Monday, November 29, 2010

Messy Monday: Their World, a Canvas

You know that saying that the world is a canvas? Well, my kids seem to think their world (our house) is their canvas. Marks of their artistic expression are everywhere: walls, woodwork, blankets, and more. Last week, I actually took away all the possible writing utensils in this house: crayons, colored pencils, regular pencils, markers. Every. single. one. The boys are not allowed to use them without permission, and without supervision for the time being.

Why such a drastic action, you ask?

After scrubbing the woodwork in our sun porch and several walls, we all had a big talk about the right and wrong places to draw. (We've had this talk before). Everything was reasonably clean. Then last week, it happened again. The very same wall I worked so hard to clean was crayoned even worse than before. That's why everything went in a giant Ziploc bag--just for the time being.

But here's a secret I want to share with you. Did you know you can make your own Mr. Clean Magic Eraser simply with a rag and a baking soda paste? It works wonderfully to remove crayon marks on walls. Simply dampen your rag, sprinkle on some baking soda (I used quite a bit because I had a large area to cover), and put the baking soda paste side directly on the marks you want to remove and rub them off. Erased, just like magic.

I will try to post some pictures later today to give you a visual of what I am talking about!

Have a great day!
(Linked to Works for Me Wednesday)

6 comments:

  1. I tried this out on a yucky black shoe stain on a white door and it WORKED! I am amazed at your magic. Thank you!

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  2. Baking soda is my #1 favorite for scrubbing anything that you don't want scratched. Friends swear by Kosher salt also which has a coarser grain than regular salt.

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  3. This tip could possibly save my kids future dreams to be wall artists! I too am on the verge of removing all writing utensils! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Hi Caroline, your comment made me laugh! Maybe we just need to cover our walls (and cabinets, chairs, garage doors...) with canvas and let the budding artists create to their hearts' content ;)

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  5. This is great b/c I read recently that some children have allergic reactions to a chemical in the magic erasers. I'm going to give it a try - thanks, Cheryl!

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