Family Art Night – The Project

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The Starry Sky

To create the starry sky background, we used a splatter-painting technique.

Supplies Needed:

• Baking sheet (we used ones from the dollar store)
• Rubber bands
• Black cardstock
• White washable paint (This will get messy—use washable paint!)
• Bowl
• Paintbrush

Helpful Supplies:

• Wet wipes
• Smock

To set up, stretch 5 or 6 rubber bands over the top three-quarters of the baking sheet. Pour a little bit of white paint into a bowl. Once everything is set up, slip the black cardstock onto the baking sheet, underneath the rubber bands.

Use the paintbrush to coat the rubber bands with white paint. Don’t worry if some paint drips onto the cardstock—it will just become an extra-bright star! Gently pluck or strum the rubber bands. The paint will splatter everywhere, including onto the paper, creating a starry-sky effect.

When you remove the black paper from the baking sheet, be careful not to let the paper scrape against the rubber bands. Set your starry sky aside to dry.

Helpful hint: Wait for the paint to dry completely before taking the rubber bands off the baking sheet.

The Star

We used bleeding tissue paper to create a colorful star.

Supplies Needed:

• Star cutout (white cardstock)
• Bleeding tissue paper (This is the one we used.)
• Cup of water
• Paintbrush
• Spray bottle
• Paper towels
• Tray to catch water

First, cut a star out of white cardstock. Save the remaining cardstock—you will need it for the planet. Place the star inside the tray and paint a light coat of water onto the star using a paintbrush. You do not need a lot of water at this step, just enough to help the tissue paper stick to the paper.

Next, start placing squares of bleeding tissue paper over the star. Cover all of the white areas, but try not to overlap the tissue paper too much. Once the star is covered, use the spray bottle to dampen the tissue paper from the top. This will cause the ink from the tissue paper to bleed through onto the star.

The number of sprays you need will depend on your spray bottle, but make sure the tissue paper is wet without becoming soaking wet! Give the ink about 30 seconds to bleed through, then dab everything dry with a paper towel.

Gently peel the tissue paper off the star, then take the star out of the tray. Set the star aside on a clean sheet of paper towel to dry.

The Planet

To create a swirly planet, we used oil pastels and liquid watercolors.

Supplies Needed:

• Planet cutout (white cardstock)
• Oil pastels (light colors)
• Liquid watercolors (dark colors)
• Cups
• Paintbrushes
• Paper towels

To make the planet cutout, use a large plate or bowl to trace and cut out an arch at one end of a piece of white cardstock. The piece you cut for the star works perfectly!

Before you begin, add some liquid watercolor to cups of water. We used darker colors for the watercolor—green, blue, and purple. These created a nice contrast with the lighter colors we chose for the oil pastels—white, silver, yellow, and light green.

Start by drawing with the oil pastels on the planet cutout. To leave behind a solid line of color, you may need to press a little harder than usual or go over each line multiple times. You do not want to completely cover the planet, but evenly distributed swirls and twirls will create a unique look.

Once you are happy with your oil pastel design, place the planet on a sheet of paper towel and start brushing the liquid watercolor over it. Notice how the oil pastels repel the liquid watercolor. This time, you do want to cover the entire planet with color.

Once you are finished, dab everything dry with a paper towel and set the planet aside to dry.

Put It All Together

Now it’s time to put it all together!

Supplies Needed:

• The starry sky
• The star
• The planet
• Photo cutout
• “Reach for the Stars” word cutouts
• Glue stick

While you are waiting for all of the projects to dry, take a photo of the artist from behind while they are looking and pointing up. Use a photo editor or app (Canva is what we used) to remove the background and resize the photo to fit between the planet and the star.

We decided to use black-and-white photos, but you could use color if you’d like.

Print and cut out the photo. Then, print and cut out the words “Reach for the Stars.”

Once all of the pieces are ready, it’s time to start gluing!

Glue the planet to the bottom of the starry sky. Then, glue the star into the top corner of the sky. Pay attention to which direction your artist is pointing in the photo, and place the star in the corner that matches.

Next, glue the photo onto the sky, positioning it so that the artist’s feet are on the planet and their hands are reaching toward the star. Finally, glue the words into the empty space.