Further Proof that I am not Crafty

I come from a long line of crafty and artistically talented people.  I am not one of them.

But, I do ok with basic elementary arts and crafts.  I even considered them my forte.   Until this week.

I was quite excited to do some apple stamping with the  kids after our trip to the orchard last week.  I’ve never done it, but wanted to for awhile.  This seemed like the perfect time… last week we did the short a sound in phonics, went to the orchard on Friday, so this seemed perfect for art on Tuesday.  The kids LOVE paint, so it was sure to be a hit with them.

I cut the apple in half so we could see the star.

Then I squirted paint onto paper plates.  Gave each kid a piece of apple and had them press the apple into the paint and then onto the paper.

oops… the three year old dipped the wrong end into the paint.

no worries… rinse at the sink and try again

I have no idea why, but it didn’t work.

I didn’t think there was any trick to this, just slice, dip, and stamp onto paper.

Yet, this is the result we got.

Anyone have any idea why the paint didn’t stick and transfer? I tried more paint and less, with no luck.

The crew was ready to revolt, so I had to think on my feet.

OK… I decided… scratch the apple stamping.  Mommy will try to figure out what went wrong and try again another day.  But for now, let’s finger paint.

“Wait… Mommy is letting us paint with our fingers?”  I didn’t have to say that twice.   The kids eagerly dug in with great enthusiasm.

So, even though in the eyes of the kids, the afternoon was salvaged, I’d still like to know what we did wrong, so we can try, try again.  Can anyone help me?