect.



I found a few plates, cups and mugs (dinnerware? servingware?) at a thrift store, dirt cheap. The paint pens were from Michael's, not so cheap. I told the kids about the idea and they were all pretty enthused. Good ammunition for a rainy weekend when Keith might have to work. Oh wait, that's every weekend.

(Which also explains the poor picture quality of most of these shots. Rain and lack of a good camera.)



Once primed, the pens worked like a dream and the fun began. The boys loved it. They would have marked up every dish in sight, if I let them.







Disclaimer: When all is said and done, I may just throw out the dishes that have writing on the inside. Either that, or use them to hold art supplies.


When setting the paint in the oven at 300 degrees, the house smelled like formula being made in China. Really bad chemical smell. I can't guarantee the safety of these pens on dishware. The label on the pens says simply, "Use on virtually any surface: metal, pottery, wood, rubber, glass, plastic, stone and more." No mention of safety.

Ah well, in the meantime, they are still great for decorating the outside of dishes.